Ableton Forum

I'm a fan.

also i was reading something in another thread where someone had an 'aha!' moment with the external instrument and i realised that i could stick the multi-out version of microtonic into a drum rack, add an external instrument for each channel and treat it like a drum rack, with the handy foldable mixer and all that good stuff rather than spamming the whole mixer window with audio tracks for each output.

and im sure im only just scraping the surface of how useful it is as a complementary tool to the existing routing options.

open your mind man.

totakeke wrote:++1
The external plugin is the main reason i upgraded to 7.

same here. it's absolutely great !
But, i've written an custom midi sequencer for my Nord Modular in Reaktor. and now i'm forced to make an extra midichannel again
the first with the external instrument and the nords audio/midi routing, and the second with the Reaktor VST - midi routed to track one.....

Winston wrote:

d*cease wrote:

Winston wrote: If you want audio, freeze/flatten it or record it to an audio track, just like with plug-ins. That's the point of the external instrument device, it works just like a plug-in.

well right there, you expose the redundancy of it. i'd rather just have the audio there to begin with...

If you want to just use an audio track, then you just use an audio track. Obviously you don't need midi. The external instrument device is for midi. get it? Just because you don't want to use midi does not make it redundant. Not at all. That's like saying VSTs are redundant because you record audio from your hardware synths.

you are missing what i am saying. i use midi tracks to send the midi out, and record the audio coming in. if i don't like something about the part, i just send the midi again. whatever patch i used, i label the track appropiately. roll your eye's all you want, it works for me, but apparently you missed the threads topic, and my first post. i'd rather have more processing power than trying to stream a bunch of audio in, if you are going to bounce down eventually, what's wrong with recording the audio to begin with? eww i can treat my rack synth like a plug in. whoop de fuckin do. you will convert it to audio anyway, i just bypass that stage.

record midi part.tweek. send out. record audio in. what am i missing? look at what m just wrote, if you want to send the same midi to more than one source, you need two tracks of midi. i need one. but i am an idiot. what do i know?

longjohns wrote:what the hell are you guys talking about? it's awesome!

-save presets from other programs in the live browser
-save hardware devices as presets in the live browser (!!!!)
-only need one track
-freeze external programs or hardware (!) (aka "record it's output within it's track" hehe)

yeah i'm with you on this. i know its a simple as fuck concept. but it saves me from having to remember which midi channel and audio inputs I have assigned to each of my external synths. for that alone its a lifesaver and really helps my work flow.

d*cease wrote:

Winston wrote:

d*cease wrote:well right there, you expose the redundancy of it. i'd rather just have the audio there to begin with...

If you want to just use an audio track, then you just use an audio track. Obviously you don't need midi. The external instrument device is for midi. get it? Just because you don't want to use midi does not make it redundant. Not at all. That's like saying VSTs are redundant because you record audio from your hardware synths.

you are missing what i am saying. i use midi tracks to send the midi out, and record the audio coming in. if i don't like something about the part, i just send the midi again. whatever patch i used, i label the track appropiately. roll your eye's all you want, it works for me, but apparently you missed the threads topic, and my first post. i'd rather have more processing power than trying to stream a bunch of audio in, if you are going to bounce down eventually, what's wrong with recording the audio to begin with? eww i can treat my rack synth like a plug in. whoop de fuckin do. you will convert it to audio anyway, i just bypass that stage.

record midi part.tweek. send out. record audio in. what am i missing? look at what m just wrote, if you want to send the same midi to more than one source, you need two tracks of midi. i need one. but i am an idiot. what do i know?

I'm not missing what you're saying at all. There is nothing wrong with the way you do it. That's your preference, you have no need for the external instrument device because you prefer to bounce right away. What I'm saying is that it's ridiculous to claim that something is redundant or not useful because you or someone else doesn't need it. It's an immensely useful thing to most, since many people prefer not to bounce down, in order to keep the live tweakability factor.

Can you not see that this thing is one of the most useful features in Live 7 for many people? A full Stylus RMX instance with individual outs used to take 16 tracks. Now it takes 8. Just one example. Or is that not useful because you don't use it?
Sorry man, no offense, but that's a little bit amusing.

d*cease wrote:+1. seems redundant to me, when you can just use a midi and audio track. but i'm sure it's useful to someone...

second post in thread

winston wrote:Then you guys are insane or don't understand it.

seventh post in thread


fuck off.

dcease wrote:

d*cease wrote:+1. seems redundant to me, when you can just use a midi and audio track. but i'm sure it's useful to someone...

second post in thread

winston wrote:Then you guys are insane or don't understand it.

seventh post in thread


fuck off.

Woah man. Easy. Sorry I didn't catch the "I'm sure it's useful to someone else". But the thread title is "The external instrument device sucks" (Which you gave a +1). And this is blatantly untrue. That's all I'm sayin'.

- 1 I could never keep the thing in sync with my ES-1. Every time I added a new vst or channel I'd have to fuck with all my midi timing again, waaay too much of a pain. It's cool for internal live use though, so +1 for that. That evens me out to a 0.

longjohns wrote:what the hell are you guys talking about? it's awesome!

-save presets from other programs in the live browser
-save hardware devices as presets in the live browser (!!!!)
-only need one track
-freeze external programs or hardware (!) (aka "record it's output within it's track" hehe)

+1

One of the most useful additions to Live 7

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

i am the External Instrument device's bitch.

For me it's great just for multi-out plugins, as i don't have external instruments.
With the lack of track folders it's even more useful.

I think it's a fine adition to Live.