How do you make your live set seamless?

[ct43]

just wanted to say im finding this thread really useful for giving me ideas for my live performance project

Ill post my flow up when im sorted too...

[JuanSOLO]

This is a Live set I have been altering for a while. It's almost seamless. So far so Fun. I use it to record ruff ideas, wether at home or rehearsal, and for performing. I wanted a set where I could capture ideas fast, sort of pre-produce, but most of all perform them (especially at rehearsal). I control everything with an APC40 using Hanz Pertov's script, and an MS2000.

[kanuck]

awesome post. I'm impressed at the complexity of your set.

[ollyb303]

@JuanSolo...



Mental.

[JuanSOLO]

It looks complex at first, but the idea is simple. Drums, 2 synths, and Audio Clips. Every thing can get equally MASHED UP. Most controls are in groups of 8 for the APC40, and ClyphX is used mainly to snap/recall values.

My only problem was trying to use 2 instances of Kore for the Synth tracks. Seems like Live and Kore dont get along very well.

[moreofmorris]

This thread is great. Anyone else care to share their live set screenshots?

Very interesting.

[chapelier fou]

Wow this thread is incredible.
My sets are maybe 10 premade clips, less than 12 tracks and less than 7 scenes.
Recording almost everything except rythms, from live instruments with a foot controller.

When playing with the third eye foundation, i have a totally blank set (with only routing and midi mapping), while the other guys have sets full of a chaotic session view.

That's really a good thread !

[antandra]

I actually tend to work in exactly the opposite direction. That is, I generally write stuff specifically for my live set, test it out on an audience, then if it works well, I'll commit to an arrangement.

I usually use percussive sections to transition between tracks in different keys, and I play the whole set at one tempo, usually adjusting this if/when I come to arrange.

This is a fun way to do it. I recently started a project this way. It's a completely different style.

[antandra]

One thing that techno obsessives can forget about is adding a gap on purpose

All this obsessing about seamlessness tends to avoid the fact that the audience feel more involved if you give them a space (or two) to cheer in.

I learned this by mistake really, because my old band used to plough through in one monolithic music block but one day when i fucked up the next song so we took it to a crescendo and stopped, the audience assumed it was all intentional and cheered wildly for 10 - 15 seconds, giving us chance to get it together. The gig was actually better after that because social reinforcement meant that the audience had now informed itself "we are enjoying this" through the collective cheer, and so it took the gig to new heights.

We figured it out: A gig is a conversation between you and the crowd. Obviously you take the primary role, but no gaps is like conversing with one of those people who never takes a breath, you feel un-necessary and un-appreciated.

Cool screenshot. Are those all midi or audio tracks?

So from then on we intentionally put a couple of stops in, giving the audience a chance to contribute, cheer, re-enforce the good times, before we ramped it back up again.

It had a double benefit, #1 the vibe was always improved , #2 we could use the stop to change vibe and tempo quite easily allowing us to re-build to a new set crescendo. It made our lives a lot easier, and the gigs better

Well said. Something Pitch Black do for each song too, and it's not hurting them at all. (course Paddy also has to scroll through 257 scenes and 54 tracks to get to his next song, so he needs that time! )

**sneezes** Bullshit!!!
No scrolling for me - once the set is loaded, its all controlled from MIDI controllers, no looking at the screen or touching the computer. I send one program change and everything is ready for the next song.

We lay songs out diagonally in the Session view so that each part has an individual track. Each song's Clips / Scenes / Parameters / Controllers are assigned to a different MIDI channel (song 1 listens to ch1, song 2 listens to ch2 etc...) so we just change the transmitting channel on our controllers (via a program change) and the next song is ready to go.

This is about 1/8th of our set:


+186,000 to leaving a gap on purpose when you want to.

[antandra]

One thing I do is have a rack on each track with several different fade to grayish effects. I don't use them that much, although it is fun to have long dubbed out delay effects as an option vs. just fading or cutting the volume. It's also good to have stuff like that in case something isn't warped properly, and you need to end smoothly to get back on track.

I basically have 6 main audio tracks and sends C and D are each routed to complex chains of effects. I remapped the pan knobs on my APC40 to control both C and D levels turning one down and the other up at the same time. I then use the crossfader to swith between dry and effected signal. This setup allows me to add 2 chains of effects in any combination to the audio tracks. Very handy!

My set is far too complex to explain without images, video, screen capturing etc. Been meaning to give a good walk through for awhile. Will post something more detailed soon.

[ze2be]

What about Max4L, does anyone feel its essential to their set?

One thing that really annoys me is that all songs you might want to play, must be loaded in the set. And you have to scroll arround those to find the next that fits atm. (ok, one can mouse drag n drop loop sets from the browser, but thats out of the question to me) Metaphoricly, it feels like using 20 pre-loaded CD players to DJ: one for each song of the set. Ive done half a dozen Live performence demo sets over the years. My latest experiment uses Stylus RMX to load my songs, in similar ways that a DJ would load a song on the fly. In this set I used 2 instances of RMX. This way, songs can be loaded as a single preset, and Lives Session is only setup for 2 songs. (A and B) Think of RMX as an 8 track loop player. Each track can have multiple loops. Now, simply trigger those with midi clips in Session. It works perfect: Session contains 16 tracks, 8 for each loop player. (External Instrument plug keeps the Stylus track count to a minimum.)

However theres one obvious limitation:
Stylus RMX only play Rex files. Its very time consuming to prepare, and it doesnt work well with pads.

Is there anyway to load sets of clips, like loading one single preset, with some kind of Max4L construction?
Theres still a couple of days left on my 30% cupon on M4L!!

[wlkngmachine]

not sure if this has been brought up yet but...., Render your tracks and then DJ them using Live!?!?

does having an incredibly complicated live setup actually make ur set sound better? b/c no one can see what ur doing up there.....also, when u get up to a gig where ur in front of a lot of people, the more complicated your set it, the more that can go wrong.

Personally to make a seamless set, I just keep it in mind when im making the tracks (e.g. relatively minimal intro's and outros), I also make most of my songs in relative keys for example I think all the songs in my set are in F, Bb, C, and Eb. This makes them pretty easy to mash together when its time to build the set.

My live setup looks like this....two decks A and B both identical (so when i switch it doesn't matter what side im on b/c i have all the songs on both decks) another deck for one shot samples (air and stuff), another track for acapellas/ sample chops

[ollyb303]

not sure if this has been brought up yet but...., Render your tracks and then DJ them using Live!?!?

does having an incredibly complicated live setup actually make ur set sound better? b/c no one can see what ur doing up there.....also, when u get up to a gig where ur in front of a lot of people, the more complicated your set it, the more that can go wrong.

Personally to make a seamless set, I just keep it in mind when im making the tracks (e.g. relatively minimal intro's and outros), I also make most of my songs in relative keys for example I think all the songs in my set are in F, Bb, C, and Eb. This makes them pretty easy to mash together when its time to build the set.

My live setup looks like this....two decks A and B both identical (so when i switch it doesn't matter what side im on b/c i have all the songs on both decks) another deck for one shot samples (air and stuff), another track for acapellas/ sample chops

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

[JuanSOLO]

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

Which brings the question is the OP talking about;
live sets, as in performing live OR live sets as in Ableton Live. I would say DJing is a live set and doubbly when using Ableton Live. It may not be as intensive as using Live to perfrom live as a live band would but it's still live with Live and that pretty live!

But I use Traktor for DJing, so the set I posted is in regards to the latter.

[cacti]

All very good. But that would be a DJ set, not a live set.

Which brings the question is the OP talking about;
live sets, as in performing live OR live sets as in Ableton Live. I would say DJing is a live set and doubbly when using Ableton Live. It may not be as intensive as using Live to perfrom live as a live band would but it's still live with Live and that pretty live!

But I use Traktor for DJing, so the set I posted is in regards to the latter.

Nah, DJing is not a live set, especially in LIVE where its so easy.