Ableton Forum

Gotcha... I hadnt made that distinction between third party vsts and abletons vsts.

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I have to second the Idea of mixing down a good bulk of your tracks. This is what i think these guys are missing. I dont know about you but I am constantly peaking out my PC during the writing stage. I would dream of bringing ALL of my songs into one set without major mix downs.

IMO you have to think about your live set as a whole new beast. The arrangement doesn't necessarily have to me completely altered though. If there are areas in a song that you are adamant about being perfect (like important transitions into the bridge for example) then make an entire loop containing the entire transition.

My first set was really easy with really long loops. I would basically just add fx and samples over the top as the set progressed. For me this was enough at the time. Singing, drums and keys are alot to do. But now that i am getting more comfortable I am adding more structural flexibility with smaller loops.

But I dont think that I will ever completely rid of my song structure. I dont make pure dance music so it doesnt work for me to have beat juggling going on in every second of my song. but in some parts it does like when i am transitioning to another song or during a breakdown.

I think people should take there time in setting up a live set. Start out slow otherwise you will have a huge mess on your hands in no time.

torrentexpress wrote: I think people should take there time in setting up a live set. Start out slow otherwise you will have a huge mess on your hands in no time.

Yeah, you need a well thought out system. Dont want to work on the set for a year and figure out in the end something vital you cant change!

Pitch Black wrote:I also have each song's Clips, Scenes, Plugins and Mixer parameters receiving on a different MIDI channel. Song 1 "listens" to MIDI ch1, song 2 listens to ch2 and so on. The result is, I can have my MIDI controllers set up with a patch (or preset) for each song - each patch transmitting on the necessary MIDI channel. So, with just the push of a button on my controller, each new song is instantly available .

Damn good idea

When I first tried putting together a Live set - it was hell - ended up with zillion of return, because I couldnt let go of what i wanted to tweak.

In the end on the afternoon before, I scraped the whole thing, grabbed stem and tracks I wanted, pre-rendered all fx that were a key element of the track then just set up a few essential combo - tape echo feedback mush, a delay as a looper, a reverb as a freezer, filter etc and some routing to run stuff through bit reduction, flanger etc and a pump bus. So in the end 8 returns, stack of audio clips a few sub groups and only about a dozen plugins.

It was just so easy once the penny dropped that all the crap that goes into a track or remix is for the studio only and not for the stage - your entertaining with maximum impact with minimal risk and effort - not mixing the whole damn thing!

With the basic fx setup and the right choices around stems - then you still have alot of freedom live without alot of complexity.

Pitch black or anyone who can answer this

what would be the benefit of routing different tracks on different channels like you showed in your setup

how do you select different midi channels?

benmiron wrote:how do you select different midi channels?

On your midi controller its usually program 1->mc 1, p2->mc2 and so on. But on most controllers you can change that if you wish. Read the manual of your controller.

Different controllers have different systems. But for the most part its as easy as switching tv channels with your remote.