Hi,
I think seamless isn't a quality criteria at all, as I've seen DJs / Acts that really messed things up in the booth, but the crowd was with them, as they were real and into it...
I myself try to keep my live setup as simple as possible. I use an apc 20 + a Nocturne + 2 guitar effects (those foot switch things) and sometimes a hardware synth too. My aim is being able to set up on the empty turntable while the last vinyl of the DJ is still playing: 10 minutes and 1sqm to set up.
As I play live, I don't think in terms of 'songs' or 'tracks' which makes the seamless thing kind of irrelevant, but I cluster samples / midi clips that I use at a specific part of the live set. So my whole production process is not biased on tracks but parts that fit into live sets. And I take care of adding clips that are kind of neutral at the very beginning of each track that you can use to fade into a new part of the set (e.g. a layer or a noise click sound...)
First I arrange the whole (!) live set as various clusters (tracks?) top to bottom.
Not more but 8-12 tracks for easy navigation, to organize a rough layout/schedule of what will happen in the club.
I try to not cluster more but 5-6 scenes, as my apc just displays 5 rows - but that's fairly enough stuff to play with for some time. And it saves me from scrolling up and down too much.
Ah - e.g. for beats, I use racks and insert various drum sets in there, so I can use many different sounds within one track.
So I play my sets top to bottom, working my way down, bringing new clips in and dropping others out.
All my clips are unmodified samples / midi clips in terms of effects / pitch / procesion, which leaves me free to mess around with them in realtime.
Most of the samples contain different variations of the same loop. I then can set the loop area live via controller, according to what I want to play, or where ever the set takes me, which again reduces the amount of clips you need but offers better variety.
When I start I only have a rough non effect draft, the rest happens there and then.
For general FX modulation I send them (instead of 'to master') to a separate track called 'Spielzeug' which contains automated fx clips (dummy clips) like a filter swipe or a beat repeat pattern. Those clips will ad the respective fx to all clips playing. Of course you can modify the fx by hand or controller too (I use a Nocturne for that, enough knobs but small and handy, but forget the automap shit).
For manual fx procession to ONE clip, I use the regular send channels (actually two of them, filters and delay) containing effect racks with macros of the most common modulations.
If you do perform live for 2 hours, and not just trigger prerecorded tracks, of course you'll get lost or mess things up on your way. But I like this - it's live and not DJing what we do.
As I get lost or need instant breaks from time to time redirecting the set into a certain direction, I insert 'triggers', scenes that you can see in the master track. Hitting them resets all effects (see the reset-clip in the Spielzeug-track) and triggers a bunch of clips that will bring things back together.
E.g. you mess around with delays, let it all break apart, and then kick in a straight bd + sounds again just by hitting the trigger scene.
This way experimenting live becomes fun and not a thread, as you got a safety line you can pull anytime.
Keeping track of where you are is simple, as I only use one set up - so I know which row of knobs on my apc is bd, snare, layer, external synths, etc. And hitting wrong buttons launching a click noise instead of a layer is what makes a good live set
What you see on the screenshot would equal 25 min. live performance...
You can download this live set as an .alp here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/456623728/SetSkizze.alp maybe seeing the draft on your screen makes this approach more clear...
Hope this helps,
Ralph Prollé
