Ableton Forum

Some folks have PM'd me wondering about my live template, so I thought I'd post a pic and some info. There's nothing new or
groundbreaking here, but maybe someone will find it interesting. I know I'm always curious about how folks that play instruments set up their templates/sets.

This is my main template. I've got 4 other variations; where pretty much the only differences are the effects used in dummyclips/racks/sends

All of my live work is improvised. I step up and never know what I'm going to do or play. I might start with a bass groove
(5-string) or guitar drone. Things might start out with me banging out a beat on an Impulse track. You never know. I'll often
start and stop a tune if it feels like it's going to shit fast. No problems there - though it is fun to sometimes try and pull
something out of the shitter and actually turn it into something interesting..

I'm using Looper extensively now. It's the one thing that I'll manually add to a template before I start - depending where I want to begin.

I'm using a nanoPad and 2 nanoKontrols. I've got my 5 returns mapped to 5 knobs on the Kontrol. They are small and perfect for
my workflow. Besides the returns, I don't have any FX controls mapped to knobs, but I do have some mapped to the XY pad on the nano. An FCB1010 is used because I'd be totally lost without it.

43 tracks + 5 return tracks. I've been meaning to scale this down, but can't seem to find the will power. It's self-indulgent as hell,
but one of the reasons for the large template is that I have a LOT of options to radically change a tune in progress, then revisit
earlier parts via scene changes and such.

I do a LOT of clip copying on the fly. When you're using Live for improve - and no prerecorded loops - you need to build your
scenes as you go. It's great fun to fill up my template across one scene, then start copying certain loops and placing them into scene
2, etc etc. Sometimes I'll only lay down a few loops before I start tweaking and copying. It all depends.

Here's the template; complete with handy notes! lol. I'd love to hear what other people are up to.

Thanks for posting this. Actually, improvising live with just my guitar, voice and Live is one of my big goals for the future. I'm especially interested in the Line 6 X3. I've been thinking about getting one and was quite disappointed by its lack of midi in. So, do you switch X3 patches by triggering Midi clips with the FCB1010 and the midi then getting sent to the X3 via USB? How stable is this setup? Do you play bass and guitar through the X3? I heard it's possible to sing and play guitar at the same time through it. That's what I'm interested in. At the moment, I have a UX-2 interface and it does this quite well, but it uses the computer's CPU for its amp simulation. And I plan on using my Acer Aspire One netbook for my looping because it's so incredibly cheap and I wouldn't need to worry about bringing my main computer (MBP) to a gig.

Anyway, I would love to hear some thoughts on the X3.

Cheers,
Axel

PS: those are some big sounds on your soundcloud page. Nice.

wow... it's like a better version of the template I got from Mother Brain in using the FCB1010. very inspiring.. do you happen to have any videos of any of your live performances.. sounds like a killer setup.. Question though.. how has looper changed how you use the FCB..

A thought:

Since I'm also performing live with Live I can't help myself wondering:

which audio interface you have & how do you deal with latency issues?

I have only one question!

How the jebus do you deal with your CPU load???

nuxnamon wrote:do you happen to have any videos of any of your live performances?

I was wondering the same, it would be interesing to see how you perform with your setup!

LoopStationZebra wrote:I'm using a nanoPad and 2 nanoKontrols.

I was thinking about getting two of them, does Live recognize them properly as two separate devices?

musiker01 wrote:Thanks for posting this. Actually, improvising live with just my guitar, voice and Live is one of my big goals for the future. I'm especially interested in the Line 6 X3. I've been thinking about getting one and was quite disappointed by its lack of midi in. So, do you switch X3 patches by triggering Midi clips with the FCB1010 and the midi then getting sent to the X3 via USB? How stable is this setup? Do you play bass and guitar through the X3? I heard it's possible to sing and play guitar at the same time through it. That's what I'm interested in. At the moment, I have a UX-2 interface and it does this quite well, but it uses the computer's CPU for its amp simulation. And I plan on using my Acer Aspire One netbook for my looping because it's so incredibly cheap and I wouldn't need to worry about bringing my main computer (MBP) to a gig.

Anyway, I would love to hear some thoughts on the X3.

Cheers,
Axel

PS: those are some big sounds on your soundcloud page. Nice.

I've got the X3 Live; which does have MIDI in/out. I looked at the X3, but decided against it because of no MIDI. I'm very pleased with the X3 Live. The only thing that sucks is that it doesn't have the ability to sync with a MIDI clock. I've had to set up a dummy clip to send a CC note to the X3 Live's tempo. Easy workaround, but it would be nice for Pod to change that.

I change patches on the X3 Live in two ways: 1. Via dummy clips in live or 2. Through the Gearbox software. I'll keep Gearbox open (very low processor usage) and just flip over to select whatever patch suits me. Very easy and quick. The FCB is purely for firing new clips.

I play bass, guitar, and Stick all through the X3 Live (though my Stick got destroyed and I'm having a new one made, grr). You can also plug a mic right in and use that and guitar at the same time. This would need to be done with the 2 tone setup (one tone for guitar, one for your mic). That's easy to setup in the software (or hardware), and there's 2 separate line-outs for each tone. Because you are using a mic in this setup, 2 tone guitar sounds won't work though. I run my mic through my Motu, so I've not used the X3 Live's mic input at all.

nuxnamon wrote:wow... it's like a better version of the template I got from Mother Brain in using the FCB1010. very inspiring.. do you happen to have any videos of any of your live performances.. sounds like a killer setup.. Question though.. how has looper changed how you use the FCB..

I don't have any video, but I've been meaning to record a performance. It's on my list, lol. Maybe I'll try to whip up something quick.

Looper itself hasn't really changed the way I use the FCB. I had an extra bank on the FCB, so I mapped 4 of the pedals to the Looper. It's one of the coolest new features of Live 8. Not just because you can get the tempo going, but mostly because of the cool layering you can build up. Sometimes I start with Looper, sometimes I'll lay down loops the standard way using the FCB, then go back to Looper. It's great to have Looper on the input tracks only - because I never save any loops there.

LeifonMars wrote:A thought:

Since I'm also performing live with Live I can't help myself wondering:

which audio interface you have & how do you deal with latency issues?

I've got the Motu UltraLite (pre-mk3). I'm happy to report that there's no latency issues at all. I'm running at about 254 samples in the buffer.

Also, the only external MIDI sync I've got going is to my Prophet08 and the X3 Live. I'm fortunate in that I've never had any sync drift issues either. The clock is always very solid.

UKRuss wrote:I have only one question!

How the jebus do you deal with your CPU load???

LOL. Very VERY carefully. It's always a challenge. Just standing still, I'm at about 15% load. Once I'm rolling, and ESPECIALLY when I kick in Alchemy, it can jump to 60% - 70%. I'm always very mindful of Alchemy. It's an amazing bit of softSynth kit, but with certain patches loaded I'll experience HUGE glitching and pops if I try to do more than 3 voices. . Some patches I know I can get away with the full 8 voices, others not so much. I really need to manually limit my voices on those troublemakers (which you can do, but I just haven't yet. Lazy bastard.)


@Gab
Yes, both the Korg Kontrol Editor software and Live recognize the 2 nanoKontrols as separate. Very nice. In fact, I don't know that there's even a limit on how many you could add! Interesting. Hmm.

Funny though. A lot of folks really really HATE to interact with their laptops during a performance. I love it, and have no problem at all cruising around and working the machine. I have to really, because copying and pasting clips isn't something that can be automated. At least not 'til MaxForLive.

@Rave
lol. Well, I look at other people's templates and feel the same way. There's a few things in Live that I think I understand pretty well, but other things....like intricate FX controls via these SUPER RACKS that everybody seems to be building? Forget it. I'm totally lost. Warping is another. I don't really have to warp anything, but am fascinated and frightened when I try to follow one of those threads.

LoopStationZebra wrote:@Gab
Yes, both the Korg Kontrol Editor software and Live recognize the 2 nanoKontrols as separate. Very nice. In fact, I don't know that there's even a limit on how many you could add! Interesting. Hmm.

Great, then I have to order a bunch of nanos! And thanks for the informations concerning your setup, I'm really loonking forward to see how you perform with it!