Ableton Forum

I mostly didn't use Ableton until recently playing around with the idea of a hybrid performance / dj set. For the most part, I have a good grasp on programming racks, mapping and triggering stuff. Common effects I use are stuff like delay, auto-filter and beat repeat. I find myself putting it on almost every channel. So I thought, "why not just bus this shit over into one channel and save the headache?".

So far, I tried putting my common effects rack over on channel A and then dialing the knob on the channel I want, say, delay on. Works great and makes my control surfaces easier to program for live play. Right now I have a slider for each channel and knob at the top of each slider which I assign to "send to A", then on another part of the board I have buttons that turn the effects on chan A off and on. Is there a way to set up a controller that sends stuff to the aux channels (with effects) and somehow granularly (or like a switch) turn off the original signal but keep sending to aux like a wet / dry pre / post? Also, can this be done with a single controller assignment?

I guess this is more of a basic production and routing question with Ableton. Not sure if I'm describing it well enough but if anyone could give me some advice, I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

hi

sorry to say,but you cant map the pre/post switches to a controller(maybe ill make this a feature request)
but you can set the send channel to pre so it still has a signal even if the channel volume is turned down

and then something mapped to the crossfader or the track-volume would come close,maybe mapped to delay volume too

to really fade the dry signal out independent of the delay yould need two knobs/faders atleast

if i where to do this in a live/preformance situation i would use 3 controller knobs:
1 on the dry track
2 on the send(which should be set to pre)
3 on the delay aux track

hope this explains a bit

seis.

That's helpful. I tried doing something like this last night with some luck but I thought it was a little cumbersome. I suppose I could get used to it.

I was curious if it where possible to keep the fx on every track but use the same surface controls to enable / disable and change parameters depending on which channel is in view? For instance, I have two buttons that enable delay and auto filter on track 1, 2 and 3 but will only control depending on which one was selected? Just trying to figure out the best way to use the least amount of resources to minimize the amount of interaction I will do with a mouse or looking at a laptop while performing.

Thanks for the reply!

as far as i know only the apc40 can do this(controlling diff fx on diff tracks dependent on which track is selected)

seis.

OGP wrote:Just trying to figure out the best way to use the least amount of resources to minimize the amount of interaction I will do with a mouse or looking at a laptop while performing.

i find that the best way to do this is just to simplify the live set. minimize the things you actually need to control (one delay effect on one track is enough for me) and it's much easier to manage.

also, i know lots of people like to set up their sets diagonally so that they can have different mixes for different songs, but i just keep everything in line: drums are the same tracks for the entire set, etc.

in the end, i don't want to look at the screen, i don't want a ton of knobs to remember, and i don't want my knobs to change functions. i think it's possible to abstract the important functions enough to do this.

gzifcak wrote:

OGP wrote:Just trying to figure out the best way to use the least amount of resources to minimize the amount of interaction I will do with a mouse or looking at a laptop while performing.

i find that the best way to do this is just to simplify the live set. minimize the things you actually need to control (one delay effect on one track is enough for me) and it's much easier to manage.

also, i know lots of people like to set up their sets diagonally so that they can have different mixes for different songs, but i just keep everything in line: drums are the same tracks for the entire set, etc.

in the end, i don't want to look at the screen, i don't want a ton of knobs to remember, and i don't want my knobs to change functions. i think it's possible to abstract the important functions enough to do this.

Amen to that! I have decided this is the best route. I've experimented with changing the channel / preset on my controller to achieve a common set of controls for the same buttons / sliders / knobs /buttons, which is something I would do at home but the thought of dealing with this complexity in a live situation scares the shit out of me. I have opted to keep it simple as possible, only worrying about delay on a few channels and one or two things on the master.

Thanks to everyone for replying.

OGP... you have just asked the million dollar question. it seems logical that you would be able to send a track to a bus and while doing so fade the original send track.

this issue has frustrated me the past couple of months since i realized it was possible but no solution has been practical

it seems to be such a simple concept, and would be so crucial for live performances because you can chose to put any track (or multiple tracks) on any effect at any time.

please let me know if anyone has any solutions to doing this

jcobb00 wrote:OGP... you have just asked the million dollar question. it seems logical that you would be able to send a track to a bus and while doing so fade the original send track.

this issue has frustrated me the past couple of months since i realized it was possible but no solution has been practical

it seems to be such a simple concept, and would be so crucial for live performances because you can chose to put any track (or multiple tracks) on any effect at any time.

please let me know if anyone has any solutions to doing this

It's really a pain in the ass. I have assigned an button to "Send A" and put global effects that sound good mixed (like delay) to channel A to ease my brain a bit. That would be cool to be able to route on the fly with a controller! That would save us all allot of trouble.

I bit the bullet and setup 4 different sets of templates that switch CC #'s on a set of 4 knobs while retaining the CC #'s of everything else so if I accidentally switch presets, it doesn't screw everything up. It works but it's allot more work and complexity then I think is necessary for live performance.

Basically I have these presets on my Novation:

1: Ableton Global (default)

(all CC's mapped the same exept for 6 knobs for all these variations)

2: Ableton Chan1 fx
3: Ableton Chan2 fx
4: Ableton Chan3 fx
5: Ableton Chan4 fx
6: Ableton Chan5 fx