Surround Sound in Ableton Live

[rutgermuller]

I've been composing with 8 and 4 speakers over the last month and I must say the effect can be incredible. It's like going from mono to stereo all over again.

I've been trying to do it as simple as possible. By using return tracks for all speakers and automating the correspondonding send levels coming from the instrument tracks.

I've also tried using the Audio Effect Rack, with crossfades, to control the send levels in a more intuitive way. I got the info on how to set that up here: http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=124877. The problem with this is that there's no crossfade between the first and last speaker, and you can't pan further that 360 degrees.

What I would like to see is a control for
-Panning movement: circular, star shaped, random
-Panning curve: like in the autopanner, make the transitions longer or shorter (rounder or squarer)
-Panning speed: bpm synced or unsynced

I own Max for Live, so I'm also looking forward to patches that can help me with this.

Added a poll just for fun, surely surround sound will stay a niche, but I hope support will be implemented nonetheless.

What are your experiences, problems, ideas, questions and patches?

[alexjboyce]

Found in the Racks topic:

stefan-tiedje:

"I made a rack to spatialize sound. Up to 8 speakers. At the moment it is here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/288305/St.pace.zip

It will move to MaxForLive.com as soon I can upload zips there...

Have fun...

Stefan"

Max For Live patch, lets you do crazy surround stuff with up to eight speakers.

Haven't tried it out yet, but looks awesome.

[rutgermuller]

Great man, thanks a lot! I'll check it out right away.

A friend of mine also made a Max for Live patch for an octaphonic setup, it seemed to work well. I hope I can convince him to finish it and post it here. It worked with a lot of Soundflower virtual audio channels though.

[rutgermuller]

Has anyone been doing live sets in surround?

[oblique strategies]

Has anyone been doing live sets in surround?

I've performed in quad many times. It is my preferred way to work. Like you, & others, I use Return channels as busses to individual speakers. Typically, I don't use automation, but mix in real time.

A friend of mine also made a Max for Live patch for an octaphonic setup, it seemed to work well. I hope I can convince him to finish it and post it here. It worked with a lot of Soundflower virtual audio channels though.

Please do, I'm keen on hearing more about M4Live solutions.

I've been composing with 8 and 4 speakers over the last month and I must say the effect can be incredible. It's like going from mono to stereo all over again.

I couldn't agree with you more! I used to use 6 speakers, but have limited it to 4 since I'm more likely to be have opportunities to perform in this way, & my current studio is smaller than my previous studio.

You might want to add your name to this feature request:
http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php? ... hilit=quad

[3dot...]

I think a 'surround master-track' is in order.. in fact it should be a priority for v9

[SubFunk]

i voted 'there is better software to do this'

i under no circumstances want to see that ableton ever implements that, get another apps if you do stuff like that.

damn, we have enough nightmare with live already to put in what others do much better already.

get logic, or something along those lines.

[mihai]

i'd like surround sound support provided, as subfunk brought up, live would be at a stable stage.

[3dot...]

^^^all there is to do is implement panning laws and routing...
I already output to multiple physical outs..as is
make it sortof a 'group' track..
don't think it's gonna break live..
I think it's silly not to have it..
especially since we got a potentially powerful tool like max inside live..which other softwares don't

[deHaan]

Has anyone been doing live sets in surround?

Yep http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=124877

[rutgermuller]

Found in the Racks topic:

stefan-tiedje:

"I made a rack to spatialize sound. Up to 8 speakers. At the moment it is here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/288305/St.pace.zip

It will move to MaxForLive.com as soon I can upload zips there...

Have fun...

Stefan"

Max For Live patch, lets you do crazy surround stuff with up to eight speakers.

Haven't tried it out yet, but looks awesome.

Tested it a bit and It's really good .

[rutgermuller]

Don't know what this is... http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device.php?id=165

[rutgermuller]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a good sound interface with 8 outputs?

[chris vine]

RME fireface etc or Presonus firestudio for starters.

I use Live for quad sound in live situations. Currently running quad plus a sub bass and two onstage monitors with an RME Fireface400.

I use sends within Live to output the audio. It works but would rather have a real surround panner - but I gave up on the idea that the Abes will ever implement this as they have said it would require a major rewrite - no idea why that is seeing as you can route audio wherever on tracks and sends. Am not going to ante up for M4L just for a surround pan just yet either...

[3dot...]

...m4l offers no help in this matter anyways