Ableton Forum

I'm a newbie here, be gentle!

Here's my problem...

I use arranger keyboards (don't groan, they've got their uses!) and some time back, most Rolands had a feature that would record JUST the chords that you played, live, and then on command, would play them back into the arranger, freeing up your LH (normally tied up playing those chords) to do whatever - solo two handed, use the bender, play another instrument, you name it (swig on yer beer!)... Just like an audio looper, except for MIDI.

But in their infinite wisdom , they dropped the feature ten years ago.

So, essentially, what I want to know is, can Live do this?

I can get my keyboard (a Roland G70) to send out MIDI clock and JUST the MIDI ch# that controls the NTA (Notes to Arranger - essentially what the arranger uses to figure out which chords to play). I would like Live to sync to this, and upon command, start recording this sequence at the next bar, then upon another command, start playing BACK the sequence it has recorded, all seamlessly.

So I can play the head to a piece, hit the command, and have the laptop take over the task while I solo, then go back to my own playing afterwards, all without interrupting the beats. It has to be seamless, it has to do it while synced to the arranger (not the other way around), but if it can do this, I will be on it tomorrow!

Any ideas?

the arrangement view has a loop bar, like any other daw.

you can just loop this however long you want it and play and record anything you want over and over again.

im sorry i dont know if i understand your question all the way

I'm not sure I understand exactly either. Can't you just assign a note to start recording a clip? When you hit the note again it will just start looping whatever you played. Or am I totally missing the question?

The idea is, you are playing the keyboard. The keyboard outputs the MIDI of the lower half of the keyboard (your LH area). This is the MIDI channel that the arranger uses to figure out what chord you are playing, then the arranger plays the style.

So, essentially, I need something that is constantly listening to this channel, but it doesn't drop into record until I tell it to. And it needs to drop into record at the barline AFTER I hit whatever cues the recording (and it would also be VERY handy if it could be triggered with the spacebar or something big and easy to hit!) and it needs to somehow 'capture' the chord that starts the sequence even if I play it fractionally early (a few ticks).

Essentially, it's JUST like the idea of an audio looper... it is ALWAYS listening to what you play, but drops into record only when you tell it to, then stops recording and starts playback (at the next barline) with just the one command. Also, once you have hit the loop stop (so you can go back to your own playing), it can either resume playback of the loop with one command, or record a different loop with another.

If you think about it, this IS what audio loopers do (especially the ones locked to MIDI clock so the start and stop points are synced to the beat).

I'm just looking for a MIDI solution to do the same.

I'm still not 100% sure if im understanding this correctly (I dont really play the keyboard well, and have never used an arranger keyboard). I would suggest that you do a search for clyphx. it's a series of action scripts made for live that add a lot of extra functionality. I know that with this you could at the very least set up live so it will start and stop midi recording after a set number of bars. As far as recording things that you play slightly early - I think using record quantization should be able to capture those notes.

The idea is, you are playing the keyboard. The keyboard outputs the MIDI of the lower half of the keyboard (your LH area). This is the MIDI channel that the arranger uses to figure out what chord you are playing, then the arranger plays the style.

So, essentially, I need something that is constantly listening to this channel, but it doesn't drop into record until I tell it to. And it needs to drop into record at the barline AFTER I hit whatever cues the recording (and it would also be VERY handy if it could be triggered with the spacebar or something big and easy to hit!) and it needs to somehow 'capture' the chord that starts the sequence even if I play it fractionally early (a few ticks).

This should be easy- as long as you have the global quantize set to 1 bar, you can hit the record button anywhere in the bar before and it will drop into record at the next barline. (if you use clyphx, you can also get it to automatically stop recording and start looping without requiring another keypress) Also record quantize should capture any chords that are a few ticks early.

Essentially, it's JUST like the idea of an audio looper... it is ALWAYS listening to what you play, but drops into record only when you tell it to, then stops recording and starts playback (at the next barline) with just the one command. Also, once you have hit the loop stop (so you can go back to your own playing), it can either resume playback of the loop with one command, or record a different loop with another.

If you think about it, this IS what audio loopers do (especially the ones locked to MIDI clock so the start and stop points are synced to the beat).

I'm just looking for a MIDI solution to do the same.

I guess the prat im not clear on is the "always recording"

I mean audio loopers only start recording when you hit the record button and then end (and start looping) either when you push it again or after a certain number of bars. From my understanding, this is exactly what live does with mid information as well.

Also- just to be clear, the behavior im mentioning is how live works in the "session view"
I don't believe this would be possible in the arrangement view.

Recording clips in session seems to be what you want...

But from what I understand its not really looping midi thats of interest to you, but looping the audio result of HALF the keyboard.
Your chord side as you name it..

Try a midi effect rack on your midi track with your synth. then use the key zone editor.
create to chains to create a slit in your keyboard. put the looper effect you seem to having a good time with on the chain for you left hand.
That way when you hit your space bar or midi button for looper it will only loop part of what you were playing

Is this making sense for you?

I think this would achieve what your looking for...

unless you want to be able to loop a midi section then while its playing change the synth its triggering...
that would be more challenging