Ableton Forum

Hi guys,
please forgive an ignorant bastard for asking stupid lengthy questions...
I am not yet a user, so my questions are based on what marketing hype tells me about Ableton Live; and I'd like to know REAL users' opinion on this.

In my dream Ableton Live setup, I have a Moog LittlePhatty Stage2 and another stereo source (mic + boxes) connected through an mbox (4 inputs) into the macbook pro (with lots of AU plugins since I'm currently a Logic user). I also want to put in a Novation Launchpad.
In a live situation, I'd like to do this:

1) Start looping some prerecorded synths and samples from Live, while the drummer builds up the beat
2) I start improvising a bassline on the Moog, with the drummer(he's not in the Ableton Live setup though), tapping tempo as we go.
3) When the bassline is settled, I push a button on the Launchpad to record the MIDI of the bassline into a cell in Live.
4) The (MIDI) bassline then loops around courtesy of Live, while I go bananas on it with the Moog's filter, envelopes and so on.
5) When it's time to move on and add another layer from the Moog, I push another Launchpad button and record the AUDIO of the Moog bassline (while MIDI still being feed from Live) into a cell in Live.
6) Now I can add another layer from the Moog, MIDI to audio like with the bass, and record that into cells in Live.
7) I now have two (audio) layers of Moog playing from Live, and the Moog itself is freed up for a nice patch to play while singing, OR I control a soft-synth with MIDI from the Moog.
8.) I push a button or two in the 2nd column on the Launchpad to move into the next section (called "Scene" in Live I think) of the song, keeping the two Moog lines from the first. The triggered cells play sequenced stuff using plugins.
9) I start singing, and can use the Launchpad to trigger FX ON LIVE VOCAL feed. The FX are plugins on cells in Live.
10) After a breakdown, the drummer builds up again, and I can TAP TEMPO on the Launchpad to make sure all cells in Live, even the recorded Audio from the Moog, is played back in sync.
11) Using a drum rack in Live, I add some extra drum layers on the Launchpad (trigering samples).
12) Having recorded one vocal chorus, I feed that out to the Moog (by pushing a Launchpad button) and go filter crazy on it.
13) I restart the MIDI bass pattern from 5) and make more filter love.
14) We fade out, and the crowd (my mother) goes wild.

8< - - -

Q1) Is such a situation actually possible in Live? It's almost too good to be true.
Note for example that I am looking to record MIDI on the fly, and then bounce that MIDI back as audio LIVE - with effects/filters tweaked live.

Q2)What about latencies - What prerequisites must be met to avoid hickups and delayed response?

Q3) Is tap tempo even possible, and can Live really stretch/compress audio in a live situation like this?
To what extent must loop durations be pre-planned.

Q4) What is "drum racks" in Live (blush), and would it be better to use a secondary controller (with velocities) JUST for the drums? (exclusively mapped with MIDI channel #).

Q5) How smart is Live when it comes to fitting new cells into a scene; do they automatically loop OR stretch to fit the scene's length? If you can choose, is that possible to do live?

Q6) Can I map a controller knob to FX in Live and have them be exclusive for the current scene? OR do the regular MIDI CC match rules apply (plugins in different scenes all respond to the same knob even though their scene is not currently playing.


Yep, I know I ask a lot of questions. But it would be great if someone actually read the above and think the situation through, so we could discuss on the feasibility of realising this "wet dream". I see amazing things being done with Live, but can't leave the thought that there is a catch somewhere! 8-o OR perhaps there are lots of hacks and WA's applied, that are nice to know about.


Cheers;
E!

I'd start by downloading the demo

One thing I'd change about the dream is not using tap tempo. That would become a nightmare. 1. Your clip would have all kinds of warping issues (well, maybe not if as you say, you are running midi), two, syncing a synth line to a drummer would be a pain in the ass.

More realistically, and almost always the case, the drummer wears monitors to sync to some kind of reference coming from you.

Hope that helps chisel your fantasy closer to a reality

I have downloaded the demo and activated it.
But 30 days may not be enough time to try all this.
It maybe kind of advanced use of the application - I don't know.
Hence this forum post. I want to know as much as possible before forking out.

Thanks for your reply, though!
Cheers;
E.

Ohhh. I would have suggested not activating it yet so you can fiddle around. And then doing the 30 day trial when you feel better with it

You can definitely try to do the most basic elements of your ideas now. You don't need a LP right away . I actually really enjoy using Live with nothing connected for practice. Getting acquainted with the flexibility.

To start off with, global quantization is your friend. If set to one bar, you can trigger a blank clip slot (highlight it and hit enter) just before a bar starts. Jam out with notes. Then when you feel it ought to 'come back around') hit enter again. From there you can twist midi controls for filters and stuff. Keep this important tidbit in mind: overdub will determine if notes are added and if cc parameter changes are recorded onto a currently playing clip.

Looping is another can of worms. Two options:
(unfortunately neither of them is an immediate bounce, although that might be workable too)

1. You can use Looper to record audio and even overdub. (probably works nicely in conjunction with the Ext. Instrument)
2. You can make audio channels with blank scenes explicitly or looping audio. Common for guitarists/beatboxers/ etc.

Hope that is a start haha. Play with the details and see if you can eventually combine it

i dream of Live's gui all the time, no joke

its never gotten 'wet' though haha...

i dream i'm doing amazing stuff

then i wake up, lol

1-14 is all very much doable and pretty much the way a lot of users work, give or take parts of your dream and what they are trying to accomplish.
I don't know about the tap tempo thing.. but mom is going to be rocken!
For me, one of the biggest wishes was that Ableton would one day implement Sysex.