Ableton Forum

hello there—
I have encountered a major problem with Live's Quantization.
It is of course great that one may switch between global quantization types to trigger clips or entire arrays of clips not just to every bar but to 1/16s, 1/4s etc. — even to have the option of triggering clips directly without changing the global quantization is very useful. But what happens when one has to trigger clips or even entire rows without quantization? Say, one has a singer on stage one supports musically and just when this singer reaches a certain point in their vocals one wants to continue the set despite what the actualy clock says? One would have to set the global quantizaion to "None", which is easily done by making use of cmd+0. Cool. But what happens if one then wants to continue in syncronised mode? changing the global quantization back to "1 Bar" or the like leads to dreadful results because unfortunately, the master-clock keeps running and ignores the new rhythm you find yourself in after having triggered clips (or rows for that matter) directly without quantizaion. This means one cannot return to quantized trigger modes without messing up the rhythm! This is awful! How on earth can I solve this? I did not find anything useful... I actually really need help on this because I had to devise complicated strategies to work around it and they do not work out live very well (because obviously I have to trigger subsequent clips/rows manually as for the master-clock is no longer dictated by what is now running (after having made use of "None").
Can someone relate to this or does someone have a solution?

Help appreciated and urgently needed!
Thx
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on stage, in the studio, wherever you got a computer and DAW + a band, there's always a tempo tictac somewhere.

thinking about the music partition, everything has to be timed on the grid.
Even if you got some tempo tricks, bpm downs/ups.

A drummer need a tempo clic if there's a computer+daw on stage.
I tend more and more to think the piece I want to compose and placing it right in time.
It will be more obvious when you have to work with a band.
A break without any beat doesn't mean the tictac doen't go on its course.

My guess is you really have to think your piece of music considering the grid.
Don't forget you can change time signature and bpm in session view.

On stage no room for guesses, that's why rehearsal is meant.
Every musician knows what (s)he has to do and when.
Good Improvisations on stage are happening because the band truely know its set.

just my two cents.

Instead of using Global quantize, set quantize to none for the desired clips (under launch properties)
Regards

simple... "click" to the singer/drummer..
because when you come back (non-quantized) it still starts on the 1..

thanks everyone.
i have checked out all those options, unfortunately though, they cannot be satisfactory for my purpose. This is mainly because I don't actually support a singer on stage but a poet, who cannot possibly synchronize his words to the set without having to part with his emotions. Despite the fact that we hadn't had much time to rehearse or practice for that matter, I still reckon it is a flaw within the ableton daw that one cannot decide whether one wants a continuous master-clock (clicks) or not.... because why on earth must music be this static?
I actually do make use of tempo changes within the session view, and that is where I encountered another problem, because when one switches from one row of clips in 120BPM to another in 180BPM there must never be a discrepancy between the individual quantization types... as for the clips triggered earlier will warp to the momentary tempo and as soon as the global quant. changes to the new tempo they will follow... but this is minor and there are ways around it.

thank you though
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Maybe a two laptop configuration would be able to do what you're looking for? Perhaps when you want to bring in the clips you fade out the one computer and play the other? Or record part of your set and play it with another sound program on your computer? You could use large fadeins/outs to smooth the transitions.

Vios wrote:Maybe record part of your set and play it with another sound program

The only workaround to this issue (in my exact case) is to make use of non-quantised arrangements within the set (easily introduced but uncomfortably maintained) and to return to quantised mode at a non-rhythmical gap in the music where a break within the poetic piece can be introduced. This is how I will now solve it. Additionally I will make use of the nudge function to keep track of the poetic performer.
playing back a bridging sample in a background program does alternatively make sense though because one could fade out and STOP the entire Live session while this bridge is running and then return in quantised mode directly because there is no clock running any longer...

I have now adapted to the technical environment and found a way of handling it, though not exactly satisfactory.

PS: the issue with poetry is that it cannot be timed correctly as opposed to rhythmical speech (rap) or sung vocals which will automatically stick to the running grid. the poetry is dynamic and underlies the momentary mood of the performer who cannot precisely pay pedantic attention to the melodies and rhythms without losing his or her focus, this is why I admit that this issue of mine isn't really a major issue to most, yet it is to me because I have to find ways to adapt to the flow and breaks of the poem, some of which are crucial in order to evoke certain moods through accentuation of specific words and phrases. Let's say another big issue (which can bring this post to a close) is that originally I produced the musical accompaniment in Logic and transferring the channels and waves into Live is closer to hell than is getting robbed and disemboweled in India's arid areas. Therefore variable time signatures imposed on pre-bounced wavefiles as well as non-quantisation methods are destined to cause headaches, especially when looping and jumping is thereby no lnoger possible.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions though! appreciated!
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