Ableton Rig Setup Q/A
Posted: Mon May 12, 2014 10:03 pm
Hi All,
I'm a newbie to ableton and digital music making - and I would very much appreciate a QA on the rig that I am about to build for live looping using ableton 9 Live. I've gleaned this information from self learning, and reading tonnes of user communities to do with Ableton. I'm very open to others opinions or suggestions.
I'm not a newbie to music making and live looping, but up until now I've been very analogue based, and used only hardare loopers such as the boss rc300. Below is the detail on what I'm going to use it for and the rationale behind why I've chosen the hardware I want to use:
1. What I do musically and what I will use this rig for:
I currently gig and use an analogue setup that consists of mixing analogue channels into a boss rc300 loopstation and then out to front house. I play guitar, Bass and drums and a little keys through this setup and it has worked well for me todate - though I am now finding it limiting. I am aiming to replace this with ableton 9 Live, a good external sound card, a foot controller with a good feel for live looping and maybe the new push controller or USB keys. The following sections detail the equipment I've landed on and Why.
The Soundcard:
The front runner for this at the moment is the Roland OctaCapture 8. The reason for this is the quality of the preamps; the low latencys this card can consistently deliver; the mid range price point; and the solid drivers that accompany this box. There are many other soundcards out there, but they all seem to fall down in one or other of the above requirements, or they are too expensive. RME fireface for example ticks all the boxes, but costs too much, focusrite looks good and is prices right, but there are a number of posts that say latency is an issue ... I need something that is rock solid, and quick-lowlatency for live loop gigging - and the roland seems to fit the bill while not breaking the bank.
The Footcontroller:
The foot controller I've picked is the Behringer FCB1010. The reason for this is that it seems to be a defacto standard for foot controlling Ableton. Lots of people out there use this thing, it's built like a tank for live, it has a good number of pedals for controlling functions - and tho programming it is annoying - it's solid once programmed. It also looks like my rc300 - so I somehow feel more comfortable with the idea of it. I've very open to suggestion for other footcontrollers tho. I need a good one that feels good underfoot and has the sensitivity for time based looping of on-the-fly live tracks.
The Workstation:
To start with I'll be using a windows 7 64bit HP laptop that will be optimised for ableton. I'm not sure how well this will go and don't have a good feel for the differences and practicalities for running on the windows platform VS Mac. Obvously low latency, and solidness are key.
Keyboard or ableton 'Push':
This is an area I've not researched widely yet. I am a crap keyboard player - so the push does seem appealing if it's simple to use - it also seems to have deep hooks into ableton, so could be far more useful than a USB keyboard.
All the other bits I currently have:
I'll still be using alot of what I already have - some nice analogue guitar pedals that go through a stereo sansamp pair - and for the acoustic stuff I do an LR Baggs venue DI. I have a td 20 that is triggered off an acoustic kit with ddrum triggers. Also have a shure wireless system for vocals. All will route through the Roland Octocapture.
The approach I'll use to getting this rig going:
I'll buy the octa capture and behringer first and essentially replicate what I do now but through the soundcard and Windows 7 DAW. This means getting used to performing live drums, guitar and vocal through this platform. I'll then get the keys or push a bit later once I have more confidence in this set up.
THank you in advance for everyone who comments or give feedback on this post. I am frankly a bit nervous about spending this much money - and swapping out my old trusted platform, but I also know the opportunities and flexibility of this platform are worth it if I get it right. I'm also very keen to try and avoid costly purchasing mistakes - hence this post.
Thanks Again, Hamish
I'm a newbie to ableton and digital music making - and I would very much appreciate a QA on the rig that I am about to build for live looping using ableton 9 Live. I've gleaned this information from self learning, and reading tonnes of user communities to do with Ableton. I'm very open to others opinions or suggestions.
I'm not a newbie to music making and live looping, but up until now I've been very analogue based, and used only hardare loopers such as the boss rc300. Below is the detail on what I'm going to use it for and the rationale behind why I've chosen the hardware I want to use:
1. What I do musically and what I will use this rig for:
I currently gig and use an analogue setup that consists of mixing analogue channels into a boss rc300 loopstation and then out to front house. I play guitar, Bass and drums and a little keys through this setup and it has worked well for me todate - though I am now finding it limiting. I am aiming to replace this with ableton 9 Live, a good external sound card, a foot controller with a good feel for live looping and maybe the new push controller or USB keys. The following sections detail the equipment I've landed on and Why.
The Soundcard:
The front runner for this at the moment is the Roland OctaCapture 8. The reason for this is the quality of the preamps; the low latencys this card can consistently deliver; the mid range price point; and the solid drivers that accompany this box. There are many other soundcards out there, but they all seem to fall down in one or other of the above requirements, or they are too expensive. RME fireface for example ticks all the boxes, but costs too much, focusrite looks good and is prices right, but there are a number of posts that say latency is an issue ... I need something that is rock solid, and quick-lowlatency for live loop gigging - and the roland seems to fit the bill while not breaking the bank.
The Footcontroller:
The foot controller I've picked is the Behringer FCB1010. The reason for this is that it seems to be a defacto standard for foot controlling Ableton. Lots of people out there use this thing, it's built like a tank for live, it has a good number of pedals for controlling functions - and tho programming it is annoying - it's solid once programmed. It also looks like my rc300 - so I somehow feel more comfortable with the idea of it. I've very open to suggestion for other footcontrollers tho. I need a good one that feels good underfoot and has the sensitivity for time based looping of on-the-fly live tracks.
The Workstation:
To start with I'll be using a windows 7 64bit HP laptop that will be optimised for ableton. I'm not sure how well this will go and don't have a good feel for the differences and practicalities for running on the windows platform VS Mac. Obvously low latency, and solidness are key.
Keyboard or ableton 'Push':
This is an area I've not researched widely yet. I am a crap keyboard player - so the push does seem appealing if it's simple to use - it also seems to have deep hooks into ableton, so could be far more useful than a USB keyboard.
All the other bits I currently have:
I'll still be using alot of what I already have - some nice analogue guitar pedals that go through a stereo sansamp pair - and for the acoustic stuff I do an LR Baggs venue DI. I have a td 20 that is triggered off an acoustic kit with ddrum triggers. Also have a shure wireless system for vocals. All will route through the Roland Octocapture.
The approach I'll use to getting this rig going:
I'll buy the octa capture and behringer first and essentially replicate what I do now but through the soundcard and Windows 7 DAW. This means getting used to performing live drums, guitar and vocal through this platform. I'll then get the keys or push a bit later once I have more confidence in this set up.
THank you in advance for everyone who comments or give feedback on this post. I am frankly a bit nervous about spending this much money - and swapping out my old trusted platform, but I also know the opportunities and flexibility of this platform are worth it if I get it right. I'm also very keen to try and avoid costly purchasing mistakes - hence this post.
Thanks Again, Hamish