Ableton Forum

Hello Folks, I wish you a Merry Christmas!


I am not an Ableton specialist. Especially in the automation of Ableton I'm not so experienced. Rather I feel at home in Logic, but since a while I need a DAW software for my live performances. For that I use Ableton as a software loop station similar to a hardware solution like the RC 300 from Boss. I found somebody who created a nice working live set for me, which serves me now as a variable basis for all the songs I want to perform with Ableton as a software loop station.

In the live situation I play various stringed instruments and Ableton plays for each song a pre-recorded accompaniment with piano, keyboard and drum sounds. Usually I start live with playing the guitar and in the repetitions I play either bass guitar, mandolin or the cello to it. At the same time I record these live instruments in separate channels, so during the performance "the band" grows by several instruments.

So far I use a footcontroller (Roland FC 300). But kicking the switches on the controller really is annoying, because I would rather like to focus solely on playing the instruments. That's why I dream I could replace the controller with a pre-programmed automation.

MY QUESTION IS: Would it be possible somehow by pre-programming for each song that Ableton AUTOMATICALLY...

a) ...starts the recording at a certain point, e.g. at bar 30 on channel 8
b) ...stops the recording e.g. at bar 50 and then
c) ...starts another recording e.g. at bar 70, now on channel 12 and
d) ...stops this recording again e.g. at bar 90 etc. ???

e) ...in addition by pre-programming for each Song: Could Ableton be able to jump also automatically back and forth between different parts of the song (scenes). For example, from bar 100 to bar 30, and from bar 50 back to bar 100, etc.

...IS THAT POSSIBLE SOMEHOW ???

I am not asking how to do that, but I'm asking whether such an automation is fundamentally possible. Without a Controller would be great!


Sincerely yours
il Claptones

Oh man, that's tough. Of course it may be because of Christmas. Or maybe I'm at the wrong place here. Or because I put my question too stupid. Or because nobody likes me. Yes, that's probably the reason why nobody wants to answer me...

I don't think that is possible.

You post deep questions over xmas and demand they are answered..... I think not....

Tarekith wrote:I don't think that is possible.

Thanks for your answer. What you write is actually the answer that I had feared. Because I don't know that much about the more complex levels of MIDI programming I was a little bit hoping there could be a possibility somehow with sequencer and MIDI messages.


When you say: "I don't think that is possible" you say "NON of it is possible", don't you?

Yeah, it's the answer that I had feared. What a pity.

Mark Williams wrote:You post deep questions over xmas and demand they are answered..... I think not....

I was not demanding, I was just begging. But thanks for the confirmation of what Tarekith said.

One way I think you could achieve this is with MIDI loopback. I know this is possible on a Mac but not sure about Windows.

Are you using a mac by any chance?

I was going to answer MIDI loopback as well. It would certainly do SOME of your tasks, but without sitting down and building the whole thing it’s hard to be sure.

Conceptually it’s very simple, instead of using the MIDI commands in your foot controller to do tasks in Live, you have a pre-made MIDI Clip in Live that plays, and sends the MIDI commands OUT from Live, and back IN again. This can be a hardware or software “loopback”.

Anything that can be mapped to MIDI control inside of Live (in your case, recording on specific tracks, and jumping between sections of songs) can be triggered by a MIDI Clip playing from Live.

Loopback is quick and easy to set up in OSX using the IAC bus, and there are several PC software solutions, or you can just use a hardware MIDI interface and connect a 5-pin MIDI lead from the MIDI OUT socket to the MIDI IN socket.

Have a look at this thread. Your Loopback Clip could play either from Session or Arrange View, depending on how you want to work. Essentially, you want to record the MIDI commands that you are currently sending from your foot controller into a new MIDI clip inside Live, and then have that MIDI clip "play the part of your overworked feet".

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=214885

Hope this helps! Let us know how you get on, or if you have more questions.

RoP wrote:One way I think you could achieve this is with MIDI loopback. I know this is possible on a Mac but not sure about Windows.

Are you using a mac by any chance?

Yes, I'm using a macbook pro and a Fireface. Thanks for your answer RoP, you give me hope...

Pitch Black wrote:I was going to answer MIDI loopback as well. It would certainly do SOME of your tasks, but without sitting down and building the whole thing it’s hard to be sure.

Conceptually it’s very simple, instead of using the MIDI commands in your foot controller to do tasks in Live, you have a pre-made MIDI Clip in Live that plays, and sends the MIDI commands OUT from Live, and back IN again. This can be a hardware or software “loopback”.

Anything that can be mapped to MIDI control inside of Live (in your case, recording on specific tracks, and jumping between sections of songs) can be triggered by a MIDI Clip playing from Live.

Loopback is quick and easy to set up in OSX using the IAC bus, and there are several PC software solutions, or you can just use a hardware MIDI interface and connect a 5-pin MIDI lead from the MIDI OUT socket to the MIDI IN socket.

Have a look at this thread. Your Loopback Clip could play either from Session or Arrange View, depending on how you want to work. Essentially, you want to record the MIDI commands that you are currently sending from your foot controller into a new MIDI clip inside Live, and then have that MIDI clip "play the part of your overworked feet".

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=214885

Hope this helps! Let us know how you get on, or if you have more questions.

Wow great ! Thank you Pitch Black! This opens up completely new perspectives on my automation dream. The last days I was travelling and did not have a look at this thread, especially because I was disappointed about the first answers.

But you show me a way now. The keyword for my next research will be > MIDI Loopback < !

I allready had a cursorily sight at the thread of your link. This seems to be exactly the MIDI dimension I was dreaming of. Phantastic!!!

For sure I have a few questions and of course I will collect quite a few more, the more I get deeper into it. But beforehand I have to get acquainted with this MIDI Loopback a bit more, to prevent my questions being too stupid.

First of all I am grateful for the advice and the link you gave me and I will go in research now quite happily. This will take a while. I am not that quick in such new topics.

Thanks again and I will be back to report.

Yay - happy to help! Out of interest, are you currently working out of Arrange or Session View?

Mostly Session View