Ableton Forum

Hi all. First timer poster here!

I have:

• Ableton Live Suite 9.7
• Launchpad Pro
• Isotonik Follow (in Max4Live)
• Win laptop
• My songs from Cubase chopped up into convenient clips

Goals:

• Perform my pop/soul-songs live with backing tracks, playing keys/git and sing
• Navigate easily within my songs to some extent (like keep solo going longer or getting to the end quicker before audience falls asleep)
• Choose between 15-20 songs at will

Expected solution:

• a. Put each song within an 8X8 grid (ie max 7 scenes plus one to stop Follow)
  b. Assign pads on the Launchpad to move the yellow grid to any song, for example in User Mode (preferrably with different colors per song to reduce risk of choosing the wrong song)
  c. After choosing a song (ie moving the yellow grid), getting directly to Session mode and happily moving through my great songs by launching scenes
  d. Hear crowds roaring

Problem is b. above. Only option I've found is to navigate by holding Session. Then I can choose from 8 songs/grid positions by hitting pads in row 1-8. And get to next pages of 8 songs by hitting the Arrows.

This works but leaves room for confusion. Which page am I on!? All pads are red - which song is pad 7!?

Any better ideas on how to achieve b. above? Ie a way to program pads that move the yellow grid to an arbitrary position.

Or any other solution to achieve the goals?

I have been constantly tinkering with making a heads-up display (in M4L) with huge text on it which shows a bunch of things I need to know on stage. (I don't need to the the Ableton interface to the HUD replaces it)
I have a similar setup to you, 8 group tracks in Live and I am mostly dividing my Live songs up into 8 x 8 grids. If a song is more complex than that it gets another 8 rows.

I title the clips something damn obvious "Bat out of Hell - Intro Kicks" in the kick channel, or a clip title like "Never Gonna Give you Up - Acid" in the melodies channel (or whatever)
Then the headsup display shows those titles very large when I trigger them.

All that's fine to show where you are ... but additionally what I have is a track 9 which is called "Notes". The names of the clips in there are things like "start to play in D minor you idiot!' and "is the audience bored yet, NEXT SONG!"

Currently, my Notes system is broken though as the initial version relied on my pressing the clip to call up the text prompt. what I want to do is get the ring of the launchpad and get whatever notes are one track to the right of it. But I've been too busy with the actual music part. I've essentially got to get it finished in the next few weeks though.

so, those are ideas.
solutions ... that's something else!

Angstrom wrote:I have been constantly tinkering with making a heads-up display (in M4L) with huge text on it which shows a bunch of things I need to know on stage. (I don't need to the the Ableton interface to the HUD replaces it)
I have a similar setup to you, 8 group tracks in Live and I am mostly dividing my Live songs up into 8 x 8 grids. If a song is more complex than that it gets another 8 rows.

I title the clips something damn obvious "Bat out of Hell - Intro Kicks" in the kick channel, or a clip title like "Never Gonna Give you Up - Acid" in the melodies channel (or whatever)
Then the headsup display shows those titles very large when I trigger them.

All that's fine to show where you are ... but additionally what I have is a track 9 which is called "Notes". The names of the clips in there are things like "start to play in D minor you idiot!' and "is the audience bored yet, NEXT SONG!"

Currently, my Notes system is broken though as the initial version relied on my pressing the clip to call up the text prompt. what I want to do is get the ring of the launchpad and get whatever notes are one track to the right of it. But I've been too busy with the actual music part. I've essentially got to get it finished in the next few weeks though.

so, those are ideas.
solutions ... that's something else!

Thanks a lot for a quick reply! Very interesting to hear how others think about playing live with Live.

But my need is sort of the opposite. It’s not the need to know where I am but how to get to where I want to be.

Any other takes?

Hey there,

With Max for Live this is possible. The focus ring of the launchpad can be moved to a defined point in your set. Check out this for instance:
http://www.maxforlive.com/library/devic ... ve-red-box

Another option is to use Clyphx - you can set up Clyphx clips which can move the launchpad's focus ring to a defined spot (you can get it to jump to a scene name for instance).
http://beatwise.proboards.com/thread/99 ... phx-live-8

chymera wrote:Hey there,

With Max for Live this is possible. The focus ring of the launchpad can be moved to a defined point in your set. Check out this for instance:
http://www.maxforlive.com/library/devic ... ve-red-box

Another option is to use Clyphx - you can set up Clyphx clips which can move the launchpad's focus ring to a defined spot (you can get it to jump to a scene name for instance).
http://beatwise.proboards.com/thread/99 ... phx-live-8

Thanks so much!

GlyphX seems just like the ticket. I could immediatly find methods in the documentation that seem to do just what I want!

I might be satisfied with the default functionality, we'll see when I get to try out my setup in a realistic situation. But it's comforting to know that it's possible to customize things if I feel the need. Really greatful.