Ableton Forum

So checking the wiki and various other threads, it looks like its possible to have a simulated program change using a dummy clip. I am thinking in terms of a synth track with Operator plus a few effects in the chain.

Then with dumy clips you can effectively set the starting positions for all the parameters you want to control.

As the wiki explains, you need to set the starting position to 100 or 0, depending on the parameter type. This makes sense the first time you trigger a dummy clip, but what about each of the following changes. So you start your set with all the parameters nicely zeroed, and launch the clip to tweak their values. But how do you rezero everything, so that the second dummy clip works nicely as well?

And any value you dont explicitly set in your dumy clips is potentially uncontrolled right? Liek if you go and tweak some obscure setting in Operator, and you didnt set the value in your next dummy clip, its going to stay tweaked, right?

It sounds like using this setup is not quite so important now that you have selectable racks in 6, I havent seen it yet. Does it basically make this whole workaround redundant? Thats the way it looks from the forum posts. I wanted to check before investing a weekend in all these dummy clips...

eddit wrote: It sounds like using this setup is not quite so important now that you have selectable racks in 6, I havent seen it yet. Does it basically make this whole workaround redundant? Thats the way it looks from the forum posts. I wanted to check before investing a weekend in all these dummy clips...

Indeed, in 6 you can line up all of the MIDI instrument patches in rack chains and then select the zone of the one you need to play.

Don't waste your weekend

you're right, it can be done. what you can try as well is recording the preset changes as you do them into arrangement view, chop out the changed sections and drag them into session view as dummy clips. i'm not sure it works 100% but it might make life easier than setting every parameter in each clip...

like relcad says though, live 6 makes this even easier again.

Clearscreen wrote:you're right, it can be done. what you can try as well is recording the preset changes as you do them into arrangement view, chop out the changed sections and drag them into session view as dummy clips. i'm not sure it works 100% but it might make life easier than setting every parameter in each clip...

like relcad says though, live 6 makes this even easier again.

Aah, nice idea. I was thinking what would be cool is to be able to dump all controls to a midi clip, but now that racks are here, I guess ableton doesn't need to worry about this workaround approach anymore

doesn't it use a hell of a lot of resources to have every synth vsti loaded x-fold into a rack, just so you can switch presets?

I'm trying to find a way to automate program changes, but it's not really working so far (the only way that half-works is recording the program change in arrangement view, then dragging the clip into session view...)

dummy clips work fine to switch between the presets in one rack.

but is it possible to switch the rack-presets in different tracks with one dummy clip?

so how do you switch presets with dummy clips? I haven't found any instruction on how to, neither in the manual, nor in ableton live 5 power, nor in the wiki...!

downtownbrad wrote:dummy clips work fine to switch between the presets in one rack.

but is it possible to switch the rack-presets in different tracks with one dummy clip?

I'd simply fire a scene with the dummy clips on each track...

2 davec1:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=
live 6 only
(thanks to the covert operators)

2 machinate:
that doubles the amount of tracks...but if you'll do so...it seems to be to only way?!