Ableton Forum

Hi Gang

I am about to take the plunge with Ableton...

What I am after is foot control via midi of real time loops. I know Ableton can do this but I need some help on what is best as far as midi foot triggers.

What I do! I am a bass player and create songs live using one bass to build up tunes. This was no problem in the past but I now want to incoporate some of the grooves I use to practcie to in the studio.

So i would have maybe 3 or 4 loops that I need to be able to stop and start that would be saved on the hard drive and then record replay my basses stopping and starting using loops 3 or 4 of them..

Which is the best controler?
Any that I can title funtions with?
I am fine with programming gear and stuff so if its a good bit of kit but a bit tricky I like the challenge.

Take a butchers at me latest tune on link below....

Cheers
The Hogman
http://www.myspace.com/stevehoggart

I am a multi-intrumentalist (and fretless bass player) doing exactly what you describe. I use a behringer FCB1010, giving me 10 footswitches, with 2 more for bank up/down. There are 10 banks. It also has 2 expression pedals.

There are several things on the market that will do the same job, but it's all in how you use it. To do the sort of live looping you're talking about, it can be done easily enough within ableton, but by utilising bomes MIDI translator you can half the number of footpresses and vastly simplify the process. I have written a full tutorial here. http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=63839

The method outlined requires some techy knowledge (so you'll have fun) and will provide a fully bar quantised single touch recording rig. It's the most streamlined recording process I could think of.

Cheers very mucho