Ableton Forum

Well not really, but sometimes, when my eyes hurt from looking at the screen, and I feel like im not getting anything done, I crave some other way of recording.
I wanna be able to play all my synths and stringed instruments.... and sing to come to think of it.
Maybe I should just set up a live set to record everything, and turn the contrast down on my laptop so I cant touch it.
Any thoughts?

Then you should try the screen of an old DX7.

I'm using my Roland R-09 to record my acoustic guitar. Get a bunch of loops and then edit away in Live. Enables you to work away from the computer. This weekend I sat down on a stool in the bathroom and got some arpeggios going. The sound of the room proved to be awful when I listened back to it, though. So I crept in underneeth my daughters bed (she has a play hut there) - that space was much more dead and I got an acceptable recording.

Inspiring.

-M

shhhhhhh it will hear you...


with a good controller you can separate yourself from the computer further. maybe turn the brightness down on your screen. if you really crave old school cut a narrow slit into a piece of paper and put it over your screen so you can only read one line at a time.

Tone Deft wrote:...cut a narrow slit into a piece of paper and put it over your screen so you can only read one line at a time.

Ha!

...and put a brown/orange plastic filter over it to emulate that old amber screen.

Thats hit the nail on the head, the thing is to be able to make music away from the computer. I need a mixing desk, and a simple recorder.
Does anyone use a good simple hard disk recorder?
For some reason, I would prefer not to even have to turn on the computer at all.
i have a faderfox controller, and I suppose I could set it up to record/stop/loop etc, and STAY aWAY FROM THE SCREEN! Ill try it tonight. How exciting.

I like the "field recorder" rather than a "porta". I always carry it in my backpack. I've used the music room at the college where I work to record acoustic drum loops. I've just opened the lid of our upright piano and placed the recorder there. At Fuerteventura a few months back I recorded sounds at the beach. Music and travel memories.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/master_stereo_recorder.html

-M

jesso wrote:I need a mixing desk, and a simple recorder

you could use live's session view as that simple recorder. seems sensible not to just completely abandon it, should try it for other simpler uses first maybe ?

+1 b0unce. if you want external recorders, the korg series is nice, not too expensive, and sound really nice. used a d1200 for a while, loved it, but do not regret switching to live. i love computer recording.

jesso wrote:Thats hit the nail on the head, the thing is to be able to make music away from the computer. I need a mixing desk, and a simple recorder.
Does anyone use a good simple hard disk recorder?
For some reason, I would prefer not to even have to turn on the computer at all.
i have a faderfox controller, and I suppose I could set it up to record/stop/loop etc, and STAY aWAY FROM THE SCREEN! Ill try it tonight. How exciting.

I'm actually in the process of proposing making this a Masters project for an MMus - I have had Live since 2002/03 and I have been trying ever since to create this flexible performance/realtime production environment and every time I sit down and try to work out what to do it seems like a huge task so I put it off till I have the time, which of course I never do

it's my ultimate goal to be able to come to the computer and just start making music without fucking around or looking at the monitor/using the mouse - like playing a real instrument

but setting that up will take quite a bit of time and be an involved process

Tone Deft wrote:shhhhhhh it will hear you...


with a good controller you can separate yourself from the computer further. maybe turn the brightness down on your screen. if you really crave old school cut a narrow slit into a piece of paper and put it over your screen so you can only read one line at a time.

That's awesome

I was sort of craving some MPC sequencing lots of synths, drum machines and samplers action the other day

and I was like

"bro, all you need to do is buy a BCR or BCF and a new soft toy and you'll be back in business"

hello

yeah, I totally feel like programming little LCD's with lots and lots of menus within menus

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... highlight=


on the mpc note all i can say is wow and double wow, I found out that with my mpc 1000 I can get as deep or not as deep as i'd like and it's flawless.
I think that many people don't know what they are missing when it comes to the mpc, they see these vids on youtube of some wanker remaking 50 cents 'in da club' and the rap hate gets's a hold of them and then there is no way in hell they would ever use one (not you adonis, i know you had one)
but if there is one piece of kit i picked up in the last 5 years that has been musicaly liberating it's the MPC. and I can't believe how cheap the mpc 1000
is, new it's like $1000 but used and in great condition i got it for less than half and you can find them for 400 -600, anyway this is how it works out for me.

I've got maxed out ram, a cf card slot and huge hard drive inside that little box,
tons of samples and inspiration
plus it has a feature called autoload, where you can decide what get's automaticly loaded up when you turn it on.
it has 99 programs, which you can think of as instruments, so i've got drum programs, bass, programs, synth programs, piano, organ, on and on, some of the programs I've got are super duper professional multisampled programs that sound designer types would be really into, but it's also very fun to just hear a sound you like and sample it real quick and get down to business with it.
so on my hard drive i've got the serious instrument programs, but in my auto load folder i've got the quick dirty edits for bass synths and other stuff so that when i get an idea i can just turn it on and get straigt to writing, no macbook in the way, no osx or xp to bother me. the sequencer is exceptional, you've got a step sequencer, grid editor, or if you're like me and you just like to bang on the pads there you go. you've got sampling, resampling, realtime sound mangling with the two fader/sliders and 4 banks of pads. you've also got 6 outputs and you can route whatever you want through them so when you hook back up to your computer you can track out easily.
when i'm in the coffee shop with alot of other people on reason or Live and their laptops and me with a pair of headphones and an mpc it's a totaly diff experience. I could never stop using Live in a million years but the combination of the two is staggering.

it would be easy for you to sample all of your softsynths and load them up and have them ready to go in your mp, no computer in sight, on top of that
the mp has audio tracks, thats right i said audio tracks, so plug in a mic and record some vocals

Hey EgAD, have you been able to upgrade the internal ram on your 1K? Im maxed out at 128mb and find this to be somewhat limited. I also used to use the autoload feature but after building a track in the MPC I would run out of internal memory especially if I start recording audio straight into the MP. I would try and purge but I had so many programs auto loaded that I didn't use and that made me go and delete those and so it turned technical and thats why I tend to always go back to LIVE for its unlimited restraints.

So back to the original post I would rec an MPC any day if your wanting to get away from seq with a computer, especially the 1K and don't forget it is hackable with the latest JJ OS which is sick. I won't name all the new features but it now has ADSR for filter and volume.

jesso wrote:Well not really, but sometimes, when my eyes hurt from looking at the screen, and I feel like im not getting anything done, I crave some other way of recording.
I wanna be able to play all my synths and stringed instruments.... and sing to come to think of it.
Maybe I should just set up a live set to record everything, and turn the contrast down on my laptop so I cant touch it.
Any thoughts?

I was in a similar place a few months ago so i decide to take the plunge and invest in some hw.First i got a korg emx to test the water after seeing some vids on youtube.And then a yamaha RS7000 came along so i grabbed it.I finf the combination of hw and sw gives the perfect balance.Lay down ideas on the RS and record into live.The synth onthe RS is also very nice and it's got excellent fx.Also has step sequence and grid record,overdub etc.16 track sequencer.loads of editing feature uch as beatslice,timestretch,loop remix,resampling.I'm still discovering new things about it all the time and it just gets better..

The mpc sounds excellent.If i was in the market i'd definitely be looking at one of those

I tend to turn my monitor of completely from time to time. Especially when listening back to arrangements and mixes. Makes you use your ears more rather than seeing which elements are coming in and out.