How to mange a huge liveset?

Mark-K. · Post by **Mark-K.** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:16 am

Sorry if that has been asked many times before..but it would be nice if someone could give me an advice..

its the basic problem..i got several tracks(sessions) ,like for an hour liveset..and want to know how to open the next session without loosing sync or even sound while loading another session?to put everything in one big session and use program changes might be one way..but is there another option?

thx mark

martin808 · Post by **martin808** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:30 am

i love a liveset, but i couldn't eat a whole one.

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:35 am

you probably need to build something like this:

grizzler · Post by **grizzler** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:14 pm

got it in one!

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Mon May 05, 2008 12:22 pm

Im building a live set..

By using program change and rack select change, pluss drum racks/instrument racks. It is possible to cram a lot into few tracks..

So its basicly just a long session project like the picture above.

Bagle · Post by **Bagle** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:50 pm

thats what i do for live sets.

but i only use 8 tracks max, to hlp with clutter
and if i need anything else, i have it ready in the browser to drop
as soon as i need it..
anychance you stil have that screen shot lying around, would love to see it in full

Coupe70 · Post by **Coupe70** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:51 pm

nice that this is discussed again, so i don't have to open a thread...

what i don't understand when i read about these huge livesets:

when i do songs i use all kinds of different plug-ins, ableton, vst fx, vsti.
so i don't see how to put this into ONE liveset afterwards, because every song has totally different plug-ins in its tracks. am i missing something or do all of you work completely different ?

ze2be · Post by **ze2be** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:10 pm

Coupe70 wrote:nice that this is discussed again, so i don't have to open a thread...

what i don't understand when i read about these huge livesets:

when i do songs i use all kinds of different plug-ins, ableton, vst fx, vsti.
so i don't see how to put this into ONE liveset afterwards, because every song has totally different plug-ins in its tracks. am i missing something or do all of you work completely different ?

Thats why ive started producing directly in the live setup project..

Dividing into what I want to play, and what can run in the "background".
For the vsts that I use to play, I use program change inside the clips.

Also using 3rd party plugs instead of abletons plugs, because you can use them on the same midi channel on the same controller.

I do use some ableton plugs though, for things I want be tweeking live.

Bagle · Post by **Bagle** » Mon May 05, 2008 6:27 pm

well using drum racks,you can have all your drums just use different octaves
and hey presto that problem solved,
with different instruments and vst vsti and what not..
either have them on a track and just turn them on when needed,
or you could have them in the browser and drag and drop

its not that hard

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Tue May 06, 2008 7:42 am

Coupe70 wrote:nice that this is discussed again, so i don't have to open a thread...

what i don't understand when i read about these huge livesets:

when i do songs i use all kinds of different plug-ins, ableton, vst fx, vsti.
so i don't see how to put this into ONE liveset afterwards, because every song has totally different plug-ins in its tracks. am i missing something or do all of you work completely different ?

how many of that vsts and effects do you really tweak during your concert? I found that I mostly sing, loop stuff and mangle it, or play one or two instruments.

In order to reduce cpu load I am freezing/flattening the clips in the original song's set and use them as playback-clips without plugins.

I always can drop in delays, livecut/beat repeat / whatever in order to play around with the material, but the main clips have all plugs and effects imprinted and don't require any plugs on their channel to work.

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue May 06, 2008 8:33 am

Coupe70 wrote:what i don't understand when i read about these huge livesets:

when i do songs i use all kinds of different plug-ins, ableton, vst fx, vsti.
so i don't see how to put this into ONE liveset afterwards, because every song has totally different plug-ins in its tracks. am i missing something or do all of you work completely different ?

What I do is lay out the clips for each individual song in left-to-right / top-to-bottom diagonal blocks.

I also have each song's Clips, Scenes, Plugins and Mixer parameters receiving on a different MIDI channel. Song 1 "listens" to MIDI ch1, song 2 listens to ch2 and so on. The result is, I can have my MIDI controllers set up with a patch (or preset) for each song - each patch transmitting on the necessary MIDI channel. So, with just the push of a button on my controller, each new song is instantly available .

Check the pic below and you can see the MIDI assignments in the Master channel for 3 different songs (The song "Melt" receives on ch 8, "Lost in Translation" on ch 5, and "Sensi Dub" on ch 9):

I have my rig set up so that I don't have to touch the computer or look at the screen while gigging. There's a video demoing how the setup works here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=1siG6_Pd-Mg

hope this helps!
paddy

Coupe70 · Post by **Coupe70** » Tue May 06, 2008 9:07 am

how many of that vsts and effects do you really tweak during your concert?

pepezabala, that is really a good point !
i should stop thinking "oh, no, i won't render it, i MIGHT want to tweak it" - i
WON'T tweak the most things, you are right.

What I do is lay out the clips for each individual song in left-to-right / top-to-bottom diagonal blocks.

Pitch Black, that's what i tried, but i felt kind of stupid, because i always
saw screenshots of completely vertical livesets on this forum. good to see
that someone else works like this... and thanks a lot for the great idea with
different midi channels. i never thought about that. will have a look at the
video...

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Tue May 06, 2008 10:32 am

well - its nice to be able to tweak SOME things.. but i suppose moderation is good for the cpu..

coupe, have you checked out clip-automating "chain select" on efx racks (having different effects in different chains of a rack)? this has cleaned up my sets alot.

Bagle · Post by **Bagle** » Tue May 06, 2008 10:34 am

very nice pitch black, love seeing peoples sets..

em 90 tracks?
whats on al the other ones if you dont mind me asking

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Tue May 06, 2008 11:00 am

Bagle wrote:em 90 tracks?
whats on al the other ones if you dont mind me asking

Each of our songs has roughly 12-24 tracks because we like to keep things separated so we can send parts individually to dub, and drop things in and out on the fly.

Our master track layout on our "mixer" is:

kick / snare / bass / hats / perc / misc drums / inst A / inst B / inst C / inst D / Akai sampler / Video-Misc.

So that's 12 channels. But each of these channels is often fed by more than one track, so our sets get pretty wide...