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Live/dj setup in Ableton Live
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Ascension
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 21, 2009 22:40:11
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I'm curious if anyone has done this and/or advice on how to do it. I know Tom Cosm has a video on adding things to an ableton dj set, but if I remember right, it's just effects/dj tricks. This will be slightly different.
I would like to add some live elements to a dj set in Ableton live. I'm gonna start by trying this out with a chill set to keep things simple. At the basic level, I would like to play some percussion live or drum loops as tracks are playing. I wanted to know if there was a good way to add this in to a dj set. Should I just load some sounds/loops and activate them as I please, or is there a better way to do this? I haven't dj'd with ableton before otherwise I probably would have this figured out already  . Any help/advice would be great. Thanks!
  http://soundcloud.com/ascensionsound
www.chilluminati.org - Midwest based psytrance group |
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
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601
Posted : Apr 21, 2009 22:48
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Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi
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Posted : Apr 21, 2009 22:55
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I know there are certain synths with arpeggiators that allow you to send the apreggio note (instead of just the note played when holding down a key or chord). You can route the midi channel the arpeggiator is performing on to a drum rack in Ableton so each note of the arpeggio plays a different drum sound, and (if the arpeggiator is good enough) you can design your own arp sequences based on the notes/chords you play.
Also, very shortly the Akai APC 40 Ableton controller is coming out. It has an extensive button matrix which you will be able to custom program yourself, meaning you can set the button matrix up to trigger drums in an ableton drum rack, for example, instead of simply triggering clips in session view.
It only will cost 400 USD and it comes with a special copy of Ableton Live Lite 7 made just for the controller to interface with, with a free upgrade to the full Ableton 7 version. That thing has all you need for doing what you want to do in Ableton for a very cheap price for what you get.
'Nuff said.... it's gonna be completely badass.
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Ascension
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 21, 2009 23:19
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I have a korg padkontrol fyi
I've seen some cool videos where people group impulse versions together to create neat drum racks.
I think this is totally possible atleast for chill. Do you guys think I should just make a channel with some loops/whatever else I want and activate/play those as I please throughout the set? http://soundcloud.com/ascensionsound
www.chilluminati.org - Midwest based psytrance group |
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shellbound
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 21, 2009 23:29
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depends on how much work you want to do and what you are trying to achieve. there are many ways you can use your padkontrol for this. look at that post spindrift made. you can totally adapt it to the padkontrol. search youtube for 'phat conductor' to see how people use controllers for mouse-less "djing" with ableton.
this is a great forum for this kind of info:
http://www.abletonlivedj.com/forum/ (duh!)
they have a lot of racks you can download to do some glitches, beat-repeats, etc.
it's really up to you how complex you want your set-up to be.
https://soundcloud.com/dead-end-dance
https://soundcloud.com/shellbound |
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Spindrift
Spindrift
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Posted : Apr 22, 2009 02:33
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The problem I can think of is that to play instruments live on top one would presumably like to load various presets.
Unfortunately MIDI tracks in Live doesn't seem to work as nicely as audio tracks when it comes to loading the chain of effects associated with a track.
When you drag an audio track into the file browser Live will create an .als with all the clips as well as the effect chain of that track. If you like to be able to use different banks of loops or fx on channel 3, you could easily do it using that method without any modification to the configuration...just browse and load as you would for a .wav file but instead load the .als onto the track.
If you could load a MIDI track the same way it would be easy to make use of track 4 as a live instrument track with the ability to easily select different instruments, effects and settings.
It would not be too difficult to make one button load a preset onto an instrument in track 4 if that would be sufficient.
The setup I use can seem a bit complex before you try it out in action, but everyone who tried it so far caught on how to use it pretty much instantly. And being just a set with scripts, labels and a live project it's easy to customize according to your own preferences when the need arises.
I have been looking at lot at different controllers on the market and tried to find something that makes sense if you use 3-4 tracks, need to trigger loops, want to be mouseless and have dedicated controls for many different effects per track.
For example the APC 40 seems nice, but would not be very good for DJ'ing the way I use Live for a couple of reasons:
1) Too few knobs...I don't want to have to switch between controlling effects on track A and track B since I many times like to control both at the same time.
2) The lit pads are nice, but for me pads are for drumming. For triggering clips quantised to the beat like you do in Live I rather have have something more compact. It can be nice for jamming with clips and certainly has it's place for both production and live use, but for DJ'ing it has too few knobs and buttons considering the space needed, weight one have to carry around and the money it costs.
If you like something for serious clip triggering I would look at something like a POS keyboard with a matrix layout with 64-128 buttons. They are not cheap if you think if them as keyboards but they are very sturdy and very good value as controllers....a 64 key is around €150.
For mixing and controlling I just love the BCR2000. It could have nicer feel to the knobs but the number of buttons and knobs and the features are really amazing. The only alternative I could find is the Bitstream 3x and the M-Audio UC-33, but they lack the LED's of the BCR which are pretty nice to have in a DJ booth...and they both have too few buttons.
As soon as you get into triggering clips and adding a lot of effects you will want many knobs and buttons. Having too many is very rare while having too few is very common. Switching presets on your controllers to access all the functions really is very counter productive in my experience, and having dedicated controls for everything is extremely helpful.
Some kind of keyboard with a good layout and a BCR2000 can be had for €150 all together.
After playing around with those you will at least have been able to explore configurations enough to figure out what controls you like to have.
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Ascension
IsraTrance Full Member
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Posted : Apr 22, 2009 02:59
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I guess a basic setup I'd like atleast for now would just be to load 2 columns with tracks to go back and forth between in each, send channels for fx, and some channels that I can arm to play that have percussion sounds and drum loops.
http://soundcloud.com/ascensionsound
www.chilluminati.org - Midwest based psytrance group |
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Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi
Started Topics :
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Posted : Apr 22, 2009 10:27
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Quote:
| For example the APC 40 seems nice, but would not be very good for DJ'ing the way I use Live for a couple of reasons:
1) Too few knobs...I don't want to have to switch between controlling effects on track A and track B since I many times like to control both at the same time.
2) The lit pads are nice, but for me pads are for drumming. For triggering clips quantised to the beat like you do in Live I rather have have something more compact. It can be nice for jamming with clips and certainly has it's place for both production and live use, but for DJ'ing it has too few knobs and buttons considering the space needed, weight one have to carry around and the money it costs.
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You're still going to be able to route the knobs to whatever you want, as well as build your own custom layouts for the thing. Setting up the pads to act like Akai's other drum controllers is also doable.. but with this one you get more drum pads than akai's other models. Also Ableton is supporting their project sharing campaign and youa re going to be able to download apc40 setups made by others which of course then you can adapt to your own personal needs.
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x-rayz
IsraTrance Junior Member
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Posted : Apr 22, 2009 12:27
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Spindrift
Spindrift
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1560
Posted : Apr 22, 2009 13:06
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Quote:
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On 2009-04-22 10:27, Axis Mundi wrote:
You're still going to be able to route the knobs to whatever you want, as well as build your own custom layouts for the thing. Setting up the pads to act like Akai's other drum controllers is also doable.. but with this one you get more drum pads than akai's other models. Also Ableton is supporting their project sharing campaign and youa re going to be able to download apc40 setups made by others which of course then you can adapt to your own personal needs.
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Sure, don't get me wrong. For a lot of people the APC 40 will be awesome and I'm considering one for studio use myself.
But for DJ'ing it doesn't seem that great, and I have seen a lot of DJ's having the same concerns as me.
That doesn't mean that it's not suitable for your style of DJ'ing since everyone tends to use Live their own way.
But you cannot configure it to have more knobs and buttons, so if the number of physical controls is limiting for your way of working it's just not a good choice of controller.
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geekhorde
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
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207
Posted : Apr 22, 2009 14:42
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I'm using the DM2 by Mixman with DM2 to Midi to control Ableton. Actually, just got this working last night. But the possibilities are very very cool, for a controller I bought at a garage sale for $10.
There are two separate pads, left and right, each with 8 different 'buttons'. I was using these last night to trigger scenes. There's also a very workable crossfader, which once I figure out how to integrate that into my set, should make things more interesting.
Anyway, I heartily recommend it if you can find it cheap. Very useful. |
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Dancing_Zombies
Started Topics :
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35
Posted : Apr 27, 2009 22:55
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I seriously thinking about getting a Lemur that would be great in a live set!!! Look for the video on remix hotel teaching how you can set one up for with a step sequencer for live. The only down fall is the price..
If ps APC 40 seems like a good piece to add to a live set.. I belive did mouse uses one along with a xone 4d mixer which also is an awesome machine
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