Ableton - changing of the guard (feat. control surfaces)

Feigan · Post by **Feigan** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:18 am

I posted this in the music thread by mistake - this looks like a more suitable posting area for this topic.

So I'm about to buy a copy of Ableton Live.

Was using it last night with a friend and I loved it - nice and simple to understand, easy to control.

Spies Dawg is helping me out with some tutorials on how to use.

Does anyone else have any advice, tips, suggestions on Ableton.

My main use for starters will be to put down mixes again (which I haven't done for a long time) with the hope to be able to get good enough to use to play on as a platform.

I'm excited

Post by **system** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:19 am

all good - i'd already moved it.

Feigan · Post by **Feigan** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:20 am

Thanks Sys - can you delete one of them now that they're both here?

Smile on Impact · Post by **Smile on Impact** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:38 am

yeah dude,

ableton is tha bizness for mix tapes.

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:46 am

Yeah Feigs I just got a copy too mate, very cool indeed, heaps of fun.

Got some samples last night, cant wait to sit down and have a play with them.

Feigan · Post by **Feigan** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:35 pm

sweet action - looking well fwd to it!!

will report back with updates as we go through.

pumped as for this

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:09 pm

this for playing live or making tunes?

sketch in session view
build our tracks in arrangement
look into drum rack, effects racks, effects groups
audio routing and dummy clips are useful
as are follow actions and the such

there are a few ppl here that use live as there main DAW that can add more

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:15 pm

also this thread is packed full of useful information
http://forum.ableton.com//viewtopic.php?t=27120

Lauer · Post by **Lauer** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:54 pm

Musictech magazine has an ableton guide included in this or last months issue.

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:45 pm

Starting to get more and more into Ableton.

I love how simple it is to grab one shots from a sampled drum/instrument audio loop and create your own loops.

Feigan · Post by **Feigan** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 4:47 pm

Legends - thanks heaps guys.

really appreciate your help.

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:12 pm

Direkt wrote:Starting to get more and more into Ableton.

I love how simple it is to grab one shots from a sampled drum/instrument audio loop and create your own loops.

yeah the slice tool in live 7 is a welcome addition

By design · Post by **By design** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:21 pm

dig that I love the fact that you can split out your own production into loops and do a mixture of live beats and dijital Djing. Also being able to loop out sections of tracks and on the fly means for quick mash ups.

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 6:54 pm

new akai controller looks sick
http://www.akaipro.com/apc40

unsoundbwoy · Post by **unsoundbwoy** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 7:50 pm

sick sick sick

nic · Post by **nic** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:00 am

spiral wrote:new akai controller looks sick
http://www.akaipro.com/apc40

damnnnn id like one of those, I just got a MPD24 for djing with abelton, but that looks more 'buttony' and fiddlable, maybe too much hmm. what controllers and what kind of setups inside abelton are people using for djing?

_ _ _
edits: its made for abelton zomg.
wonder how much imo

ATP · Post by **ATP** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:53 am

Lauer wrote:Musictech magazine has an ableton guide included in this or last months issue.

I just back ordered the logic version of this and its amazing!!

RE: Ableton, I use it for mixes all the time and love it. Its also now great for production, the latest version has decent eqs and native fx/samplers etc. To be honest I rarely use any VSTs now, just the native stuff! Best thing about it, its simple and logical to use.

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:17 am

nic wrote:wonder how much imo

Only just been announced yesterday.

All shall be revealed shortly.

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:21 am

I have MPD24 and M-Audio Xponent to controll all Abletons bells and whistles

I also have Torq 1.5 (which is what I mostly use Xponent for) which will rewire to Ableton aswell

I know Snowie is rocking the MPD-32 and the korg 04 that can be midi mapped

nic · Post by **nic** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:25 am

i want keyboardless control with only mpd24. im finding it a bit difficult though. may need further investigation

tbh not very rewarding mixing with mpd :1

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:38 am

tbh not very rewarding mixing with Ableton full stop but this is just my opinion ofcourse

I have only had it Ableton for about 3 weeks now so I am still going through some tutorial and reading alot

If you are keen on a more rewarding mixing experience you should have a look into Torq and Xponet

Hella fun

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:41 am

Numark NS7 will be the business Mr Sly Stone.

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:44 am

My oath it willI have had my eye on it for a while now mate

It's actually my screen save here at work at the moment

Gota have a reason to keep coming back here ha ha ha

Saw vid of it at the NAMM show and was blown away

Love my turntables and records

Love my Xponent and Torq

Put them to gether and all the planets align ha ha ha

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:46 am

Aww yeahhh!

Not cheap - but looks like a solid piece of kit.

Hopefully about 4-weeks off from hitting our shores.

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:53 am

Wow that is very cool news 4 weeks!!! gonna have to start pimping Evil out hardcore to get that sort of smash together

I have been checking out all of the dj/midi controllers and the NS7 is by far the best looking and built unit I have come across, but like you said mate it comes at a price but im pretty sure when unpacking that bad boy and nailing your 1st mix/scratch the $$$ will be the last thing on your mind

Bring on the NS7

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:12 am

I'm with ya mate.

Thinking about going without food for a while to get my hands on one.

Shifty-Sly · Post by **Shifty-Sly** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:14 am

or we can just wait out the front of a shop til some poor fool walks out with his brand new NS7 wack him over the head with a donk and it all ours

spiral · Post by **spiral** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:51 am

just been catching up on the live stuff from NAMM
live 8 has got some goodies in there, and the max msp add on for the nerds
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/01/1 ... #more-4760

Flash · Post by **Flash** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:55 pm

this looks the biz Its a collab with vestax and ableton.

Watch the posted video on YouTube.

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:16 pm

It went through a few revisions. This is how it looks now.

resist · Post by **resist** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:10 am

I started out using Ableton only for live sets, but got hooked and started producing complete tunes in Ableton.

For control I'm using a Zero SL:

Its been pretty good to me, but I'll eventually upgrade to something like the Vestax.

Post by **system** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:13 am

this is the biz:

akai's apc40

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:36 am

that is definatley getting there

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:54 am

Tascam's old US2400 would probably be right up your alley if you could track one down ac23... they weren't cheap, but they were fucking awesome.

Discontinued now, unfortunately. They just got too expensive to produce.

Maybe you could find one second hand.

I don't think the Novation Zero has motorised faders. In fact, finding a pure MIDI controller with motorized faders limits your options. I think Behringer make some cheap unit of some sort - although they might just be 60mm faders.

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:26 am

http://www.maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/UC33e.html < can get these pretty cheap steve, might be what you're after?

touch sensitive motorized fader was more impoirtant to me than multiple faders. I couldnt afford both so I got the Frontier Design Alphatrack which has one big motorized fader. I'm pretty happy with it, desk-space:functionality ratio is pretty sweet. Once your muscle memory tunes into the bank switching it may aswell be a whole desk anyway, not like you've got enough hands to ride every fader at the same time.

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 11:30 am

can understand the appeal of having more faders infront of you though. It just really shits me when I'm trying to automate something and the midi cc jumps around because the fader is not where it's suposed to be when you start recording - end up either having to draw in the gaps (which kinda defeats the purpose of having faders) or redo the whole section again.

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:01 pm

For motorised bizzle, Mackie Control is the bomb. Also check out the Euphonix controllers.

The other option is touchscreen stuff like the Lemur (awesome but way too expensive)

or a Stribe kit.

The Midiman Surface One would've been great too... if it had ever been released in the end.

Should this be split into a Thread About Control Surfaces?

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:16 pm

LOVE the Euphonix stuff.

Looks so sexy.

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:05 pm

Lephrenic wrote:The other option is touchscreen stuff like the Lemur (awesome but way too expensive)

Actually, with the specials on Lemurs at the moment, it's probably as cheap to buy a return flight to the US and buy one in person.

Hmmmmm.....

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:12 am

you're a lemur

Direkt · Post by **Direkt** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 10:30 am

It's true.

I read it on the internet.

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:06 pm

I'm multi-touching myself right now.