Ableton live for a live show

[cynic one]

My setup I think is gonna look like this...

Laptop / ableton live
Cheap digital mixer (yamaha 01v)
Ensoniq DP/4
Midi foot board to control it all

All the information I can track down on Live has to do with digital DJing. I'm not so much interested in that, as I am just firing off my backing tracks at the correct tempo, and perhaps syncing an external digital mixer to the right tempo as well.

Really, I'd like to link it up to some sort of midi foot board, where I could stop / play / skip tracks, and maybe switch effects on and off using the DP/4.

Anyone have experience doing this or can lend any pointers?

[moogz]

hey,

You can set up a fairly versatile MIDI environment in Live, hit Ctrl+M to start 'learning'; click the control/phrase/scene you want to trigger, then hit the corresponding foot pedal and you're set.
Once you start the process it should seem fairly self evident.

To trigger the DP/4, set up an independent MIDI track (shift+ctrl+T) with a set of program change controls; when you double-click inside a track to create a new phrase, then set the Bank/Program number in the 'Notes' segment of the variables to the left of the MIDI notes display.

You may want to program an 100% dry effect which you can trigger in order to disable the DP/4.

[filin]

it's a lot easier than it sounds. Ableton will serve you well

[cynic one]

Thanks for all of the info so far. Anyone have specifics on having multiple full-length songs with their own tempo in a project? Meaning...I want to be able to switch tracks, and switch tempo at the same time.

All the stuff I've read has to do with warping and beatmatching full tracks. Is there some special keyword I should be searching for that will help me find information on what I'm looking to do?

[moogz]

Presuming the backing tracks are simply individual audio files, played alone, this'll be a piece of cake.

Ableton warps files when they come in based on its settings; hit Ctrl+, (comma), then jump into the Record Warp Launch section.

Set 'Loop/warp short samples' to Unwarped, and 'Auto-warp long samples' to Off.
Now when you trigger an audio file, Ableton will straight up play it instead of molesting it.
The tempo time displayed top left will have no bearing on the BPM of your audio track; that will only affect MIDI events.

By the way, the '1 Bar' drop-down on the left of the Transport and right of the pencil icon should ideally be set to 'none' - this means when you hit the pedal, it'll act then instead of waiting for an irrelevant bar to end.

(By the by the way, I found myself listening to all your myspace tracks cos I share those nineties vibes of your influences - good job!)

Experiment with what your pedal setup and see if you can elegantly and easily do what you want to achieve, and we can look at issues as they come up.

[cynic one]

Damn cool appreciate that moogz. Now all I need to do is find out how to sync the tempo on the dp/4 and the mixer and I'll be golden...

Well, I gotta actually buy the o1v, midi pedal board, and a cheap laptop now too. Off to do more research.