best LIVE Sequencer????

[spunkadellic]

i need a sequencer to run tracks on stage.

this will run backup vocals, drum sounds and inst sounds. it will also sync the other keyboards on stage and drive the drummers click.

i am familiar with logic, but i hear ableton live is great....

what do i do???

and i am a mac person!

[Ol' Betsey]

Never used Logic on stage so can't comment but have used Ableton for the last two years and it's never crashed on me in front of an audience.

I use it to run audio, sounds and click and it's rock solid.

I particularly like how you can set up each song as a 'scene', have all the scenes all loaded up in a session/set and then have each song/scene mapped to a key on your laptop and presto.

Things like naming each scene with it's BPM so it automatically changes BPM when you launch each song is great. All the effects lock to the BPM etc and you're rockin'.

R.

[ryst]

Ableton Live works great for me.

[spunkadellic]

setting up scenes....SOLD


thanks

[spunkadellic]

so i looked out there for info on using Live...live.....and most i found was doing a remix dj type live show.


I can see how ableton would be absolutely AMAZING for all that....but i just want to 4 minute audio files that are the entire song. can i load all my files into one session? and use the different scenes as songs with their own tempo?

[Hitum]

I agree with ryst. Ableton live is the best 4 that once you learn to use it the right way.



Vote for my remix!! Clasick Beatz's Mariah Carey Remix Contest Submission - Indaba Music

[Ol' Betsey]

so i looked out there for info on using Live...live.....and most i found was doing a remix dj type live show.


I can see how ableton would be absolutely AMAZING for all that....but i just want to 4 minute audio files that are the entire song. can i load all my files into one session? and use the different scenes as songs with their own tempo?

Absolutely.

1. Load an entire song (a full track) into a 'clip' and then in the Master section rename the scene something like 135 BPM Rock To Casbah.

2. Create a new Scene. Load another song into a clip and then again rename the track in the Master section. This time, say, 82 BPM Back In Black Dub.

Now, when you launch each scene the tempo automatically changes to the named tempo.

What I would do is Key Map each scene to launch with a key from your computers keyboard. So for instance, 'R' would launch Rock To Casbah and 'B' would launch Back In Black. That way you could have say 15 songs pre-loaded in a session and just decide your setlist/running order while you're rocking the stage.

R.

[Ol' Betsey]

Here's a great tutorial about using what Ableton calls 'Dummy Clips'.

Ableton - Dummy Clips

You can really set up some amazing stuff this way but what I might do is...

Say you have a break down and want to go freeform/improvisational with some filtered delays to a vocal but just in one section?

Load a song and then set the Dummy Clips to open certain effects on that channel at certain points in the song (you can have 'live' instruments routed through Live, of course), tweak away on your midi-mapped controller, and then have the Dummy Clip shut it off again whenever you want to kick back in.

Lovin' it.

R.

[SFTPH]

I know a few guys that use Reason and a few that use Live. I've never seen any crashing, etc. catastrophes from any of them FWIW. The ones that play VI's live prefer Reason.

[Ol' Betsey]

Yeah I was a Reason user (still use it in the studio daily) but as we know it's doesn't do the audio thing as well so I just sampled all the sounds I was using (actually someone posted a great Live autosampling set-up on the Live forums) and got Ableton up and running with everything I needed.

Reason is a great standalone multi-synth for live work though, that's for sure.

I've gotta say that I've NEVER EVER seen Reason crash. Honestly, not in the studio or on the road. It's just so solid. I wish as a program it did more with audio though...

R.