Ableton Looping Template: Equipment used

One main reason for selecting some of the items here, is that they are cheap to replace. Cheap enough that I can afford to look out for spares. For example, here in Denmark I have seen the Novation Compact SL mk1 go for less than 500 kroner.

• Novation Compact SL - Ableton remote controller with custom controls
• Novation Mini Launchpad: Clip launching
• Akai APD8: triggers drums
• Behringer X-Air 18 : USB Audio Interface
• Asus Memo Tablet: Android

Novation Compact SL

• Battery or USB powered
• Ableton Live compatible
• Two LCD screens.

Akai LPD8

• Small
• USB powered
• Perfect for drum kits

Behringer X-Air 18

• Multi track recording
• Low Latency

 I have previously tried the Ableton Push MK,1 but found although it had many options to control Live, I just did not enjoy using the pads to enter notes. I may not be a great keyboard player but it is what I am used to using and feel more comfortable playing a keyboard. So for this reason I went back to my old Novation Compact SL as my main controller.

The one thing missing from the list at present is a laptop. A few years back I bought my first laptop for music production. Sadly that machine has now died and I need to find a replacement. Any recommendations?

Ableton Template: MIDI Input for Instrument tracks

Signal Flow: Audio and MIDI

In my Live set I have several instrument tracks that I can play from the Compact SL keyboard. Instead of the keyboard notes being directly sent into each track, they are all fed from a single MIDI track. This track has various MIDI effects that can manipulate the incoming notes.

MIDI Effects rack

So for example the Sub-Octave MIDI effect device adds another note an octave below the played note. There is also a MIDI delay that adds delayed notes to the input. All of these plugins are controlled from Lemur template.

Lemur MIDI effects controls

Note that the audio from these tracks are fed into a single audio track, where various effects are added, Before being routed into a Looper device. This way I have one Looper for all my instruments.

Ableton Template:M4l and Ableton Packs Used

Instruments

Mark Two Berlin:

 A great Electric Piano

Tools

Bit Voltage - Quick Recorder

Used on the main output to record live looping.

_P4R - Arm-Me audio v1.5

Enable a track to stay armed for playback.

_P4R - Arm-Me Midi v.1.5

As above but for MIDI tracks

Streuners looping device

Sets the length of the next recorded clip. Keeps both hands free while recording a clip.

BeatSeeker

Synchronizes Ableton tempo to an external audio source.

MIDI Effects

Note Echo

little-scale.KillAll

Sends all notes off message. Used to kill hung notes (when a MIDI note off message is not sent)

mt_sub_octave

Adds a MIDI note one ocatave below

Ableton Looping Template: Overview

For years I have been jealous of musicians and artist that can just sit down and jam. Being a synth based musician it has never been easy to just turn up and start playing with others. When I first started there where not many computers used in music and most of the instruments and equipment was bulky and needed mains power. Something sadly missing from most jams round the campfire.

But in the last few years we are seeing more mobile options available to the synth player. Aside from the obvious mobility of a laptop and MIDI controllers, we are seeing more battery powered devices every year. And all the time we are also seeing a vast improvement in battery power and life.

So with this in mind I decided it was time to join in with the fun. I have worked with synths and other audio equipment other almost thirty five years, so I had a good idea of the ins and outs of the equipment involved.

So first a few things I wanted for my set up:

• Portable: Must be able to pack into something I can carry.
• Lightweight
• Battery powered: but can run on mains where available.
• Fast to set up and take down.
• No control should have two uses.

And the Ableton template should contain:

• Three instrument tracks for an Electric Piano, a Synth and a string based instrument
• A Drum track containing a mixture of kits
• A track with a Drum rack containing  hits.
• One basic audio track with effects for a microphone.
• Another audio track that is feed with a stereo input that can have effects added and mixed into main mix.
• The ability to add more audio tracks to take other musicians input e.g. guitar, vocals etc.
• To be able to lock tempo to an external audio input
• Able to add hardware synths e.g. Moog Werkstatt
• Hands free control of Looper devices
• Custom Lemur touch control template, with feedback from the Ableton template e.g. Looper state: record, overdub, play and stop. 

Equipment used:

• Novation Compact SL - MIDI controller
• Novation Mini Launchpad
• Akai APD8
• Behringer X-Air 18 Sound card

 I have previously tried the Ableton Push 1 but found although it had many options to control Live, I just did not enjoy using the pads to enter notes. I may not be a great keyboard player but it is what I am used to using and feel more comfortable playing a keyboard. So for this reason I went back to my old Novation Compact SL as my main controller.

Back after a long break

So it has been a few years since I have posted anything. Mainly due to my time being taken by retraining myself as a software developer. I have taken three separate courses in computer science, web integration and some basic network experience. And there has been so much I have learnt that I can reuse in the world of computing, midi and other electronic instruments.
In the coming post I hope to show you my current studio set up and a few tricks I have learnt on my coding journey.

Waldorf blofeld VST editor with Ableton Live.

Found a plugin that works with live and the blofeld. Plugin here: ctrlr.org blofeld panel: filchblofeld Video: Video Please note that I am not the author of either software.

Novation Nio usb souncard

I recently got hold of one of these cards for my portable set up which is based on a HP Notepad running Ableton Live.

A decent card with four inputs, one stereo line, one guitar and a mic input with phantom power. And more importantly for my rig it has two stereo outputs. So I can send the main mix out of the first, and a monitor mix sent out of the headphones, that I can use for a cue mix.