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.

PWDM Midi Set up

Thought I would share my own midi set up as an example of what can be achieved using different techniques.

First a quick list of the equipment used with a short description of how it fits into the set.

CME-UF5
 A cheap midi keyboard controller from China. Gives me a 5 octave piano keyboard, 9 faders and 8 knobs.
Has a usb plug but is not very reliable when using it so I stick with the midi out instead.

Behringer BCR
A midi controller with 32 knobs and 24 buttons. A great controller in my opinion and with this editor, very versatile.

Philip Rees C16
Another midi controller this time with 16 faders. Very easy to edit and set up.

Korg Padkontrol
16 pads that make drumming with fingers very easy.