Ableton Live b/w whatareyouusingtomakemusic?
day
9,611 Posts
I've been all over this for a couple weeks now and it has completely changed my work flow and how I create. Using this along with my MPC = 
I've always been somewhat anti-computer when it comes to music, but I think I've found the program for me. 
Let's get the official nerd thread poppin' off - what are you folls using for music?
Comments
Mbox
Pro Tools 6.4LE
Keepin' it muy simple over here.
very fast workflow and quit editing. there are more powerful programs out there but live is just so simple to get going with. i do have some gripes with the interface but its whatever. how do you use your mpc with ableton?
I think I'll have to get Reason and Recycle instead.
The next question is somewhat related: What do you use for a MIDI/USB interface?
I have wanted to try Ableton for a minute but I have not been able to acquire it for free yet (I don't usually pay for software unless I KNOW I want it, and still, even then I don't usually). I've tried torrents and all that but no dice. It looks pretty cool and seems to be a little more powerful than acid and have a better "sound" to it (I know people say that software doesn't have a "sound" but I really think Acid does - it has a shitty sound). I think I could use that MPD with Ableton and Battery and have a pretty nice new set up. I really need something to motivate me to wanna create beats again.
That said, Acid is actually pretty cool for making mixtapes.
motherfucking
also bellcity,
if you want to go high end with Logic but are afraid of the curves, there are some really good dvd tutorials out there..you have to nerd out abit but they arent that expensive (also can be found on the net)...a few hours in and you'll be an utter beast
I have a Oxygen 8 controller that I use with my laptop.
I've been looking at the M-Audio Trigger Finger. It would be nice to have
16 pads to bang on for drum programming.
I saw one of them tutorial DVD's for sale on labcabin.com.
It may be time to part with my ASR-10.
When it comes to software I use the Recycle/Reason/Pro Tools combo. The fact that Reason looks and acts like hardware is what got me. Before Reason I scoffed at software to make hip-hop based music, even though an MPC is a computer made for it. Just had to open my mind. It's not what you use, it's how it sounds in the end.
Ableton does rock though, I just find it difficult to sequence with. Live it's unbeatable though.
The controller I have now is pretty basic (read: shitty) and I was reeeeeeeeal close to buying one last night. The new versoin of Ableton has this and other controllers pre-mapped.
Brian - what I've been doing so far is programming my drums and samples in the MPC, then recording each section into Sound Forge and arranging in Ableton. It might sound like a pain, but I can do things now I could never do just recording to my 16 track. Combine that with all the effects, infinite tracks, soft sythns etc and it's pretty much all I need. Plus I can record any instruments I have and loop sections or play a piece out and drop it anywhere I want to. I also heard syncing MIDI with this and the 1000 is pretty easy and seems to work well for alot of people.
Most of these programs (Sonar, Cakewalk, Cubase, Logic etc.) do the same thing more or less with a few variations, right?
I know some people look at Ableton like a kids thing, but it's done everything I could want and then some - and I haven't even begun to get into the actual "Live" part of it yet.
Abelton Live is the truth.
Oh yeah, forgot about that part...
Main things I use, obviously are the 2000XL, various keyboards etc.
I'm probably gonna sell the Microkorg and keep the analog jammies. I don't think I could go all digital for instruments. Balancing the two is a good look IMO.
You're right that most of the high end sequencers are not conceptually different in any way. Some do display strengths over others--the audio editing features in Cubase/Nuendo are better than what I've seen in others. As for your setup, are you able to record straight into Live?? Could speed up your flow even more by nixing Sound Forge from the process. After years of stubborness, I've cut SF out and just record everything straight into Nuendo...the editing features make it as if you had SF within the program really.
Also for the midi controller youre eyeing there, depending on what your doing with the keys, I think you'd be much better off with a 49 or 61 board with more knobs. If you are going to be playing chords (and more importantly alternate voicings and inversions)it helps to have more than 2 octaves. I also find faders on a controller to be relatively worthless. You will almost always have more tracks than faders. Knobs are absolutely key for automating effects, etc though. Once you sort out how to assign all that shit to your host and any VST instruments, you are in good shape.
ive been getting away with boot versions of live 4 and 5, but im feeling part guilty and may take the plunge (that and the stories drewn has told me about his boot version locking up rendering his files useless).
one thing that i realy havent taken advantage of is the loop record function. there is some pretty :emo: youtube videos and .mov's on abletons site showing this in action. its pretty much game over after that.
slaving live to an mpc =
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yeah, midi is simple to setup.
pretty much. logic and pro tools are more of "complete" audio apps where you can work on a track from start to ready to press shit, but if you ain't mixing or mastering your own shit then whatever. editing audio in pro tools is a whole lot easier than like ableton or something but then ableton's midi is setup a whole lot better.
with audio software, a well put together interface and ease of use is ten times more important to me than all these features shit comes with that i will never use.
at the studio, i use live rewired to protools, with various other instruments.
live is a straight beast though. for real. i don't have the time to write out the novel of praise i have for it. and while the plugins arent that great, i actually like the shittiness of them. its kinda useful in a way.
i have never actually done the using live in a live situation yet either. i want to see that done.
I haven't been messing with Live long enough to figure out how to chop in there. I also noticed that chopping in SF and using Impulse in Ableton gives the drums a bugged out digital sound I don't get on the MP. I most likely have something set wrong. I'm sure I'll figure out the best way to work with both as time goes on, but for now I just felt it was time to dive right in. I'm learning as I go and so far it's been pretty good.
Speaking of chopping, anyone know how to do what they show in this video? Right at 1:30 they show someone drag and drop a kick from a clip into Impulse. I've searched high and low for info with no luck:
Has anyone the new "AIR" digidesign instruments? They look pretty good.
Thanks for the info. I was thinking I would use that controller for the pads should I decide to program drums in Live, portability, the encoders and the pre-mapping that Live has. I figure I can swap out the Keystation49 I have for more octaves. It does seem kind of small though.
And after hearing your beats Day, I don't think you need anything, cause they sent me back to drawingboard bigtime!
right now i'm using a mpc 1000, microkorg, an m-audio firewire 410, pro tools m-powered, along with live and a bunch of vsts. im considering replacing some or all of these right now.
i was really stoked when i first got the microkorg since it was my first synth but i really really do not like programming it and the software editor just doesnt really cut it for me. i eventually want to get a real analog synth later on sometime but im perfectly fine with virtual synths right now.
the mpc is my second one. i had a mpc2000xl but that shit broke and i absolutely loathe zip disks. i LOVE my mpc, i love how i can just get shit popping right away, and this new OS some of my nihonjins put out is fucking brilliant, but ive been having a lot of second thoughts lately. ive been working with guru in live and having everything in one window has been rocking my world. i think once i learn guru more, the workflow will be about the same but i will miss the mpc's timing and step edit.
i bought the m-audio shit because i wanted to learn how to use pro tools but that's sort of been on the backburner for a while. id rather just work on shit now than learn how to use something that i wont really use most features for my own shit. ive been fine with the firewire 410 but without being tied to an audio interface for pro tools, i could look into something better.
soooo, i was looking at that novation controller i linked earlier in the thread and korg's padkontrol to work with after getting rid of some of the above stuff. the novation controller is ideal for programming soft synths and the padkontrol would be for drums. i also have been running on one monitor speaker for the last few months and could afford to purchase new monitors if i sold off some of this stuff. im not sure if i just want to get new shit right now or in some kind of purge mode, but the more i think about this, the better it sounds. i guess right now i just want to get a setup that im comfortable with and can stick with. any thoughts? damn this shit is long.
then moved on to fruity loops around 99.
say what you want, but it cut my work load in half.
i usually cut up samples using cool edit (thanks to peter quistgard)
in 2002 i moved on, and started using acid 3.0,
and tried everything in between (even live, which i hated)
a bunch of random instruments, midi keyboard with some good
soft-synths, and thats it. for more information got to:
www.macacaistheshit.org
I guess I should start now and really sit down and figure out how it works. Is it easy to learn though? Or is it a bitch to figure out how to get going?
looks like the much needed upgrade to compete with M-Audio's trigger finger.
aren't you sponsored by Ableton Live already?!?!
seriously though if you want to get down with live you gotta dust off that mbox sitting under your desk so you can chop your samples,breaks,etc in ProTools le.
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but yeah, Live is very very very fun, especially if you have large archives of sample laden records to try it out with.
did anybody reading cop the master cd of drum breaks advertised on this board? if so what is the name so i can cop it? thanx in advance.