AR live performance techniques

Voit · 2016-11-17T20:05:13.407Z

Hello guys! Sorry if somehow this topic was discussed.
I’m trying to transfer my whole ableton setup (even with some external gear, bounced to samples) into the Analog Rytm. At this point everything is clear.

For each song i prepare new project with a new kit. But this way its impossible to load between the projects without silence. Should i try SONG functionality or there is something else? Or its just impossible. How can i achieve invisible transitions between the tracks?

Thanx

xidnpnlss · 2016-11-17T20:15:42.882Z

First piece of advicew: a new project for each song is, IMO, total overkill. I don’t know your work but I would try filling a song per bank of one project.

For transitions, maybe smart use of delay plus routing under kit menu.

wowzer · 2016-11-17T20:27:49.171Z

new project for new song doesn’t make sense to mee too. In ableton you also don’t do a new song in a new project, do you? At least not for a live set.

Some people use 1 to 4 patterns for one song. Also song mode can be used… for I think 8 different songs. Can be 16, not sure…

Many people use a transition trick, with ableton, octatrack or chaoss pad 3. They record a loop of one song, the audience only hears the recorded loop… then the next track is mixed over from the loop… kind of DJ style without silence. (I expect a looper made by elektron soon)

you can store different kits to different patterns inside a project. What some people do here, is to create like 2 songs on 16 patterns, in between these 2 songs they create patterns and kits to go from one song to the other. So slowly the sounds change from one song to the other…

Many ways here… I am busy now to create 20 minutes of music with 16 patterns (and scenes and perf and AKeys with 16 patterns and perf) Then I don’t care to have some kind of break between first 16 patterns to the next 16 patterns. It’s not silent, there can always be some reverb or delay… and the new 16 patterns start with HH only (for example).

stutech · 2016-11-17T20:47:18.648Z

Yes, you almost certainly do not want one project per song when playing live, unless you want to stop loading between each one. That can work too I guess, as long as you can fill the gaps between songs with your stage presence etc? Depends on the person and context. Heck I’ve seen shows where the band stopped between every song to load up the next while the MC chatted with the audience, and people didn’t seem to mind all that much!

I recommend consolidating your songs to a manageable number of patterns, like other people have suggested. For this one project where I’m using my AR live, I usually have just 1 or two patterns per song (and build the drum progressions live with mutes, fills, perfs and modulation etc), but depending on the complexity of your arrangements you might need a lot more.

Voit · 2016-11-17T20:58:30.319Z

Thank you very much for the answers. Well i’m glad that i didn’t went too far.

So now i have 2 projects with two different kits inside. What’s the best way to merge them into third?
I figured out how to copy KIT from one project to another, but same copy process doesn’t work with the sequence, tempo, etc. I can’t figure out what i have to copy to grab the sequence and the tempo and the automation. Seems like it’s not a song, cause when i save a song and then copy it, it gives me nothing, just empty sequence.

stutech · 2016-11-17T21:18:13.575Z

You can copy/paste patterns between projects. I think the songs will not work unless you have the same patterns copied to the same slots in the target project, you might need to rebuild the songs if the pattern slots change.

As for tempos, I’m afraid you can only have one global tempo value per project. You need to manually change the tempo if you need certain patterns to play at different BPMs. If you hold function while changing the tempo, it will only change to the new tempo value once you let go of the function key, that can make tempo changes more snappy.

If you don’t mind a unified tempo, uou could use warping in live for rendering the bunces at one global BPM value. That might make things easier on the AR end of things.

xidnpnlss · 2016-11-17T21:24:15.996Z

I just compressed a bunch of patterns/kits from all over my AR to one project. Unsure as to how much you’ve already done, but boy let me tell you…that is a right P.I.T.F.A. Lots of note taking on which kit used what sample at which slot and if that slots been used already blahblahblah. All the best if luck to you in it.

Voit · 2016-11-17T21:28:22.884Z

Yeah i did it. Now i can copy and paste things. But now i can’t get the fundamentals. When i was moving between the tracks i’ve got all savings all the data loaded exactly how i saved it, with a certain tempo, etc. But there is no pattern number which i can load from. And the song doesn’t contain pattern. So how i’m gonna change the track) I can have the number of kits and songs, but how do i change the track instantly inside the project?

stutech · 2016-11-17T21:32:23.268Z

You mean switching between different patterns? You can change the pattern mode to “direct jump” to switch to another pattern immediately upon selecting it, or other modes to change to a new pattern after the old has finished its’ cycle.

Voit · 2016-11-17T21:51:40.461Z

Oh yeah!!! I got it. Pattern could be copied to a slot button and it also remembers the number of a kit, so i can change the sound instantly. Most twisted system i’ve ever seen. Thank you guys! Finally i don’t know what’s simplier to keep creating projects or to do stuff like that. I mean there are 128 slots for projects, you will never fill them. But having a new track on the next pattern button is not very handy cause you might need some for variations of a previous one. Maybe it’s a good idea to have a one bank group for a track, or something like this. Anyway i feel like i’ve solved some kind of theorem right now. Thank you very much.

Open_Mike · 2016-11-17T22:16:45.629Z

Forgive me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you might want to take some more time getting acquainted to how the rytm works, before you spend too much time bringing in a whole ableton project. Spend some time with just the rytm, getting used to kits, patterns, sounds, song mode, etc. Read the manual, do some more stuff on rytm, read the manual again… After the rytm’s logic is all clear in your brain, you’ll have a much better idea of how you’ll want to bring over that ableton project…

Voit · 2016-11-17T22:19:00.705Z

Well i actually did it!

The last problem is in various tempo, cause there’s no stretching algorithm in rytm.
And you’re a bit wrong, cause it took time to program beats and layer some samples. I mean i was on the last stage of preparations, cause i’ve noticed this pause while everything’s loading. And now i believe i’m on the track.

UPD: well it stretches samples too)

IVAN_B · 2016-11-18T05:39:36.214Z

I’m moving 10 tracks from Ableton to the AR and AK slaved to it. I use a project for each track. Here’s why:

tracks have different tempo
not enough patterns to put all tracks in one project. 1 track uses about 20 different patterns
can use 64mb of samples per project. I make lot’s of small reusable chops and end up loading about 4mb of samples for each project making loading times 4-5 seconds
we’re a band with live drums so we do stops between tracks

My approach is to make my Live sets programmed so I can just let it play from start to end. I set up the projects up so I can quickly change the sound but I don’t touch the arrangement (the other guys would go nuts). Whatever I can I reproduce in the AK as a synth I program as well, slaved to the AK. my hands are full playing the bass lines but I still want to be able to have fun with the playback.

stutech · 2016-11-18T10:56:40.442Z

I suggest connecting a din midi foot pedal controller for controlling performance macros with your feet while playing the bass. Could work really well for modulating the synth sounds live?

IVAN_B · 2016-11-18T11:49:58.573Z

That is my plan. I just realised my ehx cv pedal will not work so time to look for a midi pedal

Voit · 2016-11-22T13:15:31.343Z

Well my projects were much samaller and i’ve already had this, kind of ‘live tweaking knobs’ approach to it.
I still have problems with the long samples and lack of the time stretching algorithm, when using long synth samples. The only way i see is to stop sampling and use hardware. Now i really miss the function of controlling external synth with AR sequencer.