Hi ,
Recently I watched a few boiler room sets and I see more and more people are playing live.
It seems like it is the new trend.
I found this article about live sets.
http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/what-is-live-new-generation-live-techno/
[url=“http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/what-is-live-new-generation-live-techno/”]
How do you prepare your live sets?
Do you totally improvise or fully plan your live set?
Interesting question, one that I don’t really have a great answer for. So far, after maybe 5-6 shows, I haven’t quite figured out a satisfying way to play a live electronic set (had more success in the past playing with bands).
As a general note, for the music I’m making right now, I’ve already accepted that it’s not going to be a live from scratch improv situation. I’m thinking more about how to manipulate sequenced tracks into a fun live performance that feels alive to me.
Last year I made a record on the OT. Most of it was sequenced with p-locks pretty intensively. There’s some automation I set up with crossfader - simple filter sweeps or increasing delay feedback - but when I went to play live like that, I felt superfluous. I could loop a pattern and screw with it a little, but since everything was already in place, I felt like I was at most affecting 3% of the results. (And I don’t think an audience could really tell what I was doing either. For this kind of performance, I’d prefer to play in place where I was off in a DJ booth rather than on a stage.)
Now I’m working on a new project all on the AR. I’m trying to keep the live set in mind from the start this time around. A couple ideas I’m working with:
[ul]
[li]everything in a single project. That gives me 8 banks * 16 patterns to fit an entire set/record. It saves me from having to pause to switch projects mid performance[/li]
[li]all variations are played by hand: I’m really trying to make full use of all of the AR’s performance controls. Now that I’m limited to a maximum of 16 patterns per tune, I have to change the way I work. In the past on the OT, I would often have two very similar patterns with slight differences programmed in via p-locks. Now I’m trying to do it all via performance tweaks[/li]
[/ul]
I have to see how this all works out. Haven’t finished writing all the material yet, so I have a couple months to go. But anyway, that’s what I’ve been thinking about.
Interested to hear about how others are thinking about their sets! Anyone else doing single-unit shows? If not, how do you deal with a lot of gear on stage at once? What do you spend most of your time playing/tweaking?
I have a general gameplan. But when it’s my turn to play I quickly go into improve mode. I use my headphones to cue. Then I go to town.
I only played one live set so far I used a Analog Four, MFB522 and a Korg Emx-1.
All machines went into the mixer and I basically played loops and turned on and off different parts. Like this it sounded a bit like finished tracks and the audience liked it as well. I just found that the preparation was insane I had to practice everything over and over again. This didn’t leave me much time for improvisation. I like the performance mode of the A4 it is good for bringing in some variations. The Korg EMX-1 gave me some trouble so I replaced it with an OT. It gets very complex once you use 3 or 4 machines at the same time…So it is really difficult to fully improvise if you play like this.
Magic Mountain High is a good example for fully improvised electronic music.
I would like to hear what you do on the AR.
I always like to use two machines because I can mix in between like in a dj set.
For me it’s easy, as I record all my music in a live manner as well. Choose which patterns play, mute and unmute things, play with filters and FX and stuff. Then when I play live I just make sure things flow fluidly by doing a few practice runs. Elektrons make the transition VERY easy.
I also like to record everything live I think that makes the tracks a bit more organic.
I agree Elektron gear is perfect for playing live sets. It gives you a lot more options.
I compose the basics of my tracks in advance: patterns, mix levels/eq, OT scenes, etc. are all finished beforehand.
When I’m in the DJ booth I structure the set as I go. This includes the individual tracks as well, using mutes and pattern selection.
Dividing it up this way helps me focus on entertaining the club crowd, while still having the flexibility to take the set in a lot of different directions.
Song mode + fine adjustments and smooth transitions (I play the MnM only). This requires perfectly mastered patterns and natural way of creating your transitions. I use pen/pencil and a notebook 
and immediately take notes of what I imagine and suspect as cool.
It is possible to almost fully automatise your set in song mode and just have a window for some basic parameter changes. Then the MnM turns into a music player… But that is just a way of constructing a live set. There is someting inevitable - in order to have a well-structured set, your pattern selection must be accurate and you need to observe the “target” parameters, i.e. those ones that would introduce certain sonic changes you look for and should know very precisely the “good combos”.
But that is just for the MnM. Here is an example of a short mix, fully automatised - I just hit play and that is what the MnM plays. 
It is not mastered OK, I know it for sure.
http://soundcloud.com/radoslav-valkov/cosmogenesis-extra-tracks-mix
Main setup is MD+OT, + MM on occasion for magic dust, but all my tracks can work using just the first two devices as it suits my limited focus, easy to setup/pack down & doesnt take too much space.
pre build patterns, parts, scenes.
Use scenes & patterns to progress through songs, along with mutes… also usually have a ctr-8p on the MD with choice parameters to tweak on the percs.
Have 2 ram machines on the MD… one for the MD internals & one for the OT cue out, resampling parts to use during transition to next song. Some of the happiest accidents are in the mix between 2 songs and its never the same twice.
Make track list sometimes as to have some loose plan for building and finale.
Most obvious thing is to practise at least as much as produce.
Elektrons, like all grooveboxes, really benefit from muscle memory.
Too much planning makes it boring imho.
Part of the joy of live is the freedom to get loose.
Live sets with ‘0’ mistakes are suspicious 
I haven’t gigged with the Elektron kit yet, so am mulling the possibilities.
Traditionally, I’m a psy-trance DJ who didn’t / doesn’t chop up the tracks too much. Although, I often add extra synth effects or percussion via Wavedrum on-top.
Live-wise, with my musical partner, we’ve normally got full tracks MIDI-sequenced (played out either by a laptop or Pascal’s Emax2) in advance, driving hardware synths which we tweak and mix, using effects etc. Pascal usually does most of that bit whilst I improvise guitar, synths and percussion (sometimes drum-kit) on-top. Those sets can vary between 140+ bpm trance/techno and chill-out, depending on the gig.
How to do it with the Elektron kit though…
I’ve got a good selection of Elektron kit (MD, MnM, OT, A4 and Rytm), but haven’t really yet got enough patterns and patches to do a live set. Don’t really feel like I know the kit well enough to properly do it live, but I can see 2 main approaches I might take:
Mainly use the Octatrack as a stereo 8-track playback unit, taking stems from a Cubase project. Probably what I’ll do with the faster bpm techno/trance since that tends to be structurally quite complex. Patterns from the other kit laid on-top.
Building up tracks from both pre-prepared sequences and live tapped-in bits and pieces. I think this will work best for the downtempo / chilled electronics.
Time to revive this thread. Would be awesome to hear from more people about their livesets.
I have only played one liveset with the OT as the brains. This set resulted in a deep dip in my music creation for almost two years. It was pure pressure and not fun at all. I think I wanted to do the most I possibly could live (what I was physically able to do with my two hands and one foot). It was all a big blur. I had so much I had to remember, that I almost never had the chance to lift my face up from my gear. Must have been one weird experience for others aswell…
It would be wonderful to learn from others how they perform their music live. Then perhaps my next liveset could be of a little joy aswell…
there is a magic word that is extremely uncommon to all electronic scenes:
rehearsals.
this really works!
There is a sort of purism that requires everything to be done on the spot for a performance to be considered really live, and I really believe that it’s the best way to become totally frustrated with that kind of projects.
One thing to change is not necesseraly your setup, but your expectations.
When a band performs live, you don’t expect them to reproduce their records perfectly, with the perfect mix and all the sound changes that happen in their recordings. Usually they get back to a core setup that’s manageable and make their tracks work with fewer guitars/amps/pedals.
When a musician plays alone, you usually expect a stripped down sound, where fewer elements are allowed to take a lot more space. In all cases, they also focus on a few instruments they know really well, they don’t try to be whole orchestras by themselves.
We should try to apply those mindsets when preparing our live sets, don’t aim for perfect reproduction, aim for efficiency. You don’t need all the subtleties live, you need a few elements that go well together and that you can play and have fun with while keeping a stable and solid core at all time. Only focus on a few key moves to build your muscle memory.
As homework, you should all go rewatch Mister G’s boiler room to get all the inpiration you need. An MPC playing 8 loops, a mixing table, no transition patterns and that’s all he needs to rock the house 
Or watch some Ceephax Acid Crew. One dude, some stuff pre arranged on a sequencer plus a couple drum machines and a synth to jam on. He messes up all the time but just keeps going. Brilliant stuff.
Ceephax is lord.
Correct.
i dont know why anyone else even bothers to be honest
Partner and I played our 4th live set this weekend with OT as main sequencer and master clock. I’ve settled on having two tracks and two transition tracks per bank. I’m now pretty comfortable with timing preset and bank changes. I used one synth this time - the Nord G2 engine - essentially as two synths and midi processor to switch and morph variations on the G2 with OT scenes. Part of the challenge is remembering which midi controls on the OT are mapped to what on the G2 (damn would I love to have the keys version) - being able to input two or three characters on the OT midi controller pages would be a great help!!. Partner uses just the Nord Drum with some sequences and melodies pre programmed on the OT - LFOs modulating some parameters, which he tweaks with a controller, then drums the other voices - he’s a great drummer so his live input really adds spice. We also use an MFB Tanzmaus, H9 and Lexicon MPX1 multifx as send fx, and Klark T compressor. Anyways, the more we practice and the more we play live, it’s become much less stressful and much more fun!