How 'standalone' is Push 2?

Dude put that on the feature request forums on the Ableton page. That would be nuts. The question is why can’t it happen now? I think the only limitation is how the active track is the “focus” and could throw the controller off. Still I think you should suggest it on the Ableton forums. [/quote]
Yeah I was thinking about it the other day and was like this is redundant. why do i need to see the same waveform on both screens. lol

As a possible workaround, if you have Touchable for iPad you can actually view up to 3 different devices at once. I’ve only used it a bit, and I understand some features are not working since the last Ableton update, but it might be a way to augment the Push in an acceptable way. [/quote]
I haven’t tried going down the Ipad rabbit hole yet! I’m interested though.

Sounds like you guys are having fun with it :slight_smile: a couple of questions -

Is there an auto fade in/out on slices to avoid clicks/pops?
Is there a dedicated/quick ‘resample’ function accessible from Push?

Thanks.

  1. No Auto fade in/ fade out function sorry so you have to fine tune it from there. The zoom is nice enough where it feels like you are using a hardware version of adobe audition 3 so you can fine tune that click / pop by using the zoom knob and adjusting the end point. You can also pan to the left / right if what you’ve sampled had a hiss, click, pop to smooth it out. If you have a fully capable audio editor where you can fine tune a sample before auto slicing it to the pads don’t be scared to use it.

  2. No not at the moment. What do you like using the resample for in live if you don’t mind explaining.

Busted my old Push 1 out and was surprise at how many 9.5 features work with Push 1! Things like sample browsing and preview are great.

I kind of hated on the upgrade a couple days ago but now I’m curious…

Just the browsing and previewing of samples helps keep me focused on the controller; which is nice.

The thing that bugs me though is the 8-step step sequencer for synths and what-not. Oh well…

Maybe there will be some deals on Friday and I still need to sell some other gear for the Push 2 if I really want one.

Could you elaborate on the 8-step step sequencer limit thing please? I assumed you could record as long as you like in to both midi and audio? Was hoping to be able to play/record long passages/chord structures etc direct from push, as the 64step limit of OT bugs me sometimes for more traditional aspects of writing/recording. Thanks.

  1. No Auto fade in/ fade out function sorry so you have to fine tune it from there. The zoom is nice enough where it feels like you are using a hardware version of adobe audition 3 so you can fine tune that click / pop by using the zoom knob and adjusting the end point. You can also pan to the left / right if what you’ve sampled had a hiss, click, pop to smooth it out. If you have a fully capable audio editor where you can fine tune a sample before auto slicing it to the pads don’t be scared to use it.

  2. No not at the moment. What do you like using the resample for in live if you don’t mind explaining. [/quote]
    I maybe should have asked if it had auto slice at zero-crossings (where possible) rather than auto fade in/out. But guessing that’s still a no? If so that’s a shame and hopefully something they’ll add later.
    Re resampling, I often like to get a loop together with a few tracks going. And then as a whole resample and slice or repitch etc. Again, a shame they haven’t thought to include this in the Push work flow. If I end up purchasing I’ll definitely email them and add it to feature requests if it isn’t already in development.

Honestly I have not heard any clicking or popping from old soul record samples I’ve sliced. And let me tell you they where dusty as hell.

I don’t have push but i’ve been looking into it a bit and messing with 9.5 the past few days and from what i’ve seen the slice system is totally based off zero crossings. so when you switch to slice mode in simpler there are already a whole bunch mapped out as the default sensitivity setting is 100% >> from there you can reduce the percentage to reduce # of slices and also nudge the start /end points. the ableton demos show this all being controllable from push + creating pad slices on sample playback which looks awesome. would be nice to be able create slices manually like in OT without having to bother with the sensitivity settings but not a deal breaker.

i’ve really enjoyed getting back into using ableton creatively after relegating it to recorder duties for my ot / a4 centered set up for a long time now. i got into trying out hardware, like many, because i never really enjoyed using it creatively. but i think the hardware mindset has trained me to be able see that once dauntingly blank ableton set and say ‘ok everything i need is right here’ not get freaked out by that, instead just start building up little things here and there as if it were on the boxes. its not like i’m trying to translate exactly the elektron workflow (or at least my personal one) of course its different, but not in an overbearing or lifeless way anymore… lol of course tough to translate creative mindsets… anyway, i only mention this because a big part of what i’ve been having fun with on the ableton screen is what you’re talking wanting in push and essentially what we do with the OT: get some loops going with synths or samples and then just pop over to an audio track and resample like that. its a super quick and satisfying process because i now have that sound captured and i’ve often just deleted the vst instruments and effects racks i sampled from to clear things up and then carry on that way from left to right in clip view, building up a little element that adds to the sound, resample, delete what came before.

so yeah i’m also really considering push 2 (not the new tenant but a neighbor to the OT… for now ) and a resampling option does feel like an oversight to not include… hopefully this can be added soon.

Fantastic! I’ll keep digging!

you can do this too…
essentially what you do is to load the simpler into a drum rack, and then for each pad you can select the start/end point. (you do it by duplicating the previous pad)

alternatively, you can convert the sample to simpler, play with the sensitivity to get the slices broadly correct, then convert to drum rack and adjust each pad as needed…

Ive been playing with it today as got my Push 2 which has made it alot of fun to experiment with… so this may not be the only or best way, but seem to work fine for me :slight_smile:

btw: there are also fade in/out controls… but I’m not quite sure what you mean for auto fade-in/out. … and yes it looks for zero crossings to do slices.

Ahh yess :joy: …that sounds pretty damn good. Are you getting along well with push so far?

All sounds really promising. Hopefully they’ll throw in a resample function on Push 2 in an update and job done :wink: seems like it totally transforms the ableton experience in a way suited almost exactly to my normal/desired work flow with hardware. And everyone else’s it seems! Definitely going to pick one up asap.

Resampling is also possible. You can route it to any audio track (Audio From - Resampling). You now record everything as you hear it (like resampling the mastertrack on the OT)

You can convert Audio Tracks / Simplers / Drumracks on the fly. One button to rule them all :wink:

Have a look:

Convert — Converts the current instrument or clip into a different format. The details of the conversion depend on what is selected when you press
Convert

•While working with a Simpler in either Classic or One-Shot Mode, pressing Convert will create a new MIDI track containing a Drum Rack, with a copy of the Simpler on the first pad. All other devices that were in the original track will also be copied to the new track.

•While working with a Simpler in Slicing Mode, pressing Convert will replace the Simpler on the same track with a Drum Rack that contains all of the slices mapped to individual pads.

•While working with a Drum Rack, pressing Convert will create a new MIDI track containing all of the devices that were on the selected pad.

•While working with an audio clip, pressing Convert will create a new MIDI track containing a Simpler loaded with the clip’s sample. Warp markers and related settings will be preserved in the new Simpler.

Sweet! So you can assign and resample using only Push and no mouse then yeah? That along with everything else = I’m sold :wink:

One last question… I saw the post saying that you actually CAN re-order vst effects from the hardware, that’s great :slight_smile: Is it possible to save/load fx chain presets from the hardware? Like in Sonar I have a bunch of ‘go to’ fx chain with settings that I’ve setup for vocals/drums/bus reverb etc. It’s not a deal breaker but I’d love to be able to do similar from the Push controller. I saw that you have to assign vst controls to the unit. That’s fine. Would just be cool after all that stuff is setup to be able to save any good fx chains I stumble on for later use. Thanks

I don’t know, if you have worked with Ableton already, so my answer might be a trivia.

As Ableton allows for “racks” to be created and saved out as a kind of template, you can - of cause - reload them at any time. Racks can contain instruments, audio effects, third party plug-ins, fx-chains etc and can be nested as needed.

Racks can be loaded with the hardware and all the controls are available on the Push display too.

But to your general question I would answer … Push 2 is not a stand alone device, avoiding the necessity to check with the computer monitor or use the keyboard and mouse from time to time.

  • you can not type in letters
  • third party plug-ins might not be listing presets and/or controls
  • you can not move around samples or clips
  • AFAIK you can not command to save/load a project

IMO Push has allways been an interface for beeing creative and let the ideas flow. A tool to sketch a musical idea by adding more and more tracks, sounds, clips and then get into jamming with those ideas in the session mode, and optionally develop more ideas. Well, it’s also great for live performance, after everything has been prepared accordingly in advance.

A great add-on is the isomorphic keyboard that can be used in various modes in different scales. I can confirm that Push 2 has improved the sensitivity of the buttons and velocity is sensed now from light brushing over the pads to forte level. I tried a glissando - and it works.

[quote="“Jellynecks”"]

Ahh yess :joy: …that sounds pretty damn good. Are you getting along well with push so far? [/quote]
Im loving it… I was never much into sampling/slicing but this might convert me, I spent a couple of happy hours using it to slice and dice audio Id played in from my synth, to build lots of variations. (pretty much something Id considered buying an OT for)

SoundRider is right, there is (and will always be) things which are better done on the Mac/PC (due to interface), its likely that divide will move over time and of course different people want it in different places. but its kind of reasonable, some things are always going to be easier to do with a keyboard/mouse/monitor e.g. renaming stuff… why cram it into the push?

for me the trick has been to find a workflow that keeps me from going back to the Mac…so the way I use Push, is to setup a project roughly on the Mac, save as a template, this has a basic structure I’m happy with, and audio/midi source and targets setup - from here, I usually then don’t need to go back to Mac.

a tip I read, which I think is good and use…
when your ‘in the flow’, deliberately avoid going back to Mac by ‘compromising’ e.g. if you think you need a VST, and you know you would have to go tweak it at the Mac, then perhaps use one of Lives built-in instruments to capture the idea ‘as a sketch’.
This works really well for me…
once Im ‘finished’, I then can substitute the instrument with the VST I had in mind, but often I find I end up keeping the Live instrument as my idea has evolved or sometimes I end up using a different VST for the same reason.
even if I switch, the sound design Ive done already in Push still helps me.
(not just instruments, you can do the same with effects.)

I guess, I almost view the constraint of not going back to the Mac, as an ‘instrument limitation’ , so work around it, as I would with any instrument.
… hey nothing new in this of course, composers for centuries composed parts on a piano, that they then orchestrated later.

anyway, thats how I use Push… and for me works fantastically :slight_smile:

Sweet! So you can assign and resample using only Push and no mouse then yeah? That along with everything else = I’m sold :wink: [/quote]
Hi, yes and no :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

As thetechnobear pointed it out,

You can not assign (as it is now) track sources or direction via the hardware (Push).
You can assign sources or direction for the audi tracks before you use Push. Like you would do for Overbridge when you want to record the audio from the plug-in.

You make this for one track once (Audio Track 1 - Audio from - Resampling) and save it as default set.

When you start a new set you have always a resample Track ready for your needs. This is not ideal and i hope they make an option to select audio sources (PXT Live does this on Push 1) on Push 2. That is the only reason i kept my Push Mk1.

When you do a little preparation, compared to Elektron gear it´s negligible :imp: you never need to touch the mouse or keyboard. At some point you will switch to mouse and keyboard because there are tasks that you do not want to do with Push, just for the comfort. Like renaming hundreds of clips or tracks or making makros or racks…

mpc60champ on instagram :wink: ?
Anyway, do you use Live to sequence your samplers? And if yes, how do you like it? I’m searching for a good and flexible MIDI sequencer, I don’t want to use any audio related stuff in Ableton, do you think it would suit my needs? I’m currently using an OT and it’s feels quite limiting in MIDI sequencing sometimes.
But I want to stay away from the computer as much as possible of course, and with Push 2’s screen it could be the solution for me.