has anyone performed on stage with overbridge integrated in any way.
if it weren’t for the occasional crash im having some really great live style jams from integrating it with ableton. it really does open up some amazing possibilities.
dont reckon id have the balls to put full faith in it in a set.
keen to hear if anyone has though.
My label has asked me to do a live jam as a promo, I plan on trying this in OB/Live 9 tonight. I will report back…
My recent experiences with the new updates has proved pretty solid. Sync is good and there appears to be less jitter in the recordings. Occasionally I get a weird glitch that only effects the OB channels (I’m recording 5 hardware instruments in addition to the 5 A4 channels).
I’ve recorded a few ten minute jams without much issue. I am keen to try for the whole hour and see if my set up can handle it.
good luck with it.
if it works its awesome. OB is so close to making my syncgen redundant in my setup now. with a bit of ableton setup mucking around im on effectively zero latency and i find it to be very tight sync.
a4 + avalon through live and out to separate mackie CR1604 tracks for dirty acid goodness. but now im thinking of having a little clean 8 track mixer going into the a4 inputs and just plugging all my other synths into that so everything is done through overbridge… and then ill get a rytm and win at life.
Hey !
I also would like to use overbridge with my analog four via Ableton live on stage .
To separate the 4 tracks and add some treatments to each tracks in Ableton . Like equalize and compress a bass line on track 1 in a different way than a lead synth on track 2 and a percussion on track 3 … Instead of having the four tracks all going in just one pair of stereo out …
I’ve tried it today and it works pretty well but the question I have is : can we trust enough the overbridge stability with Ableton to use in a live setup on stage ?
How was it going for you guys ? Have you tried it ?
ok… So I started this like I would for a live set on stage, I made sure all my gear was connected the way I preferred and all my channels in Ableton were armed for recording. After connection I pressed record to try a ‘live test’ for a few minutes just to check levels etc, much like a sound check. The recording glitched out within about 4 minutes and all of the A4 tracks stopped dead, while other hardware continued with signal as usual.
I stopped the recording and tried to mess with the USB connection, detached and reattached USB’s, powered down the A4 and I kept getting the high pitched squeal that many users have reported. I found that I needed to detach my USB hub from the main power and the PC connection to get it to reset and the A4 would function correctly.
So, re-set it all up, and it all failed again. and again, and again. As I was about to crack royal shits and call OB a waste of time, I thought I might try one thing. I noticed that the A4 failed each time my screen saver kicked in (I’d set it to 5 minutes) so I deactivated my screen saver…
AND IT WORKS!
I recorded a half hour, no actual glitching and the A4 functioned correctly the whole half hour. I think at the 10 minute mark and somewhere later in the recording there is a slight static glitch that last for a millisecond and only effects the A4 channels. It’s slightly annoying because it’s a blemish in the recording but otherwise, all worked fine.
I’m ALMOST ready to take this to the stage. In saying that, I still have some questions about its stability and aren’t completely confident I could take it all out of the studio and not have it fail in a live environment.
yes i also get those occasional glitches. screen saver kicking definitely makes sense for some of them.
i dont get them on my PC, but i get them a lot on the macbook.
i think my usb connections on my macbook are very loose though so could also be that. plus its also nowhere near as powerful.
on the PC the one time i do get a lot of glitching is if i try to use touch osc / ipad (just through midi, not feedback “launchpad” style) to control various parameter mappings in live, most being linked to overbridge controls. need to continue with some more experimenting there on having things on different midi channels as there might be clashes with A4’s midi mapping.
but when it does work overbridge + touch osc is amazing pairing.
[font=“Times New Roman”,serif]Here are the results of the live jam I recorded using an Analog 4 and Overbridge, plus my other assorted hardware…
[font=“Times New Roman”,serif]Around the 21:30 minute mark you can hear what happens when OB has a freak out. I am using effects on the drums with a long delay tail and you can hear when OB skips a beat and starts messing with the delay. Also, the pitches on the A4 parts start to go a bit crazy, but they fix themselves after a few seconds. Luckily, the A4 didn’t actually stop playing which it has been known to do on occasion.
[font=“Times New Roman”,serif]https://soundcloud.com/buxtonrecords/simon-mann-live-exclusive-mix-09-buxton-records
Hello guys
planning to start exploring this combo for live performance
questions:
anyone here using this combo for the same purpose?
how good is the sync between Ableton and the Elektrons?
it is really viable??
thanks
I havent used out in a live performance, but nearly every time I use it here in the studio, I’m using OB to be the main clock and no sync issues at all. You’ll have to use the through port from one of the AR or A4 to send clock and transport to the OT and it sync fine as well. The only issues I have had with OB is when I’ve done loads of automation on it using Abeltons’s automation lanes. It can glitch out after a long session. If you are simply using Ableton to fire clips or play soft synths or effects and sync your Elektrons, then you should be fine for a long live set.
thanks turbiville
we basically i would do that… use Ob to sync the Elektrons and fire clips with my Apc40…
possible to send program change from Ableton/OB to change patterns?
I’ve never been able to send clock from OB thru to the OT. (I’m fairly certain it’s not possible)
I have to use Midi from Ableton to slave the OT with something like a Mio adapter.
Ableton is kind of weird with slaved gear. Playhead has to be running to pass midi note duration.
Also the OT will need to be run into a soundcard of sorts, and using delay compensation to sync up with the AR and A4, unless your running the OT into the ext inputs of the other machines.
There’s not enough bandwidth to get all audio channels simultaneously using OB and the Boxes alone, you’ll need a soundcard if you want to capture all channels at once.
The overall latency and stability has kept me from using OB in a live situation, and Live is quirky whether it’s slaved or master.
However, the AR OT and A4 are fantastic for a live performance rig without OB.
thanks Juan
I dont want to route the audio channels… I basically just want to sync Ableton with the Elektron´s using OB (because I imagine that midi sync is better with OB??)
all the machines will go to the mixer independtly as well as Ableton channels
wondering if it is possible to send program changes to the Elektron´s via OB?
sorry totally new to OB here…
I’m not sure about sending program changes via OB, haven’t tried.
I’ve tried doing a similar thing, just getting Live to simply be in sync with the Elektrons.
Seems there’s 2 basic ways, master or slave.
Slaving the Elektrons, the AR and A4 sync super tight with Live, the OT drags to catch up over a few bars after starting the playhead.
If you start and stop the playhead a lot, this is pretty annoying.
If you work on really long tracks all at once, not as big a deal.
After a few bars the sync stays pretty tight for me.
Slaving Live the AR and A4 to the OT.
Using the OT to drive pattern changes on the A4/AR, works perfectly, and using Midi to sync Live from the OT makes Live’s playhead kind of “drag” to catch up over a few bars after starting the playhead.
Again, if Live’s playhead is not running, it doesn’t respond to Midi as expected.
Personally I like slaving Live, because the boxes sync seamlessly with each other and there’s not really a situation where I wouldn’t want to do that. I can set them up to be that way once, and if I want to use one individually, it’s easy.
This method seems ideal for me wanting to use Live as a synced FX processor, as well as recording it.
If I’m not using midi that much from Ableton to A4/AR, it seems logical to set Live as the slave, and deal with the first few bars weirdness in some workaround.
For me the sequencer layout is the number one reason I got these in the first place. I also like saving my work directly to the Elektrons, midi notes, automation etc.
I can definitely see the value in using Live as a midi interface to do some crazy things the Elektrons dont do on their own. If I was doing that, and making use of Live’s automation, effects, and recording it, I would definitely figure out how to use Live as the Master, and deal with the OT acting weird over the first few bars.
The midi sync between the AR/A4 and OB is incredible.
You cant OB sync > OT.
And Live is notoriously terrible at syncing with external gear, so most people who move down that road get a dedicate box to help all things sync.
thanks again Juan
well I do have an Acme Snd… that would fix sync issues but then that would be without OB… and I think the Acme won´t help with program change
I´m just trying to strip down my live rig a bit, the current setup involves no computer at all but that make travel/setup etc a bit of a problem with space and travel…
will keep checking…
I’ve done it, works well. Used it in tandem with Push and Rytm. The best thing is just loading up the Ableton set and recalling the two devices from Totall Recall, ready to go at the click of a button!
Hi,
I play with A4, and was wondering does anyone use theirs in live situation with OB and laptop to process sounds coming out of A4 ?
Interested in your experience and suggestions !! 
i’m bumping this thread to see if people are doing this today post any updates or what not. would like to use the rytm with certain plugins on individual tracks. is there any live benefits that are worth it or should i consider it to be just a recording deal? i’ve considered buying a macbook air for a live rytm companion. would love some 2022 opinions on it.
I’ve been thinking similar too. Use ableton as a fx/mixer.