So... please help? I accidentally "made it" to getting a big gig but need to organize my live-tracks into a live-set in 10 day

So yeah. I know I can play my setup live. I know this because I have definitely posted over an hour of material online in the past 2-ish months entirely of live-takes with only what I will be using my live set gigs. And I knew it was getting attention of some people with significant platforms in my country…

But did not expect to get a live-set invitation, full hour and recorded for future reference as well, with 10 days of preparation for this essentially. I actually trust my familiarity with my gear, this was a recent improvisation with no preparation and I find it to be more than “satisfactory” 10 minutes of something like it considering such background. And like I said, I probably have 3/4 of the hour of solid material “ready”… individually.

Sorry to ask in my immediate panic what I know can be searched in the forums, and I WILL search the forums. But considering the time-frame I currently have… could I get some recommendations of the most efficient reads/videos to organize my individual projects and how to best fuse them into a single project for live-set fluidity? I am using hybrid as my fallback since I have actually more expertise with using my minilogue over tracks I can anyway take on my octa ready with me. Which is why I accepted.

But if anyone can pinpoint me in the easiest direction on how to “fuse” projects already fairly well structured for live improvisation individually and just the part where one structures it all in a single live-set project in your octatrack, it’d really put my mind at east. Wish me luck! I really have put in the effort and gotten comfortable with my octa/minilogue combo, just didn’t expect for gigs to land before the EP I’ve made came out.

Thanks for any help. Am really happy but nervous.

Relevant info maybe:

Live set gear: Octatrack MK1, Minilogue, 303 clone. Collider delay+reverb and acidbox III to create two send/return fx chains of inverse logic (one has distortion and filter before delay/ other filters reverb for techno rumbles).

Classic diagram, missing the minilogue but im trying to not overdo with using the pedals on my minilogue patches

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Yep. Nailed it. You’re over thinking it.
If you know you can do it, trust that. Just do your thing.

And never write cheques your ass cant cash, so if you know you cant do it, you can decline the invitation. Thats allowed, no one will disrespect that.

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congratulations. If you use different bpms stage them ramping up and down but not staggered as to notice. If you use different keys, work around the circle of fifths. Another option if you have both major and minor keys is move from one key to it’s relative minor. good luck and definitely record yourself doing it one night, listen to it the next day - cringe and find the weak spots, then adjust. good luck I’m sure it will go great.

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So that’s the question ? :content:

Some thoughts…
Not easy in ten days. You have to make it simple. It is not.
Edit : if you have arrangements in each project, it seems much more complex

Patterns and parts are stored in banks. You can copy patterns and parts in a bank in order to group them in a project, then copy / paste banks in the main project.

The main problem is sample assignments. You have to reassign them in slots (or in the project file, you can edit the text).

Use Purge Samples

I’d start from the project having more patterns, use SAVE AS NEW to keep original project.

Reassing samples to certain Slots ranges / area…
Make a sheet…
Record before and cheat ? :content:

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This is the one I was thinking about. Does it sound coherent to first

-Write down my projects’ (some are more than one track already) tonal center + original bpm.

-Sketch out a rough outline of a logical progression in a way one would a more pre-planned DJ Set

-Check my hybrid sets’ playlists to see if it can help with what could be unnatural changes for some of the transitions?

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If you have very little time but lots of recordings, perhaps you could cheat a little with static mode and layer drums/synths/samples on top of stems? I don’t have an OT, can’t help much further

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Absolutely doing this to at least a little extent as backup.

I don’t really use arrange mode, I’ve actually settled on ableton recording the midi and midi CC of live performances, then editing the “live takes’ info” to re-record a more focused track that still gets played live as opposed to doing some more choreful audio editing. But my projects are all essentially closer to “having all the elements ready, and muting unmuting manually in live-fashion for the most part while manually fiddling with minilogue’s parameters”. I use at least 1 part to have the backup of the “vanillia, full pattern of all elements playing always ready” for a third backup if something should go wrong with part reloading.

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I would think more in terms of total time you have to fill and as best possible use the most fluid means of moving from one project to the next - anything which already crosses over or you already use, do that. your idea is excellent for an album or for a set you can use more than one time, but this is like, crisis situation. you have to be ready in 10 days. 10 days is not a lot to be ready and feel ready. If you don’t sleep it will go badly. I think if you will use the octatrack, half the time will be spent organizing and half will be spent practicing … so where does the third half of time arranging come in? lol you only have 2 halfs to work with. I don’t mean literally, just saying if you are so involved with making it perfect that you don’t balance your time effectively, you may as well save the effort for a later time. If you’ve already started this process before and have a good idea of it already, then sure why not. I think anything complicated is going to be an added stress, anything that already works will still work. Sometimes we want something to be perfect. nothing is perfect. be productive without driving yourself crazy. Set a limit on how long you will spend on one portion of the preparation, your first list should be how long you think it will take to do each of the things you want in order to prepare.

If your list of things and the time it will take to do each (as you imagine them) exceeds the time you have to prepare, you will have to find a way to do it in less time. Just being prepared for that eventuality is going to be a strength, otherwise you will be up against a wall. no one wants to feel that way I think.

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Probably 75% organising, 25% arranging without finishing, no time practicing…

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There are 2 things which I’m thanking myself hardcore which make this seem feasible

1 is I’ve been consistent for a while on what t1 to t4 essentially are. Kick /hat/shaker

  1. is my hardware is perma-assigned to midi channels. I.e. copying those will result in the patterns of the synth being perfectly ready and assigned, especially after just adding the program change to the relevant patch in case of minilogue.

For the t1-T4: How about making an audio recording of every kick, hat, shaker I’ve used in these, and just assign to these slots these audio files of (“all kicks used across the tracks”) etc? From there, I could move through them with using slice mode to pick each subsequent one from just one audio file containing all the kicks (equally spaced, etc) and so forth… no? At least theoritically, I feel like I could just run for a while by using “slice number X” to switch from Kick A to Kick B, while also turning off a 303 pattern and then turning on the next one… then when I hit a wall, I transition to hybrid over a pre-existing track loaded on the octatrack OR do some crossfader shenanigan that more or less cleans the slate for me…

I feel like using the “slices are actually kicks I have used in the tracks” + “crossfader, or hybrid to have a fresh start” + “1-2 minilogue only ambient interlude (which I have more ambient than dance music anyway)” sound realistical enough to fill the hour… like, it kinda means I only need to have 3 “20 minutes fully continous material” to link with 3 very flexible methods for starting over.

Does it sound… coherent? The crossfader alone is very very powerful, hopefully not over-estimating its capacity to help me pull this off

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What about setting up a looper for transitions? Or sync with some other sample playback device that has prerecorded fragments that can loop while you change projects on the OT?

I personally bypassed this issue by having my material split across at least two Elektrons. If I need to pull up new project, I can let the other Elektron keep playing its parts. I know this isn’t helpful in your situation, but I have felt your pain.

Words of encouragement: you can do this!

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I think if you’re comfortable with the process you can kill a lot of time and still keep it interesting. If you want to try creating some chains with @brian3kb digichain app you can create OT chain files of those kicks etc and just drop them straight in to slice up, might save some time. try his thread here for the link bc it’s a free web app

I think using the balance between the 2 instruments can keep it interesting because it’s not so much of the same sounds, also sounds like your workflow heavily incorporates the minilogue already.

Apparently. Hard to tell how much time it takes, depends if you know well OT and its structure.

I’d make a simple test, trying to copy/paste a pattern and and its part to another project, and then load and reassing samples.

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I disagree with one thing though, I’ve been practicing for 6 months. This is where I would have otherwise declined for now, but every sinlge of the tracks I have made and recorded in at least demo, a few already released single-takes after practicing each.

Organizing should be doable if my patterns for hardware are ready and midi-channel-assigned for clarity and consistency and I just go ahead and assign the relevant program changes… But yeah gulp.

Maybe I can take rest of the week to see how much I cover comfortablly fully live, then for any missing minutes focus on most elements sans kick being in pre-recorded tracks without the synths, and focus on live playing my patches for those? The one advantage of me being very very live-synth twiddling oriented (303 and minilogue are both really good at riding a pattern while going bananas with ADSR/Filter/Etc)

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I agree with all of this except that whatever plan you decide, I would absolutely stick to it. 100% unless it’s just adding to the same plan in a way you found which makes it easier.

I feel like you can’t tear down the house in the middle and start building again, even if the foundation is the same, you will end up with walls and no roof. that’s why this brainstorm beforehand is good for you.

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I mean it is ambitious to regroup songs from different patterns and it can take time, so there would be not much time for practicing transtitions…

(A freeze reverb / delay while changing project ? A sample player ?)

Port one song from one project to your live set project. As someone said, test that out.
Then move on to more.
Once you get in the flow, you’ll accomplish a lot, and it should leave you time to tweak your live project and practice.

The copy/paste functions work great across projects. You’ll save time doing some of that with a computer

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The other reason Collider is part of my setup. Also, my understanding was that a Pioneer mixer will be final output. These have slip rolls, which can loop vynil to the point to being able to play with a single deck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLwsFQK4J6c

I’ve looped vynil and guitars and static before just to fully be able to confirm it’s more of a looper pedal set to bpm than something working with the digital files. You can slip roll and work beneath with either mixer or in my case octa’s cue.

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But this guy is the video is a midi fighter ! :content:

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