live midi sample looping in ableton?

[apricotandpearjam]

hi everyone.

i do a live show triggering drum loops, audio etc etc but ive always wanted to trigger drums live and loop them in sync with what im doing.

i use ableton and to do this within ableton LIVE isnt as easy as you think. its not that intuitive and taking parts in and out is not easy.

has anyone got any ideas how to do this with hardware or anything else that one can use to sequence live samples and then have control over separating them out and adding more and more LIVE?

cheers, benji

[diezdiazgiant]

um - try hardware sequencers like an akai mpc, yamaha rs7000, e-mu commmand station, roland mv series, korg electribe.
controlling ableton with a hardware sequencer has its advantages, namely that hardware is by definition more narrowly focused in function. its been a while since ive had an electribe but it combined pretty nicely to midi control a sampler in ableton. the one thing that sucks tho is the motion sequencer doesnt send out CC

[Stumpy]

I'm using one Launchpad user mode as monome, which allows me to take a sample and chop it up to eight parts (=juggling). Haven't found how to copy a sample to it live, though.

[apricotandpearjam]

stumpy ... can you do that live?

to the others... i would use an MPC but ableton sync is so crap that i think i need to do it within the sequencer..

[Stumpy]

In theory yes, but I think my laptop specs are too low to throw stuff into it while playing. Loading it with samples before and between is ok. It doesn't have live input AFAIK. So not quite what you're asking for. My tracks are throughly prepared, though, so getting samples isn't a problem. Ableton requires lot of preparation no matter what.

[Patch]

Head over to Ableton.com and search for forum posts and news articles about Kid Beyond.

It IS easy in Ableton - just takes some research and some preparation.

Live looping is what Ableton Live excels at.

[Str8upDrew]

I can't really figure out what problems you're having. I used ableton to do live looping for some lounge gigs. I played guitar, keys, some midi toys and sang; and I had no problems at all getting it to work. There are several different solutions to every problem in live, so maybe you were just going about it in a more difficult way than me. Maybe you can elaborate on exactly what you're trying to do, and we can come up with a solution for you.

[apricotandpearjam]

ah well i really appreciate you guys wanting to help me... means a lot!

ok so i find ableton hard to work with live looping.

i basically want to do what i kaoss pad does but more intuitively & with midi.

i want to be able to hit pads on my MPD or drum pads and record loops that are quantised or not to the click.

the problem with ableton is how to record separate parts or different loops at different points of the set and then take them out, make new loops, solo parts, etc..

in ableton you need to have up/down, left/right, record in/out buttons mapped to each clip. it doesnt feel very natural and is certainly not easy to do live.

i want a way to just see 4 LEDs and be able to overdub easily, mute and solo parts easily, resample easily... this is why i ask about maschine as it seems like it does just that... but as i dont know exactly what i can do then i cant comment.

it also has to be inside ableton as its sync with external gear is so crap.

ive syned it to mpc, kaoss pad and other laptops and all wobble in and out of time because the sync is crap!!

im uk based if that helps anyone and im also on skype...

thanks again!

benji

[Str8upDrew]

Have you tried using the looper device in ableton???

[apricotandpearjam]

i thought looper was just for audio?

plus it doesnt let you separate out and have control over parts like a kaoss pad.