Using ableton on a 2nd laptop for FX, how to set up

[Jo3]

Ok so iv got a new MBP with traktor pro and a new NI audio 8. i'm about to buy an xone 92. Im going to route the 4 decks into each channel on the mixer to mix 4 decks externally.

I also have my old dell computer with a vestax tank audio interface (which I won at BPM ) and ableton live 7 which I want to use for some vst fx.

Now, how do I set this up? do i send the audio out of traktor into ableton then to the 92? or out of the 92 to ableton? pretty confused.. Iv been reading how to sync them both together with a midi cable so i get that bit, it's just the cable routing i'm unsure about. Will abletons fx be available for each deck or just the master?

any info would be great! Iv tried searching but all i can find is smart mixing on one laptop. I really want to try this but I can't afford ableton at this moment in time and I can't bring myself to run un-legit software on my mac. This is purely test purposes to see the possibilities. If all is well i will be purchasing ableton live 8 for a second MB.

cheers!

[Jo3]

Anyone have an idea? I know it's possible

[minimalmintek]

I've tried something like this once... But I use timecode, don't know if you too.
Traktor (on the 1st machine) > Ableton (on the 2nd) > Mixer...
I tried only playing with 2 decks, so I had 2 audio channel in Ableton, one for each deck of Traktor. Like this you can have the FX of Ableton avalaible on each deck of Traktor. You can do the same with 4 channels for 4 decks...
I was sending my Traktor sound to the other machine via wireless. But I tried with LAN cables directly connected too.
The only "problem" I had, was syncing Ableton with Traktor... Latency and everything else was OK but the BPM was always moving :s But I don't remember if I just tried syncing Ableton to Traktor or if I tried too to sync Traktor to Ableton...
This was with first version of Traktor & Ableton 7... with the 1.2.1 & Live 8 it maybe works better...
(Anyway, if you're not using timecode, I think you should use the Bento's method to sync them together...)

[Jo3]

I'll give that a go cheers

I was thinking maybe the fx send and return on the mixer comes into play.

Ps. I'm not using time code, we tryed timecode on my mates teckniks a while back and we had issues of having to hav the pitch fader right down to the bottom and on 45 to get the track to play at the correct speed so there was no way in speeding up the track at all :s

I don't own turntables so this isn't an issue for me.

[minimalmintek]

I was thinking maybe the fx send and return on the mixer comes into play.

You can also use this ones from your 92 but only with 2 decks... 'cause you won't have enought separate output for the (4 decks + the 2 or 4 returns of effects = 6 or 8 outs) on your audio 8 :s

[Jo3]

now im confused! lol sorry man!

How does the send/return work?

Could I not rout the audio 8 (4 decks, so 8 outputs used) into the 4 channels of the mixer....then the fx send to the input of the vestax tank (on second laptop) and return to the output of the tank? Id try it but I havnt got the 92 just yet.

cheers!

[minimalmintek]

scuse me, my bad, I forget the tank and as the tank has only 2 inputs (i think) you can't have 4 separate channel for fx in ableton, only 2
So yes, with the 92, you're OK
4 decks in Traktor > Mixer
Mixer's sends > Tank Inputs
Tank outputs > Mixer's returns

The send/return work like this :
on each channel of the 92 you've got 2 little pot (on top of everything) that's the send level... on the back you've got a send output... so with the pot you choose how much signal you want to send to your FX (it's not a dry/wet)
then, on the back again, you've got return input, here the sound come back from your FX...
The 2 channels on the left of the 92 are the returns... set the gain, EQ, fader up, ...
Here you've got your FX back...

Hope I'm clear enough