Ableton DJs: Whats with Beatjump & Cues?

[illstep]

okay, right now i route traktor into ableton and use the smartmixer+FX. in the long run i want to switch to ableton fully to dj + control the lights from there.

i think i can put up with the fact that i can only see one deck at a time visually, but there are two functions that i cannot miss: being able to beatjump and having a count down to the cuepoints (the "drop" mainly) in terms of how many beats till we get there.

i haven't yet found out how to set cuepoints at all (or how to workaround) + it only shows how much time till the track ends, not any other point. any input on this is welcome and any additional ableton dj resource/links would be great too. thanks!

[deevey]

You can beatjump.

Use the nudge keys << | >> and set your quantize to the amount of beatjump.

personally I use Global quantize on all tracks and have Midi-keystroke convertor to set the global Quantize Size.

If Set a loop on whatever portion of your track and it'll count down to how much time to the end of the loop rather than end of the track.

Easier method to "drop" stuff is to copy the track twice or 3 times in the channel.

1st copy = Start point as the, well start point / intro
2nd copy = Drop as the start point
3rd copy = outro as start point

This way you can juggle cue points like you would in Traktor and not need to worry about counting bars or beat-jumping ... you can also trigger 2 events at the same time e.g. outro on one while hitting drop on the other for that 100% synced drop rather than beatjumping to it.

You can also warp markers along the track to signify parts you want to start mixing from etc....

[JasonBay]

Easier method to "drop" stuff is to copy the track twice or 3 times in the channel.

1st copy = Start point as the, well start point / intro
2nd copy = Drop as the start point
3rd copy = outro as start point

This way you can juggle cue points like you would in Traktor and not need to worry about counting bars or beat-jumping ... you can also trigger 2 events at the same time e.g. outro on one while hitting drop on the other for that 100% synced drop rather than beatjumping to it.

This sums it up. That's the beauty of using Ableton, you can have multiple parts of a track all set and ready to go, and jump to them seamlessly.

[mostapha]

Also, RTFM, look for the section on follow actions. They make life better.

[JasonBay]

RTFM

That alone would answer a majority of the questions people ask on here

[illstep]

which one? the ableton manual? i feel like i need alot of workarounds because alot of the mapping stuff doesn't work just like that.

i tried the nudge+quantize (couldnt map the quantize though, will be looking into the midi-keystroke converter), but i would mess up the follow action as it seems to be activated once you start the clip and not depend on any further action.

i have lots of trouble getting my apc20 to work properly (dumb mode is actually dumb and close to useless in ableton and apc-mode maps all of the buttons with tons of functions that i dont want) --> is there any midi tools / max for live stuff that will make mapping easier just like it was in traktor? (with LED output and all?)

edit: i just realized i can just overwrite whatever the firmware does by mapping. great, this is getting way better now!

also is there a way to map the master-clock to a fader or to dummy clips? it seems to not work since the master channel doesnt have clips :/

[mostapha]

Yeah…it is really dense, though. And there are a lot of tricks that just weren't there the last time I read it……like hacking the CF to be a wet/dry knob using phase cancellation.

[Nontablist]

in my experience o dont use beat jump on ableton... bu works pretty well...

insead of that i prefer cut pieces of the song in different clips, intro, drops, bridges and stuff like that... i thinks its cleaner