I was wondering if any of you more tech-savvy than me can decipher Madeon’s setup? I’m absolutely fascinated by it.
I’m not asking for a “Pop Culture” tutorial, but how he djs LIVE.
Videos for Reference:
I spent a while researching and I came up with this as his known equipment:
3 Launchpad S’s (Middle One for Mixing, Right One for Lights[?], and I Can’t Think of a Purpose for the Third Left One)
2 Xone K2’s (Right One for Audio Effects [Filter, etc.], Left One Purpose’s Unknown)
Ableton Live
Bome Software Midi Translator Pro (Program, I have no ****ing idea what this is or what it does)
1 Macbook
Can anyone at least answer any of these questions?
What does Bome Midi Translator Do?
How does he use Bome Midi Translator?
How does he loop live?
How does he loop live without looping the drums? (See third video @4:33)
How does he loop the vocals live without looping everything else? (See third video @17:08)
How does he isolate the vocals live? (See third video @3:52 & 16:56)
What does he use the second Xone for? (Is it for aesthetics? I never see him use it.)
Does he use the Xone’s for anything other than effects?
What does he use the third Launchpad S for? (Is it for aesthetics? I never see him use it.)
Giving any support, even guesses or theories, ANYTHING to point me in the right direction to understanding more is greatly appreciated.
Bome’s is used for advanced MIDI Mapping. Just Google it and you will find an answer to all your questions.
Live Looping is probably done through Ableton with the aid of Bome’s.
I’m pretty sure Madeon’s loops are prepared before the set. In the second video he plays the vocal track for “The City” over what sounds like a different song (although it might just be a different mix). He probably cuts his songs into stems, arranges the clips in Live’s session view, and launches each clip with the Launchpad. That way he can reconstruct full songs, or use stems to mix into other songs and create mashups.
He’s mapped the launchpad buttons to a beat repeater in Live; every time he presses a button, the interval of the repeater changes (around 17:12 you can see it pretty clearly). Im guessing he does the same for all the stuttering edits.
Same as 3; the stems are on individual tracks, making it easy to isolate/mute other tracks. I think i saw him do something with the Xone, so I’m assuming he uses it as a mixer to control the tracks with different stems.
A single Xone K2 is easily $300…its probably not just for aesthetics . Maybe to control visuals/lighting?
The Xone can also be used as a mixer; it looks like he’s controlling volume with the faders. It also looks like he’s got 4 channels in Live, 4 faders → 4 channels
He uses Bome’s Midi Translator to map the k:2 for mouse clicks and drag and drops, as well as search the ableton browser where his prepared songs are. It enables him to search his library with one of the knobs (the other knob controls tempo). The buttons will essentially drag the selection from the browser to the corresponding deck.
He uses one launchpad (viewing session mode) to launch his clips that are cut into sections like cue-points. All the cut clips (thing cue points) have assigned follow actions so they continue when the other ends (as if the whole song were playing). The other launchpad is used for the beatrepeat stutter like effects as well as navigating views between tracks and clips.
Whenever there is a second k:2 and third launchpad its for controlling video on the diamond setup. Usually, its just two launchpads and the k:2 for normal club/festival shows.
Ah! Thank you all so much for this! I think I get it and I’m testing out some new things now!
Also, one last question,
Do you think I could use a turntable to play tracks, and then use a launchpad (separately) to loop songs live with Ableton instead of doing everything on the launchpad?
Its really hard to loop stuff live with Ableton though. The best way to play loops with the launchpad is to prepare them before a set. You might want to explore Bome’s Midi Translator; there’s probably some advanced way to midi map looping/cuing in Ableton.
How so? Im an amateur AT BEST and I loop on the fly all the time. Looping live in live is very easy as long as all your looping functions are mapped out good…
How do you do it? I’ve never been able to figure out a good way to loop on the fly with a launchpad. Looping functions are specific to each clip, so assigning them to launchpad buttons would give you a very limited mapping.
. Maybe to control visuals/lighting?
