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I haven't been working on music much lately. After the last EP, I've sort of taken a break for a few, and when I have done anything musical, it's mostly been playing around with Ableton Live. I have a rough grip on how that program works, and have set up a few tracks that were originally written in Buzz to be performed in Live. But I keep running up against walls in Live, and I'm not sure if they're because of limitations in the program, or in my understanding of it.
There's a synth sound on the Pushpin Revolution tracks that I would consider to be a signature sound of that EP, and I'm having a hard time recreating it. This is mainly because it's based on randomly mutating FM modulations, and I'm not sure how to recreate that effect in Live. I thought using clip envelopes would be the right thing, but they seem to be pretty strictly tied to the length of the clip. Of course, I can unlink them and move around the length and position settings, but I don't want to spend an entire song twisting knobs just to recreate a synth patch. Seems like there should be a better way to create non-rhythmic, non-repeating parameter changes. Should I be looking into follow actions instead? Maybe.
After some frustration (and plenty of useful learning) tonight, I considered writing custom MIDI randomizing patches in PD, to feed constantly shifting CC data into Live while the track plays. But that seems like adding a whole other layer of complexity to something that should be super simple. But maybe that's only because I'm coming at this from a Buzz perspective, and taking for granted the routing and modulatin possibilities of the Peer Control machines? I don't know.
So it occurs to me that maybe I should just use Buzz as my live performace host. Despite it's stability issues (which can be worked out, with a bit of patience), it's somewhat flexible. The sequencing aspect wouldn't be as easy as Live, but paramter manipulation would certainly be a snap. Plus, there's the fact that I wouldn't have to spend all this time trying to relearn my own songs and re-create them in an unfamilar environment. That's something that's really holding me back at the moment. It's not nearly as fulfilling to re-create something as it is to create it int he first place, no matter how new and exciting the recreated version is. It's a bit constrictive and not as open ended.
Anyways. I'm gonna keep thinking about what I need to do to make the move into live performance, and playing around with various programs to do so. It's slow going though. I should probably try to work on some new material as well, jsut to keep myself creatively inspired...
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08/22/06
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lowlifi
Hey Dylan,
I think you should approach the whole live aspect closer to your roots, in more of a live rock band setting. You have a great sound, and I think it deserves the energy that it conveys, but I think a live band would be the best way to do it. I wouldn't worry about a particular sound that was dominant across your EP. I think it would be wise to find a way to make your live show different from the EP, as there would be no point in seeing you stare at a laptop or listen to your album while comfortable somewhere else.
Live has the possibilities for sequencing your material, but, as for modulating a synth patch, you could easily have it written in Pd, Max/MSP, Reaktor, etc. I think Live is great as a compositional, and live performance tool, but don't depend on it. Find what you are most comfortable with (Buzz) and maybe try working with other musicians for a live show, and you can play your patch live. btw. I have tried BuzzLe, and its definitely a more stable program, I highly suggest the switch.
I would investigate the possibilities of working with others for a live show, and see what it is that you really need to make it all happen.
Good luck.
08/22/06
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bodo
edited: Aug 22 2006
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cbit
afaik theres no simple way iof setting up smooth lfo-like modulation on a parameter in live without entering the curves manually  tho i hope you find a solution (bodo's tip is great for a stepped lfo). if i were doing it i'd try to create ta synth with the modulation built in, in reaktor. and play that within live.
08/22/06
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filarion
yeah, I usually patch something together in the nord modular and pipe that into live. a proper LFO midi plugin would be fantastic and I'm sure it's on the to-do list.
08/22/06
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Roshi
filarion said: "yeah, I usually patch something together in the nord modular and pipe that into live. a proper LFO midi plugin would be fantastic and I'm sure it's on the to-do list."
Yes! That would be so awesome.
08/22/06
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airliner
lowlifi said: "Hey Dylan,
I think you should approach the whole live aspect closer to your roots, in more of a live rock band setting. You have a great sound, and I think it deserves the energy that it conveys, but I think a live band would be the best way to do it. I wouldn't worry about a particular sound that was dominant across your EP. I think it would be wise to find a way to make your live show different from the EP, as there would be no point in seeing you stare at a laptop or listen to your album while comfortable somewhere else.
Live has the possibilities for sequencing your material, but, as for modulating a synth patch, you could easily have it written in Pd, Max/MSP, Reaktor, etc. I think Live is great as a compositional, and live performance tool, but don't depend on it. Find what you are most comfortable with (Buzz) and maybe try working with other musicians for a live show, and you can play your patch live. btw. I have tried BuzzLe, and its definitely a more stable program, I highly suggest the switch.
I would investigate the possibilities of working with others for a live show, and see what it is that you really need to make it all happen.
Good luck."
yeah, that's something i've considered (live band), but it'll probably have to come down the pipe a little bit. plus, it can be a hassle getting people motivated and organized in a band setting...i know, i've tried! but it would be fun. part of me is really turned off by the "stare at a screen" idea of a laptop performance (i know, i've been to some boring ones), but if the music is good enough, i can get into it. while band like performances are more accessible to a general audience, do solo electronic music performers really need to force themselves into that role? when i've been to the laptop battles, people who do stupid dance moves and lip synching really annoy me...there's a happy medium there somewhere, i'm sure.
as for the sound, i'm not looking for an exact recreation, but something close in spirit would be nice. plus, it'd be nice to be able to do that sort of thing in live.
one thing i thought of this morning...is it possible to have the clip envelope of a midi clip play with a longer loop length than the midi clip? for example, say i have a 16 beat series of notes in a midi clip, and i want that to loop, but have a clip envelope that's looping at, say, 27 beats? i don't think i tried that last night...is it possible? that might get me closer to what i want.
it'd be nice though, if i could just run an LFO to any arbitrary paramter in Live. I've gotten a little to used to that, methinks.
i'll check out that link when i get home bodo, thanks. might not be what i need, but at this point, i'm just happy building my repretoire of live techniques.
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