Re: Ableton Live As A Live Looper

[Os <os@collective.co.uk>]

> From: Mech <mech@m3ch.net>
>
> Os, about which features do you need help badgering Ableton?  I'm only 
> just learning the software, but if you need help piling on, let us 
> know which features/bugs in particular they need to iron out.  I'm 
> sure there are more than a few here who'd be happy to help.

Hi,

thanks for your kind words about my plug-in.

The stuff I added in v1.1.0 of my software let's you control Live's 
transport from the plug-in's loop stop/start buttons, and optionally 
sync up the tempo too.

What I want from Ableton are a couple of small changes/additional 
options in Live that would make the initial tempo lock-up much tighter. 
Because right now they assume incoming MIDI clock is coming from an 
external hardware device, they apply some fairly strong smoothing to 
the incoming tempo. This means that when you get a sudden change in 
tempo (like you do when you start a new loop, because the tempo is 
unknown before the loop ends) the software takes a little while to get 
in step. Now because the MIDI clock from Augustus Loop is generated and 
timestamped within the same computer as Live, its timing is exactly 
accurate and needs no smoothing. So I'd like Ableton to make the 
smoothing optional.

The other option would be for them to make the External Clock 
activation button automatable via MIDI, which for some reason it's not 
right now. Then I could construct some workaround to drop Live in and 
out of MIDI sync and set the tempo via a MIDI controller.

If anyone using my software feels that these changes would improve 
matters for them (and I appreciate that we're probably talking about a 
fairly niche group in terms of Live users worldwide here), do let 
Ableton know. Maybe if enough people ask for this stuff they'll add it.


cheers,
os.