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Re: Changing the Subject line--was RE: making the switch from Repeater to Ableton Live
On Jun 22, 2004, at 3:51 AM, Gary Lehmann wrote:
> Uh--I read all these posts anyway, but . . .
> How about that Ableton Live?
> How steep is the learning curve for us sample and solo guys?
In a way Ableton Live is easier to set up with a midi foot controller,
compared to the Repeater. You don't have to do that much programming
since Live has "midi learn" function to map different controller data
to certain functions. You just put Live in midi learn mode, click at
the graphical representation of the function (could be "play", "mute"
or anything) and finally step on the foot controller button to send the
midi message. That's it! Just watch out with those FCB1010 bursts of
multi msg sending (like with the Repeater).
> Has anyone actually sold their main hardware looper and gone with the
> software approach?
Not yet. No software looper I have come across does overdub recording
into a loop, sound-on-sound wise (without other inconvenient
drawbacks). Both the EDP and the Repeater does this very good.
A partial workaround I tried was to use the plug-in Lexicon PSP42 in
Ableton Live. Then you can easily tweak feedback and other parameters
from a midi expression pedal, thanks to the external midi controller
mapping in Live. But this is more like using a bunch of tape delay
units for sound-on-sound looping. It's not the same thing as actually
record in overdub mode on a EDP or Repeater. For frippertronics-like
work I guess Ableton Live with the soft-lexicon should work fine.
Another cool Repeater function, that is not available in Ableton Live,
is to re-pitch a loop/sample/clip by external midi control. In Live you
can do it by using the mouse but that's not to much help if you are
busy playing instruments with your hands. I and others have been
actively asking for Ableton to make external midi control available
also for so called "sample or clip parameters", but as the upcoming
version 4 has yet been presented I'm afraid this matter was not looked
into. If midi pedals could be mapped to "sample pitch" you could reach
a similar "freedom in pitch" as the Repeater offers. However with the
exception that recordings have to be made before changing the pitch.
There are however different plug-ins that can be used in Live for
changing the pitch, but none of them sounding as good, to my ears, as
simply re-pitching a Repeater track. But as we know software are
instantly improving and with Live you get access to most plug-in
parameters for your external midi controller.
All the best
Per Boysen
---
http://www.boysen.se
http://www.looproom.com