Frustrated RC-50 user trying to gain bearings with Ableton Live

[Adam Gaskins <shipiboconibo@gmail.com>]

Hi,

My name is Adam (aka ShipiboConibo). I am new to the mailing list, and
this is also my first experience with mailing lists in general, so
please don't be too brutal! I'm trying to follow the rules (although
the link to Netiquette in the welcome email didn't work for me >
http://www.fau.edu/netiquette/net/dis.html).

I would love some help concerning looping in live. So far I cannot get
Live or Mobius to loop in the manner I am used to with my RC-50. What
I mean is that every method I've gotten to work, that also keeps
everything in sync, requires that I hit record BEFORE the bar I want
to start looping on comes around.

Does that make sense? What I mean is, on my RC-50, I could just hit
record at the very start of a bar in time with my playing, and and
again at the end, and it looped perfect. If I try that approach with
Live or Mobius (while VST slaved to Live) I miss my bar and it doesn't
record until the next comes around. Having to hit it early seems very
awkward to me and makes me think about foot work instead of feeling
the music.

Note: If your wondering why I don't just use my RC-50 there are
several reasons. #1 It craps itself at the slightest tempo change. #2
It almost has to be the master in a midi setup (in my case mainly due
to #1). #3 I have do a bunch of MIDI-OX bs just to make it behave
'kind of' right with Ableton, and #4 I am trying to minimize my setup
(I don't have roadies and techs and it would really fun to have an
elaborate looping setup that would be allowed at open mics:).

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated, as I have been racking my brain
for weeks trying to make this work!
Thanks,
-Adam