I'm not an expirienced keyboardist, but the band that I belong to need me to play keyboard, and this channel makes things so easy, really glad that I found u m8
This is definitely like me improving the limited amount that I know but it’s also basically like starting fresh. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make it work with Ableton but have never seen videos with such in depth teachings! I hope you’re continuing to make videos, I’d love to see one of you combining Serum into the Ableton rig to use Live!
Your channel is very helpful man. I've been using ableton for 2 years now. I still can't get rid of the glitches. I really hope you could enlighten me where I went wrong with my set up. 🙏
Thanks Carl. Glad you’ve found it useful. I help people with this all the time. Since you’re an experienced user you might get a lot of value from a private coaching. There’s a link in the description if that’s of interest to you.
That's probably going to be my first setup. I am used to working in logic pro x, I can record my guitars. I own an apk mini from a couple of years ago. I bought focusrite usb sound card this year (upgrade from old tascam 144 mk2). I am leaning to play piano for 3 years now and I got interested in playing computer music and learning EDM arrangement just few months ago, even though I prefer rock music. I saw this ad that rock band wants a keyboard player. I went to audition and I said I can play something more than keyboard - I can play the computer. I brought my mac mini with monitor and so on. I played some stock logic pro x vst synths and they were intrigued. This is going to be my first band, I don't know what to play, I just hold chords and play very basic arpeggios. I feel more confident playing guitar, but I am willing to do my best in this position. I don't know much about how to play midi keyboard live in a band so I am doing this deep dive. I am going to drop apple and get a used windows laptop dedicated for playing in a band and ableton and this video seems like a very good starting point. Thank you so much
Hey, it's my first time setting up a live keys rig, and this video (and generally your channel) is sooo tremendously helpful! Thank you so much for this!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just what I was looking for and more! This is awesome! And so informative - just beautiful! I'm following along and am finally able to make my own rig - just like I've been longing to do since dropping MainStage (the ultimate CPU hog!)
Just got through the first 8.5 minutes. Please do not take this as criticism other than helpful, if it matters at all. The click-and-drag or other configurations I keep having to back up and watch again. If you could give a verbal along with the visual of what you are dragging and where, it could help a lot of auditory learners. The visual learners will still have to back up a couple times because the mouse is not cleanly refreshing on the drag. Not a biggie, but would def help people follow better and not lose context when trying to back it up (i.e. use a larger mouse for tutorials, say the from/where dragging). Othe than that, I am very appreciative of your instruction so far...very well explained at a level that the inexperienced can follow with some rewinds and anybody else with little-to-no rewinds, depending on experience. If you wish for creds, I have been in IT (developer) for 25+ years and a musician for 40+ years on various instruments. Due to lack of financial resources (had kids who I wanted to feed), I am just now getting back to some electronic music production, live and recorded. Your instruction, already, is making a significant impact...as well as finally being able to afford a MacBook Pro powerful enough to handle current software! Many thanks, sir!
Hey Sean! I really appreciate you taking the time to write this! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I am so happy to hear that you have found this video helpful. Look forward to connecting more in the future!
So happy to hear this! Enjoy! I am coming out with a new course soon on playing keys with Ableton, so stay tuned for more in depth info! Onward and Upward!
Thanks so much for making this video. I got to the stopping point and just wanted to say this is my first Ableton Keyboard rig setup. I'm trying to figure out if when I run tracks for my church if I can set up a keyboard rig in my session. Can't wait to try this in a couple of days!
Thank you for this tutorial, I just started learning Ableton and there are very few tutorials for live keyboardists, so this video is helping me save a lot of time in figuring things out myself!
Thank you so much 😃.. This is my first time setup ... I looked many videos and this was the most helpful one... You just earned a subscriber from one video .... Please create more beginners content like this😃😆♥️👍
@@LiveKeyboardist Quick question: When you set up the buttons on Novation Launch control XL, did you set up all the controls using the "User" Template? (top right button of the launch Control XL controller)? (just got me the controller)
@@LiveKeyboardist Thanks for that great information. I noticed though, that there was no way to set my LEDs using the launch control xl editor. How did you do yours?
Happy to help! I’ve got a few seats left in a course that goes way deeper into building a live keys rig and goes from set list planning all the way through performance. If your interested in hearing more , let me know.
GReat one! I think with this you can emulate the Nord Stage workflow. Piano, Organ, Synth and Effects section. Then map it to a similar kind of control surface layout.
I’m considering replacing my Kronos-based live band performing. It will be a big shift due to the large amount of Combis, samples, arpeggiators etc. This is for three reasons: redundancy (should be easier to swap out in case of failure), improved work flow (the Kronos is pretty arcane in many ways), greater flexibility (increased use of reliance on live loops for music from ‘80s and beyond), and depping the gig when I’m unavailable. I’m here to compare Ableton with Push/Launchpad against Mainstage, Maschine, and any other system.
For me, the "instrument rack" way works better, because I play in an 80s tribute band, and for some songs I need a specific keyboard sounds (like a ha's take on me, or eurythmics sweet dreams...) , I have all the backing tracks (sequence and backing vocals) and, also, a track with a sound that I can use on multiple songs (like strings) attached to a unique midi keyboard, the other midi keyboard plays the instrument rack (splitted in halfs) that way I just bring the setup with all the concert ready to play, when a song is playing, only the instrument rack for that song is active, to save computer resources. And as a plus, I can automate all the parameters of the plugins and effects for every song.
Hi Sir thanks very much for your informative Video. Could you explain how to configure each Patch/Sound within Ableton akin to Splits on a regular Keyboard? Example: Organ from C2 - B2: Piano from C3 - B3: E.P. & Strings from C4 - B4: Sample from C5... Thus using Ableton as a MIDI/USB Live Keyboard Template connecting to any USB/MIDI Keyboard!
I'm following yours tutorials and made my setup rig for live performance. I'm using Steinberg Halion as VST and Novation impulse as keyboard. I trigger clips with pads on my impulse, 8 pads - 8 channels. And all it is good. Using without a problems. But i want to improve my setup. I want to switch off previous instrument. When i change instrument (another dummy clip), to turn off previous instrument. To save CPU. Is it possible? I hope i will find in some of your videos (tutorials). Thank you anyway that i made to come here so far.
your videos are of great help always. I'm looking forward on making my first ableton set for live keyboard playing. I am a keyboard player based in Mumbai, India and perform for alot of bollywood shows where no. of sounds that we need to use in a show are alot more than 8-10 or 20 sounds. How can we setup ableton for such kind of a requirement where we need to access multiple sounds throughout a gig and how can we trigger those as this method will have a limitation on no. of sounds with what i've understood. waiting for your response. Thank you!
Is it possible to do split-keyboards in this type of live set up? How would you recommend doing split keys in a live setup (where your patches and splits might be different for every song in a set)
Yes, you can do splits, just create an instrument rack, put the plugins you want to play into it, you´ll see 4 buttons on top, click on "key" and then you can extend the green line to the point where you want each plugin to sound. You also can save this instrument rack and use whenever you need it, make an instrument rack for every patch you play and just drag them when need them.
Why the midi bus (incoming signal)? Is it only to control an arpeggiator? In my context, I would use my VSTs arpeggiator only in specific patches, so would the midi bus serve any other purpose? Thanks for the video, subscribed!
Brett, you are the best! I just got Ableton Live Lite 11 with my new Focusrite interface. So it's my first Live setup. I need to replace my old rig consisting of Kawai MP-7 (great feel, but HEAVY) on the bottom and Hammond XK1 on the top with StudioLogic SL88 on bottom and StudioLogic Numa Compact 2X on top and Ableton Live and Keyscape. I only have a few weeks until my first gig and need to create setups for various songs like Piano/Strings split, Piano on one KB and Organ on other, multiple splits on each, etc. Your channel so far is a godsend to me. Question: do you know of a low-cost, or free, Hammond plug-in for the PC?
Hey there, thanks for your informative video. I'm looking to improve my keyboard rig, but I'm slightly confused, and excuse my ignorance, but i have a few questions regarding your process: 1. Setting up instrument racks vs. your method - where did you learn of Ableton using 1 processing core per channel strip ? was that something mentioned in the manual ? Alternatively, if that's your argument, why not just set up different MIDI tracks with the desired instruments without the need for a MIDI Bus, MIDI Mapping can come in handy for switching between these MIDI tracks effectively as you exhibited @13:12 2. How do you alter your Master to compensate for sonic discrepancies in any given venue ? I didn't see you touch on that, and that's been something i've had to really consider and account for during soundcheck. 3. What interface do you use to send audio out into the backline of a venue? I've been thinking of grabbing an Apogee Duet 3 (USB-C) interface for myself. Lightweight, portable, easy knob-control to balance volume/gain...etc.
Really glad you found this useful! Thanks for your thoughtful questions. Here we go. 1. Somewhere at the end of the manual there are a few pages that show how the people who built Ableton verify certain things. For example, how to verify that a bypassed audio effect is truly "clean" and does not edit the audio. Things of this nature. That is where I found this info. As for the MIDI bus, this makes it possible to apply global MIDI effects later. If you wanted to for example have an arpeggiator that you can use on any patch, this makes it very easy to do. Also makes it easy to transpose songs when needed. You can think of it as a control point where you can enter the signal flow and have more power than having to go through and manually edit each instrument. 2. When needed, you can group the busses together, and send the volume out of the bus. I get my volumes pretty even, and adjust what I am sending out of my interface if I am sending way too much or too little. Rarely happens. If you needed to adjust EQ on the whole output, I would group the audio buses and do it that way. 3. I am using the MOTU m4. It works great, and would highly recommend it, though I assume the Apogee would also work just fine. Hopefully, this helps!
I have korg pa5x professional arranger keyboard please introduce me a software that I can have rhythm and accompaniment for live gig with patches from kontact vast.
Great video for a newbie like me to get started. The only doubt I have is this, what would be the procedure when you have 3 controller keyboards? Do you have any video regarding this case? From what I understand from this tutorial, you've explained (extremely well) how to set up a rig for a more or less limited amount of sounds you can mix with one another via the Novation faders but what if the case were to be the following. In my case, our band plays about 40 songs at every gig, each with a completely different set of sounds. Some songs I use just a piano but most songs use a mix of strings with accordion + piano + flute + bells, etc etc. Some songs have 5-8 sounds but some can use up to 29 different sounds at one instance. I've been using MainStage up until now and it's been super simple to program everything but it did give me some grief during this summer and I have to find something more stable. Thus Ableton is the next option. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
You’re asking great questions. I’m about to release a course in early January that has a few seats left. That covers concepts like this. If you’re interested in hearing more, let me know.
Hey Brett!! @@LiveKeyboardist .... Following you for so long, I've been looking in to all the options you talk about and I've finally got into GP4 ... Ableton was too wild to overcome simple things for a newbie ... whereas GP4 is just awesome and easy ... AND very stable. Thanks just the same
So happy to hear this! FWIW, my course is software agnostic and helps you full sail increase sound quality and decrease prep time so you can make better music. Would love to tell you more if you’re interested, let me know! And thanks for following. Means so much.
Thanks a ton brother. It helped a lot. However I want to expand on this. Like on the hit of a button , could we trigger a whole new bank of patches. ? Here you built one patch bank. Is there any way, for eg. if we stack n number of instruments in a sigle instrument rack. and when I want to change the bank, I hit the button and the control is given to the next instrument on the instrument rack. If you could cover this topic. It would help immensely. Thanks in advance. :-)
Do you have any idea on how to troubleshoot if the light on my LaunchControlXL is not turning on when I have the corresponding patch enabled? Everything else seemed to work but this crucial part
Hi and thanks for a great channel! I have a question - if you have a couple of sounds in each category (Keys, Pads, etc) it will be a lots of track. Could it then be a way to combine your tutorial (Ableton like Manistage) and use an instrument rack per category, but still use a bus per category instead of creating a lots of track? I've just bought the novation launchcontrol and I want to hear your opinon which way would be the easiest way to control the live rig - lots of track or one track with an instrument rack?
Doing it this way means those plug-ins are not receiving any information in the form of midi, nor producing audio so it’s a better use of your resources.
Thanks for this great video. You may have answered below already (I didn’t quite understand), but what is the advantage of having separate channel strips per instrument, routed to a bus track, versus having an instrument rack in a singular track?
Hi Brett, I just discovered your channel and I'm impressed by the amount of super helpful content. I have a question, I heard you say Ableton can only use one core if you gather all of your sounds in a rack. Does that mean the "static patch" method isn't as optimal as the "dynamic patch" method ? I'm trying to make a relatively big project (30-40 sounds, probably up to 4 at the same time, ~20 patches, plus some audio clips) and I think the static patch method is best, but is there a way to use it, while using multiple cores ? Thank you so much for your work !
Hey Pierre! Thanks for commenting, I am so happy to hear you have found my channel useful! If your computer is pretty solid, a static patch list of that size will be 100% okay. I created projects of that size and larger and have been total fine in a static set up. My computer is solid, but not over the top. As per one core per channel strip, that is true. So when you build your static set up, be intentional with how you are breaking up your instruments. I typically do 4 instrument channel strips in this context, keys, pads, leads, aux. You may find that if you are doing a lot of layering it is easier to double that and go with 8 instrument channel strips, 2 of each, this will also split up your sounds allowing your computer to process them easier. Another thing that I think can be helpful when using this type of a set up is routing your MIDI through midi busses to each strip (I use the IAC driver to do this) This way if you have any need for midi effects or transposition, it can be done with one device rather than multiple. And the same for audio FX. Have one group of effects for each instrument channel strip (This doesn't include the design of the sound) but if you know you are going to use a filter particular effect alot, just throw it on the end of the chain and use dummy clips to modify it. Also - make sure you OVER LABEL everything. As the set grows in size it is super easy to get lost. Thanks again for reaching out! Glad you've found my channel helpful.
Okay so I think I’m following this.. I’m coming from originally mainstage, but have been using Sunday keys template for ableton and loved it. But I still had an issue of it dropping out every like 30 to 40 minutes and it would end up happening during play. So if I’m understanding correctly this will be more cpu efficient than the static patch case, and what you’re saying in these comments is like a combination of the two?
![POLYCAT - ข้อความรูปยิ้ม [Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lBhIgPGCgbI/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm definitely adding this to my ''how to play a midi keyboard'' playlist! This was very informative! 👍
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting!
I'm not an expirienced keyboardist, but the band that I belong to need me to play keyboard, and this channel makes things so easy, really glad that I found u m8
Happy to hear you are finding this useful! Thanks for commenting! And good luck with your band.
This is my first time utilizing Ableton as a keyboard rig. Thank you this video made so much sense!
This is definitely like me improving the limited amount that I know but it’s also basically like starting fresh. I’ve always wanted to learn how to make it work with Ableton but have never seen videos with such in depth teachings! I hope you’re continuing to make videos, I’d love to see one of you combining Serum into the Ableton rig to use Live!
MY FIRST KEYS RIG
your channel is so helpful. i cant believe i didnt know about it sooner. my daughter plays keys for church so i shared your channel with her
Thanks Patrick! Happy you’ve found it helpful!
Your channel is very helpful man. I've been using ableton for 2 years now. I still can't get rid of the glitches. I really hope you could enlighten me where I went wrong with my set up. 🙏
Thanks Carl. Glad you’ve found it useful. I help people with this all the time. Since you’re an experienced user you might get a lot of value from a private coaching. There’s a link in the description if that’s of interest to you.
First Time Ableton User and you make more sense than anyone out there!
That's probably going to be my first setup. I am used to working in logic pro x, I can record my guitars. I own an apk mini from a couple of years ago. I bought focusrite usb sound card this year (upgrade from old tascam 144 mk2). I am leaning to play piano for 3 years now and I got interested in playing computer music and learning EDM arrangement just few months ago, even though I prefer rock music. I saw this ad that rock band wants a keyboard player. I went to audition and I said I can play something more than keyboard - I can play the computer. I brought my mac mini with monitor and so on. I played some stock logic pro x vst synths and they were intrigued. This is going to be my first band, I don't know what to play, I just hold chords and play very basic arpeggios. I feel more confident playing guitar, but I am willing to do my best in this position. I don't know much about how to play midi keyboard live in a band so I am doing this deep dive. I am going to drop apple and get a used windows laptop dedicated for playing in a band and ableton and this video seems like a very good starting point. Thank you so much
Awesome!! I’d love to chat with you and hear more about it if you’d like to share. You can email me at Brett@mainstagetoableton.com
Thank you for sharing this, most videos around this topic only cover how to automate patch changes, which is not really what I'm looking for.
Hey, it's my first time setting up a live keys rig, and this video (and generally your channel) is sooo tremendously helpful! Thank you so much for this!
I was improving my current ableton rig that had like 60+ patches haha. I was trying to make it more efficient!
This was so awesome. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I am not even a piano player and I learned so much.
Beginner in MIDI here. This was very helpful. Thanks.
So happy you found this helpful!
First time Ableton user. I needed a church rig setup. It's kind of intimidating but great tutorial!
Just got Ableton for the first time. Still trying to figure it out
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Just what I was looking for and more! This is awesome! And so informative - just beautiful! I'm following along and am finally able to make my own rig - just like I've been longing to do since dropping MainStage (the ultimate CPU hog!)
Definitely different from the Chain Selector approach that we usually see, e.g. Sunday Sounds for Ableton.
Just got through the first 8.5 minutes. Please do not take this as criticism other than helpful, if it matters at all. The click-and-drag or other configurations I keep having to back up and watch again. If you could give a verbal along with the visual of what you are dragging and where, it could help a lot of auditory learners. The visual learners will still have to back up a couple times because the mouse is not cleanly refreshing on the drag. Not a biggie, but would def help people follow better and not lose context when trying to back it up (i.e. use a larger mouse for tutorials, say the from/where dragging). Othe than that, I am very appreciative of your instruction so far...very well explained at a level that the inexperienced can follow with some rewinds and anybody else with little-to-no rewinds, depending on experience. If you wish for creds, I have been in IT (developer) for 25+ years and a musician for 40+ years on various instruments. Due to lack of financial resources (had kids who I wanted to feed), I am just now getting back to some electronic music production, live and recorded. Your instruction, already, is making a significant impact...as well as finally being able to afford a MacBook Pro powerful enough to handle current software! Many thanks, sir!
Hey Sean! I really appreciate you taking the time to write this! Your feedback is greatly appreciated. I am so happy to hear that you have found this video helpful. Look forward to connecting more in the future!
Thank you sooo much for your free content on your channel. This is really Helpful !!
So happy to hear this! Enjoy! I am coming out with a new course soon on playing keys with Ableton, so stay tuned for more in depth info! Onward and Upward!
Thanks so much for making this video. I got to the stopping point and just wanted to say this is my first Ableton Keyboard rig setup. I'm trying to figure out if when I run tracks for my church if I can set up a keyboard rig in my session. Can't wait to try this in a couple of days!
Thank you for this tutorial, I just started learning Ableton and there are very few tutorials for live keyboardists, so this video is helping me save a lot of time in figuring things out myself!
Thank you so much 😃..
This is my first time setup ... I looked many videos and this was the most helpful one... You just earned a subscriber from one video .... Please create more beginners content like this😃😆♥️👍
we hear you brother from Philippines. God bless
Question: what made you choose these Keys/pads/leads as track? Is that better than groups or return tracks? If so, why?😅 thanks!! Awesome content 🙌🏼
Suscribed ♥️💪🏽
This is my first setup. Thanks
This is my first set up that I've ever seen it done this way! It's really great! thanks!
Really glad you’ve found it useful! Thanks for commenting! Happy to help
@@LiveKeyboardist Quick question: When you set up the buttons on Novation Launch control XL, did you set up all the controls using the "User" Template? (top right button of the launch Control XL controller)? (just got me the controller)
@@mtbrogue88 glad you grabbed one! I know you’ll love it. I use user mode. And I also changed each control to midi CC
@@LiveKeyboardist Thanks for that great information. I noticed though, that there was no way to set my LEDs using the launch control xl editor. How did you do yours?
@@mtbrogue88 in midi preferences make sure remote is turned on for output. I believe that will get you visual feedback for the buttons.
Yes thats exactly what I doing I use Ableton its been great you are a big help with mapping my Keylab 49 👍
Deserves a follow and like
Thank you so much for liking and subscribing! Glad you found this helpful.
Thank you so much!
Happy to help! I’ve got a few seats left in a course that goes way deeper into building a live keys rig and goes from set list planning all the way through performance. If your interested in hearing more , let me know.
FIRST ONE EVER! DOING MY BEST TO STAY WITH YA!
GReat one! I think with this you can emulate the Nord Stage workflow. Piano, Organ, Synth and Effects section. Then map it to a similar kind of control surface layout.
Absolutely! I’ve got some seats left in a course that goes through all this in detail in early January. Let me know if you want more info
@@LiveKeyboardist Did your course already start?
Starts tomorrow. Shoot me an email and we can connect so you can hear more. Brett@mainstagetoableton.com
I’m considering replacing my Kronos-based live band performing. It will be a big shift due to the large amount of Combis, samples, arpeggiators etc. This is for three reasons: redundancy (should be easier to swap out in case of failure), improved work flow (the Kronos is pretty arcane in many ways), greater flexibility (increased use of reliance on live loops for music from ‘80s and beyond), and depping the gig when I’m unavailable.
I’m here to compare Ableton with Push/Launchpad against Mainstage, Maschine, and any other system.
For me, the "instrument rack" way works better, because I play in an 80s tribute band, and for some songs I need a specific keyboard sounds (like a ha's take on me, or eurythmics sweet dreams...) , I have all the backing tracks (sequence and backing vocals) and, also, a track with a sound that I can use on multiple songs (like strings) attached to a unique midi keyboard, the other midi keyboard plays the instrument rack (splitted in halfs) that way I just bring the setup with all the concert ready to play, when a song is playing, only the instrument rack for that song is active, to save computer resources. And as a plus, I can automate all the parameters of the plugins and effects for every song.
Context is certainly important. If I was playing in an 80s tribute band, I would take the same approach
Just downloaded Ableton to play with backing tracks and be able to change instruments quickly
This video is for me only, lots of love, thanks a lot.
Thanks for commenting! This video was inspired by your question! Thanks for keeping a look out. Best of luck with it and keep me posted.
@@LiveKeyboardist Oh, I am pleased, thanks😘😘😘😘
This was my first Live Keyboard build, but I was wondering how would you use this along with your tutorial on layering sounds with Kontakt.
Building my first ever live rig
Hi Sir thanks very much for your informative Video. Could you explain how to configure each Patch/Sound within Ableton akin to Splits on a regular Keyboard? Example: Organ from C2 - B2: Piano from C3 - B3: E.P. & Strings from C4 - B4: Sample from C5... Thus using Ableton as a MIDI/USB Live Keyboard Template connecting to any USB/MIDI Keyboard!
Thank you!!! I need this.
I’m experiencing worse roundtrip latency on Live 11 on a Mac M1 than Live 10 on an Intel mac, it should be better, what is wrong?
I'm following yours tutorials and made my setup rig for live performance. I'm using Steinberg Halion as VST and Novation impulse as keyboard. I trigger clips with pads on my impulse, 8 pads - 8 channels. And all it is good. Using without a problems. But i want to improve my setup. I want to switch off previous instrument. When i change instrument (another dummy clip), to turn off previous instrument. To save CPU. Is it possible? I hope i will find in some of your videos (tutorials). Thank you anyway that i made to come here so far.
Amazing tutorial, thanks a ton!
your videos are of great help always. I'm looking forward on making my first ableton set for live keyboard playing. I am a keyboard player based in Mumbai, India and perform for alot of bollywood shows where no. of sounds that we need to use in a show are alot more than 8-10 or 20 sounds. How can we setup ableton for such kind of a requirement where we need to access multiple sounds throughout a gig and how can we trigger those as this method will have a limitation on no. of sounds with what i've understood. waiting for your response. Thank you!
Is it possible to do split-keyboards in this type of live set up? How would you recommend doing split keys in a live setup (where your patches and splits might be different for every song in a set)
Yes, you can do splits, just create an instrument rack, put the plugins you want to play into it, you´ll see 4 buttons on top, click on "key" and then you can extend the green line to the point where you want each plugin to sound. You also can save this instrument rack and use whenever you need it, make an instrument rack for every patch you play and just drag them when need them.
Why the midi bus (incoming signal)? Is it only to control an arpeggiator? In my context, I would use my VSTs arpeggiator only in specific patches, so would the midi bus serve any other purpose? Thanks for the video, subscribed!
Brett, you are the best! I just got Ableton Live Lite 11 with my new Focusrite interface. So it's my first Live setup. I need to replace my old rig consisting of Kawai MP-7 (great feel, but HEAVY) on the bottom and Hammond XK1 on the top with StudioLogic SL88 on bottom and StudioLogic Numa Compact 2X on top and Ableton Live and Keyscape. I only have a few weeks until my first gig and need to create setups for various songs like Piano/Strings split, Piano on one KB and Organ on other, multiple splits on each, etc. Your channel so far is a godsend to me. Question: do you know of a low-cost, or free, Hammond plug-in for the PC?
Hey there, thanks for your informative video. I'm looking to improve my keyboard rig, but I'm slightly confused, and excuse my ignorance, but i have a few questions regarding your process:
1. Setting up instrument racks vs. your method - where did you learn of Ableton using 1 processing core per channel strip ? was that something mentioned in the manual ?
Alternatively, if that's your argument, why not just set up different MIDI tracks with the desired instruments without the need for a MIDI Bus, MIDI Mapping can come in handy for switching between these MIDI tracks effectively as you exhibited @13:12
2. How do you alter your Master to compensate for sonic discrepancies in any given venue ? I didn't see you touch on that, and that's been something i've had to really consider and account for during soundcheck.
3. What interface do you use to send audio out into the backline of a venue? I've been thinking of grabbing an Apogee Duet 3 (USB-C) interface for myself. Lightweight, portable, easy knob-control to balance volume/gain...etc.
Really glad you found this useful! Thanks for your thoughtful questions. Here we go.
1. Somewhere at the end of the manual there are a few pages that show how the people who built Ableton verify certain things. For example, how to verify that a bypassed audio effect is truly "clean" and does not edit the audio. Things of this nature. That is where I found this info. As for the MIDI bus, this makes it possible to apply global MIDI effects later. If you wanted to for example have an arpeggiator that you can use on any patch, this makes it very easy to do. Also makes it easy to transpose songs when needed. You can think of it as a control point where you can enter the signal flow and have more power than having to go through and manually edit each instrument.
2. When needed, you can group the busses together, and send the volume out of the bus. I get my volumes pretty even, and adjust what I am sending out of my interface if I am sending way too much or too little. Rarely happens. If you needed to adjust EQ on the whole output, I would group the audio buses and do it that way.
3. I am using the MOTU m4. It works great, and would highly recommend it, though I assume the Apogee would also work just fine.
Hopefully, this helps!
@@LiveKeyboardist you sir, are an amazing human being. Thank you
I have korg pa5x professional arranger keyboard please introduce me a software that I can have rhythm and accompaniment for live gig with patches from kontact vast.
Great video for a newbie like me to get started. The only doubt I have is this, what would be the procedure when you have 3 controller keyboards? Do you have any video regarding this case?
From what I understand from this tutorial, you've explained (extremely well) how to set up a rig for a more or less limited amount of sounds you can mix with one another via the Novation faders but what if the case were to be the following. In my case, our band plays about 40 songs at every gig, each with a completely different set of sounds. Some songs I use just a piano but most songs use a mix of strings with accordion + piano + flute + bells, etc etc. Some songs have 5-8 sounds but some can use up to 29 different sounds at one instance. I've been using MainStage up until now and it's been super simple to program everything but it did give me some grief during this summer and I have to find something more stable. Thus Ableton is the next option. Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
You’re asking great questions. I’m about to release a course in early January that has a few seats left. That covers concepts like this. If you’re interested in hearing more, let me know.
Hey Brett!! @@LiveKeyboardist .... Following you for so long, I've been looking in to all the options you talk about and I've finally got into GP4 ... Ableton was too wild to overcome simple things for a newbie ... whereas GP4 is just awesome and easy ... AND very stable. Thanks just the same
So happy to hear this! FWIW, my course is software agnostic and helps you full sail increase sound quality and decrease prep time so you can make better music. Would love to tell you more if you’re interested, let me know! And thanks for following. Means so much.
Thanks a ton brother. It helped a lot. However I want to expand on this. Like on the hit of a button , could we trigger a whole new bank of patches. ? Here you built one patch bank. Is there any way, for eg. if we stack n number of instruments in a sigle instrument rack. and when I want to change the bank, I hit the button and the control is given to the next instrument on the instrument rack. If you could cover this topic. It would help immensely. Thanks in advance. :-)
Hi, I am new for ableton Live Suite. I can't select at Audio To the "Spur" Keys. I only see Ext Out, configure, Master and sends only.
Interesting. Make sure that you have the monitor settings on the channel strip you’re trying to send to set to in.
Do you have any idea on how to troubleshoot if the light on my LaunchControlXL is not turning on when I have the corresponding patch enabled? Everything else seemed to work but this crucial part
Hey! I can check later today, but it has something to do with the output MIDI settings for the device. I believe it is midi out remote needs to be on.
Hi and thanks for a great channel! I have a question - if you have a couple of sounds in each category (Keys, Pads, etc) it will be a lots of track. Could it then be a way to combine your tutorial (Ableton like Manistage) and use an instrument rack per category, but still use a bus per category instead of creating a lots of track? I've just bought the novation launchcontrol and I want to hear your opinon which way would be the easiest way to control the live rig - lots of track or one track with an instrument rack?
What would your complete signal chain be for a live band setup from the midi controller, the the computer, out the interface to amp source?
Why do you set up the instrument mute through chain as opposed to setting the mute by using the channel mute?
Doing it this way means those plug-ins are not receiving any information in the form of midi, nor producing audio so it’s a better use of your resources.
@@LiveKeyboardist That makes sense! Thank you.
cool :)
How about the 8 faders of akai61 can I Mapp same as your setup
Hi bro.. Blessings for you. What ableton vertion i need to purchase to do this settings?
First Rigs
Thanks for this great video. You may have answered below already (I didn’t quite understand), but what is the advantage of having separate channel strips per instrument, routed to a bus track, versus having an instrument rack in a singular track?
Hi Brett, I just discovered your channel and I'm impressed by the amount of super helpful content.
I have a question, I heard you say Ableton can only use one core if you gather all of your sounds in a rack. Does that mean the "static patch" method isn't as optimal as the "dynamic patch" method ?
I'm trying to make a relatively big project (30-40 sounds, probably up to 4 at the same time, ~20 patches, plus some audio clips) and I think the static patch method is best, but is there a way to use it, while using multiple cores ?
Thank you so much for your work !
Hey Pierre! Thanks for commenting, I am so happy to hear you have found my channel useful! If your computer is pretty solid, a static patch list of that size will be 100% okay. I created projects of that size and larger and have been total fine in a static set up. My computer is solid, but not over the top.
As per one core per channel strip, that is true. So when you build your static set up, be intentional with how you are breaking up your instruments. I typically do 4 instrument channel strips in this context, keys, pads, leads, aux. You may find that if you are doing a lot of layering it is easier to double that and go with 8 instrument channel strips, 2 of each, this will also split up your sounds allowing your computer to process them easier.
Another thing that I think can be helpful when using this type of a set up is routing your MIDI through midi busses to each strip (I use the IAC driver to do this) This way if you have any need for midi effects or transposition, it can be done with one device rather than multiple. And the same for audio FX. Have one group of effects for each instrument channel strip (This doesn't include the design of the sound) but if you know you are going to use a filter particular effect alot, just throw it on the end of the chain and use dummy clips to modify it.
Also - make sure you OVER LABEL everything. As the set grows in size it is super easy to get lost.
Thanks again for reaching out! Glad you've found my channel helpful.
@@LiveKeyboardist Thanks a lot for your advice !! I'll start setting it up right now. Keep up the great work :)
@@pierre_laur my pleasure Pierre. Keep me updated with your progress!
Okay so I think I’m following this.. I’m coming from originally mainstage, but have been using Sunday keys template for ableton and loved it. But I still had an issue of it dropping out every like 30 to 40 minutes and it would end up happening during play.
So if I’m understanding correctly this will be more cpu efficient than the static patch case, and what you’re saying in these comments is like a combination of the two?
Can this setup work with de novation launchpad mini?
“I like my piano sounds to be brown.”
THANKYOUUUUUUU SO MUCHSDAHSGDH THANKYOU
#666
Thank you so much!!!