Ableton Live 6

*Tripper*

Hey guys, I just have a few simple questions if you could help me out.

I'm thinking in investing in Abelton Live but I was just wondering a few things:

I really want to get messing around with mixing songs together etc. along the lines of what 2 Many DJ's do but dont know if ableton does this?

I want to be able to mix different songs together. Like the bass line of one song with the vocals of another, is this possible?

Does the software come with a good selection of samples etc?

I put this thread in the DJ forum, as oposed to the recording, because eventually I want to be able to play the stuff live!


Cheers.

Anima

I really want to get messing around with mixing songs together etc. along the lines of what 2 Many DJ's do but dont know if ableton does this?

You can do that in Ableton and any other sequencer. Or any wave editor for that matter. Try using some free programs like Audacity or Reaper and see.

I want to be able to mix different songs together. Like the bass line of one song with the vocals of another, is this possible?

You can do that up to a degree. You can filter out parts of the song but you won't be able to say pick out just a guitar piece when theres other stuff like vocals etc going on. What you need are accapellas and instrumental versions of the songs you want to mix together.

Howdy..
Yup, live would be you're best bet..it'll do all that..and quite a bit more..its a fully fledged sequencer..the virtual instruments are quality..and the effects are lethal too..the beat repeat..ah manys the day you can spend dancing about the laptop mangling a beat..

jonny68

More i hear bout Ableton the more i gottzs invest in this when i get the new laptop:cool:

cornbb

Live is a fantastic piece of software, well designed and well programmed. Not specifically designed for DJing, in the traditional sense of the word, but it is an all-round production tool and will let you get incredibly creative. Try out the free demo.

*Tripper*

Thanks for the replys lads. I definitly think i'm going to get it now.
I downloaded he demo but theres alot of stuff you can't do with it, but supose thats as expected!

jonny68

as soon as i get the laptop ill download the demo.:cool:

jimi_t

*Tripper* wrote:

I really want to get messing around with mixing songs together etc. along the lines of what 2 Many DJ's do but dont know if ableton does this?

Ableton is a very competent sequencing and arranging program with an intuitive interface. As a musical sketchpad and for editing and arranging loops its a fantastic solution

I want to be able to mix different songs together. Like the bass line of one song with the vocals of another, is this possible?

Of course its possible. Ableton is extremely well designed for this purpose. The hard part is getting the samples isolated from commercial mp3s which is your goal. Don't think that you'll be magically able to separate the vocals, bassline, lead and drums of a track because you won't.

On the other hand, if you have instrumentals and acapellas and such for the tracks you want, then ableton is perfect.

Does the software come with a good selection of samples etc?

Impulse, the sampler, comes with a fair amount of utility samples - but you can always just get sampletank or Kontakt or whatever if needs be. Effects, Instruments, templates and such are all included. You can start with it straight away, you need nothing else. It even has a very intuitive keyboard mode where you can use a section of your laptop keyboard as a MIDI keyboard. Great way to waste time in college

I put this thread in the DJ forum, as oposed to the recording, because eventually I want to be able to play the stuff live!

Re-arranging stuff on the fly live, triggering samples etc... Dead easy with this. It's called Ableton Live for a reason

Zascar

I put together a few Ableton tutorial video's on a page here:

http://www.digitaldjforum.com/forum/ableton-video-s-tutorials-etc-t104.html

Hope it might be useful.

steveland?

What sort of controller(s) would one suggest for controlling Abelton in a live situation (not in a club, just if I wanted to mix together a few tracks but also create loops from those tracks and have them play until I decided they shouldn't play etc...)

Presumably a mixer like the Hercules? A MIDI mixer with stereo out and a headphone port, crossfader and volume knobs etc. Also something for pitch control etc...

Also I'd like to use Live for creating full songs with guitar/bass with drum loops under it... Anyone know if I could use my Digitech RP12 (with MIDI out) to trigger Live with a MIDI to USB cable? Would like to see if anyone has tried this using this or similar guitar multi-fx boards that have MIDI out to control a program like Live...

cornbb

Live is incredibly flexible when it comes to MIDI control - pretty much any MIDI controller can be used, its a matter of selecting one which suits your style/workflow. There's a MIDI learn function for pretty much every parameter. Check out Faderfox controllers, they're expensive but they are very cool and designed specially for Live.

condra

Steveland, you may be interested in this thread:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=53330602

Anyone interested in using Live for performance or DJ'ing should check out http://www.abletonlivedj.com/forum
Its a dedicated Live performance forum with over 7000 members.

Tripper, Ableton Live is ideal for mash-ups, probably more suitable than any other software.

www.acapellas4u.co.uk/ is a good place to start looking for acapellas.

*Tripper*

Birrov an update!

I've decided i'm definitly going to get Live but i'm gonna wait till i get my new laptop in august. Just because that will be what i'm going to use most!

Aghh!! don't know if I can stand another longish wait though!

condra

Dude, presuming you wanna stay "above board" Ill give you a good deal on a new, unregistered Ableton Live Lite 5.

It wil get you rockin straight away, then you can upgrade to the full version of Live 6 at a greatly reduced price.

They do special upgrade prices occassionally too.
Thats what I did, and I got the full version for only 200 quid. Its usually about 500.

Ask anyone who knows Live and they'll tell you the Lite version aint half bad. A few limitations compared to the full version but its truly powerfull.

Either way, let us know how you get on. Youre doin the right thing getting into Live