Ableton Denver - the user group
Our Meet Up join it!

Login / Register

login

password
Remember Me?
register

May 26, 2010

Sample Selection walk through in Ableton Sampler

I just got a question regarding how ILL.GATES used sample selection (pretty slick stuff) to “scan” through his 128’s.

It is not too obvious unless you really know your stuff in this area of Ableton.

So here is a walk through to allow you to get a “magic knob” to select samples inside the Sampler instrument/effect.

1. Drop in a MIDI track.

2. Drop an Instrument Rack on the MIDI track (this provides macros)

3. Drop a “Sampler” in the instrument rack. So everything should look like this:

4. Place your samples in the sampler. You can drag groups into the “Drop Samples Here” area. (ILL.GATES used 128 samples and the “128 term” because there are 128 “slots” as MIDI is 2×2x2×2x2×2x2 = 128.For the example I will use 4 samples and by the end you will understand how to use 2,4,20, 0r 128 samples.

4b. Open up the “Zone” tab and you should have something that looks like this:

Note : MIDI starts at zero!!! So 0 to 127 is the range! This is called “offsetting” or “zero offset” and is common in anything digital.

5a. Click on the “Sel” button / square to the left of the piano roll (“Key” is selected in my shot where “Key”, “Vel”, and “Sel” are grouped together).

5b. Initiate “Map Mode” and assign the area in green where the piano roll was to your macro. It should look like this:

5c. Close Map Mode.

6. Adjust the “Zones” (blue horizontal lines under the piano roll / sample selector area to be 1 (one) note and not all notes. It should look like this:

Helpful tip: Adding samples and adjusting the zones can be a pain. You can duplicate or alt/option drag to copy. This will copy the zones.  Then you can hot swap samples.  One of may approaches available.

7. Wrap it up! This step is IMPORTANT anytime you are NOT USING 128 samples.  This is also why macros help so much. Here are the sub-steps broken down:

A. MIDI Map your controller to the Sample Selector macro. You can use CC’s or a series of note values (make sure your series of notes are the same quantity as the number of samples you are intending to use).  Here is a shot of the MIDI Mapping on the Sample Selector macro:

B. Edit the range of your mapping to match the number of samples. Remember that MIDI starts at 0 (zero).  Or did I already mention that? Here is what is would look like mapping 4 samples starting at position 0 (zero):

Complete!

No, really, your done.  Now can scan through samples like ILL.GATES was showing in our recent workshop. (this is just handy stuff!)

I hope that helps! There are a number of features in the Sampler that are bitchin’ but this should get you over the hump real fast.  You will also need to have a MIDI clip running to hear your results, but that is another story all together.

–Marc
Electronic Music Missionary

[EDIT] Here is a great fast moving video that is the root of this post and discussion:

ESKAMON: “Fine Objects” – Ableton Tutorial by ill.Gates from ESKMO on Vimeo.

Credit: Marc

Listed in these categories : Blog, Help, Resources

Tags for this article: , , , , , , , , , ,

November 22, 2009

Meet Up #2 – Supporting information

This should be seeing some updates, but I already have one important link for the Novation Launchpad – a PDF matrix of the launchpad to help when you are assigning MIDI.  This is part of my presentation for the Launchpad.

http://abletondenver.com/press-kit/2009-11-meetup/LPMatrix_sheet.pdf

I put this together real fast because I was loosing track of what I was doing on the launch pad.

Credit: Marc

Listed in these categories : Free stuff, News

Tags for this article: , , , , ,

November 6, 2009

Meet up #2 full exposure – Reason in Ableton and Novation Launchpad

Denver Ableton Meet Up 2 with James Tobin

Ableton Denver invites you to join us on November 22, 2009 at the Walnut Room in NoDo (Denver) to go to a special place where Reason flows like wine from the Lake of Ableton.  We will make a quick stop in the land of Rewire and focus on cross program collaboration with a focus on Reason under the control of Ableton.

MEET UP RSVP NOW! Free to all and very helpful resource!!!

James Tobin puts Reason into Ableton.

denverAbleton_mu2_reasonAbltn_line

The evening demonstration and discussion will highlight the power of the Ableton sequencer and the sound engine of Reason working in perfect harmony.

Who is James Tobin? Besides sharing his name with a great American economist he is a premier Ableton guru, Reason ninja, electronic musician, and audio artist.

With old school roots in warehouse parties in and around Chicago James is a consummate vinyl connoisseur (with time spent at Wax Trax here in Denver), established DJ, recording technician for film and audio, and currently enjoying work with Alien Logic providing sound design for game development.

James is weeks away from completion of a masters with Berkley Music after already gaining a specialist certificate in Composition and Production in New Media.

Musically James Tobin is 1/2 of Sound Logic Sound Logic, also known as DJ Radioactive, and the man steering Dorje Records since 2003.

denverAbleton_mu2_reasonAbl_big2

Reason (wiki link) is a powerful product for music production produced by Propellerhead that accepts control from external devices as well as other DAW and similar programs.  Ableton, as many agree, has taken sequencing to a new level with one of the most amazing MIDI sequencers and editors on the market.  With these 2 programs combined you go somewhere special. (enter James)

We have included time for questions and answers from James and a demonstration of the new Novation Launchpad.

denverAbleton_mu2_launchpad

Novation formally launched the Launchpad November 4 2009.  That very morning, at  10:05am local time I put one on hold.  As of this writing I still need to pick it up and learn the sucker.  No complaints here! I will do my best to get a grip on the device and provide time for everyone to mess around on this great new device.

There should be quite a bit of shop time after our hour + of talk and demos, so we would love to get everyone trading tips and and cards.

Background information on Reason (wiki link):

Reason 1.0 was released in November 2000.

These modules can be controlled from Reason’s built-in MIDI sequencer or from other sequencing applications such as Ableton

Some Reason contents (wikipedia links):

  • Subtractor: a subtractive synthesizer
  • Malström: a graintable synthesizer
  • Dr Rex: a loop playback device, which slices prerecorded samples into manageable, bitesize units (parallel variant for Ableton warp markers)
  • NN-19: a simple sampler, which loads pre-recorded instrumental and vocal sounds
  • NN-XT: an advanced sampler, which features the option of tweaking the various modulation, oscillation and filter parameters of a preloaded sample or patch

ReWire is a software protocol, jointly developed by Propellerhead and Steinberg, allowing remote control and data transfer among digital audio editing and related software.

Originally appearing in the ReBirth software synthesizer in 1998, the protocol has since evolved into an industry standard.

MEET UP RSVP NOW!

Media files and press information is located here: http://abletondenver.com/press-kit/2009-11-meetup/

Now with more c.db.sn click http://abletondenver.com/meet-up-this-sunday-now-with-soundtrack/

Credit: Marc

Listed in these categories : News

Tags for this article: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October 12, 2009

Week of 12 October 2009 – super post!

Preamble:  Thank you to everyone who came out for meeting number 1.  Our second is coming up 15November2009.  As soon I get the press release worked out I will post the invites and such.

This is a super collection of the past 2 weeks.  Business has kept me form collecting and formatting a post.  So here’s to catching up.

P(re)S: I have begun putting some Ableton videos out.  My first one is on the bottom of the page.  Let me know what you think.

Ableton Land

Novation Lanuchpad Coverage: First, let’s get a first class “word ‘em up” to Ableton for keeping a secret. This came out of left field for me. Is this true for everyone else?

I am very interested in the build quality of this unit.  Novation has a checkered history on some units and decisions.  A live performance controller demands quality, reliability, and no foolishness. The price point ($200 street)  raises my eyebrow. Ye olde mantra of “you get what you pay for” is not to be ignored.  I see this discussion unfolding on the net in the coming months.

The Launch pad at the Novation site. Also as seen on Matrix Synth, Gear Junkies, and some Q&A on CDM

Big news on coming big news – the long fabled Ableton + Serato project.  Back in the days of old (7 months ago) there we rumors coming from the Forest of Doom telling the townsfolk that the elves were working on bringing peace between the digital Gods of Ableton and Serato.  Not into the myth and story, all you need to know is here at Gear Junkies. The short version – 14January2010 at NAMM there will be a delivery of information

With each passing year I regret missing the AES show. Max for Live had an event event at AES 127 NYC – thanks Gear Junkies.

Wacom Table Theremin using Max for Live:

Off topic

Something Cute, how a Neuman microphone is born on YouTube.

Show your age, an interview with Thomas Dolby

Gear Watch

This will blow your mind resistive touch. Think ” the foundation of an amazing controller”.

Slow load but a lot of fun stuff here. Synth type of stuff…

Mark Mosher reviews DCAM synth Squad.

Via Gear Junkies Lexicon releases the PCM Native Reverb Plug-in Bundle VST / Audio Unit / RTAS Software Reverb Plug-in.  The “PCM” caught my eye (pulse-code modulation) but a scan of the information shows no interesting connection.  Hmm. I think we are dealing wit another kick ass reverb.  Lexicon is hardly a bottom feeder in this field – so check it out!

The Eigenharp is out, I will give the ping-back to Latest Analog Suicide.  I have been watching this unit for a while and I still do not know what to think.  I am both pleased and fearful.  I fear the return of the “one man band in the shopping mall” while I also applaud the innovative use of technology and a feeling of quality craftsmanship. Eigen Labs is the producer of this equipment. When you buy it can I borrow the unit?

Audio Damage is getting ready to release its first instrument. Rumor has it as a Drum Synthesizer. More info here.

Studio Electronics (my Filter of choice) has some sexy stuff, the Omega Series (get to know it).

Tech
Puremagnetik introduces Waveframe for Live 7 & 8 via Synthopia. “Waveframe is a an advanced wavetable synthesizer designed exclusively for the features of Ableton Live.”

Dj Jazzy Jeff on Serato and Ableton:

Free random panner plugin for Mac.

Nanoloop 1.5, running on a GameBoy, synced to Ableton Live. Cute, kinda funny, and ultimately important highlighting how much we can do:

Free Windows Arp modeled synthesizer.

The Crossover continues – MakingDJ frindly edits on Live via Synthtopia.

Free Synth Plugin.

Designing Glitchy Sounds in Ableton Live:

Check out the 7 videos on using Ableton Live With Open Labs’ DBeat Music Production Workstation – strart at Synthtopia.

Free Windows Plugins.

Reverse Reverb in Ableton popped up a few times – let’s give the credit to Synthtopia.

Propellerheads (regarding the Record program) have a good reference on EQ usage.

Oreilly on Windows 7 and music production. I have been running Ultimate 7 for a few weeks now and I must say, it runs really well.  I have not put Ableton on it yet, but Cubase is running as good, if not better, than on a Mac.  I am seriously impressed while still poised to dump all my Windows machines (my laptop is running Linux via Ubuntu), but Windows 7 may not be the “doom and gloom” we expect after the years of Vista. (sorry for some bias there – I got ska-ha-rewed)

More on Windows 7 and music production.

Synthtopia reports on this sample pack based on glass instruments.

Did you know M-Audio has a YouTube channel?

Audio to MIDI anyone?

Sweetwater AES coverage.

More Ardour coverage. (Linux and Mac digital recording – good stuff!)

Electronic / Programming Video from Ableton:

As promised – my video #1 – Highlighting out of Ableton processing.  The effects on the end of the video are pretty complicated.  That is all out of Ableton – the current routing causes massive abuse on my Rane mixer.  I have to limit that sort of fun until I build a circuit to bypass the Rane and emulate the signal flow.

Credit: Marc

Listed in these categories : Ableton-Land, Blog, Gear Watch, News

Tags for this article: , , , , , , , , , , ,

September 8, 2009

Week of Labor Day 2009 – around town and beyond

Week of Labor Day 2009

Update: Meet Up – I am trying very hard (too hard IMHO) to get my date solid.  Emails and phone calls are not being returned by my venue of choice.  I am open to suggestions and moving ahead with to talk to a new club opening up in central Denver where I also have friends.  The last Thursday of Sept is my date.  I am sure many many people out there have dealt with clubs and club owners – it is like the exact inverse of a used car sales person (or put into mathematical terms : 1/(used car sales person))

Enough math.

# Some shows:

  • Vendetta Festival Sept 25-7 for the Gothic/Industrial inclined.  The link. Some locally orientated acts such as Blackcell and Torso will be performing as well as nationals.  Check out the line up, this is a 3 day festival at 3 different clubs.  If I can make it I would love to see The Horrist at the Bar Standard. The Horrist (aka Oliver Chesler runs the Wire to the Ear blog)
  • BASSLAB 003 is this Friday (11sept) at Beta – local and otherwise will be thumpin’ – ( Future Simple Project, Fresh 2 Death, S.P.E.C.T.R.E., Project aspect, movax on visuals ++). For details here is the Facebook page.
  • The show of shows is happening, again in NYC the AES Conference. For music geeks this is the holy grail (yeah NAMM is cool but this is much smarter while NAMM is flashy). So if you are in NY October 9-12 2009 go check it out. In fact – Sweetwater is (was) giving away free admission.

# ABLETON

  • New Max for Live Screen Cast – the long awaited is closer http://www.extendlive.com/?p=110 (site was crashing for me)
  • Extendlive.com also has a free Operator download available at http://www.extendlive.com/?p=96 (site still crashing)  “free give-away from the Presentation I held at the Ableton Live User Group in Berlin”

# Free Stuff

  • Line 6 if giving away the farm, the POD Farm that is.  Go here and download a ton of plugins. Offer ends September 30, 2009.
  • Reason 4 is on the way and if you want $129 worth of free piano sounds go here (gotta get Reason 4 however).

# Content

  • Gear Junkies [article link] pointed out this cache of techno samples / loops from Click Produce – there are several different packs available to suite your style.
  • Need to get your Ableton Synthesis up to par (or synthesis in general)? Go here – tons of great videos.  We have a lot of instructors in the Ableton group if you want some hands on time or geek talk.  I am one of many synthesis people, drop a note.

# Gear Watch

  • Akai MPD18’s are hitting the street at $99.  This is USB and MIDI (yeah) pad controller.  What a great way to add a few more (velocity sensitive) pads. Check it out at Akai.  The info out there is a little vague on the MIDI (5 pin) – but it appears to be real.  I have been watching this item for a few months and I have almost 100% confirmation on the MIDI as well as MIDI over USB.
  • Also – Allen and Heath are shipping the Xone:22 – a 2(x2) Battle mixer at $299 street.  Here is a Future Music link because the Xone site is not as good a resource (link). Here is what I like : 2 channel battle style mixer that allows you to flip phono inputs into line inputs making this a 2×2(x1), there are XLR outs (OMFG!), a real FX loop (OMFG again), and it looks like the unit will be InnoFader ready. (I have a support ticket into A&H on that item). The last ship date was 16Sept, that has been pushed back to middle October according to a phone call this morning.*

# Of note

  • In keeping with current technology as it happens, BPM magazine reviewed the APC40 http://www.bpmmagazine.net/2009/08/akai-apc40-ableton-live-controller/ – I am a little grumpy right now so I will refrain from discussing the article. At least  I know what is “happening”.
  • Joe at Home Studio Corner pointed out Drop Box here here.  Dropbox is a file sharing site located at http://getdropbox.com where you start off with 2gb of room to share / trade your files (sound familiar?).
  • How Good Monitor Mixing Enhances a Performance article link : http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mixing-mastering/how-good-monitor-mixing-enhances-a-performance/. Pretty basic stuff but a good reference point of monitor mixing and live band considerations for the hybrid performers.
  • Hey everybody – did you know that The Walnut Room is coming to south Broadway?  That’s right – the old Freaky’s on Ellsworth and Broadway (1 block south of 1st Ave) finally went up in smoke (literally) and The Walnut room is moving in – eta is Fall 2009. This has been going on for a while, but last week I went over and peeked the windows.  Looking really nice! Map Link
  • And finally – the LAREST CONTROL SURFACE EVER! CDM got this to my digital doorstep : http://createdigitalmusic.com/2009/09/02/gps-beatmap-ford-ltd-salt-flats-locative-driving-control-surface/. In summary – beats and sounds are overlapping and mapped via GPS.  So you drive around the and mix is created.  If you don’t get it – watch the video.  This is a revolutionary idea for music and mixing.  A living, breathing radio remix.  This could prove to be very fun and interesting when you tie in your iPhone / similar device and have massive participation.  Imagine directing a Flash Mob using this technology?

As always, if you know or see something let me know.  Local Ableton, electronic music, and shows welcome!

Post script – did you upgrade to Snow Leopard yet?

* I am NOT a DJ, but I do use DJ Mixers in my rig (some are circuit bent).  The DJ Mixer can add amazing real time control to Ableton – when you hot rod a little harder you can explore entirely new ideas.

Credit: Marc

Listed in these categories : Ableton-Land, Blog, News, Socially Denver Ableton

Tags for this article: , , , , , , , , , , ,

August 17, 2009

Welcome to Ableton Denver User Group

Welcome! To kick things off here is a little video showing you around!

Ableton Denver is proud to Launch! Here are some of the features we have to offer and other nuggets of goodness!

  • On site file sharing (the legal kind).
  • Trade samples, loops, and Ableton Projects
  • Find other users in the Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Front Range, and Rocky Mountain Region
  • Lean more about Ableton and the scene
  • Multiple news feeds including:

Create Digital Music News, technique, ideas, events, and more!

Craig’s List Denver Musical Instruments for Sale

Gear Junkies Gear, News, updates form the conventions live from Europe!

Home Studio Connection Tips and professional thoughts form the studio.

More feeds coming! Let us know of any news feeds.
We are actively looking for a new FTP server.Right as we were kicking this live our server screwed us big time. I will not go into the details, but they lost all my business and caused many breaks in the site.  Amazon / AWS is one consideration.

Credit: Admin

Listed in these categories : Blog, Help

Tags for this article: , , , , , , ,

August 10, 2009

Zip File Handling

ZIP files also called “compressed files” or “compressed folder” is a method and technique for file handling. There are several types of file compression available. Ableton Denver uses *.zip (zip) format. For more information on zip files visit this link on wikipedia.

Normally zip formats are used for file size reduction.  File size reduction is really not our goal here (although it does help a tiny bit).

ZIP files are important because it allows users to exchange full and complete projects and collections as a single file.  Let’s talk about this idea more.

Most audio projects contain a wide assortment of different file types.  These include MP3’s, wave files, setting files, Ableton specific files, and possibly even text or PDF documents explaining what the heck is going on.  In these “project” instances a ZIP’ed file is the easiest way to handle all of the information as one solid unit. By zipping a project folder you create a single file that is easy to move.

Inside that file is ALL of your information including the file structure (file inside a folder inside a folder is all preserved). When a user un-ZIPs your file everything is in the right place. That is provided you did the zip correctly.

What you need to ZIP:

Windows:  Zip capability is inherent to Windows operating system.  Simply right click on the master (main) folder of your project and choose “send to” then “compressed (zipped) folder”.

Mac OS : IN Mac OS control click the zip file add select “compress”

When you ZIP or unZIP files, it may take some time.  As the file size gets bigger or your processor speed gets slower this could be a while.  Generally you should not see the process take more than a few minutes for large files.

Tips

Be absolutely sure that you have all the files contained inside a master folder.  You should only zip ONE ITEM (the folder).  Although it is possible to zip many files into one zip folder this is BAD practice. When the next user un-zips the files “puke everywhere” instead of being contained in a single folder. This can become a serious problem if you zip 100 samples that are not contained in a folder.

Externally linked files are a problem with zipping. If a project uses files outside of the zipped master folder other users will encounter errors.  This is why there is the “collect and save” function for Ableton.  Almost every audio program has some form of external file collection or warning system in the software.  It is a good thing to know.

In case you did not get the point made in the above paragraph – always “collect and save” your project in Ableton before zipping.

If you have multiple *.als files in a project this can make your zip (file) larger than it needs to be.  Each *.als file may reference files you are not using anymore.  These references will interfere with actions to remove unused media from your project.  An easy method to use operates like this:

  1. Close the project in Ableton
  2. Copy the project (master) folder to a new location.
  3. Open the new (copied) in Ableton (if you have file breaks you will be informed in Ableton).
  4. Remove ALL not used and unnecessary *.als files.
  5. Purge all unused media
  6. Close the project out in Ableton
  7. ZIP the folder

Check your zip! Seriously – that the zip file and unzip it and test it out.  Hard drive space is so cheap now a days you should make sure everything is okay for the next user. (Everyone messes this up once in a while – ever send the email without attachment?)

Programs:

WinZIP works well:

http://www.winzip.com/

WINRAR is also great:

http://www.rarlab.com

Sample Collections should also be zipped.  Unless you want to upload 200 individual files.

If you are presenting a sample collection please take the time to record a “final” MP3 that sows off your audio skills and highlight a few samples from the work.

If you have any questions or comments please use the comments section (you need to be a registered user).

To unzip in Mac OS – double click to preview.

To unzip in wonws you can right-click and “unzip” (dialog will vary slightly).

Credit: Admin

Listed in these categories : Help

Tags for this article: , , , , , ,

File Information

File Types :

The accepted file types are:

  • *.mp3 – MPEG 3 encoded ending with “.mp3″
  • *.wav – wave format ending with “.wav”
  • *.aiff – Audio Interchange File Format ending with “.aiff” or “.aif”
  • *.zip – compressed / zipped file ending with “.zip”

The file extension is important, please do not change the extension.  This is normally not a concern but modifying the file extension will cause files to be deleted or go invisible and throw errors on user account.

Modern Windows and Mac operating systems make it difficult to change this aspect of your files.  Although not impossible to change, these types are important for proper file handling on the Ableton Denver site and on your local environment.

If you have a fiel encoded in the wave vormat (file.wave for example) and you change the extension to file.mp3 the file is broken.  The .**** that trails the file name helps the operating system determine what programs to use and how to handle the file.  Other checks include encoding types (such as MIME), for information search Google.

Credit: Admin

Listed in these categories : Help

Tags for this article: ,

August 5, 2009

Search Tips

Exact versus Broad search.

Exact will return instances with a true match while broad search will look for your search criteria anywhere.

For example, if you search for “good” this helps explain what types of results you can expect:

  • #1 Exact will return “isn’t that good
  • !2 Break will return “soverygoodhere”

The difference is “good” is part of a larger phrase  in number 2 and isolated in #2.

The search will return based on file format also.  Just type in “wav” or “.wav”can search by type (file ext) using “wav” or “.wav”  in the broad search.

The search function looks at track / file description and the name of the track.

This chart shows what types of files are accepted for the various Ableton Denver file types.

Abletton Denver File Type Definitions
Abelton Denver Type MP3 WAV AIF(F) ZIP
Final YES no no no
Loop YES TES YES no
Sample YES YES YES no
Project no no no YES

Privacy Settings:

There are 2 types of privacy settings for files.

The “public” setting applies only to “final” file types.  This flag will determine if the “final” audio (such as a set or song) will be available to the general public (non-registered members).

The “private“  setting will override the “public” setting.  When a file is set to private it will not be available to the public or any other Ableton Denver user. If you have files or tracks that need help, analysis, or new talent this setting is your best choice.  To share the track with someone you will want to send them the link (available when you browse your files).

If you have any ideas please post them in the comment and we will address them.

Thanks!

Credit: Admin

Listed in these categories : Help

Tags for this article: , , , ,