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So, I'm setting up a side project with my bassist and singer to keep creativity levels up as the drummer is flakey.

Kinda totally down with programmed beats, but was wondering best way to trigger/play them. At the moment I'm toying with the idea of ableton live and a Launchpad. I think writing in the DAW will be easier than trying to compose a song with a drum machine anyway? Am I wrong?

So I've watched a few vids, but I haven't been able to confirm whether I'll be able to trigger complete drum songs/compositions with one hit. i.e. I might not want to have o trigger verse, chorus, middle 8 etc. Sometimes I will, but in some cases I'll just want the drum track to play though start to finish. Is this possible?

Cheers big chiefs.

I think you're right that writing in the DAW will be easier than writing with a hardware drum machine - although I suspect that the limitations of a drum machine might force you to write more interesting stuff (? idk ?).

Not sure about triggering full songs with one hit, but I don't see why you wouldn't be able to do that. My main bit of advice would be to invest in a cheap headphone amp (I've got one of these badboys) in case you end up playing in venues with questionable monitoring. One of the bands I play in at the moment has sequenced synth parts for a few of the songs, and it's sooo precarious relying on monitor wedges to keep in time. Our drummer (and occasionally our bassist) has the sequenced synth parts in his headphones so we don't have to rely on a potentially crap PA.

I’ve got a Novation Launchkey Mini and Ableton for screwing w midi stuff. I think the trigger pads can be assigned various parts, but I haven’t tested the length they can recall. I find DAW writing much easier than a drum machine, but I also write simplistic backing tracks, so it only takes a few minutes.

Cheers dudes,

Yes Freddie, that's a damn good idea. Also, once we have the songs lines out, I think I'll carry them as mp3s that could just go straight into the PA. Because if something can go wrong, something will go wrong.

With Ableton, you could use the Live view (the unique part of Ableton) to launch individual clips/loops as individual sections.

Alternatively (and I think this is what you want) you could use the Arrangement view (which looks like a normal DAW) to record a full song and play that back.

Bacchus wrote:With Ableton, you could use the Live view (the unique part of Ableton) to launch individual clips/loops as individual sections.

Alternatively (and I think this is what you want) you could use the Arrangement view (which looks like a normal DAW) to record a full song and play that back.

Cheers man!

Can you use the controller to switch between songs?

I guess I could use the arrangement view and have each song as a separate track, and trigger them at the start of each song, but if I wanted to do a bit of jamming, can I quickly flick from Arrangement to Live view on the controller?

Having all the songs in one project (don't know if Ableton calls them projects, it's what Logic calls them so it's what I'm calling them) might cause issues with tempo etc though. Might be workroundable, but it sounds like a clumsy solution. Why not have laptop and stand easily at hand? That way you can do lots more and:

No idea if a Launchpad could do those things but you could easily do them with laptop and stand.

What's the difference between a drummer and a drum machine?

You only have to punch the information into a drum machine once.

Bacchus wrote:Having all the songs in one project (don't know if Ableton calls them projects, it's what Logic calls them so it's what I'm calling them) might cause issues with tempo etc though. Might be workroundable, but it sounds like a clumsy solution. Why not have laptop and stand easily at hand? That way you can do lots more and:

No idea if a Launchpad could do those things but you could easily do them with laptop and stand.

Yes, was planning on having the laptop present. So would you just open up each song/project as you go?

Bacchus wrote:Having all the songs in one project (don't know if Ableton calls them projects, it's what Logic calls them so it's what I'm calling them) might cause issues with tempo etc though. Might be workroundable, but it sounds like a clumsy solution. Why not have laptop and stand easily at hand? That way you can do lots more and:

No idea if a Launchpad could do those things but you could easily do them with laptop and stand.

As long as you have the pads on the Launchpad assigned to the clips, you could use it, but at that point it’s kind of extraneous if you already have the laptop set up and easily accesainle between songs.

having loops set up in ableton and playing in the session view allows flexibility to move from one part to another. I use it for pissing about at home and use a APC40 for playing it. I programme a lot of different variations of the drum loops just to see how things go.

I have all my loops for the song in that one session and load up each one as needed. I find it a great compositional tool and find I can improvise across so many ideas

here is a link to how to use session view - http://www.ableton.com/en/manual/session-view/

also your launcepad should be more than adequate to deal with this. you can also add a lot of loops, synths and atmospherics to enhance the songs if necessary in this type of playing

just get a new drummer

robroe wrote:just get a new drummer

Single hardest thing to find.

I like our drummer, he's decent, he's not a deadbeat. However, he's a busy dude, and can't/doesn't prioritise the band.