anyone using ableton primarily for djing?

[scorcha]

do you use arranagement view or session view ?

would be cool to see some other tips!

[contakt321]

I do sometimes.

Session.

Warp a bunch of songs.
Map EQs and effects to a controller.

Play clips like you would a record. Add in your own bits, effect it, EQ it, layer it.

[deadly_habit]

working on it but have seen plenty of big names using ableton for live pa/dj

[ninjadog]

Does live support time coded vinyl and other turntable type controllers?

[contakt321]

No, it doesn't.

You can't scratch in any sort of way. You can start songs/loops, cue them from different start points (like a monome style)

In my experiences, DJing with Live is good for:

- Super quick mixing
- Layering multiple tracks easily
- Timestretch on the fly
- Focusing on what you want to play, when you want to bring it in and when you want to bring it out
- Using effects, beat repeats, tons of EQ, etc
- Super long layered mixes that don't stray off beat
- Remixes on the fly

In my experiences, DJing in Live is bad for:

- Hip-Hop DJs (to me the hip-hop mixing aesthetic doesn't transfer well)
- Scratching/beatjuggling/turntablism
- Getting drunk and f_cking around
- Impromptu performances (sets require preparation)

Just some general thoughts and admittedly I am inexperienced. I switch btw Live and Serato. There are some things I really love about DJing in Live but some things I really miss about vinyl. To me it's not quite an apples to oranges, but definitely not apples to apples. I am still experimenting.
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[djshiva]

do you use arranagement view or session view ?

would be cool to see some other tips!

Session view for sure. If you really want to bang it out live, that's the way.

I usually used 3 main channels for tunes, with various effect sends, plus a cue channel that was always assigned to headphones so I didn't have to mess with turning the cues for each play channel on and off.

Another channel for dummy clips to play with efx is fun too.

Cut tunes into various sections, make individual clips of sections, then drag em into the browser. Saves all the clips as one file you can drag back into session and have all those chopped up bits of songs ready to fuck with.

Ableton is fun.

[nowaysj]

No I don't. But it seems to me that you can really take some tracks off the deepend with abelton, more of a performance, while with vinyl your pretty much playing toons, maybe a little juggling, wat not.

Traktor really is a pretty cool device for virtual style djing.

[djacroama]

my mates a house/trance DJ and he uses Ableton 7, he swears by it and makes some impressive sets and gets alot of gigs because of it (he's part of House Proud if anyone has heard of them).

Its something i want to get into but i dont know if i could trust a laptop. they overheat so quickly so it would need to be chilled by a fan (you can get stands that do that) but if it crashes, your fucked.

at least if you playing of turntables/CD decks and one deck goes, you can flick to the other while it gets replaced/fixed. if your laptop BSOD's or overheats, there's going to be alot of angry people boo'ing you while you laptop boots back up.

[Sharmaji]

for the Sub Swara stuff, yes, ableton entirely. complete control of our own stuff, fx for the live instrumentation, holds drum samples and fx as well.

i don't even feel like i'm "djing" with ableton-- you get so far inside what's going on that i get a feeling far more like playing an old-school instrument than playing a set on the decks. note that this isn't a judgement call in the slightest-- when i play solo, i prefer vinyl and serato.

[hurlingdervish]

i don't even feel like i'm "djing" with ableton-- you get so far inside what's going on that i get a feeling far more like playing an old-school instrument than playing a set on the decks..

yep its definitely something in its own world and probably shouldn't be compared to DJing

you can improv with it, just not in the way you would with records.

Make loops. loop after loop when you are bored. drop them in while the song is playing, sample a loop out of the song....repeat the piece of the song with your new loop, add another piece from somewhere etc etc

ive made minimal tech songs out of autechre and banging techno with aphex twin ambient songs....the possibilities for "remixes" are endless. its really not even remixes so much as the dj equivalent of sampling.

if you have your "big" songs pre warped and saved next to their actual file location you can do improv set lists, or better yet, have one giant ableton set with all of your possible songs pre warped and colored by genre/song color/pitch like someone showed me in a vid on the web somewhere....
he has all those possible songs in a muted track called his "Crate" and then you just drag em into the actual audio track.

[scorcha]

thanks dudes...this has been exactly the type of feedback i've been looking for.

still trying to get my head around it...the first couple times i messed around with djing in ableton i was just dragging tracks into the arrangement view and dropping other tracks on the breakdowns, pretty typical way of doing it i guess

sounds awesome what you guys are doing in session view tho...im gonna have to do some googling and look more into the possibilities.

god ddamn ableton never fails to blow my mind

[Sharmaji]

best thing you can do is just keep trying shit out... then watch some of tom cosm's videos... try that... go, go, go. once you get beyond just warping something and getting it to the tempo you want, ableton is largely uncharted territory. sure there's shit that everyone's doing, but there's almost NO boundaries. play drums live, use dummy clips to warp melodies, use follow actions to completely move material from music to noise.

just experiement and you'll find what works for ya!

[phase 2]

Yeah, I've been DJing since 2007 and I've only ever used Ableton. I wouldn't have a clue how to use CDs/vinyl. I produce in Ableton Suite 8 too.

I'd recommend the Sonalksis 517 EQ VST, along with Izotope Ozone 4 on the master channel to work as a limiter and to add analogue warmth + harmonic "excitement".

In terms of MP3 preparation, MP3Gain is great for non-destructively setting sounds levels on your collection; so you don't have to worry about a massive volume difference. Also, MixedInKey will tag all your tracks according to key and BPM.

[OiYouGetOutOfThere]

Does live support time coded vinyl and other turntable type controllers?

Soon, Ableton & serato's partnership will be unveiled in Jan 2010, looks like serato will be a abelton plug which you can drop tunes/parts/samples into serato and scratch with, also looks like you can mix from serato but the audio will be run out via ableton so you can use any vst fx...

Currently traktor has midi out which can be sync's with abelton if you wanted to use both now...

[sainttex]

Currently traktor has midi out which can be sync's with abelton if you wanted to use both now...

this is what I'm on now. it's a lot of fun to work with. mainly produce in logic though.

[86.]

Does live support time coded vinyl and other turntable type controllers?

Soon, Ableton & serato's partnership will be unveiled in Jan 2010, looks like serato will be a abelton plug which you can drop tunes/parts/samples into serato and scratch with, also looks like you can mix from serato but the audio will be run out via ableton so you can use any vst fx...

Currently traktor has midi out which can be sync's with abelton if you wanted to use both now...