Ableton + Electribe

digitalv · Post by **digitalv** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:47 am

Ok i would like a good way of combining ableton + emx, ideally so i can use the emx to control drums in ableton for live sets. BUT i also want to be able to use the synth parts on the emx.... If korg had only given us good drum samples on the emx (i feel they are limiting me now). I also have an alesis midi keyboard, audio interface etc. Anybody got any good suggestions on how 2 do this, ideally the korg will be the master as i have heard that it is not to good at syncing to ableton.

Also if what i am suggesting cannot be done, how do all of you peeps use ableton with your setups? I am open to any suggestions that could increase the creative possibilities of my setup (got no dollar tho!)
I am aiming to put together some live sets for our club nights, and want to have the most hand s on approach possible, as i reckon bein hunched ova a laptop screen with a mouse is not the best...

cheers

tomthurs · Post by **tomthurs** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:36 pm

Why don't you use the midi keyboard and the control surface to control live and the emx to do emx things? Sorry if I've totally missed the point of your post.
I don't actually own a emx but I have a es1 and a ea1 and I've had a bit of trouble synching up with live I thought it was me being thick so would be interested to hear peoples responses to the problem.

digitalv · Post by **digitalv** » Thu May 08, 2008 1:57 pm

i would like to use the drum buttons on the electribe to control my drums on ableton, my midi controller has no buttons, and also the controls on the electribe are nicely laid out: ie i always have my kicks in slot one, snares in slot 2 etc. But i still want to keep it so i can use my synth parts to bring in stuff made on the electribe ie basslines/leads. I like to be able to control modulation/filters etc live. The ideal thing would be for me to buy an esx so i could use sampled drums and still have the hardware interface to use live. but alas i sunk all my cash into djs for our first few club nights in brighton (we got radioactive man booked for first nite in a coupla weeks). I cant see me getting a return for a few months now...

Ruso · Post by **Ruso** » Thu May 08, 2008 2:53 pm

depending on how much you want to incorporate it into the live set, it can be from very easy to very complicated..

First thing's first. To use drum pads in ableton all you gotta do is have ableton's drum rack listen to channel 10. Same goes for synth parts. they are 1-5.

Now if you want to use knobs, the normal synth part controls work just fine however the drum part controls are NRPN message versus standard midi CC messages so you will have to use something like midi ox to translate them into standard cc.

paul_courville · Post by **paul_courville** » Thu May 08, 2008 7:28 pm

The simplest way might be to record your EMX straight into Ableton Live.
Then slice and dice your EMX redordings into tasty little audio clips.
Add Fx for flavor.
Rearrange, render and post for all the world to enjoy.
Cyberdude
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Cyb ... roductions

digitalv · Post by **digitalv** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:17 am

Ok thanks to you both for your replies. Paul- Really i want to use mostly the tribe for sequencing my drums, and bringing in different drum elements, but i want the tribe to be bringin in drums from ableton. So recording in is not really what i want to do. Thank you for the suggestion tho...
Ruso, i am quite new to all of this, is there any chance you culd do me a bit of a walkthru on exactley how i couldget the tribe playing abletons (far far superior) drums and still be able to use emx synth sounds i have already programmed. I am not to bothered about using the knobs for drums, but i obviosley would like to be able to tweak synth sounds- filtewrs etc. Would it then be possible also to play live pads/strings from ableton sounds/plugins with my midi keyboard over the top?
I am still very new to ableton so a step by step approach would be very much appreciated (maybe this could go in the "set up" sticky as i am sure it would benefit others)
Thanks a lot

digitalv · Post by **digitalv** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:14 am

Ok so i just had a fiddle, can get emx to control drum kits, for some reason snares seem to be really short tho (as if its not playin the whole sample- annoying- works fine if i manuallty press a drum part key just not wen sequenced on emx...). Still cannot work out how to use my synth on the emx alongside the drums tho- as soon as you arm the audio track that emx is on playback stops on midi track that drum kit is onl. Is what i am trying to do actually possible??? If not what is are goodways to setup ableton + emx.
Also if i do work a way round this, am i going to be able to play live pads with abletons own pads/strings - sureley if i arm another midi track then it will un-arm whatever else i am doing.... oh the confusion. Sorry about all the questions- my own lack of understanding is starting to piss even me off now

Gavin R · Post by **Gavin R** » Fri May 09, 2008 2:33 pm

Hey don't worry !!! U 'll get there in the end. I have just bought an EMX aswell and am about to start trying to use it with Ableton. Away for a couple of weeks but will post anything I find on my return. As far as midi tracks go you can arm as many as u want by pressing shift(or control) when clicking on them. At work just now and can't quite remember?? Would be really interested in how people set Ableton up for use with electribes too. Could save hours of messing about. Ruso you seem to have much knowledge in this area!!!

MagpieIndustries · Post by **MagpieIndustries** » Fri May 09, 2008 4:42 pm

digitalv wrote:as soon as you arm the audio track that emx is on playback stops on midi track that drum kit is onl. Is what i am trying to do actually possible???

Do you have the midi track set to monitor mode? This sounds like a mixup between the monitor/auto and record arm functions.

Ruso · Post by **Ruso** » Sun May 11, 2008 9:44 pm

dude get a hold of me on aim, I've done anything relating electribes and ableton. I just can't help you by trading topics when I can show you exactly how to do it.

aim is: Dmitri Serge Jr

tomthurs · Post by **tomthurs** » Mon May 12, 2008 10:25 am

Ruso why don't you post some kind of guide to synching with Live it seems to be quite a common problem it could be a sticky.

Ruso · Post by **Ruso** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:38 pm

because there are dozens of ways to go about doing it, and it's very specific to what the person wants to accomplish.

digitalv · Post by **digitalv** » Mon May 12, 2008 4:20 pm

whaqt is aim???
will have to sort a time wen im free, so much bloody work at the mo. very much appreciate you going out of your way to help me tho
thx

Ruso · Post by **Ruso** » Mon May 12, 2008 7:57 pm

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