3 questions...

Using SL inside Ableton Live

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Anny
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:26 pm

3 questions...

Post by Anny »

Hello all,

Feels like I'm starting to get a work flow happening and I've got some questions. I'm using Live 8.2.2 and the newest sooperlooper.

1) My relative sync doesn't seem to work as it still flashes "waiting for sync" if I, say, hit multiply anywhere in the cycle. The sync to is set to "Jack / Host", quantize is set to "cycle" and "sync" is checked. Any ideas?

2) Pitch and scratch don't work for me. Moving the pitch bar does nothing with or without scratch being armed or not.

3) Is there a "bring looper to front of screen" function / binding? Gathering multiple instances one by one on from my sidebar and then shooing them away to see other things I need to see in live is a cumbersome process. I kind of have a feeling I'd have to get someone to build this in Max as selecting sooperlooper from my sidebar is outside of Live. I'm encouraged though as I see there's a "select_loop" binding that I'm wondering where that works or not. Any ideas on that one? Has anyone build a max for live patch that rectifies that?

Thanks for your time Jesse et all. Any responses would be greatly appreciated. One last qualm - quick continuous presses of replace can erase a whole loop before being able to get through a whole pass. Do you see that being possible to address in future versions?

Thanks again!
Anny
jesse
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:46 am
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Re: 3 questions...

Post by jesse »

Sorry for the lack of responses lately...

1) Are you talking about the relative sync parameter that affects how Record operations begin and end? Or are you just having problems getting Multiply to work with a certain combination of settings? Since sync is set to Host, is your ableton transport rolling or stopped?

2) Scratch actually has nothing to do with the pitch control, to use scratch you actually need to change the *pos* control. As for pitch, it should do a pitch shift in semitones when you move it off of 0... at least it does here for me.

3) I would suggest using multiple loops within one plugin instance, that way you only have one GUI to worry about and you can use the select_loop (et al) bindings. You can actually route independent audio sources into each loop using plugin audio sidechains in ableton. To add another loop just use the appropriate items in the Session menu of the SL gui.

As for the quick replace erasing your loop: how long is your initial loop generally, especially with respect to the total loop time shown in the GUI? The way the undo history works can be a bit unfortunate when you have long loops, as each replace operations takes up a full loop lengths space in the loop memory, for undo purposes. It reclaims old history when you use up the loop memory, so you might lose something important in the past. If your loop is more than half the loop memory, you'll have issues for sure. All that said, it may be that certain combination of sync, quantize, etc may be causing this, so please save a Session from the session menu in the SL gui and post it up here so I can see the exact setting you have when the problem occurs.
Anny
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:26 pm

Re: 3 questions...

Post by Anny »

Hey Jesse,

Thanks very much for your response. Single handedly responding to a packed forum worth or inquiries must be insane - it is appreciated.

1) Re: Relative sync - I'm mean as far as recording operations (a multiply) begin and end. My ableton transport is rolling and SL is synced to it. I was under the impression that rel sync would allow me to still be in sync with the host but would allow me to start recording (and multiplying) anywhere with measure. Instead I get a "waiting for sync" message and it starts recording on the next beat whether rel sync is checked or not... May be rel sync has a problem when it's searching for a host?

2) It's weird as I was able to have this working at one point a while ago and I don't know what happened. I knew that when you had scratch armed you move the pos and but for some reason that doesn't work. More importantly for my purposes, when I move pitch it doesn't do anything...

3) I'll try the sidechain idea - thanks for the tip. Aside from assigning independent inputs to multiple loops in one instance is it possible to route audio from one loop to another in the same instance? Like audio from Loop 1 into Loop 2 in the same instance. That's the main reason I've been having to use multiple instances. Also, can I route multiple loops to different outputs, all from one instance in Live?

As far as the replace issue is concerned, I usually start with a small loop say .25 seconds long and multiply it to anywhere from 4 to 48 times. I see what your saying about how each replace equals a full loop of memory in order for undo to work properly. If I change the "loop time minimum" in the SL Pref's would that help? May be in the future SL could have an option to disable undo or have undo work in stages where it can undo overdubs in blocks of 4 instead of 1 to save memory?

Thanks again for your help Jesse. I've posted my session data below as well. Best looping software in the world, hands down.

All the best!
Anny


<?xml version="1.0"?>
<SLSession version="1.6.16">
<Globals tempo="130" eighth_per_cycle="1" common_dry="1" common_wet="1" input_gain="1" sync_source="-1" auto_disable_latency="0" jack_timebase_master="0" output_midi_clock="0" use_midi_start="0" use_midi_stop="0" send_midi_start_on_trigger="0" smart_eighths="1"/>
<Loopers>
<Looper index="0" channels="2" loop_secs="40" discrete_io="yes" use_common_ins="yes" use_common_outs="yes" relative_sync="no" auto_latency="no" tempo_stretch="no" stretch_ratio="1" pitch_shift="0">
<Panner linked="no" link_direction="0" bypassed="no">
<StreamPanner x="0.000000" type="Equal Power Stereo" muted="no"/>
<StreamPanner x="1.000000" type="Equal Power Stereo" muted="no"/>
<Output x="0.000000" y="0.000000"/>
<Output x="1.000000" y="0.000000"/>
</Panner>
<Controls>
<Control name="rec_thresh" value="0"/>
<Control name="dry" value="0"/>
<Control name="wet" value="1"/>
<Control name="feedback" value="1"/>
<Control name="rate" value="1"/>
<Control name="scratch_pos" value="0"/>
<Control name="delay_trigger" value="0"/>
<Control name="use_feedback_play" value="0"/>
<Control name="quantize" value="1"/>
<Control name="round" value="1"/>
<Control name="redo_is_tap" value="0"/>
<Control name="sync" value="1"/>
<Control name="use_rate" value="0"/>
<Control name="fade_samples" value="64"/>
<Control name="playback_sync" value="0"/>
<Control name="use_safety_feedback" value="1"/>
<Control name="input_latency" value="128"/>
<Control name="output_latency" value="128"/>
<Control name="trigger_latency" value="128"/>
<Control name="mute_quantized" value="0"/>
<Control name="overdub_quantized" value="0"/>
<Control name="round_integer_tempo" value="0"/>
</Controls>
</Looper>
</Loopers>
</SLSession>


MBP Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8Ghz / Live 8.2.2 / SL v1.6.16
Anny
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:26 pm

Re: 3 questions...

Post by Anny »

PS - Just got to messing around with the side chain concept. I was reading more about it in the forum to figure out the set up and someone mentioned the need for more inputs and a mono i/o option which I need as well for my set up. It's great though - less taxing on the cpu it seems too when it's all one instance.
jesse
Posts: 554
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:46 am
Contact:

Re: 3 questions...

Post by jesse »

1) Relative sync currently only works on Record operation, not multiply, etc. Since multiply is kind of special anyway (in terms of it always making the loop longer/shorter by a cycle length, you can get what you want (I think) by actually turning off quantize.

2) Hmm, so pitch (and i assume stretch) aren't working for you at all? Strange. Anyone else seeing this around here (as if they are reading this :)?

3) routing audio from one loop to another would have to be done in the host, SL doesn't do anything internally for you there. Yes, as you've probably discovered you can route separate outputs too. I hear you with regard to mono, etc. I was just running into some weird stuff trying to support different plugin configurations back when i first implemented it as an AU.


Yes, go ahead and increase the loop time minimum as much as you feel is necessary, it just uses more RAM.
Toronto_Looper
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:03 pm

Re: 3 questions...

Post by Toronto_Looper »

Hi,

I'm just seeing this, although I also posted a new topic in regards to this last night.

I'm also having issues with pitch/stretch - as in they don't function at all.

Cheers!
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