Is This Possible?

Using SL inside Ableton Live

Moderator: jesse

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Gabster
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:05 pm

Is This Possible?

Post by Gabster »

Hello Gang!

First a HUGE THANKS to the creator(s) of SooperLooper. What an amazing concept! No wonder Imogen Heap also is using it as an option to other looping hardware while she travels.

I played a little with using SL as a plugin in Live - mapped one audio channel to the SL loop, mapped even my foot controller (using MIDI Patchbay) to some SL buttons! Works like a breeze!
Anyhow here are some questions on what I am trying to achieve and please let me know if I am nuts or this is actually possible:

1. how do I map and route multiple audio channels (drums, bass, keys, mic, etc.) to individual loop sections in SL? I only was able to map one single audio channel from Live to SL.

2. Can I still use some switches on my controller to trigger scenes in ableton live? Does the program need to be in focus to accept the MIDI signals?

3. For the life of me - how do you stop a loop from playing in SL? For instance even if I have SL synced with Ableton, it seems that SL ignores when I click STOP on Ableton.

Am I making any sense? Any tips MORE than welcomed!

cheers!
Gabster
jesse
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Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 9:46 am
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Re: Is This Possible?

Post by jesse »

OK, here goes:

1) Assuming you have inserted SL plugin in an audio track... from one of your other audio tracks just set the Audio To: field to the SL track, and pick the sidechain channel in SL from the dropdown below it, you'll have 3/4, 5/6, or 7/8 as options (which correspond to loop 2, 3, and 4 inside SL)... you can use the main audio input on the SL track for loop 1. You'll need to make sure the Monitor is set to In.

2) First of all, you don't need Midi Patchbay to connect your controller to SL. You can just make a MIDI track in Live and send it's output to SL via the MIDI To: dropdown boxes. Make sure the Monitor on the midi track is set to In. You can do the midi learn or bindings setup in SL exactly the same as if you were routing the midi externally. Focus isn't relevant with midi.

3) There are several ways to stop in SL. If you just want to affect SL's loops, you can use the Mute or Pause commands within SL. If you want it to stop when the Live transport is stopped you need to turn on a few settings in SL's preferences. From the SL gui, go to preferences, and enable the "Pause all loops on incoming Midi stop". There is a similar one for Midi start. To make sure Live sends SL those events, go into Live's preferences Midi Sync tab, and be sure that Sync is enabled for the SooperLooperAU midi entry. I think you've already discovered the other thread where I talk about making Live sync to SL....
faelucho
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:08 am

Re: Is This Possible?

Post by faelucho »

Hello, I just found this thread and it really talks about something that I´m very much interested in resolving. I´m using the SL AU in LIVE and I find that there three pair of stereo ins for loops 2,3 and 4. Is there any way I can get the SL to receive more INS, like by sending the audio in mono channels instead of stereo pairs, and directing it with the PAN? I´m trying to loop many instruments in the SL at once, two guitars, one synth and one voice. So I am one loop short. I see that using the main in it lets me use the loop 1, so actually I could get to use 4 loops at once, but is there any way to use more than 4 loops at once?
jesse
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Re: Is This Possible?

Post by jesse »

It should be straightforward for me to increase the number of channels SL exposes as an AU. I will look into that for the next release.
faelucho
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 5:08 am

Re: Is This Possible?

Post by faelucho »

I´ve just seen your quick response Jeese. I am glad you can apply the extra ins to the next version.


I also found that when you use the sidechains in the AU in LIVE you can see many SL outputs, as I can can direct all the loops I want seperately to different channels inside Live, so the outputs are easy to direct, so it appear as it is only in the INS that this could be done too.


I also came to the idea that maybe I could use the main in as th IN forall the loops, diretcing all my instruments to the main IN as I never play more than one instrument at once. But I believe that this could give me some trouble wihtthe monitoring as maybe all the signals would be sued inside all the loops? Maybe you have a clearer idea of how thiscould be done, maybe some advice.

thanks again
jesse
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Re: Is This Possible?

Post by jesse »

You can definitely use the main in for this purpose. If you don't want any monitoring of the input done in SL (eg, you handle that externally) just turn the 'main in mon' control all the way down.
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