Tips on using the Live live?

So, how are people setting things up for playing live, generally speaking?

At first, I was thinking of setting up XYfx for every program and switching between programs to finagle with the effects while also using pad/track mutes. But it seems like using qlinks on tracks might be better, and occasionally using XYfx on the main outs.

Also, are ya'll switching between sequences manually or turning your songs into one long sequence?

Thanks in advance, and feel free to add any live performance tips that you might have

I prepare my projects to be played live.
Usually a drum program with all possibilities and then I switch them off in pad mute. Then a keyprogram or a synth on next track and I leave them empty so I can play a phrase and record it in real time when I play live.
Then maybe clip programs, I record them all at beginning of sequence and switch them off in pad mute.
This way I can arrange my songs live using pad mute and track mute, I assign all qlinks in project mode to open up fx on the fly also.
So basically I switch tracks, mute and unmute samples, add effects, and play some synth phrases.
I only use a sequence in any project and when I switch from one project to other I usually have some loop I made on the fly with a Kaoss pad 3 connected to 3/4 output or I hold the reverb of a RV500 connected to 5/6 output.
This way I am free to make different live acts all the time, an always different arrangement or effect tweaking.
I found this is the easiest way for me to prepare my live acts and keep a bit of freedom when I play.
I never messed up with next sequence or song mode, if I have to record all I just connect the 6 channels I use to a Mackie mixer that goes to a multitrack with a firewire cable.

Frisbi wrote:I prepare my projects to be played live.
Usually a drum program with all possibilities and then I switch them off in pad mute. Then a keyprogram or a synth on next track and I leave them empty so I can play a phrase and record it in real time when I play live.
Then maybe clip programs, I record them all at beginning of sequence and switch them off in pad mute.
This way I can arrange my songs live using pad mute and track mute, I assign all qlinks in project mode to open up fx on the fly also.
So basically I switch tracks, mute and unmute samples, add effects, and play some synth phrases.
I only use a sequence in any project and when I switch from one project to other I usually have some loop I made on the fly with a Kaoss pad 3 connected to 3/4 output or I hold the reverb of a RV500 connected to 5/6 output.
This way I am free to make different live acts all the time, an always different arrangement or effect tweaking.
I found this is the easiest way for me to prepare my live acts and keep a bit of freedom when I play.
I never messed up with next sequence or song mode, if I have to record all I just connect the 6 channels I use to a Mackie mixer that goes to a multitrack with a firewire cable.

Cool, this is awesome info. I was wondering how people navigated multiple sequences while choosing tracks, because it seems kind of like it could be a hassle. Having only one sequence makes sense.

When you say you use a drum program with "all possibilities", do you mean you have drums on each pad, or phrases, or both??

Oh, an when you say you apply qlinks to project mode, that means you aren't using qlinks for programs?

For Live performance I always stay on project mode qlinks. It's the best to use qlinks as a fx unit.
Drum.programs I mean I record rythms and switch on and off the samples with pad mute to give movement to rythms.
Phrases I play them live on a plugin synth track or keygroup.

I've been messing around with muting/unmuting different drum parts instead of sampling them (to save space). The way I do this is, build a complex sequence by playing the pads and then explode that sequence. Then I can use the track mutes on each drum. The few things I don't like a bout this is a) this limits how many drums I can apply qlinks to, since each one is on a different track, and b) it creates too many tracks which makes them hard to pay attention too/remember.

I'm wondering if the better answer is to create multiple sequences instead of exploding the drums, and then use sequence switch (or whatever its called) to "play" the parts. The only bad part about this is that the sequences don't change rapidly like muting/unmuting does.

I'm trying to find a happy medium. On my old SP, the answer was resampling and putting different parts of loops on the pads to switch between. But I feel like the MPC mute/unmute stuff is much better, only I can't find my particular workflow yet.

Anybody got any thoughts on this?

Take also a look to Clip programs.
Maybe instead of exploding tracks you can turn your beats into clips.

Frisbi wrote:Take also a look to Clip programs.
Maybe instead of exploding tracks you can turn your beats into clips.

Oh man, I didn't even think about that. I'll look into it