1Creating A Keyboard Set Up - LiveKeyboardist

04Sep 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

3 Tips To Keep Ableton Running Smooth

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Midi, Program Features

When I hear people talking about keeping Ableton running smooth, I constantly hear the buzzword, CPU. First of all, what is CPU anyway? Is it different than ram? How does it affect my computer? Ram is storage that your computer uses to hold files that need to be immediately used by a program. It’s sort of a short-term memory. Now, if a program closes and things to no longer need to be held in your RAM, your computer will remove them. CPU is the part of your computer that is responsible for completing actions. They could be simple like knowing when you are using your mouse, or complex like transposing audio in Ableton. CPU also is the part of your computer responsible for moving things to and from your RAM. Simply,…

14Jul 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Exporting Stems To Session View

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback

When you are using any type of backing track for live performance, it is helpful to take everything you have created and bounce it down to stems. https://youtu.be/CAL8mLvpjkI Before we move on, here are some helpful terms to understand Bounce down: When Ableton takes the audio and midi information you have created inside the program and creates a new audio file, that sounds identical, outside of the program. Stem: A bounce down of the audio from a single track. Why should I do it? Imagine you have created a synth part on your latest soon to be hit track. You are running your synth through 2 reverb plugins, a chorus, effect, a distortion plugin, and are using a sidechained kick to create a pulsing synth effect. Ableton is taking the…

30Jun 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Monitor, In, And Off

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Switching From Mainstage To Ableton, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Transition Essentials

https://youtu.be/b_OhIDyURmk In, Auto, And Off. The three monitoring modes in Ableton. What do they do? What is it for? Why is it important? If I just ignore it, will it go away? Here is a simple break down of what they do, and how to make use of them. Monitor Status Let's start off by saying, these status effect signal entering Ableton from another device only. For example, monitoring status will affect when and how you hear the signal from a guitar plugged into Ableton, but will not affect when and how you hear the audio you recorded from the said guitar. Similarly, monitoring status will affect whether or not you can hear what you are playing on your midi keyboard, but not what you recorded from your midi keyboard, even…

22Jun 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

One Button Keyboard Split For Lead Lines

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback

Creating flexible keyboard splits can be helpful, especially in a live context when you need to cover more than one part at a time. Sometimes lead parts are not quite high enough to be out of the way of your left-hand pads and switching the octave makes them either lose the punch they are supposed to have or have way too much punch and become distracting Having a second keyboard is one way to solve this problem, but for those of us without a second instrument, or who would rather not bring two keyboards to a gig here is my proposed solution Create a keyboard split that has two zones Zone 1 from the lowest key to b3 Zone 2 from c4 to the top with an extra plugin that…

13Jun 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Setting up your IAC driver

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Midi

Using the IAC driver is a great way to store "presets" if you will. For example, perhaps you have a piano sound you really like, but for one song you want it super dry, and for another you want it to have an 8th note delay and some reverb. You could create two dummy clips, one that sets the piano to the driest setting, and another that sets it to the delay/reverb setting. The possibilities don't stop here. As a matter of fact, you can use the IAC driver to control programs outside of Ableton Live. Sometimes you may want to send midi to a stand-alone synth that lives outside Ableton live. Or perhaps you are using the IAC to control pro presenter while you are playing. The number one benefit of…

09Jun 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

One Mod wheel – Total Control

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Presets and Sounds

Can we take one knob or fader ( or mod wheel ) and use it to make our whole set run simply? You bet we can. We are going to walk through how we can map our mod wheel to create dynamics and patch changes, all with one knob. Let’s start by thinking of our patch list this time in terms of dynamics: Here is my list top to bottom Piano/Pad Piano/E Piano/Pad semi-open filter E Piano/Pad open filter/Organ Now, our goal is going to be to make certain markers, using the minimum and maximum values in our mapping window to create zones of sound. When the mod wheel is all the way down you will only hear a very soft pad and a piano. As we move the mod wheel…

26May 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Track, Sync, Remote: Ableton Midi Preferences Simplified

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Switching From Mainstage To Ableton, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Transition Essentials

The first time I tried to use Ableton with multiple sounds on a live gig was a nightmare. I was working with the Arturia Keylab 88 and mapped a few on the onboard pads to a dummy clip to change my sounds. After setting everything up, and getting it to work a few times, I thought I was done and ready to play. What I had failed to check was if my MIDI mapping’s worked correctly. This was a glaring oversight for sure. Anyway, I got my stuff all set up for the top of the set and I was doing just fine playing my piano sound. As the set started to progress and get more intense I thought it would be the perfect time to start up my Hammond…

23May 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Adjustable Key Range: Without Suite

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Transition Essentials

You can set up a keyboard split by creating instrument rack and adjusting the key range. That would 100% work. The challenge comes when you need to have a split that can be adjusted. I find that more often than not, my instrument ranges do need to be adjusted throughout the set. I used to use a sort of clunky Max for Live device to accomplish this, however recently I have taken up using Ableton's built-in "Pitch" plug-in to create an adjustable key range split. It's a native, concise, and reliable way to accomplish the task. https://youtu.be/r0Bc1O_xptc Pro's of the "Pitch" Plug-In The Pitch Plug-in is completely automatable. What that means for you is using dummy clips, you can make one pitch plugin set many different ranges. When I've used it…

15May 2018 by Brent

Ableton Chord Memorizer Without Max for Live

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Switching From Mainstage To Ableton, Blog, Transition Essentials

Playing keyboards live, or honestly, performing anything where you are trying to fill the sound out often requires that you play more notes then you have fingers to play. That is why the chord trigger in mainstage is so useful. You are able to use one hand to play pads or chords that you choose and play a melody with your other. Setting up an Ableton chord memorizer is ABSOLUTELY DOABLE. Here is what you will need to get the job done. Midi Effect Rack Chord Plug-In Instrument Rack Luckily, these are all included with Intro, Standard, and Suite versions of Live, so no matter where you are at, we are in business. If you need just a standard keyboard split with no chord triggers, you can check out my…

06Apr 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Scrolling Through A Patch List In Ableton Live

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Switching From Mainstage To Ableton, Blog, Transition Essentials

Let's get right to the point. You know exactly what you are going to play, exactly the sounds you are going to use, and all you need to be able to do is select each sound in order. Mainstage made this super easy for you in the past, but now because you are using backing tracks, or looking for a program that runs with a little more stability, or perhaps because you wanted to incorporate some live looping, Mainstage is no longer the platform you are using. Unfortunately, your basic needs have still stayed the same. What do you do? Well, you've stumbled upon the right place. Today we are going to talk through exactly how to set up a scrolling patch list in Ableton live exactly the way you…

Category: 1Creating A Keyboard Set Up