Live Looping / Performance suggestions - triggering pre-programmed automation
Hey folks, been using Maschine for live real-time improv/sets and really enjoying it.
Something I've been think of is preparing a small number of loops beforehand just to have some material to get going, and I'd love a way to be able to automate the mixers fading these different sounds / groups in over (a long) period of time. After that I would take over manual control of the faders as I control the mix throughout the set.
I'm wondering what tricks you might suggest for this?
In Ableton, I might create some one-shot automation envelope clips which I could launch at the start of the set, or even trigger manually.
Is there an equivalent in Maschine?
In short, here's the proposed workflow:
- start the performance with all group faders at -inf dB
- All the loops are playing, just the volume is at 0 for most (maybe not all)
- At some point, be able to trigger some preset automation to bring one Group (or even 1 Sound) mixer levels from -inf to whatever I have determined is their optimal level
- While that is slowly fading up, switch channels and start getting the next live loop going (in the headphones on Cue)
- Near the end of the set, trigger some automation to bring some faders slowly down over time
- Continue with manual control of other faders until the end of the set
The goal here is not to have to manually ride the faders while a long fade-up or fade-out is happening - freeing up my hands to cue up the next loops or create new content.
How would you approach this?
Comments
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lock states?
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Lock States can do fades over 16 bars max, IIRC.
How long are your long fade-up or fade-out in bars?
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Assuming you're only talking about Maschine standalone application or M+ Standalone then Lock States is the main answer as others said, but you can also pre-record Group Level Modulation in specific Patterns and trigger those instead.
Maschine app does not have internal Automation, it's Modulation… In this case it can be an advantage as you can still twist volume knobs during or after modulation happens since it's relative and not absolute, on a DAW usually when you touch a parameter with Automation you end up disabling the Automation lane which would be a problem for the fadeout.
If you're using Maschine Plugin inside Ableton then you could do it from Ableton, as in trigger a Clip that sends Automation to Maschine.
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Yes but even that can easily become 32 Bars with grid set to adapt to twice slower Tempo. 😃 I had to do it and I quickly went down the rabbit whole.
I did extreme setups but in reality and honesty I didn't have to do it and I didn't Release those Projects and M+ , Memory and I had to delete them.
Still I use Lock States on all my Music and I miss Program Change so I just plug MIDI device for specifically Kontakt and Reaktor sounds change otherwise Notes are enough for controlling much more than just Scenes, Section and Lock States.
I am preparing just Drone Ambient with beautiful harmonies and it's all Lock States slowly evolving.
Many of my colleagues can't believe that I made this in Maschine Standalone Mode only, no external sounds, for me it's too much to connect M+ to Computer for space menagment or transferring Music to then connect Mobile Phone and transfer files there so I can listen outside…if new update don't bring quick transfer to USB...😐 I'm afraid it's a sign 👋 Maschine Plus Standalone for the future.
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If I scale the tempo way down, I can probably make 16 bars last a good amount of time.
We're talking ambient music here, so things are slllooooowwwwwww, including fade up and fade down times.0 -
Great suggestions thanks!
And I guess there's no reason I can't load Maschine as a plugin within Ableton and have the best of both worlds. I guess I'm trying to be efficient with my CPU - which is probably silly since I have an M3Max but it's the principle of the thing :)0 -
Hey pretty cool man, thanks for sharing. The fades in your piece seemed a bit fast for what I'm looking to do but at least you have shown that it's possible!
I didn't understand a lot of what you were explaining with external MIDI controllers and such, but it sounds like you're really pushing the M+ to its limits which is awesome!1 -
M3Max? bro you can run 150 instances of maschine if you want to 🤣 thats not a concern to you.
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Hehe, I totally grok you man. I'm just old-skool that way. Been doing this way too long on machines that were far less capable. Old habits die hard :)
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I hope you can see my profile here.
Or here it is example of just Maschine.
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Not that slow, it's usually few small changes or...if 120bpm devide by 2 it's 60, 30, 15 and offcourse there are no rules.
With Program Change you can change sounds in many instruments. Prism, Monark & Reaktor Synths in general. This Program Change Message is not available in Standalone Mode but it's easy to connect any external MIDI device or Mobile Phone App and record it, however on Computer it's much easier.
On computer it's part below Piano role where Velocity is.
Press + and add Program Change. Now it's crazy how good it can be.
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