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Clip lanch app with lots of tracks & ability to play asynchronously
Hi all
Apologies if this is doubling up on other threads but I've spent several hours looking through relevant discussion and nothing quite seems to address what I'm looking for. I make all my own sounds and the features I'm trying to find in an app are:
- Ability to import all my samples via audioshare or similar
- Lots of tracks (LP 5 only does 5 at a time)
- Basic mixing functionality to fade things in and out
- Ability to play out of time (I use lots of drones and non-rhythmic things)
- Ideally audio bus support on a per-channel basis so i can process individual tracks with effects
- Ability to loop each sample
- Probably something Albeton-esque in terms of a session like clip launching view.
And that's really it; most of the solutions talked about seem more focussed on being able to synchronise to a beat etc and then download lots of factory loops which I'm really not interested in. I just want to play live with lots of pre-made samples I import myself.
Does anyone have a favourite app for this situation?
Thanks!
Comments
P.S I'm in the more experimental end of things and grouping things in terms of kick drum, pads, vocals etc isn't very helpful. The sound can be anything and I'm just looking for something that gives that freedom without funnelling me towards a particular electronic music style or anything like that.
Following the thread. Was quite similar to what I was initially looking for on iPad and could not find anything perfect.
The more linear based DAWs, e.g. Cubasis and Auria, you can turn off quantization I'm assuming and play freely, but then they are less the clip launcher you describe. There may be work-a-rounds, I don't know.
Beatmaker3 may be the closest. It has a view that can be used to launch clips freely.
Yes you can import your own (i've only used my own) via many methods, Files app is really easy.
Yes mixing.
You have potentially multiple performance pads view with 16 or 64 slots, each pad could hold a sample. You can set samples to be one shot, or looped. Testing it right now, one of the tabs has a 'sustain pedal' button that will lock the notes repeating and you can do that per pad. Would be better if you could specify that in the pad itself, and turn on off clips with the tap on the pad, as such it is a one click to turn on two clicks to turn off. Maybe there is a better way to do it, I dont use the app like this.* And it is complex, I may be missing something.
On its own, it still gears toward patterns that are to a set number of beats. You can process individual 'banks' in the app itself with different effects. Not sure about multi-audio out.
But using the performance layout, perhaps it will work for you and you'd have an easier time sending it out to record in another linear DAW app.
*My dealbreaker with Beatmaker is that it doesn't have tempo changes in the song. So I'm merely using its sampler being controlled my Modstep which is a clip launcher a lot like Abelton Live except for midi. Modstep can load Virsyn or its own sampler too, I just use Beatmaker because I frequently use the same set of real drum samples and that makes switching songs faster. But it is very much geared toward looped midi patterns to a set beat. Though if you wanted to do really long patterns with quantization off, it may be a possibility too. I usually record in it without quantization, not because I'm doing anything experimental but because I gotta play with some real human swing.
Another partial solution is to consider is the new Virsyn Audiolayer. A strong sampler in AU3, so maybe you can add that to another app to accomplish this.
One way to go: Rotor and it’s predecessor Reactable have a lot of your hoped for features, using more experimental approaches and GUI
Both have looping clip launchers that load free duration .wav, (though both are limited in how many you can run 4 for Rotor, 6 for Reactable.) They both offer other modules as well, synth, sampler and drum kit style sampler, the synths are certainly drone-able if you’re interested in doing your own sound design in-app
The launchers can be tricked out individually with a wide range of fx, modulation etc
If you don’t know these apps, they are very open ended modular playgrounds, with lots of interesting toys
Another way to go is to use the device itself as your playground with AB3/AUM as a hub...AUM loops free duration .wav, and like AB3 hosts apps like Rotor and can sync these other apps. AUM will also record stems of your work. Both AUM and AB3 allow riding faders, and are built for mixing and signal routing, AUM is capable of very open ended busing
Samplr is another piece for this meta DAW, will allow you to play inside your .wav, and launch free duration clips
The device -as-DAW approach opens up a lot of tools and possibilities for play, and most of the coolest tools are also sync-able using AUM, AB3, in a few ways (Ableton link, midi clock, IAA midi sync). A few of our forum comrades are pioneering this way of working, hopefully they will stop in here.
Good call on ROTOR. It's an under appreciated tool and very good for more experimental music.
Thanks. Yeah I'm already trying Beatmaker 3 which I bought specifically because of scenes mode; maybe it's the closest thing to what I'm after. I'm finding it really unintuitive so far but that might be laziness on my part about getting to know the app properly. Scenes seems like not exactly an afterthought but a way of triggering stuff that you've made within BM3's own workflow which isn't really suited to the way I make music, so it's a feeling of constantly fighting against the way the app wants me to make things and re-tooling it to make it do what I want, so just feels quite uphill. Will keep at it though.
Will check out Virysn audioplayer now!
Thanks Littlewood; I've used Reactable in the past for generating sounds but never considered it as a clip launching performance thing in its own right. Will have another look at it now.
Re. AUM: I've already got that and it seems great but AFAIK it just has a sample player that would let you play one sample per track, right? Which would mean I'd end up with dozens of individual tracks rather than, say, a dozen tracks each of which has lots of different samples triggerable within them. Will check out Samplr too.
Thanks for the tips.
I guess for all I've used the word 'experimental' I'm actually after something fairly straightforward as an 'end of process' playback machine, where I've made all my weird samples through different apps beforehand but then in the live situation I'm trying to be reasonably free of the apps so I can do other things, and just launch stuff in a simple way. Which I guess isn't that experimental at all:). Trying not to be the boring guy staring at his ipad on stage keeping things under control....
(Just realised I've already got Samplr, forgot the name of it; it's fantastic for generating sounds but again pretty limited in terms of simply launching loads of pre-made clips and mixing them on the fly; I wonder if it's some sort of DJ app I'm after in the end)
I wonder if Beathawk--where you could load your samples into pads and then trigger from a keyboard might be a part of what you need. Or maybe the new multi-sampler app from VirSyn?
You could try Launchpad, LP-5, Looptunes HD, Remix Live and Blocs Wave all Ableton Linked with a lane each and mix them in AUM?
What you are asking for is eagerly awaited by many, AFAIK... We have heard rumors that Ableton has been working on something iOS that will likely be what you are looking for, but who knows how far out that is...
Let’s see what Stagelight 4 has to offer... Coming to iOS..
FWIW I'm using audio layer for the exact purpose you describe above. I "sum" the one shots in other apps and use AL to launch the samples.
Would love to know more, please!
Yes lukesleep could you expand on that please? Sounds promising.
I've tried Rotor and lp 5 etc today and none of them are cutting it; just too limited in terms of the number of samples I can trigger at once (Rotor only allow 3 or 4 samplers at any one time).
I would suggest RemixLive, and possibly Group the loop, and looperverse the latter two are apps that I don't own but am very close to purchasing.... I wouldn't get hung up on sample packs available by devs/apps per say as since you're only interested in your own that part of the equation isn't really relevant and you're going to fill whatever apps you use with whatever genre you want via your own music.. remix live is a great launcher in the vein of the launchpad app which also is a great clip launcher , the group the loop dev is very open minded and looks like he's will to develop that app into something that might be great for creatively creating material as well as triggering, and I'm interested in looperverse as well as it has some special tricks up it's sleeve (video worth checking out) and looks like it might also turn out to be something nice for arranging and editing as well as versatile looping.
also I'd be remiss if I didn't suggest protein Der Klang, for triggering and on the fly goodness in general, def check out the vids for that one as well.
Heya - So novation's app 'LaunchPad' isn't so bad, plus its summer sale currently, you can get the IAP's which enable audio import etc for half off, $7. Decent - I have been exporting stuff out of BM3 as loops and it works great so far...
My caveat in what follows is that I use samples in my live setup as one shots only. I did the looping thing for years but then got so sick of being on the grid and the sameness of loops playing over and over. So please use this as context for how I use a sample-based setup.
I have been using BM3 for several months as both my sound design platform and live one shot launcher. It's relatively stable for the latter (not so much with IAA apps loaded) and the plus is that I get 128 pads in each bank. In most cases, I create multi layer samples on each pad and have been faking round robin and random triggering using MidiFire. It works pretty nicely but two main issues: (1) BM3 has a bug that prevents accurate MIDI control of banks and bank groups. So, I end up looking at my iPad more than I would like to navigate between banks and groups. (2) I can only load in about 5-6 banks before I get cracking/noise as the CPU gets taxed.
I will continue to use BM3 for some sound design because it's great for slicing and automation. But AudioLayer is better for launching one shots live because: (1) it streams audio so very lightweight performance. (2) I can load in a ton of samples in one instrument and load in new instruments via PC midi messages. (3) I can use AL on my iPhone and sync all my instruments and samples via iCloud to my iPads. (4) Being able to use AL as an AUv3 to "catch" audio in AB3, AUM, and BM3--and then use as an instrument in AU hosts is so flexible and convenient.
So that's how I have been using AL as my live hub for the last week or so. Very pleased so far.
+1 here, this one allows an incredible amount of simultaneous madness
Each one of these rectangles of Xs and squares can be loaded with a clip, and up to 4 of each color can play at once, (12 all in) with live switching and sound managing
Each clip has fader, and can launch in sync or not, and lots of other goodies...
Is there anything in this setup that would be useful?
You could do the following:
1. Gather your samples/loops (or make them)
2. Use apeMatrix and connect your sound sources
Which could be multiple AU3 instances of an app like ReSlice (sample player which can play chromatically and more and arpeggiate through sample slices)
3. Use the LFO inside apeMatrix to phase the volumes or tempos or more of each sample playback
The upside of this potentially is (if the ipad can keep up)
10 instances of a sample player (or controller etc) per page. Theoretically thats 30
Plus the addition of midi setups and mixing with launch control and mixing within one app.
BONUS use the Snapshot Pad in apeMatrix to "morph" between scenes. Link here for how to: https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/26636/apematrix-snapshot-pad-is-awesome-tutorial
Hmm, I just tried with multiple instances of ReSlice and it topped out around 4-5
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions: slightly overwhelming! (I hope it's useful for others reading the thread too). I've bought Protein and currently mucking around with it. Also still got Beatmaker in the running. I think it's going to end up being a combination of several apps to make it all work which I'm trying to get to a situation where that feels like a positive (i.e a different way of making music) rather than a not-quite solution for what I do on my laptop. Off to Greece in an hour for a couple of gigs with no laptop so I'll be road testing some sort of solution.
Cheers again all.
LP5 is awesome for what it does.
ReMix live from MixVibes is a really awesome app for clips and one shots!
http://www.mixvibes.com/remixlive-remix-app/
I like using Launchpad, but getting clips in is painful. You have to use “open in...” to import one sample at a time as far as I can see, which is absurd. Is there a better way?
Build songs inside BlocsWave and the export them into Launchpad.
@pmh can you share some of your music/sets with us?
Dean has a neato video...
All one bank so macros work well...
You can load entire directories of samples/clips.
1) Open AudioShare
2) Open LaunchPad
3) "re-open" AudioShare as a slideover from task bar
4) Navigate to your directory of clips
5) Use OpenIn or CopyTo LaunchPad
Not sure how it could be any easier...?
Based on your original request in terms of arrhythmic or "weird" timings... Keep in mind that when you load clips into LaunchPad you can set the quantize... So you can launch on bar boundaries, 4tr note, etc.
This allows for some REALLY cool happy accidents when you launch several basic rhythms on non-standard beat divisions.