The next topic I’m going to spend a few days writing about is collaboration. In particular, we’re going to look at some of the thorny technical issues that come up when moving a Set back and forth between multiple machines, and having people both make changes to Sets on their own, which then need to be combined back into one Set for a final mix (or even a rough one for that matter).
Here are the problems as I see them:
1) Plug-Ins: not having the same effect and instrument plug-ins on both machines
2) Live add-on instruments: having instruments such as Operator and Sampler on one machine but not the other. (This might seem to be the same issue as Plug-Ins, but it ain’t.)
3) Lost Files: One collaborator adding files to a set (either audio clips, or samples for a sample playback device) and neglecting to copy them into the project folder.
4) Transferring and consolidating files: with both collaborators adding files on different machines, you can end up with some very big project folders to transfer back and forth. It can also get tricky getting these two sets neatly consolidated back into one Project.
5) Versioning: what change happened where, by who? Wait. What were we talking about? This is confusing.
OK, not really a tip, I know. More of a list of grievances. Not against Ableton, just a general shaking my fist and cursing into the sky sort of thing.
If you’d like to add to this list, shout out on Twitter or email…thoughts and solutions to come in the following tips!
