A little more about the advanced options that appear when you unfold the Output or Input ports in the MIDI/Sync tab of Live’s Preferences screen. By default, the MIDI Clock Type for Output sync is set to Song mode: First off, the name of this parameter tells you an important piece of information: Live only […]
WE DON’T NEED NO STINKING MIDI SYNC
So. If MIDI sync isn’t going to do the trick, how do we work without it? Well, first off – it all depends on the context. The short drama I’m going to present right now can be easily adapted to some contexts but not as well to others…I leave it to you to digest and […]
MIDI SYNC: THE LOWDOWN
A few tips back, I mentioned that I sometimes give a really short answer to people who ask me how to set up MIDI sync with Live. It is this: “Don’t” Let me explain. There are two situations where sync is handy: in the studio and on stage. In the studio, MIDI sync is very […]
MIDI SYNC: THE SYNC
Once you’ve got sync going, you may need to spend some time adjusting the quality of the synchronization. It’s not uncommon for there to be a bit of lag, causing the Slave computer to be a bit behind the Master. Due to some of the wacky things that can happen with delay compensation, it’s even […]
MIDI SYNC: THE TROUBLESHOOTING
If things don’t work properly with sync, the first thing you want to check out are the sync indicators. If you look closely, you’ll notice that these have appeared on both the Master computer…. ….and the Slave: The bottom square is the Sync Out indicator. On the Master computer, this should start blinking as soon […]
MIDI SYNC: THE SOFTWARE
Now that you’re all cabled up, open up the MIDI/Sync tab of Live’s Preferences window on the Master computer. In the list of MIDI Ports, locate the Output that the MIDI cable is connected to, and turn on the Sync switch. If you’re using the MIDI output port on a control surface or keyboard, you […]
MIDI SYNC: THE HARDWARE
One of the most common questions I get asked is how to set up two computers to sync to each other. There’s a very short answer I often give to this question, but we’ll get into that later. For now, I’m gonna take you through the steps for setting up sync. The first thing to […]
THE OTHER KICK-BASS SIDECHAIN
Every now and then, I get nice results from sidechaining the bassline to the kick drum using a high pass filter instead of a compressor. There are other ways to get this same sort of thing done, but this approach can yield a really interesting sound. What’s nifty about this approach is that you’re filtering […]
BEATING THE SIDECHAIN CLICK
You may have noticed that Live’s Compressor sometimes produces an audible clicking sound in the signal when the sidechain is activated. There are two easy ways around this. Turn up the Knee: This applies the compression more gradually and often stops the clicking. Or, switch Mode to FF1: FF1 tends to be the most lo-fi […]
THE SIDECHAIN FREEZE: THE CATCH
When you render\export a track with a sidechain effect, you need to bear in mind that it becomes possible for the rendered effect to become out of sync with the sidechain source. That’s the problem with rendering sidechain effects, and the very problem that was mentioned in the first tip on this topic. Therefore, when […]
