Updated (again): iPad & Ableton Live
New video with settings, configurations, and steps for integrating iPad with Ableton Live
Back on May 10th, I wrote an “addendum” here on Substack that broke down some additional thoughts and FAQs on my first iPad/Ableton Live video. I promised some additional video content focused on the settings, configurations, and mechanics for the software side of things (Ableton Live and AUM). Well, for those interested, I’ve now uploaded that video here:
This still doesn’t scratch the surface of everything I do, but I hope it is a helpful view into how things work at a deeper level. I kept thinking while I was recording just how many other things I could’ve mentioned or brought up…but was trying to move as fast as possible. Pretty funny that even still, I took up an hour of time - ha.
There are many more “advanced” topics and ideas I use to compose and perform with this setup, so please stay tuned. One example is a detailed breakdown of why I use certain apps, how I use Loopy Pro, mixing tips, etc…there’s so much to cover. In the meantime, if there are some specific topics you’d like me to cover, then by all means leave a comment or shoot me an email.
Take care and have a great weekend.
-Andrew
Hi Andrew. I want to start by thanking you and applauding you for taking the time and effort to produce and publish this video (and all the other ones where you explain the details of the iPad+Audio4c+laptop setup, which I'm a relative newcomer to and have been trying to fully implement over the past couple of months).
I hope it's not asking too much, but I've hit one big roadblock, and then have several less urgent questions to ask you as a follow-up. I don't want to impose unfairly on your time, but if you could answer just one of these, it would be the first, as follows:
1. Re: Your default Ableton template per the video overview. I tried to set this up on my own workstation, paying really close attention to all the routings and settings. I got to the point of trying to replicate your use of Fugue Machine on the iPad driving Lekko on MIDI channel 1 in the Ableton template, but I'm unable to get audio coming out of that channel. AUM shows flashing lights indicating MIDI notes being outputted, but nothing seems to be coming into Lekko. I've double and triple checked all the details but don't see where I'm going wrong. Are there any "usual suspect" types of troubleshooting problems you might be able to direct me to? Of interest, I should mention that when I add an instrument in AUM rather than in Ableton, I have no problem getting audio coming into the "iPad Audio" channel setup in your template. But getting MIDI direct from Fugue Machine to Lekko to Ableton Master seems to be a no-go for me at the moment.
Less Urgent...
2. I've never been exposed to track grouping in Ableton before, which is a cool thing to learn about for the first time. Do I assume correctly that the main benefits of this are to be able to use a single master set of Sends covering all tracks included in the group, rather than having to dial those in separately for each included track? Are there any other benefits of this technique?
3. I noticed in your prior video that you use both Chordjammer, as well as FabFilter Pro-Q and Pro-C in the iPad instance. In this video, however, I notice that you also have them on your laptop and are using them there. Part of the appeal of the iPad approach for me is that I can get all these really great apps in the iOS environment for a fraction of the cost of the PC download versions. So I was wondering why you choose to use these tools in both the iPad and laptop instances; in other words, why wouldn't you just use them in the iOS only scenario? Is there a reason why I would want to forego the cost savings advantage of getting the cheaper iOS versions as opposed to actually spending *more* by purchasing both?
4. In the Ableton Preferences/Audio tab, you are able to apply your preferred settings for both In/Out Sample Rate and Buffer Size, whereas in the Live 10 suite instance, I'm not able to do that. Mine defaults to 44,100 for the former (vs. your setting of 48,000) and 512 samples (vs, your setting of 256). As a result, I get an Overall Latency of 26.6ms vs. your 16.9ms. I'm going to take a wild guess that these differences would probably be negligible and maybe not even noticeable, and yet I don't understand why I can't make the same changes as you. Maybe that reflects some features updates in Live 11 that are not available in Live 10 (?). If you have any insights to that, they would be much appreciated.
Again, please don't let my newbie queries overstay my welcome, it's just that I am so completely keen on implementing your overall approach and workflow and I don't know whom else to ask.
Thanks again Andrew - please know you are providing an incredibly useful learning resource for your followers. We may be a niche group, but it's totally appreciated!
Cheers
Frank Paul
Vancouver, BC
Hi Andrew - Again, I don't want to pepper you with questions that might be intrusive; I know you're a busy guy. But, if you happen to be looking for topic ideas from subscribers, here's one I might suggest: Though I've been able to get my head wrapped around sending MIDI notes from devices within iOS both elsewhere within my iPad (and then sending those on to Ableton on my PC for further processing and/or recording), or using those MIDI notes to drive instruments directly in Ableton, I just can't seem to figure out how go in the opposite direction; i.e., sending MIDI generated from within Ableton to drive instruments that live on the iPad. The Ableton MIDI ports manager seems to require that I specify only from among its designated control surfaces, and of course, nothing iOS-related shows up there except LK by Imaginando. So, I was wondering if you have a method for sending MIDI notes generated within Ableton to drive iOS instruments (and then send the resulting signal back to Ableton for whatever). Either way, thanks again for all you do - it's massively appreciated. Cheers, Frank