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!
Thanks for all the kind words, Frank! Very glad to hear that this has been of help and that you are taking steps down the road towards an iPad/Laptop integrated setup. I don't think you'll regret it - it's a wonderful way to work.
Regarding your questions:
1.) skipping that one as noted in your other comment below
2.) Grouping has several advantages, in addition to the one you mentioned about applying effects to a group of tracks. The first and foremost is just organization, as it is easy on the eyes to group like instruments or input sources together and collapse them to navigate a crowded session more easily. Secondly, I find it to be essential in the mixing process to group tracks by instrument, frequency content so that when I apply effects like compression, EQ, etc. the effect applies to the entire group for a more cohesive sound and avoid issues like phasing (for example, grouping all drum tracks into a group, and then applying compression to the entire drum kit makes for a more cohesive and natural sound than if I was to compress each drum sound individually). This also conserves CPU and processing power; for instance, putting a delay or reverb on a group instead of the individual tracks in a group is a much more efficient method of affecting them. Finally, from a creative standpoint, it gives you options to apply drastic automation changes to a group of tracks simultaneously - like drawing in an automation curve to the frequency cutoff of a filter on a whole group of tracks at once, rather than filtering each track individually.
3.) Good question - I have the desktop versions because I use Ableton Live as my primary DAW and production center, and I do all of my recording/mixing/arranging there instead of the iPad. I need them available in Ableton Live to do this and unfortunately Fabfilter and Audiomodern have separated the desktop and iOS versions of the AUv3 apps, so I've had to buy both. If you don't use the laptop for any mixing and arrangement of your recordings and do everything on iPad, then it's probably not worth having both versions, but for me it's essential for them to be available on both platforms.
4.) Hmm, that's strange. Have you tried checking Auracle in the "Audio" section to see if the Sample Rate is adjusted to 48kHz there? Otherwise, It sounds less like an Ableton 10 issue than a Windows/ASIO Driver issue. The same rate and buffer size have always been adjustable in my experience, so it sounds like it could be a Windows system setting to navigate.
PLEASE DISREGARD QUESTION 1 ABOVE - problem solved!
Hi again Andrew. OK, I feel like an idiot. I totally overlooked an important detail that I had discovered once before but forgot. To get Fugue Machine sending MIDI to Lekko, I needed to set each playhead to a separate MIDI channel: Fugue Machine M1 to MIDI channel 1, etc. Having done that, it's working now as expected. I don't know if that issue is germane to my setup only using a Win PC to host Ableton or something, but there it is. For anybody who else who might have been dealing with the same issue. All's well that ends well. Cheers!
No problem Frank, glad to hear it worked out in the end! I typically have all playheads set to Channel 1, at least to start, and don't have any issues normally. So I was going to ask about your settings in Fugue Machine, as it sounds like something isn't translating there when it's sent to USB1. Did you confirm in the MIDI Matrix within AUM (curvy s-shape arrow in the top corner) that the slot for "all playheads" on Fugue Machine is directed to USB1? Glad it's working, in any case!
Hi Andrew - thanks for your reply. So, the MIDI routing in AUM that I'm using mimics yours - Fugue Machine all playheads going to USB1. It seems that where I've intermittently been running into problems is not in the MIDI routings in AUM, but instead when I forget to set all playheads in Fugue Machine to separate MIDI output channels. If I do that, everything's fine. If I don't and instead leave it at the default where all playheads are set to Ch 1, then I get no output at all coming into Ableton. I'm a little stumped as why that should occur; I mean, I would assume that FM should give me the flexibility to send playheads however I choose and there will be output regardless. But, strangely, that doesn't seem to be the case. Oh well, this has happened to me twice now, painfully, so I think the learning should now be locked in my brain, LOL. Thanks again for all that you do - much appreciated!
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
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
Thanks for all the kind words, Frank! Very glad to hear that this has been of help and that you are taking steps down the road towards an iPad/Laptop integrated setup. I don't think you'll regret it - it's a wonderful way to work.
Regarding your questions:
1.) skipping that one as noted in your other comment below
2.) Grouping has several advantages, in addition to the one you mentioned about applying effects to a group of tracks. The first and foremost is just organization, as it is easy on the eyes to group like instruments or input sources together and collapse them to navigate a crowded session more easily. Secondly, I find it to be essential in the mixing process to group tracks by instrument, frequency content so that when I apply effects like compression, EQ, etc. the effect applies to the entire group for a more cohesive sound and avoid issues like phasing (for example, grouping all drum tracks into a group, and then applying compression to the entire drum kit makes for a more cohesive and natural sound than if I was to compress each drum sound individually). This also conserves CPU and processing power; for instance, putting a delay or reverb on a group instead of the individual tracks in a group is a much more efficient method of affecting them. Finally, from a creative standpoint, it gives you options to apply drastic automation changes to a group of tracks simultaneously - like drawing in an automation curve to the frequency cutoff of a filter on a whole group of tracks at once, rather than filtering each track individually.
3.) Good question - I have the desktop versions because I use Ableton Live as my primary DAW and production center, and I do all of my recording/mixing/arranging there instead of the iPad. I need them available in Ableton Live to do this and unfortunately Fabfilter and Audiomodern have separated the desktop and iOS versions of the AUv3 apps, so I've had to buy both. If you don't use the laptop for any mixing and arrangement of your recordings and do everything on iPad, then it's probably not worth having both versions, but for me it's essential for them to be available on both platforms.
4.) Hmm, that's strange. Have you tried checking Auracle in the "Audio" section to see if the Sample Rate is adjusted to 48kHz there? Otherwise, It sounds less like an Ableton 10 issue than a Windows/ASIO Driver issue. The same rate and buffer size have always been adjustable in my experience, so it sounds like it could be a Windows system setting to navigate.
Andrew, thanks so much for these responses; questions answered and I've learned a lot (more) just from your note. Much appreciated! Thanks, Frank
PLEASE DISREGARD QUESTION 1 ABOVE - problem solved!
Hi again Andrew. OK, I feel like an idiot. I totally overlooked an important detail that I had discovered once before but forgot. To get Fugue Machine sending MIDI to Lekko, I needed to set each playhead to a separate MIDI channel: Fugue Machine M1 to MIDI channel 1, etc. Having done that, it's working now as expected. I don't know if that issue is germane to my setup only using a Win PC to host Ableton or something, but there it is. For anybody who else who might have been dealing with the same issue. All's well that ends well. Cheers!
No problem Frank, glad to hear it worked out in the end! I typically have all playheads set to Channel 1, at least to start, and don't have any issues normally. So I was going to ask about your settings in Fugue Machine, as it sounds like something isn't translating there when it's sent to USB1. Did you confirm in the MIDI Matrix within AUM (curvy s-shape arrow in the top corner) that the slot for "all playheads" on Fugue Machine is directed to USB1? Glad it's working, in any case!
Hi Andrew - thanks for your reply. So, the MIDI routing in AUM that I'm using mimics yours - Fugue Machine all playheads going to USB1. It seems that where I've intermittently been running into problems is not in the MIDI routings in AUM, but instead when I forget to set all playheads in Fugue Machine to separate MIDI output channels. If I do that, everything's fine. If I don't and instead leave it at the default where all playheads are set to Ch 1, then I get no output at all coming into Ableton. I'm a little stumped as why that should occur; I mean, I would assume that FM should give me the flexibility to send playheads however I choose and there will be output regardless. But, strangely, that doesn't seem to be the case. Oh well, this has happened to me twice now, painfully, so I think the learning should now be locked in my brain, LOL. Thanks again for all that you do - much appreciated!
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