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Posted by The 3am Junkie on Jun-26-2006 04:56:

Mixing with Ableton

First of all i did a search to find the problem i want to address, i didn't however find exactly what I was looking for. If there is a thread please be kind to link me to it. Finally just tolerate my ignorance

I want to start DJing with ableton (I have no real experience DJing at all with cdjs and all that). I believe Ableton provides with so much possibility that the regular setup wouldn't provide (except the cdj 1000 and all that which all the setup would end up costing thousands of bucks).

I have a HP 521n
AMD Athlon XP 1.4 GHz
RAM: 512MB
Hard Drive capacity: 300GB
The sound card is integrated to the motherboard

So how do I start?

1.What exactly is a MIDI Control Surface or what does it do?
2.Do I need any headphones for mixing?
3.Do I need any good sound card?
4.Any professional training?
5.Could the MIDI control surface be used for production?

I'm really lost here! thanks in advance

Posted by xenoaxe on Jun-26-2006 05:57:

1.) keyboard/eq/mixer
2.) definately yes, gotta test the mix before you actually mix
3.) yup. creative imo. less you go for a powerbook.
4.) i didn't get any, just practice alot (just mix alot)
5.) definately.

I'd actually recommend getting some 1000s tho, www.ebay.com

Posted by The 3am Junkie on Jun-26-2006 06:08:

The 1000 are undoubtedly out of the question (im a 17 year old High School student). I've seen the UC-33e is it any good? good value? any better ones at similar price ?

Any specific recommendations for the soundcard ? (that is around or does not exceed $100 usd.)

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jun-26-2006 10:34:

You need a multi-channel soundcard for cueing. Something external from M-audio is a good idea.

Go here: www.abletonlivedj.com

quote:
Originally posted by The 3am Junkie
The 1000 are undoubtedly out of the question (im a 17 year old High School student). I've seen the UC-33e is it any good? good value? any better ones at similar price ?

Any specific recommendations for the soundcard ?

Posted by The 3am Junkie on Jun-26-2006 17:45:

Oh by the way, one must learn music theory in order to be able to mix harmonically right ?

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jun-26-2006 17:47:

It helps to learn a bit of music theory, and you'll have to in order to "key" your tracks. But it's not that hard really...

quote:
Originally posted by The 3am Junkie
Oh by the way, one must learn music theory in order to be able to mix harmonically right ?

Posted by The 3am Junkie on Jun-27-2006 02:59:

so the Behringer BCR2000 or UC-33e could perfectly be used for mixing in ableton? If so what is your personal favorite?

Posted by plaxx on Jun-27-2006 21:45:

I wouldnt trust behringer for the midi control surface, read quite a lot of bad reviews. You'll have a much better experiance with the UC33e imo, and Ableton in a way recommends that as well.

Also browse through ableton forums or http://www.abletonlivedj.com ... you'll learn a lot about the program as well as what equipment will suite you the best.

Good luck

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-08-2006 08:04:

hey; i'm along the same lines; i'm still doing research and everything about what i think would be best for a cheap college student like myself
but the UC33e+ableton looks like an affordable combination.

hopefully i won't be too overwhelmed by it all...

Posted by shaw on Jul-08-2006 08:38:

quote:
Originally posted by JBDreamerie
hey; i'm along the same lines; i'm still doing research and everything about what i think would be best for a cheap college student like myself
but the UC33e+ableton looks like an affordable combination.

hopefully i won't be too overwhelmed by it all...

I'm planning on picking one up before the end of summer. I need one. Badly. I've looked around and for mixing, that looks like it's the best bet without breaking the bank as long as you're just using it to manipulate Ableton.

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-08-2006 17:36:

quote:
Originally posted by Inconspicuous
I'm planning on picking one up before the end of summer. I need one. Badly. I've looked around and for mixing, that looks like it's the best bet without breaking the bank as long as you're just using it to manipulate Ableton.

yea, absolutely; i'll probably try getting my hands on one for my birthday in august.
i downloaded some tutorials from ableton's site, and it looks VERY doable. and it's so powerful...

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-09-2006 07:51:

as said before, external sound card seems necessary if you want to cue up tracks and listen to what you're doing.
but does anyone have any recommendations for it?

so it looks like:
ableton+UC33e+(sound card) is all you really need to mix live with just a computer.
sweet.

Posted by davemolina on Jul-09-2006 09:18:

I went to the site and they have bundles where you can buy the progam AND a piece of equipment...MAJOR price break.

Its only available in the US though.

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jul-09-2006 14:16:

M-Audio makes nice external interfaces. Go Firewire over USB if your machine has a firewire port. I use the M-Audio Audiophile Firewire.

quote:
Originally posted by JBDreamerie
as said before, external sound card seems necessary if you want to cue up tracks and listen to what you're doing.
but does anyone have any recommendations for it?

so it looks like:
ableton+UC33e+(sound card) is all you really need to mix live with just a computer.
sweet.

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-09-2006 21:21:

aight; sweet; that looks like it'll work pretty well.
but i'm a little confused.
i found this:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_...phile-main.html

for both ableton and the M-Audio card for 349.95

but then, i found this:

http://www.future-micro.ca/db/product.php?productid=322

for just the card at 369. plus ableton for another 499.

anybody knows what's going on? or know of a place where they might bundle all three of those things to make it cheaper?

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jul-09-2006 21:30:

Use froogle.com to search for the interface, you should be able to find it for under $200.

M-Audio used to bundle Ableton "lite" with the interface. If they still do, you can use that to "upgrade" to the current version for $250.

quote:
Originally posted by JBDreamerie
aight; sweet; that looks like it'll work pretty well.
but i'm a little confused.
i found this:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_...phile-main.html

for both ableton and the M-Audio card for 349.95

but then, i found this:

http://www.future-micro.ca/db/product.php?productid=322

for just the card at 369. plus ableton for another 499.

anybody knows what's going on? or know of a place where they might bundle all three of those things to make it cheaper?

Posted by Zild on Jul-09-2006 22:24:

So far I've been using Ableton without the luxury of an external soundcard to cue tracks. But then again why do I need to cue tracks if I don't need to beatmatch them. Muwahahahahaha!

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-09-2006 22:41:

quote:
Originally posted by Zild
So far I've been using Ableton without the luxury of an external soundcard to cue tracks. But then again why do I need to cue tracks if I don't need to beatmatch them. Muwahahahahaha!

haha; so i'm guessing ableton does the beatmatching automatically, or what? splain please

Posted by davemolina on Jul-09-2006 22:47:

Would this work?

http://www.ableton.com/index/shop

Includes Live 5 and the M-Audio FireWire Audiophile! The M-Audio FireWire Audiophile is a compact, FireWire-compatible audio/MIDI interface that is perfect for DJing and remixing with Live 5. The FireWire Audiophile retails for 349.95 USD (MSRP in the US). When you order the Live FireWire Audiophile bundle, you will pay just USD USD 189 for Live - rather than the MSRP of USD 499 - and also receive a free T-shirt and mousepad!
Two stereo outputs, with A/B headphone switching between assignable sources, allow you to take advantage of Live's previewing and cueing feature to perfect your mix. You also get zero-latency hardware direct monitoring and 1 x 1 MIDI I/O to accommodate your recording and sequencing needs.

All bundles include an exclusive Ableton T-shirt, an Ableton Mousepad and Free Shipping!

The following optional articles are available:

You can save 30 USD on the Operator instrument by adding it to
your order now for only 119 USD.

Optional (add 29 USD): The Ableton padded bag (world).

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-10-2006 00:01:

yes indeed; that would be pretty damn good; thanks!

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jul-10-2006 02:49:

It's still cheaper if you can buy ableton for a $250 upgrade and get the M-Audio for under $200. But that depends on IF you can still pull off the upgrade

quote:
Originally posted by davemolina
Would this work?

http://www.ableton.com/index/shop

Includes Live 5 and the M-Audio FireWire Audiophile! The M-Audio FireWire Audiophile is a compact, FireWire-compatible audio/MIDI interface that is perfect for DJing and remixing with Live 5. The FireWire Audiophile retails for 349.95 USD (MSRP in the US). When you order the Live FireWire Audiophile bundle, you will pay just USD USD 189 for Live - rather than the MSRP of USD 499 - and also receive a free T-shirt and mousepad!
Two stereo outputs, with A/B headphone switching between assignable sources, allow you to take advantage of Live's previewing and cueing feature to perfect your mix. You also get zero-latency hardware direct monitoring and 1 x 1 MIDI I/O to accommodate your recording and sequencing needs.

All bundles include an exclusive Ableton T-shirt, an Ableton Mousepad and Free Shipping!

The following optional articles are available:

You can save 30 USD on the Operator instrument by adding it to
your order now for only 119 USD.

Optional (add 29 USD): The Ableton padded bag (world).

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-10-2006 12:17:

quote:
Originally posted by Ryan0751
It's still cheaper if you can buy ableton for a $250 upgrade and get the M-Audio for under $200. But that depends on IF you can still pull off the upgrade

whoa, zuh? what is the upgrade?
are you talking about the upgrade from 4 to 5? so it just requires finding ableton 4...is that what you mean?

Posted by Ryan0751 on Jul-10-2006 12:26:

Well I bought my Audiophile interface for like $179 a while back (like a year ago). At that time it came with a copy of Ableton 4 "lite" (which wasn't very good). I used that copy to upgrade to the full copy of 5 for $249.

quote:
Originally posted by JBDreamerie
whoa, zuh? what is the upgrade?
are you talking about the upgrade from 4 to 5? so it just requires finding ableton 4...is that what you mean?

Posted by JBDreamerie on Jul-10-2006 13:45:

quote:
Originally posted by Ryan0751
Well I bought my Audiophile interface for like $179 a while back (like a year ago). At that time it came with a copy of Ableton 4 "lite" (which wasn't very good). I used that copy to upgrade to the full copy of 5 for $249.

ah ok, gotcha.
still looks like froogle is the way to go though. you can get an audiophile for a lot cheaper there, and a UC33e cheaper too. the only thing that really won't change in price that much is ableton.
UC33e: 169
audiophile: 125
ableton: 399

but if you get that 349 deal of audiophile with ableton, that saves 175 bucks.

Posted by jahnlay on Jul-10-2006 14:02:

Best interface for a laptop is the Echo Indigo DJ:

4 channel 24 bit 96 kHz playback.

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