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-- Do you have to warp each track to mix with Ableton?

Do you have to warp each track to mix with Ableton?

I have thousands of tracks but don't have enough time to warp each individual track is this the only way?

Yes

My suggestion would be to only warp the tracks you want to use right away. It would take too long to warp all of them if you're not going to use them.

quote:

Originally posted by orTof�nChiLd Yes

also, inb4howlazyareyouposts

You can warp an entire artist's tracks by right clicking on the folder, but other then that you have to do it all a folder at a time.

Ableton can warp any track automatically when you load it, so theoretically you could just make sure you load any track about 20 seconds before you want to play it and you'd be ok, but for best results you really want to warp it in advance, adjust it if necessary and make sure it's right.

It might be possible to set up a slider on a MIDI controller to adjust the tempo of a channel on the fly, CDJ/vinyl-style, but when I had a go a little while ago I couldn't find a quick and easy way of doing it (admittedly I didn't try that hard)

You lazy bastard.

I was messing around with 8 to make a few edits and i could not for the life of me figure it out. It took me 15 minutes to warp a 35 second sample.

ableton 8 sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox Ableton can warp any track automatically when you load it, so theoretically you could just make sure you load any track about 20 seconds before you want to play it and you'd be ok, but for best results you really want to warp it in advance, adjust it if necessary and make sure it's right. It might be possible to set up a slider on a MIDI controller to adjust the tempo of a channel on the fly, CDJ/vinyl-style, but when I had a go a little while ago I couldn't find a quick and easy way of doing it (admittedly I didn't try that hard)

there's not really a way to do that. you can either setup a slider on the master tempo or on the sample tempo, but if you do it on the sample, it retroactively adjusts the entire thing, so, say, if you slid it down, the track would skip forward.

ableton's automatic warping on import never works 100% accurately. It gets the overall tempo close if not spot on most of the time, but the markers are always incorrectly offset.

quote:

Originally posted by Goebbel Goebbel I was messing around with 8 to make a few edits and i could not for the life of me figure it out. It took me 15 minutes to warp a 35 second sample. ableton 8 sucks.

yeah, the new warping is a little odd, compared to past versions. I was really annoyed with it at first, but it just took a little getting used to. I don't even think about it now.

quote:

Originally posted by shaw there's not really a way to do that. you can either setup a slider on the master tempo or on the sample tempo, but if you do it on the sample, it retroactively adjusts the entire thing, so, say, if you slid it down, the track would skip forward.

I thought as much - cheers for clearing it up

Yet more support for my theory that Ableton really isn't an appropriate tool for 'normal' DJing... I think you have to be doing quite a lot more in terms of arranging loops and much more of a live performance before it makes sense to choose Ableton over Traktor, Serato or just good old CDJs/decks.

But maybe it's just me - I want to be able to turn up and play with absolute minimum preparation (or at least my preparation time should be spent picking tracks and practising technical elements, not warping all of my tunes)

quote:

Originally posted by shaw there's not really a way to do that. you can either setup a slider on the master tempo or on the sample tempo, but if you do it on the sample, it retroactively adjusts the entire thing, so, say, if you slid it down, the track would skip forward.

You can actually midi-map a channels tempo nudge controls to a midi controller and play your tracks un-warped and be able to mix manually, but it's pretty stupid imo.

I saw this guy set-up a template in this style.



Nevermind...actually I think you still need to warp the tracks.

quote:

Originally posted by shaw yeah, the new warping is a little odd, compared to past versions. I was really annoyed with it at first, but it just took a little getting used to. I don't even think about it now.

i don't use it enough for me to make a big stink about it...but i was really wtfbbq trying to figure it all out. When i need to make edits, i just use 7...it takes me less than 10 seconds to warp. It seems to me that ableton should have maybe offered both the new and the old warping system in the new version as it seems to be a major complaint with many.

I could not imagine playing a dj set on it, who has the fucking time to do all of that warping?

quote:

Originally posted by Goebbel Goebbel i don't use it enough for me to make a big stink about it...but i was really wtfbbq trying to figure it all out. When i need to make edits, i just use 7...it takes me less than 10 seconds to warp. It seems to me that ableton should have maybe offered both the new and the old warping system in the new version as it seems to be a major complaint with many. I could not imagine playing a dj set on it, who has the fucking time to do all of that warping?

I can do it on the fly. Just takes a bit of practice and not being a klutz with a mouse.

Also, that's what people say about beatmatching with turntables

quote:

Originally posted by Goebbel Goebbel i don't use it enough for me to make a big stink about it...but i was really wtfbbq trying to figure it all out. When i need to make edits, i just use 7...it takes me less than 10 seconds to warp. It seems to me that ableton should have maybe offered both the new and the old warping system in the new version as it seems to be a major complaint with many. I could not imagine playing a dj set on it, who has the fucking time to do all of that warping?

Only thing I really miss from previous versions of live is the timeline along the waveform in the clip view. The warping is cake.

quote:

Originally posted by shaw I can do it on the fly. Just takes a bit of practice and not being a klutz with a mouse.

no mice allowed at the club man...1/8 notes lead to suicide.

quote:

Originally posted by Goebbel Goebbel no mice allowed at the club man...1/8 notes lead to suicide.

cursor

quote:

Originally posted by Goebbel Goebbel no mice allowed at the club man...

Yeah this.

We had a big barney about this in another thread, but essentially I urge any DJ who uses a laptop to do whatever they can to avoid ever having to touch a mouse/trackpad/pointing stick/whatever in a DJ booth... the concentration required draws you so far into the screen that it stops any chance of you dancing or looking like you're enjoying yourself and in my opinion is the #1 reason why people think laptop DJs are boring.

Get a touchscreen tablet or sufficient MIDI controllers to mean you don't have to touch it, or combine the two and get a Lemur

quote:

Originally posted by Stu Cox Yeah this. We had a big barney about this in another thread, but essentially I urge any DJ who uses a laptop to do whatever they can to avoid ever having to touch a mouse/trackpad/pointing stick/whatever in a DJ booth... the concentration required draws you so far into the screen that it stops any chance of you dancing or looking like you're enjoying yourself and in my opinion is the #1 reason why people think laptop DJs are boring. Get a touchscreen tablet or sufficient MIDI controllers to mean you don't have to touch it, or combine the two and get a Lemur

If you're clicking about non-stop, urdoinitwrong. If, for some reason yet unknown to me, I was playing in a club, I'd be sure to have warped anything I might play ahead of time, anyway: not to avoid looking like I'm concentrating too much, but because there's always that 1/100 track that doesn't sound like the waveform looks, and I'd rather time/speakers to sort that out properly than be one of a number of people surprised by it. Also, for loops, I learned long ago, that it's a far better idea to just have the track copied over & over with different looped regions than try to set them on the fly, since you're bound to click in the wrong place eventually.

There's no way to do anything useful without 'sufficient MIDI controllers,' anyway, though I'm sure there are cheap bastards doing it.

I find it doesn't take me very long to warp tracks these days - maybe a couple hours or so for 60 - 70 tracks which is what I usually bring for a gig. I wouldn't suggest warping all your tracks since that's murder - just pick your songs as if you were packing your crate for the night and warp those. In terms of the time, it might be long but it also takes a long time to burn and label CDs so the difference isn't too huge really.

In terms of actual DJing I agree there are downsides, but there are huge advantages as well. The main reason I like it is because I can preview and pick my tracks much faster than grabbing and loading a CD, and can also change the key on the fly which is sooo nice. In that respect I think I can actually program a set better on the fly with Ableton - since I have much more time to pick and choose tracks, and can change songs around to work better in the moment.

As for crowd interaction, lately I've been really focusing on how I can DJ an entire set without looking at my computer at all. To do that I've been using two Novation Launchpad's to act as a record box of sorts - with each button representing a track that I can preview and fire without looking at my comp at all. I also am having some custom plexi risers made that fit right on top of CDJs so they won't take up as much room either.

Yeah there's a lot more to it in terms of setup and such, and I'm not going to say it's necessarily better than CDJs either - just depends on what you like really.

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