Hi,

Answers:
1.) NO, you need a PC! (j/k get the most powerful machine you can, PC or Mac) I've heard some bad things about powerbooks running LIVE, but who knows.
2.) You'll need a good sound card. If you get a laptop, I'd suggest something like an M-Audio Audiophile Firewire (this would suffice, you don't need multiples).
3.) In LIVE 5, mp3's are supported, so don't worry about space any more.
4.)Get a cheap MIDI Controller, like an evolution x-session, to control anything and everything in LIVE.
5.) With Live 4, you sometimes have to do this, but once you get good at it, it becomes a breeze. In version 5, it has an auto-warping feature. I'm beta testing right now, and this feature is not quite working to potential yet.

Live 5 comes out in a week or two by the way. Go to www.ableton.com and check out their forums to get some great information.

Peace,
BB

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djbenbrown.com

1. Or a PC. it runs on both.
2. if you want to do seperate listening during a set, you can use either a soundcard or one of M-Audio's firewire interfaces that have multiple outs as well. i've found that just a set of headphones while you're mixing works wonders, so I don't really need a seperate listening output.
3. it doesn't take up that much space at all - any reports of such have been greatly exaggerated. the new release of Live coming out very soon, Live 5, supports mp3, ogg, and flac as well anyway if I recall correctly, so you can compress to your heart's content and still be able to use it with Live.
4. you can chop up your tracks and remix on the fly if you feel like it, but it's really difficult to control all the triggering, EQ, effects, AND sends (etc) without a MIDI controller. I did everything with my mouse for two years, but about a year ago I finally took the plunge and bought two, and it was incredibly worth it - it really stepped up my game.
5. nope.

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http://www.myspace.com/retrobytemusic

wow guys, thanks so much for all your help!!!!

one more question then based on these answers

quote:

Originally posted by retrobyte 4. you can chop up your tracks and remix on the fly if you feel like it, but it's really difficult to control all the triggering, EQ, effects, AND sends (etc) without a MIDI controller. I did everything with my mouse for two years, but about a year ago I finally took the plunge and bought two, and it was incredibly worth it - it really stepped up my game.

if you have a controller, will that take care of buying two? Or is buying two a better decision

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i'd say start with one...

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djbenbrown.com

quote:

Originally posted by trance-ecj if you have a controller, will that take care of buying two? Or is buying two a better decision

start with one and see how proficient you are with it. if you're on a budger, i'd suggest the Evolution UC-33e. I got mine really cheap at Powermax . ebay, as always, isn't a bad place to look either.

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ok, so one more question...i read up on some more stuff and im just wondering, if ur dropping tracks together in the many channles ableton has, how do u mix? Do u do all ur fading with the mouse/midi controller or does it go to channles in a mixer like the djm 600

im sorry, im a noob looking into this program

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The MIDI Controllers can be set to control pretty much whatever you want in the program - the UC-33e has up/down faders, so I use them for volume. I don't even use a mixer when I'm DJing with ableton! it's pretty nice because you don't have to drop that kind of money on an expensive mixer with nifty effects because all those features are incorporated right into Ableton.

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really?

i mix strictly with the EQ though i never touch faders....when im ready to mix, i throw the volume up matching the other channle and keep the fader in the middle with the low hi and mid all the way down. Then i bring them up slowly whiule fading the others out.

you can do all that in ableton and/or a midi controller?

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quote:

Originally posted by trance-ecj really? i mix strictly with the EQ though i never touch faders....when im ready to mix, i throw the volume up matching the other channle and keep the fader in the middle with the low hi and mid all the way down. Then i bring them up slowly whiule fading the others out. you can do all that in ableton and/or a midi controller?

yes you can... with a midi controller, you can assign the knobs on the controller to anything in live, including an eq that you can assign to your tracks... but you can be much more clever than just assigning your knobs to the eq

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djbenbrown.com

it's all about what works best for you - and finding that out just takes a LOT of experimenting. that's how I found my setup and made it work for me

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http://www.myspace.com/retrobytemusic

Have fun with Ableton, to explain what it can and could be done with it would take days. Good luck!