some really good posts in here, and a couple of fucking lame ones

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"I played 12.30 til close at 3am at the club (Antro), following on from an Australian dj,
which seemed unusual in deepest Texas." - Judge Jules

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Originally posted by SPAWNmaster My personal take is that Ableton is amazing for compilations and really creating true works of art. Personally, I use it for my weekly radio show as well as for compilation mixes, but for live shows I use CDJ's as they're more performance oriented (imho). There's something more personal about them and its easier to transmit style through movements. The performance aspect is in the physical domain for cdj's as opposed to the digital domain on Ableton. Ofcourse style and the fun-factor are more geared toward a dj-centric view rather than just speaking "about the music" in general which is really what's all about...what comes out of the speakers. I guess it can go either way...these are my thoughts though.

Exactly. Ableton lets me create mixes that are on par with Global Undergrounds and CDs you would buy in stores, but for live performance I think it is best to use it as an FX box only. CDJs let you focus more on flow and track selection, rather than worrying about what loop and what delay setting and what dummy clip and what effect, etc etc you want to use.

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"A studio environment is there to be exploited. I don't really hold with these 'all live on 2 decks mixes'. If you want that, go to the gig." - Ben Watt

I just want to respond to those who have said ableton live is a production tool.

It's really not - it was designed as a new paradigm for live performance, not production in the studio sense. Ableton was designed for live production. Deejaying can be thought of as a form of live production.

Ableton is a ridiculous program. I will not use it again in a live setting however, for DJ sets. I have some friends who perform live electronic synthesizer-based music in a sort of laptop band and I feel the way they are using ableton is the best way to use the program. The kinds of things I have heard from them live is just mindblowing. Especially since they are very much out of the dance scene and are coming up with the stuff on their own just by experimenting with sound.


Every mix I have ever done with ableton, while I like to listen to some of them, they just feel like I was lazy. I have to say there are a lot of cool things I could do with ableton, especially things involving transposition and vsti add-ons, but I've pretty much decided not to use ableton for DJing any longer.

However, I heavily rely on ableton for preparing for gigs under pressure. When I get a batch of new tracks right before a gig, I bring them in ableton, key them all, warp them, rename them, and during this whole process I am mixing them against other tracks and then I build little chunks of playlist which eventually assemble into a loose structural concept or sonic concept for a gig with some specific ideas about how to mix certain blocks of tracks. I use it as a blueprint for mixing later on CDJs and for identifying cues, etc

quote:

Originally posted by nefardec I just want to respond to those who have said ableton live is a production tool. It's really not - it was designed as a new paradigm for live performance, not production in the studio sense.

it's a Daw! and it was created for live performance and for production(studio sense)!

alot of people are making music in ableton and later mixing it down in pro tools.

it mights have been said thousand times already, but it doesnt matter what you use it's how you use it that matters!

As clovis said, it depends on the person behind the tool. (be it ableton or cdj,tuntable or even a banjo)

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Originally posted by Max Thomson Exactly. Ableton lets me create mixes that are on par with Global Undergrounds and CDs you would buy in stores, but for live performance I think it is best to use it as an FX box only. CDJs let you focus more on flow and track selection, rather than worrying about what loop and what delay setting and what dummy clip and what effect, etc etc you want to use.

You don't HAVE to use effects when using Ableton.

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quote:

Originally posted by dj_alfi change your avatar for fucks sake.