Guest Gaittins Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 I've been working hard on two live sets for a party I'm throwing in February. The first set is 1.5 hours of ambient chill-out which progresses into tribal/electro with a cascade of psy-sounds. The set is midi for the first hour and then switches to CD decks (minimal psy-trance) to set up the vibe for the talent scheduled in the next time slot. There seem to be no problems with this set. The second set is my high energy live set and I'm having some problems gettting in and out of material. The first three tracks plus the into are live and use a combination of digital audio and midi. I'm using Digital Performer 3, a MIDI Time Piece AV, a bunch of rack mount synths and a stereo VHS with one channel striped with SMPTE and the other with audio to keep it all together. I've made the first three tracks and the into one continuous file with a chuck start and everything seems to be fine. The fourth track is one that I did a while ago and sent out to be mastered and it sounds great. I switch from the computer / live equipment to the DJ consoles fine but the problem is getting back and staying in time. I know what I want to hear and how I want the fourth track to go back to the live gear but I'm inconsistent and am wondering if the only way to do it is to import the mixed song into the live set file and just relax for a few minutes. I'd really like to mix from computer to decks and back but the controls on the computer are not live mixer friendly. The reason I want to use the deck is because the track can be easily sped up (without changing the key). It was originally 134BPM and with a quick touch of the tempo slider it becomes 146. I'm sure that some of you out there have a wealth of experience with this kind of problem and I would be greatful for any information you could give. I know that importing the track into the DP3 file and time scaling it will solve the problem but I really want to mix back and forth or at least know more about getting from decks to computer. The rest of the set is fine using chunck starts to load sequences and the VHS tape (striped on one channel, audio on the other) to carry the set for a minute between songs. Thank you in advance for your insight and advice. Ed Gaittins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ehcsztein Posted December 19, 2002 Share Posted December 19, 2002 This particular issue is exactly why we do not use a computer for sequencing... you could mix it like you were mixing DATS...blending an ambient portion of song 4 into an ambient section of song 5 regardless of tempo and just allow the transfer to async for a brief...hopefully you would be able to exploit the async in such away as to not disrupt the over all flow... ..or... ...strip portions of song 4 and insert them into the "live" sequence/ setup for song 5 as an "intro" and then automate the tempo shift within the live gear to return...in essence ghost the recorded song 4 within the pre-song 5 live mix...this will maintain tempo sync and allow for seamless transfer... quite the riddle indeed...hope this helps! ehcsztein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gaittins Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 Thank you for your help. I have much to learn and some of the termonolgy that you used is over my head. Since you've replied to me, I've been pushing forward using your suggestions as I interpreted them. Song four has been recorded from the deck at the new tempo and put into Digital Performer and the MIDI sequence which begins track five mixes into it perfectly. I found a crude yet effective way to mix back into a MIDI sequence from a track played on a deck or any other device incapable of locking to SMPTE. If the sequence is only MIDI, you can drag or advance the timing in Digital Performer 3 using the > and >> controls under the main playback controls. The only thing that becomes problematic about this is that you cannot use an arp on the gear (you can if you have each note as a MIDI event) and you cannot go backwards even if you need to. I practiced this technique for several days and finally nailed it nearly every time but it will not work with digital audio because there is latency. I don't know if this information is useful to you, Ehcsztein, but I just wanted you to know that I appreciate your help and have done some experimenting on my own to solve this riddle with your guidance. Thanks again Ed Gaittins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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