I have been using Live to create most of my music, and often I don't use more than maybe 10 tracks at most. Recently I have started work on a project for someone else that is going to involve a large number of tracks, and I started getting some clicking and popping last night with almost 20 VSTs running.
Is there any way that I can switch the instrument patch on a VST from Live? For example, if I'm using a bass sound on my Moog and there is a gap in the track later where I have used another Moog track but with a pad, can I just change the instrument preset after I have no more need for the bass preset, but before I need the pad?
Thanks!
Ableton Live and instrument changes
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- KVRAF
- 2217 posts since 15 Jul, 2003
i don't know
but i know with other hosts in similar circumstances, it's often possible to automate the on/off of the vsti itself to save cpu cycles while the instrument has nothing to do.
the vsti itself may not be eating cpu when it's at rest, but very often the fx it uses natively or in the track's chain are eagerly monitoring for something to do as long as the instrument is 'on'
i rarely go as far as 10 tracks, but this can be a very useful technique even in that range
but i know with other hosts in similar circumstances, it's often possible to automate the on/off of the vsti itself to save cpu cycles while the instrument has nothing to do.
the vsti itself may not be eating cpu when it's at rest, but very often the fx it uses natively or in the track's chain are eagerly monitoring for something to do as long as the instrument is 'on'
i rarely go as far as 10 tracks, but this can be a very useful technique even in that range
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- KVRAF
- 3617 posts since 26 Sep, 2003 from Bradford - The Armpit of Britain
You can automate device on/off.
Using seperate clips you can also insert bank/program change messages.
e.g. (using crystal as an example) create a 2 bar midi clip with bank set to 1 & program set to 2 (the crystal preset 'swept away') copy & paste this 2 bar midi clip after the first one & change the program to 3 (the crystal preset 'ghosts in the synth'.
The preset will now change as dependent on which clip is playing.
This works with synths using fxb's - I don't know about synths that use their own internal presets system (e.g. cameleon) maybe there would be some information in the particular synths documentation regarding program/bank changes etc.
This also doesn't work with the abes included operator synth - due to the way live's internal instruments & effects implement patch handling etc.
Hope this helps.
Using seperate clips you can also insert bank/program change messages.
e.g. (using crystal as an example) create a 2 bar midi clip with bank set to 1 & program set to 2 (the crystal preset 'swept away') copy & paste this 2 bar midi clip after the first one & change the program to 3 (the crystal preset 'ghosts in the synth'.
The preset will now change as dependent on which clip is playing.
This works with synths using fxb's - I don't know about synths that use their own internal presets system (e.g. cameleon) maybe there would be some information in the particular synths documentation regarding program/bank changes etc.
This also doesn't work with the abes included operator synth - due to the way live's internal instruments & effects implement patch handling etc.
Hope this helps.
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- KVRAF
- 2058 posts since 23 Sep, 2004 from Canada
Increase your buffer/latency slightly and it should be fine also.
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- KVRAF
- 1868 posts since 26 Oct, 2002 from San Francisco
So Live doesn't turn off instruments automatically when not in use? I'm moving over from Logic, where this was one of the strong features for me back 3 years ago. It amazes me that other hosts haven't adopted this feature.
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- KVRAF
- 1618 posts since 15 Aug, 2001 from montreal, canada
If you are using live 5, can't you use the freeze function?
If not you can always render some of the vsti to an audio track and disable the midi track. It would definitely takes less cpu.
If not you can always render some of the vsti to an audio track and disable the midi track. It would definitely takes less cpu.
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- KVRAF
- 2058 posts since 23 Sep, 2004 from Canada
No it doesn't but you can easily automate VST's / Au's etc ON/Off via clip envelopes.jackson wrote:So Live doesn't turn off instruments automatically when not in use? I'm moving over from Logic, where this was one of the strong features for me back 3 years ago. It amazes me that other hosts haven't adopted this feature.
When they are disabled in this manner they no longer use up any extra CPU what so ever.
You just need to tell Live to NOT utilise that VSTi.
It's an easy thing to automate via clip envelope and gives you alot of VST effect flexibilty with signal device chains and the like.
So it does have that feature it just handles it differently to Logic that's all.
Or in arranger view you can simply arm a track for overdub recording and manually automate the VST/AU's on/off manually per track and record that data as clip envelope automation in realtime also.
Remember you also have track freeze and full PDC in Live 5 also which conserve huge amounts of CPU on very large projects.
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- KVRAF
- 1868 posts since 26 Oct, 2002 from San Francisco
Yeah, thanks for the info. I knew it should be possible to automate it, but I'm used to the luxury of it being automatic.FaX wrote:No it doesn't but you can easily automate VST's / Au's etc ON/Off via clip envelopes.jackson wrote:So Live doesn't turn off instruments automatically when not in use? I'm moving over from Logic, where this was one of the strong features for me back 3 years ago. It amazes me that other hosts haven't adopted this feature.
When they are disabled in this manner they no longer use up any extra CPU what so ever.
You just need to tell Live to NOT utilise that VSTi.
It's an easy thing to automate via clip envelope and gives you alot of VST effect flexibilty with signal device chains and the like.
So it does have that feature it just handles it differently to Logic that's all.
Or in arranger view you can simply arm a track for overdub recording and manually automate the VST/AU's on/off manually per track and record that data as clip envelope automation in realtime also.
Remember you also have track freeze and full PDC in Live 5 also which conserve huge amounts of CPU on very large projects.
But the automation should be good for things like running a short clip through alternating effects (different delays per bar, etc...)The freezing features in Live do seem to be the best around, but I haven't got as far as that yet. Still trying to find my flow, which is taking quite a while
Definitely going to stick with it though, the only other option for me right now is Energy XT which is missing WAY too many features I require.Cheers,
Mike
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- KVRAF
- 2058 posts since 23 Sep, 2004 from Canada
What I do which is rather long winded but works for me .
I get the mix up to scratch then I render everything as individual .wav files.
IE: Each midi clip .
Each entire track.
Each seperat audio clip.
Track combinations are bounced in various config's.
I do these both dry and with effects etc.
Save the whole lot to a new folder.
Open a new Live session but only work in linear
arranger view.
Then I drag and drop / cut and paste etc the entire
linear arrangement together how I want.
This way I've commited all the sounds in the mix at this point so I'm not dicking around with alot of extra options that waste time.
It also gives me the flexibilty to experiment with tempo change, a few extra insert fx / eq and the like and come up with several variations of the linear arrangement which I can use later or pick and choose from as too which is the best arrangement etc.
Works for me anyway
I get the mix up to scratch then I render everything as individual .wav files.
IE: Each midi clip .
Each entire track.
Each seperat audio clip.
Track combinations are bounced in various config's.
I do these both dry and with effects etc.
Save the whole lot to a new folder.
Open a new Live session but only work in linear
arranger view.
Then I drag and drop / cut and paste etc the entire
linear arrangement together how I want.
This way I've commited all the sounds in the mix at this point so I'm not dicking around with alot of extra options that waste time.
It also gives me the flexibilty to experiment with tempo change, a few extra insert fx / eq and the like and come up with several variations of the linear arrangement which I can use later or pick and choose from as too which is the best arrangement etc.
Works for me anyway
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- KVRAF
- 1868 posts since 26 Oct, 2002 from San Francisco
Thanks FaX - always interesting to see how people do things differently. I think I'll be working with audio clips alot more in Live too, as the MIDI/piano roll implementaion is very poor compared to Logic. Just something I'll have to deal with.
But anyway, back to the original guy's request. I remember it used to be pretty common practice back in the days of MIDI instruments to use a single channel and patch change messages to cycle through presets on a synth. I guess it's just not necessary anymore these days with softsynths allowing multiple instances.
Mike
But anyway, back to the original guy's request. I remember it used to be pretty common practice back in the days of MIDI instruments to use a single channel and patch change messages to cycle through presets on a synth. I guess it's just not necessary anymore these days with softsynths allowing multiple instances.
Mike
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- KVRer
- 6 posts since 25 Dec, 2003
Play that bass part with the patch that you like, then make a new clip an assign that pad patch to that clip. Your VSTi will change patch acording to the clip in the same track.
R.
R.