I'm starting a new thread with some tips and thoughts about this subject.
Mind you, I have not performed live on stage! So all requirements here come from watching others
I am discussing a setup with one or more keyboards or anything that can send notes to Mulab. There is nothing to trigger a sound or a sequence in Mulab other than notes, so we have to use notes. Usually created by external controllers, but the Mulab keyboard/computer keyboard will work as well.
What I understand from live performances is that things should be the same every performance and the setup is supposed to be a fixed one. And things have to stay fixed, whatever happens.
Therefore some setup in Mulab is necessary.
Mulab works with 'focused' modules. Meaning whatever is focused at one moment is going to receive incoming events. One mouse click can change focus and something entirely different is making sound. Quite a frightful thought when performing.
So things have to be fixed. In the Session menu there is the entry "Edit Midi Input Tragets".
Here we assign what controller controls what device.
Note that even you have many external controller, Mulab combines them all as one device. Therefore we use midi channels to separate the external controller.
Set each of your controllers to output on a different midi channel.
I setup racks in Mulab and named them after the controller that will play that rack.
In the "Edit Midi Input Tragets" list setup the midi channels of your controllers to the required rack.
To test the setup, load an instrument in each of your racks and check that each controller is playing the correct rack.
Now how to setup instruments, loops, audio, etc. to be played.
The easy case is to play a VST instrument. Just load it into the required rack and play. You will probably use different patches during your set. Copy all necessary patches in one specific folder. To change patches use the "Next Patch" arrow next to the patch name, or have the folder open in the browser and drag&drop the next patch in your rack.
To play loops and longer audio parts, there is a bit of MUX setup to do.
In the above MUX I assume that a lot of different items will be triggered from one device.
So first the incoming notes will be devided for their different tasks. The range is set with the Note Key/Vel Filter module.
In the example I set one octave for each of the different playback setups.
1) Playing longer audio parts:
These are the red modules.
The incoming C1 octave will be further broken down to single notes using the Drum Note Processor.
Each note can trigger a different audio part. So you have 12 audio parts under your control.
I use MuPads and not MuSampla for each of the audio parts.
The idea is to trigger audio compared to play it as long as you hold a note. MuPads have an infinite release time and can therefore play any long audio until the part ends. MuSampla's release is 40sec which is not long enough. Mind you that once a MuPad is triggered, it will play till the end! If you rather hold the notes during playback, use MuSampla instead.
Note that all the audio files need to fit into RAM! There is no way to trigger streamed audio in Mulab (unless you replace MuSampla with streaming samplers).
2) Playing loops:
These are the blue modules.
Again you can setup up to 12 loops to be triggered independently.
Here I use Musampla and trigger it from a sequence player that contains only one note. From my experience I always retrigger loops and not loop them. This ensures timing stability over time.
The sequence should have one note only, with the exact length of the loop. The sequence should be looped, so add a loop end at the end of the note. You can switch off the Auto Transpose in the sequence player.
In the MuSampla the loop should NOT be looped. Set amplitude release time very short. Check if the sample is played at the correct pitch. You can Edit Property of the sample and set the key to the note you use in the sequence player.
3) Playing sequences:
If you want to use ready made sequences, like in MuClips, look at the green modules.
Again I limit the keys for this sound. The sequence is triggered and feeds the instrument. I imported a MuClip, which is why a rack is created that holds the instrument.
You can play different keys and the sequence will transpose as you know it from MuClips. That means you must set your key range to something appropriate for your songs.
Mind you that the timing of all those triggers will come entirely from your playing. Mulab does not support things like "trigger at the beginning of the next bar" or similar.
I hope this is a bit helpful.
