More about Abelton follow actions

[Cyma]

Hey everyone! First post here for me.

Figured I should contribute asap since i lurk here all the time.

Follow actions: reference this thread for the basics http://www.dubstepforum.com/ableton-liv ... %20actions

Now, what I've been doing with the follow actions is to:
1)Open synth of choice. I'll use albino and make a bass sound to start.
2) Make a nice loop of 4 or 8 bars and bounce to audio
3) Make a few bounces of the same line but utilizing different (bass) tones/wobble rates/effects each time
4) stack up the bounces in a new audio track so they are all touching
5) highlight them all and then in the "launch tab" select "legato"
6) set follow action to something like 1-0-0 or 2-0-0. One or two bars is a good start point.
7) select "other" from the LEFT drop down menu accessed by the little arrows right below the follow action length boxes where you entered 1-0-0
9) Make sure to activate the "fade" button for all the clips to avoid pops in the audio
Hit play on one of the clips

What should happen is that all of your basslines will work together to play the exact line that you wrote, but the sounds will jump around because of the follow actions. Legato is the key here to keeping the bassline playing the notes in the right timing and order.

Once this is all working, you could resample the follow action track to another audio track and chop, effect, re-resample, freq split, etc. this will help all those tiny little audio sections to blend well and sound like one instrument again.

If anyone tries this and likes the results I have a few more steps that are useful....

[Cyma]

Addition:

This technique is pretty close to just chopping up audio bits and making basslines (http://vimeo.com/1682698) but you don't have to do the chopping. Also, you can get organized OR generative stuff by messing with the follow action commands and the length/time of the follow actions. It's limitless. Once you have the main controls understood, it's easy to apply to other areas of your production.

[damagedgoods]

Follow actions are sick as shit. For even funner funtimes,

rerouting sends back into audio tracks + setting up fx and modulating the parameters with clip envelopes + triggering the clips randomly with follow actions + feeding back the result into the sends again = BIG FUN

[Cyma]

Yes, dummy clips on follow actions are a secret weapon! It's all about the routing. AND, you can modulate macros with a dummy clip. Mucho fun.

Throw an effects rack (thanks ableton) on there that splits the frequencies and just go nuts on the layering thing. Follow actions + resampling + freq splitting = win. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Damagedgoods, any examples of your work with this technique on hand? I might do a little clip....

[damagedgoods]

Yes, dummy clips on follow actions are a secret weapon! It's all about the routing. AND, you can modulate macros with a dummy clip. Mucho fun.

Throw an effects rack (thanks ableton) on there that splits the frequencies and just go nuts on the layering thing. Follow actions + resampling + freq splitting = win. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Damagedgoods, any examples of your work with this technique on hand? I might do a little clip....

Nothing particularly musical, no, but I'll have a dig around when I get home and see if I can find an old track I worked on briefly where I did this with a bunch of gated reverbs... if I can find it i'll post the liveset. It was quite entertaining to fiddle around with.

Robert Henke did a video where he made some pretty mental thundery ambient soundscapes using only feedback in Ableton, with a few effects. It was pretty cool. The guy is a great example of why people should stop worrying about acquiring new plugins and just learn to use the tools they've got.

[Cyma]

I made that Henke routing. Send a drum hit or something through there. Huuuuge! Yeah, that guy can work a synth like nobody's biz. He must have RTFM or something....

[damagedgoods]

I made that Henke routing. Send a drum hit or something through there. Huuuuge! Yeah, that guy can work a synth like nobody's biz. He must have RTFM or something....

You know he works for Ableton right? I'm not sure exactly what his role is, but I think he was involved from very early on; maybe even one of the originators. The guy's a legend. One of the few people whose interviews about equipment, software, technique etc I actually find inspiring. 90% of the rest is just "eh, I used this VST because it sounds so full and warm compared to this other VST". Fuck off, just make some music already...

Found this interview from a link on another forum recently:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/02/2 ... #more-9600

So, what’s the role of the press in this? One experience I gain from reading the Ableton user forum and from talking with students is that there is a great amount of insecurity about which technology to use. It’s the abundance paradox. Which software sounds best? Which compressor do i need to use? Which plugins do I need for mastering housy dub music with a hint of pop and some acoustic guitar? Having the choice between 5000 compressor plugins whilst not understanding what makes a compressor really sound the way it does it pretty much my idea of hell. So often I have that impulse telling the world: hey, you can use the sidechain input of the compressor you already have in Live, and you can feed that sidechain with a slightly delayed version of the original signal. You could also apply saturation, filtering, or even reverb or again an instance of the compressor in that side chain signal to shape its timing and response to its input. This will have a result of the compression curve, and this means you can build anything from a very normal compressor up to the most exotic effect you can imagine. And you can store those structures for later re-use. You can automate every single aspect of it. You can use ten or twenty instances of it in a song. Are you guys aware that you have more power right in front of you than the best music producers and hardware designers just ten years ago would have dreamed off?

I simply do not want to read any more articles about new compressor, be it hardware or software, unless it provides insight into the amazing possibilities we already have. I don’t want to read anymore sound quality discussions that deal with the last bit of a 24-bit file in a world where people listen to mp3 over mobile phones and enjoy those artefacts.

The most exciting new music comes from young kids guys running some audio software in a bedroom, listening to the result over a shitty hi-fi and use Melodyne all the way wrong. Those folks do not read gear magazines, they could not care less about yet another mastering EQ, but create the most stunning beauty. If people talk too much about gear I usually do not expect too much good music. I am often trapped in this twilight zone between engineer and composer too, so I know what I am talking about here…

[wayoftheworld]

there's also a video of a guy making breakcore style drums....search for something like "breakcore in under a minute"

he basically drags breakbeats (the more the better) from his browser into an audio track, highlights all the clips to engage multi clip editing, and enables legato just as you've described above. set follow actions to "any" and experiment with short launch settings. what you'll hear is the first beat or two sounding from all the different clips, it sounds extremely good if you do it right, no need for tedious audio editing (although that's the fun part)

and don't forget to global record your follow actions into the arrangement view!

[wayoftheworld]

yeah, robert henke of monolake. he was featured in the wire magazine a couple issues back, goes on about ableton a bit. but it's cool to hear pretentious (what the wire is great for) discussion about ableton, and not necessarily just the typical technical gear talk.

[Cyma]

Legato

This is key everyone. What it does is actually CONTINUE the clip in the correct spot. i.e. If the follow action is set to 1-0-0 but the loops are four bars long. You get bar 1 of the first one, bar 2 of the next, bar 3, etc. It's not the first hits in the pattern if Legato is on. It's the RIGHT hits. Watch the wave file as the clips are playing and you'll see the little scroll bar jump in and out of the clip you're viewing. Always at the correct moment to continue the line as one musical idea instead of just the first part of every clip. The KEY to this whole idea today actually.

Enjoy.

[wayoftheworld]

thanks for the clarification.

[Cyma]

Ok, since we're making a virtual bassline...

Play the follow actions and record an 8 or 16 bar loop to a new audio track. In your new clip turn on warping, beats, 8th notes to start but adjust for different glitch rates. Then, go to the 4th bar and anchor the hits on the 1 of bar 4 and the 1 of bar 5. This "isolates" one bar where well make our "glitch fill" so the rest of the audio won't get stretched. Then, inside the "fill region" that we've created, just make and drag warp markers around (extreme setting, really stretch stuff or smash it down) to get it to glitch out upon playback. Takes some experimentation. The "beats" setting, instead of "complex" or some other setting, makes the choppy effect more prominent and more in time with the music. Render that glitched loop again and then use warp markers to drag around the glitch hits that are now included in the loop until you like how they fall in the measure. Re-effect, resample, glitch again, the whole nine if you want. Hopefully it results in a tune...

[AnalGangstaHo]

Ace thread!

[Cyma]

Yeah, basically if you combine a good synth, follow actions, freq splitting, resampling, and glitching, you can get a crazy bass matrix going on. Crazy part is, that matrix can suck you in and you might never see the light of day again. You'll be stuck processing bass forever..ever.......ever............ever And remember everyone, when you make a loop that sounds good, throw it back in the follow action group! Make the settings for follow actions on the new clip, the same as the rest of the group and you're set.

I just thought of this: Just REVERSE one or two of the clips in the follow action group, i bet it would sound siiiick!


down the rabbit hole...

[paradigm_x]

nice one geez

been on cubase for years but got ableton at xmas, loving the new approach, bit of a noob still, these sort of things are well handy.

few things annoy me about ableton but not opened cubase in ages, seems well dated now, looking forward to the first serious fix.

cheers for this have done v basic follow actions but nothing this next level.

need to get my head round dummy clips as well.

cheers

[Cyma]

http://glitchhopforum.com/glitchhop-pro ... t1763.html


Found this while looking around at Legato stuff. Gives you more control over the timing of the clips. Really cool with Legato. Speeds up the editing work flow considerably when you can just jam out bass edits on your keys or drum pad. Throw in a few boinks, bonks, machine noises, and wooshes so you have it all there right in front of you for live chopping.

[jaydot]

I've noticed the follow action but all I have used it for thus far is to play my track back and pinpoint where exactly a bum note or stray drum or whatever has crept into the mix.