Using a DAW for Live Performance - with what and how?

RTLdan · Post by **RTLdan** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:48 am

Hello, I've been searching and searching for some answers, but haven't come up with many that worked.

You boys are going to hate me for it, but my personal system is a PC. I love mac, but went with the pc because I wanted to build my own without spending an enormous amount of money. To those of you that are familiar with pc stuff, I have an Opteron processor, so performs pretty well.

Basically I want to use sequencing, and click tracks in live performance for all of my songs. That said, it is crucial to be able to change the songs very quickly- basically with a keypress or something to that effect.

The closest I came was using Sonar's "Set List" feature.
My computer runs fairly solid, but both sonar 4 and 5 are completely unstable when using set lists. I think this is probably because it has to load every individual project at once. So unless there is something I don't know about, or a bug fix, Sonar is unusable to me.

I've heard so many good things about Digital Performer, but alas, I don't have a mac. But is there a program that will do this particular DP feature?:

"Digital Performer lets you keep multiple sequences in a single file.
Arrange your sequences as multiple cues within a song, or even an entire set. You can chain sequences together. and trigger sequences by mouse, keystroke, remote MIDI message, or even slaved to specific SMPTE time code locations. Just load one file and your whole show is ready to go. "

Has a pc version of digital performer ever been discussed or in the works?

Maybe something like cubase or acid can accomplish a live show setting click setup?

I know this doesn't directly pertain to DP, Mac, or Motu, but any of your thoughts are much appreciated.
Thank you for your help in advance.
-Daniel Rheaume

Shooshie · Post by **Shooshie** » Sun May 14, 2006 7:32 am

I've been using Digital Performer and Performer before it for live performance since 1988. I've performed and/or directed live concerts with it from coast to coast utilizing exactly what was described in the paragraph you quoted, along with many tricks I've learned along the way, and in all that time I have never had a single failure or even small glitch in concert--ever. In addition to music, DP also provides lighting cues via MIDI Show Control and time code for cameras or recorders.

For click, I always use a "drum track" which I've made specifically for my tastes. It includes countoffs at fermatas with tempo changes, and so on. DP can provide the click in real time, but I just prefer something with more feel and subtlety than a metronome. Furthermore, since I am often performing with instruments that have a half-second time delay, the metronome click is not possible without a delay, so I have to use a time-shifted click track. There are tricks for making your countoffs at the upcoming tempo while DP is slowing down or pausing for a fermata or rallentando. It's not hard to do.

I've known many people who do the same, and I've met (here mostly) a few who found DP not to be a perfect fit for what they wanted. So, will it work for you? I'd be inclined to say yes, but you'll have to try it for yourself. It's got a learning curve, but that's what Unicornation is for.

We've recently received version 5, which was just released a couple of weeks ago. You're going to see lots of bug reports here for a while. It will require a maintenance update or two before we see those ironed out. This cycle has repeated since Digital Performer was created, so I'm not concerned about bugs in version 5. Every major upgrade starts with a few, but they quickly get exterminated. Same can be said for Pro Tools, Logic, or any other DAW.

My personal advice? Wait until our MacIntel towers come out and are bug free (relatively speaking, of course). Then switch. You'll be able to continue running your PC stuff on the same machine as your Mac stuff. I'd say that time will be somewhere between 6 months and a year from now.

Shooshie

RTLdan · Post by **RTLdan** » Sun May 14, 2006 10:53 am

Thanks for that information!
It DOES sound like DP is the way to go for what I want to do.
I'll check out the Macintel towers you were speaking of.

Thanks again!
-Daniel

Noam · Post by **Noam** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:46 am

If you haven't looked at Ableton Live then download the demo, do the tutorial and take a spin.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... er&ID=live

It was designed for live performing, hence the name. It runs on both pc and mac. It has two distinct environments,
one fairly traditional time line environment and one very dynamic stacked / trigger-able clips (loops and longer) environment. Outside the box of traditional DAWs

While I would rather multi-track record and mix/edit in DP, If I where doing performing with a live computer componet I think I would go with Live.

marzio · Post by **marzio** » Tue May 16, 2006 1:12 am

Ableton Live is my choise for live performing.
you can do everything in real time.
www.ableton.com

jgest · Post by **jgest** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:02 am

Noam wrote:If you haven't looked at Ableton Live then download the demo, do the tutorial and take a spin.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... er&ID=live

It was designed for live performing, hence the name. It runs on both pc and mac. It has two distinct environments,
one fairly traditional time line environment and one very dynamic stacked / trigger-able clips (loops and longer) environment. Outside the box or traditional DAWs

While I would rather multi-track record and mix/edit in DP, If I where doing performing with a live computer componet I think I would go with Live.

Abelton has my vote!

progress · Post by **progress** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:29 am

Use DP chains to build you set and use it live.

escargot · Post by **escargot** » Tue May 23, 2006 6:24 am

you cant chain project in live without saving/quiting each song, which take quite a bit of time. you can edit all your sequences one after the other, which i havent done yet, dont know if it works. live triggered by DP chains of sequences would be a must. anyone has tried that?

quadrupolesmurf · Post by **quadrupolesmurf** » Tue May 23, 2006 3:17 pm

marzio wrote:Ableton Live is my choise for live performing.
you can do everything in real time.
www.ableton.com

Everything but change time signatures.