In the Actions & Shortcuts menu I have been able to assign a midi note to select the next Part. However it only selects the next part when the transport is stopped. It also doesn’t start playing.
I am trying to figure out how to jump from one part to the next seamlessly without stopping and with it still playing.
I have a “jump to maker x and play” macro in Cubase for this function. But I am hoping to move to VST Live for live performance rather than Cubase.
If the Part has a trigger time, it will refuse to be selected, as it would jump there, which is not what you want during a show, unless…
…you want to jump there at a precise position. In this case, you need to enable FlexLoops (Pro version only). This starts any selcted Part at the next beat time (as set in FlexLoops).
You can also select a Part w/o FlexLoops enabled while Transport is started at any time, i.e. to change programs, Layers etc, but only if that Part has no trigger time (use “Song/Song Part Triggers” to edit Part triggers).
Thank you for the quick response. I admit to still being a little confused however.
Let’s say Part One of a song is an atmospheric drone played on an audio track, triggered by the drummer using a midi pad. I have made the drone 3 minutes long to give plenty of time. (I have managed to do this, no problem)
Then I want the drummer to hit another pad to start the song properly, say roughly 1 minute into the drone. Moving to Part Two of the song. This has a backing track and a click track and video. I want this to play with no drop out and for him to be able to trigger it at anytime during that 3 minutes intro drone. (This is where I am struggling).
I don’t want to use the flex loop you suggested as it has to be ‘in time’ i.e the next part begins at the end of a measure. I want it free time, so the drummer can hit the midi pad at any time and it jumps seamlessly to Part Two.
As I said I have done this in Cubase by setting up markers and a macro where the midi note commands Cubase to go to Marker X and Play. So Pad One triggers Move to Marker 1 and Play, then Pad 2 commands move to Marker 2 and Play and so on,
I have tried removing the trigger point for the Part, but now if I click Play on Part Two it doesn’t do anything as it doesn’t know where to play from. I can see it allows me to use the other functions of the part (layers etc), but not to play the audio tracks cued.
I assume I’m doing something wrong, but despite looking through the manual I just can’t figure it out.
This is using all Audio tracks and /Video tracks by the way. No Layers, Midi or DMX. And it is on a new copy of VST Live 2 Downloaded today.
There is a command for “stop and play next song” I believe so you could use that as a workaround, but I also would like to be able to jump straight to next part without stopping. A separate command for this would be great, then it’s up to people if they want to use a “risky command” or not.
Yes, I have discovered the “Next Song and Play” function. However it still relies on the previous song being stopped. You can’t just jump straight in, plus there is a short lag as it moves to the next song.
I recently played a major rock festival and spoke to various bands and techs about their backing track use and a lot of them used it as I intend. They will trigger some ambience between songs whilst the singer speak to the crowd, or the guitarist tunes up, then the drummer will count in and trigger the backing for the next track seamlessly. They all used Ableton Live. They also all said it is fiddly to setup or change setlist so we’re looking for better solutions. So it seems my requirements are not unusual.
I have found a possible solution. I can command to jump the Marker 1 or Marker 2. Essentially the L or R markers in the timeline. And I can do this without stopping. So what I am looking for is a way to do exactly this, but for multiple markers (more than the 2 the L R and allow).
Flex loop is something similar, it addresses each part in the song. Did you try that one? (Avaiable in version2+.)
As opposed to other apps that you compare to, VST Live features a DAW with audio, video, DMX, MIDI and other tracks. While “lightweight” MIDI tracks and pre-loaded audio loops can locate instantly, that is not possible for DAW type of timeline players. Those need to preload before they can play.
You can “simulate” immediate jumping by clicking in the timeline, which is not prohibited as opposed to jumping to another (trigger-) Part w/o FlexLoops. This will attempt to locate, preload, and then play as fast as possible. If there are just a few light MIDI tracks and say one backing audio track, you will hardly notice a delay even though there will always be one, which can be disrupting the groove at the least.
With video for instance, that is quite a different beast. Video takes very long to preload (depending on the format), DMX ramps can be pretty demanding and loads of audio tracks will also take their time etc.
With FlexLoops, you can start a Part at a defined beat time. This is pretty much what everybody wanted who wants to create dynamic shows, and we think that VST Live PRO is pretty unique in allowing real DAW action with quantized jumps.
Yes, I am noticing a tiny lag when I jump. I do have video tracks and 3 audio tracks running at all times.
I’ll experiment with the Flex Loops to see if I can make it work for my work flow.
I’m going to look into it now. See if I can get it to match my desired work flow.
You can set flex loop jump behaviour.
I use it for band presentation.
Very effective! But if you need you can set file loop to jump to next part half beat, 1, 2 or 4 Beats after the trigger is pushed. Don’t remember in you can also set it to instant jump, maybe this could be added but it’s unusual, you want to keep a steady tempo and Groove when you use it… i don’t se any problem in setting it to jump at bar end for your intended purpose.
Ciao!
I would love to know how you have set this up. I have been playing with the Flex loop feature and just cannot get it to work. I’m not sure if it’s user error or a bug.
Would you be able to share how you have configured the set up to allow you jumping to different sections?
Locate the timeline to where you want to program a jump location.
Click the “Trigger” item in the Part that you want to define to jump to.
Activate FlexLoops.
Now while playing, you can click the Part with the trigger and it will jump there at the next beat (or whatever you set in FlexLoops).
Thank you. I just updated to the latest version and can now get this to work. It was not working for me in the previous one.