Ableton Live VS. Ableton Live (MIDI Sync)

Yesterday Oversoft and I had a try-out of something new. We created a setup with two laptops running Ableton Live 7, the Allen& Heath Xone 4D and a Pioneer DJM-600. The two laptops with Ableton Live 7 we’re linked together using the MIDI signal from the Xone 4D. It was the task of the Xone 4D to keep everything in Sync. The DJM-600 and Xone 4D were also linked like in a normal battle setup.

After tweaking the MIDI delay a little bit to get things sync tight, it was show time. The cool thing about this setup is that we both can add samples and songs in real time and everything is in sync with the beat. Especially if you use a lot of short and simple samples from various songs, things get really funky.

The try-out was a great success and we are planning on doing this again and record a mix. However, we do still have some challenges. Our Ableton Live sessions do sync at tempo level, but we will need to sync also at song level. Starting an acapella both at the same time doesn’t sound smooth. And ofcourse there is the song key that we need to keep an eye on, to make sure that melodies don’t clash.

For me it would be convenient to have a MIDI controller for launching the clips in Ableton Live and controlling the effect parameters. So next time we will extend the setup with either a DJM-800 or an old Roland MIDI controller.