Ableton Live as a fifth band member?

[rotev]

hello

i'm doing my first steps in Ableton live, in purpose to play live with my

band songs we originally recorded on cubase.

i've been looking for an accessible, stable and effiecient platform for

live performance with a laptop that will play midi tracks of

the keyboard parts on various vst instruments and allow me to

play live with a midi keyboard on vst's and switch instruments

during the song.

i've exported all the midi tracks of keyboard parts from cubase

and imported it to Ableton, added a click track for the drummer

routed to a separate output, and armed the track i want to play

live with my keyboard. so far so good, but now many questions

came up, i hope you can help me with your experience:

1) most important, if i have each song on different project,

how can i avoid the whole closing/"save changes?"/open project/

loading process before every other song while performing?

as i'm also the singer, it's not practical for me to stop the

gig between every song and go playing with the computer.

is the solution to put all songs one after the other under

one project? or maybe Ableton is not the right platform for me?

2) how can i switch between active vst instruments (armed track)

during the song without touching the computer? can i apply a

midi command from the keyboard for it?

3) when i opened the hypersonic vst, i couldn't find in Ableton

option for selecting different outputs from the hypersonic for

specific midi tracks, so i had to open a single hypersonic for

each track while it actually provides 4 outputs (works perfectly

on cubase).

4) regarding stabilty and saving system resources, what is more

recommended - playing midi tracks with vst's on exporting them

to wave files?

5) when i open a project in Ableton, my midi keyboard won't

react immidiately but only after i open the preferences window

and turn the relevant button off and then on again.

any way to avoid it?

i will be grateful for any answer and any other tip!

[Reegs]

1.) Yes, I would have them all loaded and open.
2.) It is possible, with some controllers, to register the keyboard as a control surface capable of controlling DAW functions, and active track selection is a common parameter to set. The Edirol controllers can do this within Sonar. I'm not sure of Ableton's configurations, and in all cases you'll likely be flipping through a few buttons and modes on your controller to move it between keyboard and surface. Consult your user manuals for details.
3.) I am not familiar with this synth.
4.) Provided you have the disk speed, computers much prefer playing audio tracks to number-crunching VST's on the fly. You'll likely experience fewer pops, clicks, and dropouts.
5.) Again, I have limited Ableton experience. But, if you're not already, try plugging the midi keyboard in and letting Mac or Windows recognize it before booting Live.

[rotev]

thanks Reegs
i did manage to apply keys on my computer keyboard for switching
an active track, but my real keyboard doesn't react to these
commands. is it because it's old (yamaha EX5) and connected via the
MIDI input only? Will a new controller keyboard with a USB interface
allow me to controll the functions on Ableton like the computer
keyboard?

[Togglehead]

Well...i cant say a newer keyboard WILL allow that control...but i can say that it will probably have greater flexibility being connected through USB.

Also...you CAN open one ableton file by ordering your several songs beneath one another...but consider that the track controls will alter EVERY song then. (i have a buddy who does this...personally i think its counter intuitive and limited.)