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Using DP Live Part 1 – DP Features for Live Performance
My band wrote our first album using DP and have written nearly every song since with DP. However, when it came time to take our songs live it was right at the time that Ableton released the first version of Live. As we had the need to perform to loops and backing tracks, the more I looked into Live the more I realized it was exactly what we needed. Despite Live’s obvious performance benefits (heck, it is called “Live” after all) I later realized that our decision was also made out of ignorance of the features DP already offered.
Little did we know at the time that we were already using the tool that could have given us all the flexibility we needed. I later read articles and interviews with established music directors that had used DP in all manner of live performances exclaiming its rock-solid stability and advanced features. Use of DP in this way didn’t surprise me, but I had figured they were using more “professional-level” features that had no use in my lowly club gigs. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.
It all hit me square across the forehead when I first read the interview with Mike McKnight (on motu.com) about his DP use for a Madonna tour, a rather large undertaking. Using the same MOTU PCI interfaces as I had at the time, he was running 250 tracks on DP on a PowerMac G4 at 466 MHz for 45 minutes straight. Well I only needed to run about 20 tracks and our laptop was more powerful than that PowerMac. My further research opened my eyes to the fact that even the pros were using the readily available USB and firewire interfaces that all of us use and the same DP set-up with the major differences being their power conditioning systems and that they run one or two redundant music stations in case of system failure. Despite my years of DP use and familiarity with terms like Chunks and Songs, I soon discovered all that DP offers to the gigging semi-pro musician. So let’s see what it’s all about.
Who Would Use DP Live?
Typically, it would be an existing DP user to start off. DP might be a little complex for someone just looking for a performance tool, but then again a really powerful one. Then it would obviously be a DP user that has a reason to play live either with a band, a DJ set, needing accompaniment, or some other artistic means such as video performance or major tour music supervisor. The next big consideration is what type of tracks you use in performance. Anything from large-scale projects to single track bounces would suit DP just fine (with the appropriate computing power of course), and if you already produce them in DP then there is good argument to just keep them in DP for live use. Lastly, consideration must be given to how you perform. Do you prefer to play to backing tracks that are the same every time, do you like to improvise, or is it somewhere in between.
So to help with figuring out whether DP is right for you I am dedicating two installments of DP Corner to cover the basics. In this installment I summarize the features in DP that are most useful for live use while the next installment will cover advice for the entire computer and gig rig set-up for use with DP.
To make things easy I’m going to assume that your use of DP is in shows that require all of the audio, VI, and triggering features, but not necessarily the extensive syncing capabilities often used in a major concert system. Typically those that need to deal with the variety of syncing methods, timecode specs, and related high-end hardware already know everything about everything. So for now let’s focus on users that will have to rely on controlling DP themselves on stage with a relatively simple set-up.
Chunks
For the majority of us, the number one feature that makes DP such a great live tool is Chunks. Odd name? Yes. Mega cool? Absolutely. For those that haven’t used Chunks, you are probably quite familiar with writing MIDI and recording audio in Sequences. Well a Chunk is just a simple method for grouping and triggering sections from your Sequences. A Chunk can be your entire sequence, one bar of your sequence, or any portion in between. But rather than playing a Chunk like a sequence, you play them from a play-list, the Chunks Window. Because DP allows for multiple sequences in a single project file, the Chunks in your list can come from any of those Sequences. Also, if you are used to using Songs in DP, which is simply a collection of Chunks, you can also control your Songs through the Chunks Window.
So what good are Chunks for playing live? First of all, you need to get used to how to create a new Chunk. You simply add a Chunk into the Chunk Window by adding a Sequence, Song, or V-Rack (subject for a future date) from the Chunk Window mini-menu. If you want the Chunk to be a specific section of the Sequence or Song you’ll need to manually set the start and end times. Before changing either you need to select the Chunk(s) that you want to alter. You change the start time in a mini-menu item but you can change the end time right there in the Chunk Window. If you can’t change the end time, just go to the mini-menu and click on “Auto/manual end time”. Though it won’t look like it did anything, clicking it toggles between auto and manual.
Right there in the Chunks Window is a column called “S#” which refers to your Song Select Number. Each S# must be a number from 0-127 and can be triggered from a MIDI message to play-enable each Chunk. So depending on the cueing option you choose, as described below, your list of songs can either play automatically or be triggered by just about anyone in the band.
Once you have the start and end time to your liking it’s as easy as going to the trusty Control Panel at the top of your screen to set up your cue options.
This is the “Cue Chunks” button. If this button is pressed, each time a Chunk stops the next Chunk in the play-list will be play-enabled but will not play. To trigger it you simply hit the spacebar or any MIDI command that you’ve set-up for that Chunk. This can be very handy if you want to give time between songs for applause, for your singer to talk to the audience, your guitarist to change guitars, if you’re going to play song that doesn’t use backing tracks, or any other reason you may need a pause.
This is the “Chain Chunks” button. The difference with this button is that when it’s pressed each Chunk in your play-list will automatically play after the prior Chunk ends. This is perfect if you want a very “tight” set that always flows right from one song into the next. One thing to note is that when auto-cueing Chunks like this there will be a slight gap between the Chunks. If you need Chunks to cue without gap then you will need to create a Song with the Chunks in the order that you want them. Speaking of Songs……
Songs
While we all know what a song is, DP considers Songs (with a capital S) to be a collection of Chunks. In fact, Songs have their own window. Whereas the cueing of Chunks in the Chunks Window creates a slight gap, the flow of Chunks in a Song is seamless. The power of Songs is that you can keep your Sequences exactly as written and create brand new arrangements just by mixing the Chunks around. So if you have a song that perhaps you like to play differently sometimes, be sure to create a lot of Chunks from the Sequence. Then create a new Song at any time just by moving the Chunks around in the Song Window. It doesn’t fully support improvisation because it requires some forethought, but it helps you keep your set interesting for you and your fans.
If you happen to have a band member that can dedicate time on stage to using DP you can work out a method for improvisation using Songs. This is possible because the creation and rearrangement of a Song can take place while the Song is playing. So if you’re in the middle of playing and the guitarist gives you that special signal to take his up-coming solo section long, you can drag the right Chunk from the Chunk Window into the Song Window and, ba-da-bing, you have just rearranged your performance on the fly. Of course the rest of the band will need to understand how to get into the next section but that’s for you to work out.
While Songs are made up of Chunks, you can actually insert an entire Song into the Chunks Window for cueing just like any other Chunk. The Song above, “Hunka Chunka”, you can also see in the Chunks Window example that I included in the Chunks section above.
My favorite part of working with Songs is that Chunks can be arranged both horizontally and vertically. Meaning, you can have your “standard” song arrangement running from left to right based on Chunks from one sequence for example. But then you also created a completely different version of that same song and have that in another Sequence. Well, one night you want to combine the two versions for a while. All you have to do is grab the Chunk(s) from the alternate version and place them where you want above or below the standard version in the Song Window. And you can stack to your heart’s content (or at least to your computer’s content).
Sample Scenario
Let’s look at an example of how to use all of this. Let’s say that your band has a total of 20 songs. At each gig you pick a different combo of 10. Using the above features you still have to decide whether you want to use bounced tracks, bounced stems, stereo mixes, OR, you can have a separate Sequence (with multiple audio tracks, MIDI tracks, a conductor track, and mixer) for each of the 20 songs. No matter the format you use for playback remember that you can have all your songs in just one project file. Of course, your choice may also depend on how many VIs and plug-in effects you are running in each Sequence as well as your computer resources.
So for this example let’s pretend that each of the 20 songs are in their own Sequence, and each Sequence has 15 audio tracks and one MIDI track where the MIDI is controlling one VI so that you can control its parameters every time you play the song. For 19 of the songs your band just plays to backing tracks. But one song, we’ll call it “Bolero”, you like to rearrange the song depending on the amount of time you have to play, the size of the audience you think you’ll have, and whether you use it in your set or as a closer. So for 19 songs you make a single Chunk out of each Sequence. You therefore have all 19 Chunks listed in your Chunks Window where the end time for each aligns with the end of each Sequence. But for Bolero, you not only have made Chunks for every section in the song, but you also have a much longer version, “Bolero Remix”, in another Sequence. While each of the full-song Chunks is placed in order in the Chunks Window, each of the Bolero Chunks are instead arranged into a Song in the Song Window.
You then have a couple choices on how to set-up for playing multiple versions of Bolero. You can either set-up Chunks for both Bolero versions and then revise your Song with any mix of those Chunks, or you can set-up two different Songs, one for the standard version and another for the Remix version. This way you can leave the standard version intact and whenever you want to create a new arrangement you just use the Remix version. You can even have both Songs in your Chunks Window play-list and, before each set, decide which one you want in your set. Arrange the Chunks in the order of your set, determine whether you want manual or auto cueing using the Control Panel buttons, and you’re set (pun intended).
Interface
While Chunks and Songs are vital to live performance, DP offers a few more conveniences such as a customizable interface. I’m going to make this one very simple. Forget about all of the windows that you’re used to using when writing, recording, mixing, and sound designing. You don’t need any of them. Use whatever windows you need to set-up your Sequences, Chunks, and Songs, but when it comes time to perform here is what your screen should like.
It ensures that when you have to look at the computer screen you are not distracted by anything else and can immediately focus on what you need to see. I would advise setting up customized Window Sets for this and your “normal” interface set-up(s), and then assign key commands to trigger each one for quick switching. Variations from this interface set-up could include the Song Window if you’ll be playing around with your Song structure, or maybe plug-ins that you are manipulating live. Even then, if reasonable, have your controllers already assigned to the plug-in parameters, don’t bother opening it, and just tweak away on your MIDI controller.
For one additional variation see below for a recommendation about using a visual click track.
Tempo Shmempo
Too often bands don’t consider using backing tracks or loops because they don’t want to be tied down to a pre-determined tempo. While Ableton Live and Sony Acid are the undisputed kings of fluid tempo control, DP does offer control that could sway cynical band mates.
Before getting into it I want to make one commentary. As long as my band has been using Live, and though it could easily do it, we’ve never once considered changing tempo on the fly during the performance of a song or even between songs. And we’re the type of band that should want that type of control over our show. However, after having performed a set we have adjusted a tempo to better suit the flow of the set for next time. DP doesn’t really support tempo improvisation while playing a Chunk so think about how you need to control tempo when considering DP’s features.
The first thing to note about DP tempos is that they can be controlled by the Conductor Track. Since every Chunk is simply playing a section of an associated Sequence the Chunks tempo is dictated by the Sequence because the Sequence has the Conductor Track. However, Songs also have their own Conductor Track thereby overriding the preset tempo of each Sequence and giving you another level of control over Chunks. Change the tempo in the Song or Sequence and the next time you trigger the Song or Chunks from the Sequence they will be at your new tempo. Yet another benefit of keeping everything in DP.
The key thing to note is that if your Sequences include audio, and you want that audio to adjust to your new tempo, you’ll need to set-up your “Automatic Soundbite Conversion” to convert the soundbite to Sequence tempo whenever the file tempo does not match the Sequence tempo (see Soundbites Window mini-menu or under Editing in the Preferences). If you do this I highly recommend that you listen through the entire song at the new tempo to make sure all of the audio lines up correctly and is of an acceptable quality.
You might consider DP’s Tap Tempo feature as an option, but I actually don’t consider that realistic because it would only work for real-time adjustment of MIDI, not audio. If you really have the need to adjust audio tempo on the fly, you could consider incorporating use of a soft-sampler that loads samples into RAM and can therefore adjust tempo very quickly. Samples could then be triggered via MIDI in DP and you could just figure out a slick method for quickly changing the tempo in both DP and the sampler.
Click Tracks
If you are using DP on stage and also have a drummer then it is very likely you will need to run a click track for him/her. If so, consider setting up a MIDI or audio track in each Sequence for the click track and assign it’s output to a different output of your audio interface to send to your drummer’s headphones (see the next installment for recommendations on setting up your rig for this). Just make one bar of click and then loop it far beyond the end of the sequence. This allows you to make changes to your arrangement while not affecting the click track. Also, as each new Chunk starts, the associated click track will take over making sure that your drummer always has the new tempo.
Work with your drummer in regards to the sound used for the click track. Consider making it a combination of sounds because you want to make sure that he/she will hear the click regardless of the noise in the club, on the stage, the stage monitor volume, the level of the music tracks in his/her headphones, and all other unpredictable disturbances. It shouldn’t be annoying but have a good attack, no resonance, no effects, and cover much of the frequency spectrum. In my band we use a finely tuned combination of a “dead” cowbell, a mellow tambourine, and a higher pitched bass drum.
Consider making the click on beat one of each measure different from the rest of the beats either by making it louder or by adding an additional sound. And lastly, work with your drummer to determine separately for each song whether the click track should be quarter notes, eighth notes, or some other preference.
One super-cool option is the use of a visual click track. Consider the following if the computer is set-up on stage in a way that your drummer or anyway else that could use a visual indication of tempo are able to see the screen, but not the audience. Using iMovie or your favorite movie software, create a blank movie with a dark, solid color background that is at least the length of your longest Sequence or Song. Import that movie into the Movie Window in DP. Go to your Preferences and under “Play and Record” select “Click”. Activate “Visual Punches” and “Always Click”. Right under “Visual Punches” select your preferred colors and sizes for your visual click. You can use the same blank movie file for every Chunk. Now when you trigger a Chunk or Song, it will provide you with a visual click that, if you make it big enough and select the right colors, can be seen whenever needed (like when the audio click is inaudible for some unforeseen reason). If you really want to go nuts you can even set up streamers (see Preferences, “Film Scoring Events”) where a streamer will appear in the Movie Window to give you a visual lead-in into a particular event in your Sequence as set-up using Markers in your Sequence.
This all might sound overboard but it’s vital when you consider the consequence of the drummer getting off from the backing tracks and not being able to get back on.
Stability
The last thing that DP offers is stability. While I am always reading on DP forums about instability issues, I also consider that people typically don’t create forum threads to discuss the great things about software, usually just the bad. But because the issue of software stability is such a big topic, I will cover it in depth in part two of Using DP Live.
Tips
Here are a few extra tips.
If you create a long list of Chunks and need to get around the list quickly, alphabetize the songs in the Chunks Window and then set-up special keystrokes using your Command Window to jump to the general vicinity of each song.
Don’t assign a MIDI message or key command to a Chunk that is too similar to an existing message or command. You’re in the middle of the show, it’s dark, and you accidentally hit a key command or note on your controller and trigger who knows what and believe me, that 12 seconds it takes you to figure out what you did and recover seems like an eternity when the crowd and your band mates are all watching and waiting.
In regards to assigning key bindings to each Chunk, there is a potentially handy yet dangerous shortcut. Open the Commands Window and go to the mini-menu. Unless you like to let machines control your destiny, deselect the "Add Chunk Selection Commands Automatically." Under the right conditions keeping it checked could yield some helpful results but most typically cause confusion and delay.
Decide early on whether you want each Chunk to only play when you hit the space bar or automatically when the prior Chunk has ended. Be sure to then use your chosen method in practice for a while and think about whether it helps or hinders the flow of your set.
If you manually trigger your Chunks to play, consider adding notes in the Chunk Window “Comment” column that give you information about where to put the Chunk in your set (if you change your set a lot), an indication of the cue that a band mate may say between songs for you to hit play, or any other helpful information.
Do your band mates ever get sick or maybe an attitude flare-up that prevents them from making a gig? Well, if you already have everyone’s parts recorded in DP, consider keeping them all in the Sequences and just disabling the tracks. Then, if someone can’t make it at the last minute, just enable their track(s) in each sequence and they will play when you cue the associated Chunks. Keeping it all in DP means the click of a couple buttons without having to re-bounce the audio, convert to another format, and then all of the hassle of setting it up in another music app. It’s just all right there ready to be worked at your whim.
Part Two
With unique features like a sweet play-list functionality, uber-flexible Song construction, visual click track, and as many sequences in your project as your computer can handle, DP is already a great choice, but there is even more to consider. First, be sure to check out the manual or your favorite tutorial guide to see everything else that Chunks and Songs have to offer. And then be sure to check out the next DP Corner installment where I will not only cover what to consider in choosing your live computer, MIDI controllers, audio/MIDI interfaces, and power conditioning for your gig rig, but also the great MIDI control that DP offers for nearly every feature, as well as optimizing OS X for live use. We’ll see ya then.
If you have a Digital Performer related question that you would like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback, please send it to timr@audioMIDI.com. I will do my best to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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