Latch/Hold feature??

[laura woodswalker]

I am getting my performance rig together. I discovered how to play 2 or more controllers independently with Ableton. Wayyy cool. Now the only thing I really can't do is "hold" or "latch" any of the parts. For instance if one of my controllers is set to play a cool arpeggio or a nice spacey patch. As long as I only have 2 hands, I can only play as many parts as I can hold with my fingers.

My Alesis Micron used to have a "latch" button, and my Microsampler has a "hold" button, but that is just a sampler. I really miss this function and I'd like to know if there is any kind of controller, perhaps a foot pedal, that would have this function.

Don't tell me to use the sustain pedal, because that is not the same at all. Plus it has an annoying tendency to create an endless loop that takes over the Universe.

Laura

[Antimon]

I gather you mean the instruments you load into Live? There are a couple of midi effects you could try:

There is a Note Length module that you can set to max 60 seconds (120 seconds I think if you set gate to 200%). If you map a controller to the on/off switch on this module that could work as a homebrew latch feature, as long as you don't want to hold the notes longer than 2 minutes...

Second, there is an arpeggiator with a hold button, so it keeps playing the arpeggio after you let go of the keyboard. Perhaps you're already using this (you said you were playing arpeggios). Even if you don't want to use this for your arpeggio, you could use it with a full gate (though that may cause noticeable retriggers) or combine it with the note length above to have a sustained note. Again, you can map a controller to the hold button or on/off switch.

The third thing to try is to simply record what you playing into a midi clip and start playing that, or record it into a looper or audio clip if you don't want to change the timbre after you've played it.

[laura woodswalker]

Actually I was thinking about something external, like a foot pedal... but those are some good ideas, and I recall Ableton does have a module called a "looper'.

guess it's time to experiment!

Laura