Pro-tip: when printing or routing a return effect to an audio track in Ableton, you need to right click on the destination audio track and select "disable sends" in order for Live to correctly compensate for latency.
OMG thank you so much! I've been trying to fix the pedal latency for 3 days, since the Hardware Latency parameter didn't seem to affect my recordings. This was the solution to it!
Hey @lukeelderkin ! Thanks for the tips. I can't find "disable sends" when I right click on the audio track in Live 12. The option doesn't exist anymore ? Thx a lot !
i've probably said it before, but you REALLY should stream yourself making house live or upload one of your old sets, vibes for days and i think i'm not alone in saying that. also getting close to 100k! congrats!
I have to say, I love how much thought you put into lighting, camera angles and video editing. You expect a good acoustics, nice mic, lots of know-how from a professional like you. But this adds extra level of professionalism and most importantly - trust. Hats off to you for that 🙏
Thanks for being you. Always a nice place to hang out. This channel sets a good tone to bring to any project. No stress just curious and easy going. Positive. This always helps me, whatever I'm working on.
Ricky, the last few videos you've done on Abelton have been killing it man! I've looked at probably close to fifty videos regarding latency in Ableton alone (like you, I have a mostly hardware-based studio) and they didn't explain it well or show it well at all. Then you come back with this and showing how you can use audio routing to your advantage via external FX. These are invaluable tutorials.
Jay, thank you so much for the kind words! I'm happy that you found this vid helpful. Thanks for being a subscriber as well, best of luck with the studio!
Always a joy to watch, listen and learn from you, Ricky! I was working exclusively ‘in the box’ for 5 years, since my gf moved in and objected to the “Millennium Falcon flight deck” in the living room. Reduced to a 1210, S4, Push1 and my laptop, since October I’ve been incorporating hardware again and these videos on working with Ableton and externals have REALLY helped! Thank you. Good health, harmony and success for ‘21, man!
Congrats with 100k on RU-vid, man! Such an amazing channel! You inspired me a lot this year to make music and I even started my own RU-vid 😊 And I’d like to genuinely say “Thank you, Ricky”! Happy New Year!
Hate to post one of those 'so I was just thinking about this and then your video showed up' comments but I was just thinking about this and then your video showed up. And it's great to see your workflow as always.
I recently upgraded from an OS X 10.8 laptop to a new Mac Mini with macOS 10.15. One of the benefits was finally being able to use the computer interfaces included with various pieces of gear I bought in the past that didn't support OS X 10.8. I have Roland AIRA EFX boxes, and have been having a great time printing "FX performances" to tracks in Ableton, so that I can mix a variety of FX sounds with the original audio (including external instrument tracks). It's awesome! The other night, I ran an 0-Coast through a Boomstar SEM filter into Live, sent that out to the AIRA Bitrazer for sample-rate reduction and recorded that (separate from the original audio, like your "2nd way"), then sent the SRR sound back out through the Bitrazer to add a little bitcrusher noise and SRR high-end sheen with that nice Bitrazer filter in high-pass mode. Officially "superfun"! Thanks for posting, I really appreciate your whatyado.
I have a Scarlett 6i6 and I’m pretty sure this is a technique I’ve used with that, quite a few times. I definitely remember the gain staging and phasing being a huge consideration. I was throwing bass plug-ins through guitar overdrives and using my line 6 dl4 pedal
If you don't have external gear, you can do this with a plug in. Just record the output to audio and use any kind of controller you have. It works well with a multifx processor plug-in. Put your producer hat on, then create a bunch of sample fodder.
You can also use something like the Radial EXTC-SA to fix the impedance and level mismatch using the pedals with the line output of the audio interface. Not sure if it’s worth the $$$ to do so, but it should help avoid any clipping and/or fidelity issues.
if you use the hardware latency box set to samples and really dial it in (match levels, flip phase, find null) you get control over wet/dry delay compensation is one of the most misunderstood concepts in ableton live
Nice 1 fella - can't believe I've not noticed it before because it's freakin huge, but that LG monitor looks awesome and an absolute no-brainer for anyone working with a DAW. I want one.
I've been trying to find an efficient workflow with all of my external gear and THIS IS the golden ticket guys. Cheers Ricky, thanks for the top-notch content.
Some interesting and useful stuff here. I've had some success with re-sampling / re-amping instruments and effects using this technique. IME time-based effects like delays and reverbs work best at line level straight from the interface, as these types of pedals are generally designed to sit in a guitar amps' FX loop. Other effects like distortions/flangers/octavers etc that are designed to sit on a pedalboard and connect to a guitar directly really *really* don't like a hot signal and clip extremely easily. One way around this is to use a dedicated "re-amping" box like the Radial ProRMP or the Palmer D'accapio. These have the added advantage of ground lift (important in getting rid of ground loops etc) and level/impedance control over the output to the effects. Definitely worth it if you wanna take the feed into an actual amp/speaker combo and mic it up for more colour. Lots of scope for experimentation!
Nice Vibe! I really enjoy your relaxed ways. Keep up the good work! Actually all this external effects/latency/dry/wet/phasing madness has been my rabbit hole over the last couple of weeks and i would love to help you all to get to the bottom if it! TLDR: For Live 10, couldn't test 11 yet: If your feel that latency gives you troubles, External Effect Plugin is not really suited for the way it is used here. Use the main routing section directly on the track or on an send channel for the external output. The monitor switch on the recording channel has to be OFF! Use separate channel(s) with the input switch to IN for monitoring. The long Version: Disclaimer: I'm still on ableton 10, so i dont know if they changed stuff around with 11. What i found is, that the external effect plugin is not really suited for this use. For time based FX (Echo,Reverb,Chorus, etc.) that get recorded 100% wet its actually not that critial. But as soon as you record some dry signal or non time based effects (Wah, Distortion, etc.) it gets real phasey. The external effect plugin is meant for a render or real-time freeze operation. Recording the input on another channel really messes things up because of the automatic delay compensation. The way it works for me is to route the track directly to the external out, or via an send that is routed to the external out. The monitor switch on the channel where you record the input has to be OFF because of the way ableton hides delay compensation options inside of this switch! Use separate channel(s) with the input switch to IN for monitoring. That is actually what the guitar guy, Ricky mentioned in another video was all about. --> ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PT5mD2Zd7F8.html&ab_channel=SeedtoStage I actually do it a bit differently and use my external mixing desk for monitoring and as a kind of patch bay (some insert jacks wired as direct outs to my soundcard Input, aux sends to my soundcard input or to a reamp box for guitar pedals / amps, and DI Boxes for instruments and guitar pedal returns). Find out for yourself: Live actually comes with a handy live-set already set up with all you need and its called driver error compensation. You can find it in the help section. It comes with some explanations also. To really get rid of phasing you actually have to do the driver error compensation. You basically just patch an output straight to an input and record a simple waveform (like a tom sample) and then you compare the waveforms on the timeline and measure the latency. Sample volume can be really helpful for comparing. And you need to zoom in to see the indivual sample points to get it really dialled in. In the Driver Error Compensation Box click on ms to switch to smp. Its much more accurate. Rinse and repeat till it lines up as good as possible. After you did driver error compensation you just go through all the various ways you can patch these things up in Live (like done in this video) and also try out the In-Auto-Off Switch to see what really happens. And man, be prepared, because its really all over the place! Its gets shifted around couple of milliseconds depending on the route you take. Automatic delay compensation gets real complicated real quick. If you dare, find out more about plugins that add delay, recording live instruments and what the option "reduced latency when monitoring" does. Its a really deep rabbit hole! I've been down there. Let me know if you want to know more.
The External Audio device has a built-in latency compensation control. Just track something though it, measure the latency in ms and specify the difference in the device.
Love these vids on how you're using the external effects etc, the one you did the other day with the MIDI clock latency was a game changer for me and I really want to thank you for that! What patch is that on the JV that you are using? I've been considering getting some of the expansion cards for ages but they cost a fortune. Thank you again for all the knowledge, keep up the great work!
Literally the same week I started using external audio effect! Think I need a reamp box though as I'm using guitar pedals and the output from the interface is line level but pedal expecting instrument level.
Probably a good idea. Guitar pedals can be a bit finnicky about levels. I've used a Palmer D'accapo with some success. The reamp box will need a dedicated *balanced* line out of the interface to be useful. I've thrown all kinds of stuff through a reamp box - great for instrument effects but no reason why you can't use it on other stuff like drum sends or even in a vocal chain (tip: use a gritty guitar or bass amp combo and mic up the speaker with mic's at different distances for some interesting/natural reverb)
@@BottleBass1977 yeah all of the interface outputs are balanced but I have a spare boss looper and from what I can tell I can use that as a buffer instead of a dedicated box but will have to experiment.
thx! started to build a eurorack FX (analog + digtal FX) rack after realising that external FX add s.th that I missed, I'd say it's happy accidents and a more organic sound, esp. with analog FX.
@@MrRudePolite if I’m not experiencing the Mandela Effect - he zoomed the display in preferences. 15 years and a few monitors since - total geezer here.
100k.. Congrats! :) Always a pleasure watching your videos! :) If you want the old view ( with audio effects and instruments list ) click on audio effects or instruments and then in the list right click -> group in folder But you need the latest beta for that
Yo, dope ass video as always. I don’t know Ableton, but you should be able to setup Delay Compensation like any other DAW. Look up hardware inserts or manual offsets, but to send a track out of your interface, process, then back into your interface, and re-sync the two, that’s been a solved problem for years. Automatic delay compensation does it now, but setting it up manually back in the day and onto a new track, that should work in Ableton. Then you Absolutely can mix the Wet/Dry without the phase cancellation mess.
The day I found External Audio Effect I felt so stupid, because I was needlessly using some overly complicated routing through TotalMix to achieve the same thing. Well not the same thing. You can put EAE anywhere in your fx chain in a sec, and that's very cool.
Dude, congrats to 100.000 subscribers! All the music tech knowledge is nice and stuff but you kicking it is more than enough. Really appreciate vibing to you vibing to synths and gear.
I bought the zen delay after your video about it, to use in ableton, and kinda generally figured out this approach, but this simplified it in my head a lot and now I’m super inspired to groove with this thing some more. Can you demonstrate how you’d use the zen delay with a Machine if you have one? Thanks bud
Hi, i have the 18i20 mk3 too, and i’m really struggling with routing Focusrite Control. I have a Sherman Filterbank 2 which i want to use in Ableton, but i just cant get it working properly in Ableton.
Hi @Ricky! I use the same Clarette 8 Pre. What settings do you use in Focusrite Control, and what specific output you use on the back? Please help, I only get my main out sent to the microcosm.
Hey Ricky, for some reason I cant get the external effects plugin to work. Im sending my signal from ableton out via the Reamp function of my Arturia Audiofuse. Then I run a TS cable (could this be an issue) to my external chorus and then back into Input 1 on my audiofuse. When i play the audio from ableton through the plugin I never get any audio meter for the return track, only the send. Any tips or insight would be very helpful (Ive been on multiple forums and this seems to be a common problem) Many thanks in advance and carry on with the great Videos you provide us with regularly :)
hey buddy nice video , quick question , i need to route the send returns to my mixer , i have 6 fader channels and 2 return channels and all 6 fader channels have aux 1 and aux 2 , do i have to use external audio effets what u explained here to activate my mixer send returns ? my midi is xone 2 , two pieces . and push 2 for abelton , and traktor for djing .
Hi Ricky,i have an issue with the Zen Delay as an external effect rack.i use stereo cable and my in and outs are also stereo but my signal back is not stereo,when i close the external device in ableton the file is stereo,when i put it back on it’s not stereo - mono.🤷🏻♂️ i cant figure it out.
hi ricky does this work on the Scarlett 2i2 :) i have an external effects processing hardware i'd like to use on my tracks on ableton but i can't seem to get it working without very crazy feedback. sorry i'm a noob
nah, should work properly. if you weren't hearing anything at all it could be some focusrite control setting for the output you had. make sure they're set approriatly (line out 3/4 -> DAW 3/4)
My dude i feel like im missing which video where you explain how you monitor synced hardware in ableton. Im trying that setup with an ERM and i get more latency if the track monitoring is In as opposed to off. For now i monitor through my mixer since i cant figure this out. Not sure if you spoke on this or not in a vid?
What's up Landon, this is probably my most recent video on latency which you can find here. -ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t5o2BIsig7k.html I almost always have my monitoring set to IN/Auto rarely off. With that, i tune my midi latency using the ERM to land perfectly when i'm recording IN/AUTO (they have the same latency) OFF will always be less latency no matter what, you just can't hear the audio (duh haha) So you can try having to audio tracks. one off and one in so when you're ready to record you record into the off one to avoid latency. but that's not why you buy an ERM! you buy it to solve problems right?! haha.
Perhaps you are the right guy for this question I have been asking myself for years now. Within house music(don't know what the sub-genre is called) it is common to take one minor 7th chord shape and move it higher or lower. It bugs me out because it will eventually go out of key without modulating- The key center stays the same. In this song the first two chords can be found in the same key and sound cool to me, but the higher third one feels so wrong to me no matter what. I can't get accustomed to that flavour. How does it feel for you? Is it fine? is it something that you do on purpose because you like it or does it spring from working with a sample of that chord that renders you unable to change the chord quality? It is OT but please answer me, or better yet make a video about it.
