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Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 19:29
by wavforms
Hey Everybody,

Having a fairly specific problem and wondering if anyone might have a workaround.

I'm running ablelton, which in turn is controlling arena on a second macbook via midi that my visual designer is using.

We're using midi to trigger a set of 8 videos on 8 layers via 8 midi notes. the problem is that while we're playing the sequence, my designer is unable to click on any different layers to edit effects, as they are switching layers after every note.

any idea on a work around so we can trigger the videos, but still have my designer able to freely move about the interface and manage effects?

Let me know if i need to be clearer at all, and thanks for any help!

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 22:47
by Arvol
Not an Ableton expert by any means, but I'll ask some basic questions that might help?

In Abelton, are your notes held? I fire all my stuff via midi (not clips) and i know if something is held, that can lead to less than desired results.

In Abelton, when you want to fire said clip via midi note, can you verify that the midi note is only played for about 1-3 sec?

in Resolume's preferences under the general tab can you verify that "Update clip panel on external triggers" is turned off?

Besides that, the only thing i can offer is to go see a Chance the Rapper show. They have a great setup that uses Abelton and Resolume.

Hope some of that helps? :)

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 22:53
by wavforms
dinga wrote:Not an Ableton expert by any means, but I'll ask some basic questions that might help?

In Abelton, are your notes held? I fire all my stuff via midi (not clips) and i know if something is held, that can lead to less than desired results.

In Abelton, when you want to fire said clip via midi note, can you verify that the midi note is only played for about 1-3 sec?

in Resolume's preferences under the general tab can you verify that "Update clip panel on external triggers" is turned off?

Besides that, the only thing i can offer is to go see a Chance the Rapper show. They have a great setup that uses Abelton and Resolume.

Hope some of that helps? :)
Thanks for getting back to me!

The notes aren't held as it's a fairly fast sequence (8 notes over the course of about 3-4 seconds)

I'm definetly going to give the "update clip panel..." a shot as soon as i get home because that just might do it. will report back as soon as I've tried.

Thanks so much!!! Will def check out the Chance show if the opportunity arises!

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 23:31
by Arvol
ahhh... gotcha.
So you're blowing through 8 clips within 2-3 sec. "Damn Daniel!"
the update clips will help.

Have you considered combining those clips into a single clip or do you have to have 8 changes within 3-4 sec?
Obviously I don't know the circumstances or content, but if i had to trigger that many clips for a single 2-3 sec look, I would just build that look in Premiere...

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2017 10:14
by 4eyes
We had the same setup for ZHU and had the same problem. The setting Dinga mentioned fixed it for us.

Cheers

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2017 18:11
by wavforms
Hey Guys,

First off, I'm a dick for not posting that it did indeed fix my issue! so thanks so much!

now onto a NEW problem.

I just updated to OS 10.12 and ableton 9 on the music computer.. aside from that nothing else has changed. Now, when i send midi to the resolume computer, we are getting serious lag. the program and video slow to a crawl. Has anyone else updated and experienced this?

I'm gonna try a few more experiments to check it out but i was wondering if any else has experienced this.

Thanks!

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 22:20
by Arvol
Sorry bud, I left OSX when they started taking off standardized connectors on all their products. Back to Win10 for me (and happy with the change)

Re: Ableton + Arena Issue

Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 22:24
by Zoltán
wavforms wrote:the program and video slow to a crawl
which program?
Resolume? on mac? be sure not to enable midi output to the same loopback midi device you are getting the ableton midi from.