Ableton Live DJs

hi all that looks a nice bit of kit

killer thing

just started out with music production and got a copy of ableton live 6.0.2, and i must say, it is a bit complicated. but then again what isnt for a newcomer. im finding out new things everyday and it is very useful to clean up and remix tracks for my dj friends. are there any other tools better out there to produce mashups/mixes.

[quote quote="stomper":1eg0sa0z]Im wondering about the DJ’ing with Ableton.
I never tried Abelton but far as i know u can make a production live or tweak a track but how does it work for DJ’ing if u dont want to tweak the track?
Is it something like the final scratch?[/quote:1eg0sa0z]Live is actually pretty amazing in that it automatically runs all your tracks at the same bpm and has a cross fader built in to it. I’ve DJ-ed with vinyl, Serato, and CD turntables for five years now and there is definitely a learning curve to beat matching with a new medium. This can definitely get in the way of a DJ’s creativity since so much energy has to be devoted to beat matching. Live eliminates that and allows you to focus on programming and arraging your mixes, not actually mixing them. Some may argue that is destructive to the art of live mixing but that’s a whole other discussion. Good luck, have fun!

[quote quote="kloppsta":pw52ok7a]Great topic!!!!
I am a DJ looking to trade in my CDJ’s for an Ableton rig and get into some real "live" elements and production in my shows. Can anyone give me some info on what "spec" laptop i should be looking at buying? I only have a desktop at the moment, and ill be using a PreSonus Firebox as the firewire audio interface.
I want this machine to be able to be my "one stop shop" for all my recording, production, mixing and live DJ’ing needs….at least until i can afford multiple machines for each purpose. It needs to be reliable as HELL because i will not have any CDJ’s to fall back on at my gigs. That may be stupid….but hey….if "Ableton and a PC" is the way of the future….then it needs to stand up to CDJ’s and turntables in terms of reliability right?!
Here’s the catch. I am on a budget so i cant simply go out and buy the BEST of the BEST….so if you could recommend a "minimum" and an "ideal" spec list i could try and build or find a "happy medium" between the two that suits my budget!
Thanks all!![/quote:pw52ok7a]If you want to be sure to not crash during a live gig, get a Mac. Even the little MacBooks should do the trick.

i’ve got a gig today that i actually *have* to use ableton for. the event is genuinely cool – but the promoter doesn’t think house is sophisticated enough… so i’m breakin out the G4 and getting a little kooky.

apparently, house music coming out of a computer is more intellectually palatable. that’s irony for you right there.

i figure if i’m gonna use my computer, i should really try to do things that i couldn’t do with regular decks .

the problem i have when i use ableton is that i get TOO thick in the mix. i’m fidgity enough as it is. i’ve found thay paying as much attention as i do to beatmatching actually helps my sets maintain a certain flow that seems to work better on the dancefloor. should be alright today tho – as i’ll be playing for the chin scratchers.

restrictions are an important part of creativity. i play CDs too and am constantly frustrated by the the lack of record sleeves. the visual component makes it easier to improvise effectively. with ableton – it’s pretty damned hard not to prepackage everything upfront.

and that is for sucks.

is ableton really worth gettin cause i was thinkin of gettin it , oh and is it really much easier to do mash ups with it ????????

I’m an Ableton user as well. And CDJ. And Traktor DJ Studio.

Even though this is my first, what’s annoying is reading all these people asking for help in using a program. Last time I checked, this was an Acapella forum, not an Ableton or Traktor or Serato how-to forum.

Peace.