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01Sep 2020 by Brett Pontecorvo

Gig Performer 3 Review

If you read no other part of this article, know that you must seriously consider Gig Performer as your live performance software alongside Ableton and Mainstage. It may or may not be right for you, but it would be foolish to overlook the possibility given its tremendous power and flexibility. Gig performer 3 is software designed specifically for live performance. It is not a fully functioning DAW and it comes with no built-in sounds. Despite this alarming and bold choice, this software is a serious contender on the list of the best software to use for Live Performance. You can book a private coaching to get up and running with Gig Performer, Ableton, or Mainstage here How Gig Performer Works Gig performer is set up to work in three different…

10Mar 2020 by Brett Pontecorvo

Build Your Own Shimmer Reverb

1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Presets and Sounds, Sound Design

Shimmer reverb has turned into such a buzz word. It shows up everywhere and produces an awesome effect. But what is it? Essentially shimmer reverb is a course pitch-shifting device paired with a reverb. The shimmer effect is achieved by creating a feedback loop between the two devices. In Ableton, this is most easily accomplished using sends and returns. Building Our Shimmer Reverb Start by creating two new send tracks. You can do this by right-clicking on the screen and choosing insert return track. Rename the first return track, "shimmer verb" and the second, "shimmer delay." You can rename any track by selecting it and pressing Command- R on your keyboard. You can also Right-mouse click and choose rename. Now we need to create our feedback loop. We are going…

23Jul 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Musical Theatre Sound Effects In Ableton

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Live Playback, Presets and Sounds

Musical theatre is close to my heart, and figuring out how to make Musical theatre sound effects happen has always been a welcomed challenge for me. Musical Theatre shows are a great working ground for Ableton live. They come packed with lots of different patch changes, and at times, keyboard parts come backed with Sudo-unplayable parts that require the assistance of software to pull off- and of course lots of musical theatre sound effects. When I first started programming keyboard for musicals, I used mainstage, which seems to be industry standard for this genre. Unfortunately, It always cracked under the pressure of extensive programming. This was one of the causes of me moving to Ableton. If you're going through the same thing, make sure you grab a copy of my…

09Jul 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Recipe For A Great Keyboardist

1Tips For Being The Best Keyboardist, Blog, Live Playback

While there is some room for opinion here, this is a question I have been reflecting upon for a while, and I think these thoughts will be helpful in becoming the best keyboardist you can be. Great Keyboardists Are Prepared Who doesn’t love it when someone you are working with shows up confident, ready to go, and well-rehearsed. No one. Be the person who "wows" people not with sheer talent, but with proper preparation. In a more concrete fashion, arrive at rehearsals and/or shows... Knowing every song thoroughly (memorized is always best, but no one can fault you for reading a chart if you need to, especially if it's not distracting)With proper patches of equal volume.With a live set up that works for you, so you can quickly make needed…

07May 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Most Common Types Of Patch Lists

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Live Playback, Midi

Because of Ableton's innate flexibility, there is more than one way to set up patch lists. Before we jump in, make sure you read through because I am including a starter patch list template in the body of this post that you can grab for free. After hours of research, I believe there are three effective types of patch lists. The Static Patch ListThe Automated Patch ListThe Dynamic Patch List Each of these methods has its own perks and pitfalls, so let's take a look at how each one works so you can pick the best one for you. The Static Patch List This type of patch list is similar to the likes of Sunday Keys for Ableton. The corner stone of this set up is using dummy clips to…

26Feb 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Sync Ableton With ANY Metronome

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Live Playback, Program Features

The Metronome has become an integral part of performing live. Not only for the tempo stability it provides but for effects that have become staples of current music Without playing in time to a metronome live it is impossible to create side chained pulsing synths, Arpeggiators become useless, and delays and auto pans become somewhat misplaced in the shifting time of your music. Now there are three reasons you might be having difficulty seeing Ableton in time with your band. You band isn’t using a metronome at all.Your band uses a metronome, and the metronome is being triggered by a device that CAN sync with Ableton, but you haven’t set them to communicate Your band uses a metronome that is stand alone and cannot communicate with Ableton. For the purpose of…

09Feb 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Prepping Multi Tracks For Use In Arrangement View

1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Program Features

In the years of running tracks, I have gone through many phases of what I thought was best. After much reflection, I realize much of what works best is situational. Session view and arrangement view each have their own advantages. Today, we are going to look at how to prep multi Tracks for use in Arrangement View. If you are more interested in session view, you can check out my post, Exporting stems to session view. Track Prep Overview These are the steps you will go through to get a track ready for playback. Since it is a somewhat involved process, I find it helpful to start with a birds eye view and then move into details. Create MIDI clip markers to temporarily replace locatorsCreate tempo track to lesson automation…

05Feb 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

How To Run Tracks Using Only The Novation Launch Control XL

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Live Playback

I have gone through every single controller in the books. Hands down, the most powerful, most customizable controller is the Novation Launch Control XL. I regularly use it to run tracks as well as control my keyboard sounds. Let me tell you, it simply does not get better then having all of the controls you need in ONE PLACE. Since I am such a huge fan of this controller, there will be a few links throughout this post to purchase it. If you do end up grabbing your own controller through one of my links, I will make a small commission, but it is at absolutely no extra cost to you. Also, I am happy to offer any support you might need in using it, since it is one of…

29Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

How To Quickly Transpose All The Patches In Your Live Set

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Live Playback, Midi

Having a global transpose feature can be helpful in a lot of cases. Mainstage makes this pretty intuitive on a per patch basis. Although it may not be immediately obvious in Ableton, it’s actually pretty straight forward How To Transpose EVERYTHING Ableton has great routing features, so rather than have your patches receive midi from your keyboard, we are going to first run midi from your keyboard through a midi channel strip that will allow us to alter the signal before it reaches your patches. Step 1 Create a midi channel strip by right- mouse-clicking. Rename it Midi Filter Step 2 Rename your new channel strip, "Midi Filter". You can do this by right mouse clicking on the track and choosing rename, or selecting the track and holding Command +…

26Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Simple Volunteer Keyboard Set Up

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, Blog, Featured, Live Playback, Midi

You're ready to make the move to Ableton, but your team is full of volunteers who maybe are not the most tech-savvy, and probably aren't going to spend a ton of time learning how to use Ableton. You need a SIMPLE SET UP. What do you do? Here's My Solution The Bare Necessities I just couldn't resist Let's start small right? Begin to get your volunteers on board with using a DAW as their live instrument to begin with. You probably won't sound like hillsong immediately, but we are taking some steps in the right direction Sounds There are a few things that show up over and over in every single Christian worship song, so lets start there. Piano You will need a good piano patch. If you are looking…

Category: Live Playback