Need Help In Achieveing A Specific Cueing Method.

ZooBooBooZoo

New member
Hi all.

My Setup:
Traktor -> Ableton.
Windows 7 64bit
Edirol PCR-300

My Goal:
To be Able to play tracks in Traktor and add my own loops/synth playing on top of them.
I already routed and tempo synced Traktor to Ableton and basically everything works just fine.

What I'm Missing:
I want to be able to CUE my tracks in Ableton Post Fader.
Why? for example, If I play a track in Traktor and I want to add a Synth Bass played live by me on top of it,
I want to be able to check that the level is appropriate for the track that's coming from Traktor,
I don't want the synth volume to be too low or too loud.
Is there any way to accomplish this in Ableton?

A workaround I came up with, but have a problem with:
Let's say I have Send A output set to master(1/2).
I can set all tracks' outputs to BusMonitor(3/4).
Now I hear all tracks exactly as they are set, on my phones which are connected to(3/4) - fx, vol faders etc.
I then set Send A to be naked of FX(Since it has reverb on by default) and go straight to the Master.
Now I can turn Send A on each track to 100% when I want it to go to the master->speakers(connected to 1/2).
This works just fine Except:
What if I want to have some overall FX on the Master? like a slight compressor to "glue" my loops and synth playing to the track coming from traktor?
The FX would only apply to the Master Channel, and I won't be able to listen to all my tracks including the Overall FX through my phones.
Can I set some send/return FX track for both the BusMonitor and Send A/Master ? (Not entirely sure how that would work).

Thx for the help,
ZBBZ.
 
Indeed, for playing tracks with traktor and adding my playing on top.
You have any idea How can I pull it off?

Can I send both tracks to a Send/Return track that will have the FX on it?
That both the BusMonitor and Send A would be routed to for FX and than came back to each respective track with the FX apllied?
It seems like a trivial function but I don't know how and if I can do it.
 
I meant playing live, like on stage. Ableton has a lot of its design for that reason. Otherwise, there is no need to have a cue out.

Those tracks you can do in many ways. Technically, every track in Ableton can be a return track. I think the whole return is a carry over of when it really was a return/send bus. You can send your audio to other tracks that use the same effect, then route that to a return, you can send a return to a return.

Might be easier to bring your inputs from Traktor to a track that you want to use the same effects, then route all of them to a return.

I'm still not clear of your objective. I monitor just the mains as I do not use it to play in stage, so I don't have a need for a cue mix.
 
I want to be able to CUE tracks Post Fader Like the Return tracks have Post Fader / Pre Fader option,
So I can hear how the track(for example a soft synth played live by me) sounds with the rest of tracks in the set with the volume fader APPLIED to what I hear in the CUE/Phones so that I can know if a track is too loud before I route it to the master.

The problem with my workaround, specifically, is that I have two seperate buses for the master and the monitor(cue).
It results in being unable to have the same chain of FX applied to both buses. when using the actual cue feature in ableton the cue is being effected by the same FX chain as the master itself - that's what I want to happen in my workaround setup.
I don't really know how to work with send/returns in ableton so if you could give me more detailed instructions it would be great.
I'll simplify what I need for the workaround to work:
Let's say I have Track 1 routed to output 1/2, and Track 2 routed to output 3/4 and I want both to be affected by the same FX chain individually - how can I do that?

Thx for bearing with me!
 
Well, I will be honest, many times when I am recording, other than making sure the source doesn't clip, I always make the track louder so I can hear it and adjust it later as a part of the mix down.

So, if it is just recording, it doesn't matter how loud it is when you are recording it, you are just tracking. Later you will come back and make final levels for your mix. So, rule of thumb the sequence, track, mix, final. Not a hard rule, but when you are tracking, don't concern yourself too much with the levels other than making sure analog signals do not clip. If it is MIDI, don't worry at all as you can go back and edit.

Get the tracking levels where you require them for tracking. When I am doing vocals for example, I track it louder or guitar or bass so I can hear better what I track. I reduce the level later on when I am mixing everything.

I hope this helps.
 
Is there something keeping you from running through it to get your levels set and then when you're ready to record your levels are already there? Is it like you can only do this once?

I think your problem may be more around recording technique than Ableton. Use Ableton to monitor your inputs, run through without recording and get your level set. Once you have them set, go back, hit record.
 
I don't want to record anything.
I'll try and explain one more time.
I'm in a Live show. I play a track in traktor and I want to add a synth on top of it played live by me.
before I start playing I wanna listen to the synth in my headphones only and check the synth sound and VOLUME as it is according to the fader.
I can't do this with the regular cue feature since the fader doesn't affect the volume of the track coming to the CUE output.

Got it?

BTW - I didn't meant to be hostile or anything, I appreciate your patience mate.
 
We will have to see if there are others here that use Ableton and can assist. I don't seem to be able to understand your approach.

If you are using this live as in on stage, you should have your settings already. You would just simply have a track for that song, ready to turn it on when required. You an create as many tracks as you like in Ableton, it would be a matter of pre-show prep. Labeled, color coded, etc. So when that song comes up and that part, you switch to that track with everything preset, arm the monitor and go. A controller may be if use in that case. I think there is a bit more prep required than you probably are wanting to do.

My apologies I couldn't be of more assistance.
 
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