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Re: making the switch from Repeater to Ableton Live



Hey Zoe,
 
I hear what you mean about being afraid of Repeater crashes.  I had a slew of crashes when I first owned it, but I didn't have a single one on my long tour last summer...........I think Mark Sottilaro might be on to something.
 
Not to dissuade you from switching to Ableton's live but you should know
(and I am really loving using Ableton's) that there is no 1st loop capability
in that machine yet, which means that you cannot just improvize a loop a
start overdubbing on it.  
 
You have to have a predetermined and prerecorded loop with which to overdub in real time.   If you check the archives, I posted a psuedo fix for that problem sent to me by Ableton's guy in the U.S.,  Dave Hill, Junior which involves using headphones and two different bus outs.  I haven't tried it out yet because I'm not doing live shows until the late summer again but it makes perfect sense.
 
Also, Andrew Chaikan (aka Kid Beyond), the amazing beatboxing/singer
uses a setup where he uses a prerecorded faux hi hat (beat box sound).
Since he is doing acapella this works well.  He also has really dialed in his Behringer FCB 1010 midi footpedals so that he does all of his overdubbing and
mute/unmute moves with his feet.  He never touched his laptop the whole show.......pretty damned impressive!
 
But you should be appraised:    you will frequently encounter brown voltages live
and there is no doubt about it...............computers crash occasionally (and with probably as great of regularity as a well working Repeater.   Be careful
to have some kind of alternate routing system so that your whole sound doesn't stop mid-stream in concert.
 
Also,  lastly,   I've jury rigged a velcro system so that my Repeater is ALWAYS plugged in and strain reliefed.  
 
The Repeater power supply is possibly the worst concieved power supply in the universe.............I hate it!     I haven't looked into it, but I imagine that you could have someone rewire it for you.
Your problems, though, I will bet money are something you are doing incorrectly
(as Mark says),  so you might try it.
 
Another idea might be to do a hybrid system with Ableton's and a Repeater.
 
This is what I plan to do with and EDP and a Repeater in my next live incarnations.
 
And if this doesn't work for you,   you can always get that juicy $1,000-$1,400
per Repeater that people are paying on Ebay.
 
best of luck,   Rick
 
ps   I use the M Audio Firewire 410 with a G4 12" laptop running OSX.   It seems to work fine and is has really extensive rerouting capabilities (extra headphone outs, et. al.)