Performance & Live Set

Scene design: tracks as columns, states as rows

Decide the column roles first, then fill rows. For a dub/techno set a workable layout is 8–12 tracks: Kick, Drums (Drum Rack with layered chains), Sub, Chords/Reese, Texture, Vocal/Sample, Loops (Looper), TD-3 (External Instrument), Modular (External Audio Effect or audio in), Dummy FX, plus three returns. Each scene is a state of the whole set: "Track 2 intro", "Track 2 full", "Track 2 breakdown". Name scenes with the tempo and the key; Live 12 scenes carry a tempo and time-signature field and will change tempo when launched.

1. One row per section, one section per 16–32 bars of intended playing time; the row-to-row change should be big enough to notice (new drum pattern + one new element) but not everything at once.
2. Scene tempo: fill the tempo field only on the first scene of each track, so launching a mid-track scene after an unplanned detour does not snap the tempo.
3. Leave one empty scene between tracks as a "stop" row, with Stop buttons in all clip slots: launching it stops everything on the next bar. Keep one at the very top as the panic scene.
4. Colour by track: all scenes of one track in one colour; all clips of one role in one colour. Push shows both.
5. Use Capture and Insert Scene while jamming to write a new row from whatever is currently playing. This is how the set grows during rehearsal.

Clip launch modes and quantization

Global quantization (control bar) sets when launches happen. 1 Bar is the default for scene launches in techno; dub work wants 1/4 or 1/8 for fills and stabs; one-shots want None. Per-clip launch mode decides what a pad press is: Trigger (press = play from start), Gate (plays while held), Toggle (press to start, press to stop), Repeat (retriggers at the quantize value while held). Per-clip quantization overrides the global one.

Follow actions for variation and safety

Follow actions make a clip (or, since 11.1, a scene) do something after a set time: play the next clip, jump back, pick one at random. Two uses on stage: controlled variation (four hat clips cycling with Any at 60% / Play Again at 40%) and safety (a fill clip that automatically returns to the main loop with Previous after 1 bar so a mis-hit never leaves the fill running).

Looper as a live resampling instrument

Looper records from any track (its own input, a return, the main) with tempo-aware length and overdub. In a dub set it captures a delay tail or a modular phrase, loops it, and lets you halve-time it, reverse it or feed it back into the returns. Keep it on its own audio track with input from a group or from Resampling.

1. Looper on an audio track, Monitor In, Audio From the modular channel or Resampling to capture the whole mix.
2. Song Control None (the loop never starts/stops the transport); Tempo Control Follow song tempo; Quantization 1 Bar; Record length fixed at 2 or 4 bars so a late press still gives a bar-aligned loop.
3. Map the big transport button to a Push pad (Cmd/Ctrl+M to enter MIDI map mode): press = record, press = play, press = overdub. Map Speed (×2 / ÷2) and Reverse to two more pads.
4. Feedback under 100% (80–90%) for overdubs that decay like a tape loop; 100% to stack.
5. Drag the loop out of Looper into a clip slot (the "Drag me" area) to keep it as a clip for later in the set.

Dummy clips: automation you can launch

A dummy clip is an empty audio clip whose only content is device-parameter envelopes. Put it on an audio track whose devices process audio routed in from another track, and launching the clip launches the automation: a 4-bar filter sweep, an 8-bar delay-feedback rise, a one-bar stutter. It turns every arrangement-style automation into a Session-view pad.

1. Create an audio track "Dummy FX", Monitor In, Audio From the source track (Post FX). Set the source track's Audio To this track (or keep its own output and use the dummy track as a parallel path).
2. Put the devices on the dummy track: Auto Filter, Beat Repeat, Redux, Echo. Record a few seconds of silence to get a clip, or drag any short clip in and Clip Gain −inf.
3. In the clip's Envelopes box choose the device and parameter, draw the move. Loop length = the move's length. One clip per move; name them by the move ("filter down 4b", "stutter 1b").
4. A "neutral" dummy clip (all envelopes flat at default) is the reset: launch it and everything returns.
5. Launch mode Toggle, quantize 1 Bar, Legato on so moves chain seamlessly.

Racks with macros on Push: eight knobs per role

On Push, a selected track shows its rack's macros on the eight encoders. Design every performable track as one rack with eight macros ordered from most-used (left) to least. Use Macro Variations for stored states (intro / full / breakdown) and macro randomisation with limited ranges for variation on textures. The Performance rack page has the general template; here is the per-track version for a dub chord track.

1. Group the track's devices into one rack. Map the macros; set every macro's min/max range so the full knob travel is useful (no dead zones).
2. Sends can be mapped to macros only via a MIDI mapping or a Max device; the clean solution is to put Send A/B on Push's mixer page instead and keep the macro list for device parameters. The rack above assumes a mapped send for illustration; in practice use the Push Mix page for sends.
3. Store Macro Variations for each section. Launch a variation from Push with the variation buttons or map them to pads.
4. Use the same macro order on every track (Filter, Res, Delay, Verb, Drive, Low Kill, Hi Kill, Decay) so the hands know where things are without looking.

External Instrument, External Audio Effect and latency for the TD-3 and eurorack

External Instrument sends MIDI out and brings audio back inside one device, so the TD-3 behaves like a plug-in: MIDI clips sequence it, the audio returns on the same track and Hardware Latency compensates the round trip. External Audio Effect does the same for a eurorack effect path (send a track out to a filter or a modular delay, bring it back). CV Tools adds CV Clock Out, CV Triggers and CV Instrument for a DC-coupled interface.

1. TD-3: set it to MIDI clock sync and MIDI channel 1 (or whatever the device menu gives you). External Instrument: MIDI To the interface port and channel; Audio From the interface input the TD-3 is plugged into. Gain to taste, HW latency: measure once with a click (see latency technique) and enter the value.
2. For the TD-3's own sequencer instead of MIDI clips: skip External Instrument, use a plain audio track with Monitor In and send MIDI clock from Live (Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Sync out on the TD-3's port). The TD-3 starts on Live's transport start.
3. Modular voice: audio track, Monitor In, Audio From the module output. If the interface is DC-coupled (ES-8/ES-9 class), add CV Instrument on a MIDI track to send pitch and gate, and CV Clock Out on an audio track routed to a spare output for clock.
4. Modular as effect: External Audio Effect on any track, Audio To a spare output, Audio From the return input. Dry/Wet under 100% keeps a dry path; the device has a phase invert for cases where the module flips polarity.
5. Wrap every hardware track in an Audio Effect Rack with an EQ Eight high-pass (60–80 Hz) and a sidechain Compressor from the kick, exactly as for an internal bass. The TD-3 can produce more sub than the set's actual sub.

Latency and buffer. The buffer decides how late the hardware comes back and how safe the CPU is. 128 samples at 48 kHz is 2.7 ms per direction and comfortable on a modern laptop with a 10-track set; 256 is the safe default when the set has plug-ins or Hybrid Reverb on returns. Measure, do not guess.

Crossfader A/B and kill-EQ racks

Every track has an A/B/off assignment under the crossfader. Assign the current track's drums and bass to A and the next track's to B and the crossfader becomes a DJ transition. Combine with a kill-EQ rack on each track (EQ Three with its Low/Mid/High kill switches) for the classic dub and techno mixer moves: drop the lows of the outgoing track, bring the new lows in, then cross.

1. Put the kill-EQ rack last on every track (after the instrument rack). Save it as a default preset and drop it onto new tracks.
2. Crossfader: assign tracks per transition by clicking A or B in the mixer; the crossfader is in the main track's mixer section. Right-click the crossfader to pick a curve; a slow fade curve suits dub, a constant-power one suits techno.
3. Map the crossfader to Push's touch strip or a fader on a second controller. Map the Low Kill macros of the two tracks to pads.
4. Transition recipe at 1 Bar quantize: launch the new scene with new drums muted via Low Kill; cross to 50%; kill the old low; un-kill the new; cross fully; stop the old.

The performance FX return

Dub mixing lives on the returns: a delay and a reverb that are instruments, with their feedback, filter and send amounts under the hands. Return A is the dub delay (see Dub delay send rack), Return B the reverb, Return C a "destroyer" (Beat Repeat, Redux, Roar, filter) that any track can be sent to for a bar. Returns also send to each other: A into B for delays that bloom into reverb.

Redundancy, safety and backups: Limiter on the main, Utility mute, panic scene, fallback set

The main chain is not a mastering chain, it is insurance. Glue Compressor for a little cohesion, Utility as a one-button mute mapped to a hardware button (not a mouse click), Limiter at −1 dBTP ceiling to catch the one time the delay feedback goes past 100%. Nothing on the main should need adjusting during the show.

Set organisation and backups. The set that leaves the studio must be a self-contained project. Collect All and Save, then open it from a different folder on a different drive to prove it. Keep a frozen fallback and a stems fallback. Practise with the Push disconnected once.

1. Collect All and Save (File menu) the day before. Check the File Manager for missing files and for files outside the project.
2. Freeze CPU-heavy tracks that are not performed (textures, pads). Keep the unfrozen set as a separate version.
3. Export a stereo stem of every track's full-length audio into a "fallback" set: one audio track per song, scene launches only. If a plug-in fails on stage, this set plays.
4. Save the set as a template (Preferences → File/Folder, or File → Save Live Set as Template) once the routing and returns are stable; every new set starts from it.
5. Copy the project folder to a USB stick and to the Push 3 standalone (if used); open both once to verify.
6. Live writes automatic backups into the project's Backup folder; keep it but do not rely on it on stage.
7. Pre-show checklist: audio preferences loaded, buffer size, sync outputs enabled, MIDI mappings present (they live in the set), crossfader at the right side, Return C macros at neutral, Limiter on.

Dub mixing moves and transitions

A list of moves that read as music, each one reversible within a bar. They assume the returns and kill racks above; quantize 1/4 for the throws, 1 Bar for the transitions.

1. Snare throw. Send A on the drum track from −inf to 0 dB for one hit, back to −inf: one snare repeats in the delay. On Push: hold the send encoder, flick, release.
2. Chord throw with filter ride. Send A up for one bar, then ride Return A's LP macro down while the feedback rings out.
3. Delay feedback bloom. Return A FB macro to 95% for two bars with nothing new sent; the previous material grows. Bring FB down before the Limiter engages.
4. Low kill breakdown. Low Kill on the kick and sub for 4–8 bars; everything else keeps going; release both on a downbeat. This is the cheapest drop in the book.
5. Mute-stab. Utility Mute macro on the chord track hit in rhythm (Gate-mode dummy clip or a pad in Repeat mode).
6. Loop and leave. Looper grabs 4 bars of the current mix; stop every clip; the loop is now the only thing playing; bring the next track's elements in over it; stop the Looper.
7. Reverb freeze transition. Freeze Return B's Hybrid Reverb on a chord, kill the old track, launch the new scene under the frozen wash, unfreeze.
8. Half-time drop. Scene with the same drums in a half-time pattern plus a dummy clip pushing Return C's Redux downsample for one bar; back to the full scene on the next bar.

Sync: Link, MIDI clock and CV clock

Three clocks, from most to least stable: Ableton Link for another laptop, iPad or a Link-enabled hardware box; MIDI clock out for the TD-3 and any MIDI-synced pedal; CV Clock Out (CV Tools, DC-coupled interface) or a MIDI-to-CV module for the eurorack. Live is always the master on stage; let nothing clock Live.