BOOMATRON 5000

Between Ableton Live & a menagerie of controllers there is a custom- built scripted interface allowing hands-on realtime performance control of mixing , looping & dub style fx

(A video is planned at some stage, in the meantime info will be added here as the base material).

XTouch Compact , Launchpads & Footswitch

hardware controllers are integrated with a display screen ,

allowing hands on control of Ableton Live without needing it visible ,

updating to show all the current parameters & navigation options .

8 Instrument Tracks Page

8 Drums Submix Page 

8 Returns Track Page 

8 ClipSlots for Live Looping .

4 Fx Chains per Return Track , each with 16 Snapshots Save & Recall .

Parameter control & feedback  of 1 FX Chain (XTouch Compact) ,

+ simultaneous Snapshot switching of 1 other Fx Chain , 

& simultaneous switching of 6 other Chains (Launchpad) .

The Trilogy

Three additional apps interface with Ableton Live to make it all function as one :

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MIDIFIRE

MidiFire transforms , filters & re-directs MIDI in & out of X Touch Compact controller allowing toggle buttons to momenary , feedback control & virtual midiports

TOUCH OSC

TouchOsc template displays ….

CLYPHX PRO

The brains of the operation , the script ..

PHASE 2 –

Redundancy & Transitions

Have been working on Phase 2 of the system , which hopefully offers 2 functions for the price of one -with no extra gear needed.
I want to have a backup system , known as redundancy, running in sync with the main project so if either Ableton Live or the whole macmini crashes I can switch over to independent backup system to continue playing the song.

Building in Loopy Pro on an Ipad I have mirrored the Scenes structure of Live session View for each of my projects so when I change scenes in Live ,
Loopy Pro is also changing scenes in the background, so hopefully it is always in the right part of the song to takeover playing audio if a crash happens

Serendipitously, this also allows quick(er) & smooth(er) transitions between songs – as I can switch to Loopy Pro for playing the Outro of the current song
& thanks to Streamdeck , Keyboard Maestro & Clyphx Pro automations ,
one press of a button closes the current Live project & loads the next song , with all pre-play shenanigans effectuated & so ready to start next song with
Live as I dub out the current ending in Loopy, which can load its next song instantly to be back in sync , back to redundancy duties again .

The magic of the simplicity on the audio side is thanks to the BabyFace interface – & the discovery that as long as it is fed a 5V feed to its USB socket
independently -i.e NOT ! from the macmini data cable – it will switch to standalone mode & continue to output audio even if macmini crashes –
even remembering the last ADAT send settings from TotalMix which allows
the bass to be routed into Loopy & Loopy’s main mix to still be passed to BabyFace main outputs . Thanks to RME Audio I have a redundancy system
using gear I already owned, the only modification being how I plug in the USB Y splitter cable .

It also means I have a second , even more portable system , as i could go play my songs with an ipad & my bass .

PHASE 3 –
Creative Uses

So far I have built a performance system to play & effect already written songs,
I have yet to map my controllers to sequencers for realtime impro & creation ,
& I look forward to such interaction & composition soon.