TIP: How to set ableton live up for real time bouncing

  • Some of you probably already know this or use the resampling method but it's something I was stuck on, as I'm in the process of switching to live proper real time bounce would of been a deal breaker of whether I give up on live or not (there's resampling but it's not the same IMO). After hours of searching I finally found a workable solution and thought I'd share so no poor soul has to go through hours of internet searching just to find it.



    1. Basic setup


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i53.tinypic.com/nbzm2f.png]


    In this pic, you'll see I've added the virus to an instrument rack alongside an external instrument, the external instrument allows live to bounce in real time however for it to do that it needs a midi device selected and an audio input selected. As you can see I've selected the virus for a midi device but not assigned it to any midi channel so it's not actually sending midi data to the virus, also I chose my audio inputs but turned the input gain down to zero so you can't hear them.


    If you now go to export you will see you can render it in real time, you can also freeze the track then flatten.



    2. Other USB outs


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i53.tinypic.com/n35amq.png]


    Nothing tricky here, just add an external instrument to a new track and choose the virus inside the instrument rack and the part you want to trigger, followed by the USB out you want for that track.



    3. Analog outs


    This gets a little tricky because of the way the external instrument rack selects it's audio inputs. You need to add an instrument rack to a new track then add two external instruments to it. The first external instrument is triggering the part but has it's gain set to zero like so:


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i52.tinypic.com/90uka9.jpg]



    The next one is for the audio input and not triggering midi like so (you can add hardware compensation to this one if you need):


    [Blockierte Grafik: http://i51.tinypic.com/a2gn5f.png]



    Once you got all that setup you can save them as templates and go back to them at any time. If you need any more parts than outputs than add a new midi track and route it to the VC in the first track (you'll lose ability to freeze and flatten the first track),


    Have fun :thumbup:

  • I dont get it :S


    Is there a way to send the output of a track to an analogue output of the virus?


    I would like all my tracks to be send to output 1 and the master to output 2.


    Can we do it when we use the TI as an audio interface?


    Thank you!


  • Note this is not a basic setup on how to set the virus up in ableton in general but a "hacky" way to get real time bounce working for the virus control as ableton doesn't support real time bouncing of vst instruments, but does allow real time bouncing for it's own external instrument plugin. This method takes advantage of that, but you still need to be familiar with ableton as well as the virus to follow along.


    For basic setup I recommend reading the setup guides of both ableton and virus.

  • Fine,
    but still the question stand even after i have read the documentation.


    Simply put here the setup i want to achieve


    I want to send the audio of all my audio track(s) to analog output 1 of my virus to some analog gear
    send the audio back from analog gear to the analog input of the virus
    and send the audio of the virus track to the master track.
    And send the audio of the master to analog output 2 of my virus so it wont loop and feedback with my tracks.



    What i dont understand is why i only see one external output in my audio track in live?
    As the virus as 3 output, i would expect to see 3 output (ie. 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 ) in the routing of my audio tracks.


    I use the asio driver and except for that, everything is running fine.


    Is there something i am doing wrong or when we use the virus as an audio interface we can only use one output?


  • Some of your answers are here:


    http://virus.info/forum/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=2472


    Short answer is you can't with it as an interface, but if you use another then you can do all your routing inside the vc itself and use the static input to route it back into the plugin, or use your soundcards inputs.

  • Thanks Man you save me some time :D I was searching for it everywhere till stumble upon your post. Good job! :thumbup:

  • Sry i have a question: is it possible to freeze the virus track while others external tracks are sending midi to other virus parts (2, 3, 4 ...etc)? Because actually i am able to freeze only the part 1 in the main track (rack insturment ->virus+external instrument as in your picture), but if i add other external instrument track mapped to virus part 2 ableton says that is impossible to freeze the track! So is there a workaround for this?


    thanks in advance!

  • Freezing is not possible since track freezing is short for "rendering the track offline and using the rendered audio instead"... What you can do is either render the project with the mentioned virus track soloed, or send the track output so it is recorded by a new track (arm the new track and press record without playing anything yorself). Now you can mute the Virus track and use the audio you rendered instead.

  • I see that is possible to freeze only the main track with virus control and external instrument, but it doesn't work if you add midi or external instruments track connected (midi to) main track. Probably there isn't a workaround for this, as you ve said