Push Figure A4.1 Push. Push is a hardware controller designed by Ableton and Akai to drive Live s Session View. Simply connect the Push unit using the provided USB cable to your computer and off you go. No need for setting up Live s MIDI preferences; this is all handled automatically. Like the APC, Push minimizes the need for using a mouse or computer keyboard to create, produce, and perform with the Session View. In many ways, you don t even need to see Live on your computer screen. This means that you can access all of Live s mixer parameters, the Session Grid (clips and Scenes), the Browser, Devices, Device parameters, and Transport controls using Push. It is a creative and efficient hardware device that can access track parameters, mixer details, devices, transport controls, clips, Scenes, tempos, as well as MIDI input, record features, and many useful editing commands, to name a few. That being said, Push is more than a controller for launching clips, Scenes, and navigating the Session View; it s a musical instrument for playing and performing leads, pads, 39
Appendix 4 synths, keys, drums, and more. Simply put, it s a unique alternative to a traditional MIDI keyboard controller. Push incorporates pretty much everything you will need to create, produce, and perform with the Session View. The best way to familiarize yourself with all of these features is to just start exploring, but here are a few of the key design features to help you get started. Layout The Push interface is centered around 64 velocity-sensitive multi-color backlit pads. At any one given time, these pads can represent the Session Grid, MIDI notes, Drum Rack Pads, clip loop lengths, or a step sequencer. This all depends upon the mode you are working in: Session Mode or Note Mode. Choose a mode by pressing the Note or Session button on the right side of the Push interface identified by their illuminated white name label. At the very top of the 64 main pads are two rows of smaller pads/buttons. The top row is the Selection Control and the bottom row is the State Control. More on these in a moment. Above the pad section is the Display/Encoder section, which includes an LCD screen that displays various Live parameters and details related to devices, tracks, clips, and other content found in the Live Browser. Here you will access a number of useful menus for Live and its devices. Just above the LCD are nine encoders (knobs) for navigating the LCD menus and for fine-tuning parameters. You will also use the Selection and State Control buttons for choosing and selecting parameters within the LCD screen. To access specific features, press the buttons in the upper right corner of the Push interface, such as Volume, Pan and Send, Track, Clip, Device, and Browse. Once one of these features/modes has been selected, their associated parameters and options will be displayed in the LCD and can be acted upon using the encoders and/or the Selection/State buttons. Some of the more convenient functions of the Selection and State buttons is activating/deactivating tracks/devices and arming tracks for Session recording. Surrounding the rest of the Push interface are a number of buttons for executing common commands, including playback/recording controls (transport), launching clips, launching Scenes, quantizing, adjusting the grid resolutions, and even adding/inserting tracks and effects. Working with Push Using Push can be quite a liberating experience. Mouse-less control of Live is very inspiring, especially with the ability to program beats, play instruments, and perform 40
Push musical ideas on-the-fly using only the hardware interface. That s not to mention the glow of the pad section when your clips are playing back in Session mode or your MIDI sequences are playing back in Note mode. It s a lot of fun to bury yourself in its illuminated interface. In many ways, Push streamlines Live s workflow, simplifying how you make music with the software. By design, certain functions and processes have been reduced to one-step operations. Although the entire Session View is replicated on Push, you will still find many reasons to use your computer screen for, if nothing else, viewing the Live user interface. You will definitely want to keep an eye on the mixer volume unit (VU) meters, access various clip envelope automations, see global recording in action, and, of course, you ll use your computer screen to work in the Arrangement View. When working with Push, Live will display a yellow 8 8 box (border) that shows where Push s pad section is focusing in the Session Grid. There will also be a similar yellow box around the corresponding eight Scenes on the Master track. Using these boxes as the focus, Push s pad section mirrors the Session Grid, clips, tracks, and Scenes. From there, the concept is very literal. The pads will light up the same color as the clips are in Live. They will also light up and/or flash in accordance with a clip s status (when it s launched or paused) or when MIDI notes are being played. You ll see later that they even light up as part of a step sequencer. In the same way, Clip Slots will light up depending upon their status as well empty or armed for recording, etc. Figure A4.2 The yellow 8 8 box outlines clips slots and tracks in the Session View that are currently being controlled by Push. Since the pad section is only an 8 8 grid, you will use the arrow keys in the Focus/Navigation section at the bottom right of Push to adjust the focus of the yellow box up, down, left, right by tracks and Scenes in Live. The Focus/ Navigation section also includes a Shift button that, when pressed + held, allows you to jump the focus up or down by eight Scenes at a time or left or right by eight tracks at a time, as opposed to one at a time when Shift is not pressed. Also, 41
Appendix 4 when Shift is pressed + held, specific pads will light up red for quickly refocusing to different Scenes or tracks. An orange pad in this situation indicates the current focus in the Session Grid. Next to the Shift button you will find the Select button. If you are working in Session mode, you can press + hold this button, then press a clip to select it without launching it. On the left side of the interface you will find the Touch Strip (touch sensitive) used for adjusting an instrument s pitch bend or for selecting Drum Rack pads/banks. When you re playing an instrument that has pitch bend functionality, try playing a note or launch the instrument s clip and then manipulate pitch bend in real-time using the Touch Strip. It is very well calibrated and you can even create trills by quickly tapping it repeatedly during a sustained note. To the left of the Touch Strip at the top of the interface is the Tempo Section containing two knobs and two buttons. You will instantly notice that these knobs are extremely touch sensitive. Use one to adjust the tempo and the other to adjust the global swing amount of your Set. Use the Tap button to tap tempos with your finger into Live to alter the playback speed. Use the other button to activate the metronome. Figure A4.3 Use the Push Focus/Navigation section to navigate the 8 8 grid within Live. Below the Tempo section is the Edit Section for quick access to some of the more common and frequently used editing commands. This includes the all-important Undo button. One particularly interesting feature here is the Double button. When working with notes within a MIDI clip, press this button to double the notes (repeat them), thus effectively doubling the length of the MIDI clip. The Edit Section also includes a Quantize button, which, as expected, will quantize MIDI notes, moving them to the nearest grid line. Simple, but efficient! To access specific quantize settings, press + hold the Quantize button. Below the Edit Section is the Transport Section. Here you will initiate recording and playback. You will also find buttons to duplicate Scenes, prepare new Scenes for recording, and arm automation, just as you would in Live s user interface. Modes Beyond the standard parameter adjustments, mixer manipulations, various commands, and physical control, there are two modes for interfacing with Live using Push s pads that you will use most often: Session Mode and Note Mode. In addition, as part of Note mode, there is step-sequencing functionality that works exclusively with Drum Racks. We ll get to that in a moment; for now, let s take a closer look at how the Session and Note mode function. 42
Push Session Mode Session mode is, for the most part, self-explanatory. It is for launching clips and Scenes just like you would do in the Session View with your keyboard and mouse. Each pad represents Clip slots and your clips. They can be launched one at a time or multiples at a time by pressing as many pads as can physically trigger or by launching Scenes. Navigate the Session Grid using the arrows keys to access clips and tracks that are out of view/focus. Use the transport controls to manage playback, all as you would normally do in Live. Note Mode Note mode is designed for programming and playing instruments for working with MIDI notes. Here, Push s pads function as MIDI keys for triggering software instruments such as drums or keyboards, but with a unique key/pad layout. The key layout is like nothing you ve probably ever used. Starting from the bottom left using the default scale layout the first blue pad is the root note. By default this is a C and the scale is a major scale, unless changed via the Scales menu. To play up and down a musical scale, follow the pads from left right starting at the root (blue pad). Counting the root as the first key, play the first three pads and then move up to the next row of pads. Play the next three left to right and then up to the next row until you reach the next blue pad. That completes one octave of notes for this particular scale type. Each blue pad represents the next octave above the previous root C, in this case. Feel free to experiment with the wide variety of over 20 scale/modes that can be loaded for playback. With each different scale, the pad layout and colors will shift to represent the new loaded scale made up of various whole and half step patterns. This is great for locking yourself into a particular key or mode forcing everything you play to fit into the selected scale or key. This is especially useful for playing in minor, pentatonic, or blues styles. Feel free to change the root note to accommodate the key you are working in. For any scale selected, white pads are notes that are part of the scale, but are not the root. Green pads represent notes that are currently being played, including pads that are equivalents (exact same note) on another pad. Keep in mind that there are multiple duplicate notes repeated on other pads, which is why at times there is more than one pad lighting up green when you play. By design, Push s pads are very sensitive to velocity input, allowing for quick and/or repeated note performances. There is no need to hit them too hard. Playing lightly will allow you to trigger a pad with ease. You can also play one or multiple pads at once for playing chords harmonic or polyphonic playing styles. All of 43
Appendix 4 Live s instruments are played in this manner except for Drum Racks. They have their own special layout and performance features with Push. Drum Racks and Step Sequencing When a Drum Rack is loaded and selected, Push s pad section divides itself into three distinct sections: Drum Rack Pads, Loop Length Controls/Pattern Selection, and Step Sequencer Controls. The bottom left corner of Push s pad section is assigned to Drum Rack pads for triggering samples and performing beats. You will see a 4 4 section (16 pads) light up yellow. Each pad mirrors and triggers a specific Drum Rack pad as loaded in Live and seen in Device View. There are different colors to differentiate pads that contain samples and those that don t. They will also light up based on their playback status. Keep in mind that the Touch Strip is used to navigate through the other Drum Rack pads, as seen in Device View. The bottom right corner of Push s pads section (4 4/16 pads) is dedicated to a Drum Rack s current clip loop length. Each pad itself represents one bar out of a possible 16 bars total 16-bar clip loop length. Here there are some very unique functions that can be used in inventive ways; but, first, let s look at the general layout. The upper left pad of the Loop Length Control section represents bar 1 of the selected clip (looped) and the subsequent pads, going left to right, represent the next 15 bars in consecutive order. When a pad is pressed/selected it will light up blue. This selected pad will light up green when the clip is playing back and when it is paused. Each pad is used to select a specific bar within the clip for playback, recording, and is used to link and loop a specific selection of bars of the clip into a multi-bar loop. Effectively, you can create a possible 16 unique sequence-able one-bar looped patterns, or link any consecutive selection of multi-bar patterns to create up to 16 total bars that loop as a single pattern/clip. The general workflow is to select one of the pads/bars, then set how many total bars you desire to loop (selection), and then record or sequence a pattern into them. Once you ve pressed a pad and recorded your pattern, click another pad and you will be able to record or sequence a new pattern as a one-bar loop located at the corresponding bar within the clip via the pad that is selected. If you want to adjust the length of the loop or include a larger selection, press + hold on the initial pad/bar to be sequenced, then with another finger press the next pad or any pad further away from the first going left or right to achieve the desired number of bars (length). See in the example how there are four bars in view. Each bar can be selected as a one-bar loop or as a multi-bar loop. Select one pad with MIDI 44
Push Figure A4.4 Multi-bar loop. events to play back a single section of a loop or select multiple pads for multi-bar loops. Up to this point we ve been looking at creating beats by loop recording with Push using the Drum Rack Pads for MIDI input. This can also be accomplished using the Step Sequencer section directly. This section uses the remaining 32 pads (8 4 section) above the two sections we ve just been discussing. The step sequencer works in tandem with Push s Scene/Grid section that runs vertical to the pad section on the right side of Push s interface. You will see there that each Scene/Grid button now has a grid resolution illuminated (i.e., 1/4, 1/8, etc.). Use this to control the resolution of the step sequencer. When a Drum Rack clip is in playback, the step sequencer pads will light up green in succession, running from left to right in sync with the tempo of your Set. The green lights will flash at a pace based on the selected grid resolution. For example, when 1/4 is selected, only four pads will flash in order from left to right and they will flash at a quarter note tempo (four times per bar). When 1/8 is selected, eight pads will light in succession and they will flash and sync at the eight note. The rest of the resolutions follow suit; with the higher the resolution, the more pads will light up to represent the subdivisions. You will also notice that certain pads in the Step Sequencer section will be blue as long as you have MIDI notes programmed representing the programmed pattern of the Drum Pad currently selected on the Drum Rack. To view other programmed notes, press + hold the Select button, then press the Drum Rack pad on Push that you wish to work with. In the same way, you can sequence patterns by adding notes in the Step Sequencer section by pressing pads rather them by recording them as MIDI notes via the Drum Pad Section. Simply select the pad you want to input a pattern on using the 45
Appendix 4 Select button, as mentioned, then press the pad in the Step Sequencer section that you wish to be triggered during playback based on the beat/grid. Figure A4.5 Push rear panel. There are many more useful features and ways to use Push to create, produce, and perform with Live s Session View these are just a few. This Scene has laid out a basic foundation for you to get started; now it s up to you to dive in and see what you can come up with. 46