Getting away from mouse clicking and being more organic.

[eggnchips]

I would like any tips/suggestions on being more live making music as I notice this is the way to go with most successful techno.
I'm looking for tips on doing ITB using live.
The annoying thing I find with Midi ITB is having to set it all up as I usually start every track from fresh.
Do you guys use templates?
What effects chains are useful at manipulating?

Thanks.

[::BLM::]

No templates, just set it up as I go along. I pretty much link all channel faders to my midi controller and then set the values of the channels accordingly so I don't go to loud. I have some effects on the sends (delay and reverb most likely) and then I assign them to different pots on my controller. Certain channels like the Kick I assign to something I can just hit (like a key) so its more accurate.

[Sphere42]

Moritz von Oswald said that all his stuff was recorded on the fly, they just did little jam, found what works with what, got down basic groove etc., and then just recorded it as he played it like instrument. That means unmuting tracks, bringing levels up and down, twisting filters & FXs in real time.

For me personally, that's something I love about ableton live. Once you pressed play, you don't have to press stop. Just keep adding stuff on the fly, recording midi notes, messing with loops, samples, fx. Session view is also very intuitive way to keep your ideas organized, creating variations of loops etc.

Midi controller is must for this kind of workflow.

And to templates... I'm too lazy to create one, as I see advantages of this (meaning faster workflow). But I'm considering doing something like this. Ability to scroll through your sample library with a few knobs is amazing

[Barfunkel]

If you want to get away from the mouse clicking get some hands on hardware imo. Electribes or Elektron gear for example.

[eggnchips]

An Electron I would sure like. Have thought about the Maschine also. Anybody with experience of the latter?

[thefunnel]

No templates, just set it up as I go along. I pretty much link all channel faders to my midi controller and then set the values of the channels accordingly so I don't go to loud. I have some effects on the sends (delay and reverb most likely) and then I assign them to different pots on my controller. Certain channels like the Kick I assign to something I can just hit (like a key) so its more accurate.

This is how I work as well, but with a little hardware as well. I assign controls as I need them to my MPD24 for software. I also have an FRXS synth and MFB-522 drum machine and tweak them out as I record. Helps a lot to give it a little more movement. I recommend both routes as its always nice to be able to defer to the synth and drum hardware for a different perspective and a little more hands-on love.