Steve

I'm a composer and performer living in the US.

I'm a bit old school having been involved in music and visual media for a long time. I began my career many years ago when everything was analog.

I've recently discovered Abelton Live and now I'm beginning to see the robust nature of M4L. I'm a complete beginner with this software.

During performances I use Abelton. However, I'd like to add a bit of "randomness" to what has always been a fairly linear performance approach. Most musicians approach a performance from a musical set mentality and rarely deviate from their set list. As a result, one composition or musical piece follows another in a rather static linearity. That's okay if you rely on predictability. You always know what's coming next. I'd like to afford the software more control so that I'm forced to "follow" rather than lead the performance. In this sense it comes close to what generative music is all about.

I'd like to allow Abelton to be controlled through the use of a M4Ldevice (or in software terms; plugin) that would jump from scene to scene in a random nature.

I've seen a couple offerings that will pull files from designated folders and play them randomly. That's not what I'm hoping to accomplish.

Can M4L be set up to access Abelton scenes in a random nature and run them without the assistance from the human performer?

I envision a device that would randomly select an Abelton scene and launch it without my help. I'd also like to use a scene that's set up as a "transition" so that as the device closes one Abelton scene and launches another it would insert this "transition" scene in between in order to make it appear less abrupt; a bit more smooth or seamless if you know what I mean.

Forgive the excessive length of this post. I'm hoping you'll be able to follow my logic and give me a bit of direction.

need-suggestions

thats part of what M4L is all about. "accessing" live and telling it what to do and/or observing what it is doing. if you find the time, do some reading up on the "live object model" (

https://docs.cycling74.com/max5/refpages/m4l-ref/m4l_live_object_model.html)

 or click your way through many of the neat devices found over at maxforlive.com, some of which may already do something similar to your needs or could most definitely be modified in order to do so.

hello agamemnon,
thats part of what M4L is all about. "accessing" live and telling it what to do and/or observing what it is doing.  if you find the time, do some reading up on the "live object model" (https://docs.cycling74.com/max5/refpages/m4l-ref/m4l_live_object_model.html) or click your way through many of the neat devices found over at maxforlive.com, some of which may already do something similar to your needs or could most definitely be modified in order to do so.


Our Follow device does exactly that with a myriad of options...

You'll find it as part of the Modular Series here... www.isotonikstudios.com

Thanks for you kind reply and the link to the diagram page. Most helpful. Thank you again!

Your Follow product will greatly simplify my immediate needs with the exception of adding a bit of randomness to the output. (Unless I missed that functionality in the product description on your website). Thanks very much for taking the time to introduce your fine product line to me. I would like to chat with you personally to discuss a bit of customization. How can we connect privately? Through an email address on your site perhaps?

Your Follow product will greatly simplify my immediate needs with the exception of adding a bit of randomness to the output. (Unless I missed that functionality in the product description on your website). Thanks very much for taking the time to introduce your fine product line to me. I would like to chat with you personally to discuss a bit of customization. How can we connect privately? Through an email address on your site perhaps?
AGAMEMNON


It's an interesting topic! You mentioned that you’ve "... seen a couple offerings that will pull files from designated folders and play them randomly". Are you able to give the links to these offerings by chance?

The recommendation made a few days ago by s4racen is a good one. See: 

My independent searches uncovered a few interesting links. I include them here for your review:

http://www.11olsen.de/code/max4live-devices/random-simpler

http://www.aconica.de/?img=100&language=en

http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/2638/random-clip-fire-2

The recommendation made a few days ago by s4racen is a good one. See: http://www.isotonikstudios.com/

Random Simpler
http://www.11olsen.de/code/max4live-devices/random-simpler

Jo.CuePoints
http://www.jonasobermueller.com/

Meanwhile
http://www.flintpope.com/ideas.php

Fire Scene at Set Time
http://www.aconica.de/?img=100&language=en

Random Clip Fire 2
http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/2638/random-clip-fire-2


Thank You agamemnon for the links. Most useful. :)

Need suggestions