I just came back from the PixelACHE VJ festival in Helsinki, Finland (http://www.pixelache.ac) where I had a great time! I made two performances, the 2nd one together with the DJ duo Konstruction. I wanted to share some experiences and then end up with a question.
I was using a M-Audio X-Session pro and a Edirol V4 for Modul8 and
the DJs where using Ableton Live, a Faderfox LC2, a MPC and a DR. Sample sampler and a Novation station MIDI keyboard.
We had it set up so that the Novation Station was controlling some sound effects in Live. Each sound effect had a graphic representation that was achieved with simple modules;
Beat repeater = Shake (the standard Garagecube version)
Beat crusher = Scale down the comp
Muffler (Don't know what it's called in Live. It cuts frequencies) = decrease alpha of the whole comp.
Two main issues with these techniques were*:
1.Live doesn't route the midi values to modul8 until you're done rotating a knob or moving a slider, therefore the reaction comes to late. We split the MIDI signal in MidiPipe (freeware) so that I could get the MIDI-values straight from the Novation Station.
2.The values Live sends doesn't match the master Scale and Alpha controls, so I had to make simple modules to sort that out.
* Disclaimer: My DJ buddies are fairly new to Live, there might still be stuff they haven't figured out yet.
The MPC sampler was set up with a module so it toggled the visibility and size of the layers in my B-bus. I had to pull the MIDI cable from the MPC for parts of the performance since the signal made the B-Bus go nuts even when the module was turned off. Might be sloppy programming from my part, but having the possibility to switch MIDI-sets in Modul8 is starting to top my wish list.
Now, ending with a question: How do you guys solve different kinds of MIDI confilcts in Modul8? Pulling the MIDI cable seems like a sloppy solution. I'm looking for an option to filter midi messages in a way that also works during a gig. Filtering the MIDI clock for instance.
Another thing i discovered was that if you switch from internal microphone to an external you have to restart Modul8 to make it work. It would be nice to either have Modul8 change the sound input when ever the input is changed it the control panel or have the option to choose input source within Modul8.