DAW-Based Performance

If you haven’t yet seen Fred Again…‘s Tiny Desk concert, watch about 10 minutes of this. It’s beautiful.

While his performance took a considerable amount of setup and practice, I think it’s a good reference for how comfortable we should all aim to feel with a DAW as either our only instrument, or as an extension of the other instruments we play by ourselves or in bands.

Performing with your DAW

Pretty much every DAW at this point has a “loops” view. An alternative approach to time that has no predetermined beginning or end but just lets you trigger one-shots or loops. Ableton calls it the “Session View”. Logic calls it the “Live Loops” view.

Start by watching either of the videos below for your DAW. If you don’t use Logic or Ableton, you can get a free trial of Ableton from their website to play around with.

Logic “Live Loops Grid”

Ableton Live “Session View”

While the “Live Loops” or “Session” serves as the foundation for many live performances, people will often load specific one-shots, loops, or instruments into a drum sampler for aspects of their performance that are more hands-on or improvisatory.

Drum Samplers & “Finger Drumming”

After you feel like you’ve got the basics of your DAW’s “loops” view, start digging into your DAW’s drum sampler instrument (Ableton = Drum Rack, Logic = Drum Machine Designer).

Ableton’s Drum Rack

Logic Pro’s Drum Machine Designer

MIDI Controls

A mouse is awesome, but using your MIDI keyboard to control your DAW project is the final key to being able to turn your DAW into an instrument. While Ableton is definitely better, Logic can do most of the same things. Take a few more minutes to explore how to control different parts of your DAW with your MIDI controller.

Ableton MIDI Map

Looking to get a little more advanced with your Ableton MIDI setup…