REPREPREP

Perform, record and finish

Perform your song live with mutes, fills, chance and Control All, record a 3–5 minute take into Live, and start the finishing loop.

1. Intro

   Lesson 16

   • Perform, record and finish.
   • In this lesson you will perform your song live with mutes, fills, chance and Control All, record a 3–5 minute take into Live, and start the finishing loop.
2. Learn

   A performance is the arrangement played by hand.

   Each pattern loops until you cue the next, so you decide how long each section lasts. Plan your moves before you press record.

3. Learn

   The setup

   Two cables from MAIN OUT L and R on the back of the Model:Cycles into two inputs of your audio interface. In Live, one audio track listens to those inputs and records what you play.

4. Learn

   Finishing is a loop, not a moment.

   Record, listen away from the studio, write three fixes, fix and save. Then record again. Small rounds finish more music than one perfect attempt.

5. Play

   Rehearse the cues

   • Go to B05 and press PLAY.
   • In the last bar of each section, hold PATTERN and press the next pattern's trig key.
   • The new pattern flashes on the screen and starts when the current one ends.

   Clean switches on the bar line. A section loops until you cue the next, so stay as long as it feels right.

6. Play

   Add mutes and fills

   • In an A, mute the hats (FUNC + T3) for its last bar and unmute them on the 1 of the B.
   • Going into a new section, hold PAGE through the first beat to play lesson 4's FILL hat.

   Small moves at the edges of sections make each change feel deliberate.

7. Play

   • In the break (B08), make a temporary save: hold FUNC and briefly press SETTINGS.
   • Hold TRACK and turn REVERB SEND up: every track pours into the room.
   • Then hold FUNC and press PATTERN to snap back.

   A wash of reverb over the whole break, then the dry groove exactly as it was.

8. Play

   End it

   • In the outro (B09), select T3 and slowly turn CHANCE down so the hats thin out.
   • Then mute tracks one by one (FUNC + pad) until only the chords ring.
   • Press STOP.
   • Afterwards, unmute every track.

   The song comes apart gently instead of just stopping. Reverb and delay ring on after STOP.

9. Play

   Connect

   • With everything switched off, run two 1/4" jack cables from MAIN OUT L and R to inputs 1 and 2 of your audio interface.
   • Switch on.
   • In Live, create an audio track, set its input to the interface's inputs 1/2, and arm it for recording.

   Play B07: the track's meter in Live moves with the beat.

10. Play

    Set the level

    • Play B07, your loudest section, and turn MAIN VOLUME until Live's meter peaks comfortably below the top, never in the red.
    • Leave MAIN VOLUME there for the whole take.
    • Press STOP.

    Peaks with room to spare. A take that clips can't be fixed later.

11. Play

    Record

    • Go to B05, start recording in Live, wait a bar, and press PLAY.
    • Perform your plan for 3 to 5 minutes, letting A and B loop two or three times each.
    • Don't stop for mistakes.
    • After the outro, press STOP, let the tails ring out.
    • Then stop Live.

    One continuous take. A slip in a live take is part of it: keep going.

12. Play

    Start the finishing loop

    • Listen back once without stopping.
    • Then again away from the studio.
    • Write three fixes, make them in the patterns, save each one (hold FUNC, long-press SETTINGS), and record a new take another day.

    Each round the song gets a little clearer. After a few rounds, let it go and start the next.

13. Check

    You mute the kick (FUNC + T1) in the break.

    Then cue the B. What happens to the kick?

    Answer

    It stays muted. On the Model:Cycles mutes are global: they belong to the performance, not the pattern, so they carry across pattern changes. Unmute it just before the 1 of the B.

    Plan mutes like cues: out before a change, back in on the 1.