The RÜFÜS lads dropped in to our studio recently to show us under the hood of the Ableton set they use as the back bone of their live show. It was so impressive, we invited them to show the public the inner working of their live show at our next INPUT event, where they’ll be delving deep into the techniques and tricks they use in Ableton to turn their huge studio sound into a live show, and sharing stories about their rise to filling rooms and topping the charts. Ahead of their appearance at the event on November 9th (which also features WHAT SO NOT and ASTRAL PEOPLE – grab tickets here), we thought we’d share one of the techniques they use in their on-stage Ableton Live set to give you an idea of what to expect on the day.

If you’ve ever seen RÜFÜS play, you’ll know that they are a truly “live” band – there’s a drum kit, guitars, live vocals and definitely no Serato face in sight, but there’s plenty of electronic elements running in the background inside a very complex Ableton Live Set, which plays the core role in bringing the huge sound of their record to a live stage. To manage the massive amount of software instruments and effects in their Ableton Live Set, RÜFÜS have created an intelligent system of control that utilises what’s known as dummy clips. Check out the screenshot showing the inner-workings of their Ableton Live Set below – and then read on to find out how it all works!

Each track in RÜFÜS’ Ableton Live Set houses an instrument, which is taking midi input from one of their onstage midi controllers – with each instrument being for a specific member to play, in a specific part of their live show. RÜFÜS have all of their instrument’s track’s armed at all times – so they’re all receiving midi constantly. You can see there’s loads of red and green midi clips, which actually contain no note information, but instead contain only clip automation (and are therefore are known as dummy clips). The red clips contain automation that turns that specific track’s instrument off, while a green clip will turn that specific track’s instrument on.. you’re probably seeing the logic in the colouring – green is go (turns the instrument on), red is stop (turns the instrument off).

If you look to the right of the screenshot at the scenes, you’ll see there’s only one or two scenes per song. So when they launch one of those scenes, the red and green clips across that scene turn on all of the instruments used for that particular song (or section of a song), while turning off everything else that’s not in use. This is not only really simple, but completely effective and saves CPU by switching off devices and instruments that aren’t in use. Further left (off the screen), the launching a scene also launches audio clips containing their backing track elements.

We were seriously impressed, it’s an unorthodox method but goes to show how intuitive and customisable Ableton Live can be for live performance. We can’t wait to see what else they show us all at their INPUT presentation! If you’re still confused as to what INPUT is, in a nutshell it’s an intimate conference designed to give budding producers and music-makers a chance to hear and interact with successful music producers and industry movers /shakers. Presenters talk about how they got to where they are, as well as sharing their tips and techniques, with each presentation also including a Q&A session with the audience. It’s all happening on Saturday November 9th at FBi Social from 1pm-4:30pm and as well as RÜFÜS, there will be presentations from WHAT SO NOT, Vic Edirisinghe (of Astral People / OutsideIn) and Studios 301 mixing specialist Anthony Garvin.

Click here to find out more information about INPUT and to grab your tickets.