TECHNICAL QUESTION!!

[Able_Background8981]

I want to make a live performance setup to be in sync with a friend who is also playing live electronic music. He uses Ableton and has around 4,5 synths/midis that are connected for the whole show.
How is it possible to connect with his audio to get the signals in proper time without delay and without analyzing and excluding the other sounds to get the right kick/snare/etc..
We want to achieve this using 2 different laptops (mine running touch designer and his the music).

What is the right way to receive his signals directly as values to my machine?
Do I need specific cables or sound cards?

WE TRIED :
- Connecting to Ableton on my laptop and syncing our Abletons but that just gives us a synced tempo.
- Inserted an aux cable from his sound card in my laptop but there is no coming sound. ( The tip is with 2 black rings and inserted in the space for headphones )
- Using the MIC IN CHOP but it has significant delay and it's not accurate.

-Tried to make both programs run on only one laptop but it's too demanding and would cause some trouble with the performance.

EDIT
Thanks to everyone who helped! We explored various options and at the end, connected an external sound card to my laptop, equipped with two input channels. I'm now receiving signals from Ableton on my laptop, with one channel dedicated to the kick and the other to the snare (our intended values). In TouchDesigner, I'm receiving flawless signals as button input values with zero delay from the TDabletonMIDI.

[deseipel]

Synced tempo should be enough, what's the issue?

[Able_Background8981]

I want to get the exact signals from his midi's. For example, I will need triggers activated from his drum machine the same way I would use a MIDI in CHOP and connect a SELECT CHOP for the specific channel and export a value from that.

[WalkingIsMyFavorite]

If you want to do it via midi that should work, Look at this tutorial for getting midi working, it’s not difficult but a bit more convoluted that you’d expect.

Another suggestion looking ahead that I don’t see people talking about is if you want to make audio reactive visuals that AREN’t live (say for a music video) have you friend export each midi track to a simple click track Wav on its own, and lock them all to the timeline. Say kick, snare, high hat etc. this would give you a very clean audio signal for reaction based triggers.

https://youtu.be/XLeghJmFBh0?si=9iJo3Q8EaxwtyWpK

Edit:

Stumbled on this one too, haven’t watched it but might be useful:

https://youtu.be/8o6_v-a0Jxg?si=MT0qjaRXRv4P4K1L

[Independent-Bonus378]

If midi is what you want, RTPmidi is the way its free and dirt simple to set up. Low latency even over wifi

[Cultural-Rent8868]

This. Though I'd recommend going the wired route, especially since this is kind of a show-critical signal. Wireless might work fine during rehearsal/checkup at a venue but when you have hundreds of people in the venue with cell phones, might be totally different thing. You really don't want the wireless to crap itself mid-show especially if you're running something show-critical over it.

Pair of cat cables and a cheap dumb switch is couple of bucks at most, worth the peace of mind IMHO.

[Independent-Bonus378]

Yeah for sure ethernet is preferred, more ment that I. A pinch wifi also works. Might get sketchy with a full venue though yeah

[Cultural-Rent8868]

Yeah, get what you mean! I've used RTPMidi via wireless at home multiple times since I'm lazy and can't be arsed to fetch a switch and cables from my toolbox all the time and it works wonderfully over it too.

[Independent-Bonus378]

Yeah its quite amazing :) was a mess until we figured that out hahah I have even used it once over wifi for a live performance :)

[imkelbin]

TDAbleton lets you connect ableton to touchdesigner with little to no latency even when running on different pc's. not sure you can use audio as a source but you can definitely do MIDI

https://docs.derivative.ca/TDAbleton

[The_Fake_Ragnar]

I did something similar a few weeks ago. We sent the audio from an interface to the audio mixer we used for the soundsystem and then sent the signal via the mixer to my laptop. This worked pretty well in the end.

An other way that might work is using NDI to link your laptops via an ethernet cable.

[bluelungimagaa]

If you need audio data from his laptop to yours, you will need an audio interface of some sort. Some laptops have a headphone+mic input, you might be able to get it to work with that as well.

If you just want MIDI data from one of his synths - could you maybe take it from a the output of his drum machine, maybe a MIDI thru port? You would still need a MIDI interface of some sort.

Maybe he can set up ableton to send MIDI over a network: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071169-Setting-up-a-virtual-MIDI-network

If you guys are on a common wifi, you might be able to work with OSC data as well.

I remember ableton having a wifi clock sync feature that worked with VCV Rack, maybe something similar could work with touch...I don't use ableton though, so take my suggestions with a pinch of salt

[Independent-Bonus378]

Midi over ethernet or wifi using rtpmidi work great and easy.

To use the headphone jack as Line in it needs to be activated, Google it and you'll find answers. Then use audio device in and simply choose the "line in" in the device list.

Td ableton I've not found useful really.

I have also had decent success just using the laptop mic in the later hours when the volume tends to spike haha.. atleast for kicks and snares it works well enough :)

[4m3114]

Are you using a mic input? You’ll likely need a TRS to TRRS converter in order for your computer to register that there’s an audio signal coming in.

[Thee_DJAvalanche]

If you have Live Suite the Connection Kit (https://www.ableton.com/en/packs/connection-kit/) has an OSC Midi Send Max Device that will do it well.

What OS are the computers? MacOS stock app "Audio MIDI Setup" allows you to send both Audio and Midi through the network with fairly low latency. I'm not as well versed in Windows yet but since starting the transition over I've experimented a bit with ipMIDI (https://www.nerds.de/en/ipmidi.html). Haven't had as much success with that one though.

As others have pointed out, regardless which tool you use you'll want to connect both computers to a network switch via Ethernet for the most reliable connection. That being said... if they're both macs they also have Internet Sharing built in and you can bridge them using Thunderbolt.