I suggest experimenting with the guitar rig pedals for pattern selection and melody on violin, then.

MIDI violins don't work too well either, I have two different systems, neither of them I would trust live, I have a decent Voodoolabs MIDI pedal for triggering - although that controls Guitar Rig atm - I'm sure I could spare 1 pedal There is a bluetooth violin bow out there, but at $3000 it's a tad out of my reach

You can also try playing violin with a kind of bg track, though midi violins are expensive ime. There is a project called midiox or midiyoke which you can use to carry around a Bluetooth game controller and send midi messages to start your patterns... Or there's TouchOSC...

I've picked up a few different controllers to play around with. I think my issue is I'm not used to standing behind a computer. I've been playing in bands, on electric violin for nigh on 19 years now, and have a great time with that.... perhaps that really is the way to go with this, at least live anyway..

I have also been thinking about a guitar controller tuned to violin tuning, as my keyboard skills are none existent

i do the clips in live
mpd to play drums beats over some bits
midi key to play synth over beat bits
the mpd's are a great way to have fun when you play and make it look like you're doing shit
and something like a nanokey or i-controls is helpful to control delays,freeze,filters - all that jazz

sooo, how are you going about it. I'm not writing the tracks in Ableton, in fact I've never used it so I'm learning at atm.

Are you cutting in to clips and then triggering? I want to make sure there's a visual performance more than me bopping my head in time to the music

yes

Is anyone using a DAW such as Ableton for live performance rather than using original hardware?

I'd be interested to know people's thoughts on this.

m