one advice that has really worked for me, and a lot of people:
- keep it as simple as possible.
so, i think you really should choose one software, rather than 2 or 3. for a live setup, i really don't think you want to mess around with renoise AND bidule. just choose the software you think will do the job, and then use only that for live.
sorry to state the plainly obvious, but did you try ableton? i personally hate it, but it probably does exactly what u want.
if you use pd or bidule, you will need to spend a bit of time to make your own set up (probably a few hours a day for at least a month). The people on the pd forum can help you with specific questions, but you will have learn all the basics of pd and build your patch as much as you can first. there is probably similar support for bidule too.
also, one other thing: when i first started using pd, i made much smaller and simpler patches. just very simple sample players and loopers, etc.. it was nearly a full year until i built my first live patch. pd is a programming language, and like any language, it takes a while to learn and you need to start with the basics before moving on to the higher level stuff.
bidule is slightly easier than pd, maybe, because many of the modules are pre-built. but you still need a really good understanding of how sampling and sample playback works to make something with that. you need to build in a time base engine to sync everything. you need to organise for file loading. you need to assign switches to all your effects to bypass them if possible. etc etc . there are a lot of things to put together, and if you have never made simple patches before it will be very difficult.
if you're willing to invest the time and study into pd or bidule, and you have a good plan for what you want to do, then you will get very good results. but otherwise, maybe stick to something like ableton that offers a pre-built solution.
good luck.
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