Are you using Ableton Live, but looking for some new ways of doing things for the new year in 2017? Here are twenty-three quick tips for Ableton Live. Some are basic, some are quirky, but all of them are only 20 seconds long!
Full Playlist - All Ableton Live Short Tip Videos
Topics
- Resizing Time
- Curvy Automaton
- Drum Kits from Loops
- Importing Samples on Multiple Tracks
- Instruments from Audio Regions
- Volume Automation Without Faders
- Concurrent Mixer Controls
- Arpeggiated Hihat
- Multi-region Trimming
- Multi-region Extraction
- White Noise Sweep
- Unlocking Envelopes
- Selective Double and Half Tempo
- MIDI Mapped LFO
- Velocity Fades
- Automation Data Transfer
- Return Track Reverb Feedback
- Manually Smoothing Automation
- Consolidate and Fade
- Duplicate Time and Rhythm
- Nested Arpeggiators
- Importing Tracks from Other Projects
- Avoiding Peaks Using Presets
Individual Videos
Ableton Live Short Tip - 01 - Resizing Time
The timing of a selection of MIDI notes can be made longer or shorter by adjusting the markers above the play bracket.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 02 - Curvy Automaton
Hold down option to change a straight line of automation into a smooth curve.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 03 - Drum Kits from Loops
Use the 'Slice-to-MIDI' command transient setting by control clicking on a warped drum loop clip to easily create a drum kit.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 04 - Importing Samples on Multiple Tracks
Hold down command to drag and drop multiple samples onto multiple tracks.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 05 - Instruments from Audio Regions
An audio region can be dropped onto the instruments area of a new MIDI track to create a new MIDI instrument.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 06 - Volume Automation Without Faders
The Utility audio effects device can be used to control volume via automation, giving the faders the freedom for mix adjustment.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 07 - Concurrent Mixer Controls
By selecting multiple tracks (via command click or shift click), mixer control changes of volume, panning, solo, active and send levels can be applied to more than one track. Changes are relative to current values as opposed to absolute.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 08 - Arpeggiated Hihat
By using an Arpeggiator MIDI Effect device on a hihat, the rate can be used to easily change the interval or create complex patterns via automation.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 09 - Multi-region Trimming
Multiple regions can be trimmed, as long as they are the same length, by selecting clips that across more than one track.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 10 - Multi-region Extraction
Multiple regions can be extracted by selecting content across more than one track.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 11 - White Noise Sweep
The Operator instrument can be used to easily make a white noise filter.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 12 - Unlocking Envelopes
Data envelopes can be locked, so that regions can be duplicated, moved or deleted without changing the associated automation. This is useful for speeding up workflows in situations such as editing loops for more variety or adding additional bars or phrases to a section.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 13 - Selective Double and Half Tempo
The double and half tempo buttons operate either on the entire contents within a clip, or only on some notes as selected. This is useful when creating different drum patterns, grooves and melodies with variation.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 14 - MIDI Mapped LFO
A custom LFO can be made by setting up a new MIDI track with a clip containing control data. The output of this MIDI track is then routed to a virtual bus. While this clip is playing, the data can be mapped to any parameter on another track - in this case the level of a modulator in Operator.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 15 - Velocity Fades
Velocity can be used to control not only volume, but also other aspects of a virtual instrument. By mapping velocity to multiple parameters, a velocity fade can be used creatively. Here, the Velocity MIDI Effect device is used to scale the velocity, which in turn changes the sound of the instrument.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 16 - Automation Data Transfer
Data envelopes can be copied from one parameter to another by selecting Copy Envelope and then paste.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 17 - Return Track Reverb Feedback
The send of a given return track can be enabled by control-clicking, thereby opening up the possibility of complex feedback signal paths.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 18 - Manually Smoothing Automation
By holding shift while moving automation data points, additional automation data is removed. This is a quick and easy way of manually smoothing automation data.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 19 - Consolidate and Fade
When dealing with audio regions that are looping in the Arrangement View, the loop boundaries determine the maximum length of an audio fade. By consolidating the looped audio into one long audio file (command j), audio fades can be of a longer, arbitrary length.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 20 - Duplicate Time and Rhythm
The Duplicate Time function (command shift d) can be used on a selection of MIDI notes in a Drum Rack clip to duplicate a rhythmic phrase. The new, second half of the clip can then be edited to add more interest via rhythmic diversity.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 21 - Nested Arpeggiators
When sequencing chord structures and harmonic content, nested arpeggiators can be a very simple and effective tool to get more out of less. Place one arpeggiator after another, and differentiate them in terms of arpeggiation rate, note length, velocity ramps, transposition amount, transposition step and so on.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 22 - Importing Tracks from Other Projects
By using the Live file browser, one or more audio, MIDI or instrument tracks can be dragged and dropped into the current Live project.
Ableton Live Short Tip - 23 - Avoiding Peaks Using Presets
Peaks can be avoided - and the whole mix can be made a little fuller and louder - by using the Fast preset for Limiter, Multiband Compressor for Multiband Dynamics and Gentle Squeeze for Compressor presets on the master track.
1 comments:
Thanks very much for sharing these with the world. Very useful tips!
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