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Ableton Live - 7.0 LE Reference Manual

1. o gt Orums a _ o m 10 32 gt gt b gt be b gt gt b b E 20 16 MIDI From RIP RIP RIP RIP Recv PL Recv PL Recv PL R P RIP RIP Audio From All Ins lt 01_v C 1 v Fat v am v C1 lt An lt an v D 4 v A83 v D 1 Noinput v 1 AIl Channes C3 c3 c3 c3 c3 c3 c3 c3 c3 c3 Monitor Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke in Alita Ort Nome Nome 1 1_ se None se None ov None v Nonme Nonie Nons Audio To A To A To ATo A To AudioTo AudioTo AudioTo A To A To A To AudioTo AudioTo Audio To Master ail Rack Ous Rack Oue Master x Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends afB7 4 a n d asi afis al int ob a BBG a n d a Bid al int ob al intaB b inf d b inf d b nf d b inf d b inf dB b nf d b nf d b F4 b inf dB b inf ab is keli ol wo ol ofl cools call call coll Col coals Gy Me hy He m auf stataj m mf afal sf mj m a oe E aj Se Dm Dy Dy eT Ses M 5 Chains in the Session View mixer look similar to tracks but they have no clip slots Addi tionally opening the Mixer s In Out section allows for some additional editing possibilities e Input Output Controls The Receive chooser sets the incoming MIDI note to w
2. The V Pots and Assignment Switches The Mackie Control s V Pots have dual functionality in many cases as they can be both rotated and pressed When being used to adjust single parameters those belonging to track devices for example pressing a V Pot returns a control to its default value Pressing a V Pot when dealing with a control that has various options filter type choosers for example selects the options in sequence With controls having only two options e g an on off CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 310 switch pressing a V Pot toggles the options There are six assignment switches to the right of the channel strips on the Mackie Control These select which parameters are displayed in the main display and set these parameters to be available for control with the V Pots The two character display above the assignment switches shows the currently selected assignment mode 1 I O Switches the V Pot and main display to I O mode This allows Live s track inputs and outputs to be set with the V Pots e Click once to select the track s Input Type chooser e Click twice to select the track s Input Channel chooser e Click three times to select the Output Type chooser e Click four times to select the Output Channel chooser 2 Send Switches the V Pot to control the levels of all available Send controls for the currently selected
3. Many powerful manipulations arise from Live s warping capabilities Warping means chang ing the speed of sample playback independently from the pitch so as to match the song tempo The tempo can be adjusted on the fly in the Control Bar s Tempo field a 140 00 4 4 50 00 The most elementary use of this technique and one that usually requires no manual setup is synchronizing sample loops to the chosen tempo Live s Auto Warp algorithm actually makes it easy to line up any sample with the song tempo such as a recording of a drunken jazz band s performance It is also possible to radically change the sonic signature of a sound using extreme warp settings 4 6 MIDI Clips and MIDI Files A MIDI clip contains musical material in the form of MIDI notes and controller envelopes When MIDI is imported from a MIDI file the data gets incorporated into the Live Set and the original file is not referenced thereafter In the Live File Browsers a MIDI file appears as a folder that can be opened to reveal its individual component tracks which can be selectively dragged into the Live Set An Audio Clip s Properties as Displayed in the Clip View The Control Bar s Tempo Field CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 20 MIDI Files Are Dragged in from Live s File Browsers As you d expect a MIDI clip s contents can be accessed and edited via the Clip View for instance to change a melody or paint a drum pattern
4. 129 Previous Locator button 74 PIOCESSOP vce ceteese antes eaves see CPU projects project management see Live Projects Punch In Out switches 182 Q quantization command for selected MIDI notes 134 for clip launching for MIDI notes during recording 186 Quantize menu command 134 quick chooser buttons 223 R RACKS saat dieshtadetaeieae eet ediaeas lt s 208 Macro Controls 005 209 MIXING a sc cweseeeaa ds saaek cess cee lt 211 routing tap points 158 RAM Mode switch 20005 108 Random effect 0 0 cece a 279 Re Pitch Mode 000e sees 126 R cord DUTON svesaetvaateaeies dhaalcnesat 90 Record Quantization 4 186 Record Warp Launch Preferences 6 recording and remote control 187 audio and MIDI 179 automation cee eee eee 214 overdubbing 181 184 punch in punch out 181 resampling the Master output 154 with count in eee eee 186 recording an Arrangement 90 recording automation 214 Redux effect e cece eee eee es 260 registration e ee aes see Ableton remote control see mapping to MIDI keys Remote Control Surfaces settings 306 Rename command in the Browser 0 00 eee eee
5. 233 loop region settings for 230 mixer control modulation with 228 scrambling beats with 226 unlinking from clips 2 c0 i swe 231 using for fade outs 230 Clip Fade switch 002 108 Clip Gain slider wcicnaccessavsae eran vese 106 Clip Groove chooser 0 00 98 Clip Launch button 08 85 Clip Name field saciciniwercdage evncadoess 97 Clip Nudge buttons 99 Clip Overview ck wi kswsaati aia gaaia lees 94 for zooming scrolling 102 Clip Quantization chooser 142 Clip Record button 25 183 Clip Signature fields 24 2 3 ccsvsaescas cess 98 Clip Stop button 2 eee 85 357 INDEX adding removing ee 90 Clip Update Rate preference 112 Clip VIEW s dent ntaacisdeiwerandicmaues 93 and playing the Arrangement 73 and remote control mapping 305 SCIUD GIG ccd svicn cara tencedeeess 103 Clip View boxes selector 96 128 140 222 E o EPET E ETE E E 15 adding fades to 45 108 arranging editing 05 78 as templates 00 227 SUCIO CHDS cag tgcciasreieteseacdcas 18 clip multi selections 94 deactivating muting 97 editing MIDI notes velocities 127 importing from files 38 in Arrangement View
6. Maximum Cache Size Ca 350GB Geanup 5 2 2 Analysis Files asd An analysis file is a little file that Live creates when a sample file is brought into the program for the first time The analysis file contains data gathered by Live to help optimize the stretching quality soeed up the waveform display and automatically detect the tempo of long samples When adding a long sample to a project Live might tell you that it cannot play the sample before it has been analyzed This will not happen if the sample has already been analyzed i e Live finds an analysis file for this sample or if the Record Warp Launch Preferences Auto Warp Long Samples preference has been deactivated To prevent waiting for analysis of longer samples you can pre analyze them via the Browser as we will see in a moment An analysis file can also store default clip settings for the sample Clicking the Clip View s Save button will store the current clip s settings with the sample s analysis file The next time the sample is dragged into Live it will appear with all its clip settings intact This is particularly useful for retaining Warp Marker settings with the sample Preferences for the Decoding Cache CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 43 Storing default clip settings with the analysis file is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip While analysis files are a handy way to store default information about a particular sample
7. 102 104 and clip envelopes caveats davasiends 231 with MIDI elips 4 S25 ctatead an tiaidin s 132 Loop Warp Short Samples preference 115 M Mackie Control 0 cece ence 306 Macro Controls 0 0 0ee eee eee 209 Manage Files command and changing sample references 51 and collecting external samples 64 65 and finding unused samples 66 and importing projects 61 and locating missing samples 61 and packing Live Projects 67 and project management 57 managing files see File Manager Mapping Browser 005 300 mapping to MIDI keys 27 294 and recording e eee eee 187 Master Out chooser 0 176 Master track INDEX Maximum Cache Size preference 42 Metronome switch 0e 00s 185 MIDI OXPOMING civics ve swverve dees verneus 47 QUANUZING aie steed ae eeedds 134 186 sending bank program changes 111 MINDS cavasiateretmedesxtuat yet see clips MIDI controllers see control surfaces MIDI Editor cee eee eee 95 127 and drawing MIDI 128 and drawing velocities 137 and grid lines 133 136 and recording MIDI 184 creating and editing notes 134 editing velocities 137 loop region settings for 132 MIDI note stretch 0 136
8. 78 in audio MIDI tracks 17 in Session View 00005 85 LIVE CMDS a rosrr drisi tereriere toned 47 MIDI Clips odtcnintenenivaigasnadeaaes 19 reNAMING serrer Ssed yds ede yeosegts 97 FOVEISING i509 ca ydade pe t iner sade 109 saving settings for 107 setting properties of 93 Close All Folders command 33 color scheme see Skin preference Complete Fragmentary Bar command 76 compressed audio files see samples Compressor effect 0085 241 and sidechain DS 6 26 0 Sa rdovere a tanrseade cheep ane 245 Computer MIDI Keyboard button 153 Computer MIDI Keyboard option 153 Consolidate command lt s ccediapavass 82 context menu Control chooser see Automation Control chooser see Clip Envelope Control chooser control surfaces and takeover mode 299 instant mappings for 296 locking to devices 297 manual setup cists nas secede couse 298 natively supported 295 COPY ProtectiONnN cece eee eee eee 9 count in for recording 0 186 Count In preference 0 186 CPU atts A ES EE R cee ee 318 CPU Load meter 0 04 319 CPU Preferences 2 cece eee es 6 Create Analysis Files preference 43 Create Folder command 39 crossfader c cece cece eee 2
9. O T 858s wy v ao Qe ees Bank Channel Flip and Return Buttons 1 Bank If more than eight tracks are being used in Live these buttons can be used to page through the additional tracks and set them to the Mackie Control s eight channel strips The bank and buttons page the channel strips in increments of eight or more if a fader extension is installed to the right or left respectively To go to the first last page hold down the Mackie Control s Shift CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 312 button while pressing these wun Channel You can use the channel and buttons to scroll through the additional tracks singly setting them to the Mackie Control s eight channel strips To go to the first last track hold down the Mackie Control s Shift button while pressing these Flip When flip mode is enabled as shown by the illuminated LED above the button the functionality of the V Pots and faders is switched This is the case in all available assignment modes Return By default the channel strips display only those tracks in Live that contain clips When return mode is enabled as shown by the illuminated LED above the button the channel strip will show and control the return tracks All assignments and modes will function otherwise identically CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 313 22 3 4 Transpo
10. You can configure which MIDI ports are made available to Live using the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Sync Preferences All available input and output ports are listed here For Live s tracks to receive send MIDI from to a specific MIDI port the corresponding switch in the Track column must be set to On You can use any number of MIDI ports for track input and output the mixer s In Out choosers allow them to be addressed individually 12 3 2 Playing MIDI With the Computer Keyboard The computer keyboard can be used as a pseudo port for generating MIDI notes from computer keyboard strokes Using this pseudo port you can generate MIDI even without a real MIDI input port To turn the computer MIDI keyboard on use the Control Bar s Com puter MIDI Keyboard button or the Ctrl j 4___J K PC _8 4__J K Mac shortcut to the Options menu entry LES miD s D The center row of letter keys on the keyboard will play notes corresponding to the white keys on a piano beginning on the left with the note C5 The black keys on a piano correspond to the upper row of computer keys The four leftmost letters on the lower row of the keyboard are used to transpose the note range and to set velocity The results of changing these values are displayed in the Status Bar at the bottom of the Live screen As it happens when the computer keyboard is set to send notes between C3 and C4 the keys are mapped to MIDI notes such that the cente
11. 201 dither sessar od eats ieee nre aa oea 45 Double Halve Original BPM buttons 111 118 Draw Mode 0 e cece eee ee es 217 and drawing MIDI 128 with clip envelopes 2 scsaesssisaws 224 Draw Mode command 217 Druin RACKS 4 pou deg tiesita iaeo as 209 Pad View 0 0 cece eee ee eee 210 Duplicate Time command 81 Dynamic Tube effect 0 5 246 Edit menu commands and automation 215 220 and exporting v statei denser cies ebay 44 and MIDI notes 05 134 and return tracks 04 173 and SCENES 0 cece eee 87 and tracks oy dds Peis del santi 171 in the Browser 0 eeeeeeee 39 with Clip Stop buttons 41 s cs 004ss 90 wWithelipS cescicisisidisrsirssi iens 97 with scenes ec cece eee eee es 90 Edit switch 0 0 cece cece 106 CHECS gasec chesesaceakasadecid see devices EIC sea see Essential Instrument Collection Enyelop Editor vcsapenwesageraarees 95 222 envelopes see automation see clip envelopes Envelopes box sic ssex iva nateas 95 222 EQ Eight effect 0 008 248 EQ Three effect cece eee 249 Erosion effect 0 c ccc cece eee eee 251 Essential Instrument Collection 291 Exclusive Arm Solo preference 169 EXPO AUO sock passed saybenedegeneens 43 Export MIDI Clip command exporting audio see
12. A MIDI Clip s Properties as Displayed in the Clip View 4 7 Devices and the Mixer A track can have not only clips but also a chain of devices for processing signals Double clicking a track s title bar brings up the Track View which shows the track s device chain CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 21 E Old Sampler S ll S e Resonators e ecce S a a Random Operator OB ORA Chance Coarse Fine Fixed Level Rate Mod Bit Reduction Q g Q 25 dB be Che cis 50 Fine Fixed Level Freq Res Band 2408 v a O Choices Q 46 dB 467 kH 1 94 Fine Fixed Level Pitch Env Spread Transpose ai Q Ce Es Cis Ost Fixed Level Volume Fine Tone ic ia 0 Qoa The Track View ses EE Displaying a MIDI Track s Device Chain Live s built in audio effects MIDI effects and instruments are available from the Device Browser and can be added to tracks by dragging them from there into the Track View or into a Session or Arrangement track Devices Name y PS struments gt E Instrument Rack gt E Impulse gt Operator gt i Sampler gt E Simpler gt 5 mt effects v Audio Effects gt E Audio Effect Rack Ae EAA A v E Auto Filter OO Bowomosn am aor ovos Live s Built in Devices y E Cut o move L 28 07 2006 00 04 Are Available from the Device Browser You can also use plug in devices in Live VST and Audio Units Mac OS X only P
13. The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the gate s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the gate is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the gate and is never actually heard Sidechain gating can be used to superimpose rhythmic patterns from one source onto another For example a held pad sound can be triggered with the rhythm of a drum loop CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 256 by inserting a Gate on the pad s track and choosing the drum loop s track as the sidechain input 19 13 Grain Delay Grain Delay 0 00 ms 50 tz 5 00 4 _0 00 0 0 1 2 5 6 il Eom Delay Time Spray The Grain Delay effect slices the input signal into tiny particles called grains that are then individually delayed and can also have different pitches compared to the original signal source Randomizing pitch and delay time can create complex masses of sound and rhythm that seem to bear little relationship to the source This can be very useful in creating new sounds and textures as well as getting rid of unwelcome house guests or terrifying small pets just
14. 1 92 A Repeats Distance Target inf 12 st o The Arpeggiator Effect Live s Arpeggiator effect takes the individual MIDI notes from a held chord or single note and plays them as a rhythmical pattern The sequence and speed of the pattern can be CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 273 controlled by the device which also provides a full complement of both classic and original arpeggiator features Arpeggiators are a classic element in Eighties synth music The name originates with the musical concept of the arpeggio in which the notes comprising a chord are played as a series rather than in unison Arpeggio is derived from the Italian word arpeggiare which refers to playing notes on a harp 20 1 1 Style and Rate Sections Arpeggiator s Style chooser determines the sequence of notes in the rhythmical pattern Up and Down UpDown and DownUp Down amp Up and Up amp Down Converge and Diverge CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 274 z E a m E E E Con amp Diverge E E mi E zi E E E E m E A Pinky Up and Pinky E EE UpDown E a a E m m a a E E E Thumb Up and in E E EE E 8 E Thumb UpDown Play Order places notes in the pattern according to the order in which they are played This is therefore only recognizable when more than one chord or note has been playe
15. Feeding Sidechain Inputs Some effects have so called sidechain inputs A vocoder for instance imposes spectral characteristics taken from one signal say spoken word onto another signal for instance a string pad The vocoder is inserted as an audio effect into the string track It has a sidechain input for the speech signal which has to be delivered from another track So we create an additional audio track named Speech and set its Output Type chooser to the Strings track From the Output Channel chooser we select the vocoder s sidechain input Audio From Audio From _ Ext In Ext in m2 M2 s Monitor Monitor in Ato Om Cin Ai on Audio To Audio To 3 Strings___v Master aji Vokator B Some vocoder plug ins include a built in synthesizer to generate the carrier signal In this case the only difference from the above procedure is that the vocoder instrument is dragged into a MIDI track Feeding the side chain audio input works as described above Please note that Ableton s Auto Filter Compressor and Gate devices have their own sidechain controls with integrated routing choosers that match those found in tracks Thus when using these devices it is not necessary to follow the above procedure you can simply select the sidechain source from within the device itself Layering Instruments Suppose that we have a MIDI track containing an
16. down to 200 samples Bit Reduction is similar but while downsampling superimposes a grid in time bit reduction does the same for amplitude If the Bit Reduction amplitude dial is set to 8 amplitude levels are quantized to 256 steps The Redux Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 261 8 bit resolution If set to 1 the result is pretty brutal Each sample contains either a full positive or full negative signal with nothing in between Bit Reduction defines an input signal of OdB as 16 bit Signals above OdB are clipped and the red overload LED will light up Turning off Bit Reduction results in modest CPU savings 19 17 Resonators Resonators Fitter Mode G A G 24 st 21 st 18 st 4s 5 1 feq m4 24 E Gain Gain Gain gt 2 89 dE 6 00 4B 2 57 d This device consists of five parallel resonators that superimpose a tonal character on the input source It can produce sounds resembling anything from plucked strings to vocoder like effects The resonators are tuned in semitones providing a musical way of adjusting them The first resonator defines the root pitch and the four others are tuned relative to this pitch in musical intervals The input signal passes first through a filter and then into the resonators There are four input filter types to select from lowpass bandpass highpass and notch The input filter frequency can be adjusted with the
17. folder which it will find because it s part of the standard Library and then for a My Samples sub folder which it will not find but will then create 70 Chapter 6 Arrangement View The Arrangement View displays the Arrangement which contains music laid out along a song timeline like a multitrack tape O a o o o A Piece of Music in the Arrangement View The Arrangement View is a powerful editing tool that easily lets you combine and arrange MIDI loops sound effects and complete pieces of music CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 71 6 1 Navigation Live offers several fast methods for zooming and scrolling the Arrangement display KE 1 ni guitarchord To smoothly change the zoom level click and drag vertically in the beat time ruler at the top of the Arrangement View you can also drag horizontally to scroll the display To zoom in and out around the current selection use the computer keyboard s and keys To pan the display click and drag while holding the Ctrl PC Mac modifier The Arrangement Overview is like a bird s eye view of your music It always shows the complete piece from start to end The black rectangular outline repre sents the part of the Arrangement that is currently displayed in the Arrangement display below To scroll the display click within the outline and drag left or right to zoom out and in drag up
18. for cueing Tracks can only be soloed one at a time unless the Exclusive Solo option in the Record Warp Launch Preferences is deactivated Alternatively you can hold down the PC Mac modifier to solo more than one track Ifthe Arm Recording button is on the track is record enabled Tracks can only be armed one at a time unless the Exclusive Arm option in the Record Warp Launch Preferences is deactivated Alternatively you can hold down the PC Mac modifier to arm more than one track With the Exclusive Arm The Mixer Section Selectors The Mixer Controls CHAPTER 13 MIXING 170 option enabled inserting an instrument into a new or empty MIDI automatically arm the track 13 1 1 5 Aua 6 Audio B a Inf a 7 Audio o o C int inf The Mixer section of the Session Mixer has several additional features that are not visible by default The mixer is resizable and dragging upwards on the top of the mixer will extend the height of the track meters adding tick marks a numeric volume field and resettable peak level indicators Increasing a track s width in this state will add a decibel scale alongside the meter s tick marks These enhancements are tailored for use in traditional mixing settings but are available anytime the Mixer section is displayed Because of the enormous headroom of Live s 32 bit floating poin
19. CECCO Kick Snare Hit Cowbell A Bia seas Gomris PSM PSM S sess C 1 small snare GM Suggestion Side Stick The Pad View is unique to Drum Racks and offers an easy way to map and manipulate samples and devices Each pad represents one of the 128 available MIDI notes The pad overview to the right shifts the set of visible pads up or down in octave increments either by dragging the view selector to a new area or by using your computer keyboard s and keys Use the PC Mac modifier to shift the view by single rows instead A Rack s inner structure can sometimes be quite complicated Pad View can make it much easier to work by letting you focus on only the top level the notes and sounds It s important to remember that a pad represents a note rather than a chain More specifically it represents all chains no matter how deep in the Rack that are able to receive that pad s note What you can control with each pad is related to how many chains it represents e An empty pad shows only the note it will trigger When you mouse over it the status bar will display this note as well as the suggested GM instrument e A pad that triggers only one chain shows the name of the chain In this case the pad serves as a handy front end for many controls that are normally accessed deeper in the Rack such as mute solo preview and Hot Swap You can also rename and delete the chain via the pad e A pad that triggers multiple chain
20. Digitai_o2 Tola Resized Session View rir Pi i ae Tracks For convenient access to more clips at once you can resize Session View tracks by clicking and dragging at the edges of their title bars Tracks can be narrowed this way so that only Clip Launch buttons and essential track controls are visibile dada E IM 1 Bass 2 Chords 3 Rhodes 4 Perc s 5 Beats 6 Crash Master synth 1 rhodes intro A Scene in the Session Bss C E rhodes groovy Drums Crash Verse2 View The horizontal rows are called scenes The Scene Launch buttons are located in the rightmost column which represents the Master track To launch every clip in a row simultaneously click on the associated Scene Launch button This can be very useful in organizing the live performance of a song with multiple parts CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 87 The scene below a launched scene will automatically be selected as the next to be launched unless the Select Next Scene on Launch option in the Launch Preferences is set to Off This allows you to trigger scenes from top to bottom without having to select them first Computer keys or a MIDI controller can be used to launch scenes and scroll between them Scenes can be renamed using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the PC Mac context menu One can quickly rename several scenes by executing the Rename command and using t
21. Macro 8 Mostly Buzz jj BBE Rk 4 ej ll Il 0 00 6B 5 00 ms a Quarter Kin jj BOO 2i 4 M S A jj 10 0 ms Drive G 1G G 1 mes 0 Drop Audio Effects Here Hib o8 o o o o v Fip 500ms 0 00408 0 00 0 0 In any of Live s tracks devices are connected serially in a device chain passing their signals from one device to the next left to right By default the Track View displays only a single chain but there is actually no limit to the number of chains contained within a track Racks allow among other things additional device chains to be added to any track When a track has multiple chains they operate in parallel In Instrument and Effect Racks each chain receives the same input signal at the same time but then processes its signal serially through its own devices The output of each of the parallel chains is mixed together producing the Rack s output Drum Racks also allow multiple parallel chains to be used simultaneously but their chains process input somewhat differently Rather than receiving the same input signals each Drum Rack chain receives input from only a single assigned MIDI note The entire contents of any Rack can be thought of as a single device This means that adding a new Rack at any point in a device chain is no different than adding any other device and Racks can contain any number of other Racks If more device
22. Renaming an audio clip does not rename the referenced sample file To rename a file select it in Live s File Browsers and then choose the Edit menu s Rename command The Clip Box CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 98 The Clip Color chooser allows choosing a clip color 8 1 3 Clip Signature Using the Clip Signature fields you can specify the time signature of a MIDI or audio clip This setting is relevant only for display it does not affect playback Please note that Clip Signature is completely separate from the project s time signature and can be set independently for each clip This makes it easy to create complex polymetric textures by simultaneously triggering clips with different meters and or loop lengths 8 1 4 Groove The Clip Groove chooser selects the type of groove used for the clip Swing 8 for example applies an 8th note groove elo The Global Groove control defines the amount of the groove for every clip in the Live Set So how does it work Imagine a simple one bar MIDI clip that has a time signature of 4 4 Our MIDI clip is made up of 8th notes eight of them that play either on or between each of the four beats With a Clip Groove setting of Swing 8 the timing of our one bar clip becomes a bit like a rubber band that is pinned down at each beat but flexible in between The 8th notes that fall between beats can shift slightly forward With a Global Groove setting of 50 for example the notes will wait until
23. Toggles Clip View and Track View When the Mackie Control s Shift key is held down this sets the program focus to the Clip View or Track View whichever is currently on screen ViewBrowser SnapShot Shows hides the Browser When the Mackie Control s Shift key is held down this sets the program focus to the Browser ViewDetail Touch Shows Hides the Clip Track View When the Mackie Con trol s Shift key is held down this sets the program focus to the Clip View or Track View whichever is currently on screen Undo and Redo Undoes redoes the last change made to the Live Set The LED will illuminate if there is an available action to undo redo BTA Cancel Stops clips in the Session View from playing differently than how they were recorded into the Arrangement and returns to playing the Arrange ment The LED will illuminate if there is an Arrangement state available to which to return Locator Marker Deletes a locator when a locator is currently selected and the song is stopped Otherwise it creates a new locator at the current play position DrawMode Enter Enables disables Draw Mode for drawing notes and en velopes Follow Mixer Toggles Follow Mode which scrolls Live s display to follow playback 318 Chapter 23 Computer Audio Resources and Strategies Real time audio processing is a demanding task for general purpose computers which are usually designed to run spreadsheet
24. eS Changing Note Length Tip To set a group of notes to the same length select them all grab the end of the longest one drag them all down to zero length and then extend them MIDI Note Stretch Fold 1 11 3 1 2 123 13 13 3 14 143 c4 Three Variations Created c3 with the Stretch Notes Command When multiple notes are selected in the Note Editor the Stretch Notes command becomes available from the context menu if you invoke it with PC Ctrl 6 Mac Note Stretch markers will then appear in the Note Editor allowing notes to be scaled proportionally in time The markers are a pair of downward pointing indicators that snap to the beginning of the first and last notes in the selection By clicking and dragging one of the markers horizontally the selected notes will move and stretch so that they continue to occupy the same proportion of time that they did when they were initially selected The Note Stretch markers will always snap to the Note Editor s grid CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 137 lines unless the grid is not shown or the PC Mac modifier is held while dragging If one marker is dragged beyond the boundary of the other then the order of the stretched notes will be reflected in relation to their initial sequence this is sometimes referred to as retrograde behavior Any changes occurring to the notes included in the Note Stretch before the mouse bu
25. s settings keep in mind that you can use different settings for each clip within a Live Set even if those clips refer to the same sample on disk But if you drag a new version of the sample into a Live Set Live will use the settings stored in the analysis file for the newly created clip The analysis file s name is the same as that of the associated sample with an added asd extension Live puts this analysis file in the same folder as the sample bs Samples that have an asd file are displayed like this in the Browser pee Samples without an asd file look like this The analysis files themselves do not appear in Live s Browsers Note that you can suppress the creation of asd files by turning off the Create Analysis Files option in the File Folder Preferences All data except for the default clip settings can be recreated by Live if the asd file is missing however this will take some time for longer samples 5 2 3 File Pre Analysis To avoid waiting for longer samples to be analyzed the first time they are imported into Live you may want to pre analyze them To pre analyze all the files contained in any folder in the Browser use the PC 5 Mac context menu s Analyze Audio command This process can also be cancelled via the context menu 5 2 4 Exporting Audio The File menu s Export Audio command allows you to export Live s audio output as new samples The resulting files can be used to burn an audio CD for
26. 24 semitones using the Pitch controls and detuned in cents using the Detune controls The output section features the obligatory Dry Wet control and a Width parameter that affects only the wet signal and blends the left and right outputs of Resonators II V into a mono signal if set to zero 19 18 Reverb O Reverb Input Processing Early Reflections Global Diffusion Network ew HICH SOA O ooo H E 8 09 kH Mow 90 0 Hz 0 75 Predelay Decay Time Freeze A OQ ma 35 3 ms 0 50 165s The Reverb Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 263 19 18 1 Input Processing The input signal passes first through high and low cut filters whose X Y controller allows changing the band s center frequency X axis and bandwidth Y axis Either filter may be switched off when not needed to save CPU power Predelay controls the delay time in milliseconds before the onset of the first early reflection This delays the reverberation relative to the input signal One s impression of the size of a real room depends partly on this delay Typical values for natural sounds range from 1ms to 25ms 19 18 2 Early Reflections These are the earliest echoes that you hear after they bounce off a room s walls before the onset of the diffused reverberation tail Their amplitude and distribution give an impression of the room s character The Sh
27. 283 Chapter 21 Live Instrument Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in instruments The Working with Instruments and Effects chapter explains the basics of using instruments in Live The boxed version of Live LE ships with the Essential Instrument Collection LE Edition a multi gigabyte library of meticulously sampled and selected instruments ready for use in Simpler Learn how to access the EIC sounds at the end of this chapter CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 284 21 1 Impulse Impulse 6a Volume Y Kick Snare PercA PercB PercC PercD Hi1 Hi 2 2 29 dB Stat Transp Stretch Drive Freq Res Pan Volume Time NGONO 0 00ms 2st 00 300 1 00kH 0 30 100s 0 000B 00 Velocity Velocity eamate veto hear Transp 0 0 00 Sat Rien Random Mode 0 0 A Impulse is a drum sampler with complex modulation capabilities The eight drum samples loaded into Impulse s sample slots can be time stretched filtered and processed by enve lope saturation pan and volume components nearly all of which are subject to random and velocity based modulation 21 1 1 Sample Slots Drag and drop samples into any of Impulse s sample slots from the Browser or the Session and Arrangement Views Alternatively each sample slot features a Hot Swap button for hot swapping samples Loaded samples can be deleted with your computer keyboar
28. Generally every track and device being used in Live incurs some amount of CPU load However Live is smart and avoids wasting CPU cycles on tracks and devices that do not contribute anything useful For example dragging devices into a Live Set that is not running does not significantly increase the CPU load The load increases only as you start playing clips or feed audio into the effects When there is no incoming audio the effects are deactivated until they are needed again If the effect produces a tail like reverbs and delays deactivation occurs only after all calculations are complete While this scheme is very effective at reducing the average CPU load of a Live Set it cannot reduce the peak load To make sure your Live Set plays back continuously even under the most intense conditions play back a clip in every track simultaneously with all devices enabled 23 2 Managing the Disk Load A hard drive s access speed which is related to but not the same thing as rotational speed can limit Live s performance Most audio optimized computers use 7200 RPM or faster drives Laptops to save power often use 5400 RPM or slower drives which is why projects on laptops usually have lower track counts The amount of disk traffic Live generates is roughly proportional to the number of audio channels being written or read simultaneously A track playing a stereo sample causes more disk traffic than a track playing a mono sample
29. O E in Amio O in on Audio To MIDI To 5 Beats v Master gt 5 Beats x i lmpulse gt 1 lmpulse oF Audio tracks default to recording a stereo signal from the external input pair 1 2 MIDI tracks default to recording all MIDI that is coming in through the active external input devices The computer keyboard is by default activated as a pseudo MIDI input device allowing you to record MIDI even if no MIDI controller hardware is currently available For every track you can choose an input source other than the default any mono or stereo external input a specific MIDI channel from a specific MIDI in device or a signal coming from another track The Routing chapter describes these options in detail 14 2 Arming Record Enabling Tracks af I Il man ro Fme Onan AN a el al To select a track for recording click on its Arm button It doesn t matter if you click a track s Arm button in the Session View or in the Arrangement View since the two share the same set of tracks y 1 Bass 1 on wo 4 2 Chords 2 By default armed tracks are monitored meaning that their input is passed through their device chain and to the output so that you can listen to what is being recorded This behavior is called auto monitoring and you can change it to fit your needs The Track In Out Section in the Arrangement Left and Session View Right Track Arm Buttons in the Arrangement Left and Session R
30. Samples can be replaced by dragging in a new sample or by activating the integrated Hot Swap button Note When playing instruments from Ableton s Essential Instrument Collection Simpler runs in Multisample Mode The Sample View has no function in this mode CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 288 21 2 2 Sample Controls Simpler plays a specific region or loop of the sample as determined by a group of sample controls The Start and Length controls work together to specify where Simpler begins and ends its sweep of the sample As the name implies Start defines where sample playback starts The sample will play for the length defined by the Length parameter Both parameters are defined as a percentage of the whole region so setting start to 25 percent and length to 50 percent for example will start playback 1 4 of the way through the sample and stop playback at the 3 4 mark using 50 percent of the sample Samples are played by Simpler as one shots or as loops depending on whether or not the Loop switch is active When looping is active the Loop control dictates the length of the loop starting from the end of the playing sample Simpler will play the first instance of a looped sample beginning with the Start point then continue playing only the loop region When the sample s start or end points are moved Simpler will try to preserve the loop length for as long as possible by automatically adjusting the Start Loop and Len
31. The Dry control adjusts the unprocessed signal level Set it to minimum if using Delay in a return track 19 11 Flanger oe LFO S amp H Amount Shape 40 9 Rate 0 11 Hz Phase E Delay Time Feedback JE gt 100 Ons E OB 302 Flanger uses two parallel time modulated delays to create flanging effects Flanger s delays can be adjusted with the Delay Time control The Feedback control sends part of the output signal back through the device input while the Polarity switch or sets the polarity Delay Time and Feedback can be changed simultaneously using the effect s X Y controller Periodic control of delay time is possible using the envelope section You can increase or decrease the envelope amount or invert its shape with negative values and then use the Attack and Release controls to define envelope shape Flanger contains two LFOs to modulate delay time for the left and right stereo channels The Flanger Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 254 The LFOs have six possible waveform shapes sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and random The extent of LFO influence on the delays is set with the Amount control LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo and set in meter subdivisions e g sixteenth notes The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement
32. activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Feedback parameter defines how much of each channel s output signal feeds back into the delay lines inputs Internally they are two independent feedback loops so a signal on the left channel does not feed back into the right channel and vice versa The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Simple Delay in a return track The Simple Delay Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 268 19 21 Spectrum O Spectrum ee Block 16384 5 Channel E Scale x in 06g ST Range MEON Ho Spectrum performs realtime frequency analysis of incoming audio signals The results are represented in a graph with dB along the vertical axis and frequency pitch along the horizontal Note that Spectrum is not an audio effect but rather a measurement tool it does not alter the incoming signal in any way The Block chooser selects the number of samples t
33. and the resulting MIDI clips lose all reference to the original file MIDI files appear as folders in the File Browser opening the folders gives you access to the file s individual tracks also called voices or instruments CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 47 v Z bach_847 mid 3 Piano right Z Piano left o Fuga 1 o Fuga 2 O Fuga 3 Note that while you can rename or delete entire MIDI files via the Browser this is not possible with the individual MIDI tracks contained within them This is also the case with the individual components of Live Sets 5 3 1 Exporting MIDI Files Live MIDI clips can be exported as Standard MIDI files To export a MIDI clip use the File menu s Export Selected MIDI Clip command This command will open a file save dialog allowing you to choose the location for your new MIDI file Exporting a MIDI file is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip 5 4 Live Clips Individual clips can be exported to disk in the Live Clip format for easy retrieval and reuse in any project Because they only contain references to samples on disk rather than the audio data itself Live Clips are very small which makes it easy to develop and maintain your own collection To save a clip from the open Live Set to disk simply drag it to the File Browser and drop it into any folder You can then type in a new name for the clip or confirm the one suggested by Live with Return A MIDI File and
34. below Trigger creates variations of the grid when repetitions are triggered 1 4 1 8 and 1 16 trigger variations in regular intervals and Auto forces Beat Repeat to apply a new random variation after each repetition the most complex form of grid variation in Beat Repeat especially if triplets are also allowed Beat Repeat s repetitions can be pitched down for special sonic effects Pitch is adjusted through resampling in Beat Repeat lengthening segments to pitch them down without again compressing them to adjust for the length change This means that the rhythmical structure can become quite ambiguous with higher Pitch values The Pitch Decay control tapers the pitch curve making each repeated slice play lower than the previous one Warning This is the most obscure parameter of Beat Repeat Beat Repeat includes a combined lowpass and highpass filter for defining the passed fre quency range of the device You can turn the filter on and off and set the center frequency and width of the passed frequency band using the respective controls The original signal which was received at Beat Repeat s input is mixed with Beat Repeat s repetitions according to one of three mix modes Mix allows the original signal to pass through the device and have repetitions added to it Insert mutes the original signal when repetitions are playing but passes it otherwise and Gate passes only the repetitions never passing the original signal Gate mode is es
35. click on the piano roll to select all notes within the desired key track make sure Draw Mode is activated and draw the ramp into the Velocity Editor while holding the modifier so that you affect only the selected notes Tip 2 To draw a linear velocity ramp across a selection of notes first select the notes that should be affected using the modifier to select non adjacent notes if necessary Make sure Draw Mode is not activated and draw the line into the Velocity Editor while holding the modifier Notes in the Note Editor display their velocity in their coloring light notes play softly and vice versa To change the velocity of notes without the Velocity Editor open click any selected note and drag vertically while pressing the PC Mac modifier Note Off Velocity By default the Velocity Editor allows you to adjust note on velocities But you can toggle the editor to show note off velocities via options in the editor s PC 6 Mac context menu Drawing Identical Velocities Left and a Crescendo Right CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 139 oma ea Gaal Tro ay ene The Velocity Editor 5 Off V Show Note Off Velocity Showing Note Off TO gt ae a Raitt Velocities Please note that note off or release velocity is a somewhat esoteric parameter and is only supported by certain devices Ableton s Sampler instrument for example provides
36. from view does not deactivate its envelope 8 If any automation lanes have been created for a given track you can hide or show them all by clicking the additional button that appears at the bottom of the track s title bar Clicking PC Ctrl Mac on a track name or automation lane header opens a context menu with additional options for viewing envelopes This context menu also contains commands to quickly clear all automation envelopes for the track or any of its devices 17 4 1 Drawing Envelopes With Draw Mode enabled you can click and drag to draw an envelope curve gt gt m ove Se 1 Bar 7 The Draw Mode Switch To toggle Draw Mode select the Draw Mode option from the Options menu click on the Control Bar s Draw Mode switch or press PC Mac CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 218 Drawing an Envelope Drawing creates steps as wide as the visible grid which you can modify using a number of handy shortcuts For freehand drawing you can hide the grid using the Snap to Grid Options menu entry or the PC Mac shortcut To temporarily enable freehand drawing while the grid is shown hold down PC Mac while drawing 17 4 2 Editing Breakpoints With Draw Mode off the envelope display looks and works differently The line segments and the breakpoints connecting them become draggable objects Clicking and dragging in the envelope s background defines a select
37. functionality in particular stretching and synchronization 24 5 Summary and Conclusions Ableton wrote this paper in order to help users understand exactly how audio is affected when performing various procedures in Live Our focus has been on functions that have proven over the years to cause confusion or uncertainty and the list of both neutral and non neutral operations presented here is necessarily incomplete We encourage you to refer to this paper if you have any questions about the functions discussed but we also encourage you to contact us if you have additional questions that we haven t answered Live is a product but it is also an ongoing process and one that benefits greatly from user input 1contact ableton com 333 Chapter 25 Live 7 MIDI Fact Sheet In conjunction with our work on the audio engine Ableton has spent additional effort an alyzing Live s MIDI timing and making improvements where necessary We wrote this fact sheet to help users understand the problems involved in creating a reliable and accurate computer based MIDI environment and to explain Live s approach to solving these prob lems Note the MIDI timing issues discussed in this paper are generally not applicable to users with high quality audio and MIDI hardware If you have already invested time and money into optimizing these factors in your studio and are not experiencing problems with MIDI timing you probably do not need this in
38. including the operating system and driver architecture used Jitter much more so than latency creates the feeling that MIDI timing is sloppy or loose 25 3 Live s MIDI Solutions Ableton s approach to MIDI timing is based on two key assumptions 1 In all cases latency is preferable to jitter Because latency is consistent and predictable it can be dealt with much more easily by both computers and people 2 If you are using playthrough while recording you will want to record what you hear even if because of latency this occurs slightly later than what you play Live 7 addresses the problems inherent in recording playback and playthrough so that MIDI timing will be responsive accurate and consistently reliable In order to record incoming events to the correct positions in the timeline of a Live Set Live needs to know exactly when those events were received from the MIDI keyboard But Live cannot receive them directly they must first be processed by the MIDI interface s drivers and the operating system To solve this problem the interface drivers give each MIDI event a timestamp as they receive it and those are passed to Live along with the event so that Live knows exactly when the events should be added to the clip During playthrough a DAW must constantly deal with events that should be heard as soon as possible but which inevitably occurred in the past due to inherent latency and system delays So a choi
39. ll Fees View 1 To show a track s envelopes unfold the track by clicking the button next to the track name 2 Clicking on one of the track s mixer or device controls will display this control s envelope on the clip track 3 Envelopes appear on top of the audio waveform or MIDI display An enve lope s vertical axis represents the control value and the horizontal axis represents time For switches and radio buttons the value axis is discontinuous 4 The Automation Device chooser either selects the track mixer one of the track s devices or None to hide the envelope It also provides you with an overview of CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 217 which devices actually have automation by showing an LED next to their labels You can make things clearer still by selecting Show Automated Parameters Only from the bottom of the chooser 5 The Automation Control chooser selects a control from the device chosen in the Automation Device chooser The labels of automated controls have an LED Once an envelope has been selected on the track several new buttons appear 6 The button moves the envelope into its own automation lane below the clip You can then select another automation parameter from the choosers to view it simultaneously If the Automation Device chooser is set to None this button will be hidden 7 The button hides its respective automation lane Note that hiding a lane
40. the mouse is held down over the scrub area a portion of the clip the size of the chosen quantization setting will be repeatedly played With small quantization settings or a setting of None this allows you to scrub through the music Looping Clips To have the clip play as a potentially infinite loop turn on the Loop switch Note that the Warp switch must be activated before the Loop switch is accessible as unwarped clips cannot be looped You can click and drag to change the position and length of the loop brace in the Sample Display or you can type exact values into the Loop Length and Position fields to the left of the display Sample gt Wj Position Geb L sh Length Sei aJo Lo The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and its position changed with commands from the computer keyboard e 4 and J nudge the loop brace to the left right by the current grid setting e 4 and 4 shift the loop brace left right in steps the size of its length e Ctrl jf PC Mac shortens or lengthens the loop brace by the current grid setting e Ctrl PC Mac doubles or halves the loop length The Clip Loop Controls CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 105 Regardless of the position of the loop brace clip play upon launch will begin at the position marked by the start marker which means you can set up the clip to run into a loop a Start 11 1
41. the output volume of Simpler is controlled by the Volume control which can also be dependent upon note velocity as adjusted by the Velocity control Tremolo effects can be achieved by allowing the LFO to modulate the Volume parameter 21 2 9 Strategies for Saving CPU Power Real time synthesis needs lots of computing power However there are strategies for reducing CPU load Save the CPU spent on Simpler by doing some of the following e Turn off the Filter if it is not needed e Use filter types that are less expensive when possible A filter s cost correlates with the steepness of its slope LP24 is more expensive than LP12 Turn off the LFO for a slightly positive influence on CPU Stereo samples need significantly more CPU than mono samples as they require twice the processing Decrease the number of simultaneously allowed voices with the Voice control 21 3 The Essential Instrument Collection The boxed version of Live LE ships with the Essential Instrument Collection LE Edition a multi gigabyte library of meticulously sampled instruments created in cooperation with CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 292 SONiVOX Chocolate Audio and Puremagnetik Note The Essential Instrument Collection is not included with downloadable purchases Download customers can choose however to purchase it later 21 3 1 EIC Installation The Essential Instrument Collection LE Edition is installed separately from the
42. the signal being compressed and the input source that triggers the compressor are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to compress a signal based on the level of another signal or a specific frequency component To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Compressor window by toggling the button in its title bar The sidechain parameters are divided into two sections On the left are the external controls Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select any of Live s internal routing points from the choosers below This causes the selected source to act as the compressor s trigger instead of the signal that is actually being compressed The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the compressor s trigger The Compressor Device With Sidechain Section CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 245 With Dry Wet at 100 the compressor is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the compressor and is never actually heard Note that FB mode and automatic Makeup are not available when using external sidechain On the right of the external section are the controls for the sidechain EQ Enabling this sectio
43. 2 3 of the way through the beat to play where an 8th note triplet would normally fall 16th and 32nd note swing works similarly but on a smaller scale Every other note shifts forward toward the nearest 16th or 32nd note triplet position Returning to our rubber band analogy we can see that Swing 8 can actually affect more than just 8th notes Actually any notes that do not lie directly on a beat will be affected when the rubber band is stretched including 16th and 32nd notes By the same token Swing 16 where our rubber band is anchored to positions just an 8th note apart can affect 32nd notes The Control Bar s Global Groove Control CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 99 Groove can be applied to both MIDI clips and audio clips Applying groove to audio clips does require that the Warp switch be activated and a Warp Mode other than Re Pitch selected If an audio clip is in Beats Mode the Transients setting must be greater than or equal to the Clip Groove chooser s swing setting e g with a Transients setting of 1 16 Swing 8 and Swing 16 can be used but not Swing 32 Because of this feature s dependency on note timing we recommend that you quantize MIDI clips prior to applying groove provided you want predictable results For audio clips any swing contained within the original sample can be removed by appropriately setting Warp Markers prior to applying the artificial swing of the Groove setting 8 1 5 Clip Offset an
44. Export Audio exporting video see Export Audio F FAQs File Browser wc das atdud 2s ehawntyedewk ees 31 opening Sets with the INDEX 359 file management see Manage Files H command File Manager 0cceeceeeeeenees 57 harddisk c e c ees edeeetae ds see CPU File Type preference Seal cue seein aie eet ee 187 Hard Disk Overload indicator 320 File Folder Preferences 0 0005 6 High Quality switch 0 107 and VST Plug ins 60 201 hot swapping eee 40 Filter Delay effect 000 0020 252 and device presets 4 si6 6se0 195 Fixed Grid command nsss 80 and Impulse 6 0ssseeeseeeees 284 Fixed Grid options i jis siciveaeodidedends 80 and Simpler s0 060 287 FLAC files cdstpssacinsarnaitnes see samples Flanger effect oemssiste snie ste seat apea 253 Fold button 2 5 cs csegeadin eg eaedeed ates 132 VO tee routn Follow Actions 0 cence eee eee WAS eee pee TE g Follow command vssicerscvesaueeges 72 102 ee me Ree ee rn Follow switch A iat oe Aan al fragmentary bars cs tivaiusiavawnd esvaded 76 pulse De rae e arae Full Screen Mode 7 and individual outputs 286 ee and MIDI 22 284 G Titel sco ccaeia ts catadonswede peace 285 global controls 286 Gate effect 2 cece eee ence eee 254 Link button cswetkeraonnivsunwnvers 28
45. Frequency parameter The first resonator is fed with both the left and right input channels while the second and fourth resonators are dedicated to the left channel and the third and fifth to the right channel The Note parameter defines the root pitch of all the resonators ranging from C1 to C5 lt can also be detuned in cents using the Fine parameter The Decay parameter lets you The Resonators Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 262 adjust the amount of time it takes for the resonators to be silent after getting an input signal The longer the decay time the more tonal the result will be similar to the behavior of an undamped piano string As with a real string the decay time depends on the pitch so low notes will last longer than higher ones The Const switch holds the decay time constant regardless of the actual pitch Resonators provides two different resonation modes Mode A provides a more realistic sounding resonation while Mode B offers an effect that is especially interesting when Resonator l s Note parameter is set to lower pitches The brightness of the resulting sound can be adjusted using the Color control All of the resonators have an On Off switch and a Gain control A resonator that is turned off does not need CPU Turning off the first resonator does not affect the other ones Resonators through V follow the Note parameter defined in Resonator but they can each be individually transposed
46. MIDI and Key Remote Control chapter The File Folder Preferences pertain to Live s file management and the location of plug in devices The Record Warp Launch Preferences allow customizing the default state for new Live Sets and their components as well as selecting options for new recordings The CPU Preferences include options for managing the processing load including multicore multiprocessor support The Authorizations Trial Preferences are used to manage licensing and installation of the Live platform and add on components like the Operator instrument CHAPTER 2 FIRST STEPS 7 2 3 The Main Live Screen Most of your work in Live happens in the main Live screen This screen consists of a number of views and each view manages a specific aspect of your Live Set which is the type of document that you create and work on in Live Since screen space is usually limited the Live views can t all be displayed at the same time Each one of the selector buttons at the screen borders calls up a specific view clicking this one for instance opens Live s Device Browser Nam D The Device Browser Selector To hide one of Live s views and free up screen space click on the triangle shaped button next to it To restore the view click the button again O Nam strument Rack A View Show Hide impulse Button You can run Live in Full Screen Mode by selecting the Full Screen command from the View menu To leave Full Screen Mode
47. MIDI remote control instant mapping Yes Yes MIDI output to hardware synths No Yes MIDI Clock syne No Yes ReWire No Yes REX file support No Yes Multicore multiprocessor support Yes Yes SmartPriming memory management Yes Yes POW R dithering No Yes Video import and export No Yes CHAPTER 27 LIVE 7 LE VS LIVE 7 COMPARISON CHART 354 Live 7 LE Live 7 WAV AIFF MP3 Ogg Vorbis FLAC file support Yes Yes 355 Index A Ableton e mail addresses Sale S lt ce3d icsbiwivdeawedaateesde ds 13 technical support 44 avaieedsdanends 12 web addresses registration 0 0008 10 unlocking ee eee eee eee eee 11 Webshop suh054320s0chasnesekapne iz Adaptive Grid options 80 Add Remove Stop Button command 90 analysis files 00 cee e eee eee eee 42 storing clip settings in 107 analysis of files batch processing 0 43 Analyze Audio command 43 Arm Recording button 169 180 Arpeggiator effect x o2aacnneiadeaness 272 Arrangement see Arrangement View Arrangement Overview 71 Arrangement Position fields 13 Arrangement View 0 005 70 and copying to Session 92 and Session View 0 0005 15 grid SHAPING xaiaceuasusatevenaeians 80 insert marker cee eee e ees 72 looping i th dics snide ei ekes See
48. Mode Double Click Double Click Scroll Display to Follow Playback Ctrl C 8 Move Clip Region with Start Marker A JK A Ka CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 349 26 16 Grid Snapping and Drawing Windows Macintosh Toggle Draw Mode Ctrl JB S WB Narrow Grid Ctr J0 C W Widen Grid Ctl Je C We Triplet Grid Ctrl JB C 8B Snap to Grid Ciri J4 C Bu Fixed Zoom Adaptive Grid Ctl jG So 86 Bypass Snapping While Dragging Alt G 26 17 Global Quantization Windows Macintosh Sixteenth Note Quantization Ctrl J6 CG 6 Eighth Note Quantization Quarter Note Quantization 1 Bar Quantization Ctrl _ JE 6 8E Quantization Off Cti JO G_ 0 CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 350 26 18 Working with Sets and the Program Windows Macintosh New Live Set Ctrl JN S WN Open Live Set Ctrl j O Go Bo Close Live Set Ctr JW C WwW Save Live Set Ctrl jf Co 8E Save Live Set As A Ctri JS 4 JG 8e Quit Live Ciri JQ 6 HQ Hide Live C HH Export Audio Video Ctrl JR SG HER Export MIDI file Cri JQ JE 6 ge JE 26 19 Working with Plug Ins and Devices Windows Macintosh Show Hide Plug In Windows Cti At JP S WAt fP Open
49. Preset command Then type in a new program name and confirm by pressing P decimate x VST programs and banks can be imported from files Clicking the VST Program Load button brings up a standard file open dialog for locating the desired file Windows only Please select from the File Type menu whether you want to locate VST Device Program files or VST Device Bank files To save the currently selected program as a file click the VST Program Bank Save button to bring up a standard file save dialog select VST Device Program from the Format menu Macintosh from the File Type menu Windows select a folder and name For saving the entire bank as a file proceed likewise but choose VST Device Bank as a file type format The VST Plug In Program Chooser Renaming a VST Plug in Program The VST Program Bank Load Button Left and Save Button Right CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 205 15 4 Audio Units Plug Ins Audio Units Plug ins are only available in Mac OS X In most respects they operate just like VST Plug ins MicroTonicau Fill Rate Mu Mute 7 Mod Amount 1 w Ueno aoe 0 00 o o 0 00 0 00 Play Stop Mute 4 Mute 8 Osc Decay 1 Noise Filt Mode 1 StopNext KB A amp ray LP 0 84 LJ 0 0 50 Mute 1 Mute 5 Osc Wave Mod Mode 1 Noise Filt Freq 1 amp amp Sin Y Deca x o o Decay a 1 00 Mute 6 Osc Freq 1 Mod Rate 1 Noise Filt Q 1 4 A 0 47 50 0
50. Projects In Live s File Browsers the Library is accessible through a bookmark C Multisampies E Musik E Sampies Clips can be conveniently saved in Live Clip format for later reuse by dragging them from the open Live Set into the desired folder in the Library Device presets are saved in the Library by default but you can also save them with a Project Ableton delivers Library content that can serve as a starting point for creative exploration Content is shipped in the form of Factory Live Packs Factory Live Packs are available from installation CDs DVDs or the Ableton website To install a Factory Live Pack in the Library double click the Live Pack file alp drag it into the Live main window or locate it via the File menu s Install Live Pack command A list of the currently installed Factory Live Packs is available from the Preferences Live Packs tab Here you can select individual Live Packs from the list and click the Uninstall button to remove them 7http www ableton com downloads Choosing the Library Bookmark CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 59 By default the Live 7 Library contains the following sub folders Ableton Project Info contains files that Live uses to identify the Library as a Project which allows it to be manageable using the File Manager It also contains logs that keep track of what Live Packs have been installed Clips contains the Live Clips that are installed a
51. Scaling MIDI Ports rack Sync Remote When MIDI controls that send absolute values such as faders are used in a bank switching setup where they address a different destination parameter with each controller bank you will need to decide how Live should handle the sudden jumps in values that will occur when moving a control for the first time after switching the bank Three takeover modes are available None As soon as the physical control is moved its new value is sent immediately to its destination parameter usually resulting in abrupt value changes Pick Up Moving the physical control has no effect until it reaches the value of its destination parameter As soon as they are equal the destination value tracks the control s value 1 1 This option can provide smooth value changes but it can be difficult to estimate exactly where the pick up will take place Value Scaling This option ensures smooth value transitions It compares the physical control s value to the destination parameter s value and calculates a smooth convergence of the two as the control is moved As soon as they are equal the destination value tracks the control s value 1 1 MIDI Controller Takeover Mode CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 300 22 2 The Mapping Browser 1 Audio Shaper Type cc 10 2 MIDI Sampler Fittor Envelope Init 6 3 SSRN cc 11 2 MIDI Sampler Fitter Envelope Po SSE 00 cc 12 2 MIDI S
52. Set in the Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Crop Until the Set is saved the new sample remains at the location specified by the Temporary Folder 8 2 11 Replacing and Editing the Sample To replace the sample referenced by the clip with a different one drop the new sample directly from the File Browser into the Clip View Clip settings like pitch and volume will be retained The Warp Markers will be retained only if the new sample has the exact same length as the old sample The Sample Displays PC Ctrl Mac context menu includes the Manage Sample File command This opens the File Manager for the current Set with the sample referenced by the clip selected From there you can replace and destructively edit the sample in such a way that all clips and instruments referencing the sample will be affected You can also use the Show in Browser command inthe PC Ctrl 6 Mac context menu to reveal the file in the Browser CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 111 8 3 The Notes Box Orig BPM Start Set 140 00 aj 1 4 itera GZ Bank 16 4 4 None Sub Bank Loop _ Position Set None JOO Program 18 z Length Gad 16 oj 0 8 3 1 Tempo Controls The Orig BPM field displays Live s interpretation of the tempo at which the clip s MIDI was recorded When dragging up or down in the Original BPM field or clicking the 2 and 2 buttons you will
53. a flashing insert mark Clicking and dragging selects a timespan To access the time within a clip for editing unfold its track by clicking the button next to the track name a 1 mine tUSIMbeat A 2 sag Notice that you can adjust the height of the unfolded track by dragging the split line below the Unfold Track button Clicking and dragging in the waveform display below the clip s horizontal strip allows you to select time within the clip Note that you can actually unfold all of your tracks at once by holding down the PC Mac modifier when clicking the button Clicking on the loop brace is a shortcut for executing the Edit menu s Select Loop command which selects all material included within the loop Holding while clicking extends an existing selection in the same track or across tracks Adjusting an Unfolded Track s Height CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 80 6 8 Using the Editing Grid To ease editing the cursor will snap to grid lines that represent the meter subdivisions of the song tempo The grid can be set to be either zoom adaptive or fixed You can set the width of both zoom adaptive and fixed grid lines using the PC 6 Mac context menu available in either the Arrangement View track area or the Clip View display The following shortcuts to Options menu commands allow quickly working with the grid Use Ctrl J t PC amp grid lin
54. a Current Project sub folder You can copy presets from other Browser locations to the current project by Ctrl PC Mac dragging them You can also save presets directly to the current project by dragging from CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 68 the device s title bar and dropping into the Current Project You can then use the File Management tools collect any referenced samples etc 5 13 3 Can Work On Multiple Versions of a Set If you d like to work on different versions of the same Live Set save them into the same Project This will usually be the Project that was created when you saved the first version of the Live Set If a Project contains multiple Live Sets it will only collect one copy of any samples used by the various versions which can save disk space and help with organization 5 13 4 Where Should I Save My Live Sets You can save Live Sets anywhere you want but saving to the Library or pre existing Project folders can cause problems and should be reserved for special cases You should only save Live Sets in the Library if you intend to use them as templates for other Live Sets Likewise you should only save a Live Set to an existing Project if it is somehow related to the Project for example an alternate version of a song that s already in the Project 5 13 5 Where Should I Save My Live Clips If you d like to have your Live Clips available in all of your Projects create a Library sub folder and save you
55. a guitar Monitoring then means that the signal from your live guitar playing actually reaches the The Mixer s In Out Section and Mixer Section Selectors CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 151 track s output via the track s device chain If the track s output is set to Master you can hear the guitar signal processed by whatever effects are used and delayed by whatever latency the audio hardware interface incurs over your speakers The In Out section offers for every audio track and MIDI track a Monitor radio button with the following three options The default Auto monitoring setting does the right thing for most straightforward recording applications Monitoring is on when the track is armed record enabled but monitoring is inhibited as long as the track is playing clips r eeccceseeece B To permanently monitor the track s input regardless of whether the track is armed or clips are playing choose In This setting effectively turns the track into what is called an Aux on some systems the track is not used for recording but for bringing in a signal from elsewhere With this setting output from the clips is suppressed An In monitoring setting can be easily recognized even when the In Out section is hidden by the orange color of the track s Activator switch Monitoring can be turned off altogether by choosing the Off option This is useful when recording acoustic instruments which are monitored throug
56. and Time Signature CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 88 7 3 The Track Status Fields You can tell a track s status by looking at the Track Status field just above the active track s mixer controls CECE MAA I The pie chart icon represents a looping Session clip The number to the right of the circle is the loop length in beats and the number at the left represents how many times the loop has been played since its launch a Audio From A The progress bar icon represents a one shot non looping Session clip The value displays the remaining play time in minutes seconds MIOT From MIDI From A microphone icon appears in an audio track that is set to monitor its input A keyboard icon appears in a MIDI track under these same circumstances O Audio From Audio F If the track is playing clips from the Arrangement a miniature display representing the Arrangement clips being played appears A Track Playing a Looping Session Clip A One shot Session Clip Monitoring the Input Playing the Arrangement CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 89 7 4 Setting Up the Session View Grid Clips arrive in the Session View by being imported from the File Browsers or through recording Library Name 1 Audio 2 MIDI M Sia aay O 04 oct14a aif eee o 04 oct14b aif Beet o 04 oct14c aif o o b 0 04 oct18 o mi If you are dragging multiple clips into the Session View Live defaults to arrange
57. and down To change the displayed part of the Arrangement drag the outline s left and right edges Toseea specific part of the Arrangement in more detail click on it in the Overview and drag downwards to zoom in around that part Note that you can also drag Navigating the Arrangement View CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 72 horizontally to scroll the display Using this method you can zoom and scroll to focus around any part of the Arrangement with just one mouse motion 6 To have the Arrangement display follow the song position and scroll automati cally turn on the Follow switch or use the Follow command from the Options menu 6 2 Transport There are a number of ways to control Live s transport with the computer keyboard and mouse 1 You can start Arrangement playback by clicking the Control Bar s Play button and stop playback by clicking the Stop button Arrangement playback can also be toggled on and off by pressing the keyboard s space bar merged pis wail 2 Buttons in the Control b y e OVR G Bar 2 You can set the Arrangement playback position by clicking anywhere along the Arrangement to place the flashing insert marker Double clicking the Stop button will return the Arrangement play position to 1 1 1 Arrangement Playback Begins from the Insert S Marker To continue playback from the position where it last stopped rather than from the insert marker hold down
58. as unused even if other Projects or programs still use it To find the unused samples for the currently open Project choose the Manage Files com mand from the File menu click the Manage Project button and then click on the triangular shaped fold button next to Unused Samples to access a summary and the Show button Clicking the Show button makes the File Browser list the unused samples there you can preview the samples and delete them if you like Note you can also find the unused samples from the Library choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the Manage Library button and then see the Unused Samples section Last but not least you find the unused samples for all Projects found in a specific folder and its sub folders PC Ctrl Mac on a folder in the File Browser and choose the Manage Projects ceed then see the Unused Samples section Live inspects each Project individually and labels a sample unused even if another Projects in the same folder does use that sample To prevent losses you may want to first collect the samples into their respective Projects and then purge the Projects of unused samples CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 67 5 12 Packing Projects into Live Packs Live s File Manager provides the option of packing a Live Project in Live Pack format for convenient archiving and transfer To do this choose the Manage Files command from the File menu click the Manage Pr
59. audio clips Live retains the clip properties the Warp Markers are kept if the new sample has the same or a greater length as the old sample and discarded otherwise Please note that replacing a sample will change all clips in your set that reference this sample Replace Sample Files e Hot swap samples Using the Hot Swap button at the left hand side of each line you can quickly browse through alternatives for the sample that is currently being referenced This is like dragging samples here only quicker ea Bass Detector wav External nia Bass Detector wav Project Test n a 2 Bass Detector wav Library na e Edit a referenced sample using an external application which can be chosen in the Preferences File Folder tab Clicking the Edit button will open the referenced sample in the external application The sample will remain offline as long as the Edit switch is engaged For samples used in audio clips the current set of Warp Markers is retained only if the sample length remains the same as before Bass Detector wav External nia s Bass Detector wav Project Test n a eJ Edit Bass Detector wav Library nia e View a sample s location The Location column states if a sample is missing or if it resides in the Live Library a Project or somewhere else external Every Line in the Sample Reference List is a Drop Target for Samples The Sample Reference Lists Hot Swap Button The Sample Refere
60. but could be useful in the future 4 15 The Library The Live Library acts as a repository of sounds that are available to all projects In Live s File Browsers the Library is accessible through a bookmark Bookmarks can be selected by clicking the Browser s title bar to open the Bookmark menu A Live Clip in the File Browser CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 30 Workspace E Musik E Sampies L ee The first time you run Live it will automatically install its Library to your standard user folder You can of course move it to a new location After installation the Library will already contain a few sound ideas courtesy of Ableton We encourage you to experiment with this material to get a sense of what the program can do but we do not recommend removing or changing the contents of the factory Library Ableton provides additional Library content in the form of Live Packs which are available from installation CDs DVDs or the Ableton website Owners of a boxed version of Live can enjoy the Essential Instrument Collection a multi gigabyte library of meticulously sampled and selected instruments 7 http www ableton com downloads Choosing the Library Bookmark 31 Chapter 5 Managing Files and Sets Various types of files are used in making music with Live from those containing MIDI and audio to more program specific files such as Live Clips and Live Sets This chapter will explain everything you
61. changed using the Base control The X axis of the map shows incoming note values and the Y axis their outgoing equivalents Use mouse clicks to move or delete the yellow squares which define where an incoming note will be sent on the scale Deleting a note on the scale map means that it will no longer play The Scale Effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 281 The Range and Lowest controls work together to define the note range within which scale mapping will take effect Outside of the range defined by these controls the Scale effect will be inapplicable and the LED light will flash to indicate that some notes are not being processed by the effect but are playing at their unaltered pitch 20 7 Velocity Velocity re maps the 127 MIDI note velocity values It can function on MIDI Note On or Note Off messages or both depending on the setting of the Operation chooser The Out Low and Out Hi knobs control the outgoing velocity from 1 to 127 which is represented by the Y axis of the X Y display Incoming velocities that are shown in the display are within the range chosen by the Range and Lowest controls and are represented on the X axis The resulting curve shows how velocity is being altered by the effect If Lowest and Out Low are both set to zero and Range and Out Hi are set to 127 the display will show a straight diagonal line that indicates the equivalent of an effect bypass Softly played notes are
62. click the button that appears in the lower right corner of the screen Full Screen Mode can also be toggled by pressing Fi1_ Note On Mac OS X this key is assigned by default to Expos and will not toggle Full Screen Mode unless Expos has been deactivated or assigned to a different key in OS X s System Preferences If one of the browser views is open you can adjust the main window s horizontal split by dragging CHAPTER 2 FIRST STEPS 8 Devices C A teosene Crasse O gt E Instrument Rack ae B gt E impulse o gt E Operator o gt E Sampler A o gt GH Simpter A Adjusting the Main v PD mio effects MIDI From MIDI From Window Split Chapter 3 Unlocking Live Live is protected against illegal use by a copy protection scheme This scheme has been designed to meet the highest security standards while avoiding hassles for our customers If you find this procedure to be an inconvenience please understand that the copy protection secures your investment It allows Ableton to provide you with support and to continue developing Live 3 1 Step 1 Entering Your Serial Number The first time you run Live you will be prompted to enter your serial number As an owner of Live LE you have received a serial number from Ableton either via e mail if you ordered directly from Ableton or on a card as part of the Live LE package The serial number is composed of numbers 0 9 and letters A F If yo
63. clips You could for example use Follow Actions to randomly trigger clips with different MIDI controller clip envelopes so that fine variations in pitch bend or modulation of an instrument or synth could occur as the clips in a group interacted Audio clips could morph between different effect or clip transposition settings Using Follow Actions and Legato Mode together provides a powerful way of gradually changing a melody or beat Imagine that you have several identical clips of a melody that form a group and they are set up to play in Legato Mode Whenever their Follow Actions tell them to move on to another clip in the group the melody will not change as Legato Mode will sync the new play position with the old one in beat time The settings and clip envelopes of each clip or even the actual notes contained in a MIDI clip can then be slowly adjusted so that the melody goes through a gradual metamorphosis CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 148 11 6 5 Mixing up Melodies and Beats You can let Follow Actions perform unpredictable remixes and solos for you Use a clip containing a beat or melody and copy it so that there are several instances of it forming a group Alternatively you can use several different beats or melodies that you want to mix together The start and end for each clip can be set differently as can clip envelopes and other clip settings As long as Follow Action Time in each clip is equal to the length of the clip that
64. containing the word bass but also those located in folders with names containing the word bass Compressed sample metadata tags are also included in the search making it possible to search for songs from a specific album or artist for example Searching file paths and metadata can be deactivated with the Search In Path and Search In Metadata settings available in the Preferences File Folder tab The names of MIDI tracks within multitrack MIDI files are also included in searches Live maintains an index of the hard disk so that it can deliver search results instantly The index is kept up to date as you create install delete rename and move files within Live it has no way of knowing however what you are doing outside of Live If you have subsequently moved files using programs other than Live the initial results of a search might be incomplete The Go button s label will change to Rescan If you can t find a file in the search results or need to be sure that the results are comprehensive click the Rescan button or once more and Live will rebuild its index for the current Browser root Activating Browser Search Mode The Search Field and Go Button CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 36 i ok Resear Name J gt F Bass Detector Part 1 aic The Rescan Button Automatic rescanning for new searches can be activated and deactivated in the File Folder Preferences While a search rescan
65. conversion as an offline process in another application Once the samples have been converted to the sample rate that you plan to use in Live the files can be imported without any loss of quality Rendering audio from Live with a sampling rate other than the one that was used while working on the project is also a non neutral operation and may result in a loss of sound quality It is recommended to always render using the original sampling rate and then convert the rendered file using a dedicated mastering application that is optimized for these kinds of CPU intensive offline tasks While we recommend that you use a high quality offline tool for sample rate conversion we recognize that one of Live s core features is its ability to pitch shift and warp audio in real time For this situation it is necessary to make a trade off between CPU performance and precision We recommend the use of the Hi O button for any clips which undergo transposition in a given Set The algorithm behind the Hi Q switch has been rewritten for Live 7 and now results in considerably lower distortion than in previous versions 24 3 3 Volume Automation Automation of volume level results in a change in gain which is necessarily a non neutral operation But certain implementations of automation envelopes can result in audible artifacts particularly if the envelopes are not calculated at a fast enough rate In Live 7 volume automation curves are updated for each audio
66. current Set and drop it onto any track title bar or into the drop area next to or below the tracks The tracks from the dropped Set will be completely reconstructed including their clips in the Session and Arrangement View their devices and their automation Session View Drop Area for Importing Live Sets CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 50 Arrangement View Drop Area for Importing Live Sets If you prefer to import individual tracks from a Set you can unfold the Live Set in the File Browser just as if it were a folder Unfolding a Set to Reveal its Tracks You can now drag the individual tracks and drop them as described at the beginning of this section Of the three tracks contained in the Tango Set shown in the following figure two contain Session View clips These can be accessed by unfolding the tracks oy vows v E Tango ais Revealing the Session View Clips Contained in a Set CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 51 You can browse preview and import Session View clips from the Set as if they had been stored as individual Live Clips This basically means that any Live Set can serve as a pool of sounds for any other suggesting creative reuse and crossover 5 5 3 Exporting Session Clips as New Sets You can export a selection of Session View clips as a new Live Set by dragging them to the File Browser To export a Set first click and drag or use the
67. discrete test configurations MIDI Input Test Configuration CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 338 Windows e Interface A The maximum jitter was 4 ms with the majority of the jitter occurring at 1 ms Interface B For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 3 or 4 ms At 96 kHz and 1024 sample buffer there were a small number of events with 5 ms of jitter At 44 1 kHz and 512 sample buffer occasional events with 6 ms occurred In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms Interface C For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 5 ms At 96 kHz and 512 sample buffer there were a small number of events with between 6 and 8 ms of jitter At 44 1 kHz and 1024 sample buffer there were a small number of events with jitter as high as 10 ms In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms OS X e Interface A At 44 1 kHz and 1152 sample buffer jitter was fairly evenly distributed between 4 and 11 ms For all other tests the maximum jitter was 5 ms In all tests the majority of the jitter occured at 1 ms e Interface B For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 4 or 5 ms At 44 1 kHz and 1152 sample buffer there was a fairly even distribution of jitter between 2 and 11 ms In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms e Interface C In all tests the maximum jitter was 1 ms with most events occurring with no jitte
68. drawing steps in Draw Mode or creating shapes with breakpoints you can impose an arbitrary volume shape onto the sample 12 13 14 1 16 ooo lo00 500 looi loot sd0 The volume envelope s output is interpreted as a relative percentage of the clip volume slider s current value The result of the clip envelope s modulation can therefore never exceed the absolute volume setting but the clip envelope can drag the audible volume down to silence 18 2 4 Scrambling Beats One very creative use of clip envelopes is to modulate the sample offset Sample offset modulation makes the most sense for rhythmical samples and is only available for clips that are set up to run in the Beats Warp Mode Try sample offset modulation with a one bar drum loop Make sure Beats Mode is chosen in the Envelopes box choose Clip from the Device chooser and Sample Offset from the Control chooser The Envelope Editor appears with a vertical grid overlay In envelope Draw Mode set steps to non zero values to hear the loop scrambled What is going on Imagine the audio is read out by a tape head the position of which is modulated by the envelope The higher a value the envelope delivers the farther away the tape head is from its center position Positive envelope values move the head towards the future negative values move it towards the past Fortunately Live performs the modulation in beats rather Imposi
69. e g a MIDI track will be created if a MIDI file or effect is dragged in A track is represented by its track title bar You can click on a track title bar to select the track and then execute an Edit menu command such as Rename on the track One can quickly rename a series of tracks by executing this command and then using the Tab key to move from title bar to title bar You can also enter your own info text for a track via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the tracks s PC 6 Mac context menu 1 Audio 2 Audio 3 MIDI 4 MIDI azamet You can drag tracks by their title bars to rearrange them or click and drag on their edges to change their width in the Session View or height in the Arrangement View Tracks are deleted using the Edit menu s Delete command Tracks are Represented by Track Title Bars CHAPTER 13 MIXING 172 13 3 Return Tracks and the Master Track In addition to tracks that play clips a Live Set has a Master track and up to two return tracks these cannot play clips but allow for more flexible signal processing and routing The return tracks and the Master track occupy the right hand side of the Session mixer view and the bottom end of the Arrangement View Note that you can hide and show the return tracks using the Returns command in the View menu Like the normal clip tracks the returns and the Master can host effects devices However whereas a clip track s effect p
70. external sample editing application which you can specify in the File Folder Preferences To process a sample in an external program you have to stop Live s playback When you return to Live the edited version of the sample will be played back The current set of Warp Markers is retained only if the sample length remains the same as it did prior to editing Remember that changes made to one sample may affect other clips that play the same sample CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 107 8 2 5 Saving Default Clip Settings with the Sample The Save Default Clip button saves the current clip s settings with the sample Once saved Live will restore the current clip settings whenever you drop the sample into a Live Set This is especially useful with regards to the Warp Markers which have to be set correctly for Live to play long files in sync Note that you can use the Save button without affecting any existing clips Save just saves default settings for future clips using this sample The clip data becomes part of the analysis file that accompanies the sample Note that storing default clip settings with the sample is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip which also saves devices and device settings 8 2 6 High Quality Interpolation If the High Quality switch is on Live uses an advanced sample rate conversion algorithm that provides better sound quality at the expense of a higher CPU load Samples processed with the Hi O algorithm generate le
71. filter has an associated On switch located to the left of each X Y controller The X Y controllers adjust the lowpass and highpass filters simultaneously for each delay To edit filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical axis click and drag on the horizontal axis to set the filter band s frequency To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay With Sync Mode active changing the Delay Time field percentage value shortens and extends delay times by fractional amounts thus producing the swing type of timing effect found in drum machines lf the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a The Filter Delay Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 253 value The Feedback parameter sets how much of the output signal returns to the delay line input Very high values can lead to runaway feedback and produce a loud oscillation watch your ears and speakers if you decide to check out extreme feedback settings Each delay channel has its own volume control which can be turned up to 12 dB to compensate for drastic filtering at the input
72. first make the distinction between MIDI remote control and a separate use of MIDI in Live as the input for our MIDI tracks Let s suppose that you are using a MIDI keyboard to play an instrument in one of Live s MIDI tracks If you assign C 1 on your MIDI keyboard to a Session View Clip Launch button that key will cease play C 1 of your MIDI track s instrument as it now belongs solely to the Clip Launch button MIDI keys that become part of remote control assignments can no longer be used as input for MIDI tracks This isa common cause of confusion that can be easily resolved by observing the Control Bar s MIDI indicators Before making any MIDI assignments you will need to set up Live to recognize your control surfaces This is done in the MIDI Sync tab of Live s Preferences which can be opened with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl J PC _ _ Mac 22 1 1 Natively Supported Control Surfaces Control Surfaces are defined in the table at the top of the MIDI Sync tab Up to six supported control surfaces can be used simultaneously in Live Control Surface Input Output 1 RemoteSL RemoteSL Port 1 e RemoteSL Port 1 Gimp 2 Oxygen8v2 v Oxygen Port 1 Oxygens Port 1 _ v Gimp 3 Tranzport RemoteSL Port 2 v RemoteSL Port 2 Dump 4 None v None None O 5 None v None gt None Dump 6 None v None None Dump Open the f
73. for working with effects plug ins and instruments in a track s device chain Racks can be used to build complex signal processors dynamic performance instruments stacked synthesizers and more Yet they also streamline your device chain by bringing together your most essential controls While Racks excel at handling multiple devices they can extend the abilities of even a single device by defining new control relationships between its parameters Racks greatly expand upon the concept of device groups introduced in Live 5 The device groups of any Live Sets imported from Live 5 are automatically converted to Racks by Live LE Note that these Live Sets once saved can no longer be opened in older versions of Live Please note that Racks cannot be edited in Live LE You can use Racks that have been created in the full version of Live but you will only be able to access some of their controls To learn more about how Racks work internally please download the full Ableton Reference Manual from the Ableton website 1 http www ableton com downloads CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 208 16 1 An Overview of Racks 16 1 1 Signal Flow and Parallel Device Chains D stant Remix Map Mode Dynamic Tube OA Chain Macro2 Macro 3 Macro4 Auto Chain ie AN Envelope Selector A ory jom c sei N SX O OO e I Outpt co 31 0 o o vadaiie fT eee Sl O Attack Macro 5 Macro6 Macro7
74. instrument playing a string sound which we would like to augment by adding a brass sound playing the same notes This can be easily done by adding a MIDI track that contains an instrument playing the brass sound and setting its Input Type chooser to tap the string track s Post FX signal Routing a Speech Signal Into a Vocoder s Sidechain Input CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 166 2 Speech 3 Strings 4 Brass 5 Strings metody Audio From MIDI From MIDI From Audio From Ext In 4 Brass All ins oii Ext In X Il 1 2 Post FX i All Channes Il Monitor Monitor in Auto O In Auto Off Audio To Audio To 5 Strings Master Track In Using an Auxiliary MIDI O T Q ji Track to Layer Ji il Instruments Perhaps you wonder why this works given that the string track s output is audio and not MIDI When routing MIDI in from another track we are tapping the MIDI at the latest possible stage which is after any MIDI Effects and just before the instrument 167 Chapter 13 Mixing 13 1 The Live Mixer Live includes a mixer section that is accessible from two views 24 1 3 4mioi The Arrangement View Mixer In the Arrangement View the mixer appears as a horizontal strip to the right of the track area To display all mixer controls for a track unfold the track using the button next to CHAPTER 13 MIXING 168
75. is going on the adjacent search button is labeled Stop Rescanning happens in the background and you can keep making music while Live does its work but you can also abort the search with this button if the disk traffic is bothering you You can go back to the Browser s folder view at any time by closing the search field a non A E gt B Bass Detector Part 3 alc gt fa Bass Detector Synth Variation alc gt E Fingored Bass Bass 1 alc Closing the Search Field If you select a file from the search results and then close the search field Live makes sure that file remains selected in the folder view opening folders as required Parent Folder v P Clips ri v Po Bass FE Bass Detector Part 1 alc EB Bass Detector Part2ale Locates the File Last EE Bass Detector Part 3 alc Selected Among the Tol mane raia A unin Uastadial Search Results If a search is in progress closing the field immediately stops the search although navigating to other Browsers does not In fact while you re waiting for a search to finish in one Browser you can initiate separate searches in the others A Browser that is in an active search will CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 37 indicate this via a small rotating ring on the Browser button eS N Electro Riviva Kik Snar The Rotating Ring iro Basic ad Means That a Search is in Progress For mouse free searching we sug
76. it in multiple Live Sets Exporting audio from Live can be done from both the Session and Arrangement Views Live will export the audio coming through on the Master output as an audio file of your specifications via Export Audio Live can also export individual MIDI clips as MIDI files Exporting and saving material for later use in Live can be done very conveniently with the Live Clip format Session View clips can be dragged back out of a Live Set to the File Browsers and thereby exported to disk as Live Clips The Key MIDI Map Controls CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 29 a Library Name E Parent Folder v P ciips v Po Bass FE Bass Detector Part 1 alc 2 TE m mnam anaana Live Clips are a very powerful way of storing ideas as they save not only the clip s Clip View settings but also the corresponding track s instruments and effects chain Live Clips in the Browser can be previewed and added to any open Live Set just like sample files In the Live Set they restore the original clip s creative options Using Live Clips you can build your own personalized library of e MIDI sequences with matching instruments and effects e g a MIDI drum pattern with the associated Impulse and effects settings e Different regions or loops referencing the same source file e Variations of a sample loop created by applying Warp Markers clip envelopes and effects e Ideas that may not fit your current project
77. it was delivered to Live by the A D converters 24 2 6 Recording internal sources at 32 bit Audio that is recorded via internal routing will be identical to the source audio provided that the recording was made at 32 bits To ensure neutral recordings of plug in instruments and any audio signals that are being processed by effects plug ins internal recording at 32 bits is recommended Please note however that if the source audio is already at a lower bit depth internal recording at that bit depth will also be neutral assuming that no effects are used internally recording an unprocessed 16 bit audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality The neutrality of internal recording is verified using cancellation tests CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 326 24 2 7 Freeze Flatten Please note that freezing is not available in Live LE When tracks are frozen the audio files that are created are 32 bit which ensures that they will not be lower quality than the audio heard prior to freezing But there are some special cases involving Freeze that result in non neutral behavior and should be noted e Frozen Arrangement View tracks can include audio material that extends beyond the end of the clip itself such as reverb tails and delay repetitions Frozen Session View tracks however are always exactly two loop cycles long so any audio that extends beyond two loop cycles during un frozen playback will be cut off after fr
78. its Tracks in the Browser CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 48 Name E Parent Folder v P ciips v Po Bass t FE Bass Detector Part 1 alc 400 e 2 MIE a m s mam aso aoaa Live Clips are a great way of storing your ideas for later use or development as they save not only the original clip including all its clip and envelope settings but also the original track s devices In order to recreate a Live Clip s device chain either import it into a track containing no clips or devices or drag it into the space in the Session or Arrangement View containing no tracks Note that Live Clips that are imported into tracks already containing devices or clips will appear with their clip settings but not their devices You could for instance drop a bassline Live Clip on an existing track that drives a bass instrument rather than creating a new track Clips belonging to any Live Sets already on disk are also Live Clips Please see the section on merging Sets for more on this topic Note that storing default clip settings with a sample s analysis file is different from saving a Live Clip The default clip in the asd file annotates the sample with sensible default values warp gain and pitch settings so that it will play in a defined way when it is added to a Set Live Clips on the other hand are stored on disk as separate musical ideas For example you could create a number of variations from the same audio clip by using differe
79. its name and adjust its height accordingly The Session View Mixer The Session View is a standard vertical mixer layout You ll likely find the Session View mixer more intuitive than the Arrangement mixer which comes in handy when you work with automation Note that the Tab key toggles between the Arrangement and Session Views The View menu options listed below show or hide mixer components You can use different mixer view setups in the Session View and in the Arrangement View e In Out e Sends e Returns e Mixer Track Delays e Crossfader The Mixer Section selectors on the right hand side of the screen duplicate the View Menu commands making it possible to quickly show or hide different mixer components CHAPTER 13 MIXING 169 Stop Clips cr I eoou8e Let s look at the mixer controls K ll fi il aoe n g A Lo Er IH mi m E mh od gt m le ES 2 3 The Meter shows the track s RMS average and peak output level While moni toring however it shows the input level The Volume control adjusts the track s output level 3 The Pan control positions the track s output in the stereo field To reset the Pan control to center click on its associated triangle To mute the track s output turn off the Track Activator switch 5 The Solo switch solos the track by muting all other tracks but can also be used
80. jl CG HA jl Drop Browser Clips as a Scene Ctrl Ss CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 346 26 9 Arrangement View Commands The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the Arrangement View See also the editing commands Windows Macintosh Split Clip at Selection Ctrl JE BE Consolidate Selection into Clip Ctl JU u Loop Selection Ctl JL C WL Insert Silence Ctrl J e i Pan Left Right of Selection Ctrl Alt C HAt Unfold all Tracks Alt Unfold button At Unfold button Scroll Display to Follow Playback Ctrl JF S KF 26 10 Commands for Tracks See also the editing commands Windows Macintosh Insert Audio Track Ctrl 6 Insert MIDI Track A Cti 0 OH JG 8T Insert Return Track Ctrl C Rename Selected Track Ctrl R C WR While Renaming Go to next Track 5 ET Arm Solo Multiple Tracks Ctrl Click S88 Click Add Device from Browser Double Click Double Click CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 347 26 11 Commands for Breakpoint Envelopes The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the Envelope Editor and Arrangement View See also the editing commands Windows Macintosh Finer Resolution for Draggi
81. later 3 2 1 The Unlock Key For unlocking you require an unlock key that can only be created by the Ableton server Unlocking therefore requires access to the Internet The computer from which you connect to the Internet does not have to be the same computer for which you wish to unlock Live but it does make things easier 3 2 2 The Challenge Code The Ableton server creates the unlock key from your serial number and a so called challenge code The challenge code is a fingerprint that Live takes of your computer s components Thttp www ableton com register CHAPTER 3 UNLOCKING LIVE 11 For details please see the corresponding section 3 2 3 Unlocking Online If the computer you want to unlock Live for is connected to the Internet the only thing you need to do is press the Unlock Online button Live will then create a connection to the Ableton server send your serial number and challenge code and receive the unlock key from the server No information other than this is exchanged between your computer and the Ableton server 3 2 4 Unlocking Offline Unlock From File Use this option if this computer is not connected to the Internet Please note your serial number and the challenge code below and visit www ableton com unlock There you can download the Unlock Key file with a computer that is connected to the Internet transfer it to this computer and load it Challenge Code XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Load Unloc
82. listening purposes or a CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 44 data CD which could serve as a backup of your work or be used with other digital audio applications Which Signal Will Be Rendered Master All Tracks Render as Loo Vox Simpler Bass 3 Impulse File Type A Retum B Retum The Rendered Track Chooser The Export dialog s Rendered Track chooser offers several options for which audio signal to render e Master the post fader signal at Live s Master output If you are monitoring the Master output you can be sure that the rendered file will contain exactly what you hear e All tracks the post fader signal at the output of each individual track including return tracks and MIDI tracks with instruments Live will create a separate sample for each track All samples will have the same length making it easy to align them in other multitrack programs e Individual tracks the post fader signal at the output of the selected track When Export Audio is invoked while the Arrangement View is up Live will render the selected time range If you would like to render the current Arrangement loop choose the Select Loop command from the Edit menu prior to choosing Export Audio If you choose Export Audio while the Session View is up Live will ask you to specify the length of the sample to be rendered The Export Audio dialog will come up with a bars beats sixteenths field where you can type in the desired length L
83. lock envelopes from the Options menu 4 42 43 44 drumioop A 3 Rhodes 3 s e l The Lock Envelopes ll Switch CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 220 17 4 4 Edit Menu Commands When working with automation data the Edit menu commands behave differently depend ing on whether or not your selection is within the clip track or its automation lanes To copy cut delete or duplicate automation from a track independent of the associated clip make sure the parameter you want to work with is in its own lane Any edit commands applied to an envelope selection within a single lane will only apply to this envelope The clip itself will be unaffected You can also work with envelopes in multiple lanes simultaneously If you want your edits to apply to both the clip and all of its associated envelopes apply edit commands to a selection in the clip track Note that Live allows you to copy and paste envelope movements not only from one point in time to another but also from one parameter to another Since the parameters may be completely unrelated this can have unexpected but possibly interesting results 17 4 5 Editing the Tempo Automation The ability to dynamically stretch and compress audio to track any tempo or tempo variation is one of Live s specialties In Live the song tempo is just another automated control To edit the song tempo envelope unfold the Master track choose Mixer from the top envelope choose
84. main Live LE installation The various instruments are grouped into separate Live Packs that can be installed as needed To install Live Packs drag them into the Live application window either from your operating system or from Live s Browser After you have installed the EIC Live Packs you will need to unlock them using your unlock code To do this open Live s Preferences with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl J PC C W Mac and then select the Authorizations Trial tab Further details can be found in the Unlocking Live chapter 21 3 2 Accessing The EIC Instruments After installation the EIC instruments are accessed through Live s Device Browser in exactly the same way as Live s other built in instruments You will find them as categorized presets within the Instrument Rack folder EIC instruments are therefore loaded just like any other device by dragging a preset from the Browser into an empty MIDI track The EIC presets are available in Full and Lite versions allowing you to choose the right balance of fidelity and polyphony for your needs The Lite version reduces CPU RAM and disk requirements by reducing the number of zones and sample layers used Both the normal and Lite presets use 24 bit multisamples There is also an EIC LE Pack available which contains very efficient versions of the EIC instruments suitable for sketching out ideas The LE instruments are all composed of 16 bit sample files All of the EIC presets are conv
85. markers look and function like locators they can be moved with the mouse or with your computer keyboard s arrow keys and their value can be changed using the Edit menu s Edit Value command or with the Ctrl J R PC G_88 R Mac shortcut They can be also be deleted using the _ or Delete key or via delete commands in the Edit and Insert menus The time signature marker PC Ctrl Mac context menu offers a number of features including a Delete All Time Signature Changes command and options to loop or Time Signature Changes CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 76 select the area up to the next time signature marker Any time signature with a one or two digit numerator and a denominator of 1 2 4 8 or 16 can be used as a time signature marker value The numbers must be separated by a delimiter such as a slash comma period or any number of spaces These marker values can also be set by adjusting the time signature fields in the Control Bar either by typing in values or dragging the numerator and denominator sliders This will change the time signature marker value at the current play location and works either with the transport stopped or during playback When the Arrangement contains time signature changes the time signature editor displays an automation LED in the upper left corner e Time signature markers are not quantized they may be placed anywhere in the timeline and their positioning is only con
86. metronome which is activated via its Control Bar switch and will begin ticking when the Play button is pressed or a clip is launched To adjust the metronome volume use the mixer s Preview Volume knob Notice that Live s metrical interpretation of the audio being played can be edited at any time using the Warp Markers Warp Markers can be used to fix timing errors and to change the groove or feel of your recordings Using Warp Markers you can fix things in your recordings that would otherwise require complicated editing or could not be done at all Likewise the metrical interpretation of recorded MIDI can be changed after recording using the MIDI clip s Original BPM controls The Metronome Switch The Preview Volume Knob CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 186 14 5 Recording Quantized MIDI Notes If you will be recording MIDI you have the option of automatically quantizing MIDI notes while recording The Record Quantization chooser in the Edit menu allows selecting the meter subdivisions with which your recorded notes will align When recording into Session slots or into the Arrangement record quantization is an independent step in Live s Undo history This means that if for example you recorded with Record Quantization set to Eighth Note Triplet Quantization and then changed your mind using the Edit menu s Undo command would undo only the quantization and leave your recording otherwise intact For Session and
87. missing samples Y External Samples This Live Set uses external samples Live can collect them for you and copy them into the current Project folder Tell me more 1 sample from the Library 458 Bytes Collect Into Project 8 factory samples from the Library 3 1 MB Collect into Project No 1 sample from another C Shw _ Project 4 6 MB Collect Into Project No 1 sample from elsewhere C Show gt 754 KB Collect Into Project No Options for Collecting External Samples CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 65 Separated by location the Library installed by factory Live Packs other Projects and else where sample collections from external drives for example the File Manager provides e Asample count and the associated disk space used e A Show button that will list the samples in the File Browser e A Yes No toggle for engaging or disengaging collection Note Make sure to confirm your choices by clicking the File Manager s Collect and Save button The File menu s Collect All and Save command is a shortcut that collects and saves all external samples referenced by the current Set including those from the Library Note that this can cause a lot of copying especially if your Live Set uses large multisample collections 5 10 Aggregated Locating and Collecting Instead of having to deal with problems while you are in a creative mode you might prefer putting aside some dedicated housekeeping time
88. note off velocity as a controller for a variety of parameters 10 4 8 Deactivating Notes To deactivate or mute a note or notes in the MIDI Editor select it and PC 6 Mac to access the context menu The Deactivate Note s command will mute the note making it appear gray in the display To reactivate notes use the context menu s Activate Note s command 140 Chapter 11 Launching Clips The Live Session View is set apart by the fact that it gives you the musician a spontaneous environment that encourages performance and improvisation An important part of how you take advantage of the Session View lies within how you configure your various Session View clips This chapter explains the group of settings used to define how each Session View clip behaves when triggered or launched 11 1 The Launch Box Remember that clips in the Session View are launched by their Clip Launch buttons or remote control Clip launch settings are made in the Launch box The Launch box only applies to Session View clips as Arrangement View clips are not launched but played according to their positions in the Arrangement To view the Launch box open the Clip View of a Session View clip by double clicking the clip then activating the leftmost Clip View Box selector panel CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 141 Clip Launch Use the Clip View Box Selector to Bring up the Launch Box Note that you can edit the launch settings of mo
89. or PC Mac modifiers to select more than one Session View clip Then simply drag the clips to a folder in the File Browser where you can either confirm Live s suggested name or type in one of your own 5 5 4 Template Sets Use the File Folder Preferences Template Save button to save the current Live Set as a template Live will use these settings as the initialized default state for new Live Sets You can use this to pre configure e Your multichannel input output setup e Preset devices like EQs and Compressors in every track e Computer key mappings e MIDI mappings The template Live Set Template als is located in Live s Preferences folder and can be copied or deleted from there The easiest way to locate this folder is to search your disk for Template als 5 5 5 Viewing and Changing a Live Set s Sample References To view a list of the samples referenced by the current Live Set choose the Manage Files command from the File menu click the Manage Set button and then click the View Samples button Live will display one line for each sample used by the Live Set regardless of how CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 52 many clips or instruments within the Live Set are using that sample Here is what you can do e Replace a sample Dragging a sample from the File Browser and dropping it on a line in the list makes the Live Set reference the new sample instead of the old one For samples used in
90. or key tracks that do not contain MIDI notes This is very useful when working with percussion kits for example which are oftentimes mapped out along a keyboard in sections corresponding to percussion type e g snares grouped together two octaves down from hi hat cymbals etc When working with a MIDI file created by such a mapping sometimes only one or two of each type of percussion sound is used and it becomes unnecessary to view the entire keyboard range Enlarge the MIDI Editor by Dragging the Window Split Between Session and Clip Views The Fold Button Extracts Key Tracks Containing Notes CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 133 When editing MIDI you might find that you want to change which part of the clip you are listening to or loop the clip in order to listen to it repeatedly You can use the loop region markers for this 10 4 3 Grid Snapping Most functions in the MIDI Editor are subject to grid snapping You can hold down the PC Mac modifier while performing an action to bypass grid snapping Note movements will also snap to an offset which is based on the original placement of the note relative to the grid This is useful for preserving a groove or loose playing style that you do not necessarily want to set straight 10 4 4 Arranging and Quantizing Notes As we have seen notes in the MIDI Editor can be moved b
91. parameters on the floating window has the same effect as changing them in the Live panel and vice versa There are a few important Plug In Preference settings for working with plug in edit windows If activated the Auto Open Plug In Windows Preference assures that plug in edit windows open automatically when plug ins are loaded into tracks from the Browser If the Multiple Plug In Windows option in the Plug In Preferences is activated you can open any number of plug in windows at once Even with this option off you can hold down the PC Mac modifier when opening a new plug in window to keep the previous window s from closing Using the Auto Hide Plug In Windows preference you can choose to have Live display only those plug in windows belonging to the track that is currently selected CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 201 You can use the View menu s Show Hide Plug In Windows command or the Ctr j Alt__ P PC G__ Alt P Mac shortcut to hide and show your open plug in windows Notice that the name of the track to which the plug in belongs is displayed in the title bar of the plug in editor window Macintosh only The floating editor windows of some VST Plug ins do not receive computer key strokes This is generally an implementation error in the plug in itself If it is necessary to type into a plug in window for instance for entering a serial number or unlock code hold down while clicking the Plug In
92. potential is currently being used For example if the displayed percentage is 10 percent the computer is just coasting along If the percentage is 100 percent the processing is being maxed out it s likely that you will hear gaps clicks or other audio problems Note that the CPU meter takes into account only the load from processing audio not other tasks the computer performs e g managing Live s user interface Audio calculations have the highest priority in Live Therefore even if the CPU shows a high percentage of processor usage the audio stream should remain uninterrupted However non critical functions such as screen redraws might slow down because these tasks are handled only when the audio processing lightens up a bit 23 1 1 CPU Load from Multichannel Audio One source of constant CPU drain is the process of moving data to and from the audio hardware This drain can be minimized by disabling any inputs and outputs that are not required in a project There are two buttons in the Audio Preferences to access the Input and Output Configuration dialogs which allow activating or deactivating individual ins and outs Live does not automatically disable unused channels because the audio hardware drivers usually produce an audible hiccup when there is a request for an audio configuration change The CPU Load Meter CHAPTER 23 COMPUTER AUDIO RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES 320 23 1 2 CPU Load from Tracks and Devices
93. quantized by the rate selected from the Clip Update Rate chooser in the Record Warp Launch Preferences Certain clip settings such as Launch Mode and Warp Mode can be set up as defaults for all new clips This is also done in the Record Warp Launch Preferences 113 Chapter 9 Tempo Control and Warping Unlike music stored on tape or in a traditional digital audio workstation the music in Live remains elastic at all times Live is capable of time warping samples while streaming them from disk so as to synchronize them to the current Live Set s tempo This happens without affecting the pitch which can be changed independently Mixing and matching audio from different origins is therefore extremely easy 9 1 Tempo 9 1 1 Setting the Tempo z EFE The Control Bar s Tempo p Field The Control Bar s Tempo field allows you to change the playback tempo of your Live Set at any time in real time You can even automate the tempo to create smooth or sudden tempo changes along the song timeline For maximum tempo control during performance you can MIDI map separate controllers to the Tempo field on both sides of the decimal CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 114 point Setting one knob to control coarse tempo in BPM and another to control fine tempo in hundredths of a BPM allows for enough precision to adjust to live performers or other unsynchronized sources 9 1 2 Tapping the Tempo You can use Live s Tap Tempo function to se
94. s gain stage and therefore affects the post effect signal To prevent confusion a small dot below the mixer s volume slider thumb indicates the actual modulated volume setting As you raise and lower the Volume slider you can observe the dot following your movement in a relative fashion Modulating the track s Send controls is just as easy Again the modulation is a relative Modulating the Mixer Volume The Little Dot Below the Volume Slider Thumb Represents the Modulated Volume Setting CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 229 percentage The clip envelope cannot open the send further than the Send knob but it can reduce the actual send value to minus infinite dB ae 18 3 2 Modulating Pan The Pan envelope affects the mixer pan stage in a relative way The pan knob s position determines the intensity of the modulation With the pan knob set to the center position modulation by the clip envelope can reach from hard left to hard right the modulation amount is automatically reduced as you move the pan knob towards the left or right When the pan knob is turned all the way to the left for instance the pan clip envelope has no effect at all 18 3 3 Modulating Device Controls All devices in a clip s track are listed in the upper clip envelope Device chooser Modulating the devices controls works just as you would expect When modulating device controls it is important to keep the interaction of clip envelopes and devic
95. s o l C ad inf int fens e U i TPST inf inf lt q Q Q J a 4 8 Sio The Live Mixer in the S Cs Arrangement View Left e 97 and Session View Right CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 23 The mixer has controls for volume pan position and sends which adjust the contribution each track makes to the input of any return tracks Return tracks only host effects and not clips Via their sends all tracks can feed a part of their signal into a return track and share its effects The mixer also includes a crossfader which can create smooth transitions between clips playing on different tracks Live s crossfader works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader except that it allows crossfading not only two but any number of tracks including the returns Ng Ag Ag Ty Bal FH 4 5 6 7 S S S S a 3 e o7 e oy ea Devices that receive and deliver audio signals are called audio effects Audio effects are the only type of device that fit in an audio track or a return track However two more types of devices are available for use in MIDI tracks MIDI effects and instruments Consider a MIDI track playing a clip The MIDI signal from the clip is fed into the track s device chain There it is first processed by any number of MIDI effects A MIDI effect receives and delivers MIDI signals One example is the Scale effect which maps the incoming notes onto a user defined musical scale The last MIDI
96. s pitch will be changed by a random value You can think of it as being something like a dry wet control for randomness The random value that determines the pitch change is created by two variables The Choices control defines the number of different random notes possible from a range of 1 to 24 the Scale control value is multiplied by the Choices control value and the result dictates the pitches that random notes are allowed to have relative to that of the incoming note For example if you play the note C3 with Chance set to 50 percent Choices set to 1 and Scale set to 12 half of the resulting notes will play at C3 and half will play at C4 But with Chance set to 50 percent Choices set to 12 and Scale set to 1 half of the resulting notes will play at C3 and half will play at one of any semitone that is between C 3 and C4 These examples assume that the Sign buttons are set to Add and the Mode button is set to Rnd The Sign controls decide whether the random alteration adds to the original note s pitch subtracts from it or does a little of both The LEDs below the Sign controls give you a visual idea of how output pitch compares with that of the original The Mode button determines whether the alteration will be random or when set to Alt will cycle between the allowed output notes in a fixed order sometimes known as cycle round robin The Chance control behaves a bit differently in Alt mode at 100 percent t
97. sample resulting in extremely low levels of distortion CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 330 24 3 4 Dithering Whenever rendering audio to a lower bit depth it is a good idea to apply dithering in order to minimize artifacts Dithering a kind of very low level noise is inherently a non neutral procedure but it is a necessary evil when lowering the bit resolution Please note that Live s internal signal processing is all 32 bit so applying even a single gain change makes the resulting audio 32 bit as well even if the original audio is 16 or 24 bit Dither should never be applied more than once to any given audio file so unless you are mastering and finalizing in Live it is best to always render at 32 bit and avoid dithering altogether 24 3 5 Recording external signals bit depth lt A D converter Recording audio signals into Live is a non neutral operation if the bit depth set in Live s Preferences window is lower than that of the A D converters used for the recording This is not recommended 24 3 6 Recording internal sources below 32 bit Audio that is recorded via internal routing will lose quality if the recording is made at a bit depth below 32 bits To ensure neutral recordings of plug in instruments and any audio signals that are being processed by effects plug ins internal recording at 32 bits is recommended Please note however that if the source audio is already at a lower bit depth internal recording at
98. setting is last CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 145 in a group this Follow Action triggers the first clip Play First Clip launches the first top clip in a group Play Last Clip launches the last bottom clip in a group Play Any Clip plays any clip in the group z Play Other Clip is similar to Play Any Clip but as long as the current clip is not alone in the group no clip will play consecutively There is also the possibility to have no Follow Action by selecting No Action or leaving the chooser blank Note that a Follow Action happens exactly after the duration that is specified by the Follow Action Time controls unless clip quantization is set to a value other than None or Global Follow Actions circumvent global quantization but not clip quantization So why do you need these things Music is repetition and change Music based on loops or short melodic fragments has a tendency to sound static Follow Actions allow you to create structures that will repeat but can also be surprising Remember that you can always record the results of your experiments so this can provide a good source for new material In the following sections we will look at some practical examples and ideas for Follow Actions 11 6 1 Looping Parts of a Clip Let s say that you want to play a longer clip but then you want only the last eight bars to loop You can set this up using Follow Actions 1 Drag
99. such as cut copy paste and duplicate there are two useful commands in the Insert menu that apply specifically to scenes e Insert Scene inserts an empty scene below the current selection e Capture and Insert Scene inserts a new scene below the current selection places copies of the clips that are currently running in the new scene and launches the new scene immediately with no audible interruption This command is very helpful when developing materials in the Session View You can capture an interesting moment as a new scene and move on changing clip properties and trying clip combinations Please note that the number of scenes is limited to eight in Live LE 7 5 Recording Sessions into the Arrangement Your Session View playing can be recorded into the Arrangement allowing for an improvi sational approach to composing songs and scores CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 91 gt gt mie ove Se Bar d When the Record button is on Live logs all of your actions into the Arrangement e the clips launched e changes of those clips properties e changes of the mixer and the devices controls also known as automation e tempos and time signature changes if they are included in the names of launched scenes To finish recording press the Record button again or stop playback W KEY MID 2 D g To view the results of your recording bring up the Arrangement View As you can see Live has copied the clips you launched during reco
100. that bit depth will also be neutral assuming that no effects are used internally recording an unprocessed 16 bit audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality 24 3 7 Consolidate Consolidating clips in the Arrangement View creates new audio files which are non neutral in comparison to the original audio data Specifically the new files will be normalized with their clip volumes adjusted to play back at the same volume as heard prior to consolidation CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 331 Normalization is a gain change which is a non neutral operation Also the new files will be created at the sample rate and bit depth set in Live s Preferences window which may differ from those in the original audio files 24 3 8 Clip fades With Clip Fade enabled a short up to 4 ms fade is applied to the clip start and end to avoid clicks at the clip edges This is a non neutral operation 24 3 9 Panning Live uses constant power panning with sinusoidal gain curves Output is O dB at the center position and signals panned fully left or right will be increased by 3 dB In order to minimize this volume change it may be helpful to narrow the overall stereo width before doing extreme panning This can be done via the Width control in the Utility device 24 3 10 Global Groove Changes Under most conditions playback of a warped clip that is at the same tempo as the Set is a neutral operation However if the Global Groove a
101. the latter control appearing disabled indicating that it is a duplicate and therefore not in use Actually there is no such thing as two notes with the same pitch playing at the same time within the entire Live universe 20 3 Note Length O note Length O Trigger Release Vel Note Off i Mode A Sync 26 Length Decay Time f 24 58 Key Scale ba Note Length alters the length of incoming MIDI notes It can also be used to trigger notes from MIDI Note Off messages instead of the usual Note On messages When the device is set to trigger from a Note On message only the timing controls are available The length of held notes can be adjusted in milliseconds or synced in relation to the song tempo Gate defines the percentage of the Length value that notes should be held for At 200 percent the Gate parameter will double a note s length When the device is set to trigger from a Note Off event the moment at which a played note is released the timing of an incoming note will be delayed by its length because it will be starting at the point at which it would have been stopping Note Length s other settings will then determine the duration of the newly triggered note Three other parameters are available when the device is triggering from Note Off messages The Note Length Effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 278 On Off Balance This determines the velocity of the output note It is a bal
102. the clip into the Arrangement View and make sure that the Clip View s Loop switch is not activated Use the Edit menu s Split command to split the clip between the non looping and looping parts 2 Click and drag the resulting two clips into the Session View by letting the mouse cursor hover over the Session View selector Drop the two clips into a track They now form a Follow Action group CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 146 2 Audio 3 Audio 4 MIDI 2 Limon 3 Set up Follow Actions for the first clip You will want to make Follow Action Time equal to the clip s length Set the Follow Action A chooser to Play Next Clip with a Chance setting of 1 leaving Follow Action B alone Now this clip is set up to advance to the looping clip after it plays 4 Activate the Loop switch for the second clip The first clip will now proceed to the second after it has played in its entirety the second clip will simply play in a loop until it is stopped 11 6 2 Creating Cycles One of the most obvious possibilities that Follow Actions open up is using a group of samples to form a musical cycle If we organize several clips as a group and use the Play Next Clip Follow Action with each clip they will play one after the other ad infinitum or until we tell them to stop Cycles can be peppered with occasional rearrangements through the addition of other Follow Actions such as Play Any Clip with smaller relative Chance sett
103. the display these are Low cut cuts frequencies below the specified frequency Low shelf boosts or cuts frequencies lower than the specified frequency Bell curve boosts or cuts over a range of frequencies Notch sharply cuts frequencies within a narrow range High shelf boosts or cuts frequencies higher than the specified frequency High cut cuts frequencies above the specified frequency CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 249 Each filter band can be turned on or off independently Turn off bands that are not in use to save CPU power To edit the filter curve click and drag on the filter dots in the display Horizontal movement changes the filter frequency while vertical movement adjusts the filter band s gain To adjust the filter Q also called resonance or bandwidth hold down the PC Mac modifier while dragging the mouse Note that the gain cannot be adjusted for the low cut notch and high cut filters In these modes vertical dragging adjusts the filter Q You can also use the numbered filter selector buttons to select a band for editing and then edit parameter values with the Freq Gain and Q dials and or type values into the number fields below each dial To achieve really drastic filtering effects assign the same parameters to two or more filters As boosting will increase levels and cutting will decrease levels use the global Gain field to optimize the output level for maximum level co
104. the envelope display out all the way by clicking on the Envelope s time ruler and dragging upwards Insert a breakpoint at the region end and drag it to the bottom zero percent Now as you play the clip you can hear the one bar loop fading out over eight bars Using a Clip Envelope to Create a Fade Out Over Several Repetitions of a Loop Please note toggling Linked Mode changes the envelope data Toggling back and forth effectively deletes the envelope data To return to the previous state please use the Edit menu s Undo command CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 232 18 5 2 Creating Long Loops from Short Loops Let us take this a step further For a different part of your set you would like to use the same one bar loop because it sounds great but its repetition bores you You would like to somehow turn it into a longer loop We depart from the clip we just set up to fade out over eight bars Activate the clip volume envelope s Loop switch Now as you play the clip you can hear the eight bar fade out repeating You can draw or edit any envelope to superimpose onto the sample loop This of course not only works for volume but for any other control as well how about a filter sweep every four bars Note that you can create as much time as needed in the Envelope Editor either by dragging the loop braces beyond the view limit or by entering values into the numeric region loop controls You can choose an arbitrary loo
105. the functionality of the former Compressor and Compressor II devices into a single unit and adds additional functionality such as external sidechaining adjustable knee more EQ options an improved peak mode and a new feedback model which is lovingly based on some classic hardware compressors The new Compressor is fully backward compatible with Compressor and Compressor I presets A compressor s two most important parameters are the Threshold and the compression The Compressor Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 242 Ratio The Threshold slider sets where compression begins Signals above the threshold are attenuated by an amount specified by the Ratio parameter which sets the ratio between the input and output signal For example with a compression ratio of 3 if a signal above the threshold increases by 3 dB the compressor output will increase by only 1 dB If a signal above the threshold increases by 6 dB then the output will increase by only 2 dB A ratio of 1 means no compression regardless of the threshold The Knee control adjusts how gradually or abruptly compression occurs as the threshold is approached With a setting of 0 dB no compression is applied to signals below the threshold and full compression is applied to any signal at or above the threshold With very high ratios this so called hard knee behavior can sound harsh With higher or soft knee values the compressor begins compressin
106. the loop length You can also drag the Arrangements loop brace Dragging the left and right ends sets the loop start and end points dragging between the ends moves the loop without changing its length The loops PC 6 Mac context menu s Set Song Start Time Here command can be used to overrule the default play starts at selection rule when this command is checked play starts at the loop start 6 6 Moving and Resizing Clips A piece of audio or MIDI is represented in the Arrangement View by a clip sitting at some song position in one of Live s tracks SEC EEC EEE a lt 4a4a Dragging a clip s left or right edge changes the clip s length Moving a Clip Changing a Clip s Length CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 79 6 7 Selecting Clips and Time With the exception of moving and resizing clips Arrangement editing in Live is selection based You select something using the mouse then execute a menu command e g Cut Copy Paste Duplicate on the selection This editing method lends itself to an efficient division of labor between the two hands One hand operates the mouse or trackpad while the other hand issues the keyboard shortcuts for the menu commands The menu eventually is only used as a reference for looking up the keyboard shortcuts Here is how selection works Clicking a clip selects the clip Clicking into the Arrangement background selects a point in time represented by
107. the modifier while pressing the space bar 3 Clicking in the scrub area above the tracks will make playback jump to that point The size of these jumps is quantized according to the Control Bar s Quantization menu setting While the mouse is held down over the scrub area a portion of CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 73 the Arrangement the size of the chosen quantization setting will be repeatedly played With small quantization settings or a setting of None this allows you to scrub through the music gt r 7 44 45 Bass Bass Bass Bass l author outarchra Scrubbing Arrangement 420_KRid 20_KRid modes rhodes2 modes rnodos2 I Playback 4 The song position can be adjusted numerically using the Control Bar s Arrange ment Position fields Setting the Play Position oh gt i ml e love lt 1 Bar o in the Arrangement Position Fields The Arrangement Position fields show the song position in bars beats sixteenths To change the values e Click and drag up or down in any of these fields e Click and type a number then hit Return e Click and decrement or increment the value with and 4 5 Arrangement playback can be started at a particular point in one of your clips using the scrub area in the Clip View 6 Several Arrangement playback positions can be set using launchable locators Note that any computer keyboard key or MIDI message can be mapped to the transport controls as described in th
108. them vertically in one track Hold down PC Mac prior to dropping them so as to lay the clips out in one scene Clips can be moved around the Session grid by drag and drop To move several clips at once select them by using the ___J or Cti PC Mac modifier before dragging You can also click into an empty slot and rubber band select from there Scenes can be reordered by drag and drop as well 7 4 1 Select on Launch By default clicking a Session View clip s Launch button also selects the clip since you will typically want the Clip View to show the newly launched clip However some power users don t want the current focus e g a return track s devices to disappear just because a clip has been launched especially when starting a clip in order to try it with the return track device settings Turn off the Select on Launch option from the Launch Preferences if you prefer the view to remain as is when you launch clips or scenes Dropping Multiple Clips Into the Session View CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 90 7 4 2 Removing Clip Stop Buttons Slots Without Clip Stop Buttons You can add and remove Clip Stop buttons from the grid using the Edit menu s Add Remove Stop Button command This is useful for pre configuring the scene launch behavior If for instance you don t want scene 3 to affect track 4 remove the scene 3 track 4 Stop button 7 4 3 Editing Scenes In addition to the standard Edit menu commands
109. these two LFOs Phase keeps both LFOs at the same frequency but can set the two LFO waveforms out of phase with each other creating stereo movement Set to 180 the LFO outputs are 180 degrees apart so that when one LFO reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each stereo channel is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount For sample and hold the Phase and Spin controls are not relevant and do not affect the sound Instead the Auto Filter offers two kinds of sample and hold The upper sample and hold type available in the chooser provides independent random modulation generators for the left and right channels stereo while the lower one modulates both channels with the same signal mono CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 237 19 2 Auto Pan The Auto Pan Effect Auto Pan offers LFO driven manipulation of amplitude and panning for creating automatic panning tremolo and amplitude modulation and beat synchronized chopping effects Auto Pan s LFOs modulate the amplitude of the left and right stereo channels with sine triangle sawtooth down or random waveforms The Shape control pushes the waveform to its upper and lower limits hardening its shape The waveform can be set to Normal or Invert use Invert to for example create the saw up waveform from
110. through its device chains and mixer Soloing a track that taps another track Post Mixer will not allow you to hear the tapped track Tap Points for Track Routing CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 158 Routing Points in Racks 1 Track A 2 Track B 3 Audio 4 Guitar 5 Audio Audio From 1 TrackA jj li Post Mixer w ii Pre FX ij Post FX ij Post Mixer ij 1989 Multi FX Delay Chain Pre FX ij 1989 Multi FX Delay Chain Post FX ij 1989 Multi FX Delay Chain Post Mixer il Q ji 1989 Mut Fx Phaser Chain Pre FX Ip ij 1989 Multi FX Phaser Chain Post FX ij 1989 Multi FX Phaser Chain Post Mixer If a track has one or more Instrument or Effect Racks in its device chain internal routing points Pre FX Post FX and Post Mixer will also be available for every chain within the Rack If a track contains one or more Drum Racks internal routing points will be available for any of the Rack s return chains Each Rack will also be listed in the Input Channel chooser e Rack Name Chain Name Pre FX The signal will be tapped from the point that it enters the Rack before it reaches the chain s devices e Rack Name Chain Name Post FX The signal will be tapped from the end of the chain but before it passes to the chain s mixer e Rack Name Chain Name Post Mixer The signal will be tapped from the output of the chain s mixer just before the point where all of the chains in th
111. time launch quantization the resulting clips can be automatically cut to the beat Session recording in conjunction with the Overdub option and Record Quantization is the method of choice for creating drum patterns which are built up by successively adding notes to the pattern while it plays in a loop It only takes a MIDI keyboard or the computer keyboard and a MIDI track with Live s Impulse percussion instrument to do this 4 11 Automation Envelopes Often when working with Live s mixer and effects you will want the controls movements to become part of the Arrangement The movement of a control across the Arrangement timeline is called automation a control whose value changes in the course of this timeline is automated Automation is represented in the Arrangement View by breakpoint envelopes which can be edited and drawn synth 1 m Mixer m Track Panning v _ Clear Envelope gt Practically all mixer and effect controls in Live can be automated even the song tempo Creating automation is straightforward All changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar s Record switch is on become automation Changing an automated control s value while not in Record Mode is similar to launching a Session clip while the Arrangement is playing It deactivates the control s automation in favor of the new control setting The control will stop tracking its automation and rest with the new value until
112. to solve all the problems in one go Using Live s File Manager you can find missing samples and collect external samples not only for the current Live Set but also for e The Library choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the Manage Library button e The current Live Project choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the wae Project button e Any Live Project PC Ctrl Mac on a Project in the Live Browser and choose the Manage a ect option e All Projects found in a specific folder and its sub folders PC Ctrl Mac on a folder in the File Browser and choose the Manage a command The File Manager s Collect and Save Button CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 66 e Any selection of Live Sets Live Clips Live Presets PC Ctrl Mac on the respective items in the File Browser and choose the Vanes Files command Remember to click the Collect and Save button at the bottom of the File Manager when you are finished Otherwise your changes will be discarded 5 11 Finding Unused Samples Live s File Manager can find the unused samples in a Project for you You can then review them and decide to delete them individually or collectively When searching for unused samples Live will inspect each sample in a project folder checking if it is referenced by any of the Live Sets Live Clips or device presets in the Project If not the sample is regarded
113. to the signal Applying non neutral operations to files imported into Live ensures that the imported audio will differ from the files saved on disk Applying non neutral operations to files being exported from Live ensures that what you hear during realtime playback will be different from what will end up in your new file Non neutral operations include 24 3 1 Playback in Complex Mode Please note that Complex Warp Mode is not available in Live LE The algorithm used in Complex Warp Mode is an entirely different technology from the algorithms behind Beats Tones and Texture modes Although Complex Mode may sound better particularly when used with mixed sound files that are comprised of many different kinds of audio material it is never neutral not even at the original tempo Because of this and because of the algorithm s increased CPU demands we recommend using it only in cases where the other Warp modes don t produce sufficient results CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 329 24 3 2 Sample rate conversion transposition Sample rate conversion during both real time playback and rendering is a non neutral operation Playback of audio files at a sample rate that is different from the rate set in Live s Preferences window will cause signal degradation Transposition is also a form of sample rate conversion and thus also results in non neutral behavior To minimize potential negative results it is recommended to do sample rate
114. 1 L Language preference 24 6 Launch box 0 cee cece 95 140 Launch Modes ee seen eee 141 Legato Mode eee eee eee ee 143 IESSONS i cic cs odicde de ceed ceee tines 4 HBra ees tienen decor eaea dees 29 58 migrating from older versions 61 Library Location preference 59 Link Unlink Envelope switch 231 Live Clips csacsxhotdysstanag wen dueadesde 47 Live Device Browser 7 191 Live Packs ce cece cece eee eee eee 58 Live PrOJSCIS cade siuddabwidiedde ta yeaa 53 and device presets 57 and Live Sets 0 eee ee eee 53 DOCKING ureteri ieee roni iinnat 67 Live Sets 2 0 cece cece eee eee 14 48 changing sample references 51 exporting and importing 49 saving a template savivsscevevweves a 51 lOGELOIS oinnes adnia dai aa a 74 Lock Envelopes command 219 Lock Envelopes switch 219 Look Feel Preferences 2 6 loop brace in the Arrangement 77 WIN CDS lt ticeskertabedoseseesteuts 104 Loop Selection command 77 Loop Start Punch In Position fields 77 Loop switch Clip View sig sdoabdiedens 104 231 232 Control B r 2 tects aes dace sa vere s 77 with MIDI elips 2cvsadadeenseseeeed 132 Loop To Next Locator command 75 Loop Punch Region Length fields 7 Loop Region controls
115. 17 An Audio Units Plug In The first time you open Live Audio Units Plug ins will not appear in the Plug In Device Browser In order to activate your Audio Units as a plug in source please press the Activate button in the Plug In Device Browser or go to the File Folder Preferences by pressing Ctrl jC PC G _8 _ Mac There you will find the Active Sources section Turning on the Use Audio Units option activates Audio Units Plug ins so that they appear in Live s Plug In Device Browser Note that you can always turn this option off later if you decide not to use Audio Units Active Sources Re Scan Plug ins Use Audio Units On Activating Audio Units aes Plug Ins Audio Units Plug ins sometimes have a feature that allows choosing between different modes for the device You might be able to choose for example between different levels of quality in the rendering of a reverb Choosers for these device modes can only be accessed through the original plug in panel which is opened using the Plug In Edit button CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 206 Pattern Audio Units have presets that function just like those for the Live effects However some AU presets cannot be dragged to different locations in the Browser as they are read only Audio Units presets have an aupreset extension and are stored in the following directory according to their manufacturer s name Home Lib
116. 214 Chapter 17 Automation and Editing Envelopes Often when working with Live s mixer and devices you will want the controls movements to become part of the music The movement of a control across the song timeline is called automation a control whose value changes in the course of this timeline is automated Practically all mixer and device controls in Live can be automated including the song tempo 17 1 Recording Automation Creating automation is straightforward All changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar s Record switch is on become automation Try recording automation for a control for instance a mixer volume slider After recording play back what you have just recorded to see and hear the effect of the control movement You will notice that a little LED has appeared in the slider thumb to indicate that the control is now automated Try recording automation for track panning and the Track Activator switch as well their automation LEDs appear in their upper left corners CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 215 main comp 1 4 1Comps S e FFT RT PTT STEP ETT FT PT r m men nn wil 17 2 Deleting Automation To delete automation data PC Mac on an automated control to open its context menu and select Delete Automation The automation LED disappears and the control s value stays constant across the entire song You can also delete automation by editing breakpoin
117. 291 and exporting vandahavenetcaresieies 44 ZOOM eke eatae te EANAIR 288 Select Next Scene on Launch option 86 site or secondary licenses 13 Select Next Scene on Launch preference 304 Skin preference ec cs cee eens 6 Select on Launch preference 89 Snap to Grid command scticssicideaeses 80 Send controls e0 cece eee 22 172 Solo in PlaGessxs 2 cei cesctessescacaces 176 serial number 0 eee eee e eee eee 9 Solo switch cece eee eee ee 169 Session View 0 cece eee ee 84 Solo Cue Mode switch 1277 and Arrangement View 15 sound files 224 see samples elip gridi 25055 atausraultaveaeadesaa ss Oy Spectrum device cctspnzccivgnraceneara 268 copying to Arrangement OZ Split DUON ras oh reisi iet ted ade 8 128 recording an Arrangement 90 Split command 8 208 82 recording audio in 0 182 Start Recording on Scene Launch 183 Session Viewselector 0008 15 start end markers 000s eee 102 Set 1 1 1 Here command s s24 dasvien cin 121 Stop All Clips button oic csusseaedesxseuas 91 Set Locator button aisiduinestonwussabiws TA Stop DUTON 0c s6viauwsenidis inaia 72 Set Locator command 0655 74 swing 005 see groove feature Set Song Start Time Here command 75 synthesizer MIDI setup see routing S
118. 2csieneieadasass 124 Warp Modes isc iuiascaiuseoau gia we 124 Warp SWitCh zciciisuwaseceeradssaencnana 100 WAPIN wiescvenser ssdri paritrana danses 114 longer pieces iessirirsirererssicas 120 manipulating grooves 120 m ltiple CUPS iw utewrniaemoniae sated 123 odd length loops siicvcrackecaraens 119 straight OOpS cidivcdesiacadtiected 117 tempo master slave 115 UNCUT OOPS aseeni nse eneieianerues 118 webshop i 2ieesnadisedgaweed ane see Ableton Widen Grid command 80
119. 3 173 and remote control 174 automating the 175 Cue Out chooser cence 176 cue points 0608 see locators CUCING heia EE payeseeradees 176 Cut Time command 0 eee 81 D Decoding Cache preferences 42 Delay Compensation option 206 Delete All Time Signature Changes command 12 Delete Automation command 215 Delete command and devices 00cc cece eee 193 and envelopes di ceilanveeterexwesd 223 INDEX 358 and tracks 0 000 ee 171 E in the Browser 0000005 39 Delete Fragmentary Bar Time command 76 Delete Locator button 74 Delete Locator command 74 Delete Time command 81 Delete Time Signature Change command 75 Demo Sets 0 cc ccc esc cc cee cena eeees 14 Detune field 00 cc cece eae 106 Device Activator switch 193 Device chooser see Automation Device chooser see Clip Envelope Device chooser CEVICES 25 che seg adadncn agen E 20 compensating for delays 206 presets na Vang si adeeinieadees 194 the Live audio effects 234 the Live instruments 283 the Live MIDI effects 272 using Audio Units Plug ins 205 using Live devices 191 using plug in devices 197 using VST Plug ins
120. 39 WIL CDS Qutiduwnesey reris a eseis 97 Withi locators cscc230cd tir anea 74 with plug ins cus Seccavreadiebiedera 204 INDEX 363 Repeat Mode cijss teaser sentangandena 141 Collecting sa vckanguaaianpensiaetaraes 64 resampling 154 see recording destructive editing 52 106 Rescan Plug Ins preference 198 finding unused oss Giuceudeassardens 66 Resonators effect e eee 261 high quality interpolation 107 return tracks 3 ccvacienews is deeeas 22 172 offline missing cee eee e eee 61 Reverb effect 2 sisic shits nauwionieenndaie 262 played from RAM Mode 108 Diffusion Network 4 264 replaciNg mereinen ian 52 Early Reflections 4 263 Iae E 109 Global Settings 05 263 saving with clip settings 107 Input Processing 05 263 tiMe warping 6 cee eee eee eee 114 OUTP seeen iai yew dans oe ae 265 working with au dah orwnndihatcuminngs 41 Reverse button eee eee eee 109 Saturator effect cece 265 ReWire Save Copy command ciiccidcdsdwaxs 49 recording 00 see recording Save As command 0 eeeee 49 tutorials 2 tues chelsea ean see Ableton Save command cee eee eee 49 FOULING sts Views i vewe wet irain ids 24 149 Save Default Clip button 42 107 and computer keys ivwcesesvose xen 153 S
121. 5 Gate Mode sccm cpacasanesmaseanenses 141 pan and volume 286 Global Quantization chooser 26 sample slots and controls 284 and Session recording Se a err 182 saturator and envelope eee ee 286 Grain Delay effect 2 000 256 Start Tune and Stretch 285 Grain Flux field ooo 126 INO VIEW pescrcobieoriecotdead residan aras 5 Grain Size field 0 0020 00 125 insert Grain Size knob 00 eee eee 125 e EEEE EEEE 191 grid NSUUMENE errien e 191 and Arrangement editing e a ake 80 plug ins EEREN TEEST ATE ETETA TEET 197 and envelope drawing 218 TACK soore eat tin eae Er 171 and MIDI editing 5 133 Insert Audio Track command 171 and time signature markers 76 insert marker 0 0c cece ee eee 72 in editing clip envelopes See eos 232 Insert MIDI Clip command 127 working with the 600 80 Insert MIDI Track command 171 groove feature cece eee eee 98 Insert Return Track command 173 INDEX Insert Scene command 90 Insert Silence command 81 Insert Time Signature Change command 75 INSTUMENTS 2 6 66 chee cee ees see devices K Key Map Mode switch 305 Key MIDI In Indicator 5 154 Key MIDI Out Indicator 154 keyboard shortcuts 0 2 000 34
122. 6 e File Type Bit Depth Sample Rate These options specify the type of sample to be created e Convert to Mono If this is activated Live will create a mono file instead of a stereo file e Dither Options If you are rendering at a bit depth lower than 32 bit choose one of the dither modes Dithering adds a small amount of noise to rendered audio but min imizes artifacts when reducing the bit depth By default Triangular is selected which is the safest mode to use if there is any possibility of doing additional processing on your file Rectangular mode introduces an even smaller amount of dither noise but at the expense of additional quantization error Note that dithering is a procedure that should only be applied once to any given audio file If you plan to do further processing on your rendered file it s best to render to 32 bit to avoid the need for dithering at this stage e Create Analysis File If this is activated Live will create an asd file that contains analysis information about the rendered sample If you intend to use the new sample in Live check this option 5 3 MIDI Files A MIDI file contains commands that prompt MIDI compatible synthesizers or instruments such as Live s Simpler to create specific musical output MIDI files are exported by hardware and software MIDI sequencers Importing MIDI files into Live works differently than with samples MIDI file data is incorporated into the Live Set
123. Arrangement recording the Record Quantization setting cannot be changed mid recording When overdub recording with the Clip View Loop activated changes to the Record Quan tization take effect immediately and they cannot be separately undone with the Edit menu command Recorded MIDI notes can also be quantized post recording with the Edit menu s Quantize command as described in the chapter on editing MIDI 14 6 Recording with Count in A count in for recording can be set in Live s Record Warp Launch Preferences When the Count In preference is set to any value other than None Live will not begin recording until the count in is complete The Arrangement Position fields in the Control Bar display the count in in orange as bars beats sixteenths Po ee The count in runs from negative bars beats sixteenths beginning at 2 1 1 for example with a Count In setting of 2 bars up to 1 1 1 at which point recording commences The Count In is Displayed in the Control Bar CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 187 14 7 Setting up File Types The following Preferences from the Record Warp Launch tab are relevant to the sample files that are created by recording e The sample file type you would like Live to create can be chosen from the File Type chooser in the Record Warp Launch Preferences e The bit depth of the sample file you will create by recording can be chosen from the Bit Depth chooser in the Record Warp Launch Prefere
124. DI track hosting the virtual instrument and we use additional audio tracks to record the audio result of playing the instrument CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 161 Creating Submixes 2 Snare 3 Bass 4 Hi Hats 5 Submix C z z o o o gt OLYMP FA m m m o 8 Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From Ext In a Ext In No Input gt No Input EA il 1 2 gt i 1 2 Monitor Monitor Monitor In Auto Of In Auto On Gl Auto on Audio To Audio To Audio To Audio To 5 Submix gt 5 Submix _ 5 Submix v Master Track In Track In Track In Suppose we have the individual drums of a drum kit coming in on separate tracks for multitrack recording In the mix we can easily change the volumes of the individual drums but adjusting the volume of the entire drum kit against the rest of the music is less convenient Therefore we add a new audio track to submix the individual drums The drum tracks are all set to output to the submix track which outputs to the Master The submix track gives us a handy volume control for the entire drum kit Several MIDI Tracks Playing the Same Instrument Consider a MIDI track containing a virtual instrument a Simpler playing a pad sound for example We have already recorded MIDI clips into this track when we realize that we would like to add an independent parallel take for the same instrument So we add
125. Edit button The editor window will then appear as a normal application window rather than as a floating window and receive your typing Note that this functionality is intended only as a workaround for the limitations of such plug ins We recommend closing the window after you have finished typing then reopening it normally before working with the plug in parameters 15 2 2 Plug In Performance Options The CPU Preferences contain a Plug In Buffer Size setting for balancing plug in latency and performance Here you can set the number of samples processed at any one time by the plug in Higher settings may result in a noticeable performance increase but will also result in higher latencies With the As Audio Buffer setting selected the plug in will calculate the exact number of samples per millisecond as the computer s sound card This setting usually means that very few dropouts or performance problems will occur especially with DSP cards The size of the computer s sound card buffer i e the number of samples it calculates per millisecond can be set using the Buffer Size setting in the Audio Preferences 15 3 VST Plug Ins 15 3 1 The VST Plug In Folder When you start Live for the first time you will need to activate your VST Plug in sources before working with VST Plug ins Depending on your computer platform you may also CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 202 have to tell Live about the location of
126. Enter MIDI Map Mode by pressing the MIDI switch in Live s upper right hand corner Notice that assignable elements of the interface become highlighted in blue and that the Mapping Browser becomes available If your Browser is closed PC Mac will open it for you 2 Click on the Live parameter that you d like to control via MIDI 3 Send a MIDI message by pressing a keyboard key turning a knob etc on your MIDI controller You will see that this new MIDI mapping is now listed in the Mapping Browser 4 Exit MIDI Map Mode by pressing the MIDI switch once again The Mapping Browser will disappear but you can always review your mappings by entering MIDI Map Mode again 22 2 2 Mapping to MIDI Notes MIDI notes send simple Note On and Note Off messages to Live s interface elements These messages can produce the following effects on controls in Live e Session View Slots Note On and Note Off messages affect clips in the slot according to their Launch Mode settings e Switches A Note On message toggles the switch s state e Radio Buttons Note On messages toggle through the available options e Variable Parameters When assigned to a single note Note On messages toggle the parameter between its Min and Max values When assigned to a range of notes each CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 302 note is assigned a discrete value equally spaced over the parameter s range of values Hint Session View slots can
127. MENTS AND EFFECTS 203 and local directories Library Audio Plug Ins VST You can turn Live s use of these plug ins on or off with the Use VST Plug ins in System Folders option 2 You may have an alternative folder in which you store your VST Plug ins perhaps those that you use only with Live You can use VST Plug ins in this folder in addi tion to or instead of those in the System folders To tell Live about the location of this folder click the Browse button next to the VST Plug In Custom Folder entry to open a folder search dialog for locating and selecting the appropriate folder 3 Note that you can turn off your VST Plug ins in this folder using the Use VST Plug In Custom folder option Once you have configured your Plug In Preferences the Plug In Device Browser will display all plug ins it finds in the selected VST Plug in folder s as well as any sub folders It is also possible to use VST Plug ins stored in different folders on your computer To do this create a Mac OS or Windows alias of the folder where additional VST Plug ins are stored and then place the alias in the VST Plug In Custom folder or in the VST Plug In System folder on Mac OS X selected in Live s File Folder Preferences The alias can point to a different partition or hard drive on your computer Live will scan the set VST Plug in folder as well as any alias folders contained therein Some VST Plug ins contain errors or are incompatible with Live During t
128. NAVIGAUON Sviwdwadhiiideovest dseaes 129 note off velocity 00 138 rearranging notes in 133 MIDI effects MIDI Fact Sheet 0 0 eee ee 333 MIDI files 00 eee eee eee eee 19 and time signature changes 77 MIDI interface setup see routing MIDI Map Mode switch 301 MIDI Ports list 0 0 e cee eee eee 153 MIDI Preferences 0e cece eee ee 6 MIDI Track In Indicator 154 MIDI Track Out Indicator 154 MIDI tracks 0 eee eee see tracks Minimum Free Space preference 42 MIXER oreore kerai a a a A 22 N67 Mixer Section selector 5 168 modulation see clip envelopes monitor MIX 1 0 ee eee ee eee 172 MONIMOMING cca doit sn eek Neder ea een 150 monitoring through Live see Audio Preferences MP3 files n on see samples Multicore Multiprocessor Support 318 Multiple Plug In Windows preference 200 muting see Track Activator switch SUS ils tata hie E 97 N Narrow Grid command 5 80 New command e cece eee eee 49 Next Locator button 04 74 normalizing rendered audio 45 Note Editor 02 3 wintutdueeasaediae 128 Note Length effect 00055 277 Notes POX cre vedniet esi ERa KSNR E banned 95 Nudge buttons see Clip Nudge buttons O offline CBS lt vecadleved
129. OUS casas ran AN REKSA waaay see Live Sets shortcuts see keyboard shortcuts T Show Hide Plug In Windows command 201 shuffle n see groove feature Takeover Mode preference 299 Simple Delay effect 05 267 Tap Tempo button A eek ell 114 Simpler instrument siss ssvsusaxsduws 287 with warping sseeeeee ees 122 and CPU resources or oeenn 2914 technical support sciswnivareersvaswneys 12 envelope onini ese eeeees 289 Template Save button a cicg0rsccneerners 51 filtere cagrernondenmninucabaicuaas 289 tempo Glide and Spread o on 290 and scene names 87 90 FO e a a 289 Se arrarena a cae Multisample Mode c s dececeens 287 MIDI MAPPING ranges errr ns 220 Pan naani rriren 291 a E E ocean avant ve sample controls 005 288 MOPPING EE 114 Sample View s 2 d sssssesesesesens 287 Tempo field seiycyscinarsiu re ayenane 100 113 Transpose sic snenie ida erais 290 Temporary Folder preference 187 V E TETEE 290 Texture Mode suaxccpaunnayenet nani ans 125 time signature INDEX 365 and scene names 87 90 U time signature changes 75 d Toggle Mode ee eee eee 141 Undo comman Tones Mode ccc eee ence aee 125 and Arrangement editing 132 Track Activator switch 5 169 and automation editing eee eee 215 Track Delay control 2 0005 177 and recorded ClPS we see see
130. Pe Crossfader Curve Properties Fast Cut The crossfader can be mapped to any continuous MIDI controller absolute or incremental In addition to the crossfader s central slider its absolute left and right positions are separately available for MIDI or keyboard mapping There are two special scenarios for remote control with respect to the crossfader e A key mapped to any one of the three assignable crossfader positions left center or CHAPTER 13 MIXING 175 right will toggle the crossfader s absolute left and right positions e Mapping to two of the three fields allows for a snapping back behavior when one of the assigned keys is held down and the other is pressed and released JRRRRIE wae macs TE A Each track has two Crossfade Assign buttons A and B The track can have three states with respect to the crossfader e f neither Assign button is on the crossfader does not affect the track at all e If Ais on the track will be played unattenuated as long as the crossfader is in the left half of its value range As the crossfader moves toward the right across the center position the track fades out At the crossfader s rightmost position the track is muted e Likewise if B is on the track s volume will be affected only as the crossfader moves left across its center position It is important to understand that the Crossfade Assign buttons do not affect the sig
131. Q presets are specific to the piece and of little use to other Projects For this reason every device in the Device Browser has a Current Project sub folder You can drag a preset to this folder after saving it or simply drag the title bar of the device and drop it there directly O a Vurpresou gt E Compressor II gt E Dynamic Tube v E EQ Eight E Bright Acoustic Guitar E Center Kin E Cheesy Speaker Clear Acoustic Guitar a Y E Current Project Electro with Piano E Hi boost Project Specific Presets Appear Under Current i ion Project in the Device gt Browser E Troble boost 5 6 3 Managing Files in a Project Live s File Manager offers several convenient tools for managing Projects Once you ve opened a Live Set that is part of the Project you wish to manage choose the Manage Files command from the File menu and then click the Manage Project button The File Manager will present you with an overview of the Project s contents and tools for e locating samples that the Project is missing e collecting external samples into the Project CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 58 e listing unused samples in the Project e packing a Project in Live Pack format e exporting the Project s contents to the Library 5 7 The Live Library The Live Library acts as a repository of commonly used files such as samples clips and Live Device Presets that are available to all Live
132. S 1Bar 2 The area displayed in the Note Editor can be set to scroll with playback using the Follow switch from the Control Bar You can click in the scrub area just below the beat time ruler to start playback from that point rounded by the global quantization setting Learning about the loop region controls and associated shortcuts can also be helpful in getting around in the MIDI Editor and playing selections quickly and easily As you work with MIDI you may find yourself needing extra screen space You can click and drag vertically on the window split between the Session or Arrangement View and the Clip View to enlarge the MIDI Editor The Control Bar s Follow Switch The MIDI Clip Scrub Area CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 132 a o eeceece o 10 4 Editing MIDI 10 4 1 Non Destructive Editing You can always return your MIDI clip to its previous state by using the Edit menu s Undo command Furthermore if the MIDI clip being edited originated in a MIDI file on your hard drive none of your editing will alter the original MIDI file as Live incorporates its contents into your Live Set when importing 10 4 2 Folding and Looping An important feature of the MIDI Editor is the Fold button located in the upper left corner Activating this button will immediately hide all rows
133. SETS 54 Name E Parent Folder v Exp Tango Project v P Samples v P Recorded Fr 0001 1 Guitar wav Fee 0001 2 Accordion wav gt B Tango ais A Live Set and its Recordings in a Live Project Folder O The project folder Tango Project contains the Live Set Tango als and a Samples folder which in turn contains a Recorded folder with two samples in it Note that the current Project is also indicated in the title bar of Live s application window Next we record another track into our Project We save the modified version of the Live Set under a new name so that we do not lose the previous version Accepting the Save As command s default suggestion we store the new version of the song in the Tango Project folder Name Parent Folder v E Tango Project v Samples v FP Recorded Erg 0001 1 Guitar wav Erg 0001 2 Accordion wav Fr 0001 3 Piano wav b B Tango with Piano ats gt B Tango ais A Second Version of the Live Set Has Been Added to the Project gt CELIE The Tango Project now contains two Live Sets and its Samples Recorded folder contains the samples used by both of them And now for something completely different We choose the File menu s New command and record a samba tune As this has nothing to do with our tango dabblings we decide CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 55 to save it outside the Tango Project folder say on the Desktop Live creates a new p
134. Second Multiple Windows with C Plug In Edit Button Open Mac Keystroke Plug In Window A with Plug In Edit Button Group Ungroup Devices Ciri Ss Activate Deactivate All Devices in Alt Device Activa Alt_ lt Device Activa Group tor tor Click to Append Devices to a Selected 4 __ CSD Device Load Selected Device From Browser Return or Double Return or Double Click Click CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 351 26 20 Using the Context Menu A context menu is available in Live for quick access to many commonly used menu items To access the context menu PC Mac on the part of the interface where you would like to execute a particular command It is worth noting that Live s context menu may sometimes contain applicable settings from the Preferences You should change these options with care as they will affect not only the currently selected item but the general settings of the program Some commands only appear in the context menu Among these are the Create Folder Analyze Audio Search In Folder Close All Folders and Refresh commands from the Browser the special grid marker commands for directing Auto Warp and detailed options for zoom adaptive and fixed grid line width 352 Chapter 27 Live 7 LE vs Live 7 Comparison Chart Live 7 LE Live 7 Maximum number of audio tracks per project 64 Unlimited Maximum number of MIDI tracks per project U
135. Setting the Clip to Run Into a Loop BCRA esate loro lons lo 20 The Loop Length and Position fields are equipped with Set buttons which can be used to create loops spontaneously during playback e Playing the clip and then clicking the Set Loop Position button moves the beginning of loop to the current playback position rounded to the global quantization setting and engages the loop Then clicking the Set Loop Length button moves the end of the loop to the current playback position This lets you capture the music in a loop on the fly e While the loop is still off you can click the Set Loop Length button to set the loop to end at the current playback position without changing its preset length This simultaneously activates looping The Set buttons the Loop switch the loop brace and the start end markers can all be mapped to MIDI controls You could for example use a rotary encoder to move the loop through a sample in increments the size of the chosen quantization interval CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 106 8 2 3 Clip Pitch and Gain Sample Transpose 4 The Clip Pitch and Gain Controls The Transpose control shifts the clip pitch in semitones The Detune field fine tunes the clip in cents 100 cents one semitone The Clip Gain slider calibrated in dB changes the clip gain 8 2 4 Destructive Sample Editing Sample The Launch Sample Editor Button The Edit button opens the sample in an
136. The clip that is the current tempo master will play as if warping was off but with one important difference the rest of the Live Set will be warped so that it plays in sync with the current tempo master The Sample Box s Warping Controls CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 116 This is achieved by adding tempo automation to the Master track for the duration of the tempo master clip You will notice that the Tempo field in Live s Control Bar becomes disabled in this state this is because all tempo control is handed over to the tempo master clip When toggling a clip s Master Slave switch or when deleting a clip that was set as tempo master the Master track tempo automation is removed again restoring the proper tempo to the region If you wish instead to keep the generated tempo automation to continue working with it then PC Mac on the Control Bar s Tempo field and choose the Unslave Tempo Automation command All clips will then be set to Slave but the tempo automation will remain in place 9 2 2 Warp Markers Think of a sample as a rubber band that you want to pin to a musical time ruler In Live the pins are called Warp Markers A Warp Marker forces the software to arrive at a specific point in the sample at a specific musical time You can use any number of Warp Markers to create an arbitrary mapping of the piece s inherent rhythm to a musical meter Warp Markers are set in the Clip View s Sample Displ
137. To achieve special effects you could for instance create a sequence where Spread is zero most of the time and turned on only for some notes These notes will then play in stereo while the others will play mono 21 2 8 Pitch Pan Volume and Voices Simpler plays back a sample at its original pitch if the incoming MIDI note is C3 however the Transpose control allows transposing this by 48 semitones Pitch can also be modulated by an LFO or pitch envelope using the amount controls in this section The pitch envelope is especially helpful in creating percussive sounds Simpler reacts to MIDI Pitch Bend messages with a sensitivity of 5 semitones You can also modulate the Transpose parameter with clip envelopes and external controllers CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 291 The Voices parameter sets the maximum number of voices that Simpler can play simultane ously If more voices are needed than have been allocated by the Voices chooser voice stealing will take place in which the oldest voice s will be dropped in favor of those that are new For example if your Voices parameter is set to 8 and ten voices are all vying to be played the two oldest voices will be dropped Simpler does try to make voice stealing as subtle as possible A small LED near the Voices control flashes when a voice has been stolen Panorama is defined by the Pan control but can be further swayed by randomness or modulated by the LFO Finally
138. Track Arm Buttons CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 193 E Old Sampler S S E Resonators e S o eA Rate Mod Gan Sas O Random Operator Coarse Fine Fixed Level LFO Q Q o Hi Sine Coarse Fine Fixed Level G2 Oe Fine Fixed Level A ie Fine Fixed Level a o a C s 5 1 dB ax Redux 2 Chance 25 dB 50 Filter Freq Res c e J Band 2408 v B Choices Cih My r PithEnv Spread Transpose m Gr amp 19 18 Ost Time Tone Q 43 Volume U To remove a device from the chain click on its title bar and press your computer s or key or select Delete from the Edit menu To change the order of devices drag a device by its title bar and drop it next to any of the other devices in the Track View Devices can be moved to other tracks entirely by dragging them from the Track View into the Session or Arrangement Views Generally devices can be placed reordered and deleted without interrupting the audio stream Random gt a Operator Devices are turned on and off using their Activator switches Turning a device off is like temporarily deleting it The signal remains unprocessed and the device does not consume CPU cycles Live devices generally do not load down the CPU unless they are active For more information please refer to the CPU load section a B Devices in Live s tracks have input and output level meters Th
139. able monitoring when actually playing through The DirectMusic architecture on Windows allows outgoing MIDI events to be sched uled by the operating system rather than scheduled by Live alone so performance may differ depending on whether or not you re using MME or DirectMusic mode If MIDI Output Test Configuration CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 340 you experience timing issues we recommend switching to the other mode This is set in the MIDI Ports list in the MIDI Sync Preferences MIDI Ports Track Sync Remote Port Type __DirectMusic ETSIT A i iti 25 7 Summary and Conclusions Ableton wrote this paper in order to help users understand a variety of related topics e the inherent problems in computer based MIDI systems e our approach to solving these problems in Live e additional variables that we cannot account for As mentioned before the best way to solve MIDI timing issues in your studio is to use the highest quality hardware components available For users of such components all software MIDI systems should perform with no noticeable issues For users with less than optimal hardware however Live still offers an additional degree of accuracy by minimizing jitter but at the expense of a small amount of additional latency We encourage you to refer to this paper if you have any questions about Live s approach to MIDI timing but we also encourage you to contact us if you have additional questions or concern
140. ableton Ableton Live 7 LE Reference Manual Live LE for Windows and Mac OS Created by Bernd Roggendorf Gerhard Behles Robert Henke Awi Reiner Rudolph Stefan Haller Stefan Franke Frank Hoffmann Andreas Zapf Ralf Suckow Gregor Klinke Matthias Mayrock Friedemann Schautz Ingo Koehne Jakob Rang Pablo Sara Nicholas Allen Henrik Lafrenz Jan Buchholz Kevin Haywood Dominik Wilms Christian Kleine Amaury Groc Daniel B ttner Alex Koch Henrik Hahn Simon Frontzek Torsten Wendland Torsten Slama Eduard Muller Jeremy Bernstein Bernard Chavonnet Carl Seleborg Claes Johanson Bernhard Bockelbrink Nico Starke J rg KluBmann Reference Manual by Dennis DeSantis Kevin Haywood Rose Knudsen Gerhard Behles Jakob Rang Robert Henke Torsten Slama Content provided by SONiVOX www sonivoxrocks com Big Fish Audio www bigfishaudio com Chocolate Audio www chocolateaudio com Puremagnetik www puremagnetik com Physical Modeling technology provided by Applied Acoustics Systems www applied acoustics com hE MSs Copyright 2008 Ableton AG All rights reserved This manual as well as the software described in it is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Ableton Every effort has been made to ensur
141. ac and then selecting the Create Folder command e Delete files and folders using the Edit menu s Delete command or your computer s or key Deleting items within Live moves them to the system trash if necessary you can recover items from the system trash via your computer s operating system CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 40 5 1 7 Hot Swap Mode In addition to the drag and drop method of loading files from the Browser Live offers a Hot Swap Mode to save you mouse travel Hot Swap Mode establishes a temporary link between the Browser and for example a virtual instrument While in Hot Swap Mode you can step through samples or presets to audition them in place that is within the instrument Hot swapping for presets is covered in the Live Device Presets section Let s go through an example of hot swapping samples Live s built in Impulse instrument features eight sample player slots that can be filled by dropping samples into them Alternatively we can click the Hot Swap button that appears as we move the mouse over a slot Clicking the Hot Swap button engages Hot Swap Mode Live s Hot Swap Browser opens and the Hot Swap icon appears next to one of the files shown While in Hot Swap Mode pressing the key loads that file into the Impulse slot presumably while Impulse is playing incoming MIDI notes pressing then Return loads the next sample and so on Instead of using the keys we can also double click on a sa
142. ack It can oftentimes make more sense to isolate the instrument or one of its individual drum samples and send CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 287 this signal to a separate track Please see the Routing chapter to learn how to accomplish this for Impulse s overall signal or for Impulse s individual sample slots 21 2 Simpler Simpler on gt F i il a 7 Start Loop Length Fade Attack Decay Sustain Release LFO Pan Volume 0 00 Q DC mm m re DOAC Rand Ole 282 100 58 0 7 94 Sip itch 0 10ms 595s 140dB 358s 0 0 c 0 00 Filter Freq Res Vel LFO Rate Attack Retrig Transp LFO Glide Spread Vel Con aaja a eea mx Type C Key Env Type Freq Key Detune Env Time Voices LP249 6 13kHh 694 B4 0 4 A RR Be Looe Oct 4 0st 4 300ms3 0 127R The Simpler Instrument Simpler is an instrument that integrates the basic elements of a sampler with a set of classic synthesizer parameters A Simpler voice plays a user defined sample section which is in turn processed by envelope filter LFO volume and pitch components 21 2 1 Sample View The Sample View displays the sample waveform Samples can be dragged into Simpler either directly from the Browser or from the Session or Arrangement View in the form of clips In the latter case Simpler will utilize only the section of the sample demarcated by the clip s start end or loop markers
143. aims about what you can hear because we can t possibly predict the variables that make up your listening environment audio hardware hearing sensitivity etc Furthermore this paper makes no claims about how Live compares to other audio software Rather it is a summary of measurable facts about what Live 7 actually does under various conditions 24 1 Testing and Methodology As of this writing every version of Live is subjected to a suite of 473 automated tests that cover every aspect of Live s functionality We add additional tests as we add features and CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 323 we will never release an update unless it passes every test 24 2 Neutral Operations Procedures in Live that will cause absolutely no change in audio quality are referred to as neutral operations You can be sure that using these functions will never cause any signal degradation Applying neutral operations to audio that was recorded into Live ensures that the audio will be unchanged from the point of analog to digital conversion Applying neutral operations to files imported into Live ensures that the imported audio will be identical to the files saved on disk Applying neutral operations to files being exported from Live ensures that the quality of your output file will be at least as high as what you heard during playback The list of neutral operations found below is provided primarily as an abstract reference while all of these opera
144. ampler Filter Envelope Su BES BE cc 13 2 MIDI Sampler Filter Envelope Su 3 9 OR cc 14 2 MIDI Sampler Fitter Envelope Att 0 19 ms ZEN Filter Envelope De 1 00 ms IIT Fitor Envelope Re SSE NEES ms Sampler Zonea Sample PitctvOsc Filter Giobal Modu All manual MIDI computer keyboard and Macro Control mappings are managed by the Mapping Browser The Mapping Browser is hidden until one of the three mapping modes is enabled It will then display all mappings for the current mode For each mapping it lists the control element the path to the mapped parameter the parameter s name and the mapping s Min and Max value ranges The assigned Min and Max ranges can be edited at any time and can be quickly inverted with a PC 6 Mac context menu command Delete mappings using your computer s or key Note that Instant Mappings are context based and are not displayed in the Mapping Browser Their mapping structure can be displayed while working in Live by choosing the Lessons option from the View menu and then opening the Control Surface Reference lesson The Mapping Browser and Selector CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 301 22 2 1 Assigning MIDI Remote Control The MIDI Map Mode Switch Once your remote control setup has been defined in the MIDI Sync Preferences giving MIDI controllers and notes remote control assignments is simple 1
145. an show or hide the Launch Envelopes and Sample or MIDI boxes using the Clip View Box selector in the Clips box You can also toggle between the Sample Display MIDI Editor and the Envelope Editor by clicking in the title bars of the Sample Notes box and the Envelopes box respectively Clip La nch Carofs Pad Launch Mode E ioe Signature Legato 4 s Quantization Groove Global Swing 8 v ve 00 Follow Action 1 Ol 0 The Clip View for a MIDI Clip The Clip View Box Selector Shows and Hides Various Clip View Components CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 97 8 1 The Clip Box e Launch Sample Envelopes Carof s Pad 8 1 1 Clip Activator Switch Using this switch you can deactivate a clip so that it does not play when launched in the Session View or during Arrangement playback Clips can also be activated deactivated directly from the Session or Arrangement View with their PC Mac context menus 8 1 2 Clip Name and Color The Clip Name field allows naming the clip By default a clip s name matches the name of the file it references but in general the clip name is independent from the file name You can also rename a clip by selecting it in the Session grid or Arrangement View and using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the clip s PC Ctrl Mac context menu This method also allows you to create your own info text for the clip via the Edit Info Text command
146. ance between the incoming note s Note On and Note Off velocities If your MIDI keyboard does not support MIDI Note Off velocity you can just set this to zero Decay Time This is the time needed for an incoming note s velocity to decay to zero The decay begins immediately from the moment the device receives a MIDI Note On message The value at the time of Note Off will become the velocity of the output MIDI note Key Scale The pitch of incoming notes can be used to alter the length of the output notes With positive values notes below C3 will be made progressively longer and notes above C3 will be made shorter Negative values will invert this relationship 20 4 Pitch Pitch amp Pitch z The Pitch Effect Pitch is a transposition tool that changes incoming note pitch by 128 semitones The Range and Lowest controls act together to define a pitch range through which notes are allowed to pass Notes outside of the defined pitch range will be blocked and the effect s LED light will flash when this happens Notes outside of the pitch range are limited based on their untransposed pitch prior to the transposition stage of the effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 279 20 5 Random Random Chance 0 100 E Choices Scale M 1 Le Random adds an element of the unknown to the otherwise commonplace pitch parameter The Chance control defines the likelihood that an incoming note
147. another MIDI track We could now drag another Simpler into the new track but we would really like to reuse the Simpler from the pad track so that changing the pad s sound affects the notes from both tracks Submixing the Individual Drums of a Drum Kit CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 162 8 Pad 3 10 Pad2 Master 1 2 Stop Clips MIDI From MIDI From MIDI From Ins AIl Ins All Ins 4 i h All Channee f All Channew Monitor Monitor Monitor in Auto O In Auto Off in Auto Off Cue Out MIDI To Audio To MIDI To li Output Master gt 9 Pad Master Out 11 Simpler wi ii 1 2 Track In a a 1 Ii gt R E E 10 3 E ka This is accomplished by setting the new MIDI track s Output Type chooser to Pad Note that the Output Channel chooser now offers a selection of destinations We can either feed the new track s output into the input of the pad track or we can directly address the Simpler The Track In option in the Output Channel represents the pad track s input signal the signal to be recorded which is not what we want We instead select Simpler Ch 1 to send the new track s MIDI directly to the Simpler bypassing the recording and monitoring stage With this setup we can choose to record new takes on either track and they will all play the same pad sound 7 Audio 8 Pad 3 9 Pad 10 Pad2 Master 2 Stop Clips Audio F
148. ansevevavawsieeays 61 Ogg tiles sissies ectinet essa see samples Open Open Recent command 49 Original BPM field 11 Tg Overdub Switch 000 182 184 Overdubbing cece eee e eee 184 P ACK sctimsaevendiapiaiuiare see Live Packs Pan CONttOl sacs ais venstaseond beige nes 169 Pan quick chooser button see quick chooser buttons Parent Folder item INDEX Paste Time command 81 pencil tool see Draw Mode Phaser effect 0 cece eee eee e ee 257 Ping Pong Delay effect 259 Pitch Bend quick chooser button see quick chooser buttons Pitch effet aericeps aee 278 Play DUTTON o encensar snes gees euenes 72 plug ins USING 6 see devices Plug In Buffer Size preference 201 Plug In Device Browser 198 Plug In Device Browserselector 197 Plug In Edit button 04 200 Plug In Unfold button 199 pre listening samples see previewing Pre Post switches 0 0 e sees 172 PrETETENCES ean asauaei nese adbagaeedaads ones 6 and recording clips etidweeseicen ye 187 PIESCIS aia nonada E eN a 194 D faultS renren n an ene 196 for specific Live Projects 57 Preview switch 00005 37 129 Preview Volume knob 185 previewing in the Browser 0e0eeee es 37 in the MIDI Editor
149. ape control sculpts the prominence of the early reflections as well as their overlap with the diffused sound With small values the reflections decay more gradually and the diffused sound occurs sooner leading to a larger overlap between these components With large values the reflections decay more rapidly and the diffused onset occurs later A higher value can sometimes improve the source s intelligibility while a lower value may give a smoother decay Spin applies modulation to the early reflections The X Y control accesses the depth and frequency of these modulations A larger depth tends to provide a less colored more spectrally neutral late diffusion response If the modulation frequency is too high doppler frequency shifting of the source sound will occur along with surreal panning effects Spin may be turned off using the associated switch for modest CPU savings 19 18 3 Global Settings The Quality chooser controls the tradeoff between reverb quality and performance Eco uses minimal CPU resources while High delivers the richest reverberation CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 264 The Size parameter controls the room s volume At one extreme a very large size will lend a shifting diffused delay effect to the reverb The other extreme a very small value will give it a highly colored metallic feel The Stereo Image control determines the width of the output s stereo image At the
150. are similarly flipped Second clip envelopes remain fixed to their position in time Therefore a mixer volume envelope that lowers the volume of the first half of a clip will continue to do exactly that after reversal The reversal process is quite fast about as fast as copying but for very long samples it might take a little time When this is the case the Status Bar in the lower portion of the Live screen will give you a progress display and further actions in the program will be temporarily locked though running clips will continue to play You can play the reversed clip and perform other actions in the program as soon as Live begins to draw the new waveform into the Sample Display Once a sample is reversed a link to the reversed sample will be maintained until you quit the program and reversing the same clip again or a copy will be instantaneous It is not recommended that you reverse clips in a live performance situation as a slight glitch can sometimes occur while Live reapplies the warp and loop settings The Reverse Button CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 110 8 2 10 Cropping Samples The Sample Displays PC Ctrl Mac context menu includes the Crop Sample command This function creates similarly to the Reverse function a new sample by copying the sample currently in use but only the excerpt that is actually used plus a 50 millisecond safety margin on both ends The new sample can be found after saving the Live
151. ay by double clicking any of its numeric grid markers They can then be dragged or moved with the arrow keys to different positions in the clip Warp Markers can also be deleted by double clicking them or by pressing the computer keyboard s or key after selecting them Double Clicking a Grid Marker Creates a Warp 00 s ia Marker When working with your sample you can have Live scroll the Sample Display to follow playback Use the Control Bar s Follow switch to activate this feature It also might be CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 117 helpful to vertically resize the Sample Display by dragging on the split line between the Clip View and the Session View track area re gt m o ove EF Bar 2 Saving Warp Markers Your Warp Markers will automatically be saved with the Live Set but you may also want to save them with the sample file itself so that they are reconstructed anytime you drag the file into Live To do this click the Clip View s Save button Note that if a sample has a saved set of Warp Markers Auto Warp will have no effect When this is the case you can use any of the PC 6 Mac context menu commands described in this section to initiate auto warping 9 2 3 Using Warp Markers In the following sections we will look at a couple of applications for time warping samples Warping is of course an optional property of clips Syncing Straight Loops When you import a sample that represent
152. ays to add clips to a Live Set e Files can be dragged and dropped from the File Browsers into tracks in the Session or Arrangement View Dragging and dropping material from the Browser into the space to the right of Session View tracks or below Arrangement View tracks will create a new track and place the new clip s there The Preview Volume Knob CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 39 3860 o 3 o gt 4 mi gt 6 m gt 7 Drop Files and n A gt Dropping a Clip to Create a New Track e In the Session View double clicking or pressing Return on a file in the Browser will automatically create a new track to the right of the other tracks and load it with the clip e Files can be dropped directly into Live from the Explorer Windows Finder Mac 5 1 6 File Maintenance in the Browser You can use Live s File Browsers for all of the file maintenance activities that you are familiar with on your operating system e Move files and folders by dragging and dropping or by copying cutting and pasting Copying cutting and pasting can be done with either Edit menu commands or key board shortcuts A file can be moved from one File Browser to another by dragging it over the target Browser s button e Rename files and folders using the Edit menu s Rename command or the Ctrl__ R PC WR Mac shortcut Cancel renaming with the key e Create folders by opening the context menu with PC 5 M
153. be assigned to a MIDI note range for chromatic playing First play the root key this is the key that will play the clip at its default transposition and then while holding down the root key hold one key below the root and one above it to define the limits of the range 22 2 3 Mapping to Absolute MIDI Controllers Absolute MIDI controllers send messages to Live in the form of absolute values ranging from 0 to 127 These values lead to different results depending on the type of Live control to which they are assigned A value message of 127 for example might turn the Volume control on a Live track all the way up or play a Session View clip Specifically MIDI controller messages from 0 to 127 can produce the following effects on controls in Live e Session View Slots Controller values 64 and above are treated like Note On messages Controller values 63 and below are treated like Note Off messages e Switches For track activators and on off buttons in devices controller values that are within the mapping s Min and Max range turn the switch on Controller values that are above or below this range turn it off You can reverse this behavior by setting a Min value that is higher than its corresponding Max value In this case controller values that are outside of the range turn the switch on while values inside the range turn it off For all other switches such as transport controls controller values 64 and above turn the switch on while co
154. being output quietly and vice versa If instead Out Hi is set to zero and Out Low to 127 the slope of the line will be reversed and softly played notes will actually produce the loudest output What happens to incoming notes that are outside of the range set with the Range and Lowest controls This depends on which Mode is selected Clip Mode does just what it says It clips incoming note velocities so that they stay within the range Gate Mode removes incoming notes altogether if their velocities are outside of the range You will see the little The Velocity Effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 282 LED below the X Y display flash when a note is blocked by gating In Fixed Mode the Out Hi velocity defines all outgoing note velocities regardless of incoming note velocity The Random function adds or subtracts a random value to the all velocities and is repre sented by a gray area on the display curve The Drive and Compand controls can be combined to create more complex curves Com pand is a simultaneous expanding and compressing tool When set to values greater than zero it forces incoming notes to the outer boundaries of the curve making them play ei ther loudly or softly Compand values of less than zero on the other hand force outgoing velocity toward the mid range Drive pushes all values in the curve to the outer extremes Use these two controls together to sculpt or even redefine the dynamic structure of a piece
155. ble clicking a Live Set s name in the Browser will open that Live Set 4 2 Arrangement and Session The basic musical building blocks of Live are called clips A clip is a piece of musical material a melody a drum pattern a bassline or a complete song Live allows you to record and alter clips and to create larger musical structures from them songs scores remixes DJ sets or stage shows A Live Set consists of two environments that can hold clips The Arrangement is a layout of clips along a musical timeline the Session is a real time oriented launching base for clips Every Session clip has its own play button that allows launching the clip at any time and in any order Each clip s behavior upon launch can be precisely specified through a number of settings gt rhodes gt RRS gt a gt erase rhodes2 D ERE gt orume e 5 a a Wario E i E The Arrangement is accessed via the Arrangement View and the Session via the Session View you can toggle between the two views using the computer s Tab key or their respective selectors Because the two views have distinct applications they each hold individual collections of clips However it is important to understand that flipping the views simply changes the appearance of the Live Set and does not switch modes alter what you hear or change what is stored j KEY MIDI 2 D Clips in the Session View Left and in the Arrangement Vi
156. by setting the LFOs to run at the same frequency but offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each delay is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount Adjusting the HiPass control will cut low frequencies from the delayed signal The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Flanger in a return track 19 12 Gate Gate eA Saa Threshold H Attack Audio From H finas ll O i PreFX_ v 0 42 ms Gain lt a Hold 0 00 dB Il 69 2 ms Dry Wet 20 dB Release Hip oe 100 ipl 242 ms The Gate effect passes only signals whose level exceeds a user specified threshold A gate can eliminate low level noise that occurs between sounds e g hiss or hum or shape a sound by turning up the threshold to where it cuts off reverb or delay tails or truncates an instrument s natural decay The Gate Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 255 The Threshold slider sets the gate s sensitivity If the gate is open and passing signal i e the signal exceeds the gate threshold the green LED lights The Attenuation slider located beneath the Threshold fader can attenuate signals below the threshold rather than
157. cale effect tty ase sarnadarceradiaes neat 280 and external audio in out 152 Scene Launch button 0005 86 and external MIDI in out 152 Scene Select field cases tien tone 304 and instruments 161 Scene Up Down buttons 187 304 and layering eeee eee ee 165 SCENES 2 find cee darter dpedeeeepeceds 16 86 and post effects recording 15 and MIDI key mapping 304 and recording MIDI as audio 160 COILING w 2 0 ones ert titiri Eiti ste 90 and sidechain inputs 165 FOCOMdING i5 c 4crs owns ued y 183 between tracks 0008 155 scrubbing playback for creating submixes 161 in the Arrangement View 12 in the Clip View lt n cvavedeeseseeeeas 103 S Search button eee 34 Search In Folder command 35 Beles sa ciiasipaceaesesaauangans see Ableton Search In Metadata Option oaaao 35 Sample box OEE ee 95 Search In Path Option eeceeeeeeee eee 35 sample collections see Essential Instrument searching in the File Browser 34 Collection ESCAM orare tei a Gut ER 35 Sample Display s ss 000 99 101 Select Loop command 0 0002 79 Sample Editor preference 52 and clip envelopes u 223 SaM ples erorcera E nor E a EN 18 INDEX 364 and editing MIDI 134 VOUE setae cases dca nina Sraa
158. can be mapped to a MIDI key or even a keyboard range for chromatic playing MIDI keys and controllers that have been mapped to Live s controls are not available for recording via MIDI tracks These messages are filtered out before the incoming MIDI is passed on to the MIDI tracks An Envelope for Clip Transposition CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 28 Session clips switches buttons and radio buttons can be mapped to computer keyboard keys as well This happens in Key Map Mode which works just like MIDI Map Mode Live offers in addition to this general purpose mapping technique dedicated support for Mackie Control compatible mixer surfaces which allows for mouse free operation of the program 4 14 Saving and Exporting Saving a Live Set saves everything it contains including all clips their positions and settings and settings for devices and controls An audio clip can however lose the reference to its corresponding sample if it is moved or deleted from disk The links between samples and their clips can be preserved with a special command Collect and Save which makes a copy of each sample and stores it in a project folder along with the Live Set A separate Save button in the Clip View saves a set of default clip settings along with the sample so that each time the sample is dragged into the program it will automatically appear with these settings This is especially useful if you have made warp settings for a clip and want to use
159. ce To learn about creating and using custom groupings of instruments and effects check out the Instrument Drum and Effect Racks chapter Get hands on with devices by assigning their parameters to MIDI or key remote control CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 191 15 1 Using the Live Devices Devices Name v P23 struments gt E Instrument Rack gt E impulse gt E Operator gt E Sampler gt E Simpler gt mot eftects v PD Audio Effects gt E Audio Effect Rack v E Auto Filter y E Cut 0 Move L 28 07 2006 00 04 a 03 a Click on the Device Browser selector to access the palette of Live s built in devices You will notice that MIDI effects audio effects and instruments each have their own folders in the Browser The easiest way to place a device in a track is to double click on it in the Browser which creates a new track to hold the device Alternatively select a destination track by clicking within it then select a device or preset in the Browser and press to add it to the selected track You can also drag devices into tracks or drop areas in the Session and Arrangement Views or into the Track View Dragging a sample to the Track View of a MIDI track creates a Simpler instrument with this sample loaded Note If you are using an external input signal to feed your Live track using the default settings the track s Arm button in the mixer must be activated in order to h
160. ce must be made should events be played at the moment they are received which can result in jitter if that moment happens to occur when the system is busy or should they be delayed which adds latency Ableton s choice is to add latency as we believe that it is easier for users to adjust to consistent latency than to random jitter When monitoring is enabled during recording Live adds an additional delay to the times tamp of the event based on the buffer size of your audio hardware This added latency CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 336 makes it possible to record events to the clip at the time you hear them not the time you play them For playback of hardware devices Live also generates timestamps that it attempts to com municate to the MIDI interface drivers for scheduling of outgoing MIDI events Windows MME drivers cannot process timestamps however and for devices that use these drivers Live schedules outgoing events internally Even during high system loads that cause audio dropouts Live will continue to receive incoming MIDI events In the event of audio dropouts there may be timing errors and audio distortion during playthrough but Live should still correctly record MIDI events into clips Later when the system has recovered from the dropouts playback of these recorded events should be accurate 25 4 Variables Outside of Live s Control In general timestamps are an extremely reliable mechanism for dealing
161. choosers below This causes the selected track s signal to trigger the filter s envelope follower instead of the signal that is actually being filtered The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the envelope follower s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the envelope follower tracks the sidechain source exclusively At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 236 envelope follower and is never actually heard The Auto Filter also contains a Low Frequency Oscillator to modulate filter frequency in a periodic fashion The respective Amount control sets how much the LFO affects the filter This can be used in conjunction with or instead of the envelope follower The Rate control specifies the LFO speed It can be set in terms of hertz or synced to the song tempo allowing for controlled rhythmic filtering Available LFO waveform shapes are sine creates smooth modulations with rounded peaks and valleys square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and sample and hold generates random positive and negative modulation values in mono and stereo There are two LFOs one for each stereo channel The Phase and Offset controls define the relationship between
162. click on the Freq field and type in a value Holding the PC The Vinyl Distortion Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 271 Mac modifier while dragging vertically in the X Y display changes the frequency band s Q bandwidth The Pinch Effect section adds odd harmonics to the input signal These distortions typically occur 180 degrees out of phase creating a richer stereo image The Pinch Effect has the same controls as the Tracing Model but generates a rather different sound The Drive control increases or decreases the overall distortion amount created by both the Tracing Model and Pinch There are two distortion modes Soft and Hard The Soft Mode simulates the sound of a dub plate while Hard Mode is more like that of a standard vinyl record The stereo mono switch determines whether the Pinch distortion occurs in stereo or mono Set it to stereo for realistic simulation of vinyl distortions The Crackle section adds noise to the signal with noise density set by the Density control The Volume control adjusts the amount of gain applied to the noise 272 Chapter 20 Live MIDI Effect Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in MIDI effects The Working with Instruments and Effects chapter explains the basics of using effects in Live 20 1 Arpeggiator Arpeggiator aa Style Transpose Velocity On Chord Trigger ov Groove Straight y 7 Decay
163. contains the names of all user interface elements and will lead you to the relevant section CHAPTER 2 FIRST STEPS 6 2 2 Setting up Preferences Live s Preferences window is where you can find various settings that determine how Live looks behaves and interfaces with the outside world This window is accessed from the Preferences command which in Windows is available in the Options menu and in OS X is available in the Live menu Preferences can also be accessed with the Ctrl PC C i Mac shortcut Live s Preferences are distributed over several tabs In the Look Feel tab you can make various settings including the language used for text display and the color scheme or skin for the Live user interface The Audio Preferences are used to set up Live s audio connections with the outside world via an audio interface Please take the time to follow the program s built in Setting up Audio I O lesson which will walk you through all the steps required to set up and optimize the settings for any given system To access the lesson use the Lessons Table of Contents command from the Help menu The MIDI Sync Preferences are used to help Live recognize MIDI devices for two separate and distinct purposes Playing MIDI notes To learn how to route an external device into Live for MIDI input please see the Routing and I O chapter Controlling parts of the interface remotely This subject is covered in detail in the
164. d In addition to the Arpeggiator styles above there are a number of random styles Random randomly selects incoming MIDI notes for playback Random Other creates a random pattern from incoming MIDI notes and then plays the randomly generated chord repeatedly Random Once creates a random pattern from incoming MIDI notes and repeats the pattern until it has been transposed or retriggered at which point a new pattern is created Arpeggiator will play the pattern of notes at the speed set by the Rate control which can be calibrated in either milliseconds or beat time using the neighboring Sync Free button With Sync chosen Arpeggiator will be synced to the song tempo A Gate control to the right of Rate determines the length of notes played by Arpeggiator as a percentage of the current Rate setting Any setting larger than 100 will therefore play notes that overlap i e are legato The rhythmic pattern generated by Arpeggiator does not necessarily have to be straight patterns can be given groove with the respective control just beneath the Mode chooser Groove in Arpeggiator works just like it does for clips so that the intensity of the groove is set in the Control Bar With the Hold parameter active Arpeggiator will continue to play the pattern even after the keyboard keys have been released The pattern will be repeated until any other key is CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 275 pressed When Hold is active and any of the
165. d you can view the results of Auto Warp s assumptions about the file henas 654 1 64 71751884 13 1 11 4131136 se 4 49 ENNIE oh aN Gl lt a NOON 0 00 As long as Auto Warp made the correct set of informed guesses the clip will be ready to play in perfect sync with the Live Set s tempo However if Auto Warp does not quite do what you want you can control its results The remainder of this section will focus on various ways of guiding Live s auto warping Remember that the metronome in the Control Bar will probably come in handy as you warp longer pieces It might happen that Auto Warp guesses the tempo correctly but gets the downbeat wrong To remedy this you can do the following e Zoom in and drag the 1 1 1 marker to the desired position e Use the start markers PC Ctrl Mac context menu to select the Set 1 1 1 Here command Auto Warp s Results in the Clip View The Metronome Switch CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 122 Set 1 1 1 Here Warp From Here Warp From tere Start At 129 00 BPM Warp From Here Straight Warp 129 00 BPM From Here Warp As 256 Bar Loop Directing Auto Warp is also relatively simple when you have imported a perfectly cut loop You can tell Auto Warp to work accordingly using the Warp As Bar Loop command Live will propose a loop length that makes the most sense given the current Live Set s tempo Decr
166. d FreqHi to 2000 Hz then the low band goes from 0 Hz to 500 Hz the mid band from 500 Hz to 2000 Hz and the high band from 2000 Hz up to what ever your soundcard or sample rate supports A very important control is the 24 dB 48 dB switch It defines how sharp the filters are cutting the signal at the crossover frequency The higher setting results in more drastic filtering but needs more CPU Note The filters in this device are optimized to sound more like a good powerful analog filter cascade than a clean digital filter The 48 dB Mode especially does not provide a perfect linear transfer quality resulting in a slight coloration of the input signal even if all controls are set to 0 00 dB This is typical behavior for this kind of filter and is part of EQ Three s unique sound If you need a more linear behavior choose 24 dB Mode or use the EQ Eight CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 251 19 9 Erosion Width Amount The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing downsampling like distortions that sound very digital To change the sine wave frequency or noise band center frequency click and drag along the X axis in the X Y field The Y axis controls the modulation amount If you hold down the PC Mac modifier key while clicking in the X Y field the Y axis controls the noise bandwidth The Frequ
167. d Nudging To jump within a playing clip in increments the size of the global quantization period you can use the Nudge buttons in the Clip box Clip Using the Nudge Buttons to Jump Through a Clip These buttons can also be mapped to keys or MIDI controllers In MIDI Map Mode a scrub control will appear between the Nudge buttons and can be assigned to a rotary encoder wheel for continuous scrubbing CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 100 Clip nm The Scrub Control in MIDI Map Mode With quantization set to values less than one bar it is easy to offset clip playback from Live s master clock by launching clips using the Nudge buttons or scrubbing within the clip 8 2 The Sample Box 8 2 1 Warp Controls Sample gt fT Transients 1 16 The Sample Box Warp Controls When the Warp switch is off Live plays the sample at its original normal tempo irrespec tive of the current Live Set tempo This is useful for samples that have no inherent rhythmic structure percussion hits atmospheres sound effects spoken word and the like Turn the Warp switch on to play rhythmically structured samples such as sample loops music recordings complete music pieces etc in sync with the current song tempo SA 140 001 aul Solow The Control Bar s Tempo Field CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 101 To verify this note that a warped sample s speed follows the tempo as you change the Control Bar s Tempo con
168. d backward Stop Stops Arrangement playback 8 Play Plays the Arrangement from the song start or insert marker 9 Record Toggles the Record button on off Arrows e In the Session View the arrows navigate through the Session View grid Pressing the zoom button in the middle of the arrows will fire the currently selected clip or stop another playing clip in the same track if the currently selected slot is empty To stop playing the selected clip hold down the Mackie Control s Options button while pressing zoom and use the Alt button to add remove the selected slot s Clip Stop button Note that the LEDs associated with the zoom buttons will display the play status of a clip an illuminated LED signifies a playing clip a blinking LED signifies a clip that has been triggered but is not yet playing and an unillu minated LED signifies a stopped clip or empty slot In the Arrangement View with the zoom button enabled i e its LED illu minated you can use the arrow buttons for zooming and scrolling in the currently selected track When zoom is not enabled the arrow buttons can be used to select tracks 11 Scrub This fires the currently selected scene in the Session View and has no effect in the Arrangement View To stop all running clips hold down the Mackie CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 315 12 Control s Options button while pressing this Jog Wheel In the Session View the
169. d controller from the Lock to context menu You ll recognize the same list of control surfaces that you defined in the MIDI Sync Preferences Lock to Control Surface 2 offline Decay Sustain Release LFO Volume Lock to Control Surface 3 offline gt 00 EFs oj Lock to Control Surface 4 offline Rand LFO Lock to Control Surface 5 offline s 16 3ms 13 85 9ms 0 0 0 00 Lock to Control Surface 6 offline Attack Retrig Transp LFO Glide vel A i E b m O Ost 4 0 00 Pora ak Getting Hands On Key Offset Detune Env Time Voices Control Surfaces Can Be 0 0 0 00 oct 4 0st lt Bp m 327R Locked to Devices A hand icon in the title bar of locked devices serves as a handy reminder of their status Note Some control surfaces do not support locking to devices This capability is indicated for individual controllers in the Control Surface Reference lesson Select the Lessons option from the View menu to access Live s built in lessons CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 298 22 1 2 Manual Control Surface Setup If your MIDI control surface is not listed in the MIDI Sync Preferences Control Surface chooser it can still be enabled for manual mapping in the MIDI Ports section of this tab MIDI Ports Track gt Input Oxygens Port 1 Input RemoteSl Port 1 s Jags eld eg e lal lal REER b gt Input RemoteSt Port 2
170. d s or key Imported samples are automatically mapped onto your MIDI keyboard providing that it is plugged in and acknowledged by Live C3 on the keyboard will trigger the leftmost sample and the other samples will follow suit in the octave from C3 to C4 Impulse s eight slots will appear labeled in the MIDI Editor s key tracks when the Fold button is active even if the given key track is void of MIDI notes Mapping can be transposed from the default by applying a Pitch device or it can be rearranged by applying a Scale device Each of the eight samples has a proprietary set of parameters located in the area below the sample slots and visible when the sample is clicked Adjustments to sample settings are only captured once you hit a new note they do not affect currently playing notes Note that The Impulse Instrument CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 285 this behavior also defines how Impulse reacts to parameter changes from clip envelopes or automation which are applied once a new note starts If you want to achieve continuous changes as a note plays you may want to use the Simpler Slot 8 s parameters also include a Link button located in the lower left corner which links slot 8 with slot 7 Linking the two slots allows slot 7 s activation to stop slot 8 s playback and vice versa This was designed with a specific situation in mind but can of course be used for other purposes Replicating the way that closed hi
171. dentify value increments and decrements Please consult the documentation that came with your MIDI controller if you need further information on relative MIDI controllers Relative Session View Navigation Notice that you can make not only absolute mappings to individual slots and scenes but also relative mappings to move the highlighted scene and operate on the highlighted clips In both MIDI Map Mode and Key Map Mode a strip of assignable controls appears below the Session grid a a lt T m fil Fh S b ii il 1 Assign these buttons to keys notes or controllers to move the highlighted scene up and down 2 Assign this scene number value box to a MIDI controller preferably an endless encoder to scroll through the scenes For details see the previous section on Relative Map Modes 3 Assign this button to launch the highlighted scene If the Record Warp Launch Preferences Select Next Scene on Launch option is checked you can move successively and hopefully successfully through the scenes 4 Assign these buttons to launch the clip at the highlighted scene in the respective track The Relative Session Mapping Strip CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 305 Relative Session mapping is useful for navigating a large Live Set as Live always keeps the highlighted scene at the Session View s center Note that the number of scenes is limited in Live LE Mapping to Clip View C
172. dialog tells Live what it needs to know about how the computer is connected to the other audio components in your studio Please note that there is a limit of four inputs and outputs available in Live LE 12 2 1 Mono Stereo Conversions When a mono signal is chosen as an audio track s input the track will record mono samples otherwise it will record stereo samples Signals in the track s device chain are always stereo even when the track s input is mono or when the track plays mono samples Mono is turned into stereo simply by using the identical signal for left and right channels When a track is routed into a mono output the left and right signals are added together and attenuated by 6 dB to avoid clipping 12 3 External MIDI In Out MIDI from the outside world is routed into Live just like audio From the Input Type chooser of a MIDI track you can either select a specific MIDI input port or All Ins which is the merged input of all external MIDI ports The Input Channel chooser offers the individual input channels of the selected MIDI port and the merged signal of all channels All As is CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 153 the case with audio inputs the Input Channel chooser also has meters next to every entry to represent activity on the respective input channel 12 3 1 The MIDI Ports List in the Preferences MIDI Ports Track Sync Remote Input ReMOTE LE On of On Output ReMOTE LE On Off On
173. e E Undo Ctrl JE G Bz Redo Cti JY G HH JZ Rename Ciri R C 8R Select All Ctrl JA GRA By holding down an additional modifier key some of the above commands can also be applied to Windows Macintosh Clips and Slots Across all Tracks Time Across all Tracks The Selected Part of the Envelope Alt can be used to move from one track or scene to another while renaming CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 345 26 7 Loop Brace and Start End Markers The loop brace and start end markers must first be selected before any of the following commands will apply to them Windows Macintosh Move Start Marker to Position A Click A Click Nudge Loop Left Right lt gt pb Move Loop By Loop Length HA HYN Double Halve Loop Length Ctrl JHA SG HW Shorten Lengthen Loop Ctrl IGS CG Bea Select Material in Loop Click Loop Brace or Click Loop Brace or Cir JQ JL G HQ JL 26 8 Session View Commands See also the editing commands Windows Macintosh Launch Selected Clip Slot Return Return Select Neighbouring Clip Slot Arrow Keys Arrow Keys Select all Clips Slots Cir A S BA Copy Clips Ctrl Drag At Drag Add Remove Stop Button Ctrl JE WE Insert MIDI clip Ctrl DA JM or C SA JM or Double Click Slot Double Click Slot Insert Scene Ctrl h t GS Bi Insert Captured Scene Ctl JA
174. e Rack are summed together to create the Rack s output Soloing a track that taps a Chain at any of these points will still allow you to hear the output at that point Tap Points for Every Chain in a Track CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 159 12 5 2 Making Use of Internal Routing This section presents several internal routing examples in more detail Post Effects Recording Let s say that you are feeding a guitar into Live building up a song track by track overlaying take onto take It is certainly powerful to have a separate effects chain per track for applying different effects to different takes after the fact You might however want to run the guitar signal through effects a noise gate or an amp model for instance before the recording stage and record the post effects signal Audic 4 Guitar 5 Audic 6 Audio 7 Pad Audio From Audio From Audio From MIDI Fror Ext In 4 Guitar 4 Guitar m12 _ fii PostFX ii Post Mixer 3 Monitor Monitor Monitor Monitor HA Auto in Auto Gf in Auto Gif This is easily accomplished by devoting a special audio track for processing and monitoring the incoming guitar signal We call this track Guitar and drag the desired effects into its device chain We do not record directly into the Guitar track instead we create a couple more tracks to use for recording Those tracks are all set up to receive thei
175. e Temporary Folder Consolidating Several Clips Into a New Clip 84 Chapter 7 Session View In Live s Arrangement View as in all traditional sequencing programs everything happens along a fixed song timeline For a number of applications this is a limiting paradigm e When playing live or when DJing the order of pieces the length of each piece and the order of parts within each piece is generally not known in advance e In the theatre sound has to react to what happens on stage e When working along with a piece of music or a film score it can be more efficient and inspirational to start with an improvisation which is later refined into the final product This is exactly what Live s unique Session View is for CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 85 7 1 Session View Clips gt rhodes groovy Egrnodes sroovy rr ll T i mil gt oil Nie Se o 3 4 5 6 e 7 Ld G e S z e e o o 1 Each clip in the Session View has a triangular button at the left edge Click the button with the mouse to launch clip playback at any time or pre select a clip by clicking on its name and launch it using the computer s key You can then move on to the neighboring clips using the arrow keys Please refer the manual section on clip launch settings for details on how to customize this behavior 2 Click on a square Clip Stop button to stop a running c
176. e are the models used in the former Compressor and Compressor II devices respectively FB is a feedback CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 244 model which analyzes the output of the device and then self adjusts its compression be havior Because feedback compressors analyze signals that have already been compressed their Attack and Release parameters are a bit less precise and act more like suggestions to the compressor But feedback compression generally results in a much smoother sound with less overall gain reduction but also less potential for distortion artifacts The classic analog compressor models that are so highly sought after in hardware based studios are generally all feedback models Note that for reasons of quantum physics Lookahead and external sidechaining are disabled when using the FB model Ableton s engineers are hard at work developing code that will allow our software to predict the future but we don t anticipate having this available until at least the next major release 19 5 1 Sidechain Parameters Compressor ee SEGRE EEG Envelope Threshoid Output i 5 Dums DRE RMS ll f Prerx v Hi Iai Gain Freq Attack a 20 8 dB 371 Hz 28 2 ms Audio From Filter Type Peak lt a Q Release ll et om 13 6 dB 4 95 dB Ratio Knee Model Lookahead 100 0 71 32 9ms E oo 06 FF A FB 1 ms o Makeur Normally
177. e respective chapter CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 74 6 3 Launching the Arrangement with Locators AT wija Using Locators to I Launch Play in the Ka naps Jrrodos2 rhodes i rrodos2 Arrangement Locators can be set at any point in the Arrangement This can be done in real time during playback or recording with the Set Locator button and will be quantized according to the global quantization value set in the Control Bar Clicking the Set Locator button when the Arrangement is not playing will create a locator at the insert marker or selection start You can also create a locator using the context menu in the scrub area above the tracks or via the Insert menu Note that the position of a new locator is quantized according to the Control Bar s Quantization menu setting Set lt ees ests ests The Locator Controls You can recall jump to locators by clicking on them or with the Previous and Next Locator buttons on either side of the Set button Locators can also be recalled using MIDI key mapping Note that locator recall is subject to quantization Double clicking a locator will select it and start Arrangement playback from that point After jumping to the first or last locator in the Arrangement the Previous and Next Locator buttons will jump to the Arrangement start or end respectively Locators can be moved by clicking and dragging or with the arrow keys on your computer ke
178. e settings in mind Unlike a device preset the clip envelope cannot define the values for the devices controls it can only change them relative to their current setting 18 4 MIDI Controller Clip Envelopes Whether you are working with a new MIDI clip that was recorded directly into Live or one from your files Live allows you to edit and create MIDI controller data for the clip in the form of clip envelopes Choose MIDI Ctrl from a MIDI clip s Device chooser and use the Control chooser below it to select a specific MIDI controller You can create new clip envelopes for any of the listed controllers by drawing steps or using breakpoints You can also edit clip envelope representations of controller data that is imported as part of your MIDI files or is created Modulating a Send The Send Knob s Position Ring Indicates the Modulated Value CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 230 while recording new clips Names of controllers that already have clip envelopes appear with an adjacent LED in the Control chooser Live supports most MIDI controller numbers up to 119 accessible via the scroll bar on the right side of the menu Note that devices to which you send your MIDI controller messages may not follow the conventions of MIDI control channel assignments so that Pitch Bend or Pan for example will not always achieve the results that their names imply 1 16 Many of the techniques described in the following sectio
179. e that the information in this manual is accurate Ableton assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book Except as permitted by such license no part of this publication may be reproduced edited stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Ableton Ableton Live and Live Pack are trademarks of Ableton AG Apple the Apple Logo Mac the Universal Logo Mac OS the Audio Units Logo the QuickTime Logo and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc Windows Windows XP and Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries SONiVOX is the brand name trademark of Sonic Network Inc VST and ASIO are trademarks and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH ReWire ReCycle REX and REX2 are trademarks of Propellerhead Software AB AAS is a trademark of Applied Acoustics Systems DVM Inc Mackie Control is a trademark of LOUD Technologies Inc OggVorbis and FLAC are trademarks of Xiph Org All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders Chapter 1 Welcome to Live 1 1 The Ableton Team Says Thank You Live is the result of musicians wanting a better way t
180. ear the input through the devices in your track s device chain On MIDI tracks this is normally activated automatically when inserting an instrument The Live Device Browser CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 192 G 7 LILII ITITITTT B This is how you would play live instruments through effects on a track for example or use a MIDI keyboard s input to play a track s instrument Note that you can easily move from this setup into recording new clips for further use in Live If you have alternative monitoring preferences please see the Monitoring section to learn how to make these settings To add another device to the track simply drag it there or double click its name to append it to the device chain Signals in a device chain always travel from left to right You can drop audio effects in at any point in an audio track s device chain keeping in mind that the order of effects determines the resulting sound The same is true for a MIDI track s device chain If you drop an instrument into a MIDI track s device chain be aware that signals following to the right of the instrument are audio signals available only to audio effects Signals preceding to the left of the instrument are MIDI signals available only to MIDI effects This means that it s possible for a MIDI track s device chain to hold all three types of devices first MIDI effects then an instrument and finally audio effects MIDI and Audio
181. ear the signal across time which adds noisiness to the sound High Spray values completely break down the structure of the source signal introducing varying degrees of rhythmic chaos This is the recommended setting for anarchists The Random Pitch control adds random variations to each grain s pitch Low values create a sort of mutant chorusing effect while high values can make the original source pitch completely unintelligible This parameter can interact with the main Pitch control thus allowing degrees of stability and instability in a sound s pitch structure The size and duration of each grain is a function of the Frequency parameter The sound of Pitch and Spray depends very much on this parameter Grain Delay now also has a dry wet control it can be routed to the vertical axis of the X Y controller 19 14 Phaser oe Envelope LFO S amp H Amount Shape M ws 46 5 Rate Hz vn Phase Offset PEG 180 227 The Phaser Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 258 Phaser uses a series of all pass filters to create a phase shift in the frequency spectrum of a sound The Poles control creates notches in the frequency spectrum The Feedback control can then be used to invert the waveform and convert these notches into peaks or poles Filter cutoff frequency is changed with the Frequency control which can be adjusted in tandem with Feedback using the effect s X Y control
182. easing the Live Set s tempo can for instance lead Live to assume the loop is 8 bars at 90 BPM instead of 16 bars at 180 BPM Sometimes more accurate control of Auto Warp is necessary The best way to go about warping a clip that requires more detailed attention is in sections working gradually from left to right You can set a Warp Marker by double clicking one of the numeric grid markers to the right of each correctly warped section pinning it into place The shortcuts for working with the clip loop brace and start end markers can speed up this process considerably You might also find it helpful to select multiple Warp Markers for moving by selecting them with the or PC Mac modifiers held down The four Warp From Here commands provide various ways of resetting Warp Markers to the right of the selected grid marker or Warp Marker leaving Warp Markers to the left untouched These commands are also available from the start marker e Warp From Here runs the Auto Warp algorithm on the material to the right of the selected marker e Warp From Here Start At directs Auto Warp to use the current Live Set s tempo as a starting point for tempo tracking The strategy here is as follows 1 Deactivate the Warp switch for the clip so that it plays unwarped Using the Context Menu to Direct Auto Warp CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 123 2 Use the Control Bar s Tap Tempo button to tap along thereby setting the Live Se
183. ed Off set to occur when new notes are pressed Note or set to occur at a specified song position or beat time Beat Beat retriggering can be specified in terms of notes or bars and is aligned with song position An LED in the upper right corner of the section indicates when the pattern has been retriggered 20 1 2 Transposition and Velocity Sections The pattern generated by Arpeggiator can be transposed the device s transposition controls allow forcing this transposition into a specific major or minor key or using the Transpose chooser s Shift option doing it in semitones The distance between transposition steps is set in scale intervals for Major and Minor transposition or semitones for Shift transposition with the Distance control Using the Steps parameter you can choose the number of times the sequence is transposed A setting of 8 will transpose the sequence a total of eight times playing it in higher notes each time CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 276 The dynamics of Arpeggiator are controlled using the velocity section With Velocity set to On and Target set to 0 for example the sequence will gradually fade out eventually reaching O velocity The Decay control sets the amount of time Arpeggiator takes to reach the Target velocity With Retrigger activated retriggering of the sequence will also retrigger the velocity slope Tip The velocity section s Retrigger option can be used in conjunction with Bea
184. ed will be non neutral even at the original tempo The neutrality of unstretched clip playback is verified by performing cancellation tests on rendered output CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 325 24 2 4 Summing at Single Mix Points Live 7 uses double precision 64 bit summing at all points where signals are mixed including Clip and return track inputs the Master track and Racks Mixing in Live is thus a neutral operation for signals mixed at any single summing point This is tested by loading pairs of 24 bit files white noise and fixed frequency sine waves and their phase inverted complements adding the pairs together eight times and rendering the output as 32 bit files All tests result in perfect phase cancellation Please note that while 64 bit summing is applied to each single mix point Live s internal processing is still done at 32 bit Thus signals that are mixed across multiple summing points may still result in an extremely small amount of signal degradation This combination of 64 bit summing within a 32 bit architecture strikes an ideal balance between audio quality and CPU memory consumption 24 2 5 Recording external signals bit depth gt A D converter Recording audio signals into Live is a neutral operation provided that the bit depth set in Live s Preferences window is the same or higher than that of the A D converters used for the recording In this context neutral means identical to the audio as
185. ed with the file If you choose to do this Live will automatically create time signature markers in the correct places This makes it very easy to work with complex music created in other sequencer or notation software 6 5 The Arrangement Loop F The Control Bar s Loop Pe Switch For Live to repeatedly play a section of the Arrangement activate the Arrangement loop by clicking on the Control Bar s Loop switch The Loop Start Fields Left and the Loop ee Length Fields Right You can set loop length numerically using the Control Bar fields The left hand set of fields determines the loop start position while the right hand set determines loop length The Edit menu s Loop Selection command accomplishes all of the above at once It turns the Arrangement loop on and sets the Arrangement loop brace to whatever timespan is selected in the Arrangement P gt Chorus 1 gt Verse 2 rhodes The Arrangement s Loop Brace The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and manipulated with commands from the computer keyboard CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 78 e and nudge the loop brace to the left right by the current grid setting and 4 shift the loop brace left right in steps the size of its length e The PC Mac modifier used with the arrow left and right keys shortens or lengthens the loop by the current grid setting e The PC Mac modifier with the arrow up and down keys doubles or halves
186. edeayeuedseyeaes 281 the Master track 4 172 View menu commands unfolding occarsiedecaeieiexsees 79 216 Crossfader option 168 Transient Resolution chooser 125 In Out option 22 149 168 transpot eet ne ee er mee re een oe 72 Mixer option 455 22 168 Transpose quick chooser button see Returns option 22 168 172 quick chooser buttons Sends option ENE ET EEEE 22 168 Transposition knob 000s eee 106 Track Delays option s2s2s2 000 cae 168 Trigger Mode oie sce cisageeeisaaciviced 141 view selector buttons 0 5 7 Triplet Grid command 65 80 views working with see View tutorials see Ableton see lessons menu commands see view selector buttons 366 INDEX Vinyl Distortion effect 270 Volume control 0 cece eee eee ees 169 Volume quick chooser button see quick chooser buttons VST Plug ins using see devices VST Plug In Custom Folder button 201 W Warp BPM From Here command 123 Warp As Bar Loop command 122 Warp From Here Start At command 122 Warp From Here Straight command 123 Warp From Here command 122 Warp Markers ii scscsranigiaewaataaenade 116 COPYING cosaid saanen i ia 123 SAVING ritresddrerte dtrane Vrari 117 saving settings 0 107 Warp Mode chooser s2
187. eezing e Time based effects like reverbs and delays are processed in realtime for unfrozen clips so stopping playback during a reverb or delay tail will allow the tail to continue In contrast frozen tails are rendered as audio and so will stop abruptly during playback e Any parameter automations are rendered as part of the audio file for frozen Arrange ment View clips Frozen Session View clips however take a snapshot of all parame ter values at the Arranger s 1 1 1 position and retain them for the duration of the frozen clip This is analogous to the behavior with unfrozen clips when playing normal clips in Session View any Arrangement automations are punched out until the Back to Arrangement button is pressed e Frozen clips are always played back with Warp on and in Beats mode which means they are subject to the same non neutral behavior as any other Warped audio files e Any devices with random parameters e g the Chance control in the Beat Repeat device will no longer exhibit random behavior after freezing This is because as with time based effects the random values that were in place at the moment of freezing will be rendered as part of the new file and will thus no longer be calculated in real time Please note that the Flatten command replaces any original clips and devices with the audio files created by freezing When using this command it is important to keep in mind the special cases above what you hea
188. efault destination for the signals from all other tracks Drag effects here to process the mixed signal before it goes to the master output Effects in the Master track usually provide mastering related functions such as compression and or EQ You can create multiple return tracks using the Insert menu s Insert Return Track command but by definition there is only one Master track 13 4 Using Live s Crossfader Live includes a crossfader that can create smooth transitions between clips playing on different tracks Live s crossfader works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader except that it allows crossfading not only two but any number of tracks including the returns 1 a A B a The Crossfader and Selector a The crossfader is accessed via the Session View s mixer selectors It features seven different crossfade curves so that you can choose the one that fits your style the best To change the curve PC Ctrl Mac on the crossfader then select an entry from the context menu CHAPTER 13 MIXING 174 Dipped intermediate v Constant Power Slow Cut Fast Cut h Transition Return to Default Det a wo OR OT Slow Fade e B A B Choose from Seven Crossfader Curves A The chart below details the power level and response of each crossfader curve A B Power Level Crossfader Response Transition Dipped Intermediate Constant Power Slow Fade Slow Cut
189. effect in the chain is followed by an instrument Instruments for instance Live s Simpler and Impulse receive MIDI and deliver audio Following the instrument the signal can be additionally processed by audio effects as in an audio track MDI O EQ Three Ba Sampier Zone Sample O l GainLow GainMid GainHi c ba E u 003e 0 0048 0 0048 a m a Foid c c 4 Range Reverse Sample _ Vol Sample Start Sustain Mode Loop Start_ Loop End Crossfade Detune imemol reat ow Freq 428 st Gif infected Bass AO we 0 006 o BS 8424 9620 314 Oct Good gt 24 Lowest Snap RootKeyDetune Scale Pan Sample End Release Mode Release Mode Crossfade Detune 48 C2 HGR B40 oer 4 poy c 18897 corr Ea F o o Oct RAM 155 Hz 10 9 kHz If a MIDI track has no instrument and no audio effects then the track s output is a plain MIDI signal which has to be sent somewhere else to be converted into audio In this case Live s Crossfader A MIDI Effect an Instrument and an Audio Effect in a MIDI Track CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 24 the track s mix and Send controls disappear from the mixer Audi 2 MIDI 3 MIDI 4 MIDI a LILIT TITTTIT 4 8 Presets and Racks Every Live device can store and retrieve particular sets of parameter values as presets As presets a
190. el can be used in Live If you install de install a plug in while the program is running Live will not detect your changes or implement them in the Plug In Device Browser until the next time you start the program Use the Rescan button in the File Folder Preferences to rescan your plug ins while Live is running so that newly installed devices become immediately available in the Plug In Device Browser The Plug In Device Browser CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 199 You can also rescan if you believe that your plug in database has somehow become cor rupted Holding down the PC Mac modifier while pressing Rescan will delete your plug in database altogether and run a clean scan of your plug ins 15 2 1 Plug Ins in the Track View BassStation OSC voice mode osc 1 PWM source multi Ifo x osc 2 semi osc 2 PWM source filter frequency manual P osc2 pulse width Ifo gt ffreq 0 14 1 49 osc 1 waveform osct pulse width osc 2 cents filter resonance 0 5 98 osc 1 modenv 71 22 6 97 39 84 osc 2 waveform osc 2 modenv filter slope 63 75 osc 2 Ifo1 x 62 75 1 mod env gt ffreq 116 04 A VST Plug in in the Track View Once a plug in is dragged from the Browser into a track it will show up in the Track View The original plug in panel graphics will be replaced with a Live panel which will usually represent all of the plug in paramete
191. ency control determines the color or quality of the distortion If the Mode control is set to Noise this works in conjunction with the Width control which defines the noise bandwidth Lower values lead to more selective distortion frequencies while higher values affect the entire input signal Width has no effect in Sine Mode Noise and Sine use a single modulation generator However Wide Noise has independent noise generators for the left and right channels which creates a subtle stereo enhancement The Erosion Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 252 19 10 Filter Delay Filter Delay input Filter Feedback Pan Volume QQQ QAQ QA 24 50R 9 0dB The Filter Delay provides three independent delay lines each preceded by linked lowpass and highpass filters This allows applying delay to only certain input signal frequencies as determined by the filter settings The feedback from each of the three delays is also routed back through the filters Each of the three delays can be switched on and off independently The Filter Delay device assigns delay 1 to the input signal s left channel delay 2 to the left and right channels and delay 3 to the right channel The Pan controls at the right can override the delay channels outputs otherwise each delay outputs on the channel from which it derives its input Each delay channel s
192. eniently mapped to Macro Controls for greater expression Thttp www ableton com shop CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 293 21 3 3 The Included Instruments The following multisampled instruments are included Acoustic Keyboards Grand Piano Harpsichord Celesta Electric Keyboards E Piano MK 1 B3 Jazz Organ B3 Rock Organ Orchestral Strings Solo Strings legato Double Bass Cello Viola Violin Ensemble Strings legato pizzicato Orchestral Brass Solo Brass legato French Horn Bass Trombone Tuba Eb Trumpet Ensemble Brass legato staccato Orchestral Woodwinds Solo Woodwinds legato legato vibrato English Horn Bas soon Clarinet French Oboe Concert Flute Alto Sax Ensemble Woodwinds legato Plucked Instruments Harp fingers Jazz Upright Bass P Bass fingers picks Six String Nylon Guitar tones chords Strat Clean tones chords Mallets Glockenspiel hard mallets Xylophone hard mallets Voice Mixed Choir ahh ohh Drum Machine one drum machine selected from the Drum Machines add on prod uct Acoustic Drum Kit one stereo multisampled drum kit selected from the Session Drums add on product Special Features of the Guitar and Bass Banks In the EIC LE edition the guitar instruments have additional banks for single key chords with strumming Lower octaves play down strums while upper octaves play up strums 294 Chapter 22 MIDI and Key Rem
193. ent Convention Mode Increment Decrement Relative Signed Bit 001 064 065 127 Relative Signed Bit 2 065 127 001 064 Relative Bin Offset 065 127 063 001 Relative 2 s Comp 001 064 127 065 Each of these are also available in a linear mode Some MIDI encoders use acceleration internally generating larger changes in value when they are turned quickly For contro surfaces that are not natively supported Live tries to detect the controller type and whether acceleration is being used or not You can improve the detection process by moving the relative controller slowly to the left when you make an assignment Live will offer its suggestion in the Status Bar s mode chooser but if you happen to know the relative controller type you can manually select it Live will do the following with relative MIDI controller messages e Session View Slots Value increment messages are treated like Note On messages Value decrement messages are treated like Note Off messages e Switches Increment messages turn the switch on Decrement messages turn it off e Radio Buttons Increment messages make the radio button jump forward to the next CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 304 available option Decrement messages make it jump backward e Continuous Controls Each type of relative MIDI controller uses a different inter pretation of the 0 127 MIDI controller value range to i
194. ents Please see the previous section Using the Live Devices for details CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 198 v P gt Bram Smantelectronix gt E s Mjexoscope Audio Unit b 5 Gmedia v F Novation gt WA BassStation Audio Unit t Sonic Charge v Povst docimate x Audio Units and VST Plug ins are browsed and imported using the Plug In Device Browser which is accessed via its selector Plug in instruments can be differentiated from plug in effects in the Browser as they appear with a keyboard icon The Browser s search functionality is only available for Audio Units Plug ins as is loading presets directly from Track View devices via the Hot Swap button In some instances factory presets for Audio Units will only appear in the Browser once the device has been placed in a track and its Hot Swap button activated Note The first time you start Live no plug ins will appear in the Plug In Device Browser as you must first activate your plug in sources Activating your plug in sources tells Live which plug ins you want to use and where they are located on your computer Information on activating and deactivating plug in sources can be found later in this chapter in the sections on the VST Plug in folder and Audio Units Plug ins Note for Intel Mac users Intel Macs cannot natively run VST or AU plug ins that have been written for the PowerPC platform Only plug ins of type Universal or Int
195. enu clicking the Manage Set button and then clicking the Locate button found in the Missing Files section The File Manager will present you with a list of the missing files and associated controls CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 62 3 of the referenced samples are missing gt Automatic Search Ge a Bass Detector wav Missing nia Bass Detector wav Missing nia The File Manager s List Bass Detector wav Missing nia of Missing Samples 5 8 1 Manual Repair To manually fix a broken sample reference locate the missing sample in the File Browser drag it over to the File Manager and drop it on the respective line in the list of missing files Note that Live will not care if the sample you offer is really the sample that was missing 5 8 2 Automatic Repair Live offers a convenient automatic search function for repairing sample references To send Live on a search click the Automatic Search section s Go button To reveal detailed options for guiding the automatic search function click the neighboring triangular shaped button CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 63 3 of the referenced samples are missing Search folder Set Foker Search Project Search Library Name Location Candi Freeze 3 Percussio Missing N A Automatic Repair Freeze 4 Pitched 1 wav Missing N A Options in the File rooze he Miss A Manager e Search Folder includes a user defined folder as well as any sub fo
196. eplace the standard soloing operation with a cueing operation that lets you preview tracks as though you were cueing a record on a DJ mixer This allows choosing clips and adjusting effects without the audience hearing before bringing tracks into the mix In order to set Live up for cueing you must be using an audio interface with at least four dedicated outputs or two dedicated stereo outputs The respective settings are accessible in the Session View mixer Make sure you have the Mixer and In Out options checked in the View menu 4 5 li Mon Monito 4 cue i e 1 The Master Out chooser selects the output on your interface to be used as the main output The Cueing Related Session Mixer Controls CHAPTER 13 MIXING 177 2 The Cue Out chooser selects the output on your hardware interface to be used for cueing This has to be set to an output other than that selected for the Master If the desired outputs don t show up in these choosers please check the Audio Preferences 3 Activate cueing by setting the Solo Cue Mode switch to Cue 4 The tracks Solo switches are now replaced by Cue switches with headphone icons When a track s Cue switch is pressed that track s output signal will be heard through the output selected in the Cue Out chooser Note that the Track Activator switch on the same track still controls whether or not the track is heard at the Master output 5 The Cue Volume c
197. erent information on both channels and you want to use only one The Panorama chooser pans the signal anywhere in the stereo field The Width control acts as a continuous mono to stereo controller when set from 0 to 100 percent However beyond 100 percent the output starts to fold in on itself At 200 percent the output contains only the difference between the left and right channels If either Left or Right have been chosen in the Channel Mode chooser the Width control has no function and is therefore disabled At the bottom of the device you will find two Phase controls one for each channel As their names imply they invert the phase of each channel 19 23 Vinyl Distortion Vinyl Distortion ee Tracing Model Crackle Volume 0 31 0A 6 25 Freq BIBBINF2 e 4s Censity Pinch 50i Hard Sreo Mono 15 29 Freq MT re e HS The Vinyl Distortion effect emulates some of the typical distortions that occur on vinyl records during playback These distortions are caused by the geometric relationships between the needle and the recorded groove The effect also features a crackle generator for adding noisy artifacts The Tracing Model section adds even harmonic distortion to the input signal Adjust the amount of distortion with the Drive knob or click and drag vertically in the Tracing Model X Y display To adjust the distortion s frequency or color drag horizontally in the X Y display or double
198. es f Post Mixer gt Monitor Monitor in Auto Of in Auto Auto Cue Out Audio To MIDI To ii 1 2 Master v No Output Master Out ii 1 2 For every track except the Master the In Out section has the same layout e The upper chooser pair Audio MIDI From selects the track s input Audio tracks have an audio input and MIDI tracks have a MIDI input Return tracks receive their input from the respective sends e The Monitor radio button selects the monitor mode the conditions under which the track s input is heard through the track e The lower chooser pair Audio MIDI To selects the track s output All tracks have audio outputs except for MIDI tracks without instruments Remember that instruments convert MIDI to audio Within a chooser pair the upper chooser selects the signal category Ext for instance for external connections via an audio or MIDI interface and is called the Input Output Type chooser If this signal type offers sub selections or channels they are available from the lower chooser or the Input Output Channel chooser In our Ext example these would be the individual audio MIDI inputs and outputs 12 1 Monitoring 1 Monitoring in the context of Live means passing a track s input signal on to the track s output Suppose you have set up an audio track to receive its input signal from
199. es e g from eighth Use Ctrl J PC G_ 8 lines e g from eighth note Use Ctrl 8 PC G8 change the grid from Use Ctrl Jf PC 8 off the cursor does n Use Ctrl 6 PC 8 pr l wo 5J 5 Mac to narrow the grid doubling the density of the notes to sixteenth notes Mac to widen the grid halving the density of the grid to quarter notes Mac to toggle triplets mode this would for instance eighth notes to eighth note triplets Mac to turn grid snapping on or off When the grid is ot snap to meter subdivisions Mac to toggle fixed and adaptive grid modes The current spacing between adjacent grid lines is displayed in the lower right corner of the Arrangement View or Clip View Clicking the Loop Brace to Select the Loop for Editing CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 81 6 9 Using the Time Commands Whereas the standard commands like Cut Copy and Paste only affect the current selection their Time counterparts act upon all tracks by inserting and deleting time Any time signature markers within the selected region will also be affected Cut Time cuts a selection of time from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the cut area closer together in the timeline This command reduces the length of your Arrangement by whatever amount of time you have cut Note that the Cut Time command affects all tracks not only the
200. ese meters are helpful in finding problematic devices in the device chain Low or absent signals will be revealed by the level meters and relevant device settings can then be adjusted or the device can be turned off or removed A MIDI Track s Device Chain Can Contain All Three Device Types Device Activator Switches CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 194 Utility Beat Repeat i Interval 21 1 dB i Stereo 1 8 o No Trpi Width Chance Gate Pitch 100 N 9Y Phz L Phz R Offset Grid Variation 4 72 kHz 5 m Filter Phase Shape 4 16 D 5 Panorama 1 Bar C Repeat Trigger Mix Ins I 180 Pitch Decay Offise 0 00 Volume Decay t PAN oe 0 0 dB 13 5 0 00 Note that no clipping can occur between devices because there is practically unlimited headroom Clipping can occur when an overly strong signal is sent to a physical output or written to a sample file Further information about track types in Live can be found in the Routing and I O chapter in cluding information on using return tracks to distribute the effect of a single device amongst several tracks After reading about using devices in Live it might also be interesting to look into clip envelopes which can modulate individual device parameters on a per clip basis 15 1 1 Live Device Presets Every Live device can store and retrieve their parameter settings as presets Presets for Live instruments and effects a
201. ew Right The Arrangement and Session View Selectors CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 16 The Arrangement View and the Session View interact in useful though potentially confusing ways One can for instance improvise with Session clips and record a log of the improvi sation into the Arrangement for further refinement This works because Arrangement and Session are connected via tracks 4 3 Tracks Tracks host clips and also manage the flow of signals as well as the creation of new clips through recording sound synthesis effects processing and mixing 2Chords m Auto Filter m Frequency The Session and Arrangement share the same set of tracks In the Session View the tracks are laid out vertically from left to right while in the Arrangement View they are horizontal from top to bottom A simple rule governs the cohabitation of clips in a track A track can only play one clip at a time Therefore one usually puts clips that should play alternatively in the same Session View column and spreads out clips that should play together across tracks in rows or what we call scenes RRR ren nee nn 1 Bass 2 Chords 3 Rhodes 4 Perc s 5 Beats 6 Crash Master synth 1 rhodes groovy intro Verse Bas O amp gt Bass guitartheme rhodes groow Drums c Crash Verse2 A Track in the Arrangement View A Scene i
202. f CS S l v Previewing MIDI Notes Provided your MIDI track s device chain contains an instrument activating the Preview switch in the MIDI Editor allows you to hear notes as you select and move them Note velocity is adjusted in the Velocity Editor by clicking and dragging on the associated markers You can also use Draw Mode in the Velocity Editor It will draw identical velocities for all notes within a grid tile After drawing a few notes and moving them around you will probably want to know how to get around in the Note Editor So before we get into detailed editing information we will first explain MIDI Editor navigation 10 3 MIDI Editor Navigation and Transport Note Scale Position Is 4 Shown Vertically and Beat Time Horizontally The MIDI Editor has both vertical and horizontal navigation Along the horizontal axis lies CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 130 a time ruler which shows note position along a musical timeline The vertical axis contains both the note ruler displaying octaves CO C10 and a representation of a piano keyboard the piano roll Note that if the Preview switch at the top of the piano roll is activated you can listen to the results of your piano roll playing 1 To smoothly change the time zoom level click and drag vertically in the time ruler Drag horizontally in the time ruler to scroll from left to right 2 Clic
203. f computer based MIDI are complex and involve so many variables that the ideal systems described above are impossible to achieve There are two fundamental issues 1 Latency refers to inherent and consistent delay in a system This is a particular problem in a DAW because digital audio cannot be transferred into or out of an audio interface in real time and must instead be buffered But even acoustic instruments exhibit a certain degree of latency in a piano for example there is some amount of delay between the time a key is depressed and the time the hammer mechanism actually activates the string From a performance perspec tive small latency times are generally not a problem because players are usually able to adapt the timing of their playing to compensate for delays as long as the delays remain consistent 2 Jitter refers to inconsistent or random delay in a system Within a DAW this can be a particular problem because different functions within the system e g MIDI audio and the user interface are processed separately Information often CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 335 needs to be moved from one such process to another when converting MIDI data into a plug in s playback for example Jitter free MIDI timing involves accurate conversion between different clocks within the system s components the MIDI interface audio interface and the DAW itself The accuracy of this conversion depends on a variety of factors
204. fects gt 5 Sticing The Save Preset Button The Default Presets folders in Live s Library CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 197 To save the current settings of a device as a default preset open the PC E Mac context menu on the device s header and select Save as Default Preset This works for all of Live s instruments MIDI effects and audio effects including the various types of Racks If you have already saved a default preset for a particular device Live will ask you before overwriting it To specify how Live behaves when dragging a sample to a Drum Rack or the Track View of a MIDI track e Create an empty Simpler e Adjust the parameters as you like e Drag the edited device to the On Drum Rack or On Track View folder which can be found at Library Defaults Dropping Samples 15 2 Using Plug Ins The collection of devices that you can use in Live can be extended with plug ins Live supports Steinberg Media s VST Plug ins format as well as Apple Computer s Audio Units AU Plug ins format Mac OS X only You can use up to two VST AU instruments and two VST AU effects per Set Working with VST and Audio Units Plug ins is very much like working with Live devices VST and AU instruments can only be placed in Live MIDI tracks and like Live instruments they will receive MIDI and output audio signals Plug in audio effects can only be placed in audio tracks or following instrum
205. formation 25 1 Ideal MIDI Behavior To understand how MIDI works within a digital audio workstation DAW it is helpful to introduce some common terms and concepts A DAW must be able to accommodate three distinct MIDI related scenarios 1 Recording refers to sending MIDI note and controller information from a hard CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 334 ware device such as a MIDI keyboard into a DAW for storage An ideal recording environment would capture this incoming information with perfect timing accu racy in relation to the timeline of the song as accurately as an audio recording 2 Playback refers to two related scenarios when dealing with DAWs The first in volves sending MIDI note and controller information from the DAW to a hardware device such as a synthesizer The second involves converting stored MIDI infor mation into audio data within the computer as played back by a plug in device such as the Operator synthesizer In both cases an ideal playback environment would output a perfect reproduction of the stored information 3 Playthrough involves sending MIDI note and controller information from a hard ware device such as a MIDI keyboard into the DAW and then in real time back out to a hardware synthesizer or to a plug in device within the DAW An ideal playthrough environment would feel as accurate and responsive as a physical instrument such as a piano 25 2 MIDI Timing Problems The realities o
206. g gradually as the threshold is approached For example with a 10 dB knee and a 20 dB threshold subtle compression will begin at 30 dB and increase so that signals at 10 dB will be fully compressed The easiest way to visualize Compressor s behavior is by observing how the graph changes when you adjust the threshold ratio and knee values Input level is measured on the horizontal axis while output level is represented vertically Next to the graph is the Gain Reduction meter which shows how much the gain is being reduced at any given moment The more reduction the more audible the effect a gain reduction above 6 dB or so might produce the desired loudness but significantly alters the sound and is easily capable of destroying its dynamic structure This is something that cannot be undone in later production steps Keep this in mind especially when using a compressor limiter or sound loudness maximizing tool in the master channel Less is often more here Because compression reduces the volume of loud signals and opens up headroom you can use the Output slider so that the peaks once again hit the maximum available headroom The Output meter shows the output signal s level Enabling the Makeup button below the Output slider automatically compensates the output level if the threshold and ratio settings change The Attack and Release controls are essential parameters for controlling the response time of Compressor by defining how fast it
207. g samples can help solve this problem There is actually no need to keep a Project s Live Set exactly one level below the Project itself Within a project folder you can create any number of sub folders and move files around to organize them as desired although you many need to use the File Manager to teach the Project about the changes you ve made In general Live will do what it can to prevent situations such as orphaned Project less Live Sets and Live Clips and presets which have the potential of confusing both the user and Live s file management tools It cannot however control situations in which Sets or files are moved out of order and become disorganized via the Explorer Windows Finder Mac A note for users of older Live versions Live 7 does not allow overwriting Live Sets that were created by older versions to prevent compatibility problems Instead you will be requested to Save As Doing this will insure that the newly saved Live Sets reside in project folders A New Project Was Added by Saving a Live Set Outside its Original Project CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 57 5 6 2 Projects and Presets By default new instrument and effect presets are stored in the Live Library making them available to any project At times however it may make more sense to save a preset with the current Project You might for example want to keep a number of alternative master EQ settings for a given piece These E
208. gest the following sequence of shortcuts Cn JA A PC 8AE Mac to open the search field N Type your search terms Return to Go to jump to the search results a A W 4 and to scroll the search results n DE O PC C SE EF Mac to close the search field and go back to the folder view 6 5 1 4 Previewing Files Live allows you to preview files in the File Browser before they are imported into the program Previewing is activated using the Browser s Preview switch The Preview Switch Hint You can preview files even when the Preview switch is not activated by pressing Q__ Return CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 38 Click on the files or use and 4 to select and listen to them If the transport is running Live tries to preview files in sync with the current Live Set so that you can better judge which samples will work for you If the transport is stopped files will preview at their original tempo The previewing volume can be adjusted using the mixer s Preview Volume knob v jj 8 6D I r o o If your audio hardware offers multiple audio outs you can privately audition or cue files via headphones connected to a separate pair of outs while the music continues to play To learn how to set up Live for cueing please refer to the relevant section of the Mixing chapter 5 1 5 Adding Clips from the Browser There are several w
209. gt Output Oxygen8 Port 1 gt Output RemoteSL Port 1 gt Output RemoteSL Port 2 gt Output RemoteSL Port 3 The MIDI Ports table lists all available MIDI input and output ports To use an input port for remote control of Live make sure the corresponding switch in its Remote column is set to On You can use any number of MIDI ports for remote mapping Live will merge their incoming MIDI signals When working with a control surface that provides physical or visual feedback you will also need to enable the Remote switch for its output port Live needs to be able to communicate with such control surfaces when a value has changed so that they can update the positions of their motorized faders or the status of their LEDs to match To test your setup try sending some MIDI data to Live from your control surface The Control Bar s MIDI indicators will flash whenever Live recognizes an incoming MIDI message Once your controller is recognized by Live you have completed the setup phase but we recommend that you take the time to select a Takeover Mode before you leave the Preferences behind Your next step will be creating MIDI mappings between your control surface and Live Luckily this is a simple task and you only need to do it for one parameter at a time Defining Control Surfaces Manually CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 299 22 1 3 Takeover Mode Take Over Mode Value
210. gth settings It is possible for glitches or pops to occur between a looped sample s start and end points due to the discontinuity in waveform amplitude i e the sample s loudness The Snap switch will help mitigate these by forcing Simpler s loop markers to snap to zero crossing points in the sample points where the amplitude is zero Note Snapping is based on the left channel of stereo samples It is therefore still possible even with Snap activated to encounter glitches with stereo samples The transition from loop end to loop start can be smoothed with the Fade control which crossfades the two points This method is especially useful when working with long textural samples By default Simpler uses constant power fades But by turning off Use Constant Power Fade for Loops inthe PC Ctrl J 9 Mac context menu you can enable linear crossfades 21 2 3 Zoom Quite often one starts with a longer region of a sample and ends up using only a small part of it Simpler s Sample view can be zoomed and panned just as in other parts of Live drag CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 289 vertically to zoom and drag horizontally to pan different areas of the sample into view 21 2 4 Envelope Simpler contains three classic ADSR envelopes as seen in most synthesizers for shaping the dynamic response of the sample Volume filter frequency and pitch modulation are all modifiable by toggling their respective butt
211. h the air when using an external mixing console for monitoring or when using an audio hardware interface with a direct monitoring option that bypasses the computer so as to avoid latency Generally it is preferable to work with an audio interface that allows for negligible latencies a few milliseconds If you are recording into Live with monitoring set to Off you may want to make the Audio Preferences Overall Latency adjustment which is described in the built in program tutorial on setting up the Audio Preferences Audio and MIDI Track Arm Buttons CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 152 12 2 External Audio In Out An audio interface s inputs are selected by choosing Ext In from the Input Type chooser of an audio track The Input Channel chooser then offers the individual input channels Entries in this chooser each have meters next to their names to help you identify signal presence and overload when the meter flashes red Setting up the audio interface s outputs works the same way via the output chooser pair The list of available inputs and outputs depends on the Audio Preferences which can be reached via the Input and Output Channel choosers Configure option Note that the Audio Preferences also provide access to the Channel Configuration dialogs which determine which inputs and outputs are used and whether they are available to Live as mono or stereo pairs Essentially the Channel Configuration
212. hat will be analyzed in each measurement Higher values result in better accuracy but at the expense of increased CPU load Channel determines which channel is analyzed left right or both The Refresh slider determines how often Spectrum should perform an analysis As with the Block parameter this allows for a tradeoff between accuracy and CPU load A fast response time is more accurate but also more CPU intensive The Avg slider allows you to specify how many blocks of samples will be averaged for each update of the display With a setting of one each block is shown This results in much more activity in the display which can be useful for finding the spectrum of short peaks As you increase the Avg value the display updates more smoothly providing an average of the spectrum over time This is more consistent with the way we actually hear The Graph button switches between displaying the spectrum as a single interpolated line and discrete frequency bins The Scale X buttons allow you to toggle the scaling of the frequency display between linear logarithmic and semitone Note that logarithmic and semitone are actually the same The Spectrum Device CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 269 scaling but switch the legending at the top of the display between Hertz and note names Linear scaling is particularly useful for detailed analysis of high frequencies As you move your mouse over Spectrum s display a box appears that
213. hats will silence open hi hats Each slot can be played soloed muted or hot swapped using controls that appear when the mouse hovers over it 21 1 2 Start Tune and Stretch The Start control defines where Impulse begins playing a sample and can be set up to 100 ms later than the actual sample beginning The Transposition control adjusts the transposition of the sample by 48 semitones and can be modulated by incoming note velocity or a random value as set in the appropriate fields The Stretch control has values from 100 to 100 percent Negative values will shorten the sample and positive values will stretch it Two different stretching algorithms are available Mode A is ideal for low sounds such as toms or bass while Mode B is better for high sounds such as cymbals The Stretch value can also be modulated by MIDI note velocity 21 1 3 Filter The Filter section offers a broad range of filter types each of which can impart different sonic characteristics onto the sample by removing certain frequencies The Frequency control defines where in the harmonic spectrum the filter is applied the Resonance control boosts frequencies near that point Filter Frequency can be modulated by either a random value or by MIDI note velocity CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 286 21 1 4 Saturator and Envelope The Saturator gives the sample a fatter rounder more analog sound and can be switched on and off as desired The Drive contr
214. he Grain Size control determines the grain size used but unlike in Tones Mode this is a setting that Live will use unaltered without considering the signal s characteristics Fluctuation introduces randomness into the process Larger values give more randomness 9 3 4 Re Pitch Mode In Re Pitch Mode Live doesn t really time stretch or compress the music instead it adjusts the playback rate to create the desired amount of stretching In other words to speed up playback by a factor of 2 it s transposed up an octave This is like the DJ stretching method of using variable speed turntables to sync two records or what happens to samples in samplers when they re transposed The Transpose and Detune controls have no effect in Re Pitch Mode 127 Chapter 10 Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities A MIDI clip in Live contains notes and controller data for playing a virtual instrument in a MIDI track s device chain The MIDI clip provides the device with a musical score to play specifying note pitch length position and dynamics referred to as velocity in the MIDI lexicon MIDI is composed and edited in Live s MIDI Editor 10 1 Creating an Empty MIDI Clip MIDI clips are created e by means of recording e or by double clicking an empty Session slot in a MIDI track e or by selecting an empty Session slot in a MIDI track and choosing the Insert menu s Insert MIDI Clip command or in the Arrangement View by selecting a timespa
215. he computer s Tab key to move from one scene to the next You can also enter your own info text for a scene via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the scenes amp PC 6 Mac context menu Scene names can be both descriptive and functional if Live detects a viable tempo and or time signature as part of a scene name the project will automatically adjust to these pa rameters when the scene is launched To assign a tempo to a scene select the scene and rename it with a viable tempo e g 96 BPM Any tempo can be used as long as it is within the range allowed by Live s Tempo control 20 999 BPM To assign a time signature to a scene rename the scene with a meter in the form of x y e g 4 4 Any time signature can be used provided it has a numerator between 1 and 99 and a denominator with a beat value of 1 2 4 8 or 16 Tempo and time signature changes can coexist within a single scene name and can appear in any position as long as they are separated from each other by at least one character For example 2 4 108 BPM 72 BPM 7 8 and 60 BPM Chorus 3 4 are all scene names that will cause simultaneous meter and tempo changes string perc 4 drums B 3 4 96 BPM BASS gt S INGOS 108 BPM 7 16 ac gt BONGOS gt main groove Bridge 6 8 112 BPM BASS CHG BONGOS Mam back beat 120BPM Outro 4 4 These Scenes Will Change the Tempo
216. he next output note will always be the next note in the series At 0 percent the next output note will always be the incoming note The Random Effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 280 For example with Chance set to 100 percent Choices set to 12 and Scale set to 1 playing C3 once will trigger C3 and each successive C3 will trigger the next semitone higher until the device reaches C4 at which point it will start over at C3 But with Chance set to 100 percent Choices set to 2 and Scale set to 2 incoming C3s will alternate between C3 and D3 This setting is perfect for simulating upbow and downbow alternation with stringed instruments or alternating right and left hand drum samples Hint Try using the Scale effect after Random to constrain the output values to a specific harmonic range Using Random s Alt mode with the Scale device allows you to create a simple step sequencer 20 6 Scale BGS ARS io io i oe oe BEEEEEEE ENEN 8 88 8 8 OB Scale alters incoming note pitch based on a scale mapping Each incoming note is given an outgoing equivalent on the X Y scale map of the effect All incoming Cs for example might be converted to outgoing Ds The X Y scale map is 12 squares in length and width corresponding to the 12 notes in a full octave Darker squares represent the black keys on a keyboard The base of the diagonal scale the lower left square shown on the map can be
217. he punch out point activate the Punch Out switch The punch out point is identical to the Arrangement Loop s end position 6 When you are recording into the Arrangement Loop Live retains the audio recorded during each pass You can later unroll a loop recording either by repeatedly using the Edit menu s Undo command or graphically in the Clip View After loop recording double click on the new clip In the Clip View s Sample Display you can see a long sample containing all audio recorded during the loop recording process The Clip View s loop brace defines the audio taken in the last pass moving the markers left lets you audition the audio from previous passes 14 3 2 Recording Into Session Slots You can record new clips on the fly into any Session slots CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 183 4 3 2 1 Recording a New Clip Into the Session View 1 Set the Global Quantization chooser to any value other than None to obtain correctly cut clips 2 Activate the Arm button for the tracks onto which you want to record Clip Record buttons will appear in the empty slots of the armed tracks 3 Click on any of the Clip Record buttons to commence recording A new clip will appear in the slot with a red Clip Launch button that shows it is currently recording To go from recording immediately into loop playback press the clip s Launch button 4 Alternatively you can click a Clip Stop button or the Stop butt
218. he scanning process these may cause the program to crash When you re launching Live a dialog will appear to inform you about which plug in caused the problem Depending on what Live detects about the plug in you may be given the choice between performing another scan or making the problematic plug in unavailable If you choose to rescan and they crash the program a second time Live will automatically make them unavailable meaning that they will not appear in the Plug In Device Browser and will not be rescanned again until they are reinstalled 15 3 2 VST Programs and Banks Every VST Plug in instance owns a bank of programs A program is meant to contain one complete set of values for the plug in s controls CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 204 gt A decimate x gt yjde dimate 4 To select a program from the plug in s bank use the chooser below the title bar The number of programs per bank is fixed You are always working in the currently selected program that is all changes to the plug in s controls become part of the selected program Note that VST programs are different from Live device presets Whereas the presets for a Live device are shared among all instances and Live Sets the VST programs belong to this specific instance of the VST Plug in gt A decimate x A To rename the current program select the VST program chooser and execute the Edit menu s Rename Plug In
219. here is no influence at 100 percent the softest notes play the clip silently For more on playing clips via MIDI see the respective section 11 5 Legato Mode Clip Launch Sample Suppose you have gathered in one track a number of looping clips and you now want to toggle among them without losing the sync For this you could use a large quantization setting one bar or greater however this might limit your musical expression Another option which works even with quantization turned off is to engage Legato Mode for the respective clips When a clip in Legato Mode is launched it takes over the play position from whatever clip was played in that track before Hence you can toggle clips at any moment and rate without ever losing the sync Legato Mode is very useful for creating breaks as you can momentarily play alternative loops and jump back to what was playing in the track before Unless all the clips involved play the same sample differing by clip settings only you might hear dropouts when launching clips in Legato Mode This happens because you are unexpectedly jumping to a point in the sample that Live has had no chance to pre load from disk in advance You can remedy this situation by engaging Clip RAM Mode for the clips in question 11 6 Follow Actions Follow Actions allow creating chains of clips that can trigger each other in an orderly or random way or both A clip s Follow Action defines what happens to other clip
220. hich the drum chain will respond The list shows note names MIDI note numbers and standard GM drum equivalents The Play slider sets the outgoing MIDI note that will be sent to the devices in the chain The Choke chooser allows you to set a chain to one of sixteen choke groups Any chains that are in the same choke group will silence the others when triggered This is useful for choking open hihats by triggering closed ones for example If All is selected in the Receive chooser the Play and Choke choosers are disabled in this case the chain simply passes the note that it receives to its devices The small Preview button above these choosers fires a note into the chain making it easy to check your mappings away from a MIDI controller e In the full version of Live Drum Racks can be built with up to six return chains If your Mixing Rack Chains in the Session View CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 213 Rack contains them the Audio To chooser in the mixer for return chains allows you to route a return chain s output to either the main output of the Rack or directly to the return tracks of the Set In Drum Racks that are nested within other Drum Racks both drum chains and return chains can route upwards to the returns of any of the Drum Racks that contain them Please note that these controls provide only a fraction of the editing possibilities that are available when using Racks in the full version of Live
221. highest setting of 120 degrees each ear receives a reverberant channel that is independent of the other this is also a property of the diffusion in real rooms The lowest setting mixes the output signal to mono 19 18 4 Diffusion Network The Diffusion network creates the reverberant tail that follows the early reflections The decay time control adjusts the time required for this tail to drop to 1 1000th 60 dB of its initial amplitude High and low shelving filters provide frequency dependent reverberation decay The high frequency decay models the absorption of sound energy due to air walls and other materials in the room people carpeting and so forth The low shelf provides a thinner decay Each filter may be turned off to save CPU consumption The Freeze control freezes the diffuse response of the input sound When on the reverber ation will sustain almost endlessly Cut modifies Freeze by preventing the input signal from adding to the frozen reverberation when off the input signal will contribute to the diffused amplitude Flat bypasses the high and low shelf filters when freeze is on If Flat is off the frozen reverberation will lose energy in the attenuated frequency bands depending on the state of the high and low shelving filters The Echo Density and Scale parameters provide additional control over the diffusion s den sity and coarseness and when the room size is extremely small have a large impact on the coloratio
222. ight Mixers CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 181 Clicking one track s Arm button unarms all other tracks unless the PC Mac modifier is held Arming a track selects the track so you can readily access its devices in the Track View 14 3 Recording Recording can be done in both the Session and the Arrangement Views If you want to record onto more than one track simultaneously and or prefer viewing the recording linearly and in progress the Arrangement View may be the better choice If you want to break your recording seamlessly into multiple clips or record while you are also launching clips in Live use the Session View 14 3 1 Recording Into the Arrangement Recording Into the Arrangement 1 Recording commences when the Control Bar s Record button is activated and the Play button is pressed CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 182 2 Recording creates new clips in all tracks that have their Arm button on 3 When the Overdub switch is on the new clips contain a mix of the signal already in the track and the new input signal The Overdub option only applies to MIDI tracks 4 To prevent recording prior to a punch in point activate the Punch In switch This is useful for protecting the parts of a track that you do not want to record over and allows you to set up a pre roll or warm up time The punch in point is identical to the Arrangement Loop s start position 5 Likewise to prevent recording after t
223. ignal Sometimes it is desirable to take an individual drum sound out of the mix for individual effects processing and mixing This is possible because Impulse offers its sample slots as audio sources to other tracks 1 Audio 2 Snare 3 MIDI 4 Bass Audio From MIDI From 3 MIDI All Ins li Post Mixer w ii Pre FX ij Post FX ij Post Mixer ij Dass Impulse ij snare a Impulse ij snare b imputse ij tom b Impulse ij Pan Impulse ij hh c impulse ij hh o Impulse We simply create an audio track and select from its Input Type chooser the track with the Impulse The Input Channel chooser now offers in addition to Pre FX Post FX and Post Mixer Impulse s eight individual outputs labeled according to the sample used in each slot Using Impulse s Individual Outs to Separately Process Sample Slots CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 164 Notice that routing an individual output from Impulse into another track automatically takes this signal out of Impulse s own internal mix This convenience is not standard behavior of most plug in instruments however Soloing a track that taps one of Impulse s sample slots will still allow you to hear the output of that slot Using Multi Timbral Plug In Instruments Many plug in instruments support multi timbral operation A multi timbral instrument is like several instruments in one with each component part or whatever term the manufacturer uses receivi
224. ignal level with the Output dial Aliasing can be reduced by enabling Hi Quality mode which can be accessed via the PC Mac context menu This improves the sound quality particularly with high frequency signals but there is a slight increase in CPU usage CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 248 19 7 EQ Eight EQ Eight sy fnew A Ww HR The EQ Eight effect is an equali ing a sound s timbre It extends the functionality of the former EQ Four Mode Edit Scale E I Gain 862 gt A UR 100 3 00 diq useful for chang device and is fully backward compatible with EQ Four presets The EQ Eight Effect zer featuring up to eight parametric filters per input channel The input signal can be processed using one of three modes Stereo L R and M S Stereo mode uses a single curve to filter both channels of a stereo input equally L R mode provides an independently adjustable filter curve for the left and right channels of a stereo input M S mode Mid Side provides the same functionality for signals that have been recorded using M S encoding When using the L R and M S modes both curves are displayed simultaneously for reference although only the active channel is editable The Edit switch indicates the active channel and is used to toggle between the two curves The filters can switch between six responses From left to right in
225. in the superimposed sine wave The DC button activates a DC filter at Saturator s input stage This is mainly useful for removing DC offsets from audio material that contains them Activating the Color button enables two filters The first of these controlled with the Base control dictates how much the effect will be reduced or increased for very low frequencies The second filter essentially an equalizer is used for controlling higher frequencies It is shaped with the Freq cutoff frequency Width and Depth controls The Output control attenuates the level at the device output When the Soft Clip switch is activated Saturator will also apply an instance of its Analog Clip curve to the output The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Saturator in a return track Aliasing can be reduced by enabling Hi Quality mode which can be accessed via the PC Mac context menu This improves the sound quality particularly with high frequency signals but there is a slight increase in CPU usage CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 267 19 20 Simple Delay Simple Delay Delay Time LAK 1 O Cs 16 ms 4 16 0 00 4 Feedback Dry Wet E 64 12 The Simple Delay provides two independent delay lines one for each channel left and right To refer delay time to the song tempo
226. ing It s also fun to misuse these controls to achieve interesting artifacts instead of accurate stretching 9 3 1 Beats Mode Beats Mode works best for material where rhythm is dominant e g drum loops as well as most pieces of electronic dance music The granulation process is optimized to preserve transients attacks note onsets in the audio material Use the Transients control to guide Live s assumptions about where to find transients in the waveform If there is no rhythmic activity at odd 16th notes choose 8th etc For some interesting rhythmic artifacts choose large transient values in conjunction with pitch transposition 9 3 2 Tones Mode Tones Mode serves well for stretching material with a more or less clear pitch structure such as vocals monophonic instruments and basslines Grain Size provides rough control over the average grain size used The actual grain size is determined in a signal dependent manner For signals with a clear sense of pitch contour a small grain size works best Larger grain sizes help avoid artifacts that can occur when the pitch contour is unclear but the tradeoff can be audible repetitions 9 3 3 Texture Mode Texture Mode works well for sound textures with an ambiguous pitch contour e g poly phonic orchestral music noise atmospheric pads etc It also offers rich potential for manipulating all kinds of sounds in a creative way CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 126 T
227. ings 11 6 3 Temporarily Looping Clips There are some interesting applications of Follow Actions when it comes to creating tem porary musical loops Creating a Group With the Two Clips CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 147 The default setting for Follow Action is actually a 1 0 chance that Nothing happens after the Follow Action Time which means that there is effectively no Follow Action But now imagine a group consisting of one single clip Follow Action A is set to Play Clip Again with a Chance of 8 Follow Action B is set to None with a Chance of 1 The clip uses a long sample and Follow Time is set to one bar Clicking on the clip will play the first bar after which it will be very likely that it will play the first bar again However after a few repetitions it will eventually come to Action B Nothing and continue playing the rest of the sample Or a clip can be played from its start to a specific point when its Follow Action tells it to Play Next Clip The same file can be used in the next clip in the group but this one can be set to loop This second clip can have any manner of Follow Action settings so that it might then play forever for a specified time or until random chance leads to the next clip in the group 11 6 4 Adding Variations in Sync Paired with clip envelopes and warping Follow Actions can be used to create all sorts of interesting variations within a group of similar
228. io signals 1 2 5 Device Improvements e Sidechaining is available in the new Compressor effect as well as the Gate and Auto Filter e EO Eight is updated with a larger display a new notch filter larger parameter ranges and an optional 64 bit hi quality mode CHAPTER 1 WELCOME TO LIVE e Hi Quality modes have also been added to the Dynamic Tube and Saturator effects Chapter 2 First Steps Note This manual has been adapted for Live LE Specifically this means that features which are not available in Live LE have not been included To learn more about the differences between Live LE and the full version of Live please see the feature comparison chart or download the full Ableton Reference Manual from the Ableton website The full version reference manual also contains information about all of Ableton s add on instruments When you install Live and run it for the first time you will be presented with a dialog asking for your Live serial number Please see the chapter on unlocking Live should you have questions or concerns during the authorization process If you do not yet own Live you can still try out all of Live s features but you will not be able to save or export your work 2 1 Learn About Live Live comes with a set of interactive lessons to take you step by step through the key features of the program The lessons are organized in a table of contents which can be opened 1 http www ableton com download
229. ion Here is what you can do e Double click at a position on a line segment to create a new breakpoint there e Double click on a breakpoint to delete it e Click and drag a breakpoint to move it to the desired location If the breakpoint you are dragging is in the current selection all other breakpoints in the selection will follow the movement p To Move all Breakpoints Within the Selection Drag Any One of Them Your movement is constrained by the neighboring breakpoints unless you hold down CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 219 the modifier while dragging which will eliminate breakpoints as you wipe over them Holding down the PC Mac modifier while dragging switches to a finer resolution e Click and drag a line segment between two breakpoints to move it vertically without affecting the breakpoint s horizontal position If the line segment is in the current selection the envelope is moved vertically across the selected timespan Live inserts breakpoints at the selection s edges to make sure the move only affects the selected part of the envelope Dragging an Envelope Line Segment Moves the Segment Vertically 17 4 3 Locking Envelopes When moving clips Live normally moves all automation with the clip Sometimes you might want to lock the envelopes to the song position rather than to the clips and the Arrangement View s Lock Envelopes switch does just that You can also choose to
230. ired in real time For more information on disk related problems please refer to the respective section e You are experiencing audio dropouts when playing clips in Legato Mode Use RAM Mode with care as RAM is usually a scarce resource Your computer is using the hard disk for swapping out RAM contents that have not been used in a while The more clips you are running in RAM Mode the higher the likelihood for them to be swapped CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 109 out Live can handle disk overloads more gracefully than swapped out audio arriving late Disk overloads result in unwanted mutes whereas RAM overload results in both mutes and rhythmical hiccups 8 2 9 Reversing Samples This function creates a new sample by reversing the sample referenced by the current clip It then reapplies the old clip s settings according to some rules that we will explain in a moment and replaces the original sample with the reversal in the Clip View The new sample can be found after saving the Live Set in the Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Reverse Until the Set is saved new samples remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder There are a few rules for the reversing process First any Warp Markers will remain fixed to their positions in the sample This means that a Warp Marker on the downbeat of the second bar of a clip will end up on the downbeat of the second to last bar after reversal Clip loop region settings
231. irst chooser in the Control Surface column to see whether your control surface is supported natively by Live if it is listed here you can select it by name and then define its MIDI input and output ports using the two columns to the right If your controller is not Setting Up Control Surfaces CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 296 listed here don t fret it can still be enabled manually in the next section Manual Control Surface Support Depending on the controller Live may need to perform a preset dump to complete the setup If this is the case the Dump button to the right of your control surface s choosers in the Live Preferences will become enabled Before pressing it verify that your control surface is ready to receive preset dumps The method for enabling this varies for each manufacturer and product so consult your hardware s documentation if you are unsure Finally press the Dump button Live will then set up your hardware automatically Instant Mappings In most cases Live uses a standard method for mapping its functions and parameters to physical controls This varies of course depending upon the configuration of knobs sliders and buttons on the control surface These feature dependent configurations are known as instant mappings Within Live s built in lessons you will find a Control Surface Reference that lists all currently supported hardware complete with the details of their instant ma
232. it to 100 percent if using Phaser in a return track CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 259 19 15 Ping Pong Delay A PingPong 8 33 ms Feedback Dry Wet AN V 95 30 The Ping Pong Delay effect uses a single tapped delay line to create a delay that jumps from the left to the right output The delay is preceded by a lowpass and highpass filter that can be controlled with an X Y controller To define the filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical axis To set the position of the frequency band click and drag on the horizontal axis To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay This delay time represents the time it takes for the input signal to appear at the left channel The delay time between the input and the right channel is twice as long If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Feedback parameter controls how much of the right channel output signal returns to the delay line input The feedback loop also includes a filter that can color the feedback sound th
233. ive will capture audio starting at the current play start position for whichever duration you have specified CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 45 Remember a rendered audio file contains only what you heard prior to rendering So for example if you re playing back some combination of Session View clips and Arrangement material then that is what will be captured in your rendered file regardless of which view is active when you render Audio Rendering Options Normalize Render as Loop Audio File Type Convert to Mono Sample Rate Live will render the output of the chosen track over the selected time range 9 1 1 18 1 1 The Export dialog offers several audio rendering options e Normalize If this is activated the sample resulting from the render process will be normalized i e the file will be amplified so that the highest peak attains the maximum available headroom e Render as Loop If this is activated Live will create a sample that can be used as a loop For example suppose your Live Set uses a delay effect If Render as Loop is on Live will go through the rendering process twice The first pass will not actually write samples to disk but add the specified delay effect As the second pass starts writing audio to disk it will include the delay tail resulting from the first pass Audio Rendering Options CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 4
234. ixes always make room for the kick drum By inserting a compressor on the bass or master track and using the kick drum s track as the sidechain input you can help to control problematic low frequencies that might interfere with the kick drum s attack Using the sidechain EQ in conjunction with this technique can create ducking effects even if you only have a mixed drum track to work with as opposed to an isolated kick drum In this case insert the Compressor on the track you want to duck Then choose the drum track as the external sidechain source Then enable the sidechain EQ and select the lowpass filter By carefully adjusting the Frequency and Q settings you should be able to isolate the kick drum from the rest of the drum mix Using the sidechain listen mode can help you tune the EO until you find settings you re happy with Note that mastery of these techniques may result in a noticeable increase in drink tickets remix offers and dates 19 6 Dynamic Tube Dynamic Tube aa Dry Wet Envelope rem v 100 Output bd e Tone Bias 8 57 dB 0 32 13 15 3 ms The Dynamic Tube effect infuses sounds with the peculiarities of tube saturation An in tegrated envelope follower generates dynamic tonal variations related to the level of the input signal The Dynamic Tube Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 247 Three tube models A B and C provide a range of distortion characte
235. jog wheel scrolls through the scenes In the Arrangement View the jog wheel moves the play position To change global quantization hold down the Mackie Control s Control button while turning the jog wheel You can also use the Mackie Control s Alt button in the Arrangement View to move the play position in smaller increments CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 316 22 3 5 Software Specific Controls SE AETAT MINS Pre cies s AONE AU AOU IE WANN s THVT VONE DANAKIN VUE IANN Qe ee egs The Software Specific Controls 1 Shift Option Control Alt Used to access additional Mackie Control options 2 SMPTE Beats Toggles between displaying beats bars and SMPTE in the time display 3 Name Value Switches the meters in the main display on off Note that these CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 317 meters appear only when pan assignment mode is active F Keys These keys can be mapped freely to controls in Live 5 ViewArr On Toggles Arrangement View and Session View When the Mackie 10 11 12 13 Control s Shift key is held down this sets the program focus to the Arrangement View or Session View whichever is currently on screen ToggleDetail Rec Rdy
236. just cutting them off If set to inf dB a closed gate will mute the input signal A setting of 0 00 dB means that even if the gate is closed there is no effect on the signal Settings in between these two extremes attenuate the input to a greater or lesser degree when the gate is closed With the Flip button enabled the gate works in reverse the signal will only pass if its level is below the threshold The Attack time determines how long it takes for the gate to switch from closed to open when a signal goes from below to above the threshold Very short attack times can produce sharp clicking sounds while long times soften the sound s attack When the signal goes from above to below the threshold the Hold time kicks in Note to tech heads the gate has hysteresis so the release occurs about 3 dB lower than the threshold After the hold time expires the gate closes over a period of time set by the Release parameter Normally the signal being gated and the input source that triggers the gate are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to gate a signal based on the level of another signal To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Gate window by toggling the button in its title bar Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select another track from the choosers below This causes the selected track s signal to act as the gate s trigger instead of the signal that is actually being gated
237. k and drag vertically in the note ruler to change which octaves are shown or drag horizontally to change the vertical zoom size of MIDI notes and the keyboard 3 Click and drag over one or more notes to define a selection Then double click on the note ruler to automatically zoom in on your selection If no notes are selected double clicking the note ruler will zoom in on the area from the lowest to the highest note in the clip 4 To zoom in and out around the current selection use the computer keyboard s and keys 5 The Clip Overview just beneath the MIDI Editor can also be used for navigation It always shows the complete contents of the selected MIDI clip The black rectangular outline represents the part of the clip that is currently displayed in the Editor above To scroll click within the outline and drag left or right to zoom MIDI Editor Navigation CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 131 in and out drag up and down 6 Change the length of what is shown in the Editor by dragging the left or right edges of the outline in the Clip Overview 7 To quickly change what is shown in the Editor click on a section that you want to examine in the Clip Overview then drag downwards to zoom in or scroll by dragging left and right 8 The Page Up and Page Down keys on your computer keyboard scroll the Note Editor vertically The PC Mac modifier will change this to horizontal scrolling ra 1 PE O ove
238. k file If the computer you want to unlock Live for is not connected to the Internet you can use any other computer to access the Ableton server s web interface This is a website with fields for entering your serial number and the challenge code which you can copy from Live s Unlock dialog If you have entered your serial number and challenge code correctly another website will appear to provide you with the unlock key Follow the weblink to download the unlock key as a file Transfer the file to the target computer via some form of storage media such as a USB drive or CD ROM Then press the Unlock dialog s Load Unlock Key button to load the unlock key file http www ableton com unlock Unlocking Live Offline CHAPTER 3 UNLOCKING LIVE 12 3 3 Copy Protection FAQs 3 3 1 Can I Use Live or Other Ableton Products Without a Serial Num ber If you do not yet own Live or its add on products you can still try them out but saving and exporting will be disabled If trying Live or another product raises your interest in purchasing it please visit the Ableton webshop This site contains information about Ableton s distributor and dealer network It also offers you the opportunity to buy Ableton products online 3 3 2 What if Change My Computer s Components If the challenge code of your computer changes for some reason Live will indeed ask you to unlock the software another time The challenge code does n
239. kidding To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay With Sync Mode active changing the Delay Time field percentage value shortens and extends delay times by fractional amounts thus producing the swing type of timing effect found in drum machines If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value You can route each parameter to the X Y controller s horizontal or vertical axis To assign a parameter to the X axis choose it from the parameter row below the controller To assign a The Grain Delay Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 257 parameter to the Y axis use the parameter row on the left side The Feedback parameter sets how much of the output signal returns to the delay line input Very high values can lead to runaway feedback and produce a loud oscillation watch your ears and speakers if you decide to check out extreme feedback settings You can transpose the grain pitch with the Pitch parameter which acts much like a crude pitch shifter The Spray control adds random delay time changes Low values sm
240. ks such as Desktop and Library Selecting the latter will bring you to the Live Library To bookmark the current Browser root choose the Bookmark menu s topmost item the Bookmark Current Folder command Note that if the current Browser root is already bookmarked the topmost option in the Bookmark menu will remove the bookmark All File Browsers share the same set of bookmarks a bookmark stored in one Browser can be accessed from another 5 1 3 Searching for Files Live s File Browsers are equipped with a search function for finding files Clicking the Search button in the upper right corner of the Browser or using the PC Mac shortcut will open the Browser s Search Mode CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 35 a E Parent Folder gt 0 Ciips DA gt M Presets After entering your search terms begin the search by clicking the Go button or pressing on your computer keyboard Live will search the entire Browser root for your search terms The results will include files that match all search terms as opposed to any For example if you search for acoustic bass the search will yield all acoustic bass sounds not all acoustic sounds and all bass sounds By default the search function matches the entered criteria not only to any part of a file s name and suffix e g wav but also to any part of its file path This means that a search for bass for example will yield not only files with names
241. l be replaced Repeating Steps and Slowing Time with the Sample Offset Envelope CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 228 18 3 Mixer and Device Clip Envelopes Clip envelopes can be used to modulate mixer and device controls Since mixer and device controls can also be controlled by the Arrangement s automation envelopes this is a potential source of confusion However clip envelopes differ from automation envelopes in one important way Whereas automation envelopes define the value of a control at any given point in time clip envelopes can only influence this defined value This difference allows the two types of envelopes to work together in harmony when controlling the same parameter Imagine that you have recorded volume automation for an audio clip so that it gradually fades out over four bars What happens to your fade out when you create a clip envelope that gradually increases the mixer volume over four bars At first your fade out will become a crescendo as the clip envelope gradually increases the volume within the range allowed by the automation envelope But once the decreasing automated value meets with the increasing clip envelope value the fade out will begin as automation forces the absolute control value and the operable range of the clip envelope down 18 3 1 Modulating Mixer Volumes and Sends Notice that there are actually two volume modulations Clip Volume and Mixer Volume The latter is a modulation for the mixer
242. lay a C4 at mezzo piano MIDI is a symbolic representation of musical material one that is closer to a written score than to an audio recording MIDI signals are generated by input devices such as MIDI or USB keyboards It takes an instrument to convert MIDI signals into audio signals that can actually be heard Some instruments such as Live s Simpler are for chromatic playing of one sound via the keyboard Other instruments such as Live s Impulse have a different percussion sound assigned to each keyboard key lFor an introduction to digital audio and MIDI please see http img uoregon edu emi emi php and http www midi org The Back to Arrangement Button CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 18 Audio signals are recorded and played back using audio tracks and MIDI signals are recorded and played back using MIDI tracks The two track types have their own corre sponding clip types Audio clips cannot live on MIDI tracks and vice versa Information about inserting reordering and deleting audio and MIDI tracks is found here 4 5 Audio Clips and Samples An audio clip contains a reference to a sample also known as a sound file or audio file or a compressed sample such as an MP3 file The clip tells Live where on the computer s drives to find the sample what part of the sample to play and how to play it When a sample is dragged in from one of Live s built in File Browsers Live automatically creates a clip to play
243. lays when a clip is launched is set with the clip s region and loop controls An unlooped clip will play from its start marker to its end marker or until it is stopped gt lt q 4 0 00 0 05 0 10 0 15 H The Clip Start and End Markers These markers can be clicked and dragged to new positions in the Sample Display or they can be moved with the and keys To move the entire clip region i e both the start CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 103 and end markers select the start marker hold down 4___ and use the arrow keys Sample Using Clip Start and End Controls to Change Clip Length You can also adjust the clip start and end numerically using the respective value fields to the left of the Sample Display For warped clips these fields display values as bars beats sixteenths for unwarped clips the display is in minutes seconds milliseconds Notice that you can use the Set buttons here to place the markers during playback Setting markers this way is quantized according to global quantization Clicking in the scrub area in the lower half of the waveform or above the beat time ruler will make clip playback jump to that point ila A A a ly ks The Clip Scrub Area The size of this jump is quantized by the global quantization setting which can be quickly changed using the Ctrl_J 6 PC 86 Mac 7 6 and shortcuts While CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 104
244. lders in the search To select the folder click the associated Set Folder button e Search Project includes this Set s project folder in the search e Search Library includes the Live Library in the search For each missing sample the automatic search function may find any number of candidates Let s consider the following cases e No candidate found you can choose another folder and try again or locate the sample manually e One candidate found Live accepts the candidate and considers the problem solved e Several candidates found Live requires your assistance Click the Hot Swap button i e the leftmost item in every line of the list of missing samples to have the File Browser present the candidates in Hot Swap Mode You can now double click the candidates in the File Browser to load them as the music plays if you like CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 64 5 9 Collecting External Samples To prevent a Live Set from containing broken sample references Live provides the option of collecting i e copying them into the Set s project folder This is accomplished via the File Manager e Choose the Manage Files command from the File menu e Click the Manage Set button e Unfold the triangular shaped fold button in the External Samples section Current Live Set ra View and Replace Samples Click below to view all samples used by the current Live Set View Samples Missing Samples There are no
245. leared from the List CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 61 contents In all three of these cases you may also choose to create a new Library without copying or moving any content from the previous location Live will then offer to install any default packages to the new location e If the target location is a Library that was made with an older version of Live you will be warned about possible compatibility issues It is generally not a good idea to try to share a single Library between two different versions of Live Note Live will not allow you to create a Library inside an existing Project 5 7 2 Importing Projects into the Library You can merge the contents of a Live Project into the Library to make them available to any Project To do this PC 6 Mac on a Project folder in the File Browser and select the Manage Project command 5 8 Locating Missing Samples If you load a Live Set Live Clip or preset that references samples which are missing from their referenced locations Live s Status Bar located at the bottom of the main screen will display a warning message Clips and instrument sample slots that reference missing samples will appear marked Offline and Live will play silence instead of the missing samples Live s File Manager offers tools for repairing these missing links Click on the Status Bar message to access these This is actually a shortcut for choosing the Manage Files command from the File m
246. ler The device has two modes Space and Earth for changing the spacing of notches along the spectrum and hence the color of the sound This effect can be further adjusted with the Color control Periodic control of the filter frequency is possible using the envelope section You can increase or decrease the envelope amount or invert its shape with negative values and then use the Attack and Release controls to define envelope shape Phaser contains two LFOs to modulate filter frequency for the left and right stereo channels The LFOs have six possible waveform shapes sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and random The extent of LFO influence on the filter frequency is set with the Amount control LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo and set in meter subdivisions e g sixteenth notes The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by setting the LFOs to run at the same frequency but offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each filter frequency is then modulated using a different LFO frequency as determined by the Spin amount The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set
247. lip either in one of the track s slots or in the Track Status field below the Session grid Clips can be controlled remotely with the computer keyboard or a MIDI controller They can even be mapped to MIDI note ranges so that they play chromatically Clips can be played at any time and in any order The layout of clips does not predetermine their temporal succession the Session grid offers random access to the clips it contains Notice that even if you stop playback for a Session View clip the Play button in the Control Bar will remain highlighted and the Arrangement Position fields will continue running These fields keep a continuous flow of musical time going so that you can always know your position in song time during a live performance or while recording into the Arrangement regardless of what your individual Session clips are doing You can always return the Arrangement Position fields to 1 1 1 and stop playback for the entire Live Set by pressing the Control Bar s Stop button twice The Controls for a Session View Clip CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 86 The Arrangement nf 91 4 Jule ovr se 160 19 ae RE Po Position Fields and the Stop Button 7 2 Tracks and Scenes Each vertical column or track can play only one clip at a time It therefore makes sense to put a set of clips that are supposed to be played alternatively in the same columns parts of a song variations of a drum loop etc
248. lug ins are available from the Plug In Device Browser CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 22 v P gt Bram Smantelectronix b EF s Mjexoscope Audio Unit b 5 Gmedia v P Novation b FA BassStation Audio Unit p Sonic Charge v Povst Plug In Devices Are docimato x Available from the Plug In Device Browser Consider an audio clip playing in an audio track The audio signal from the clip reaches the leftmost device in the chain This device processes changes the signal and feeds the result into the next device and so on The number of devices per track is theoretically unlimited although there is a limit of eight instruments and twelve audio effects within a single set when using Live LE In practice the computer s processor speed also imposes a limit on the number of devices you can use at the same time a topic that deserves separate discussion Note that the signal connections between audio devices are always stereo but the software s inputs and outputs can be configured to be mono in the Audio Preferences When the signal has passed through the device chain it ends up in Live s mixer As the Session and Arrangement share the same set of tracks they also share the mixer The mixer can be shown in both views for convenience To optimize the screen layout the individual mixer sections can be shown or hidden using the View menu s entries or ee
249. ment HA HH Large Increment Decrement Page f Page Page t Page Finer Resolution for Dragging Ctrl S Return to Default Delete Type in Value 0 9 0 Go to Next Field Bar beat 16th aie mia Abort Value Entry Esc Esc Confirm Value Entry Return Return CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 343 26 4 Browsing In addition to the shortcuts shown here editing shortcuts can also be used in the Browser Windows Macintosh Scroll Up Down HA HA Open Close Folders AP e gt Set Selected Folder as Browser Root Return Return Load Selected Item from Browser Return or Double Return or Double Click Click Preview Selected File 4 Return 4 Return Activate Browser Search Mode Ctrl 4A NF SG B 4 JF Jump to Search Results 26 5 Transport Windows Macintosh Play from Start Marker Stop Space Space Continue Play from Stop Point I Play Arrangement View Selection Ctrl Alt Record F9 F9 Back to Arrangement F10 F10 Activate Deactivate Track 1 8 F1 3 F1 4 CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 344 26 6 Editing Windows Macintosh Cut Cirl JK S BK Copy Cn JE aE Paste Ctrl JV C WV Duplicate Ctri D CEE Delete Delet
250. mount is adjusted and the clip has a Clip Groove setting other than Straight playback will be non neutral at any tempo 24 4 Tips for Achieving Optimal Sound Quality in Live For users looking to achieve optimal audio quality in Live we have provided a list of recommended practices and program settings e Decide which sample rate to use for a project prior to beginning work rather than changing the sample rate while working on the project CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 332 e Record audio into Live using high quality hardware components audio interface ca bles etc and at the highest sample rate and bit depth your interface and computer will support e Avoid using samples that are at different sample rates within the same project If you want to work with such files we recommend that you first convert them to the sample rate set for your audio interface in an offline application that is optimized for this task e For all audio clips disable both the Warp and Fade options in the Clip View e Do not adjust the Transpose and Detune controls for any clips e Always render at 32 bit and at the sample rate set for your audio interface If you need audio files at a different sample rate and or bit depth we recommend that you convert your rendered files in an offline application that is optimized for these tasks rather than in Live Please note that these practices while ensuring optimal audio quality disable some of Live s
251. mple to load it The link between the Browser and the instrument will be broken if a different view The Hot Swap Button in an Impulse Slot The Hot Swap Browser CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 41 is selected or if the Hot Swap button is pressed again Hot swapping can also be cancelled with a press of the key When Hot Swap Mode is re entered the Hot Swap Browser will try to reconstruct what you saw when you loaded the current file into the Impulse slot If for instance the current file was found by searching for gretsch kick the Hot Swap Browser will come up with that search string in the search field In our example we were hot swapping for an empty Impulse slot so Live came up with something appropriate a search for Drum Kick in Library Samples Waveforms 5 2 Sample Files A sample is a file that contains audio data Live can play both uncompressed file formats WAV AIF and Sound Designer II for Mac and compressed file formats MP3 AAC Ogg Vorbis Ogg FLAC and FLAC A note on using Variable Bit Rate VBR files Please install QuickTime for decoding purposes if you do not already have it on your system It can be downloaded from the Apple website As Live plays the samples directly from disk you can work with a large number of large samples without running into RAM memory limitations Please note however that you may run into disk throughput problems if your disk is nearly full and or on Windo
252. mporting via the Browser is the recommended method presets can also be dropped directly into Live from the Explorer Windows Finder Mac Presets in the Device Browser The Hot Swap Presets Button CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 196 Saving Presets You can create and save any number of your own presets in the Device Browser gt Operator l e Q O OY A Click the Save Preset button to save a device s current settings including any custom info text as a new preset You will be redirected to the Browser where you can press to use Live s suggested name or you can type one of your own You can also save presets to specific folders in the Browser such as your Current Project folder by dragging from the title bar of the device and dropping into the Browser location of your choice For detailed information on what can be done with the Browser please see the Manag ing Files and Sets chapter For more on how to store project specific presets see the appropriate section Default Presets Presets saved to the Defaults folders in Live s Library will load in place of Live s generic device settings There are also Defaults folders that allow you to customize how Live responds to various user actions such as sample dropping and slicing Please note that slicing is not available in Live LE Library Name Ty gt 5 Audio Effects gt 5 Dropping Samples gt 5 Instruments gt 0 mvt Ef
253. n ca 77 Navigation eee eee eee 71 recording new clips in the 181 SCIUD AIC serias iaren panana K 72 Arrangement Viewselector 15 asd files cea taaasectneas iets see analysis files SUAIGCNDS suidecei areren ry ia see clips audio effects 00005 see devices Audio Fact Sheet 0 e eee eee 322 neutral operations c00s0s 323 non neutral operations 328 testing and methodology 322 THOS on so seh Aaa ee Meieatia ts pds 331 audio files 00005 see samples audio interface setup see Audio Preferences see routing Audio Preferences 0ece seen eee es 6 audio tracks 0 eee see tracks Audio Units Plug ins using see devices authorization see copy protection Authorizations Trial Preferences 9 Auto Filter effect 00 0 e eee 234 Auto Pan effect 000 0 ccc eee eee 237 INDEX Auto Hide Plug In Windows preference 200 Auto Open Plug In Windows preference 200 AUuto Wa rps cocksucker ae tilvextsesaes 120 Auto Warp Long Samples preference 115 Automatic Rescan on Each Search 36 AUTOMATION 2iokvackssoaaciosesaansas 26 214 and grid lines 0008 218 GIrAWING essas pentasan panagan iah 217 editing sredejor inier luk ddedead de 218 overriding reactivating 215 FECOMING aessaet ties cee dhaneane yee 214 Automation Cont
254. n causes the compressor to be triggered by a specific band of frequencies instead of a complete signal These can either be frequencies in the compressed signal or by using the EQ in conjunction with an external sidechain frequencies in another track s audio The headphones button between the external and EQ sections allows you to listen to only the sidechain input bypassing the compressor s output Since the sidechain audio isn t fed to the output and is only a trigger for the compressor this temporary listening option can make it much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what s actually making the compressor work 19 5 2 Compression Tips This section presents some tips for using Compressor effectively particularly with the sidechain options Mixing a Voiceover Sidechaining is commonly used for so called ducking effects For example imagine that you have one track containing a voiceover and another track containing background music Since you want the voiceover to always be the loudest source in the mix the background music must get out of the way every time the narrator is speaking To do this automatically insert a Compressor on the music track but select the narration track s output as the external sidechain source CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 246 Sidechaining in Dance Music Sidechaining ducking is a dance music producer s secret weapon because it can help to ensure that basslines or even whole m
255. n contributed by the diffusion The Chorus section adds a little modulation and motion to the diffusion Like the Spin section you can control the modulation frequency and amplitude or turn it off CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 265 19 18 5 Output At the reverb output you can adjust the effect s overall Dry Wet mix and vary the amplitude of reflections and diffusion with the Reflect Level and Diffuse Level controls 19 19 Saturator D Saturator a Drive Output Q Soft Clip Off 0 00 dB pc Output Color Waveshaper N Dri c Dean n rive urve pi aae feq wan PPh Dry Wet 4 D O Lin Damp _ Period _ 857 1000Hz 30 128 Mp F 81 0 00 94 5 Saturator is a waveshaping effect that can add that missing dirt punch or warmth to your sound It can coat input signals with a soft saturation or drive them into many different flavors of distortion An X Y grid helps to visualize Saturator s shaping curve The shaper s input and output values are mapped to the X and Y axes respectively The curve defines the transfer function which is the extent to which output values fluctuate in relation to input values Because this is usually a nonlinear process the incoming signal is reshaped to a greater or lesser degree depending upon its level at each moment in time Incoming signals are first clipped to the dB level set by the Drive control The meter on the right
256. n in a MIDI track and choosing the Insert menu s Insert MIDI Clip command CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 128 10 2 The MIDI Editor To bring up the MIDI Editor double click a MIDI clip to open the Clip View You can use the Clip View Box selector to make sure the Notes box is showing then click in the title bar of the Notes box to bring up the MIDI Editor on the right hand side of the screen ip Notes Drums A Orig BPM MS 120 00 Signature G 4 4 Bank Groove None v Swing 8 Sub Bank None v CIE Program The MIDI Editor The MIDI Editor is comprised of two editing windows the upper Note Editor and the lower Velocity Editor You can resize the Velocity Editor by dragging on the split line that runs between it and the Note Editor You can also show and hide the Velocity Editor using the triangular button on the left hand side of the split line 1 1 1 gt m ove Se 1 ear i The Control Bar s Draw Mode Switch Switch to Draw Mode by activating the Control Bar s Draw Mode switch You can now draw MIDI notes into the Note Editor with the mouse Deactivating Draw Mode allows notes to be selected and moved around by clicking and dragging either vertically to change their transposition or horizontally to change their position in time CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 129 a n
257. n on unlinking a clip envelope from its associated clip can be adapted for use with MIDI controller clip envelopes 18 5 Unlinking Clip Envelopes From Clips A clip envelope can have its own local loop region settings The ability to unlink the envelope from its clip creates an abundance of exciting creative options some of which we will present in the rest of this chapter 18 5 1 Programming a Fade Out for a Live Set Let us start with a straightforward example Suppose you are setting up a Live Set and wish to program a fade out over eight bars to occur when a specific clip is launched but all you have is a one bar loop A MIDI Controller Clip Envelope CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 231 2 a 4 Mt 42 13 p14 2 22 23 24 3 32 m Clip Start m Volume 1 1 1 oe Ba Transpose End a Volume 3j 3 4 Baa Pan L_ Loop Dna p Region Loop osition gt JE B Length gt a Loco 8 J Choose the Clip Volume envelope and unlink it from the sample The clip envelope s loop braces now appear colored to indicate this envelope now has its own local loop region settings The loop region controls in the Envelopes box come to life Make sure the clip envelope s Loop switch is off Notice the Sample box s Loop switch is not affected The sample will keep looping although the envelope is now playing as a one shot 3 Type 8 into the leftmost envelope loop length value box Ds Zoom
258. n the Session View CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 17 The exclusivity of clips in a track also implies that at any on time a track will either play a Session clip or an Arrangement clip but never both So who wins When a Session clip is launched the respective track stops whatever it is doing to play that clip In particular if the track was playing an Arrangement clip it will stop it in favor of the Session clip even as the other tracks continue to play what is in the Arrangement The track will not resume Arrangement playback until explicitly told to do so p rPisie p EI B o This is what the Back to Arrangement button found in the Control Bar at the top of the Live screen is for This button lights up to indicate that one or more tracks are currently not playing the Arrangement but are playing a clip from the Session instead We can click this button to make all tracks go back to the Arrangement Or if we like what we hear we can capture the current state into the Arrangement by activating the Record button Disengaging Record Mode or stopping Live using the Stop button leaves us with an altered Arrangement 4 4 Audio and MIDI Clips represent recorded signals Live deals with two types of signals audio and MIDI In the digital world an audio signal is a series of numbers that approximates a continuous signal as generated by a microphone or delivered to a loudspeaker A MIDI signal is a sequence of commands such as now p
259. n the sample If a single event in a percussion loop comes late just pin it to the Warp Marker which shows the beat position at which you actually want to hear that event You may want to pin the adjacent beat positions as well to avoid affecting neighboring regions in the sample Removing a sample s natural groove by applying Warp Markers is an interesting creative method particularly in conjunction with Live s ability to impose an artificial groove onto clips in real time Syncing Longer Pieces Live s Auto Warp algorithm makes longer samples and entire songs readily available for integration into your project You can use the Browser to import long samples or MP3 AAC Ogg Vorbis Ogg FLAC and FLAC files When you drag a file into Live that is too long to justify the assumption that it is a loop or a one shot Live will auto warp the clip by default though this can be changed in the Using Warp Markers to Manipulate the Groove CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 121 Record Warp Launch Preferences Note that for the auto warp mechanism to work files which are being imported into the program for the first time will need to undergo a first time analysis process and will not be immediately available for playing or editing As explained in the section in this manual on analysis files analysis can be batch processed with the PC Ctrl Mac context menu s Analyze Audio command Once analysis is finishe
260. n the third beat i e halfway or eight sixteenths of the way through the bar You can add randomness to the process using the Chance control which defines the likeli hood of repetitions actually taking place when Interval and Offset ask for them If Chance is set to 100 percent repetitions will always take place at the given Interval Offset time if set to zero there will be no repetitions Gate defines the total length of all repetitions in sixteenth notes If Gate is set to 4 16 the repetitions will occur over the period of one beat starting at the position defined by Interval and Offset Activating the Repeat button bypasses all of the above controls immediately capturing material and repeating it until deactivated The Grid control defines the grid size the size of each repeated slice If set to 1 16 a slice the size of one sixteenth note will be captured and repeated for the given Gate length or until Repeat is deactivated Large grid values create rhythmic loops while small values The Beat Repeat Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 239 create sonic artifacts The No Triplets button sets grid division as binary Grid size can be changed randomly using the Variation control If Variation is set to 0 grid size is fixed But when Variation is set to higher values the grid fluctuates considerably around the set Grid value Variation has several different modes available in the chooser
261. nal routing The crossfader merely influences the signal volume at each track s gain stage The track can be routed to an individual output bus regardless of its crossfade assignment In studio parlance you can think of the crossfader as an on the fly VCA group As with almost everything in Live your crossfading maneuvers can be recorded into the Arrangement for later in depth editing To edit each track s crossfade assignment please choose Mixer from the Envelope Device chooser and X Fade Assign from the Control chooser The crossfader s automation curve is accessible when Mixer is chosen from the Master track s Device chooser and Crossfade is selected from its Control chooser Crossfade Assign Buttons CHAPTER 13 MIXING 176 13 5 Soloing and Cueing By default soloing a track simply mutes all other tracks except in some cases where tracks are feeding other tracks The signal from the soloed tracks is heard through their respective outputs with the pan setting of each track preserved Soloing a clip track leaves any return tracks audible provided that the Solo in Place option is enabled in the Solo button s context menu PC Mac Solo in Place can also be set as the default behavior by selecting the entry in the Options menu Soloing a return track mutes the main output of all other tracks but still allows you to hear any signals that arrive at the return via track sends Live allows you to r
262. nce List s Edit Switch CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 53 ojojo BEE 5 6 Live Projects A Live Project is a folder containing Live related files that belong together Consider for example work on a piece of music You start out with an empty Live Set you record audio and thereby create new sample files you drag in samples from collections you save different versions of the Live Set along the way so that you can go back and compare Perhaps you also save Live Clips or device presets that belong to this particular musical piece The project folder for this Live Project will maintain all the files related to this piece of music and Live s File Manager will provide the tools you need to manage them 5 6 1 Projects and Live Sets You can manually create a Project by clicking PC Mac in the Browser and selecting Create Project from the context menu Usually Live takes care of this automatically When you save a Live Set under a new name or in a new folder location Live will create a new project folder and store the Live Set there unless you are saving the Live Set into an existing Live Project Let s look at an example to illustrate this process We have recorded some audio into a new Live Set We now save the Live Set under the name Tango on the Desktop Here is the result as displayed by the Live Browser The Sample Reference List s Location Column CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND
263. nces You can save time by setting up reasonable defaults for the clips you are recording in the Record Warp Launch Preferences tab In particular it is smart to indicate the rough category of sound to be recorded by choosing the appropriate default Warp Mode If you decide later on a different song tempo the program will automatically maintain good sound quality usually without further adjustment 14 8 Where are the Recorded Samples Recorded samples are stored with the current Set s Project folder under Samples Recorded Until the Set is saved it remains at the location specified by the Temporary Folder preference which is found in the Preferences File Folder tab To make sure Live will not run out of disk space while recording into a new Set please make sure the Temporary Folder is on a drive partition with sufficient free space 14 9 Using Remote Control for Recording Using Key Map Mode and MIDI Map Mode you can operate Live s recording functions without using the mouse You can map the Control Bar s Record and transport controls as well as the track Arm buttons For recording into the Session slots you can map the individual slots as well as the relative navigation controls to initiate recording remotely for instance CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 188 3 MIDI 4 MIDI Master er ames _ 1 2 0 4 Stop Clips gt e E On One key is used to jump to the next scene 3 MIDI 4 MIDI Master m 2 4 Sto
264. nd random waveforms The LFO run freely at frequencies between 0 01 and CHAPTER 21 LIVE INSTRUMENT REFERENCE 290 30 Hz or sync to divisions of the Set s tempo LFOs are applied individually to each voice or played note in Simpler The Key parameter scales each LFO s Rate in proportion to the pitch of incoming notes A high Key setting assigns higher notes a higher LFO rate If Key is set to zero all voices LFOs have the same rate and may just differ in their phase The LFO will modulate the filter pitch panorama and volume according to the setting of the LFO amount controls in each of these sections The time required for the LFO to reach full intensity is determined by the Attack control 21 2 7 Glide and Spread Simpler includes a glide function When this function is activated new notes will start from the pitch of the last note played and then slide gradually to their own pitch Two glide modes are available Glide which works monophonically and Portamento which works polyphonically Glide is also adjusted with the Glide Time control Simpler also offers a special Spread parameter that creates a rich stereo chorus by using two voices per note and panning one to the left and one to the right The two voices are detuned and the amount of detuning can be adjusted with the Spread control Tip Whether or not spread is applied to a particular note depends upon the setting of the Spread parameter during the note on event
265. need to know about working with each of these file types in Live However we should first take a look at Live s File Browsers through which most files arrive in the program 5 1 Working with the File Browsers Live offers three File Browsers which can be accessed via their selector buttons CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 32 The File Browser Selector Buttons Erg 0001 1 GuitarX wav Rael nnn 2Aceardian waw Each Browser can point to a different disk location which Live will remember across sessions The Browser display is divided into columns corresponding to Name Date etc which you can show and hide using the PC Mac context menu options 18 08 2006 17 05 Sot 18 08 2006 12 59 Showing Hiding Browser b PE Tanan with Piano Set 18 08 2006 13 13 Columns Columns can be reordered by drag and drop To resize the columns drag their divider lines horizontally BB Parent Foia Resizing Browser Diaea EEA Columns 5 1 1 Browsing the Folder Hierarchy Each of the three File Browsers has its own root directory shown at the top of the Browser the contents of which are available for browsing below CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 33 BB Parent Folder gt 5 Clips gt C Presets Library Is this gt M Samples Browser s Root The Browser root can easily be changed The topmost Browser item called Parent Folder will move the Browser root
266. ng Enable Dragging Over Breakpoints 26 12 Key MIDI Map Mode and the Computer MIDI Key board Windows Macintosh Toggle MIDI Map Mode Toggle Key Map Mode Computer MIDI Keyboard Cir QIK G_ He kK 26 13 Zooming Display and Selections Windows Macintosh Zoom In Zoom Out Drag Click to Append to a Selection A A Click to Add Adjacent Clips to A A Multi Selection Click to Add Nonadjacent Clips to a Ctr C 8 Multi Selection Follow Auto Scroll Ctrl S Pan Left Right of Selection Ctrl C HAt CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 26 14 Clip View Sample Display The shortcuts for zooming and loop region settings also work in the Sample Display Windows Macintosh Move Selected Warp Marker Ke oe Select Warp Marker Cr JES Scroll Display to Follow Playback Move Clip Region with Start Marker A Jee 26 15 Clip View MIDI Editor The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the MIDI Editor Windows Macintosh Quantize Ctrl Go 8 Scroll Editor Vertically Page Page Scroll Editor Horizontally Cirl _ Page Page 96 Page t Page Copy Note Ctrl Drag Alt Drag Change Velocity From Note Editor Alt Drag G8 Drag Add Delete Note in Edit
267. ng Clips The Result of Splitting a Clip The Consolidate command replaces the material in the Arrangement View selection with one new clip per track This is very useful for creating structure CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 83 Suppose you have by editing or improvising come up with a layout of clips that sound good in Arrangement Loop mode Selecting that part of the Arrangement for instance by using the Edit menu s Select Loop command and then executing the Consolidate command creates a new clip that can be treated as a loop You can now for instance drag the clip edges to create more repetitions You might also want to drag the new loop via the Session View selector into a Session View slot for real time arrangement purposes When operating on audio clips Consolidate actually creates a new sample for every track in the selection The new samples are essentially recordings of the time warping engine s audio output prior to processing in the track s effects chain and mixer Hence the new sample incorporates the effects of in clip attenuation time warping and pitch shifting and of the respective clip envelopes however it does not incorporate the effects To create a new sample from the post effects signal please use the Export Audio command The new samples can be found in the current Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Consolidate Until the Set is saved they remain at the location specified by th
268. ng MIDI on a separate MIDI channel Usually the multi timbral instrument offers individual outputs so that the parts can be separately routed into the mixer Or the instrument might offer a submixer of its own 1 Bass Out 2 Drum Out 3 Lead 4 Bass 5 Drums eaea Deyr bass forums lead stap bass kick drum closed HH Q Q LLLI ww mw Audio From Audio From MIDI From MIDI From MIDI From 3 Lead gt 3 Lead All Ins All ins All Ins v fi 3 4 Konta gt lii 5 Konta gt i All Channes f All Channee f All Channew Monitor Monitor Monitor Monitor HA Auto Om HF Auto Om A Auto Off MA Auto Orr Audio To Audio To MIDI To MIDI To x 3 Lead gt 3 Lead x 2 Kontakt 10 Kontakt__v OrOr On Sending MIDI from the mixer to a multi timbral instrument is a variation of a case described above One MIDI track hosts the multi timbral instrument and additional MIDI tracks are used to feed its individual parts Each additional MIDI track has its Output Type chooser pointed to the track that contains the instrument and its Output Channel chooser referenc ing the target MIDI channel Additional audio tracks can then be used to tap the instrument s individual outputs as described earlier Tracks Feeding MIDI to and Tapping Audio From the Parts of a Multi Timbral Instrument CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 165
269. ng a Volume Envelope on a Sample CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 227 than centimeters A vertical grid line is worth a sixteenth note of offset and the modulation can reach from plus eight sixteenths to minus eight sixteenths Sample offset modulation is the tool of choice for quickly creating interesting variations of beat loops We discourage using this technique for analytical cut and splice tasks they are much easier to perform using Live s Arrangement View and the results can easily be consolidated into new clips 1 12 13 14 2 Some sample offset envelope gestures have a characteristic effect a downward escalator shape for instance effectively repeats the step at the envelope s beginning Similarly a smooth ramp with a downwards slope is slowing time and can create nice slurring effects when the slope is not quite exactly 45 degrees try this with a 1 32 Transients setting 18 2 5 Using Clips as Templates As you are making creative use of clip envelopes the clips containing them develop a life of their own independent of the original sample You might wonder at a point What does this clip sound like with a different sample This is easy to find out by selecting the clip so that it is displayed in the Clip View and dragging the desired sample from one of the File Browsers or the Session or Arrangement View onto the Clip View All clip settings including the envelopes will remain unaltered only the sample wil
270. ng clip and you can observe your recording in the Clip View By default the Control Bar s Overdub switch is activated so that you can build your pattern layer by layer However if you would like to pause recording for a moment to rehearse you can deactivate the Overdub switch The contents of the clip will continue to play but you can play along without being recorded When you are ready to record again simply turn on the Overdub switch Stop recording by pressing a Clip Stop button or the Stop button in the Control Bar a new clip will implicitly arm the track and launch the clip At any time while overdub recording is going on you can use the Undo command to remove the last take or even draw move or delete notes in the Clip View s Note Editor Note that you can also add notes to existing Session clips while the Overdub switch is on CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 185 14 4 Recording in Sync Live keeps the audio and MIDI you have recorded in sync even when you later decide ona different song tempo In fact Live allows you to change the tempo at any time before after and even during recording You could for instance cheat a bit by turning down the tempo to record a technically difficult part and pull it up again afterwards It is important to record in sync to make sure everything will later play in sync ap 14 sodos The easiest way to record in sync is to play along with or to use the built in
271. nlimited Unlimited Maximum audio bit depth and resolution 32 bit 192kHz 32 bit 192kHz Maximum number of audio inputs 2 stereo Unlimited Maximum number of audio outputs 2 stereo Unlimited Includes Simpler instrument for sample based syn Yes Yes thesis Includes Impulse instrument for percussion sound de Yes Yes sign Maximum number of Ableton instruments per project 8 Unlimited Number of included Ableton audio effects 23 23 Maximum number of Ableton audio effects per 12 Unlimited project CHAPTER 27 LIVE 7 LE VS LIVE 7 COMPARISON CHART 353 Live 7 LE Live 7 Number of included Ableton MIDI effects 7 7 Maximum number of Ableton MIDI effects per project Unlimited Unlimited External VST AU instrument instances per project 2 Unlimited External VST AU effect instances per project 2 Unlimited Effect sidechaining Yes Yes Instrument Drum Effect Rack editing No Yes Time signature changes Yes Yes Session View Yes Yes Maximum number of scenes per project 8 Unlimited Number of included real time time stretching algo 4 5 rithms Multiple automation lanes Yes Yes Native audio slicing support No Yes Maximum number of send and return tracks per 2 12 project Track Freeze No Yes Clip envelopes and Follow Actions Yes Yes External Instrument Audio Effect devices No Yes Automatic plug in delay compensation Yes Yes Tempo Nudge No Yes
272. nlocked Even if Live is not unlocked you can still load and perform a Live Set with no time limitation You cannot however save or export your work When you go on tour consider taking along your Live program CD and a CD with the last state of your Live Set s In case of an emergency you can install and run Live on any computer available and play your backup Live Set s 3 3 5 What Do Do About Problems or Questions Regarding Copy Pro tection Please contact technical support They are happy to help 5support ableton com Shttp www ableton com register 7 orders ableton com 8 support ableton com Chapter 4 Live Concepts This chapter introduces the essential concepts of Live We advise you to read this chapter early in your Live career as a solid understanding of the program s basic principles will help you fully exploit Live s potential for your music making 4 1 Live Sets The type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set Live Sets reside in a Live Project a folder that collects related materials and can be opened either through the File menu s Open command or via the built in File Browsers jemo ngs Demo Sounds gt BJ Demo Song ais Live Set Waveforms A Live Set in the File Browser CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 15 Selecting the Library bookmark in Live s File Browser will take you to the Live Library of creative tools There are a number of Demo Sets here and dou
273. nsistent with minimum distortion The Scale field will attenuate the gain of all filters that support gain all except low cut notch and high cut Enabling Hi Quality mode via the PC Mac context menu can improve the sound quality particularly with low frequency signals or when working at high sample rates There is a slight increase in CPU usage in Hi Quality mode 19 8 EQ Three EQ Three OA GainLow GainMid GainHi n dB 6 0068 infdB BE oe oe The EQ Three Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 250 If you have ever used a good DJ mixer you will know what this is An EQ that allows you to adjust the level of low mid and high frequencies independently Each band can be adjusted from infinite dB to 6 dB using the gain controls This means that you can completely remove for example the bass drum or bassline of a track while leaving the other frequencies untouched You can also turn on or off each band using the On Off buttons located under the gain controls These buttons are especially handy if assigned to computer keys EO Three gives you visual confirmation of the presence of a signal in each frequency band using three green LEDs Even if a band is turned off you can tell if there is something going on in it The internal threshold for the LEDs is set to 24 dB The frequency range of each band is defined via two crossover controls FreqLo and FreqHi If FreqLo is set to 500 Hz an
274. nt warp pitch envelope and effect settings and store them all as separate Live Clips In the Browser you could then independently sort and preview these clips even though they are all referring to the same source sample 5 5 Live Sets The type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set Think of this as a single song Sets must be saved inside projects so that Live can keep track of A Live Clip in the Browser CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 49 and manage all of the various components of the Live Set Live Clips device presets any samples used etc 5 5 1 Creating Opening and Saving Sets Use the File menu s New Live Set command to create new Live Sets and the Open or Open Recent command to open existing ones In the File Browser you can double click or press on a Live Set to open it The File menu s Save command saves the current Live Set exactly as it is including all clips and settings You can also use the Save As command to save the current Live Set under a different name and or in a different directory location or the Save a Copy command to create a copy of the current Live Set with a new name and or new directory location 5 5 2 Merging Sets Live makes it easy to merge Sets which can come in handy when combining work from different versions or pieces To add all tracks except the return tracks from one Live Set into another drag the Set from the File Browser into the
275. ntroller values below 64 turn it off e Radio Buttons The controller s 0 127 value range is mapped onto the range of available options e Continuous Controls The controller s 0 127 value range is mapped onto the param eter s range of values Live also supports pitch bend messages and high precision 14 bit Absolute controller messages with a 0 16383 value range The above specifications apply to these as well except that the value range s center is at 8191 8192 CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 303 22 2 4 Mapping to Relative MIDI Controllers Some MIDI controllers can send value increment and value decrement messages instead of absolute values These controls prevent parameter jumps when the state of a control in Live and the corresponding control on the hardware MIDI controller differ For example imagine that you have assigned the pan knob on your control surface to the pan parameter of a track in Live If the hardware control is panned hard right and the Live control is panned hard left a slight movement in a hardware pan knob that sends absolute values would tell Live to pan right causing an abrupt jump in the track s panning A pan knob sending relative messages would prevent this since its incremental message to Live would simply say Pan slightly to the left of your current position There are four types of relative controllers Signed Bit Signed Bit 2 Bin Offset and Twos Complem
276. ny time simply by entering Key Map Mode again CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 306 Keyboard assignments can produce the following effects in Live e Clips in Session View slots will be affected by mapped keys according to their Launch Mode settings e Keys assigned to switches will toggle switch states e Keys assigned to radio buttons will toggle through the available options Please be sure not to confuse this remote control functionality with Live s ability to use the computer keyboard as a pseudo MID keyboard that can generate MIDI notes from computer keystrokes for use with instruments 22 3 Mackie Control The comprehensive Mackie Control mixing surface puts all of Live s real time creative power at your fingertips The Mackie Control allows for mouse free program operation and navigation Through the bi directional connection between Live and the Mackie Control any changes made in the program are reflected in the mixing surface and vice versa To establish this connection open Live s MIDI Sync Preferences At the bottom of the window you will find the Remote Control Surfaces options Selecting Mackie Control from the Control Surface chooser and then setting the necessary input and output will establish the connection between Live and the control surface It is possible to expand the number of Mackie Control channel strips available using a hardware extension This extension is separately set up in Li
277. o create produce and perform music using a computer A great deal of effort has been put into making Live easy and fun to use yet at the same time capable of helping you create music with unlimited depth and sophistication This effort continues even as you read these lines in fact a new improved Live version might already be available for download Please check on our website nowt or choose the Check for Updates command from the Help menu We hope you enjoy using Live and that it enhances your creative process Should you have suggestions about how we can improve Live please let us know Your Ableton Team 1 http www ableton com downloads 2contact ableton com CHAPTER 1 WELCOME TO LIVE 2 1 2 What s New in Live 7 1 2 1 Multiple Time Signatures e Work with multiple time signatures in both Arrangement and Session view 1 2 2 Multiple Automation Editor Lanes e View and edit multiple automation envelopes for a track simultaneously in the Ar rangement View 1 2 3 Better Tempo Control e Map song tempo to multiple controllers for coarse and fine adjustments 1 2 4 Ableton Effects and Instruments e Drum Racks expand the Rack family with integrated return chains choke groups and other functions optimized for building drum kits e Compressor replaces the former Compressor and II devices with three compression models feedback sidechaining and more e Spectrum performs realtime frequency analysis of incoming aud
278. o receive an input signal to be played through the track s devices Again tracks can receive their input from the outside or from another track or device in Live The Monitor controls regulate the conditions under which the input signal is heard through the track 4 10 Recording New Clips Audio tracks and MIDI tracks can record their input signal and thereby create new clips Recording is enabled on a track by pressing its Arm button Hold down the PC Mac modifier to arm several tracks at once If the Exclusive Arm option is enabled in the Record Preferences inserting an instrument into a new or empty MIDI track will automatically arm the track When the Control Bar s Record button is on every armed track records its input signal into the Arrangement Every take yields a new clip per track Al Ag ty ff It is also possible to record into Session View slots on the fly This technique is very useful for the jamming musician as Session recording does not require stopping the music When a track is armed its Session slots exhibit Clip Record buttons and clicking one of seeeeeeeeeee Track Routing Is Set up Using the In Out Section in the Arrangement Left or Session View Right Track Arm Buttons as They Appear in the Session View CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 26 these commences recording Clicking the Clip Record button again defines the end of the recording and launches the new clip As these actions are subject to real
279. oject button and then click on the triangular shaped fold button next to Packing Click the Create Live Pack button to bring up a file select dialog where you can specify the name and location of a new Live Pack file Creating a new Live Pack from a Project does not affect the Project If you want the Project deleted you can delete it using the File Browser Live employs lossless compression techniques to minimize the file size of Live Packs De pending on the audio materials in a Project this saves up to 50 percent in file size Hs o unpack a Live Pack i e to restore the original Live Project double click the Live Pack ile alp drag it into the Live main window or locate it via the File menu s Install Live Pack ommand Live will then request that you choose a location for the new Project Note actory Live Packs those provided by Ableton will automatically be installed in the Live brary OQ h lee Sn 5 13 File Management FAQs 5 13 1 How Do Create a Project A Project is automatically created whenever you save a Live Set except when you save it into the Library or a preexisting Project You can also manually create a Project by clicking PC 6 Mac in the Browser and selecting Create Project from the context menu 5 13 2 How Can I Save Presets Into My Current Project As long as you re working in a Project meaning that you ve saved your current Live Set every device in the Device Browser will show
280. ol boosts the signal and adds distortion Coincidentally this makes most signals much louder and should usually be compensated for by lowering the sample s volume control Extreme Drive settings on low pitched sounds will produce the typical overdriven analog synth drum sounds The envelope can be adjusted using the Decay control which can be set to a maximum of 60 seconds Impulse has two decay modes Trigger Mode allows the sample to decay with the note Gate Mode forces the envelope to wait for a note off message before beginning the decay This mode is useful in situations where you need variable decay lengths as is the case with hi hat cymbal sounds 21 1 5 Pan and Volume Each sample has Volume and Pan controls that adjust amplitude and stereo positioning respectively Both controls can be modulated Pan by velocity and a random value and Volume by velocity only 21 1 6 Global Controls The parameters located to the right of the sample slots are global controls that apply to all samples within Impulse s domain Volume adjusts the overall level of the instrument and Pitch adjusts the transposition of all samples The Time control governs the time stretching and decay of all samples allowing you to morph between short and stretched drum sounds 21 1 7 Individual Outputs When a new instance of Impulse is dragged into a track its signal will be mixed with those of the other instruments and effects feeding the audio chain of the tr
281. on in the Control Bar to stop recording leaving the new clip silent Note that by default launching a Session View scene will not activate recording in empty record enabled slots belonging to that scene However you can use the Start Recording on Scene Launch option from the Record Warp Launch Preferences to tell Live that you do want empty scene slots to record under these circumstances CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 14 3 3 Overdub Recording MIDI Patterns Live makes pattern oriented recording of drums and the like quite easy Using Live s Impulse instrument and the following technique you can successively build up drum patterns while listening to the result Or using an instrument such as Simpler which allows for chromatic playing you can build up melodies or harmonies note by note 1 2 Set the Global Quantization chooser to one bar To automatically quantize the notes you are about to record choose an appro priate value for Record Quantization Double click any of the Session View slots in the desired MIDI track the one containing the Impulse or other instrument A new empty clip will appear in the slot The new clip will default to a loop length of one bar but you can change that by double clicking the clip and changing its loop properties Arm the track 5 Launch the clip Note that holding PC Mac while double clicking the empty slot to create The notes you play are added into the loopi
282. ons in the envelope section Attack controls the time in milliseconds that it takes for the envelope to reach its peak value after a note is played Decay controls the amount of time it takes for the envelope to drop down to the Sustain level which is held until the note is released Release time is the amount of time after the end of the note that it takes for the envelope to drop from the Sustain level back down to zero The influence of envelopes on pitch and filter cutoff can be decided using the envelope amount Env controls in each of these sections 21 2 5 Filter The Filter section offers classic 12 dB or 24 dB lowpass bandpass and highpass filters as well as a notch filter each of which can impart different sonic characteristics onto the sample by removing certain frequencies from the waveform The most important parameters are the typical synth controls Frequency and Resonance Frequency determines where in the harmonic spectrum the filter is applied Resonance boosts frequencies near that point The best way to understand the effects of these controls is simply to play with them The Frequency parameter can be modulated by an LFO note velocity and an envelope each of which have an amount control in the Filter section The Key tracking control allows for shifting the filter s frequency according to note pitch 21 2 6 LFO The LFO low frequency oscillator section offers sine square triangle sawtooth down sawtooth up a
283. ontrol adjusts the volume of the cueing output Note that when cueing is set up and activated the output of audio files that you are previewing in the Browser is also heard through the Cue Out 13 6 Track Delays A Track Delay control is available for every track in Live The control allows delaying or pre delaying the output of tracks in milliseconds in order to compensate for human acoustic hardware and other real world delays This section of the interface can be shown or hidden using its respective Mixer Section se ector Stop Clips Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms oO We do not recommend changing track delays on stage as it could result in undesirable clicks or pops in the audio signal Micro offsets in Session View clips can be achieved using the nudge buttons in the Clip View however track delays can be used in the Arrangement View for such offsets The Track Delay Control and Selector CHAPTER 13 MIXING 178 Note that delay compensation for plug ins and Live devices is a separate feature and is automatic by default Unusually high Track Delay settings or reported latencies from plug ins may cause noticeable sluggishness in the software If you are having latency related difficulties while recording and playing back instruments you may want to try turning off device dela
284. ontrols The Clip View displays the settings for whichever clip happens to be currently selected but it will also display the settings of multi selected clips To avoid unpleasant musical surprises it is important to remember that creating remote control mappings for any control in the Clip View interface could potentially affect any clip in the Live Set For this reason we recommend mapping Clip View controls to relative MIDI controllers to prevent undesirable jumps in parameter values 22 2 5 Computer Keyboard Remote Control My kev MID 4 The Key Map Mode Switch Creating control surface assignments for your computer keyboard is straightforward 1 Enter Key Map Mode by pressing the KEY switch in the upper right hand corner of the Live screen Notice that the assignable elements of the interface become highlighted in red when you enter Key Map Mode The Mapping Browser will also become available If the Browser is hidden you will want to show it at this point using the appropriate View menu command 2 Click on the Live parameter that you wish to assign to a key Remember that only the controls that are shown with a red overlay are available for mapping 3 Press the computer key to which you wish to assign the control The details of your new mapping will be displayed in the Mapping Browser 4 Leave Key Map Mode by pressing Live s KEY switch once again The Mapping Browser will disappear but your mappings can be reviewed at a
285. ookahead times zero ms one ms and ten ms The results may sound pretty different depending on this setting Compressor can be used in three different EF envelope follower modes With Peak se lected Compressor reacts to short peaks within a signal RMS mode causes Compressor to be less sensitive to very short peaks and compress only when the incoming level has exceeded the threshold for a slightly longer time Opto mode results in a non linear release curve Specifically the release behavior is faster initially and slows down as the gain reduc tion approaches zero So which type should you use There s no right answer of course but there are some common uses for each mode Peak mode is more aggressive and pre cise and so works well for limiting tasks where you need to ensure that there are absolutely no signals over the set threshold RMS is closer to how people actually perceive loudness and is usually considered more musical Opto mode because of its non linear release time is often considered smooth and natural sounding Opto compressors are commonly used on vocals bass and electric guitar But as always when it comes to compression trust your ears and not the meters In addition to the EF modes Compressor offers three Model types that offer further options for how the device measures and responds to signal levels FF1 and FF2 are both feed forward models which analyze the loudness of the incoming signal Thes
286. original keys also remain physically held notes can be added to the pattern simply by playing them Notes can also be removed from the pattern in this scenario by playing them a second time allowing the gradual buildup and rearrangement of the pattern over time Tip If you want the pattern to stop playing momentarily deactivate Hold The Offset parameter shifts the sequence of notes in the pattern by the number of places selected with the control This is best illustrated with an example A setting of 1 makes the second note in the pattern play first and the first note last If you imagine the pattern as a circle of notes that is played in a clockwise direction from a set start point the Offset parameter effectively rotates this circle counter clockwise one note at a time changing where in the pattern play begins With the Repeats parameter the pattern can be set to repeat a specified number of times until it is retriggered A setting of inf will repeat the pattern indefinitely Hint This feature provides an excellent way of emulating the strum of a guitar or playing a chord as an arpeggio once or twice Another interesting effect can be achieved by combining this feature with the Retrigger parameter which we will explain in a moment This can be used to create rhythmically generated arpeggios separated by pauses The Retrigger parameter resets the pattern so that it starts again from the beginning Retriggering can be deactivat
287. ortion possible within a 32 bit system 24 2 2 Matching sample rate no transposition Playback of an unstretched audio file in Live is a neutral operation provided that the file s sample rate is the same as that set in Live s Preferences and that the file is played back without transposition This is verified by cancellation tests of rendered output Please note that playback in this context refers only to the audio within Live prior to the point at which it reaches your audio hardware 24 2 3 Unstretched Beats Tones Texture Re Pitch Warping If the tempo of a Clip is the same as the tempo of the Set that clip will play back unstretched In this case if the Warp mode of the Clip is set to Beats Tones Texture or Re Pitch but not Complex playback will be neutral Any Warping caused by changing the Set s tempo is non permanent and audio that plays back unwarped at a given tempo will always play back unwarped at that tempo even if the tempo is changed and then changed back For example if you ve recorded some tracks at 120 BPM but then decide you d like to slow the tempo down to record a particularly difficult solo passage the original tracks will play back neutrally again after returning the tempo to 120 BPM Only the recording made at the slower tempo will be stretched Please note that the Global Groove functionality works by modifying the positions of Warp markers This means that playback of audio clips with Global Groove appli
288. oser which selects a general category of controls with which to work Device chooser entries are different for different kinds of clips e Audio clips have entries for Clip the clip s sample controls every effect in the track s device chain and the mixer e MIDI clips have entries for MIDI Ctrl MIDI controller data and every device in the track s device chain CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 223 The bottom menu the Control chooser selects among the controls of the item chosen in the top menu In both choosers parameters with altered clip envelopes appear with LEDs next to their names You can simplify the appearance of these choosers by selecting Show Modulated Parameters Only from either of them The quick chooser buttons below the menus select commonly edited controls Clicking the menus or the quick chooser buttons brings up the Envelope Editor showing the selected envelope instead of the Sample Display or MIDI Editor You can toggle the display by clicking on the title bars of the Sample Notes and Envelopes boxes The techniques for drawing and editing clip envelopes are the same as those for automation envelopes in the Arrangement View If you create a nice section of envelope that you want to have repeat several times try the following 1 Enclose the desired selection in the loop brace and click the brace so that it is selected This will execute the Edit menu s Select Loop command which selec
289. ot change however when computer peripherals are replaced audio or MIDI hardware printers modems The challenge code may change if the motherboard processor or network card is replaced On some computers reformatting a hard drive also changes the challenge code 3 3 3 Can I Unlock Live More than Once The standard Live license allows you to use Live on only one computer at a time However if you have registered your product the Ableton server will provide you with two unlock keys in good faith that you will use Live on only one machine at a time Just proceed as described in the corresponding section You can therefore run Live on both a studio desktop computer and a tour laptop but not at the same time Should the Ableton server reject your demand for another unlock key please contact Able ton s technical support 3http www ableton com shop 4http www ableton com register CHAPTER 3 UNLOCKING LIVE 13 They can be reached by e E mail e Telephone 49 0 30 288 763 151 available Monday to Friday 11 to 15hrs CET e Fax 49 0 30 288 763 11 To speed up the process please e Register your copy of Live e Include a brief explanation of the circumstances To use Live on more than one computer at a time you require a secondary license or a site license Ableton offers these licenses at special rates Please contact the sales team for details 3 3 4 Can I Play my Set from a Computer That Is Not U
290. ote Control To liberate the musician from the mouse most of Live s controls can be remote controlled with an external MIDI controller and the computer keyboard This chapter describes the details of mapping to the following specific types of controls in Live s user interface 1 Session View slots Note that MIDI and computer key assignments are bound to the slots not to the clips they contain Switches and buttons among them the Track and Device Activator switches the Control Bar s tap tempo metronome and transport controls Radio buttons A radio button selects from among a number of options One instance of a radio button is the crossfader assignment section in each track which offers three options The track is assigned to the crossfader s A position the track is unaffected by the crossfader or the track is affected by the crossfader s B position Continuous controls like the mixer s volume pan and sends The crossfader the behavior of which is described in detail in the respective section of the Mixing chapter CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 295 22 1 MIDI Remote Control Live can be controlled remotely by external MIDI control surfaces such as MIDI keyboards or controller boxes Live also supports the Mackie Control a topic that is covered in its own section for completely mouse free program operation Before we explain how remote control assignments are made and implemented let s
291. oth horizontally changing their position in time and vertically changing their transposition They can be moved either by clicking and dragging or with the arrow keys on your computer keyboard in either case they are subject to grid and offset snapping If you are playing the clip while you move notes you can listen to them play in their new assignments as you drag them without waiting until you have released the mouse button Multiple notes can be selected and moved in unison Rubber band select more than one note with one mouse motion by clicking in empty space then dragging diagonally upward Use the Loop Region Markers to Select a Specific Region of the Clip to Play CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 134 or downward to enclose the notes in the dotted line that appears You can use the modifier to click and add individual notes or additional rubber band selections to your current selection You can also remove a single note from your selection by holding down 4 and clicking on it Holding and clicking on the piano roll selects all notes in a single key track There are two options for quantizing MIDI notes in Live As previously mentioned you can move notes so that they snap to the visible grid lines Alternatively you can select a note or notes and choose the Quantize command from the Edit menu or use the PC Mac hotkey This brings up a dialog box with several quantization options E m yo
292. p Clips Of and another key to start and end recording in the respective track The Scene Up Down Buttons A Track Launch Button 189 Chapter 15 Working with Instruments and Effects Every track in Live can host a number of devices These devices can be of three different sorts e MIDI effects act upon MIDI signals and can only be placed in MIDI tracks e Audio effects act upon audio signals and can be placed in audio tracks They can also be placed in MIDI tracks as long as they are downstream from an instrument e Instruments are devices that reside in MIDI tracks receive MIDI and output audio The Track View is where you insert view and adjust the devices for the selected track To select a track and open the Track View to access its devices double click the track s name The Track View appears in the bottom area of the Live screen Please note that the number of instruments and effects that can be used in a single Set is limited in Live LE CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 190 Old Sampler E Resonators Devices in the Track View To save space in the Track View a device can be collapsed by double clicking on its title bar or by choosing Fold from its PC 6 Mac context menu Devices Can Be Folded To learn about a particular device and how to operate it consult the Live Audio Effect Reference Live MIDI Effect Reference or the Live Instrument Referen
293. p length for each envelope including odd lengths like 3 2 1 It is not hard to imagine great complexity and confusion arising from several odd length envelopes in one clip i pe re tp nt bf The Sample Left and Envelope Right Start Marker To keep this complexity under control it is important to have a common point of reference The start marker identifies the point where sample or envelope playback depart from when the clip starts Note that the start end markers and loop brace are subject to quantization by the zoom adaptive grid as is envelope drawing CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 233 18 5 3 Imposing Rhythm Patterns onto Samples So far we have been talking about imposing long envelopes onto small loops You can also think of interesting applications that work the other way around Consider a sample of a song that is several minutes long This sample could be played by a clip with a one bar volume envelope loop The volume envelope loop now works as a pattern that is repeatedly punching holes into the music so as to perhaps remove every third beat You can certainly think of other parameters that such a pattern could modulate in interesting ways 18 5 4 Clip Envelopes as LFOs If you are into sound synthesis you may want to think of a clip envelope with a local loop as an LFO This LFO is running in sync with the project tempo but it is also possible to set up a loop period odd enough to render the envelope
294. pecially useful when the effect is housed in a return track You can set the output level of the device using the Volume control and apply Decay to create gradually fading repetitions CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 240 19 4 Chorus Cn Polarity Amount Rate 1 25ms 865ms Woms F0 Bz 76 The Chorus effect uses two parallel time modulated delays to create chorus thickening and flanging effects Each delay has its own delay time control calibrated in milliseconds Delay 1 has a highpass filter that can remove low frequencies from the delayed signal Greater highpass values let only very high frequencies pass through to Delay 1 Delay 2 can switch among three different modes When off only Delay 1 is audible In Fix Mode only Delay 1 s delay time will be modulated When Mod is activated Delay 2 will receive the same modulation as Delay 1 To set both delay lines to Delay 1 s delay time turn on the link button This is especially useful if you want to change both delays with a single gesture The Modulation X Y controller can impart motion to the sounds To change the modula tion rate for the delay times click and drag along the horizontal axis To change the amount of modulation click and drag along the vertical axis You can also make changes by entering parameter values in the Amount and Rate fields be low the X Y controller The Amount value is in millisecond
295. ple loop from the Browser into Live and play it Click on the Transpose quick chooser button You can now alter the pitch transposition of individual notes in the sample as you listen to it The fast way to do this is by enabling Draw Mode and drawing steps along the grid Deactivate Draw Mode to edit breakpoints and line segments This is useful for smoothing the coarse steps by horizontally displacing breakpoints CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 225 The Transposition Envelope with Steps Top and Ramps Bottom Note that the warp settings determine how accurately Live s time warping engine tracks the envelope shape To obtain a more immediate response reduce the Grain Size value in Tones and Texture Mode or choose a smaller value for the Transients control in Beats Mode To correct the tuning of individual notes in the sample hold down the PC Mac modifier while drawing or moving breakpoints to obtain a finer resolution To scroll the display hold down the PC Mac modifier while dragging Pitch is modulated in an additive way The output of the transposition envelope is simply added to the Transpose control s value The result of the modulation is clipped to stay in the available range 48 48 semitones in this case CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 226 18 2 3 Muting or Attenuating Notes in a Sample Click on the Volume quick chooser to access an audio clip s volume envelope By
296. ppings The Lessons View can be accessed at any time by selecting the Lessons option from the View menu Note You can always manually override any instant mappings with your own assignments In this case you will also want to enable the Remote switches for the MIDI ports that your control surface is using This is done in the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Sync Preferences tab and is described in the next section Instant mappings are advantageous because the control surface s controllers will automati cally reassign themselves in order to control the currently selected device in Live CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 297 ni Start gn Fade G0p Vol Attack Decay Sustain Release LFO Volume ASChAmmSSaOD SOS 11 1 44 4 4 0 00 7 10ms 16 3ms 13 85 9ms 0 0 0 00 Filter Freq Res Vel LFO Rate Attack Retrig Transp LFO Glide Spread Vel w y SPV 00 0 00 RGA a E BBs mi A 0 st 4 0 00 Portas Type Key Type Freq Key Offset Detune Env Time BP24 137KHi 242 100 A v E 00 000 oc d ost 4 Bim 11 Control Surfaces Can Follow Device Selection In addition to following device selection natively supported control surfaces can be locked to specific devices guaranteeing hands on access no matter where the current focus is in your Live Set To enable or disable locking PC Ctrl Mac on a device s title bar and then select your preferre
297. r We also performed a similar procedure for testing the timing of outgoing MIDI events as represented in the following diagram CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 339 In al Live Converter Audio Recording another instance of Live Audio Clip cases the output tests showed comparable results to the input tests 25 6 Tips for Achieving Optimal MIDI Performance In order to help users achieve optimal MIDI performance with Live we have provided a list of recommended practices and program settings Use the lowest possible buffer sizes available on your audio hardware thereby keeping latency to a minimum Audio buffer controls are found in the Audio tab of Live s Preferences and vary depending on the type of hardware you re using For more information see the Lesson Setting Up Audio I O Use a high quality MIDI interface with the most current drivers in order to ensure that MIDI timestamps are generated and processed as accurately as possible Do not enable track monitoring if you are recording MIDI while listening directly to a hardware device such as an external synthesizer as opposed to listening to the device s audio through Live via the External Instrument device Likewise disable track monitoring when recording MIDI data that is generated by another MIDI device such as adrum machine When monitoring is enabled Live adds latency to compensate for playthrough jitter Therefore it is important to only en
298. r after freezing is exactly what you will get when flattening so if the results are not to your liking be sure to unfreeze and make any necessary changes to device parameters before invoking the Flatten command This procedure is tested by rendering the output of an audio track and comparing it to the CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 327 frozen audio from the same track via phase cancellation to ensure that the files are identical 24 2 8 Bypassed Effects Bypassed effects in Live are removed from the signal flow This is true for both Live s built in effects devices and third party VST and AU plug ins Consequently audio at the output of a bypassed effect is identical to the audio at the input Please note however that effects devices with parameters that inherently require delay e g the Look Ahead settings in Compressor will still introduce this delay when bypassed in order to maintain automatic delay compensation with the rest of the project In most cases the effects of this behavior will be completely inaudible The neutrality of bypassed effects is tested by loading one instance of each of Live s effects devices into an audio track deactivating them and then rendering the output of the track The rendered file is then compared to the rendered output of the same track with no loaded devices Phase cancellation testing of the two files confirms that they are identical 24 2 9 Routing The routing of signals within Live i
299. r and Song Tempo from the bottom one 4 5 The Tempo Envelope When adjusting the tempo envelope you might want to scale the value axis display which is the function of the two value boxes below the envelope choosers The left box sets the minimum and the right box sets the maximum tempo displayed in BPM Note that these two controls also determine the value range of a MIDI controller assigned to the tempo 221 Chapter 18 Clip Envelopes Every clip in Live can have its own clip envelopes The aspects of a clip that are influenced by clip envelopes change depending upon clip type and setup clip envelopes can do anything from representing MIDI controller data to modulating device parameters In this chapter we will first look at how all clip envelopes are drawn and edited and then get into the details of their various applications 222 CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 18 1 The Clip Envelope Editor Clip Launch Use the Clip View Box Selector to Bring up the Envelopes Box To work with clip envelopes bring up the Clip View s Envelopes box by activating the rightmost Clip View Box selector panel The Envelopes box contains two choosers for selecting an envelope to view and edit Envelopes Sample i Clip x 4p d Volume Transpose Volume gt Pan Position mHE The Clip View s Envelopes Box The top menu is the Device cho
300. r clips there You can also save clips anywhere else on your computer 5 13 6 Can I Use My Own Folder Structure Within a Project Folder You can organize your files any way you want within a Project but you ll need to use the File Manager to relink the files that you ve moved around 1 In Live s Browser or via your operating system reorganize the files and folders within your Project folder CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 69 2 Navigate to the Project folder in the Browser and choose Manage Project via the PC 5 Mac context menu 3 If you ve changed the original location of any samples used in the Project the Missing Samples section of the File Manager will indicate this Click the Locate button to search for the samples 4 Since you know that your samples are all in the Project folder unfold Automatic Search Then enable the Search Project and Fully Rescan Folders options Finally click Go to initiate the search 5 When searching is complete click Collect and Save at the bottom of the File Manager to update the Project 5 13 7 How Do Export A Project to the Library and Maintain My Own Folder Structure If you export a Project to the Library Live will look in the Library to see if the folder names there match those in your Project and will create any missing folders as necessary For example if your Project folder contains samples in Samples My Samples Live will look in the Library for a Samples
301. r input Post FX from the Guitar track Note that we could also tap the Guitar track Post Mixer if we wished to record any level or panning from it As for monitoring we set the Guitar track s Monitor radio button to In because we always want to listen to our guitar through this track no matter what else is going on in Live The other tracks Monitor radio buttons are set to Off An Example Setup for Post Effects Recording CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 160 Recording MIDI as Audio When working with MIDI and complex software instruments it is sometimes more useful to record the resulting audio than the incoming MIDI A single MIDI note can prompt for example Native Instruments Absynth to produce something that sounds more like a piece of music than a single tone This output lends itself more to representation as an audio waveform than a single note in a MIDI clip particularly when comparing the editing options 1 Piano Audio From Audio From MIDI From MIDI From Ext 3 Absynth Computer Kew l ii Post Mixer gt f All Channes Monitor Monitor in Auto O Of I Auto O in Auto Audio To i Audio To MIDI To Mast Master F N t Monitor OF Ld e m s Recording the Output of e A a Complex Instrument in e o E e Audio Tracks A setup similar to the one described above accomplishes the task We have one MI
302. r row of the keyboard ASDF addresses The MIDI Ports List in the Preferences Activating the Computer MIDI Keyboard CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 154 the Impulse percussion sampler s sample slots This means that you can play and record drum patterns right off the computer keyboard Note that when the computer MIDI keyboard is activated it will steal keys that may have otherwise been assigned to remote control elements of the Live interface To prevent this you can turn the computer MIDI keyboard off when it is not needed 12 3 3 MIDI In Out Indicators Live s Control Bar contains two pairs of indicator LEDs that tell you about incoming and outgoing MIDI These indicators tell you not only about the presence of signals but also about their use In both pairs the upper indicator flashes when a MIDI message is received and the lower indicator flashes when a MIDI message is sent W KE E MID J PE The two indicator pairs represent from left to right 1 MIDI messages that are used for remote controlling Live s user interface ele ments 2 MIDI messages coming from and going to Live s MIDI tracks MIDI messages that are mapped to remote control Live s user interface elements are eaten up by the remote control assignment and will not be passed on to the MIDI tracks This is a common cause of confusion that can be easily resolved by looking at the indicators 12 4 Resampling Live s Master output can be ro
303. rary Audio Presets Manufacturer Name Plug in Name 15 5 Device Delay Compensation Live automatically compensates for delays caused by Live and plug in instruments and effects including those on the return tracks These delays can arise from the time taken by devices to process an input signal and output a result The compensation algorithm keeps all of Live s tracks in sync regardless of what their devices are doing while minimizing delay between the player s actions and the audible result Device delay compensation is on by default and does not normally have to be adjusted in any way However Live Sets that were created with Live 4 or earlier will open without device delay compensation To manually turn latency compensation on or off use the Delay Compensation option in the Options menu Unusually high individual track delays or reported latencies from plug ins may cause no ticeable sluggishness in the software If you are having latency related difficulties while recording and playing back instruments you may want to try turning off device delay com pensation however this is not normally recommended You may also find that adjusting the individual track delays is useful in these cases Note that device delay compensation can depending on the number of tracks and devices in use increase the CPU load Opening an Audio Units Plug In Window 207 Chapter 16 Instrument Drum and Effect Racks A Rack is a flexible tool
304. rate manual chapter Audio clips have these additional Clip View controls e The Sample Display toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right hand side of the Clip View and controls Live s sample warping capabilities and clip playback settings e The Sample box contains settings pertaining to how the clip plays its sample and displays it in the Sample Display ostinato Launch Mode ostinato wav Wap stan Ga Mixer Start GS Tigger v 44 1 kHz 16 Bit 2 Ch aLa Track Piv al Signature ueo E Gave REV seg apm End Ga End 4 i _4_ Quantization HFG Fags RAM 110 00 15 4 4 IL Groove Global__ Transpose C Pan Swing 8 v Vel _0 0 Beats v Ite J Follow Action SEBAS Position Ge Region Loop Position CEDi ioj os COO m I W166 _ Detune Length Ged Length 090o 1 i 0 Oct 4 3 10 dB 7 O_o og MIDI clips have these additional Clip View controls e The MIDI Editor toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right hand side of the Clip View and allows editing and creating MIDI notes and velocities e The Notes box contains settings pertaining to how Live plays a MIDI clip and what it displays in the MIDI Editor The Clip View for an Audio Clip CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 96 To make best use of the screen real estate you c
305. rding into the Arrangement in the appropriate tracks and the correct song positions Notice that your recording has not created new audio data only clips The Session clips and the Arrangement clips in one track are mutually exclusive Only one can play at atime When a Session clip is launched Live stops playing back the Arrangement in favor of the Session clip Clicking a Clip Stop button causes the Arrangement playback to stop which produces silence gt gt 8 ovra 18 CA Arrangement playback does not resume until you explicitly tell Live to resume by clicking the Back to Arrangement button which lights up to remind you that what you hear differs from the Arrangement The Control Bar s Record Button The Arrangement Selector The Back to Arrangement Button CHAPTER 7 SESSION VIEW 92 9 T Stop Clips ST i T L 1 2 s o Y To disable all Arrangement clips simultaneously click on the Stop All Clips button in the Master Track Status field The clips in the Arrangement and in the Session View exist independently from one another which makes it easy to improvise into the Arrangement over and over again until it s right LALLI ILILILL Furthermore you can move clips not only within the Session grid but also from the Session View to the Arrangement and vice versa by using Copy and Paste or by dragging clips over the or m selectors When pasting material from the Arrangement into the Session Vie
306. re managed through the Device Browser Each device appears there as a folder that can be opened to reveal its presets The Level Meters Between Devices in a Chain CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 195 Notch Step Slide Away Swirl 1to4 Note Contenders 90 Degrees Around The Head Chopper Copycat You can browse and load presets quickly with the computer keyboard Date Modified 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 28 07 2006 00 04 e Scroll up and down using the and keys e Close and open device folders using the and keys e Press to load a device or preset gt Operator Si Clicking a device s Hot Swap Presets button will temporarily link the Browser to a device calling up its presets in the Device Browser With the device and Browser linked in this manner you can quickly browse load and audition different presets You can even replace the current device with a new one by simply selecting another device s preset To load a device s default factory settings select the parent folder of its presets i e the one with the device s name from the Device Browser The link between the Device Browser and the device will be broken if a different view is selected or if the Hot Swap button is pressed again Preset hot swapping can also be cancelled with a press of the key Note that although i
307. re stored independently from Live Sets new presets become part of a library that any project can draw from Live s Instrument Drum and Effect Racks allow saving combinations of devices and their settings as a single preset This feature allows for the creation of powerful multi device creations and effectively adds all the capabilities of Live s MIDI and audio effects to the built in instruments 4 9 Routing As we have seen all tracks deliver signals either audio or MIDI Where do these signals go This is set up in the mixer s In Out section which offers for every track choosers to select a signal source and destination The In Out section accessible through the View menu s In Out option is Live s patchbay Its routing options enable valuable creative and technical methods such as resampling submixing layering of synths complex effects setups and more The Mixer for a MIDI Track without an Instrument CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 25 All Channew In Auto MIDI From MIDI From Master z All ins All Ins All Channes i All Channeew Monitor Monitor In Auto Off In ot Audio To MIDI To Master gt 5 Beats 7 i lmpulse y 1 Impulse Signals from the tracks can be sent to the outside world via the computer s audio and MIDI interfaces or to other tracks or devices within Live Likewise a track can be set up t
308. re than one clip at the same time by first selecting the clips and then opening the Clip View 11 2 Launch Modes Clip Launch Launch Mode Trigger v The Clip Launch Mode Chooser The Launch Mode chooser offers a number of options for how clips behave with respect to mouse clicks computer keyboard actions or MIDI notes e Trigger down starts the clip up is ignored e Gate down starts the clip up stops the clip e Toggle down starts the clip up is ignored The clip will stop on the next down e Repeat As long as the mouse switch key is held the clip is triggered repeatedly at the clip quantization rate CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 142 11 3 Clip Level Quantization Clip Launch Sample The Clip Quantization S Chooser The Clip Quantization chooser lets you adjust an onset timing correction for clip triggering To disable clip quantization choose None To use the Control Bar s Global Quantization setting choose Global Global quantization can be quickly changed using the Ctrl_ 6 PC 6 Mac 7 6 and shortcuts Note that any setting other than None will quantize the clip s launch when it is triggered by Follow Actions 11 4 Velocity Clip Launch Sample 7 Vei _0 0 ATN The Velocity Amount Field CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 143 The Velocity Amount control allows you to adjust the effect of MIDI note velocity on the clip s volume If set to zero t
309. reacts to input level changes Attack defines how long it takes to reach maximum compression once a signal exceeds the threshold while Release sets how long it takes for the compressor to return to normal CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 243 operation after the signal falls below the threshold A slight amount of attack time 10 50 ms allows peaks to come through unprocessed which helps preserve dynamics by accentuating the initial portion of the signal If these peaks cause overloads you can try shortening the attack time but extremely short times take the life out of the signal and may lead to a slight buzziness caused by distortion Short release times can cause pumping as the compressor tries to figure out whether to compress or not while generally considered an undesirable effect some engineers use it on full drum kits to give unusual sucking effects Careful adjustment of attack and release times is essential when it comes to compression of rhythmical sources If you are not used to working with compressors play a drum loop and spend some time adjusting Attack Release Threshold and Gain It can be very exciting A compressor can only react to an input signal once it occurs Since it also needs to apply an attack release envelope the compression is always a bit too late A digital compressor can solve this problem by simply delaying the input signal a little bit Compressor offers three different L
310. ristics known from real amplifier tubes Tube A does not produce distortions if Bias is set low but will kick in whenever the input signal exceeds a certain threshold creating bright harmonics Tube C is a very poor tube amp that produces distortions all the time The qualities of Tube B lie somewhere between these two extremes The Tone control sets the spectral distribution of the distortions directing them into the higher registers or through the midrange and deeper The Drive control determines how much signal reaches the tube greater Drive yields a dirtier output The intensity of the tube is controlled by the Bias dial which pushes the signal into the celebrated realms of nonlinear distortion With very high amounts of Bias the signal will really start to break apart The Bias parameter can be positively or negatively modulated by an envelope follower which is controlled with the Envelope knob The more deeply the envelope is applied the more the Bias point will be influenced by the level of the input signal Negative Envelope values create expansion effects by reducing distortion on loud signals while positive values will make loud sounds dirtier Attack and Release are envelope characteristics that define how quickly the envelope reacts to volume changes in the input signal Together they shape the dynamic nature of the distortions Note that if Envelope is set to zero they will have no effect Cut or boost the device s final s
311. rocesses only the audio within that track return tracks can process audio sent to them from numerous tracks For example suppose you want to create rhythmic echoes with a delay effect If you drag the effect into a clip track only clips playing in this track will be echoed Placing this effect in a return track lets it receive audio from any number of tracks and add echoes to them ty Hal H Or OrOrol A clip track s Send control regulates how much of the clip track s output feeds the associated return track s input What s more even the return track s own output can be routed to its input allowing you to create feedback Because runaway feedback can boost the level dramatically and unexpectedly the Send controls in Return tracks are disabled by default To enable them PC 6 Mac on a Return track s Send knob and select Enable Send or Enable All Sends ALLL Every return track has a Pre Post toggle that determines if the signal a clip track sends to it is tapped before or after the mixer stage i e the pan volume and track active controls The Pre setting allows you to create an auxiliary mix that is processed in the return track independently of the main mix As the return track can be routed to a separate output this The Send Controls and Pre Post Toggle CHAPTER 13 MIXING 173 can be used to set up a separate monitor mix for an individual musician in a band The Master track is the d
312. roject folder named Samba Project next to Tango Project v PD Recorded Erg 0001 1 Guitar wav Erg 0001 2 Accordion wav Erg 0001 3 Piano wav I gt B Tango with Piano als A New Project Was Added Next to Tango Project So far we have seen how to create Live Projects and save versions of Live Sets into them How do we open a Project Simply by opening any of its contained Live Sets Double clicking Tango with Piano als opens that Set and the associated Project as displayed in Live s title bar Let s suppose that in the course of our work on Tango with Piano als we get sidetracked The piece evolves towards something entirely different and we feel that it should live in a Project of its own So we Save As under a new name and in some location outside the current Project say the Desktop CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 56 v E Tango Project v Samples v amr Recorded Erg 0001 1 Guitar wav Erg 0001 2 Accordion wav Erg 0001 3 Piano wav gt Tango with Piano als b M Tananais Note that the new project folder has no Samples folder yet Electro with Piano als is still referencing the piano sample from the original Tango Project There is nothing wrong with this except for when the Tango Project is moved away or deleted then Tango with Piano als will be missing samples You can prevent this by collecting samples Even after the fact Live s tools for searching missin
313. rol chooser 217 Automation Device chooser 216 B Back to Arrangement button 17 91 215 Beat Repeat effect 0 238 beat time ruler and Arrangement editing 71 and editing envelopes 231 and editing MIDI 129 in the MIDI Editor 130 Beats Mode does vesectnages deeds tas 125 Bit Depth preference 48 187 DOOKMAKS 2 sccaveaneedensaeeaniecsa genes 34 breakpoint envelopes see automation see clip envelopes sash da dudes see File Browser see Live Device Browser see Plug In Device Browser Browser browsing files 0 2 0 cece ee eee 31 C Capture and Insert Scene command 90 challenge code cece eee ee eee 10 Check for Updates command 1 Chord effect cicirine ii nenori 276 Chorus effect osrcisiors padega cees 240 Clip Activator switch 0 97 CHD DOM iitincantenerdaaemheeckdebeeneeas 95 Clip Color chooser 00005 97 Clip Envelope Control chooser 223 Clip Envelope Device chooser 222 clip envelopes c cd sacaeenensazes 27 221 and changing note pitch 224 and changing note volume 226 as LFOS iios widedda daha etwas 233 changing clips for sanz ciesaeeadens 227 creating long loops with 232 for MIDI controls i ccsieessivserdes 229 general editing of 222 imposing rhythm with
314. rom MIDI From MIDI From MIDI From Ext In All ins No Input All ins P Il 1 32 All Channew i All Channew Monitor in Auto O Cue Out Audio To ii Master Master Out i F OF We might be bothered by the fact that muting the pad track by turning off its Activator Feeding an Additional MIDI Track Into an Existing MIDI Track to Reuse its Instrument The Instrument Has Been Isolated in a Dedicated Track CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 163 switch also mutes the other MIDI track To be precise the other track keeps playing but its MIDI is played by an instrument that is out of the mix This can be easily remedied by cutting the clips from the pad track and pasting them into a third track that can be independently muted and that can hold its own MIDI effects The original pad track now acts as a mere instrument container As we are not recording new clips into this track we can set its Input Type chooser to No Input which makes its Arm button disappear and helps to avoid confusion when the mixer s In Out section is hidden Tapping Individual Outs From an Instrument Some software instruments like Live s Impulse percussion sampler offer multiple audio outputs for the signals they produce By default Impulse mixes the output of its eight sample slots internally and delivers the mix at the instrument s audio out Any audio effects following Impulse in the same track process the composite s
315. rp Markers Here are the steps 1 Select the Warp Markers that you wish to copy by clicking on them with the mouse After the first Warp Marker has been selected hold while clicking another to select the range of Warp Markers in between or PC Mac click to add individual Warp Markers to your selection 2 Once your selection is complete choose the Copy command from the Edit menu 3 Click on the title bar of the destination clip to select it 4 In the destination clip s Clip View click once on any Warp Marker to select it as the starting point for placement of the new Warp Markers 5 Choose the Paste command from the Edit menu The Warp Markers will be pasted into the destination clip 9 3 Adjusting for Good Stretching Quality Live offers a number of time stretching modes to accommodate all sorts of audio material Each clip s time stretching mode and associated parameters are set in the Clip View s Sample Box The warp modes are different varieties of granular resynthesis techniques Granular resyn thesis achieves time compression and expansion by repeating and skipping over parts of CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 125 the sample the grains The warp modes differ in the selection of grains as well as in the details of overlapping and crossfading between grains Let s investigate which warp modes work best for different types of signals and how to adjust the warping controls for clean stretch
316. rs accurately and completely unless they are simply too numerous or are not modifiable in real time When this is the case the plug in s original editor panel can be opened in a separate window J BassStation ce mode The Plug In Unfold Button osc 1 waveform You can view or hide the VST Plug in s parameters by toggling the button in the plug in s title bar The X Y control field can be used to control two plug in parameters at once and is therefore especially well suited for live control To assign any two plug in parameters to the Live panel X Y field use the drop down menus directly beneath it CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRUMENTS AND EFFECTS 200 Once a plug in is placed in a track you can use it just like a Live device You can edit all of its parameters and drag it to different locations in the device chain or to other tracks according to the rules of audio effects and instruments You can map MIDI controller messages to its parameters You can modulate its continuous parameters with clip envelopes You can use the multiple I O features of some plug ins by assigning them as sources or targets in the routing setup of tracks See the Routing and I O chapter for details You can create custom info text for the plug in Showing Plug In Panels in Separate Windows The Plug In Edit Button The Plug In Edit button opens a floating window that shows the original VST or Audio Units Plug in panel Changing
317. rt IE CONTROL ree Ge me o D E G gi g Oo efe Ie PTO anne THANE TU AUTRE N Ses The Transport Controls 1 Previous Next Locator Using these buttons you can skip forward or backward through the Arrangement from locator to locator Note that the Arrangement start and end are also marked with invisible locators to which you can navigate using these buttons The LEDs above these buttons are illuminated when a previous next locator is available in the respective direction CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 314 an oa Aa W N Loop On Off Toggles the Arrangement Loop switch on off Punch In Punch Out Toggles Live s Punch In Punch Out switches on off Home Jumps to the Arrangement start 1 1 1 End Jumps to the Arrangement end Rew Forw When pressed once these buttons will move the play position one beat backward forward When held down the buttons move forward backward in increments of one bar during Arrangement playback one beat if the Ar rangement is stopped Holding down the Mackie Control s Alt button when the Arrangement is playing will also move in one beat increments forwar
318. s CHAPTER 2 FIRST STEPS 5 directly in the program via the Help menu We highly recommend following the lessons Many users have told us that the lessons helped them become familiar with the program very quickly We also recommend that you read the Live Concepts chapter which encapsulates every thing that Live is and can do and is therefore a worthwhile read for both beginners and experienced users The remaining chapters of this manual serve as in depth reference for the material introduced in Live Concepts 2 1 1 Using the Info View and Index Live s Info View tells you the name and function of whatever you place the mouse over For certain items you can create your own text and it will appear in this window Way Spectrum Utility Info View Dynamic Tube on The Info View provides a brief Dry Wet Envelope description of the user interface element that the mouse is currently i A over For some elements you can m Output 00 m create your own text and it will appear Attack in this window A e c To save screen space fold in the Info 0 00 dB 5 00 ms View by clicking the triangle shaped Drive Tone Bias R Pn button near the lower left corner O G A Show Hide Info View 0 00 dB 0 00 0 0 35 0 ms The Info View and its Show Hide Button If you require more information on a specific user interface element or topic please consult this reference manual The index found at the end of the manual
319. s Transients 116 The most significant control here is the Warp switch which toggles a clip s warping on or off The Warp section of Live s Preferences will determine the default warp settings for new clips but they can always be overridden here on a per clip basis When the Warp switch is off Live plays the sample at its original normal tempo irre spective of the current Live Set s tempo This is useful for samples that have no inherent rhythmic structure percussion hits atmospheres sound effects spoken word and the like Turn the Warp switch on to play rhythmically structured samples such as sample loops music recordings complete music pieces etc in sync with the current song tempo To direct Live s assumptions about new samples use the Record Warp Launch tab of Live s Preferences If the Auto Warp Long Samples preference is on Live assumes that long samples contain music that should be played in sync with the Live Set s tempo If you would rather have Live default to playing long samples as they are disengage this preference 9 2 1 Tempo Master Slave All warped clips in the Arrangement View have one further option They can be defined as tempo masters by toggling their Master Slave switches Any number of clips can be set as tempo masters but only one clip at a time can actually be the tempo master This distinction is always granted to the bottom most currently playing clip in the Arrangement View
320. s while the modulation frequency rate is in Hertz Clicking the 20 switch multiplies the modulation frequency by 20 to achieve more extreme sounds The Feedback control determines how much of the output signal feeds back into the input The Chorus Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 241 while the Polarity switch sets surprise the polarity Polarity changes have the most effect with high amounts of feedback and short delay times The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Chorus in a return track Enabling the Crisp option via the PC Mac context menu can improve the sound quality particularly at higher frequencies This is enabled by default except when loading Sets that use Chorus and were made in earlier versions of Live 19 5 Compressor O Compressor ae Envelope Threshold Output Pex u i Opto Attack 4 28 2 ms i ll Release 13 6 dB 4 95 dB Ratio Knee Model Lookahead 329ms RBS E78 Fri a E ms y A compressor reduces gain for signals above a user settable threshold Compression re duces the levels of peaks opening up more headroom and allowing the overall signal level to be turned up This gives the signal a higher average level resulting in a sound that is subjectively louder and punchier than an uncompressed signal The latest incarnation of the Compressor effect merges
321. s A guitarchoru odes2 shaker Drums B theme Drums C Drums B Drums E Controls such as sliders and knobs behave slightly differently when they are part of a multi selection If the clips in a multi selection have differing values for any particular knob or slider parameter clip transposition for example the range of these values will be displayed and can be adjusted with the control Dragging the knob or slider to its absolute maximum or minimum value will make the clips settings thereafter identical adjustable as a single value MIDI clips and audio clips in Live have different sets of properties and consequently do not share the same set of Clip View controls The two types of clips do have the following Clicking the Clip Overview Opens the Clip View Clicking a Session View Track Status Field Opens the Clip View Creating a Clip Multi Selection CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 95 in common e The Clip box contains basic clip settings e The Envelopes box and the Envelope Editor manage the clip s envelopes which are used to modulate the effects mixer and clip or MIDI controls Clip envelopes and their associated Clip View components are covered in detail in a separate manual chapter e The Launch box controls clip launch behavior and as such only appears for Session View clips Setting Session View clip launch properties is covered in detail in a sepa
322. s a neutral operation The signal at the routing destination will be identical to the signal at the routing source It is important to note that Live s flexible routing architecture allows for a variety of scenarios including routing from before or after any track s effects or mixer and tapping the output of individual sample slots within the Impulse instrument In these cases it is likely that the signal heard at the output point will be different from the signal heard prior to routing because it has been tapped before reaching the end of its original signal chain 24 2 10 Splitting Clips Clips which are already neutral will remain neutral after splitting Splitting only affects playback position within the sample and has no effect on the sample data itself Playback across a split boundary is seamless and sample accurate CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 328 The neutrality of clip splitting is tested under a variety of conditions e splitting unwarped clips with loop on and off e splitting warped but unstretched clips with loop on and off In all cases output is rendered and compared with the output of an unsplit version of the same source Phase cancellation testing of the two files confirms that they are identical 24 3 Non Neutral Operations Procedures in Live that will cause a change in audio quality are referred to as non neutral operations Users can be guaranteed that using these operations will cause at least some change
323. s a well cut musical loop of 1 2 4 or 8 bars in length Live usually makes the correct assumptions to play the loop in sync with the chosen tempo It places two Warp Markers one at the sample s beginning and one at the end The Follow Switch in the Control Bar CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 118 The Orig BPM field displays Live s guess of the loop s tempo if you happen to know the tempo of the loop you can type it in here Sometimes Live s guess of the original tempo is wrong by half or double If so correct this by clicking on the buttons labeled 2 and 2 respectively The sample plays at double speed when you press 2 because you are changing Live s interpretation of the sample s tempo which serves as a point of reference for determining the required time stretch factor Syncing Uncut Loops When importing a loop that has not been edited into a well cut loop Live will play it out of sync Suppose there is a portion of silence at the sample beginning prior to the first beat You can easily correct this by moving the Warp Marker labeled with a 1 to the first beat s onset Likewise you can eliminate silence after the actual loop end by moving the Warp Marker at the sample s right edge A One Bar Loop as It Appears in the Clip View by Default CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 119 Setting the Warp Markers for a Poorly Cut Loop Syncing Odd Length Loops If you import a sample that con
324. s and surf the Internet An application like Live requires a powerful CPU and a fast hard disk This section will provide some insight on these issues and should help you avoid and solve problems with running audio on a computer 23 1 Managing the CPU Load To output a continuous stream of sound through the audio hardware Live has to perform a huge number of calculations every second If the processor can t keep up with what needs to be calculated the audio will have gaps or clicks Factors that affect computational speed include processor clock rates e g speed in MHz or GHz architecture memory cache performance how efficiently a processor can grab data from memory and system bus bandwidth the computer s pipeline through which all data must pass For this reason many people involved with pro audio use computers that are optimized for musical applications CHAPTER 23 COMPUTER AUDIO RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES 319 Fortunately Live supports multicore and multiprocessor systems allowing the processing load from things like instruments effects and I O to be distributed among the available resources Depending on the machine and the Live Set the available processing power can be several times that of older systems If you are working on a multicore or multiprocessor system you will want to enable support for it in the CPU tab of Live s Preferences The Control Bar s CPU meter displays how much of the computer s computational
325. s are placed after a Rack in a track s device chain the Rack s output is passed on to them as usual Inside An Audio Effect Rack As It Appears in the Full Version of Live CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 209 16 1 2 Macro Controls Audio Effect Rack Skiter Slosh 18 Drife Cough Wompa O 9 107 One unique property of Racks are their Macro Controls The Macro Controls are a bank of eight knobs each capable of addressing any number of parameters from any devices in a Rack How you use them is naturally up to you whether it be for convenience by making an important device parameter more accessible for defining exotic multi parameter morphs of rhythm and timbre or for constructing a mega synth and hiding it away behind a single customized interface For the greatest degree of expression try MIDl mapping the Macro Controls to an external control surface 16 2 Drum Racks We ve already talked a bit about Drum Racks and most of their features are the same as those found in Instrument and Effect Racks But Drum Racks have a slightly different layout some unique controls and special behavior that is optimized for creating drum kits The Macro Controls CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 210 16 2 1 Pad View c2 c 2 D2 D 2 inan LLLLI HHH Multi China Crash 61 Wiel s mieis imi pis Open Hat Multi Pedal Hat Guzz 2222 Ames m eLa CCL
326. s eee 182 Track Delays selector 4 177 and recording MIDI 186 track meter 0 c cece eee eee 169 Unfold Track button 79 216 Track Status field 008 88 unlock key BOOT BATRA aT aS 10 Track title bar ccc cece eee ee 171 unlocking Live 12 1 e eee eee erent eee 10 Track View 2 2 0 0 cee cee eee cece 189 more than Once 0s eens eee 12 tack 3 5 cie ces cada tun is eee 16 Offline 60 see e ieee eee 11 activating eee eee 169 online ade at ada Ca aL RS aL GS J 1 audio and MIDI N 05 17 Unlocking the program see copy protection automation IN cece eee eee eee 216 updates see Check for Updates command compensating for device delays 177 Use Audio Units preference 205 devices in 0 cece eee eee 189 Use Plug In Custom Folder 201 in Arrangement View u zg Use VST Plug In System Folders 201 E EIS E N WE vce c cond Ae eartc ses toes 86 Utility effect 000 cseeeiaanreaasdecea es 269 NSENGA et n ald eiwnts 171 y mixer controls in 06 167 MUNG xcsccveeevidvivendivedeatad 169 Variable Bit Rate files see samples resizing etre esas de stu ets eta ee iahneve ceased 171 Velocity Amount field 142 return tracks Peed heh ok peaked 8 172 Velocity Editor ET E EEEE ENL TEE 128 FOTUIAS oere eara eres Ge 22 Velocity SHEGE vituedasen
327. s in the The Legato Mode Switch CHAPTER 11 LAUNCHING CLIPS 144 same group after the clip plays A group is defined by clips arranged in successive slots of the same track Tracks can have an unlimited number of groups separated by empty slots Follow Action 1 Ol 0 ol m v 18 The Follow Action Controls 1 The Follow Action Time control defines when the Follow Action takes place in bars beats sixteenths from the point in the clip where play starts The default for this setting is one bar 2 The Follow Action choosers allow selecting two different Follow Actions A and B 3 The Chance A and Chance B controls set the likelihood of each of the two Follow Actions occurring If a clip has Chance A set to 1 and Chance B set to 0 Follow Action A will occur every time the clip is launched As we can see from this example a Chance setting of 0 means that an action will never happen Changing Chance B to 10 in this scenario makes Follow Action A occur much less often approximately once out of every ten clip launches There are eight Follow Actions available m Stop simply stops the clip after it has played for the chosen Follow Action Time Note that this overrides clip loop region settings e Play Clip Again restarts the clip Play Previous Clip triggers the previous clip the one above the current one Play Next Clip triggers the next clip down in the group If a clip with this
328. s part of the Live 7 Basics pack Defaults presets placed into the default device folders will load in place of Live s generic device settings Additionally the Defaults folder contains special folders corresponding to user actions such as sample dropping Presets placed in these folders define what Live will do when you perform the action Lessons all of Live s built in lessons as well as any additional images and Live Sets that the lessons refer to You should not change anything in this sub folder Presets contains all of the factory presets for Live s devices Samples contains all of the samples that are used by Live s presets Sets all of the demo songs and the samples that are used by them After you ve been using Live for a while you ll probably find that there are additional folders in your Library This is normal Installing Live Packs recording your own samples or performing other common procedures will change the folder structure over time 5 7 1 Changing the Library Location Upgrading an Old Library The Library can reside in the hard drive location of your choice In the Preferences File Folder tab you will find the Library Location chooser which contains a list of Library locations that you ve used in the past CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 60 Folder Library Location Record C Documents and Settings Dennis DeSantis My Documents Able w Browse ecoding Cache If any of the
329. s shows Multi as its name and its mute solo and preview buttons will affect all of its chains Hot Swap and renaming are disabled for a Multi pad but you can delete all of its chains at once Pad View As It Appears in the Full Version of Live CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 211 Pad View excels as a performance interface particularly when triggered by a hardware control surface with pads If your pad controller is one of Ableton s natively supported control surfaces simply select it as a control surface in the MIDI Sync tab of Live s Preferences From then on as long as you have a Drum Rack on a track that s receiving MIDI your pad controller will trigger the pads that are visible on your screen If you scroll the pad overview to show a different set of pads your controller will update automatically 16 3 Mixing With Racks Any Instrument or Drum Rack that contains more than one chain can be viewed and mixed alongside the tracks in the Session View s mixer A track that contains these Racks will have a button in its title bar which will fold the Rack s mixer in or out Likewise any nested chains within the Rack will also have this button This makes it easy to get an overview of your Rack s hierarchy or hide it when you just want to work on your mix CHAPTER 16 INSTRUMENT DRUM AND EFFECT RACKS 212 Drums Snare Rim CH OH Kick E Kick3 E Kick7 Clave Shake Clap aReverb bDelay Bass
330. s simple as activating Draw Mode and drawing them into the Note Editor MIDI notes can also be added and deleted by double clicking when Draw Mode is inactive Vertical movements in Draw Mode correspond to velocity changes This means that with one horizontal motion and one vertical motion you can draw multiple notes and their velocities without releasing the mouse button If you change velocity with this vertical movement Live will remember the change and use your new velocity on any notes that you draw afterward You may sometimes by dragging or by drawing place a new note on top of one that already exists If the new note overlaps with the beginning of the original note the original note will vanish The original note is invisible but still exists and will reappear intact if the new note is moved away again If the new note overlaps with the tail of the original the original note s length will change so that it lasts just until the new note s beginning This too is not an irreversible action and the old note length will be restored if the new clip is again moved Copying Left and Pasting Right a Loop CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 136 10 4 6 Changing Note Length Clicking and dragging on a note s left or right edges changes its length Note length can only be changed when Draw Mode is inactive and will be quantized unless the PC Mac modifier is held down while dragging 16 16 2
331. s that we haven t addressed 1contact ableton com Selecting the MIDI Port Type Windows 341 Chapter 26 Live Keyboard Shortcuts 26 1 Showing and Hiding Views Windows Macintosh Toggle Full Screen Mode F11 Ctrl F11 Toggle Session Arrangement View So Si Toggle Track Clip View A JS or 4 JB or F12 Ctrl _J F12 _ Hide Show Detail View Gtr At rl C 8a JTL or N F12 Ctrl A F12 Hide Show Info View Hide Show Browser Ctrl Ait HAt 3B Hide Show Overview Cti At JO S ssj Alt_ 0 Hide Show In Out Ctrl At JA HAt Si Hide Show Sends Ctrl Alt C HAt JE Hide Show Mixer Ctrl Alt GS 8At 3M CHAPTER 26 LIVE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS 342 Windows Macintosh Hide Show Crossfader Cir QA F C HAt IF Open the Preferences E J Close Window Dialog Esc Esc 26 2 Accessing Menus Under Windows you can access each menu by pressing and the first letter of the menu Alt__ F for File for instance While a menu is open you can use to navigate the menu items to open the neighboring menu e to choose a menu item 26 3 Adjusting Values Windows Macintosh Increment Decre
332. se previous Library locations are now unavailable perhaps because of an unattached external drive a moved or renamed folder or an angry roommate these will appear greyed out in the list If you know that these unavailable locations are gone for good you can remove them by using the Clear Unavailable Locations option at the bottom of the chooser Library Location C doppelkeks Unavailable v C Documents and Settings Dennis DeSantis My Documents Abieton C Documents and Settings Dennis DeSantis My Documents manypies You can also use the Browse button next to this chooser to create a new Library by pointing to an empty folder or creating a new one Once you ve selected a Library path one of several possibilities will occur depending on the new location e If the target location is an empty folder on a different hard drive you will be given the option to copy your current Library to this new location Live will then offer to open a Explorer Windows Finder Mac window so that you can delete the Library from the old location e f the target location is an empty folder on the same hard drive you will be given the option to move your current Library to this new location e If the target location is not empty but does not contain a Library Live will create a subfolder called Library at this location and then offer to copy move the old Library The Library Location Chooser Unavailable Library Locations can be C
333. see that the notes in the MIDI Editor are correspondingly stretched or compressed This is useful for aligning notes that you have recorded without a tempo reference like Live s metronome 8 3 2 Bank and Program Change Live can send MIDI bank program change messages to external devices and plug ins that support MIDI program change messages According to the settings in these controls launching a clip also sends its bank program change message If you are using Live to send MIDI to your synth this means that each MIDI clip in your Live Set can play a different sound on your synth Live offers messages for 128 banks with 128 sub banks each of which has 128 programs Please see the documentation that came with your synthesizer to determine how many of these messages it can use If you do not want your clip to send program or bank change messages simply set the bank program choosers to None Please note that Live LE cannot send MIDI information to external synthesizers The Notes Box CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 112 8 3 3 MIDI Loop Region These controls manage how the contents of a MIDI clip are played and shown in the MIDI Editor They work the same way as those for audio clips In the MIDI Editor the zoom scroll area is located above the beat time ruler the scrub area just below 8 4 Clip Defaults and Update Rate You can change the rate at which Live applies your Clip View settings to a running clip Clip View changes will be
334. selected ones Paste Time places copied time into the Arrangement thereby increasing its overall duration by the length of time you have copied Duplicate Time places a copy of the selected timespan into the Arrangement thereby increasing its overall duration by the length of the selection Delete Time deletes a selection of time from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the deleted area closer together in the timeline This command reduces the length of your Arrangement by the amount of time you have deleted Note that the Delete Time command affects all tracks not only the selected ones Insert Silence inserts as much empty time as is currently selected into the Arrangement before the selection A Gap Between Clips Has Been Deleted by First Selecting It Then Executing the Delete Time Command CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 82 6 10 Splitting Clips The Split command can divide a clip or isolate part of it To split a clip in two halves do the following 1 Unfold the track 2 In the waveform or MIDI display click at the position where you want the clip to be split 3 Execute the Split command To isolate a part of a clip do the following 1 Unfold the track 2 In the waveform or MIDI display drag a selection over the part of the clip you want to isolate 3 Execute the Split command to divide the original clip into three pieces Drumloop jeee 6 11 Consolidati
335. shows the amplitude frequency and note name at the pointer s position You can zoom and scroll the amplitude by moving your mouse over the amplitude legending on the display s left side Drag vertically to scroll and horizontally to zoom You can also use the Range sliders to set the minimum and maximum amplitude values shown To get an even better view you can toggle the location of the display between the device chain and Live s main window by clicking the button in Spectrum s title bar 19 22 Utility utirity Mute DCH Gain z 5 00 dE Stereo v Panorama 3R q Utility can perform some very useful tasks especially in combination with other devices The Mute button simply silences the incoming signal when enabled Note The active mute controls of a track are always placed at the very end of the signal chain However since you can place Utility anywhere in a signal chain you can use its mute function to cut the input of a delay line or reverb without turning off the output of these devices The Gain control adjusts the level of the input signal 35 dB The Channel Mode chooser allows selective processing of the left and right channels of a sample If for example Left is selected the right channel is ignored and the left channel The Utility Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 270 appears on both outputs This is especially useful if you have a stereo file that contains diff
336. side of the display shows how much Saturator is influencing the signal Signal shaping has six fixed modes Analog Clip Soft Sine Medium Curve Hard Curve Sinoid Fold and Digital Clip There is also the flexible Waveshaper mode featuring six adjustable waveshaping parameters In the Analog Clip and Digital Clip modes the signal is clipped completely and immediately The Saturator Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 266 Soft Sine Medium Curve and Hard Curve modes soften signal clipping to varying degrees Sinoid Fold mode can be good for special effects The most dramatic effects can be created by selecting the Waveshaper curve which has its own dedicated set of controls To access these six parameter fields unfold the Saturator window by toggling the button in its title bar The Waveshaper mode s six additional parameters are Drive Lin Curve Damp Depth and Period e Drive determines how much the input signal will be influenced by the Waveshaper parameters Setting Drive to zero will negate the effect entirely Lin works together with the Curve and Depth parameters to alter the linear portion of the shaping curve Curve adds mostly third order harmonics to the input signal e Damp flattens any signal near the grid s origin It behaves like an ultra fast noise gate e Depth controls the amplitude of a sine wave that is superimposed onto the distortion curve e Period determines the density of ripples
337. ss distortion particularly at high frequencies when transposing a sample and or matching an imported sample s sampling rate to the system s sampling rate With this mode enabled samples can be transposed roughly 19 semitones in either direction before aliasing is likely to be audible Note In Live 7 the Hi O mode now uses an algorithm that produces even smaller audible artifacts than in previous versions We think it sounds great But any Sets that used Hi Q mode and were made in previous versions of Live may now sound different when loaded in The Save Default Clip Button The High Quality Switch CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 108 Live 7 For this reason we have provided a Legacy Hi Q Mode option which is enabled by default in the Options menu whenever you load an old Set that has Hi Q enabled for any clips Simply disable this option if you wish to use the new mode 8 2 7 Clip Start and End Fades The Clip Fade Switch The Clip Fade switch when enabled applies a short fade to the clip start and end to avoid clicks at the clip edges The length of the fade is signal dependent and ranges from 0 4 milliseconds 8 2 8 Clip RAM Mode e RAN The RAM Mode Switch If the RAM Mode switch is on Live is loading the audio referenced by the clip into the computer s memory rather than reading it from disk in real time RAM Mode can help with these problems e Your computer s hard disk is too slow to deliver audio for as many tracks as des
338. ss filtering Q sets the bandwidth of the passed signal The Quantize Beat control applies quantized modulation to the filter frequency With Quan tize Beat off frequency modulation follows the control source Turning this feature on updates the filter modulation rhythmically with stepped changes that track the master tempo The numbered buttons represent 16th notes so for example selecting 4 as a beat value produces a modulation change once per beat The Envelope section controls how the envelope modulation affects the filter frequency The Amount control defines the extent to which the envelope affects the filter frequency while the Attack control sets how the envelope responds to rising input signals Low Attack values cause a fast response to input levels high values integrate any changes gradually creating a looser slower response Think of it as adding inertia to the response Lower Release values cause the envelope to respond more quickly to falling input signals Higher values extend the envelope s decay Normally the signal being filtered and the input source that triggers the envelope follower are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to filter a signal based on the envelope of another signal To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Auto Filter window by toggling the button in its title bar Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select another track from the
339. ster Strip CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 308 1 Arm By default this arms the track for recording in exclusion of all other tracks To arm the track nonexclusively i e in addition to other tracks hold down the Mackie Control s Control button while pressing this Note that a Misc Preference setting in Live allows deactivating exclusive track arming When this setting is deactivated the behavior of this knob with respect to exclusive and nonexclusive arming is reversed 2 Signal LED Shows an armed track s input signal level from MIDI or audio shows an unarmed track s output signal level 3 Solo Activates deactivates soloing for the track in exclusion of all other tracks To solo the track nonexclusively i e in addition to other tracks hold down the Mackie Control s Control button while pressing this Note that a Misc Preference setting in Live allows deactivating exclusive track soloing When this setting is deactivated the behavior of this knob with respect to exclusive and nonexclusive soloing is reversed 4 Mute Mutes unmutes the track nonexclusively 5 Select Selects the track both in Live and on the Mackie Control for various functions 6 V Pot Fader The fader controls track volume by default but can be flipped to control track panning Please see the next section for the details on V Pots CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 309 22 3 2 V Pots and Assignment Switches
340. strained by the editing grid This means that it is possible to place meter changes in impossible places such as before the end of the previous measure This creates a fragmentary bar which is represented in the scrub area by a crosshatched region Live is happy to leave these incomplete measures as they are but if you d like your Set to conform to the rules of music theory you can use the two PC Mac context menu options to correct incomplete bars UZ WA 7116 Delete Fragmentary Bar Time Complete Fragmentary Bar insert Time e Delete Fragmentary Bar Time deletes the duration of the fragmentary bar from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the deleted area closer together in the timeline The next time signature marker will now fall on a legal barline e Complete Fragmentary Bar inserts time at the beginning of the fragmentary bar so that it becomes complete The next time signature marker will now fall on a legal barline The Time Signature Editor Can Change Time Signature Marker Values and Shows an Automation LED A Fragmentary Bar and its Resolution Options CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 77 Please note that these resolution options affect all tracks deleting and inserting time changes the length of the entire Arrangement If you import a MIDI file into the Arrangement you ll be given an option to import any time signature information that was sav
341. t layering is a good example of such a one to many routing setup 12 5 1 Internal Routing Points Signals travel from Live s tracks into their respective device chains and then into the track mixer where they might become panned or have their levels altered by the tracks faders Whenever a track s Audio From input chooser is set to another track as described in the previous section s Approach 2 the signal received can be tapped from one of three different points chosen from the Input Channel chooser Pre FX Post FX or Post Mixer Two Ways to Route Track A into Track B CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 157 Audio From A From 1 Track A d ii Post Mixer w jj Pre FX h ij Post FX Wii Post Mixer Pre FX taps the signal that is coming directly from a track before it has been passed on to the track s device chains FX or mixer Therefore changes that are made to the tapped track s devices or mixer have no effect on the tapped signal Soloing a track that taps another track Pre FX will allow you to hear the tapped track Post FX taps the signal at the output of a track s device chains FX but before it has been passed back to the track mixer Changes to the tapped track s devices will therefore alter the tapped signal but changes to its mixer settings will not Soloing a track that taps another track Post FX will allow you to hear the tapped track Post Mixer taps the final output of a track after it has passed
342. t audio engine Live s meters can be driven far into the red without causing the signals to clip The only time that signals over 0 dB will be problematic is when routing to or from physical inputs and outputs like those of your sound card or when saving audio to a file 2 o Cn Eez Session Mixer Features o o a o a o a m I mjn mm int inf int eo ao J 0 lt J 8 11 Audio 12Audio 13Au A A M LIL B a ea track will E Stop Clips int al i qo 6 OOL oo a OO ala a evo a M eu eeecccccccccccccsccsescese su eeccccccccccccccececsecces a eoou80 lt The Session Mixer s Possibilities CHAPTER 13 MIXING 171 Nevertheless Live provides this optional visual feedback for signals that travel beyond 0 dB in any track 13 2 Audio and MIDI Tracks Audio and MIDI tracks in Live are for hosting and playing clips as explained earlier You can add up to 64 audio and unlimited MIDI tracks to your Live Set s mixer using the appropriate Insert menu commands Tracks can also be created by double clicking or pressing Return on files in the Browser to load them or by dragging objects from the Browser into the space to the right of Session View tracks or below Arrangement View tracks Devices or files loaded into Live in this manner will create tracks of the appropriate type
343. t envelopes 17 3 Overriding Automation In practice you will often want to try out new control moves without overwriting existing automation data Well nothing is forever in the world of infinite Undo but it s easy to disable a control s automation temporarily to avoid overwriting existing data If you change an automated control s value while not in Record mode the automation LED goes off to indicate the control s automation is inactive Any automation is therefore overridden by the current manual setting rine eS 1 Bar 0 When one or more of the automated controls in your Live Set are not active the Control Bar s Back to Arrangement button lights up This button serves two purposes 1 It reminds you that the current state of the controls differs from the state captured in the Arrangement Volume Pan and the Track Activator Switch Have Been Automated The Back to Arrangement Button CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATION AND EDITING ENVELOPES 216 2 You can click on it to reactivate all automation and thereby return to the automa tion state as it is written on tape 17 4 Drawing and Editing Automation In the Arrangement View automation curves can be viewed and edited as breakpoint envelopes 1 Drums 1 S k jj iain comp 1 REEE L R E ER A ka ia AAE AE I T IR ETT T ajm Mixer x m Track Volume v D 3 Bass 3 si fen Automation Envelopes in the Arrangement 2
344. t retriggering to add rhythm to the dynamic slope 20 2 Chord gt Shitt2 Shina OC 3 st 54 4 Shit 5 Shift 6 v pet Y This effect assembles a chord as the name implies from each incoming note and up to six others of user defined pitch The Shift 1 6 knobs allow selecting the pitch of the notes that contribute to the chord from a range of 36 semitones relative to the original Setting Shift 1 to 4 semitones and Shift 2 to 7 semitones for example yields a major chord in which the incoming note is the root The Velocity control beneath each Shift knob makes further harmonic sculpting possible given that the instrument allows for changes in volume or timbre as function of velocity It is a relative control with a range of 1 to 200 percent 100 percent defined as playing at a velocity equal to that of the incoming MIDI note Use the Velocity controls to do anything from adding slight overtones to washing out most of the other chord elements The order in which pitches are added to the chord is inconsequential The effect of a 12 semitone shift added with the Shift 1 control for example is equal in effect to a 12 The Chord Effect CHAPTER 20 LIVE MIDI EFFECT REFERENCE 277 semitone shift added with the Shift 6 control Note that no two notes of the same pitch can contribute to the chord and that selecting the same shift value twice e g 8 semitones on both Shift 2 and Shift 3 will result in
345. t s tempo to match that of the clip 3 Turn warping on again and use the Warp From Here Start At command to tell Auto Warp to use your tapped tempo as a reference e Warp From Here Straight tells Auto Warp that this is a clip with no tempo variations common in electronically produced works Auto Warp will then set a single Warp Marker derived from its guess of the file s original tempo e Warp BPM From Here will also set a single Warp Marker but in this case Auto Warp is forced to interpret the clip as exactly matching the Live Set s tempo This is useful in cases when you happen to know the exact BPM value of an electronically produced work and can type it into the Control Bar before warping Multi Clip Warping When clips of equal length are multi selected adding or changing Warp Markers for one clip will apply identical Warp Markers to all This is convenient in any situation where several tracks have the same rhythm and you wish to alter the timing of each recording in the same way A common scenario would be when multi tracking a band s performance where the musicians all play in time with each other yet the timing itself is in some way flawed Copying Warp Markers You can also selectively copy and paste Warp Markers from one clip to another Copied Warp Markers don t even need to be pasted into the same bar as the original CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 124 Three Selected Wa
346. t the tempo at any time As you click the Control Bar s Tap Tempo button once every beat the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping mev MID 4 It is better to assign the Tap button to a computer key than using the mouse Click on the Control Bar s KEY switch to enter Key Map Mode then select the Tap button press the key you would like to use for tapping click the KEY switch again to leave Key Map Mode The assignment will take effect immediately The Tap button can also be assigned to a MIDI note or controller like a foot switch in a similar fashion Although Live responds to your tapping immediately it does apply some degree of inertia to prevent sluggish behavior in the software The more taps Live receives in a row the more precisely it will be able to conclude the desired tempo You can also use tapping to count in If you are working in a 4 4 signature it takes four taps to start song playback at the tapped tempo 9 2 Time Warping Samples Live s ability to play any sample in sync with a chosen tempo is a unique and important feature In addition you can warp the rhythmic flow of a piece changing its feel or even move notes to other meter positions A clip s warping properties are set in the Sample box which is a sub section of the Clip View The Tap Button The Key Map Mode Switch CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 115 Warp _ Slave Seg BPM 158 00 D amp Beat
347. tains a seven bar loop Live initially assumes the loop is eight bars long or four depending on its length and plays it out of sync For correct playback the last marker needs to show an eight not a nine To achieve this do the following 1 Double click on the last Warp Marker to delete it 2 Double click on the eight to create a new Warp Marker 3 Drag the new Warp Marker to the sample end If Live s initial guess had been a four bar loop the eight would not have been accessible In that case you could initially drag the Warp Marker at the end toward the left until the eight became visible Theoretically this should have done the job for our seven bar loop Practically though it is very likely that moving the markers led to a change of the loop start and end points This is because the loop is tied to the meter grid and therefore moves with the Warp Markers which define the meter grid Live makes sure the loop fits in the sample and therefore has to change its length if required by a Warp Marker change CHAPTER 9 TEMPO CONTROL AND WARPING 120 Manipulating Grooves You can now create any number of Warp Markers by double clicking on one of the numeric grid markers Drag in a straight looped sample set a few Warp Markers and move them around to see what happens Warp Markers really serve two purposes 1 to provide a correct interpretation of the flow of musical time in the sample 2 to mess up the flow of time i
348. ternal hardware But both situations are impossible for Live to verify 25 5 Tests and Results Our procedure for testing the timing of incoming MIDI events is represented in the following diagram Live MIDI Clip MIDI Source MIDI to Audio The output of a MIDI Source a keyboard or other DAW playing long sequences of random MIDI events is fed to a zero latency hardware MIDI Splitter One portion of the splitter s output is recorded into a new MIDI clip in Live The other portion is fed to a MIDI to Audio Converter This device converts the electrical signal from the MIDI source into simple audio noise Because the device does not interpret the MIDI data it performs this conversion with zero latency The converter s output is then recorded into a new audio clip in Live In an ideal system each event in the MIDI clip would occur simultaneously with the corresponding event in the audio clip Thus the difference in timing between the MIDI and audio events in the two clips can be measured to determine Live s accuracy In order to assess MIDI performance under a variety of conditions we ran the tests with three different audio MIDI combo interfaces at different price points all from well known manufacturers We will refer to these interfaces as A B and C All tests were performed with a CPU load of approximately 50 on both OS X and Windows machines at both 44 1 and 96 kHz and at three different audio buffer sizes for a total of 36
349. that sample Prior to dragging in a sample one can audition or preview it directly in the Browser the switch in the Browser with the headphone icon activates previewing Current Project Library Name Type Eg Tenor Hard BS 1 aif Aiff Fa Tenor Hard B5 2 aif Aiff Pe Tenor Hard BS 3 aif Aiff Erg Tenor Hard BS 4 aif Aiff Be Tenor Hard C 4 aif Aiff Erg Tenor Hard C 5 aif Aiff fe Tenor Hard C3 1 aif Aiff Live offers many options for playing samples in exciting new ways allowing you to create an abundance of new sounds without actually changing the original sample all the changes are computed in real time while the sample is played The respective settings are made in the Clip View which appears on screen when a clip is double clicked Samples Are Dragged in from Live s File Browsers CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 19 ostinato Launch Mode Stinato wav Wap stan Ge Mixer gt Start Trigger v 44 1 kHz 16 Bit 2 Ch ajai Track Piv I Signature Legato Seg BPM End Ged End 4 J4 Quantization HEG Ea RAM 710 00 a pm Groove Global v Transpose D C Pan gt Swing8 vei 0 0 T boop Loop Follow Action Position Gel Region Loop Position GRD _ org ot ae An A OO _ Detune we Length Gat Length ece 1 Oct 4 3 10 dB C ACAL COC Moo lo 20
350. the Back to Arrangement button is pressed which will resume Arrangement playback The Control Bar s Quantization Chooser The Automated Pan Control and its Envelope CHAPTER 4 LIVE CONCEPTS 27 4 12 Clip Envelopes Envelopes are found not only in tracks but also in clips Clip envelopes are used to modulate device and mixer controls Audio clips have in addition clip envelopes to influence the clip s pitch volume and more these can be used to change the melody and rhythm of recorded audio MIDI clips have additional clip envelopes to represent MIDI controller data Clip envelopes can be unlinked from the clip to give them independent loop settings so that larger movements like fade outs or smaller gestures like an arpeggio can be superimposed onto the clip s material m Clip m Transpo 000 Position Length 4 13 MIDI and Key Remote To liberate the musician from the mouse most of Live s controls can be remote controlled via an external MIDI controller Remote mappings are established in MIDI Map Mode which is engaged by pressing the MIDI switch in the Control Bar In this mode you can click on any mixer or effect control and then assign it to a controller simply by sending the desired MIDI message for example by turning a knob on your MIDI control box Your assignments take effect immediately after you leave MIDI Map Mode Session clips
351. the VST Plug in folder containing the devices you want to use In order to set up your VST sources press the Activate button in the Plug In Device Browser or open the File Folder Preferences by pressing Ctrl J PC 8 Mac There you will find the Active Sources section Use VST Plug in Custom Folder VST Plug in Custom Folder Not Set For Windows proceed as follows 1 Use the VST Plug In Custom Folder entry to tell Live about the location of your VST Plug ins Click the Browse button to open a folder search dialog for locating and selecting the appropriate folder 2 Once you have selected a VST Custom Folder and Live has scanned it the path will be displayed Note that on Windows Live may have found a path in the registry without the need for browsing 3 Make sure that the Use VST Plug In Custom Folder option is set to On so that your selected folder is an active source for VST Plug ins in Live Note that you can choose not to use your VST Plug ins in Live by turning off the Use VST Plug In Custom Folder option Use VST Plug in System Folders Use VST Plug in Custom Folder VST Plug in Custom Folder Not Set Set up your VST Plug ins under Mac OS X by doing the following 1 Your VST Plug ins will normally be installed in the following folder in your home Setting up VST Plug In Sources for Windows Setting up VST Plug In Sources for Mac OS X CHAPTER 15 WORKING WITH INSTRU
352. the saw down waveform LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo Though both LFOs run at the same frequency the Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Phase is particularly effective for creating vibrato effects The Offset control shifts the start point of each LFO along its waveform The device s influence on incoming signals is set with the Amount control CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 238 19 3 Beat Repeat Beat Repeat 0 0625 0 125 0 1875 EN interval lt Variation 116 4 16 Q 2 mo 1 4 O I s Gate Pitch Pitch Decay Volume Decay OG ty 100 4 1 dB 46 5 Beat Repeat allows for the creation of controlled or randomized repetitions of an incoming signal The Interval control defines how often Beat Repeat captures new material and begins re peating it Interval is synced to and set in terms of the song tempo with values ranging from 1 32 to 4 Bars The Offset control shifts the point defined by Interval forward in time If Interval is set to 1 Bar for example and Offset to 8 16 material will be captured for repetition once per bar o
353. ting can work two ways 1 Track A is set up to send its output signal to Track B This is possible because every track that can receive an output signal of the appropriate type from Track A shows up in its Output Type chooser 2 Track B is set up to receive its input signal from Track A This works because every track that delivers a signal of the appropriate type appears in Track B s Input Type chooser CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 156 From Audio From Audio From Audio From 1 Track A ll Ii il ili Post Mixer o Audio To Audic Track In l T H am mi 7H S74 za il Both approaches result in Track A s output being fed into Track B Approach 1 leaves Track B s in out settings alone and we can at any time add more tracks that feed their output into Track B This is the method of choice for many to one routings such as submixes or several MIDI tracks playing the same instrument In this scenario soloing Track B will still allow you to hear the output of the tracks that are feeding it Also you can still solo Track A and hear its output signal In this case all other tracks are muted including those that might also feed into Track B Technically what you hear is the output of Track B with everything except Track A s signal removed Approach 2 on the other hand leaves Track A unaffected except for Track B tapping its output We can easily add more tracks like Track B that all tap Track A s output Instrumen
354. tions are in fact neutral it is important to remember that each of them may and almost certainly will occur within a context that also contains non neutral operations For example running an audio signal through an effects device is a non neutral operation So any neutral operations that occur after it will of course still result in audio that is altered in some way Even a gain change is technically non neutral Neutral operations include 24 2 1 Undithered Rendering The Export Audio command renders Live s audio output to a file on disk Rendering is a neutral operation under certain conditions e the sample rate of the rendered file is the same as that set for the audio hardware in Live s Preferences e no non neutral operations have been applied Live s rendering performance is tested by loading three types of unprocessed audio files white noise fixed frequency sine waves and sine sweeps in 16 24 and 32 bit word lengths and rendering these to output files also with varying bit resolutions Phase cancellation testing of the original and output files shows the following CHAPTER 24 LIVE 7 AUDIO FACT SHEET 324 e rendering to a file with the same bit depth as the original results in complete phase cancellation e rendering to a file with a higher bit depth than the original results in complete phase cancellation e rendering to a file with a lower bit depth than the original results in the smallest amount of dist
355. track If more than eight sends are available you can navigate through them using the previous and next buttons see item 5 below 3 Pan Assigns the V Pot and main display to the track s Pan control 4 Devices Pressed once this will bring up all available devices for the currently selected track in the main display Using the page buttons see item 5 below you can then scroll through the available devices and choose a particular device to edit by pressing the V Pot When you are done editing device settings you can change the selected track or press the device assignment switch again to return to scrolling and selecting devices When device settings are being changed the name and settings of the selected device are shown in the main display You can use the V Pot to change parameter values as described in the introduction to this section 5 Previous Next If in any of the above assignment modes especially with de vices more than one page of parameters is available these buttons will scroll through the pages LEDs above these switches illuminate when more pages are available before or after the current one CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 311 22 3 3 Bank Channel and Flip Return B858 68 68 HAHAM
356. trol Live offers a number of controls to adjust the time warping engine for optimal stretching quality For accurate warping Live needs to know the sample s metrical structure For properly prepared loops tempo and duration are calculated automatically most of the time this is accurate enough that the sample is immediately ready for use in Live For other samples you may have to provide some hints We will examine these topics thoroughly in the Tempo Control and Warping chapter 8 2 2 Sample Loop Region and Display Zooming and Scrolling co The Clip Zoom Scroll Area Zooming and scrolling in the Sample Display work much like they do in the Arrangement View Using the zoom scroll area in the top half of the waveform you can click and drag vertically to smoothly change the zoom level and horizontally to scroll the display CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 102 IFT TTT The Clip Overview provides additional zoom scrolling functionality It always shows the complete clip from start to end The black rectangular outline represents the part of the clip that is currently displayed You can click within the outline and drag horizontally or vertically to scroll or zoom To have the Sample Display follow the play position and scroll automatically turn on the Follow switch or use the Follow command from the Options menu k 1 1 1 gt m o ove E81 Bar 2 The Follow Switch Playing and Scrubbing Clips The section of the sample that p
357. ts all material in the loop 2 Copy the envelope with PC Mac 3 Shift the loop brace to the right by one loop length with 4 Paste the envelope with PC Mac Note that you can use the arrow keys to quickly manipulate the loop brace and start end markers in other useful ways to expedite clip envelope editing tasks To delete a clip envelope i e to set it back to its default value first go to Edit Select All then to Edit Delete Let us now look at some uses of clip envelopes 18 2 Audio Clip Envelopes Clip envelopes extend Live s elastic approach to audio and in conjunction with Live s audio effects turn Live into a mighty sound design tool Using clip envelopes with audio CHAPTER 18 CLIP ENVELOPES 224 clips you can create an abundance of interesting variations from the same clip in real time anything from subtle corrections to entirely new and unrelated sounds 18 2 1 Clip Envelopes are Non Destructive Using clip envelopes you can create new sounds from a sample without actually affecting the sample on disk Because Live calculates the envelope modulations in real time you can have hundreds of clips in a Live Set that all sound different but use the same sample You can of course export a newly created sound by rendering or by resampling In the Arrangement View you can use the Consolidate command to create new samples 18 2 2 Changing Pitch and Tuning per Note Drop a sam
358. tton is released will cancel the stretch operation This can occur for example if the MIDI clip is simultaneously being overdubbed with new notes 10 4 7 Editing Velocities To change velocity for a MIDI note click and drag on the associated marker in the Velocity Editor To help you locate the velocity marker belonging to a MIDI note that may be stacked vertically with others Live highlights the velocity marker for whichever note your mouse is hovering over Velocity changes will be shown numerically in a small display in the time ruler As in the Note Editor you can select multiple velocity markers to change by clicking with the Q___ modifier held down Tip To set a group of notes so that they all have the same velocity select their markers in the Velocity Editor drag them up to maximum velocity and then decrease velocity to the desired value As we saw earlier Draw Mode allows drawing identical velocities for all notes within a grid tile Velocity drawing can be limited to only those notes that are currently selected if the Changing Note Velocity CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 138 modifier is held To draw markers individually as you would want to with a crescendo for instance deactivate grid snapping with the PC Mac shortcut or simply hold down the PC Mac modifier Fold 4 12 13 14 Tip To draw a velocity ramp with notes that are all in the same key track press and
359. u KEY MID Po The Disk Overload indicator flashes when the disk was unable to read or write audio quickly enough When recording audio this condition causes a gap in the recorded sample when playing back you will hear dropouts Do the following to avoid disk overload The Disk Overload Indicator CHAPTER 23 COMPUTER AUDIO RESOURCES AND STRATEGIES 321 e Reduce the amount of audio channels being written by choosing mono inputs instead of stereo inputs in the Audio Preferences Channel Configuration dialog e Use RAM Mode for selected clips e Reduce the number of audio channels playing by using mono samples instead of stereo samples when possible You can convert stereo samples to mono using any standard digital audio editing program which can be called up from within Live 322 Chapter 24 Live 7 Audio Fact Sheet Much of Ableton s recent development effort has been focused on carefully and objectively testing Live s fundamental audio performance As a result of this testing we have imple mented a number of low level improvements to the audio engine We have also written this fact sheet to help users understand exactly how their audio is or is not being modified when using certain features in Live that are often misunderstood as well as tips for achieving the highest quality results As mentioned above the focus of our research has been on objective that is quantifiable and measurable behavior We make no cl
360. u accidentally type the wrong string into a field the field will turn red When you have successfully entered the serial number you can choose to either unlock online or from a file Both options are explained below CHAPTER 3 UNLOCKING LIVE 10 Please note that products such as Operator and Sampler are sold separately from Live but are unlocked using the same procedure described here You can always enter any new serial numbers and unlock additional products in the Authorizations Trial tab in the Preferences window Live s Preferences are available via the Options menu or the Live menu in Mac OS X The serial number identifies your ownership of Live Because your serial number is a valuable good you should keep it in a safe place and out of reach of unauthorized hands Please be aware that sharing your serial number will render it unusable The only way for Ableton technical support to help you get back your serial number if you lose it is via your registration data Therefore please register your product as otherwise you might lose your property 3 2 Step 2 Unlocking Live The second step of authorizing Live is called unlocking Unlocking means associating your serial number with a specific computer Please be aware that the standard Live license grants you the right to use Live on only one computer at a time You can however unlock Live with your serial number more than once under the legal and technical conditions described
361. unsynchronized By hiding the grid you can adjust the clip envelope loop start and end points completely independent of meter grid 234 Chapter 19 Live Audio Effect Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in audio effects The Working with Instruments and Effects chapter explains the basics of using effects in Live 19 1 Auto Filter Auto Filter CE Bum Envelope LFO S amp H Audio From Amount Shape 5 Drums x Ver ii PreFX Y 127 13 4 Gain Attack Rate 19 9 4B 5 08 ms E a DR Ez 8 48 Hz Dry Wet Release antize Beat QB Phase 9 el os on a h 84 9 41 4 ms 5 6 8 12 16 360 The Auto Filter Effect The Auto Filter effect provides classic analog filter emulation It can be modulated by an envelope follower and or an LFO to create moving filter effects The envelope follower can CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 235 track either the filtered signal or an external sidechain source There are four different filter types lowpass highpass bandpass and notch For each type the X Y controller adjusts frequency to adjust click and drag on the X axis and Q also called resonance to adjust click and drag on the Y axis You can also click on the Freq and Q numeric displays and type in exact values Low Q values create a broad filter curve while higher values introduce a narrow resonant peak to the sound With bandpa
362. up one step up in the disk hierarchy when double clicked The File Browser s Parent Folder Item You can also set the Browser root to any folder in the Browser via the PC Ctr 6 Mac context menu by double clicking the folder or by selecting it and pressing Return A Folder in the Browser Moving through the files in Live s Browser can be done with either the mouse or the computer keyboard e Scroll up and down in the Browser with and the mousewheel or by clicking and dragging while holding the PC Mac modifier e Close and open folders with and B e Jump to the parent folder of any closed folder using f Hint If executed on a top level folder this is an alternative to selecting the Parent Folder item and will move the Browser root up one level To clean up the Browser use PC Mac to access the context menu and CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 34 then select the Close All Folders option to show only top level folders Double clicking a File Browser s selector button will do the same 5 1 2 Browser Bookmarks Using bookmarks you can quickly save and recall frequently used folder locations in the Browser Clicking in the Browser s title bar will open the Bookmark menu vV Library Current Project Desktop Workspace My Documents C Multisamples E Musik E Samples C video The Bookmark Menu The Bookmark menu lists a number of preset bookmar
363. us producing different timbres with successive echoes The Freeze button labeled F will cause the delay to endlessly cycle the audio which is in its buffer at the moment that the button is pressed ignoring any new input until Freeze is disabled The Ping Pong Delay Effect CHAPTER 19 LIVE AUDIO EFFECT REFERENCE 260 The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Ping Pong Delay in a return track 19 16 Redux Bit Reduction Nostalgic for the famed low resolution sound quality of the Ensoniq Mirage Fairlight CMI or Commodore 64 computer Redux returns us to the Dark Ages of digital by reducing a signal s sample rate and bit resolution The Downsample section has two parameters Downsample and a downsample Mode switch If the downsample dial is set to 1 every input sample passes to the output and the signal does not change If set to 2 only every second sample will be processed so the result sounds a bit more digital The higher the number the lower the resulting sample rate and the more deconstructed the sound Downsampling is like applying a mosaic effect to an image There s a loss of information and sharp edges occur between the blocks The Downsample Mode switch defines if the downsampling either interpolates over a smaller range soft down to 20 0 samples or does not interpolate over a larger range hard
364. uted into an individual audio track and recorded or resampled Resampling can be a fun and useful tool as it lets you create samples from what is currently happening in a Live Set that can then be immediately integrated It can be used to record tracks that include processor intensive devices so as to delete the devices or for quickly previewing before rendering to disk The Control Bar s MIDI Indicators CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 155 The Resampling option in any audio track s Input Type chooser will route the Master output to that track You can then decide on what exactly you will be resampling and mute solo or otherwise adjust the tracks that are feeding the Master output You will probably want to use the Master Volume meter to make sure that your level is as high as possible without clipping indicated by red in the meter Then you can arm the track and record into any of its empty clip slots Note that the recording track s own output will be suppressed while resampling is taking place and will not be included in the recording Samples created by resampling will be stored in with the current Set s Project folder under Samples Recorded Until the Set is saved they remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder 12 5 Internal Routings Live s mixer allows for inter track routings These routings albeit potentially confusing enable many valuable creative and technical options Via the mixer inter track rou
365. ve s Preferences signified by MackieControlXT in the Control Surface chooser If the Mackie Control extension is selected from the topmost chooser it will control the Live tracks beginning at the left hand side of the program and should therefore be placed to the left of the Mackie Control mixing surface If selected from the lower chooser the Mackie Control extension should be placed to the right of the main Mackie Control The following sections will describe how to operate the Mackie Control with Live You may find the Mixing chapter to be particularly useful in locating and understanding Live s track controls CHAPTER 22 MIDI AND KEY REMOTE CONTROL 307 22 3 1 Channel Strips TT AAMA OLOO UL TUL PULTE MNN ANAA MAOA IOMA UH ATE MANN here a ES E E E N E E PA E S E a ss y f if e x S Y The Mackie Control s eight channel strips and master strip are automatically assigned to tracks in Live Each of these strips has a set of track controls including a motorized fader and a V Pot for controlling any number of track parameters The Mackie Control s bank channel controls allow reassigning the channel strips to access an unlimited number of Live tracks The Eight Channel Strips and the Ma
366. w Live attempts to pre serve the temporal structure of the clips by laying them out in a matching top to bottom order Moving through the scenes from the top down you can reconstruct the original ar rangement This is useful for taking a composed piece of music back to the improvisational stage The Stop All Clips Button 93 Chapter 8 Clip View The Clip View is where clip properties can be set and adjusted clap hit 3 wav Start 44 1 kHz 16 Bit 2 Ch E E cx SCT Dmm CPan gt The Clip View The Clip View is opened by clicking on the Clip Overview or double clicking a clip in the Session or Arrangement View CHAPTER 8 CLIP VIEW 94 ITTF PTT i bi das Ma aai naainianiiaia LL Mt Dads i mi en ee ee 1 Audio In the Session View clicking on a Track Status Field opens the Clip View for editing the clip that is currently running in the track MAAN The properties of more than one clip can be edited collectively in the Clip View as a multi selection To create a multi selection click and drag to highlight the clips or select one clip and use the PC Mac or modifiers to add to your selection The properties available in the Clip View for a multi selection depend on the contents of the clips generally only properties which the clips have in common are shown 2 Chords 3 Rhodes 4 Perc s 5 Beats PHOENIX rhodes shaker guitarchord rhodes shaker Drum
367. with MIDI event timing But timestamps are only applicable to data within the computer itself MIDI data outside of the computer can make no use of this information and so timing information coming from or going to external hardware is processed by the hardware as soon as it arrives rather than according to a schedule Additionally MIDI cables are serial meaning they can only send one piece of information at a time In practice this means that multiple notes played simultaneously cannot be transmitted simultaneously through MIDI cables but instead must be sent one after the other Depending on the density of the events this can cause MIDI timing problems Another issue that can arise particularly when working with hardware synthesizers from the early days of MIDI is that the scan time of the device may occur at a relatively slow rate Scan time refers to how often the synthesizer checks its own keyboard for input If this rate is too slow jitter may be introduced Of course any such timing problems present at the hardware level may be multiplied as additional pieces of gear are added to the chain Even within the computer the accuracy of timestamps can vary widely depending on the quality of the MIDI hardware errors in driver programming etc Live must assume that any CHAPTER 25 LIVE 7 MIDI FACT SHEET 337 timestamps attached to incoming MIDI events are accurate and that outgoing events will be dealt with appropriately by any ex
368. ws systems highly fragmented Hard drive rotation speed can also affect disk performance Refer to the section on managing the disk load for more information Live can combine uncompressed mono or stereo samples of any length sample rate or bit depth without prior conversion To play a compressed sample Live decodes the sample and writes the result to a temporary uncompressed sample file This usually happens quickly enough that you will be able to play the sample right away without waiting for the decoding process to finish Note When adding a long sample to a project Live might tell you that it cannot play the sample before it has been analyzed Please see the section on analysis for an explanation Thttp www apple com quicktime download CHAPTER 5 MANAGING FILES AND SETS 42 5 2 1 The Decoding Cache To save computational resources Live keeps the decoded sample files of compressed samples in the decoding cache Maintenance of the cache is normally not required as Live automatically deletes older files to make room for those that are new You can however impose limits on the cache size using the File Folder Preferences Decoding Cache section The cache will not grow larger than the Maximum Cache Size setting and it will always leave the Minimum Free Space on the hard disk Pressing the nearby Cleanup button will delete all files not being used by the current Live Set Warr Decoding Cache Minimum Free Space 500 00 MB
369. y compensation however this is not normally recommended You may also find that adjusting the individual track delays is useful in these cases Note that the Track Delay controls are unavailable when device delay compensation is deactivated 179 Chapter 14 Recording New Clips This chapter is about recording new clips from audio and MIDI input signals Note that this is a different kind of recording than the capturing of Session clips into the Arrangement For successful audio recording please make sure the audio preferences are set up properly For more on this please see the built in program lesson on setting up Audio Preferences Also keep in mind that devices such as microphones guitars and turntables do not operate at line level meaning that they will need to have their levels boosted before they can be recorded For these devices you must therefore use either an audio interface with a preamp or an external preamp 14 1 Choosing an Input A track will record whatever input source is shown in its In Out section which appears when the View menu s In Out option is checked In the Arrangement View unfold and resize the track in order to completely see the In Out section CHAPTER 14 RECORDING NEW CLIPS 180 All Channew In n Auto oa MIDI From MIDI From Master z All ins a All ins 5 All Channes i All Channew i All Channesw Monitor Monitor
370. yboard CHAPTER 6 ARRANGEMENT VIEW 75 To name a locator select it by clicking its triangular marker and choose the Rename Edit menu command or use the Cti R PC WR Mac shortcut You can also enter your own info text for a locator via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the locators PC Ctrl Mac context menu Locators can be removed with your computer s _ or Delete key the Insert menu or the Delete Locator button Note that the locator PC Mac context menu offers a quick way of looping playback between two locators with its Loop To Next Locator command The locator PC Ctrl Mac context menu s Set Song Start Time Here command can be used overrule the default play starts at selection rule when this command is checked play starts at the locator 6 4 Time Signature Changes i rums i r ms tft r ms Ur ms L Drums R Jor ims LR a Sees ee eee eee See ae eee weeegey ee aes Se ee wee e gt al a oe a A re gt Live s time signature can be changed at any point in the Arrangement by using time signature markers These can be added at the locator position via the Insert menu or anywhere in the scrub area using the PC Cti Mac context menu Time signature markers appear just below the beat time ruler but this marker area is hidden if a set contains no meter changes freeing up additional space at the top of the scrub area In many ways time signature
371. you want to play you can set up two Follow Actions with different Chance values in each clip launch a clip and surprise yourself 11 6 6 Creating Nonrepetitive Structures Follow Actions are great when it comes to sound installations as they allow you to create structures that play for weeks or months and never exactly repeat You can set the Follow Action Time controls in a series of clips to odd intervals and the clips will interact with each other so that they never quite play in the same order or musical position Remember that each clip can have two different Follow Actions with corresponding Chance settings have fun 149 Chapter 12 Routing and I O In the context of Live routing is the setup of the tracks signal sources and destinations i e their inputs and outputs Most routing happens in the mixer s track In Out section which offers for every track choosers to select a signal source and destination The mixer s ou In Out section is Live s patchbay The In Out section can be independently shown or hidden from the Session and Arrange ment Views Toggle its visibility using the I O Mixer Section selector or via the View menu s In Out option CHAPTER 12 ROUTING AND I O 150 1 Audio 2 Audio 3 Audio 4 Audio 5 MIDI 6 MIDI Master 8 Q Stop Clips Audio From Audio From Audio From MIDI From MIDI From Ext In No Input a A Return Computer Kew 5 MIDI 7 fi PostFX All Chann
372. z A B A B Quantize To Adjust Note Amount Using the options presented here you can select a meter value for quantization and set either the note start or end or both to be quantized Quantizing the note end will stretch the note so that it ends at the chosen meter subdivision You can also quantize notes without giving them that quantized feel using the Amount control which will move notes only by a percentage of the set quantization value 10 4 5 Creating and Editing Notes Selecting a note or notes makes it subject to commands from the Edit menu such as Copy and Paste You can use the PC Mac modifier to click and drag a copy of a note to a new location Quantizing MIDI Notes CHAPTER 10 EDITING MIDI NOTES AND VELOCITIES 135 The Edit menu s Select Loop command selects all notes that begin within the loop brace The Select Loop command can also be executed without the menu by simply clicking the loop brace This command can speed up editing when coupled with the loop brace s shortcuts Let s say you have arranged a nice 1 bar loop in the Note editor and you want to duplicate it a couple of times You can click the loop brace to select the notes that begin within the loop execute the Edit menu s Copy command shift the loop to the right by one loop length with f and execute the Edit menu s Paste command As we have already seen creating new MIDI notes is a

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