The Ableton Q&A Thread

[CaveLvl]

Can someone run me through saving sets and devices for other computers or to for a fresh live install. I have way to many racks and devices and i want to save the ones I want to use, and then reinstall ableton. Many thanks in advance

[Perej]

Was about to buy Suite a minute ago, and then noticed something about "40% off if you are a student" on their homepage.

Well, I am a student, will be attending university next year, not for music production or anything, but I will be a student of some sort.

It loaded into my cart as "Ableton Suite 8 (education)" looks like it will be identical, comes with the upgrade also. Is there ANY catch? It hasn't asked for any sort of confirmation that I'm a student or anything.

I think i'm gonna go ahead, juts don't want to be in some fucked situation where I buy it, then it wants proof that i'm in like some music production school and I'm screwed.

Anyone tried this before?

na you don't have to be studying music tech or production or anything.

As long as you go to uni and have a copy of your student ID card then its cool. u have to send it to them as jpg or whatever.

[Sinergy]

But that's the issue, i'm not at uni YET.

I'm a senior in highschool, and have a applied to a good many universities, but won't hear back for a little bit. Maybe not until after this free upgrade thing is over.

I have my senior school ID card though, would that work..? it says it includes primary school.

[Perej]

no idea man, ring the Ableton hotline and ask them, maybe secondary school counts too

[neonmansion]

that has been bugging me for a long time but never bothered to ask anyone.

many times I will automate the mute button on a utility device to create a pause before a drop. I notice that sometimes it does not work perfectly. I hear the sound in question come in very slightly, just before the down beat.

Has anyone noticed this?

[viberous]

I have noticed this....I would just automate the gain of a utility plugin at the end of a channel.

[neonmansion]

i'm saying that i'm automating the mute parameter.. it really shouldn't make a diff whether its mute or volume... in the end its a problem with the automation lining up the right way

[RmoniK]

Then draw it in at the right spot? Works fine for me.

[Kit Fysto]

i'm saying that i'm automating the mute parameter.. it really shouldn't make a diff whether its mute or volume... in the end its a problem with the automation lining up the right way

Is this happening on sessions with high CPU, or all sessions? I've had automation lag (filters and volumes occurring a tad bit later than where I drew them) occur when running above 50-60% during playback. Not sure there's much you can do about that, if that's the case, other than keep the CPU lower. If its happening on a brand new session, I'm pretty clueless as to what could be causing it.

[arktrix45hz]

that has been bugging me for a long time but never bothered to ask anyone.

many times I will automate the mute button on a utility device to create a pause before a drop. I notice that sometimes it does not work perfectly. I hear the sound in question come in very slightly, just before the down beat.

Has anyone noticed this?

Yeah, you've not zoomed in far enough on your automation

[OfficialDAPT]

that has been bugging me for a long time but never bothered to ask anyone.

many times I will automate the mute button on a utility device to create a pause before a drop. I notice that sometimes it does not work perfectly. I hear the sound in question come in very slightly, just before the down beat.

Has anyone noticed this?

Yeah, you've not zoomed in far enough on your automation

I actually think it's because the utility only goes down to -35db so a little sound will still leak through. just drop another utility on so the volume is at -70db which is basically silence.

[bkwsk]

Combine it with a gate then should be easier I guess.

[MrBaxter]

that has been bugging me for a long time but never bothered to ask anyone.

many times I will automate the mute button on a utility device to create a pause before a drop. I notice that sometimes it does not work perfectly. I hear the sound in question come in very slightly, just before the down beat.

Has anyone noticed this?

Yeah and I noticed it on other instantaneous automation as well, for instance a filter sweep down and then an instantaneous opening of the filter. I believe it is because Ableton doesn't have plugin delay compensation, so if you have any plugins that introduce slight latency, the automation wont reflect that added latency and will act a little later than what it should. Theres no real solution either, they even acknowledge it in the Ableton manual. Just fiddle around with the timing until it sounds right. Hope this helps.

[DOK-Cgen]

Here you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxbbLa3gcwE

[dickman69]

just do it in audacity tho

[outdropt]

Ableton users,

Watch this video



This guy showed me some possabilies with chaining effects/instruments that i never new about and i got me thinking of how i can apply this to my bass/synth patches.

You can move from one effect/instrument to another by a few sources of input.

Knob- you can fade between your chain using midi values 1-127
Velocity- trigger a different part of your chain based on how hard you hit you pads/keys
Note- (this one intrests me the most) - you can trigger different parts of your chain using a key, or a set of keys

A set of bass syths can be grouped to an instrument rack... Now when you hit a note all bass patches will be triggered (blehh)

Some uses for this:

If you use notes to select your chain you can now group the bass patch to a section of notes. So when you play...For instance C1-G1 you will get one sound while G1#-B2 you can a different sound. And you can fade between the sounds so if you want a little of both during a set of keys.. It can be done.

You can use the effect racks to split your FQbands on a bass sound. Have the chain set to allow the high end section of your sound fade in gradually.. Then you can use velocity to introduce upper harmonics, the harder you press the note.

You can use the effect rack on a lead synth. Try having 3-4 effects in chain, leave one dry, and have it playing across the effect slide. On one have a deep reverb, another a delay/chorus effect, and another low passed. Then mess with the fade so you can get multiple effects happening at once, then use the knob to switch between them. This can give a lot of flavor to an otherwise dull lead.

A few applications for this, more were mentioned in the video... Id love to hear your ideas too!

[outdropt]

Wtf, this is actually a pretty decent topic IMO and im getting no hits...

Mean while How do i use my midi controller, i want to make skreching sounds, and i want to become a producer threads are fucking teaming with life (new, immature, clueless life all be it)

Why even spend the time typing this up.......

[Sharmaji]

Do this all the time w various live projects- rather than deal with ancient program change info, just use a clip w the right midi note to select where in the chain you need to be. Super simple and elegant way to manage really large sound sources.

[big_lurch]

Wtf, this is actually a pretty decent topic IMO and im getting no hits...

Mean while How do i use my midi controller, i want to make skreching sounds, and i want to become a producer threads are fucking teaming with life (new, immature, clueless life all be it)

Why even spend the time typing this up.......

lol relax man, it's probably just that a lot of the more experienced users already know and employ this technique...even still, good post, and thanks for sharing.

i've nothing specific to add but ya, the ease in which you can do this really sets live apart from the other daw's ive used imo. really great for changing up synth melodies to give some variation to the original sound.

[55stevieboy2010]

So I'm working on a track and think it goes on a little to long at the start, so basically I want to cut about 16 bars out and drag the rest of my tracks back, which isn't a problem. However it doesn't drag the envelope automation with it....obviously leaving me with the problem of automation in areas I don't want it. How do I drag the automation parameters along with my tracks?? Found nothing on the Internet so last resort, cheers