The Ableton Q&A Thread

[DZA]

Its ok

[jobbanaught]

Oh! I was right! Excellent. Thanks for posting that screengrab DZA!

The arrow is not there in my browser, but clicking where it is in your screenshot did it - weird....


Edit: Found out how it works, the arrow only shows when i browse my Library folder, for every ordinary folder it does not show. Anyway, thanks guys!

[Big MD]

my friend s working on ableton 8.1.1, i'm working on ableton 8.1 we're dooing a collab at this time, but i can't open his files because of this. is there a way to open it?

[contakt321]

Most of the 8.xx upgrades are not interchangeable. I would recommend you guys both use the same version for ease of compatibility.

I am told the newest versions: 8.14 and 8.15 are pretty stable.

[ResetTheAtari]

Running 8.0.1 and can't collab with those who have upgraded. Will do so soon. Any tips for a first time upgrader?

[contakt321]

Running 8.0.1 and can't collab with those who have upgraded. Will do so soon. Any tips for a first time upgrader?

It's pretty simple, just check for updates, or go to the Ableton site. If you install the new version, it generally doesn't overwrite the previous one. However, if you open an old project in the newest (8.014, you can't open it in 8.0.1 again if you save it, so save w/ a new name).

PS: 8.01 - 8.14 is a free upgrade

[mks]

Yeah, this is all getting a bit confusing actually. I'm running different versions for different projects. Running 8.0.9 for a collab, he has 8.0.1 but it works together. Been running 8.1.1 for quite a few projects and just upgraded to 8.1.4 but do not want to open older projects in there because it is not compatible with 8.1.4. This changing of their file structure is getting crazy. I'm sure it's for the better but is still confusing as shit. They say that you can open older files in the new version, but I have definitely have had some weird things happen when I did that. I decided to just finish projects in the version that they were started in, but I'm still getting multiples where I have started something in let say 7.x.x but now I have a newer version that I did in 8.x.x. I don't know, I'm starting to lose track...

[ResetTheAtari]

Going to attempt an upgrade tonight, wish me luck! Will keep 8.0.1 just in case.

[Seda]

Going to attempt an upgrade tonight, wish me luck! Will keep 8.0.1 just in case.

If you don't already have suite get it. Its worth it.

[Infinite BC]

I'm pretty new to Ableton and music production in general, and as all of you know: the first couple months of learning is the hardest, yet in many ways the most rewarding part of creating music. If anybody can help me I'd really appreciate it.

Here's my goal.

I want to take a sample of white noise and dissonant drones during a slow break down, and eventually transform it into a rhythmic noise- thumping. I tried using the quantization feature but didn't have much luck with that and I have no clue where to go from here. I would just let it go but I've read advice for beginners and it seems not giving up on getting that perfect sound is a common theme. Plus, it'll be another tool in my small, but quickly expanding, arsenal. Anybody got any advice?

[contakt321]

It will be hard for anyone to tell you specifically how to do it, but here are some ideas for what I might try:

1. Side chain the white noise to create a rhythmic pumping effect. You can automate the amount from subtle to heavy, and have that change before morphing into drum sounds.
2. Read up on creating drum sounds from White Noise. I think hihats and snare sounds are general synthesized from white noise. Perhaps you can create your drum sounds from white noise and fade them in, while you fade the white noise out.

[Infinite BC]

Thanks for the advice. From what it sounds like I need a separate kick track in order to sidechain, is this correct?

Your second piece of advice is intriguing. I could probably side chain the noise, keep the kick muted for now, while making the hi hat and snare more prevalent then at a specific point drop in the kick and lose the noise. Let's see... another sleepless night for me.

[contakt321]

Thanks for the advice. From what it sounds like I need a separate kick track in order to sidechain, is this correct?

Your second piece of advice is intriguing. I could probably side chain the noise, keep the kick muted for now, while making the hi hat and snare more prevalent then at a specific point drop in the kick and lose the noise. Let's see... another sleepless night for me.

Yes, what you could even do is put a kick in Simpler, and sidechain that. THEN: automate the stretch parameter of the kick to adjust how long the sidechain is hitting for. You can also set the Kick track to ONLY output into the sidechain, so you don't hear the kick at all in your track, just it's effect on the whitenoise.

I do this fairly often b/c I sidechain bits that don't have drums.

[ResetTheAtari]

I still don't know how to sidechain

[staticcast]

Thanks for the advice. From what it sounds like I need a separate kick track in order to sidechain, is this correct?

Your second piece of advice is intriguing. I could probably side chain the noise, keep the kick muted for now, while making the hi hat and snare more prevalent then at a specific point drop in the kick and lose the noise. Let's see... another sleepless night for me.

Yes, what you could even do is put a kick in Simpler, and sidechain that. THEN: automate the stretch parameter of the kick to adjust how long the sidechain is hitting for. You can also set the Kick track to ONLY output into the sidechain, so you don't hear the kick at all in your track, just it's effect on the whitenoise.

I do this fairly often b/c I sidechain bits that don't have drums.

I might be misunderstanding you, but you don't need to have something in its own track in order for it to drive another channel's sidechain. You can even sidechain one Drum Rack channel off another. Hell, you can even sidechain a point in an Instrument Rack off another point on another chain within the same Instrument Rack.

[dav.id]

I have a very simple question

is there a way to see in abletons browser to see how long your track is? not in bars but in minutes and seconds?

[silkpantsman]

yeah at the bottom of arrangement view gives you time scale. Although it used to be that in 7 u cud c it in the sample editor but not anymore in 8 well atleast not wit standard config...unless ders some prefrence im missing

[contakt321]

I have a very simple question

is there a way to see in abletons browser to see how long your track is? not in bars but in minutes and seconds?

You can see the duration in minutes and seconds at the bottom of Arrange View

[contakt321]

Thanks for the advice. From what it sounds like I need a separate kick track in order to sidechain, is this correct?

Your second piece of advice is intriguing. I could probably side chain the noise, keep the kick muted for now, while making the hi hat and snare more prevalent then at a specific point drop in the kick and lose the noise. Let's see... another sleepless night for me.

Yes, what you could even do is put a kick in Simpler, and sidechain that. THEN: automate the stretch parameter of the kick to adjust how long the sidechain is hitting for. You can also set the Kick track to ONLY output into the sidechain, so you don't hear the kick at all in your track, just it's effect on the whitenoise.

I do this fairly often b/c I sidechain bits that don't have drums.

I might be misunderstanding you, but you don't need to have something in its own track in order for it to drive another channel's sidechain. You can even sidechain one Drum Rack channel off another. Hell, you can even sidechain a point in an Instrument Rack off another point on another chain within the same Instrument Rack.

You need A source to sidechain something. I work very lazily, why be sophisticated if I don't have to? I just make a duplicate kick track to feed the sidechain that doesn't output to the master.

1 thing though - sidechaining seems to take up a lot of processing power for me. I generally bounce the sidechained sound to audio as soon as I am feeling secure.

@Infinite BC - you don't need a separate track, that's just how I work. Your idea sounds very cool, I think you can definitely turn it into something excellent.

[staticcast]

You need A source to sidechain something. I work very lazily, why be sophisticated if I don't have to? I just make a duplicate kick track to feed the sidechain that doesn't output to the master.

1 thing though - sidechaining seems to take up a lot of processing power for me. I generally bounce the sidechained sound to audio as soon as I am feeling secure.

Yeah, I don't see how that's any less sophisticated though. At least if you sidechain off the real kick, you don't have to worry about duplicating any changes you make onto your sidechain trigger.

And you're right, certain routing options seem to completely rinse the CPU load. I guess it's because it means in certain situations the output has to be calculated one sample at a time rather than doing the whole buffer at once...