Automating in Abelton

[zerbaman]

Does anyone else find this a hassle? is there any way to get automation in clips? or maybe more exact values? (in terms of timing - steps, beats, bars etc..)

I mean, in FL your automations are pretty quantized on the grid, in abelton, to get an effect nearly similar takes a lot of tedious highlighting and deleting.

[Airgonaut]

Go to the Envelope menu in clips? That makes it a lot easier to work in smaller areas. Also, I believe holding Ctrl (might have the wrong button, I don't remember) while dragging gives a more controlled value change. And Draw Mode makes it easier as well.

[zerbaman]

Go to the Envelope menu in clips? That makes it a lot easier to work in smaller areas. Also, I believe holding Ctrl (might have the wrong button, I don't remember) while dragging gives a more controlled value change. And Draw Mode makes it easier as well.

I always use draw mode, and I tried Ctrl a few weeks back, no real advancement, but I'll test out the "envelope menu"
Cheers.

[lazermouse]

Clip envelopes explained:

[symmetricalsounds]

ctrl definitely does help in making small adjustments to your automation lines, but if you make your grid small as possible use zoom and draw mode.

but yes the automation system in ableton is one of it's weakest points.

[oWLinDaylight]

Does anyone else find this a hassle? is there any way to get automation in clips?

You can put the automation into dummy clips and quantize those.

[eyeatus]

i was hoping they would change the automation in one of their updates.. guess we'll just have to wait for 9

[zerbaman]

What I meant was that the automations I make come out as squares. I just want to draw a diagonal line, around 8 bars or so, but they build staircases (for lack of a better word).
I'll check that video link, cheers

[zerbaman]

That video was brilliant. What I was looking for was slopes within the playlist. All sorted now, cheers guys.
Double clicking

[zerbaman]

One last question guys, is there any way to have the points auto quantized as I draw them in?
In fl, your automation points are snapped to a grid of your choice (bar, beat, half-beat, quarter-beat etc..) as you draw them in.
Is this an option in ableton, or will I have to make due without?

[RandoRando]

One last question guys, is there any way to have the points auto quantized as I draw them in?
In fl, your automation points are snapped to a grid of your choice (bar, beat, half-beat, quarter-beat etc..) as you draw them in.
Is this an option in ableton, or will I have to make due without?

zoom in the grid and hit ctrl + 1 or 2 which will change the grid size try that, and also holding shift while drawing willl give you diagonal lines

[[asterisk]]

Hey guys, I've been trying to check back often with Ableton about an update, but does anyone have any news about them implementing "true" curves in their automation in a future update? I absolutely love Ableton, but this particular oversight by them is unfortunate and most other DAW's have had this included standard for a while now and it seems like it really shouldn't be that hard for them to fix. This option not a lot to ask from us IMHO.

[Gusto]

Hey guys, I've been trying to check back often with Ableton about an update, but does anyone have any news about them implementing "true" curves in their automation in a future update? I absolutely love Ableton, but this particular oversight by them is unfortunate and most other DAW's have had this included standard for a while now and it seems like it really shouldn't be that hard for them to fix. This option not a lot to ask from us IMHO.

It's probably one of the most requested things on the Ableton forums. So if they don't include it in at least the next major revision, there will be a huge backlash.

[RandoRando]

What do you guys mean by true curves

[motox2121]

exponential curves, not seperate lines drawn in to make a "curve"

[[asterisk]]

^this. Think of it like Windows Paint. Zoomed out it may look like youve drawn a circle but once you zoom in you can see its just a crude approximation using small "staircasing" pixels. The clip crossfades are genuine curves though so I have trouble understanding why they haven't implemented them in all automation.

[Gusto]

^this. Think of it like Windows Paint. Zoomed out it may look like youve drawn a circle but once you zoom in you can see its just a crude approximation using small "staircasing" pixels. The clip crossfades are genuine curves though so I have trouble understanding why they haven't implemented them in all automation.

They still have to be sampled functions. But we shouldn't be doing the sampling manually by drawing in the staircase. Most DAW's let you describe a curve using end points and a point of inflection.

[Sine69]

Am I the only one that actually likes Live's automation? I've been using live since day one so I'm used to it I guess. Although curves would be nice

[RandoRando]

oh okay, so drawing in a perfect lfo shape would be a pain in the ass for example.

thats one thing FL had on ableton, a LFO tool to assign to any parameter

[zerbaman]

Another question. Is it possible to link things? Fl has an x-y controller, with this, i can link several things to one controller and make one clean automation, rather than having to re-draw. Fl also has an envelope controller, useful for linking filer cutoffs (amongst other things) to one envelope for modulation. This can also be used as an LFO, especially good for having filters outside of the synth triggered by note activation, rather than running continuously.
Been fiddling for a while. Had no luck with this, is there anything close to this in abelton?

Thanks again