The Ableton Q&A Thread

[Perej]

Hey

So I'm having a bit of trouble chopping up and using vocals in a fun melodic way in Ableton. Normally I'd just put the vocal into an audio channel then start fiddling with it in arrangement view but I want to know how to be able to do this more effectively in sampler / simpler.

How do I get the sampler to trigger different bits of the vocal? Obviously when you load it in, it just plays from the start time you've set to the end, but what if I want to have that change a lot too? Is automation the only way? Say I want it to speak the first part of a chorus, then go back to the very beginning, how would I do this in sampler / simpler?

Not sure if this makes a lot of sense.

right click on the audio clip you want to chop up and select slice to MIDI and then you can arrange the slices however you want in MIDI form in the track below.

ahhhh nice one mate! thanks

[Smiles]

Hey can someone tell me how to make the velocity in drum rack link to a low pass filter cutoff instead of just changing the volume. Thanks!

[OfficialDAPT]

[Smiles]

All that does though is raise the amount the velocity effects the sample with the cutoff. I want to change the cutoff per sample with the velocity in the piano roll. I'm not sure if its possible but thats what i'm looking for.

[OfficialDAPT]

Oh I see what you're talking about... that's not possible to my knowledge. You're going to have to draw in the automation of the filter by hand.

[RandoRando]

so i made a instrument rack with 2 macros that i want to automate. im turning the knobs on my midi keyboard for the macros.

i play the loop and record the automation for macro 1, when i go to record 2, it deletes my macro 1 data. why? they are on different lanes and everything

[dubesteppe]

is overdub turned on?

[RandoRando]

is overdub turned on?

yeah with or without it on, macro 2's data thats being recorded erases number 1's

i think i may have though of a workarounf, if i click the little plus sign to add a track just for automation, if i have that open then record automation it might not overwrite the other lanes automation

[OfficialDAPT]

is overdub turned on?

yeah with or without it on, macro 2's data thats being recorded erases number 1's

i think i may have though of a workarounf, if i click the little plus sign to add a track just for automation, if i have that open then record automation it might not overwrite the other lanes automation

That shouldn't happen... legit copy?

[Smiles]

Ok I got another one. So when my tune ends after the last clip in arrangment view there is still a delay from the pad but when I export it that last little delay is gone. Fix? Thanks lol.

[symmetricalsounds]

when you render the file make the end bar setting later on

[StratosFear]

What Symmetrical said. Or just add a blank MIDI clip until the point you have the delay ending, it will bring the end of the track to that point.

[dubesteppe]

so i made a instrument rack with 2 macros that i want to automate. im turning the knobs on my midi keyboard for the macros.

i play the loop and record the automation for macro 1, when i go to record 2, it deletes my macro 1 data. why? they are on different lanes and everything

can you send me the project file?

[RandoRando]

so i made a instrument rack with 2 macros that i want to automate. im turning the knobs on my midi keyboard for the macros.

i play the loop and record the automation for macro 1, when i go to record 2, it deletes my macro 1 data. why? they are on different lanes and everything

can you send me the project file?

its happened multiple occasions lol. ill just make a new project w a instrument rack and see if it does it, if it does ill post that one.

[Swelly]

Ok I got another one. So when my tune ends after the last clip in arrangment view there is still a delay from the pad but when I export it that last little delay is gone. Fix? Thanks lol.

freeze the track, then bounce it out. and make sure you aren't in session view when you are exporting to audio or else it only renders what is in the clip, not including the ending of the release/sustain. be sure you are in arrangement view.

[Swelly]

This is pissing me off a treat now. Constant little problems popping up. The velocity of my snares in a vengance drum rack are all set to 100%, they have all been parallel compressed and I haven't even turned them down on the fader to -6db and yet they are so quiet under my other drums I can barely hear them. All the other drums have been set in the exact same way - 100% vel - Parallell compression....

There's no reason for all this shit.. really irritating as I was quite enjoying using Ableton and would prefer to use it over FL but what's the point with all this?
How can I tell what's wrong? Could it be my PC? grr

Curious as to why the velocity is set to 100%, seems a bit drastic if ya ask me...I rarely go over 28-30%. I usually keep the drum rack's main fader at 0, and the samples in the rack itself, I set to no more than -6/-5 db, and voices set to 1. I throw a limiter on the drum rack chain and set it at -6db. Yields great results, and yet, add parallel compression only once i'm ready to mix down.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, turn whatever is smothering it down!

[Kit Fysto]

I am curious if anyone else experiences a few random weird things that I have.

-If I stop play back in the middle of a pitch automation (midi) when i resume playback in another spot the instruments will be stuck bent in pitch until a new automation happens. In order to stop this annoyance I draw in a point at the beginning of the midi at 0 so every time it plays, it is set to the right pitch but that is rather annoying. Is there a simple way to avoid that and I am just uninformed or overlooking something?

-When a session starts to get high on CPU usage my automations sometimes lag. For example if I draw a volume envelope to go to 0 DB immediately on a beat it will happen a half a second late. Happens to lots of different things though (even on bounces)

-If I make a midi clap that is say 4 bars long playing one note (imagine a bass swell or something to that effect) it won't play the full 4 bars if the clip ends directly on the last beat. I have to extend the clip and leave some blank space after the midi note finishes. This only happens sometimes. Probably the weirdest of the 3 things.

[RandoRando]

I am curious if anyone else experiences a few random weird things that I have.

-If I stop play back in the middle of a pitch automation (midi) when i resume playback in another spot the instruments will be stuck bent in pitch until a new automation happens. In order to stop this annoyance I draw in a point at the beginning of the midi at 0 so every time it plays, it is set to the right pitch but that is rather annoying. Is there a simple way to avoid that and I am just uninformed or overlooking something?

-When a session starts to get high on CPU usage my automations sometimes lag. For example if I draw a volume envelope to go to 0 DB immediately on a beat it will happen a half a second late. Happens to lots of different things though (even on bounces)

-If I make a midi clap that is say 4 bars long playing one note (imagine a bass swell or something to that effect) it won't play the full 4 bars if the clip ends directly on the last beat. I have to extend the clip and leave some blank space after the midi note finishes. This only happens sometimes. Probably the weirdest of the 3 things.

1. Do all of your automation (if possible and logical) in the actual clips instead of an automation lane. if the automation is part of clip, when the clip is done it should automatically jump back to position it was in before the clip started.

2. sounds like thats just your pc, freeze everything. my template consists of groups. a group will have one midi channel and 3 audio channels. i have the audio channels set to "resample" for quick bouncing out and resampling. so i just drop a vst on the midi channel, record some notes, when i like it i instantly record it to one of the audio channels. makes cpu happy and resampling a breeze.

3. very strange, never had that happen to me, make sure your notes are directly on beat in the clip and dont start before or go past the loop markers.

[RandoRando]

ANNOYING PROBLEM, anyone run into the "this file could bot be read, could be corrupted or not licensed"

its only on random files in my library that worked fine on my last comp in ableton.
ive read some fixes for this that included . updating quicktime (weird but i guess it worked for some)
or go to any folder, select Tools>Folder options>View> and make sure "hide extensions for known filetypes" is UN-checked.

[Kit Fysto]

I am curious if anyone else experiences a few random weird things that I have.

-If I stop play back in the middle of a pitch automation (midi) when i resume playback in another spot the instruments will be stuck bent in pitch until a new automation happens. In order to stop this annoyance I draw in a point at the beginning of the midi at 0 so every time it plays, it is set to the right pitch but that is rather annoying. Is there a simple way to avoid that and I am just uninformed or overlooking something?

-When a session starts to get high on CPU usage my automations sometimes lag. For example if I draw a volume envelope to go to 0 DB immediately on a beat it will happen a half a second late. Happens to lots of different things though (even on bounces)

-If I make a midi clap that is say 4 bars long playing one note (imagine a bass swell or something to that effect) it won't play the full 4 bars if the clip ends directly on the last beat. I have to extend the clip and leave some blank space after the midi note finishes. This only happens sometimes. Probably the weirdest of the 3 things.

1. Do all of your automation (if possible and logical) in the actual clips instead of an automation lane. if the automation is part of clip, when the clip is done it should automatically jump back to position it was in before the clip started.

2. sounds like thats just your pc, freeze everything. my template consists of groups. a group will have one midi channel and 3 audio channels. i have the audio channels set to "resample" for quick bouncing out and resampling. so i just drop a vst on the midi channel, record some notes, when i like it i instantly record it to one of the audio channels. makes cpu happy and resampling a breeze.

3. very strange, never had that happen to me, make sure your notes are directly on beat in the clip and dont start before or go past the loop markers.

I do draw the midi in the clips that's why it is so confusing haha. Good news is the other advice you gave me should solve that problem as well. Thanks a lot for the reply !