Page 1 of 1
how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:24 pm
by outta faze
hi,
after reading the money shot thread i was wondering how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton? i mean knowing the db level of each channel so the drums can be around -9db etc...
thanks in advance, peace.

Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 4:17 pm
by Promise One
You need to expand your mixer view in the session view. You can drag it to make the area bigger and as you do that you'll see more channel markings appear.
I use this sometimes as it goes more in depth into meter readings and has some other handy features. Its free and the rest of their plugs are top notch.
http://www.sonalksis.com/freeg.htm

Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:00 pm
by outta faze
thank you very much for the tip! changed my day!
by the way very nice tune in your sig, peace.
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:03 pm
by paradigm_x
metering/mixing in ableton is shite... Ive used cubase for years and recently bought ableton, love it for jamming and writing but the mixer, arrange page and metering is unusable...
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 5:38 pm
by Promise One
outta faze wrote:thank you very much for the tip! changed my day!
by the way very nice tune in your sig, peace.
No worries, thanks for the feedback too, it drops some time around June on Reboot Records.
paradigm x wrote:metering/mixing in ableton is shite... Ive used cubase for years and recently bought ableton, love it for jamming and writing but the mixer, arrange page and metering is unusable...
Yeah its not great, I used Cubase for a few years too. You get use to it mind. I don't really care too much I just accept it for what it is. Don't like the idea of writing anything in any other DAW now I use Live.
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 11:58 pm
by paravrais
paradigm x wrote:metering/mixing in ableton is shite... Ive used cubase for years and recently bought ableton, love it for jamming and writing but the mixer, arrange page and metering is unusable...
I respectfully disagree. It's not the best no doubt but it definitely does the job.
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:29 am
by paradigm_x
Fair enough. been playing a lot with ableton recently but had a play on cubase last night and the mixer view is night and day compared to ableton. Trying to mix horizontally on those tiny little faders, cant directly access the inserts on any channels,, the way the screen takes forever to scroll down when dragging in arrange... grrr. The meters in cubase are awesome too, the ones in abelton suck. Have to obliterate the arrange page to see anything helpful.
I hate mixing in Ableton.
Prob best for me to bounce out and mixdown in Cubase. If only there was more time in the day...
Ableton crashes a lot more too... Although i appreciate they're working on it. Neither are perfect, both have strengths and weaknesses. Abelton was good value at about £160 upgrade from a lite version i got with the novation thing. Cubase was £450!

Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:15 am
by DZA
This is one of the things i hate about ableton but hopfully theyve sorted it out in live 9
paradigm x wrote:metering/mixing in ableton is shite...
Ahhh this is gonna be my new excuse for shit mixdowns

Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 10:38 am
by rafiki
I find general mixing in session view fine just use ya ears and also there is a peak meters on each channel that might help ya with your drum levels.
Also get this its a freeware stereotool from flux i always chuck it on my master channel
http://www.fluxhome.com/products/Freewares/stereotool
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:47 pm
by Promise One
paradigm x wrote:Fair enough. been playing a lot with ableton recently but had a play on cubase last night and the mixer view is night and day compared to ableton. Trying to mix horizontally on those tiny little faders, cant directly access the inserts on any channels,, the way the screen takes forever to scroll down when dragging in arrange... grrr. The meters in cubase are awesome too, the ones in abelton suck. Have to obliterate the arrange page to see anything helpful.
I hate mixing in Ableton.
Prob best for me to bounce out and mixdown in Cubase. If only there was more time in the day...
Ableton crashes a lot more too... Although i appreciate they're working on it. Neither are perfect, both have strengths and weaknesses. Abelton was good value at about £160 upgrade from a lite version i got with the novation thing. Cubase was £450!

How big is your screen? I use a 13" Macbook but run a 21" monitor so I rarely have to expand anything. Normally mix as I write so the mixdown is maybe less painful.
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 2:03 pm
by paradigm_x
24" widescreen...
I also mix as i go, but then do a proper mixdown at the end.
Just to compare;
vs
Peak hold meters, variable scale, direct access to volume of every channel, group, fx, input and output, all with 8x inserts/8x sends, EQ (albeit i only use UA stuff). Plus abelton goes red when it isnt actually clipping (fundamental fuck up imo).
Ableton's just a toy when it comes to mixing. The joke of delay compensation - when you use a lot of high latency plugins (UAD/Nebula) the graphics lag - so far out the clips are triggered on the wrong beat !

(the list goes on).
Dont get me wrong its a brilliant tool for jamming and looping. Just mixing on it sucks. IMO.
But anyway, i think youve got the gist of what im saying.

Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:20 pm
by DZA
paradigm x wrote:
Ayyy how come youve got the ableton logo next to the ableton instruments?
Re: how can i monitor meter chanels in ableton?
Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 4:30 pm
by paradigm_x
god knows it was a random google image search