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Ableton Live - 9.0 Reference Manual

1. Gint Cinf lt EPJ Seeceesessseseesseeseseses Seu N SSSOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSES Seow a eocccccccccccccccececccces 1 The Session Mixer s Possibilities The Mixer section of the Session Mixer has several additional features that are not visible by default The mixer is resizable and dragging upwards on the top of the mixer will extend the height of the track meters adding tick marks a numeric volume field and resettable peak level indicators Increasing a track s width in this state will add a decibel scale alongside the meter s tick marks These enhancements are tailored for use in traditional mixing settings but are available anytime the Mixer section is displayed Because of the enormous headroom of Live s 32 bit floating point audio engine Live s meters can be driven far into the red without causing the signals to clip The only time that signals over O dB will be problematic is when routing to or from physical inputs and outputs like those of your sound card or when saving audio to a file Mixing 195 Nevertheless Live provides this optional visual feedback for signals that travel beyond O dB in any track 15 2 Audio and MIDI Tracks Audio and MIDI tracks in Liv
2. 6 271 GS LEO S ERE E 278 changing clips for eapcswnwwdernnamve 272 creating long loops With cceceee 276 for MIDIGOntOl sisi ccrscee sos ssercarseee senate 274 general editing Ol xe ccna cttcetiwncasaten 267 imposing rhythm With cccceeeeee 277 loop region settings fOr ccceeeee 275 mixer Control With ccccccsesseeseeeesees 272 scrambling beats With scceeeeee 271 unlinking from clips ssssiecnswdemsnecne 275 using for TAASSOUIS crccinatsrecnenenann 275 Clip Fade swi hissgaseeuaaa 112 Clia Cains HCG I ensia nn E R 110 Clip Groove ChOOSEl cceccscsesseeseeseeeeeees 101 Clip Launch button yr aursetnceseumier sas 88 Clip Name field gicceaccectalcsmaciresetess 101 Clip Nudge DUTONS scien etek 102 Clp OVEIVIEW einasi as 97 Clip Quantization ChOOSel cccceeeeeee 163 Clip Record button cccccceseeeseeeeee 28 209 re e MRP ee aoe ev eT cea nD renee E T 16 adding fades tO 78 112 ArrANGING EMitiNg cccccecseseseseeeeeeeees 77 as demp CS S ugnens E 272 Gudo elp Saeki etic 20 clip multi selections ccccccceseseeeeees 98 EE e E arias 78 deactivating MuUting s es 100 editing MIDI notes velocities 133 importing from files ccceeeeeeeeseteeeeee 39 in Arrangement VieW ccccccceeeerereees 77 in Session View ssssesssseesesessseseesses 87 Mye OS a ee nenO URE erty tor anes Re 50 MIDI Clos hnnan 20 Index 602 PENON ae
3. Amoun valeve ae Peak a Initial Peak Sustain Loop ae Decay a Ca TE A Slope D Slope R Slope Time lt Vel Time AIEN 100 iss 277s 500ms 0 100ms 100 100 100 0 100ms Pan Pan lt Rind Time Time Key Voices Type Amount EE 00 OE E lie E Live Instrument Reference 446 The Filter Global Tab The Filter Sampler features a polyphonic filter with an optional integrated waveshaper The Morph M12 and M24 and SVF filter types can morph continuously from lowpass to bandpass to highpass to notch and back to lowpass Naturally filter morphs can be automated Classic 24 dB lowpass bandpass and highpass modes are also available but these cannot be morphed To the right the filter s cutoff frequency can be modulated over time by a dedicated filter en velope This envelope works similarly to the envelopes in the Pitch Osc tab with Initial Peak Sustain and End levels ADSR Loop mode and slope points This area is toggled on off with the F Env button The Amount slider determines how much influence the filter envelope has on the filter s cutoff frequency and needs to be set to a non zero value for the envelope to have any effect Below the Filter is a waveshaper which is toggled by clicking the Shaper button Four differ ent curves can be chosen for the waveshaper in the Type selector Soft Hard Sine and Abit Shaper s overall intensity can be controlled with the Amount slider In addit
4. The High Quality Switch If the High Quality switch is on Live uses an advanced sample rate conversion algorithm that provides better sound quality at the expense of a higher CPU load Samples processed with the Hi Q algorithm generate less distortion particularly at high frequencies when transposing a sample and or matching an imported sample s sampling rate to the system s sampling rate With this mode enabled samples can be transposed roughly 19 semitones in either direction before aliasing is likely to be audible Note As of Live 7 the Hi Q mode uses an algorithm that produces even smaller audible artifacts than in previous versions Although we think this has greatly improved sound quality any Sets Clip View 112 made in older versions that used Hi Q mode may now sound different For this reason we have provided a Legacy Hi Q Mode option which is enabled by default in the Options menu when ever you load an old Set that has Hi Q enabled for any clips Simply disable this option if you wish to use the new mode 8 2 7 Clip Start and End Fades Sample Snare wa 44 1 KH 16 Bil 1 Ch save Rey Hi Eade RAM The Clip Fade Switch The Clip Fade switch when enabled applies a short fade to the clip start and end to avoid clicks at the clip edges The length of the fade is signal dependent and ranges from 0 4 millisec onds This switch is only available for clips in Session View In Arrangement View clip fades are
5. The attack time is set with the Attack knob This time can also be modulated by velocity via the Vel slider below the knob As you increase the Vel value the attack time will become increas ingly shorter at higher velocities The time it takes for the envelope to reach the sustain level after the attack phase is set by the Decay knob The Sustain knob sets the level at which the envelope will remain from the end of the decay phase to the release of the key When this knob is turned all the way to the left there is no sustain phase With it turned all the way to the right there is no decay phase The sustain level can be additionally modulated by velocity via the Vel slider below the knob Higher values result in an increased sustain level as the velocity increases Finally the release time is set with the Release knob This is the time it takes for the envelope to reach zero after the key is released The LFO subsection provides an additional modulation source for the filter This section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name The waveform chooser sets the type of waveform used by the LFO You can choose between sine triangle rectangular and two types of random waveforms The first random waveform steps between random values while the second uses smoother ramps The Delay knob sets how long it will take for the LFO to start after the note begins while Attack sets how long it takes for the oscillator to reach its ful
6. To specify how Live behaves when dragging a sample to a Drum Rack or the Device View of a MIDI track Working with Instruments and Effects 225 e Create an empty Simpler or Sampler e Adjust the parameters as you like e Drag the edited device to the On Drum Rack or On Device View folder which can be found in the Defaults Dropping Samples folders in your User Library Drum Rack pad de faults can also be saved via a right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu option on a Drum Rack s pad To adjust how Live behaves when slicing an audio file e Create an empty Drum Rack e Add an empty Simpler or Sampler to the Drum Rack to create a single chain e Add any additional MIDI or Audio Effects to this chain e Adjust parameters in any of the devices e Assign Macro Controls page 252 to any of the controls in the chain s devices e Drag the entire Drum Rack to the Defaults Slicing folder in your User Library You can create multiple slicing presets and choose between them in the Slicing Preset chooser in the slicing dialog Note that slicing is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions To create default presets for converting Drums Harmony or Melody to MIDI page 152 e Create a MIDI track containing the instrument you would like to use as your default for a particular conversion type Note that default presets for converting drums must contain a Drum Rack e Add any additional MIDI or Audio Effects to the track
7. i All Channes Lin MIDI From MIDI From eaters I All Channes E All Channes All Channes Monitor Monitor Lin Auto On In Auto on Lin Ato Ory Audio To MIDI To Master 5 Beas 7 impulse v SE Track Routing Is Set up Using the In Out Section in the Arrangement Left or Session View Righi Signals from the tracks can be sent to the outside world via the computer s audio and MIDI inter faces to other programs that are connected to Live via ReWire page 564 or to other tracks or devices within Live Tracks can also be combined into a Group Track page 196 which serves as a submixer for the selected tracks Likewise a track can be set up to receive an input signal to be played through the track s de vices Again tracks can receive their input from the outside from a ReWire program or from another track or device in Live The Monitor controls regulate the conditions under which the input signal is heard through the track It is also possible to route signals to external hardware devices from within a track s device chain by using the External Audio Effect page 316 and External Instrument page 401 devices Note these devices are not available in the Lite or Intro Editions 4 11 Recording New Clips Audio tracks and MIDI tracks can record their input signal and thereby create new clips page 205 Recording is enabled on a track by pressing its Arm button With multiple tracks se lected pre
8. 1 u Live s patchbay The In Out section can be independently shown or hidden from the Session and Arrangement Views Toggle its visibility using the I O Mixer Section selector or via the View menu s In Out option i Audio 2 Audio 3 Audio 4 Audio 5 MID MIDI Master Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From MIDI From MIDI From Ext In 7 5 MIDI sd fi Post FX All Channe f Post Mixer itor ito ap Monitor Monitor Lin Auto Ory cee oe T Monitor Monitor Mon B Auto on M Auto Orn Lin Audio To Audio To Audio To Audio To MIDI To MIDI To pity No Output No Output master Out The Mixer s In Out Section and Mixer Section Selectors For every track that can play clips the In Out section has the same layout e The upper chooser pair Audio MIDI From selects the track s input Audio tracks have an audio input and MIDI tracks have a MIDI input Return tracks receive their input from the respective sends page 198 e The Monitor radio button selects the monitor mode the conditions under which the track s input is heard through the track Routing and I O 172 e The lower chooser pair Audio MIDI To selects the track s output All tracks have audio outputs except for MIDI tracks without instruments Remember that instruments convert MIDI to audio page 23 Within a chooser pair the upper chooser selects the signal category Ext for instance for
9. 11 1 gt Be P O Hoey wa ao m ned wo i ap The Control Bar s MIDI Indicators The three indicator pairs represent from left to right 1 MIDI Clock and Timecode signals that are used for synchronizing Live with other sequenc ers page 561 Note that this set of indicators is only visible when an external sync source has been enabled in the MIDI Ports List in the Preferences 2 MIDI messages that are used for remote controlling Live s user interface elements page 477 3 MIDI messages coming from and going to Live s MIDI tracks MIDI messages that are mapped to remote control Live s user interface elements are eaten up by the remote control assignment and will not be passed on to the MIDI tracks This is a common cause of confusion that can be easily resolved by looking at the indicators 14 4 ReWire Slave Routing Live can operate as a ReWire master or slave in cooperation with another ReWire application As a ReWire master Live can send MIDI to and receive audio from any ReWire slave applica tion installed on the same computer Routing and I O 177 WL Fron s Audio From F harra I Wi Mix Ll F Monitor Monitor honitor PTTiiiitiiitt lL Ru TELE RELI ta fe al An Audio Track Receiving Audio From and a MIDI Track Sending MIDI to Reason The following example shows how to send MIDI from one of Live s MIDI tracks into an instrument within Propellerhead s Reason and then route the a
10. Controller values 64 and above are treated like Note On messages Controller values 63 and below are treated like Note Off messages e Switches For track activators and on off buttons in devices controller values that are within the mapping s Min and Max range turn the switch on Controller values that are above or below this range turn it off You can reverse this behavior by setting a Min value that is higher than its corresponding Max value In this case controller values that are out side of the range turn the switch on while values inside the range turn it off For all other switches such as transport controls controller values 64 and above turn the switch on while controller values below 64 turn it off Radio Buttons The controller s 0 127 value range is mapped onto the range of avail able options Continuous Controls The controller s 0 127 value range is mapped onto the param eter s range of values Live also supports pitch bend messages and high precision 14 bit Absolute controller mes sages with a 0 16383 value range The above specifications apply to these as well except that the value range s center is at 8191 8192 26 2 4 Mapping to Relative MIDI Controllers Some MIDI controllers can send value increment and value decrement messages instead of absolute values These controls prevent parameter jumps when the state of a control in Live and the corresponding control on the hardwar
11. Fine Fixed Level ea e Te E W nO 5 0 0 dB a ne Oscillator A s Display and Shell Parameters Built in Waveforms The oscillators come with a built in collection of basic waveform types sine sawtooth square triangle and noise which are selected from the Wave chooser in the individual oscillator dis plays The first of these waveforms is a pure mathematical sine wave which is usually the first choice for many FM timbres We also added Sine 4 Bit and Sine 8 Bit to provide the retro sound adored by C64 fans and Saw D and Square D digital waveforms which are espe cially good for digital bass sounds The square triangle and sawtooth waveforms are resyn thesized approximations of the ideal shape The numbers included in the displayed name e g Square 6 define how many harmonics are used for the resynthesis Lower numbers sound mellower and are less likely to create aliasing when used on high pitches There are also two built in noise waveforms The first Noise Looped is a looping sample of noise For truly ran dom noise choose Noise White Live Instrument Reference 409 User Waveforms The User entry in the Wave chooser allows you to create your own waveforms by drawing the amplitudes of the oscillator s harmonics You can also select one of the built in waveforms and then edit it in the same way The small display next to the Wave chooser gives a realtime
12. Rock Lead 7 54 Gain Bass Middle Treble Presence Dry Wet 10 0 10 0 651 2 22 8 57 100 The Amp Effect Amp is an effect that emulates the sound and character of seven classic guitar amplifiers Devel oped in collaboration with Softube Amp uses physical modelling technology to provide a range of authentic and usable amplifier tones with a simple and consistent set of controls The full version of Amp is not included with the standard version of Live but is bundled with the Cabinet effect page 295 as a special feature available for purchase separately There are seven amp models to choose from e Clean is based on the Brilliant channel of a classic amp from the 60s This amp was widely used by guitarists of the British Invasion Live Audio Effect Reference 288 e Boost is based on the Tremolo channel of the same amp and is great for edgy rock riffs e Blues is based on a 7Os era guitar amp with a bright character This classic amp is popu lar with country rock and blues guitarists e Rock is modeled after a classic 45 watt amp from the 60s This is perhaps the best known rock amp of all time e Lead is based on the Modern channel of a high gain amp popular with metal guitarists e Heavy is based on the Vintage channel of the same amp and is also ideal for metal and grunge sounds e Bass is modeled after a rare PA from the 70s which has become popular with bass players due to its
13. The Hit knob adjusts the location on the resonator at which the object is struck or otherwise ac tivated At 0 the object is hit at its center Higher values move the activation point closer to the edge This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The Hit position can also be randomized by increasing the value of the Rd Random slider below the knob Live Instrument Reference 393 Mixer Section Collision Excitator LFO MIDI Resonator 1 Resonator 2 Mallet Noise LF B06 Hz 1 82 Copy to 2 Marimba Fu Volume nuses Volume Tune Fine Ratio Decay Material Listening Sg Ol Q Q 4 O 30 dB 0 0 30 dB Ost Oct 40 26 J K 0 K K 400 s deai Brightness ListeningR 47 yV vf vf r 1 1 f i A Stitt Pitch Envelope 9 55 97 wil es5 y A Pitch Time Inhkarmorncs Hit 83 10 gt a 34 Key 0 0 100 ms 6 3 50 nf Vel 0 0 Vel df Ve 100 Off Decay 44 R Resonator Mixer Each resonator has its own Volume and Pan controls Pan can also be modulated by note pitch via the K Key slider below the knob The Bleed control mixes a portion of the original oscillator signal with the resonated signal At higher values more of the original signal is applied This is useful for restoring high frequencies which can often be damped when the tuning or quality are set to low values 24 2 4 LFO Tab Collision x Resonator 1 Resonator 2 7 gt m a roz Hz 1 GopioA Marimba Fu Tune Fine Ratio Decay Material Liste
14. The full version of Cabinet is not included with the standard version of Live but is bundled with the Amp effect page 287 as a special feature available for purchase separately The Speaker chooser allows you to select from a variety of speaker sizes and combinations The chooser s entries indicate the number of speakers and the speaker size in inches For example 4x12 means four 12 inch speakers In the real world more and larger speakers generally means higher volumes The Microphone chooser changes the position of the virtual microphone in relation to the speak er cabinet Near On Axis micing results in a bright focused sound while Near Off Axis is more resonant and a bit less bright Choose the Far position for a balanced sound that also has some characteristics of the virtual room Live Audio Effect Reference 296 A a Near Off Axis Near On Axis Far Cabinet Mic Positions The switch below the Microphone chooser toggles between a Dynamic and Condenser mic Dynamic mics are a bit grittier and commonly used when close micing guitar cabinets because they are capable of handling much higher volumes Condenser mics are more accurate and are commonly used for micing from a distance Of course Cabinet s virtual condenser mic won t be damaged by high volume levels so feel free to experiment The Output switch toggles between mono and stereo Dual processing Note that in Dual mode Cabinet uses twice as much CP
15. 1 in the timeline e Use the start marker s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu to select the Set 1 1 1 Here command Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 127 Set 1 1 1 Here Warp From Here Warp From Here Start at 123 00 BPM Warp From Here Straight Warp 123 00 BPM From Here Warp as 128 Bar Loop Using the Context Menu to Direct Auto Warp Directing Auto Warp is also relatively simple when you have imported a perfectly cut loop You can tell Auto Warp to work accordingly using the Warp As Bar Loop command Live will pro pose a loop length that makes the most sense given the current Live Set s tempo Decreasing the Live Set s tempo can for instance lead Live to assume the loop is 8 bars at 90 BPM instead of 16 bars at 180 BPM Sometimes more accurate control of Auto Warp is necessary The best way to go about warping a clip that requires more detailed attention is in sections working gradually from left to right You can set a Warp Marker by double clicking in the sample to the right of each correctly warped section pinning it into place The shortcuts for working with the clip loop brace and start end markers can speed up this process considerably page 104 You might also find it helpful to select multiple Warp Markers for moving by selecting them with the Shift or CTRL PC CMD Mac modifiers held down The four Warp From Here commands provide various ways of resetting Warp Markers
16. 30 5 1 Mixer Overview 0 000 ff ES PIL EEREREREROC gt EERE RO E E ji i o nowation Launchpad Mixer Overview This is the view displayed when pressing the Mixer button It provides an overview of the main mixing controls in Live The top four rows of pads indicate the status of track volume and track pan as well as sends A and B for each track e if the parameter is at its default value the pad is dimmed e if the parameter is NOT at its default value the pad is fully lit Hitting the pad will instantly set the parameter to its default value O dB for volume center for pan O for sends The bottom four rows of pads and the bottom four buttons on the right provide direct access to key controls for each track e pads in the stop row will stop the clip currently playing in this track e pads in the trk on row will mute this track the pads turn off e pads in the solo row will solo this track p Using the Launchpad 557 e pads in the arm row will arm this track The bottom four buttons on the right provide additional control for each track e the stop button will stop all clips currently playing e the trk on button will mute all tracks all pads turn off e the solo button will un solo all soloed tracks e the arm button will un arm all armed tracks 30 5 2 The Volume Page he Gbisica novation Launchpad Volume Page Press the vol butt
17. Chapter 9 Audio Clips Tempo and Warping Unlike music stored on tape or in a traditional digital audio workstation the music in Live remains elastic at all times Live is capable of time warping samples while streaming them from disk so as to synchronize them to the current Live Set s tempo This happens without affecting the pitch which can be changed independently Mixing and matching audio from different origins is therefore extremely easy 9 1 Tempo 9 1 1 Setting the Tempo rAPMAOOO Nn 464 Ow 4 Bar The Control Bar s Tempo Field The Control Bar s Tempo field allows you to change the playback tempo of your Live Set at any time in real time You can even automate the tempo page 266 to create smooth or sudden tempo changes along the song timeline For maximum tempo control during performance you can MIDI map page 477 separate controllers to the Tempo field on both sides of the decimal point Setting one knob to control coarse tempo in BPM and another to control fine tempo in hundredths of a BPM allows for enough precision to adjust to live performers or other unsynchro nized sources Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 118 You can have an external sequencer or drum machine play along with Live or have Live play along with the sequencer The respective settings are made in the MIDI Sync Preferences and the EXT switch next to the tempo control is activated to have Live follow an external MIDI clock source Please
18. Gednsietmeetteesuteeuest 209 Wew Command soree 51 Next locator button s ssssssessssesessisisssseseseresee 73 normalizing rendered audio cccceeee 45 Kole EdilOn cise sins ora 134 Note Length effects cccccccccesesseeeesees 368 Noles DOK asni eta n acenceereones 99 O wae o a A A A 59 Open Open Recent command c c00 5 Op ra emer ney ere are eee ere 406 GIG MEMS EA TEE 407 liasing and Tone nnise 410 AMS flessen 409 and CPU resources s s s 416 L DSS ccisssecceteeee cesarean eneneucers 412 TIF A E E T E STEE 414 Glide and Spredd as cctavacecenu 416 glo balcontrolssrassia 415 AVOUT EE E AA T EEE 406 EE EE retest EET ETE EA All OSCIIGIO MS aa rte enettss 408 parameter hoheren E a 417 Overdrive effec srsgse ganepe 342 Overdubbing in SESSION elips scenei tes Caan 209 in the Arrangement ccccccceeeseeseees 207 P Pam eoniro lissen aSa 193 Paste Time command in the Arrangement cccccccceseseeeseees 83 Phaser eteti uendran Aia 343 Ping Pong Delay effect ccccceseeseeeees 345 E E E E em EE S 369 Play DUHON umre 71 Plug In Configure Mode c cccccesecseeeees 229 PIG GS VECIOUTOM oteractermam srentacurmaemneng 228 plug ins in the DROW SEM a crtsatne ce ariea 226 Plug In Unfold button cccccccceseeseeeeees 228 PIGTETONCES sesiis disrann a R 8 and recording Clibs icceAleiiieiek 214 Pre Post ewite hies cynnen 198 Preserve choose eenen e se ridebaasaree 130 presel
19. In contrast frozen tails are rendered as audio and so will stop abruptly during playback Any parameter automations are rendered as part of the audio file for frozen Arrangement View clips Frozen Session View clips however take a snapshot of all parameter values at the Ar Audio Fact Sheet 577 ranger s 1 1 1 position and retain them for the duration of the frozen clip This is analogous to the behavior with unfrozen clips when playing normal clips in Session View any Arrangement automations are punched out until the Back to Arrangement button is pressed Frozen clips are always played back with Warp on and in Beats mode which means they are subject to the same non neutral behavior as any other Warped audio files Any devices with random parameters e g the Chance control in the Beat Repeat device will no longer exhibit random behavior after freezing This is because as with time based effects the random values that were in place at the moment of freezing will be rendered as part of the new file and will thus no longer be calculated in real time Please note that the Flatten command replaces any original clips and devices with the audio files created by freezing When using this command it is important to keep in mind the special cases above what you hear after freezing is exactly what you will get when flattening so if the results are not to your liking be sure to unfreeze and make any necessary changes to de
20. The Pickup section simulates the behavior of the magnetic coil pickup that amplifies the sound of the resonating fork The R W buttons switch between two different types of pickups In the R position Electric simu lates electro dynamic pickups while W is based on an electro static model The Input knob is used to adjust the amount of the fork s signal that is fed to the pickup which in turn affects the amount of distortion applied to the overall signal The Output knob controls the amount of signal output by the pickup section Different combinations of these two knobs can yield very different results For example a low amount of input with a high amount of output will produce a cleaner sound than a high input with a low output The output level can be further modulated by note pitch via the Key scaling control The Symmetry and Distance knobs adjust the physical location of the pickup in relation to the tine Symmetry simulates the vertical position of the pickup In the center position the pickup is directly in front of the tine which results in a brighter sound Turning the knob to the left or right moves the pickup below or above the tine respectively Distance controls how far the pickup is from the tine Turning the knob to the right increases the distance while turning it to the left moves the pickup closer Note that the sound becomes more overdriven as the pickup approaches the tine 24 3 6 Global Section The Global section
21. We depart from the clip we just set up to fade out over eight bars Activate the clip volume envelope s Loop switch Now as you play the clip you can hear the eight bar fade out repeat ing You can draw or edit any envelope to superimpose onto the sample loop This of course not only works for volume but for any other control as well how about a filter sweep every four bars Note that you can create as much time as needed in the Envelope Editor either by dragging the loop braces beyond the view limit or by entering values into the numeric region loop controls You can choose an arbitrary loop length for each envelope including odd lengths like 3 2 1 It is not hard to imagine great complexity and confusion arising from several odd length enve lopes in one clip The Sample Left and Envelope Right Start Marker To keep this complexity under control it is important to have a common point of reference The start marker identifies the point where sample or envelope playback depart from when the clip Starts Note that the start end markers and loop brace are subject to quantization by the zoom adap tive grid page 82 as is envelope drawing 20 5 3 Imposing Rhythm Patterns onto Samples So far we have been talking about imposing long envelopes onto small loops You can also think of interesting applications that work the other way around Consider a sample of a song that is several minutes long This sample could be play
22. You can then convert the edited clip back into a groove via the process below 12 2 1 Extracting Grooves The timing and volume information from any audio or MIDI clip can be extracted to create a new groove You can do this by dragging the clip to the Groove Pool or via the Extract Groove command in the clip s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Extract Grooves From Audio or MIDI Clips Grooves created by extracting will only consider the material in the playing portion of the clip Note grooves cannot be extracted from clips in the Intro and Lite Editions 12 3 Groove Tips This section presents some tips for getting the most out of grooves Using Grooves 160 12 3 1 Grooving a Single Voice Drummers will often use variations in the timing of particular instruments in order to create a convincing beat For example playing hi hats in time but placing snare hits slightly behind the beat is a good way of creating a laid back feel But because groove files apply to an entire clip at once this kind of subtlety can be difficult to achieve with a single clip Provided your clip uses a Drum or Instrument Rack one solution can be to extract the chain page 254 containing the voice that you want to independently groove In this example we d extract the snare chain cre ating a new clip and track that contained only the snare notes Then we could apply a different groove to this new clip 12 3 2 Non Destructive
23. a 2 Chain Hide o M simpenen isc ISOM Slapback j 0 935 4 IENEN VerbBuzzer i mes a s i Drop Audio Effects Here Auto Select in an Audio Effect Rack When the Auto Select switch is activated every chain that is currently processing signals be comes selected in the Chain List In Drum Racks this feature will select a chain if it receives its assigned MIDI input note In Instrument and Effect Racks Auto Select works in conjunction with Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 244 zones which are discussed next and is quite helpful when troubleshooting complex configura tions 18 5 Zones Zones are sets of data filters that reside at the input of every chain in an Instrument or Effect Rack Together they determine the range of values that can pass through to the device chain By default zones behave transparently never requiring your attention They can be reconfig ured however to form sophisticated control setups The three types of zones whose editors are toggled with the buttons above the Chain List are Key Velocity and Chain Select The adjacent Hide button whisks them out of sight Note Audio Effect Racks do not have key or velocity zones since these two zone types filter MIDI data only Likewise Drum Racks have no zones at all they filter MIDI notes based on choosers in their chain lists Zones contain a lower main section used for resizing and moving the zone itself and a
24. and compressed file formats MP3 AAC Ogg Vorbis Ogg FLAC and FLAC Please note that not all of these file formats can be played in the Lite Edition A note on using Variable Bit Rate VBR files Please install QuickTime for decoding purposes if you do not already have it on your system It can be downloaded from the Apple website As Live plays the samples directly from disk you can work with a large number of large samples without running into RAM memory limitations Please note however that you may run into disk throughput problems if your disk is nearly full and or on Windows systems highly fragmented Hard drive rotation speed can also affect disk performance Refer to the section on managing the disk load page 571 for more information Live can combine uncompressed mono or stereo samples of any length sample rate or bit depth without prior conversion To play a compressed sample Live decodes the sample and writes the result to a temporary uncompressed sample file This usually happens quickly enough that you will be able to play the sample right away without waiting for the decoding process to finish Note When adding a long sample to a project Live might tell you that it cannot play the sample before it has been analyzed Please see the section on analysis page 42 for an explana tion 5 2 1 The Decoding Cache To save computational resources Live keeps the decoded sample files of compressed samples in the cache
25. audio hardware hearing sensitiv ity etc Furthermore this paper makes no claims about how Live compares to other audio soft ware Rather it is a summary of measurable facts about what Live actually does under various conditions 33 1 Testing and Methodology As of this writing every version of Live is subjected to a suite of 473 automated tests that cover every aspect of Live s functionality We add additional tests as we add features and we will never release an update unless it passes every test 33 2 Neutral Operations Procedures in Live that will cause absolutely no change in audio quality are referred to as neu tral operations You can be sure that using these functions will never cause any signal degrada tion Applying neutral operations to audio that was recorded into Live ensures that the audio will be unchanged from the point of analog to digital conversion Applying neutral operations to Audio Fact Sheet 574 files imported into Live ensures that the imported audio will be identical to the files saved on disk Applying neutral operations to files being exported from Live ensures that the quality of your output file will be at least as high as what you heard during playback The list of neutral operations found below is provided primarily as an abstract reference while all of these operations are in fact neutral it is important to remember that each of them may and almost certainly will occur within a context that
26. configured to be mono in the Audio Preferences When the signal has passed through the device chain it ends up in Live s mixer page 191 As the Session and Arrangement share the same set of tracks they also share the mixer The mixer can be shown in both views for convenience To optimize the screen layout the individual mixer sections can be shown or hidden using the View menu s entries ans 5 fe 8 inf inf a 5 cel 8 m e AN oa 4 The Live Mixer in the Arrangement View Left and Session View Right Live Concepts 25 The mixer has controls for volume pan position and sends which adjust the contribution each track makes to the input of any return tracks Return tracks only host effects and not clips Via their sends all tracks can feed a part of their signal into a return track and share its effects The mixer also includes a crossfader page 199 which can create smooth transitions between clips playing on different tracks Live s crossfader works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader ex cept that it allows crossfading not only two but any number of tracks including the returns pen a T o iw amp on ag e ie b Live s Crossfader Devices that receive and deliver audio signals are called audio effects Audio effects are the only type of device that fit in an audio track or a return track However two more types of de vices are available for use in MIDI tracks MIDI
27. e Adjust parameters in any of the devices e If you re using multiple devices group them to a Rack e Drag the entire Rack to the appropriate folder in Defaults Audio to MIDI in your User Li brary 17 2 Using Plug Ins Working with Instruments and Effects 226 The collection of devices that you can use in Live can be extended with plug ins Live supports Steinberg Media s VST Plug ins format as well as the Audio Units AU Plug ins format Mac OS X only Working with VST and Audio Units Plug ins is very much like working with Live devices VST and AU instruments can only be placed in Live MIDI tracks and like Live instruments they will receive MIDI and output audio signals Plug in audio effects can only be placed in audio tracks or fol lowing instruments Please see the previous section Using the Live Devices page 219 for details Name d Sounds fa Amber OO Drums E AmberFX Instruments fa Cypher ah Audio Effects E CypherFx MIDI Effects E dblue_Glitch_vi_3 O Max for Live Diva Fusor i S g Samples iZotope Meter Tap iZotope Ozone 5 Plug Ins in the Browser Audio Units and VST Plug ins are browsed and imported using the browser s Plug In label Plug in instruments can be differentiated from plug in effects in the browser as they appear with a keyboard icon Note that plug in presets are only available in the browser for Audio Units Plug ins In some instances fa
28. find it by using the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu s Locate Folder command or tell Live to forget this folder via the Remove from Sidebar command You can also use this command to remove folders that aren t missing but which you simply don t want to work with anymore Managing Files and Sets 37 5 1 3 Searching for Files Live s browser is equipped with a search field that filters the contents of the selected sidebar la bel as you type To search across all locations press CTRL F PC CMD F Mac d Sounds E Analog OO Drums Collision oo A Instruments fee Electric The Browsers Search Field The results will include files that match all search terms as opposed to any For example if you search for acoustic bass the search will yield all acoustic bass sounds not all acoustic sounds and all bass sounds For mouse free searching we suggest the following sequence of shortcuts 1 CTRL F PC CMD F Mac to place a cursor in the search field 2 Type your search terms 3 Down arrow key to jump to the search results 4 Up and down arrow keys to scroll the search results 5 ESC to clear the search field showing all of the contents of the selected sidebar label Previewing Files Live allows you to preview samples clips and instrument presets in the browser before they are imported into the program To enable previewing activate the Preview switch next to the Prev
29. i i i P i Clips in the Session View Left and in the Arrangement View Right The Arrangement is accessed via the Arrangement View page 69 and the Session via the Session View page 87 you can toggle between the two views using the computer s Tab key Live Concepts 17 or their respective selectors Because the two views have distinct applications they each hold individual collections of clips However it is important to understand that flipping the views sim ply changes the appearance of the Live Set and does not switch modes alter what you hear or change what is stored The Arrangement and Session View Selectors The Arrangement View and the Session View interact in useful ways One can for instance im provise with Session clips and record a log of the improvisation page 94 into the Arrange ment for further refinement This works because Arrangement and Session are connected via tracks 4 4 Tracks Tracks host clips and also manage the flow of signals as well as the creation of new clips through recording sound synthesis effects processing and mixing A Track in the Arrangement View The Session and Arrangement share the same set of tracks In the Session View the tracks are laid out in columns while in the Arrangement View they are stacked vertically with time moving from left to right A simple rule governs the cohabitation of clips in a track A track can only play one clip
30. laa z Ii i z 3 i i ai be 1 F iy j m i a Es EEJ fii Pot b t So Session View Clip and Navigation Controls Pressing a Clip Launch button triggers the clip in the corresponding clip slot in Live If the track is armed to record pressing the button records a new clip The buttons in the matrix light up in different colors so you know what s going on e Amber this slot contains a clip e Green this clip is playing e Red this clip is recording Many aspects of the Live interface are replicated in the APC4O You can stop all music in a track with its Clip Stop button and fire horizontal lines of clips with the Scene Launch buttons Stop All Clips does just that The controller tells you what s going on in the software but importantly the software also re flects what s happening on the controller The clip slots currently being controlled by the APC s button matrix are shown in Live with a red border Using the APC4O 532 The directional arrows and Shift button increase the scope of the eight by five grid e Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene ata time Hold the Shift button while hitting Up or Down to move five scenes up or down e The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time Hold the Shift but ton while hitting Left or Right to move eight tracks at a time 28 3 Session Overview The APC40 s Session Overview lets
31. modulating multiple parameters including themselves Each LFO can be free running or synced to the Live Set s tempo and LFOs 2 and 3 can produce stereo modulation effects The Auxiliary Envelope On the left the Auxiliary Aux envelope functions much like the envelopes in the Pitch Osc tab with Initial Peak Sustain and End levels ADSR Loop mode and slope points This envelope can be routed to 29 destinations in both the A and B choosers How much the Auxiliary envelope will modulate destinations A and B is set in the two sliders to the right LFOs 1 2 and 3 The remaining space of the Modulation tab contains three Low Frequency Oscillators LFOs As the name implies Sampler s LFOs operate by applying a low frequency below 30 Hz toa parameter in order to modulate it Engage any of these oscillators by clicking the LFO 1 LFO 2 or LFO 3 switches Type Sampler s LFOs have 6 different waveshapes available Sine Square Triangle Saw tooth Down Sawtooth Up and Sample and Hold Live Instrument Reference 449 Rate With Hz selected the speed of the LFO is determined by the Freq slider to the right With the note head selected the LFO will be synced to beat time adjustable in the Beats slider to the right Freq The LFO s rate in Hertz cycles per second adjustable from 0 01 to 30 Hz Beats This sets the LFO s rate in beat time 64th notes to 8 bars LFO Attack Attack This is the time needed
32. now has improved filters a detachable display that shows the frequency spectrum of the output signal and allows multiple filter dots to be adjusted simul taneously optional Adaptive Q and Audition modes and a number of other improve ments e Compressor page 299 now has an Auto Release mode which automatically adjusts the release time based on the incoming audio A Dry Wet control allows for easy paral lel compression The Ratio can be set below 1 1 for upward expansion The shape of the envelope follower can be switched between linear and logarithmic Finally a new display shows input and output levels making it easier to adjust parameters e Live s Gate effect page 323 now responds more accurately There is also a new Re turn control also known as hysteresis to help reduce chatter when the level changes quickly near the threshold as well as a sidechain EQ Finally a new display shows input and output levels making it easier to adjust parameters e The Multiband Dynamics device page 336 now has a sidechain circuit allowing it to be triggered based on the level of another signal 1 2 11 Ableton Push e Support for Ableton Push page 489 an instrument for song creation that provides hands on control of melody and harmony beats sounds and song structure First Steps 7 Chapter 2 First Steps 2 1 Learn About Live Live comes with a set of interactive lessons to take you step by step through
33. the length of the entire Arrangement Arrangement View 76 If you import a MIDI file page 49 into the Arrangement you ll be given an option to import any time signature information that was saved with the file If you choose to do this Live will au tomatically create time signature markers in the correct places This makes it very easy to work with complex music created in other sequencer or notation software 6 5 The Arrangement Loop The Control Bar s Loop Switch For Live to repeatedly play a section of the Arrangement activate the Arrangement loop by clicking on the Control Bar s Loop switch so o The Loop Start Fields Left and the Loop Length Fields Righi You can set loop length numerically using the Control Bar fields The left hand set of fields deter mines the loop start position while the right hand set determines loop length The Edit menu s Loop Selection command accomplishes all of the above at once It turns the Ar rangement loop on and sets the Arrangement loop brace to whatever timespan is selected in the Arrangement i At 49 Ay 65 Ta ie Seca PR ah Pc Pe ha Ween ee Se Ce gt Chars 1 gt Verse 2 gt Chorus 2 Verse 3 5 Ce a GE Tr COT varian va qe The Arrangement s Loop Brace Bass Synth rhodes Arrangement View 77 The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and manipulated with commands from the com puter keyboard e the right and lef
34. tings User Button Using Push 514 User Settings Pad Threshold sets the softest playing force that will trigger notes More force is required at high er settings Note that at lower settings notes may trigger accidentally and pads may stick on Velocity Curve determines how sensitive the pads are when hit with various amounts of force and ranges from Linear a one to one relationship between striking force and note velocity to various logarithmic curves Higher Log values provide more dynamic range when playing softly Lighter playing styles may benefit from higher Log values The diagram below demonstrates the various velocity curves with striking force on the horizontal axis and note velocity on the vertical axis Linear Note Velocity Note Velocity Striking Force gt Log 2 Note Velocity Note Velocity 1 Striking Force gt Log 4 Note Velocity 1 Striking Force gt Diagram of Push s Velocity Curves Using Push 515 Log_1 Default 127 Striking Force gt Log 3 127 Striking Force gt Log 5 127 Note Velocity Striking Force gt The Workflow option determines how Push behaves when the Duplicate New or Up Down arrow buttons are pressed Which mode you choose depends on how you like to organize your musical ideas In Scene Workflow which is the default musical ideas are organized and navi gated in scenes In Clip Workflow you re wo
35. 100 the unvoiced noise gen erator is always on At 0 only the main carrier source is used The Fast Slow switch adjusts how quickly Vocoder switches between unvoiced and voiced detection Vocoder s large central area shows the levels of the individual bandpass filters Clicking within this display allows you to attenuate these levels The Bands chooser sets the number of filters that will be used Using more bands results in a more accurate analysis of the modulator s frequency content but requires more CPU The Range sliders adjust the frequency range over which the bandpass filters will operate For most sources a fairly large range works well but you may want to adjust the outer limits if the sound becomes too piercing or bassy The BW control sets the bandwidth of the filters At low percentages each filter approaches a single frequency As you increase the bandwidth you increase the overlap of the filter bands A bandwidth of 100 is the most accurate but higher or lower settings can create interesting effects The Precise Retro switch toggles between two types of filter behavior In Precise mode alll fil ters have the same gain and bandwidth In Retro mode bands become narrower and louder at higher frequencies Gate sets a threshold for the filterbank Any bands whose levels are below the threshold will be silent The Level slider boosts or cuts Vocoder s output Depth sets how much of the modulator s amplitude env
36. 128 WAPIN G kere eer ence eR ener tee ener ea eee 119 longer piec Spsrsanmsea n 125 manipulating GrOOVES ccceceeseesesees 124 MUMS chipsi iania 128 odd length loops cccccceseeseseeeeseeeeees 124 SIFGIQIT odp Snesere anatieaceanss 123 tempo master slave cccccccseseseneeees 120 WNEULIGODS rarr 123 Warb Marke senera A 120 anad CM SISMIS esse gpn 121 E NE e POA E A EEE AE TEA 121 SVIN orega e acaet tes 122 SAVIN SEMINGS s ccctavrann aeeconalarossnccuesnetans 111 Warp Mode choosel cccccccscsccsesseseseesesees 129 Warp MOGES aparey 129 Warp S Wile niaii A teeta 103 Widen Grid command cccccesseseseseteesesesees 82 Z Zoom Display eisso snee a a Mela cass 8 Zooming in Arrangement VieW ccccccceceereeseeees 69 iA Clip VIG W isign 104 Index 611
37. 173 for the track 2 Insert a synthesizer such as Analog page 375 in another track Again you can either create a MIDI clip to drive this synthesizer or play it live 3 Set the vocoder s Carrier chooser to External 4 Select the synthesizer track in the vocoder s Audio From choosers For best results choose Post FX in the bottom chooser 5 If you re creating your synthesizer and vocal material in real time make sure the Arm but ton is enabled on both tracks 6 Play the synthesizer as you speak into the microphone You ll hear the rhythm of your speech but with the timbral character and frequencies of the synthesizer To hear the vo coded signal alone solo the voice track so that the normal synthesizer track is muted Note you ll generally get the best results if your synthesizer sound is bright and rich in harmon ics Try sawtooth based patches to improve the intelligibility of the voice For even more bright ness and clarity try adjusting the Unvoiced control and or enabling Enhance Formant Shifter If the Vocoder is set to use the modulator as its own carrier it can be used as a powerful formant shifter To do this Live Audio Effect Reference 362 1 Set the Carrier chooser to Modulator 2 Set the Depth to 100 3 Enable Enhance Now experiment with different settings of the Formant knob to alter the character of the source For even more sound sculpting possibilities try adjusting the vari
38. 185 8 Pad 3 9 Pad 10 Pad 2 faster Stop Clips MiG From MIDI From MIDI From fionitor MIDI To eee te To moro To li ii H T ii l T J Feeding an Additional MIDI Track Into an Existing MIDI Track to Reuse its Instrument This is accomplished by setting the new MIDI track s Output Type chooser to Pad Note that the Output Channel chooser now offers a selection of destinations We can either feed the new track s output into the input of the pad track or we can directly address the Simpler The Track In option in the Output Channel represents the pad track s input signal the signal to be record ed which is not what we want We instead select Simpler Ch 1 to send the new track s MIDI directly to the Simpler bypassing the recording and monitoring stage With this setup we can choose to record new takes on either track and they will all play the same pad sound Audio 8 Pad 3 9 Pad 10 Pad 2 Master Stop Clips Audio From MIDI From MID From MIDI From TEIE AI Channes __ EAIChanes Monitor Monitor Monitor lim Auto C Auto Lin Auto Ort Cue Out Audio To MIDI To Audio To MIDI To ii Master Master Pad master Out ar ii 1 2 On Ol 1 The Instrument Has Been Isolated in a Dedicated Track We might be bothered by the fact that muting the pad track by turning off its Activator switch also mutes the other MIDI track To be
39. 25 50 Wel 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 wel 0 00 ey 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Fix Pog Key STRING Decay Key katig Inharmi Damping K ey i Delay Attack Fate Amount Error 7a a 0 00 30 5 50 is 50 4 O00 SO5ms S09ms 51Hz 50 So 50 He 50 is E TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stiff Fret Stiff PICKUP BODY Decay Low Cut High Cut SirBody Volume Vi ky A A OK Position Piano o M rn 50 50 50 25 03 0 0 o 0 0 dB Tension s Termination Section The Termination section models the interaction between the fret finger and string On a physical instrument this interaction is used to change the effective length of the string which in turn sets the pitch of the note played The physical parameters of the finger are adjusted with the Fing Mass and Fing Stiff knobs which set the force the finger applies to the string and the finger s stiffness respectively The Mass amount can be additionally modulated by velocity or note pitch via the sliders The stiffness of the fret is modelled with the Fret Stiff parameter Live Instrument Reference 464 The Pickup Section Tension siring Filter slobal 7y i EXCITATOR Protrusion Stiffness Velocity Position Damping DAMPER Mass Stifness Velocity Position Damping Petum A A AY AY AY AX o A A a A WA 50 60 25 50 50 50 i 50 25 50 Vel 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 Vel 0 00 Key 0 00 4 0 00 q 0 00 q 0 00 4 FixiPos Key 0 00 000 0 00 00 A STRING i Key ratio ihar amp
40. 3 Session Overview The APC20 s Session Overview lets you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without look ing at your computer screen Hold down the Shift button and the matrix zooms out to reveal an overview of your Session View In the Session Overview each clip launch button represents a five scene by eight track block of clips giving you a matrix of 125 scenes by 64 tracks Hit a button to focus on that section of the Session View For example hitting the Shift button and then pressing the button in row three column one will put the focus on scenes 11 15 and tracks 1 8 In the Session Overview the color coding is a little different e Amber indicates the currently selected block of clips which will be surrounded by a bor der in the software Green there are clips playing in that block of clips though that may not be the block of clips selected e Red there are no clips playing in that range e No color there are no tracks or scenes in that range 29 4 Transport and Global Buttons Live s Play Stop and Arrangement Record buttons are all easily accessible while MIDI Overdub lets you overdub page 209 ona MIDI clip Using the APC20 545 kd e a e ho oo a we ni e j Transport and Global Controls 29 5 Mixer The Mixer section gives you control of your mix as well as all soloing pre cueing muting pans sends and more The APC20 features eight trac
41. 33 af 4 45 49 gt Bridge gt Chorus E ooon CEN Jeans l l l l I I E E E l E B kat l l l l II Wot Wot Wot lI lI Il I Wt It II i gutar hon Quits meri PLR ia rhadeas Using Locators to Launch Play in the Arrangement Locators can be set at any point in the Arrangement This can be done in real time during play back or recording with the Set Locator button and will be quantized according to the global quantization value set in the Control Bar Clicking the Set Locator button when the Arrangement is not playing will create a locator at the insert marker or selection start You can also create a locator using the context menu in the scrub area above the tracks or via the Create menu Note that the position of a new locator is quantized according to the Control Bar s Quantization menu setting The Locator Controls You can recall jump to locators by clicking on them or with the Previous and Next Locator buttons on either side of the Set button Locators can also be recalled using MIDI key mapping page 477 Note that locator recall is subject to quantization Double clicking a locator will select it and start Arrangement playback from that point After jumping to the first or last locator in the Arrangement the Previous and Next Locator but tons will jump to the Arrangement start or end respectively Locators can be moved by clicking and dragging or with the arrow keys on your computer key boar
42. 477 assigned to the tempo Clip Envelopes 267 Chapter 20 Clip Envelopes Every clip in Live can have its own clip envelopes The aspects of a clip that are influenced by clip envelopes change depending upon clip type and setup clip envelopes can do anything from representing MIDI controller data to automating or modulating device parameters In this chapter we will first look at how all clip envelopes are drawn and edited and then get into the details of their various applications 20 1 The Clip Envelope Editor Use the Clip View Box Selector to bring up the Envelopes Box To work with clip envelopes bring up the Clip View s Envelopes box by clicking the E button at the bottom of the Clip View The Envelopes box contains two choosers for selecting an envelope to view and edit Clip Envelopes 268 01 CBRZ wav Warp 44 1 kHz 16 Bil 1 Ch Seg BPM Hid Fade RAM Transpose OO Ost Deturee 0 00 dB ern The Clip View s Envelopes Box The top menu is the Device chooser which selects a general category of controls with which to work Device chooser entries are different for different kinds of clips e Audio clips have entries for Clip the clip s sample controls every effect in the track s device chain and the mixer e MIDI clips have entries for MIDI Ctrl MIDI controller data every device in the track s device chain and the mixer The bottom menu the Cl
43. 567 for more tips on improving performance Rendering Video Video Create Video File Video Encoder QuickTime Movie Edit Video Encoder Settings Edit k Liwe will ronder the output of the chosen track over the selected time range 8 1 1 12 1 1 he rendered audio file is then used to create a video which will be saved in the same directory as the audio file Video Rendering Options Note video rendering is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions In addition to settings for audio rendering the Export dialog provides additional options for rendering video e Create Video File If this is activated a video file will be created in the same directory as your rendered audio Note that this option is only enabled if you have video clips in the Arrangement View Also it is not possible to only render a video file enabling video rendering will always produce a video in addition to rendered audio e Video Encoder This chooser allows you to select the encoder to use for the video ren dering The choices you have here depend on the encoders you have installed e Edit Video Encoder Settings This button opens the settings window for the selected en coder Note that the settings options will vary depending on the encoder you have chosen Certain encoders have no user configurable options In this case the Edit button will be disabled Once you ve made your selections and clicked OK to begin t
44. 6 9 Finally Operator is the result of an intense preoccupation with FM synthesis and a love and dedication to the old hardware FM synthesizers such as the Yamaha SY77 the Yamaha TX81Z and the NED Synclavier Il FM synthesis was first explored musically by the composer and computer music pioneer John Chowning in the mid 1960s In 1973 he and Stanford University began a relationship with Yamaha that lead to one of the most successful commercial musical instruments ever the DX7 John Chowning realized some very amazing and beautiful musical pieces based on a synthesis concept that you can now explore yourself simply by playing with Operator in Live We wish you loads of fun with it 24 6 10 The Complete Parameter List The function of each Operator parameter is explained in the forthcoming sections Remember that you can also access explanations of controls in Live including those belonging to Opera tor directly from the software by placing the mouse over the control and reading the text that appears in the Info View Parameters in this list are grouped into sections based on where they appear in Operator Global Shell and Display Time This is a global control for all envelope rates Tone Operator is capable of producing timbres with very high frequencies which can some times lead to aliasing artifacts The Tone setting controls the high frequency content of sounds Higher settings are typically brighter but also more lik
45. 82 Drum Rack pads 250 Fangere tecie n anA A 319 Fold BUHO Mesonen sunentancersen ee 138 Folow ACHONS saccticscican sa chuleguatnaciamienoned 164 importing Tle Siitescwcrntssetessctmredecen matter 39 Follow COMMANA egesi ZOOS lapo e a an AA 403 Follow Swit Clix caatetceansiceseaete 70 105 121 137 and individual outputs 0 406 fragmentary IOUS siren Ra aa 75 ON MIDI DO 404 Freeze Track COMMOANG srunieiii 569 FINS ES 405 Frequency Shifter effect cccceceeseseeees 320 global controls w c cesceeseesseeseesseeseeseeee 405 e E E S E EEE 322 Link bUIHON annen 404 Full Screen Mode e E TRE Aes EE eee 10 pan and volume IE ETET 405 sample slots and controls 403 saturator and envelope cccceceeeees 405 Start Transpose and Stretch 04 404 ER E A E E T EE 7 insert Se A E E ETE 219 MSNU Enie O iaeeaehc 219 0 Ufo alla A E E E 226 Le PEA ER E 195 Insert Audio Track command ccc00 195 inser make ir ES 71 Insert MIDI Clip command 133 Insert MIDI Track command ccccceeees 195 Insert Return Track command ccccee 199 Insert Scene command ccccceseeeseeseteeeeees 93 Insert Silence command s s ssssssesessssssseseseee 84 Insert Time command inthe MIDILEdiO einicce toch cata 142 Insert Time Signature Change command 74 K keyboard shortcuts cccccccseseceseeseeteeees 591 Key Map Mode switch cccecccesceseeeesees 487 Key MIDI In Indicator c cccccee
46. A slope of zero is linear the envelope will move at the same rate throughout the segment Attack Slope A Slope Adjusts the shape of the Attack envelope segment Decay Slope D Slope Adjusts the shape of the Decay envelope segment Release Slope R Slope Adjusts the shape of the Release envelope segment Live Instrument Reference 426 Context Menu Parameters Certain operations and parameters in Operator are only available via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu These include Copy commands for Oscillators The right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu of the oscillator s shell and envelope display provide options for copying parameters between oscilla tors Envelope commands The right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu for all envelope displays provide options to quickly set all envelope levels to maximum minimum or middle val ues Harmonics editor commands The context menu for the harmonics editor can restrict partial drawing to even or odd harmonics and toggle normalization of an oscillator s output level There is also a command to export the waveform as an ams file Play By Key This command in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu for the filter s Freq control optimizes the filter for key tracking by setting the cutoff to 466 Hz and set ting the Freq lt Key to 100 Live 8 Legacy Mode This command in the right click PC CTRL
47. Arrangement View is up Live will render the selected time range If you would like to render the current Arrangement loop choose the Select Loop command from the Edit menu prior to choosing Export Audio Video If you choose Export Audio Video while the Session View is up Live will ask you to specify the length of the sample to be rendered The Export Audio Video dialog will come up with a bars beats sixteenths field where you can type in the desired length Live will capture audio starting at the current play start position for whichever duration you have specified Thus the rendered audio is what you would hear if you pressed the space bar Remember a rendered audio file contains only what you heard prior to rendering So for ex ample if you re playing back some combination of Session View clips and Arrangement mate rial then that is what will be captured in your rendered file regardless of which view is active when you render Managing Files and Sets 45 Audio Rendering Options Audio Rendering Options The Export dialog offers several audio rendering options e Normalize If this is activated the sample resulting from the render process will be nor malized i e the file will be amplified so that the highest peak attains the maximum avail able headroom e Render as Loop If this is activated Live will create a sample that can be used as a loop For example suppose your Live Set uses a delay effect If R
48. Clip Groove Chooser Clip View 102 The Open Groove Pool entry in this chooser can be used to open the Groove Pool if it is closed If you want to quickly try out a variety of grooves you can enable the Hot Swap button above the chooser and then step through the grooves in the browser while the clip plays The Commit button under the chooser writes the current groove settings to the clip and disables the assigned groove If the groove uses the Velocity parameter committing on an audio clip will create a volume Clip Envelope page 267 in order to convert the groove s velocity informa tion into audio volume changes Note that this will overwrite any volume Clip Envelope that was already in the clip 8 1 5 Clip Offset and Nudging To jump within a playing clip in increments the size of the global quantization period you can use the Nudge buttons in the Clip box Clip Using the Nudge Buttons to Jump Through a Clip These buttons can also be mapped to keys or MIDI controllers page 477 In MIDI Map Mode a scrub control will appear between the Nudge buttons and can be assigned to a rotary encoder wheel for continuous scrubbing Clip View 103 The Scrub Control in MIDI Map Mode With quantization set to values less than one bar it is easy to offset clip playback from Live s master clock by launching clips using the Nudge buttons or scrubbing within the clip page 105 8 2 The Sample Box 8 2 1 Warp Cont
49. Dest B to Filter Freq Live Instrument Reference 415 Tip The right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on the Frequency knob contains an entry called Play by Key This automatically configures the filter for optimal key tracking by setting Freq lt Key to 100 and setting the cutoff to 466 Hz The filter s signal can be routed through a waveshaper whose curve type can be selected via the Shaper chooser The Drive slider boosts or attenuates the signal level being sent to the wave shaper while the overall balance between the dry and processed signals can be adjusted with the Dry Wet control With this set to 0 the shaper and drive parameters are bypassed 24 6 6 Global Controls The global section contains parameters that affect Operator s overall behavior Additionally the global display area provides a comprehensive set of modulation routing controls The maximum number of Operator voices notes playing simultaneously can be adjusted with the Voices parameter in the global display Ideally one would want to leave this setting high enough so that no voices would be turned off while playing however a setting between 6 and 12 is usually more realistic when considering CPU power Tip Some sounds should play monophonically by nature which means that they should only use a single voice A flute is a good example In these cases you can set Voices to 1 If Voices is set to 1 another effect occurs Overlapping voices
50. Drag mel Record then E Speed Feedback oe cmp Sang control E A y k I Clean start Song e 30 Quantization Tempo control input Output Sel amp Follow song tempor The Looper Effect Note the Looper effect is not available in the Lite Edition Looper is an audio effect based on classic real time looping devices It allows you to record and loop audio creating endless overdubs that are synced to your Set If the Set is not playing Looper can analyze incoming audio and set Live s tempo to match it You can also predefine a loop length before recording and Live s tempo will adjust so that your loop fits into the speci fied number of bars Furthermore audio can be imported to Looper to create a background for newly overdubbed material or exported from Looper as a new clip The top half of Looper s interface is a large display area optimized for easy readability during performance During recording the entire display area turns red After recording the display shows the current position in the loop and the total loop length in bars and beats Looper s transport buttons work in a similar way to other transport controls in Live The Record button records incoming audio until another button is pressed This overwrites any audio cur rently stored in Looper Overdub continues to add additional layers of incoming audio that are Live Audio Effect Reference 332 the length of the originally recorded mater
51. E AA na EET Te Pe 375 GM ISPS EAE EEEE 380 architecture and interface 0006 376 envelope Sain Ar RE 381 PIETS a AE AE 379 global parameters cccccseseeeseeeeees 384 Steet cari Genet A acces 383 NOISE GENELALOL eeeeeseeseeeteeeteeeeeeees 378 OSOS i eee ere 377 analysis TSS sirin aAA 42 storing clip settings in cceceeseeeeees 111 APC Oh coh E EREN 541 APA r he 529 Arm Recording button 194 206 209 259 Arpeggiator effect s s s 363 dnd Grooves morea E RS t 365 Arrangement Overview cccccccsesseereereeteeees 70 Arrangement Position fields 72 Arrangement Record button cccccececeees 94 Arrangement View cccccseseseeeereeteeteeses 69 and copying to Session 96 and Session VieWw c cccccccceeseeeeeeeeeeee 16 rids p01 0 9 gasse 82 inser LOKET oor 71 lbopna o INE a anne ner te aoe ie 76 NAVIJOHON ac tutrneceslee nandusoneccsluenerbieancualess 69 recording new clips in the c6 207 SCRUM EC na ie e a A 71 E 0 E E EA E A 17 Audio Fact Sheet s ssesesseseeesssesisirersses 573 NEUiGl ODSrANONSiSenseaceacateetentae 573 non neutral Operations ccccceceeeees 578 testing and methodology 0000 573 Index 601 NG PRAE E P E E EEE E E 581 Audio Preferences 8 Auto Filter effect c cccccccsesscsesesessceeseseeeees 290 Auto Hide Plug In Windows preference 228 GULOMGNON rrna eE 28 257 andana MeS nanena an 263 GUNE S E
52. E Goon L_ Alack Relig Offset Aifack SS ae Slereo Key Losa CP 0 Coor a am o00 a _ Bfor e e L LFO Stereo Mode Stereo LFOs 2 and 3 can produce two types of stereo modulation Phase or Spin In phase mode the right and left LFO channels run at equal speed and the Phase pa rameter is used to offset the right channel from the left In spin mode the Spin parameter can make the right LFO channel run up to 50 faster than the left Like the Auxiliary envelope LFOs 2 and 3 contain A and B choosers where you can route LFOs to many destinations Zoned Sample Pitch Osc Filte Global Modulations MIDI amp Val Fiter Fite OQ LFOs 2 ane 3 Live Instrument Reference 451 24 7 10 The MIDI Tab D Sampler Zoned Sample ePidwOsce FitenGlobal Modulations MIDI Destination A Amount A Destination B Amount B Key Velocity Off vel Aftertouch S AIM FP LIEIR S Mod wheel L FOsame __j i00 00djor_ _ _ ____ C w 00 Foot Ctr Pitch Bend Pitch Bend Range 2 st The MIDI Tab The MIDI tab s parameters turn Sampler into a dynamic performance instrument The MIDI con trollers Key Velocity Release Velocity Aftertouch Modulation Wheel Foot Controller and Pitch Bend can be mapped to two destinations each with varying degrees of influence determined in the Amount A and Amount B sliders For example if we set Velocity s Destination A to
53. External Instrument s first MIDI To chooser 5 The second chooser presents you with a list of the instruments that you currently have in your Reason rack select the instrument you want to address 6 From the External Instrument s Audio From chooser select the audio channel that corre sponds to the instrument to which you are sending MIDI 7 Arm the MIDI track 8 Adjust the External Instrument s Gain knob as necessary 14 5 Resampling Live s Master output can be routed into an individual audio track and recorded or resampled Resampling can be a fun and useful tool as it lets you create samples from what is currently hap pening in a Live Set that can then be immediately integrated It can be used to record tracks that include processor intensive devices so as to delete the devices or for quickly previewing before rendering to disk page 43 The Resampling option in any audio track s Input Type chooser will route the Master output to that track You can then decide on what exactly you will be resampling and mute solo or other wise adjust the tracks that are feeding the Master output You will probably want to use the Mas ter Volume meter to make sure that your level is as high as possible without clipping indicated by red in the meter Then you can arm the track and record into any of its empty clip slots page Routing and O 179 208 Note that the recording track s own output will be suppressed while
54. Guitar F Aor 6 Aud i Fad A Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From MID From No Input g 4 Guilar 4 Guilar_ i 12 ji Post FXS jj Post Mixer Monitor Monitor Monitor In Lin Auto a On An Example Setup for Post Effects Recording This is easily accomplished by devoting a special audio track for processing and monitoring the incoming guitar signal We call this track Guitar and drag the desired effects into its device chain We do not record directly into the Guitar track instead we create a couple more tracks to use for recording Those tracks are all set up to receive their input Post FX from the Guitar track Note that we could also tap the Guitar track Post Mixer if we wished to record any level or pan ning from it As for monitoring we set the Guitar track s Monitor radio button to In because we always want to listen to our guitar through this track no matter what else is going on in Live The other tracks Monitor radio buttons are set to Off Recording MIDI as Audio When working with MIDI and complex software instruments it is sometimes more useful to re cord the resulting audio than the incoming MIDI A single MIDI note can prompt for example Routing and I O 183 Native Instruments Absynth to produce something that sounds more like a piece of music than a single tone This output lends itself more to representation as an audio waveform than a single note ina MIDI cli
55. If there are no transients within your time selection a Warp Marker will be created at the end of the selection Although Live usually does a good job of placing transients in the right places you can delete and create transients as well via the corresponding commands in the Create menu Saving Warp Markers Your Warp Markers will automatically be saved with the Live Set but you may also want to save them with the sample file itself so that they are reconstructed anytime you drag the file into Live To do this click the Clip View s Save button page 111 Note that if a sample has a saved set of Warp Markers page 42 Auto Warp will have no effect When this is the case you can use any of the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu commands described in this section to initiate auto warping Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 123 9 2 3 Using Warp Markers In the following sections we will look at a couple of applications for time warping samples Warping is of course an optional property of clips Syncing Straight Loops When you import a sample that represents a well cut musical loop of 1 2 4 or 8 bars in length Live usually makes the correct assumptions to play the loop in sync with the chosen tempo It cre ates two Warp Markers one at the sample s beginning and one at the end A Two Bar Loop as lt Appears in the Clip View by Default The Seg BPM field displays Live s guess of the loop s tempo
56. Key a Pulse Bass F 1 Small a Medium Show in Browser Manage Sample GA Sample Pih Ose Filtentsiobal Modulation MIDI E m es age A Normaline Volumes han Normalize Pan Select All With Same Range D Pulse Bass C1 Sort Alphabetically Ascending Sort Alphabetically Descending ED Real Sampie Sort by Key Ascending 1 Mode Loop Start Loop End Crossfade Deiume interpol Cor Pul e Bass C2 Sele 2s q E Link a 56043 Lo Loa Norm Snap Roolkhey Deturee Sort bey Velocity Ascending Mode Release Loop Croasslade Deturme Poon 81 oad Sort by Velocity Descending ASIP C2 C o Ma RAW Son by Selector Ascending Sart by Selector Descending aveforms SynthiBass Pulee Bas The Sample Layer Lists Context Menu Pressing right click PC CTRL click Mac within the sample layer list opens a context menu that offers options for sorting and displaying the layers distributing them across the keyboard and various other sample management and housekeeping options Delete Deletes the currently selected sample s Duplicate Duplicates the currently selected sample s Rename Renames the selected sample Distribute Ranges Equally Distributes samples evenly across the editor s full MIDI note range C 2 to G8 Distribute Ranges Around Root Key For layers that have different root keys this option will distribute their
57. Limiter will output If your incoming signal level has no peaks that are higher than the ceiling Limiter will have no effect The Stereo L R switch determines how Limiter treats peaks that occur on only one side of the stereo signal In L R mode Limiter functions as two separate limiters with independent limiting for each channel Stereo mode applies limiting to both channels whenever either of them has a peak that requires compression L R mode allows Limiter to apply more compression but with some distortion of the stereo image The Lookahead chooser affects how quickly Limiter will respond to peaks that require compres sion Shorter Lookahead times allow for more compression but with an increase in distortion particularly in the bass The Release knob adjusts how long it takes for Limiter to return to normal operation after the signal falls below the ceiling With Auto enabled Limiter analyzes the incoming signal and sets an appropriate release time automatically Live Audio Effect Reference 331 The meter gives a visual indication of how much gain reduction is being applied to the signal Note that any devices or channel faders that appear after Limiter may add gain To ensure that your final output will never clip place Limiter as the last device in the Master track s device chain and keep your Master fader below O dB 22 21 Looper a 0 i D Looper kb fh e gt Hi BPM 176 54 Length 4 00 G G e
58. MA Auto On iA Auto on GR Auto On A Auto on Audio To Audio To Audio To MIDI To MIDI To CLL E OrorOr Tracks Feeding MIDI to and Tapping Audio From the Parts of a Multi Timbral Instrument oe Ltt Sending MIDI from the mixer to a multi timbral instrument is a variation of a case described above page 184 One MIDI track hosts the multi timbral instrument and additional MIDI tracks are used to feed its individual parts Each additional MIDI track has its Output Type chooser pointed to the track that contains the instrument and its Output Channel chooser refer encing the target MIDI channel Additional audio tracks can then be used to tap the instrument s individual outputs as described earlier page 186 It is also possible to use the External Instrument device to route MIDI to and audio from the secondary outputs on multi timbral plug ins This scenario eliminates the need to create an ad ditional audio track for each tapped output 1 Insert the multi timbral instrument on a MIDI track 2 Insert an External Instrument device on another MIDI track 3 Select the track that contains the instrument in the first MIDI To chooser on the External Instrument device Routing and O 188 4 Select the MIDI channel to route to in the second chooser on the External Instrument de vice 5 From the External Instrument s Audio From chooser select a secondary output on the in strument to which you are sendi
59. MIDI keyboard and advancing the insert marker according to the grid settings This process known as step recording allows you to enter notes at your own pace without needing to listen to a metronome or guide track Recording New Clips 211 na Step Recording in the MIDI Editor 1 Arm the MIDI track that contains the clip into which you want to record 2 Enable the Preview switch in the clip s MIDI Editor 3 Click in the MIDI Editor to place the insert marker at the position where you want to begin recording Pressing the right arrow key on your computer keyboard will move the insert marker to the right according to the grid settings Any notes that are held down as you press the right arrow key will be added to the clip If you continue holding notes as you press the right arrow key again you will extend their duration To delete notes that you ve just recorded keep them depressed and press the left arrow key The step recording navigators can also be MIDI mapped page 214 16 4 Recording in Sync Live keeps the audio and MIDI you have recorded in sync even when you later decide on a different song tempo In fact Live allows you to change the tempo at any time before after and Recording New Clips 212 even during recording You could for instance cheat a bit by turning down the tempo to record a technically difficult part and pull it up again afterwards It is important to record in sync to make sure ever
60. Maintenance of the cache is normally not required as Live automatically deletes older files to make room for those that are new You can however impose limits on the cache size using the File Folder Preferences Decoding Cache section The cache will not grow larger 5 http www apple com quicktime download Managing Files and Sets 42 than the Maximum Cache Size setting and it will always leave the Minimum Free Space on the hard disk Pressing the nearby Cleanup button will delete all files not being used by the current Live Set 500 00 ME Preferences for the Decoding Cache 5 2 2 Analysis Files asd An analysis file is a little file that Live creates when a sample file is brought into the program for the first time The analysis file contains data gathered by Live to help optimize the stretching quality speed up the waveform display and automatically detect the tempo of long samples page 125 When adding a long sample to a project Live might tell you that it cannot play the sample be fore it has been analyzed This will not happen if the sample has already been analyzed i e Live finds an analysis file for this sample or if the Record Warp Launch Preferences Auto Warp Long Samples preference page 119 has been deactivated An analysis file can also store default clip settings for the sample Clicking the Clip View s Save button page 111 will store the current clip s settings with the sample s analysi
61. Missing AA Seen AWS 04 07 06 i wav Missing NA Automatic Repair Options in the File Manager e Search Folder includes a user defined folder as well as any sub folders in the search To select the folder click the associated Set Folder button e Search Project includes this Set s project folder in the search e Search Library includes the Live Library in the search For each missing file the automatic search function may find any number of candidates Let s consider the following cases e No candidate found you can choose another folder and try again or locate the sample manually e One candidate found Live accepts the candidate and considers the problem solved e Several candidates found Live requires your assistance Click the Hot Swap button i e the leftmost item in every line of the list of missing files to have the browser present the candidates in Hot Swap Mode You can now double click the candidates in the browser to load them as the music plays if you like Managing Files and Sets 62 5 8 Collecting External Files To prevent a Live Set from containing broken file references Live provides the option of collect ing i e copying them into the Set s project folder This is accomplished via the File Manager e Choose the Manage Files command from the File menu e Click the Manage Set button e Unfold the triangular shaped fold button in the External Files section Options for Co
62. Mode Whenever the Sustain Loop is active Release Mode can also be enabled Live Instrument Reference 440 The volume envelope s release stage is active but will occur within the Sustain Loop with playback never proceeding beyond Loop End Release Enabled When the volume envelope reaches its release stage playback will proceed linearly towards Sample End Release Loop Enabled When the volume envelope reaches its release stage playback will proceed linearly until reaching Sample End where it jumps immediately to Release Loop and continues looping until the volume envelope has completed its release stage Back and Forth Release Loop Enabled When the volume envelope reaches its release stage playback will proceed linearly until reaching Sample End then reverses until it reaches Release Loop then proceeds again towards Sample End This pattern continues until the volume envelope has completed its release stage Sustain Loop Release Loop oneg Sampe Pilg ise Filbertsievb Modulation MID Sustain and Release Loops Release Loop sets the start position of the Release Loop The end of the Release Loop is the Sample End a k Loop Start Loop End 844757 Link Release Loop i 478599 The Release Loop Slider Live Instrument Reference 441 Sustain and Release Loop Crossfade Crossfade Loop crossfades help remove clicks from loop transitions By default Sampler uses constant power f
63. More specifically it reoresents all chains no matter how deep in the Rack that are able to receive that pad s note What you can control with each pad is related to how many chains it represents e An empty pad shows only the note it will trigger When you mouse over it the Status Bar will display this note as well as the suggested GM instrument e A pad that triggers only one chain shows the name of the chain In this case the pad serves as a handy front end for many controls that are normally accessed in the chain list such as mute solo preview and Hot Swap You can also rename and delete the chain via the pad e A pad that triggers multiple chains shows Multi as its name and its mute solo and pre view buttons will affect all of its chains If you mute and solo chains individually within the chain list the pad s icons reflect this mixed state Hot Swap and renaming are disabled for a Multi pad but you can delete all of its chains at once Although Pad View is designed for easy editing and sound design it also excels as a perfor mance interface particularly when triggered by a hardware control surface with pads If your pad controller is one of Ableton s natively supported control surfaces page 478 simply select it as a control surface in the MIDI Sync tab of Live s Preferences From then on as long as you have a Drum Rack on a track that s receiving MIDI your pad controller will trigger the pads that are visibl
64. Performance Controller is a dedicated controller for Ableton Live co designed by Ableton and Akai Professional This chapter will help you set up your APC4O and introduce its capabilities 28 1 Setup The APC4O is one of Live s natively supported control surfaces page 478 so setup is easy Once the APC4O has been powered on and connected to your computer s USB port it will be automatically configured by Live If it does not configure properly you can manually select the APCAO in Live s Preferences 1 Open Live s Preferences from the Live menu in OS X or the Options menu in Windows 2 Go to the MIDI Sync Tab 3 Select the APC4O preset from the Control Surface chooser Then select the port that the APC4O is connected to in the Input and Output choosers 8 http www akaipro com Using the APCAO 530 Preferences E Control Surface input APC20 USB Audio Device USB Audio Device Dumip Takeover Mode Setting Up The APC4O 28 2 Clip Launch Matrix The APC40 s matrix of buttons gives you physical access to the clips in your Session View page 87 The matrix has 40 three color buttons arranged in a five scene deep by eight track wide grid The color coding system lets you know exactly what is happening in each clip and directional controls let you move around inside your Session View Using the APC4O 531 aamun oe TAS Soe ba ba he ha ee CO O OC Fa
65. Rate Repeat The envelope will be retriggered after this amount of beat time as long as it is still on When retriggered the envelope will move at the given attack rate from the current level to the peak level Envelope Loop Time Time If a note is still on after the end of the decay sustain segment the envelope will start again from its initial value The time it takes to move from the sustain level to the initial value is defined by this parameter As mentioned above Sampler s envelopes also provide parameters that adjust the slope of their envelope segments Positive slope values cause the envelope to move quickly at the beginning then slower Negative slope values cause the envelope to remain flat for longer then move Live Instrument Reference 439 faster at the end A slope of zero is linear the envelope will move at the same rate throughout the segment All time based values in this tab are displayed in either samples or minutes seconds milliseconds which can be toggled using the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on any of their parameter boxes Samples in this context refer to the smallest measurable unit in digital audio and not to the audio files themselves which we more commonly refer to as samples Sample Start The time value where playback will begin If the volume envelope s Attack pa rameter is set to a high value slow attack the audible result may begin some time later than
66. S 101 S e E T 113 saving files on export cceceseeseeseteeeees 63 SAVING settings FOF s s s 111 setting properties Of cccccececceseteeeees 97 Clip Signature felds seuicicinsausiem ues 101 Clip Stop DUNON crnisss 88 AAdING TEMOVING cecscscscsesesetetetseseeees 93 Clip Update Rate preference cceeeee 116 GIP Vie Wnai diond ener 97 and playing the Arrangement 72 and remote control mapping 486 Koil eRe 210 E ES 106 Clip View boxes selector 134 161 267 Clip View Box selector ccccccsceeseeeeeee 100 Collect Files on Expor srcu 63 CNIS OM keyptir raa eens 386 architecture and interface 0004 386 Global S6COncritawincen ee eaeenents 395 LO scat A TEE 393 Mallet section exteria ices masctursecan uaarscaceens 387 MIDHAD e Rete rt neers ero eres sorerretane 394 NOISE SECTION inene 388 RESONGIO Sen etann e E 389 sound design HIPS cceecseseeeeseeeeeteeees 396 Complete Fragmentary Bar command 75 Complex Mode scrie n 131 Complex Pro Mode xcdioiveatsrineneteieienaeseoss 132 Compressor e ff6Ct cccccccccscsesesseseseteeseeeees 299 GING SIG SCN GING iain n tele 303 and Upgrade button 305 Compressor effect tips cccccceceseteeeeeeees 304 Computer MIDI Keyboard button 174 Consolidate command cccccceseesesetseseees 84 Consolidate Time to New Scene command 96 control surfaces and takeover mode
67. Simpler s title bar and choosing the Simpler gt Sampler command Live Instrument Reference 453 24 8 1 Sample View The Sample View displays the sample waveform Samples can be dragged into Simpler either directly from the browser or from the Session or Arrangement View in the form of clips In the latter case Simpler will use only the section of the sample demarcated by the clip s start end or loop markers Samples can be replaced by dragging in a new sample or by activating the inte grated Hot Swap button 24 8 2 Sample Controls Simpler plays a specific region or loop of the sample as determined by a group of sample con trols The Start and Length controls work together to specify where Simpler begins and ends its sweep of the sample As the name implies Start defines where sample playback starts The sample will play for the length defined by the Length parameter Both parameters are defined as a percent age of the whole region so setting start to 25 percent and length to 50 percent for example will start playback 1 4 of the way through the sample and stop playback at the 3 4 mark using 50 percent of the sample Samples are played by Simpler as one shots or as loops depending on whether or not the Loop switch is active When looping is active the Loop control dictates the length of the loop starting from the end of the playing sample Simpler will play the first instance of a looped sample begin ning with the Star
68. The DirectMusic architecture on Windows allows outgoing MIDI events to be scheduled by the operating system rather than scheduled by Live alone so performance may differ depending on whether or not you re using MME or DirectMusic mode If you experience timing issues we recommend switching to the other mode This is set in the MIDI Ports list in the MIDI Sync Preferences MIDI Fact Sheet 589 MID Ports rack Sync Remote Selecting the MIDI Port Type Windows 34 6 Summary and Conclusions Ableton wrote this paper in order to help users understand a variety of related topics e the inherent problems in computer based MIDI systems e our approach to solving these problems in Live e additional variables that we cannot account for As mentioned before the best way to solve MIDI timing issues in your studio is to use the highest quality hardware components available For users of such components all software MIDI sys tems should perform with no noticeable issues For users with less than optimal hardware how ever Live still offers an additional degree of accuracy by minimizing jitter but at the expense of a small amount of additional latency We encourage you to refer to this paper if you have any questions about Live s approach to MIDI timing but we also encourage you to contact us if you have additional questions or con cerns that we haven t addressed 14 https www ableton com help MIDI Fact Sheet 590 Live Keyb
69. There is also the flexible Waveshaper mode featuring six adjustable waveshaping parameters In the Analog Clip and Digital Clip modes the signal is clipped completely and immediately Soft Sine Medium Curve and Hard Curve modes soften signal clipping to varying degrees Sinoid Fold mode can be good for special effects The most dramatic effects can be created by selecting the Waveshaper curve which has its own dedicated set of controls To access these six parameter fields unfold the Saturator window by toggling the button in its title bar The Waveshaper mode s six additional parameters are Drive Lin Curve Damp Depth and Period e Drive determines how much the input signal will be influenced by the Waveshaper param eters Setting Drive to zero will negate the effect entirely e Lin works together with the Curve and Depth parameters to alter the linear portion of the shaping curve e Curve adds mostly third order harmonics to the input signal e Damp flattens any signal near the grid s origin It behaves like an ultra fast noise gate e Depth controls the amplitude of a sine wave that is superimposed onto the distortion curve e Period determines the density of ripples in the superimposed sine wave The DC button activates a DC filter at Saturator s input stage This is mainly useful for removing DC offsets from audio material that contains them Activating the Color button enables two filters The first of these
70. When loading Sets that were made in earlier versions Jump will be selected automatically 22 31 Spectrum The Spectrum Device Live Audio Effect Reference 355 Note the Spectrum device is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Spectrum performs realtime frequency analysis of incoming audio signals The results are repre sented in a graph with dB along the vertical axis and frequency pitch along the horizontal The peak levels are retained on the graph until the song is restarted Note that Spectrum is not an audio effect but rather a measurement tool it does not alter the incoming signal in any way The Block chooser selects the number of samples that will be analyzed in each measurement Higher values result in better accuracy but at the expense of increased CPU load Channel determines which channel is analyzed left right or both The Refresh slider determines how often Spectrum should perform an analysis As with the Block parameter this allows for a tradeoff between accuracy and CPU load A fast response time is more accurate but also more CPU intensive The Avg slider allows you to specify how many blocks of samples will be averaged for each up date of the display With a setting of one each block is shown This results in much more activity in the display which can be useful for finding the spectrum of short peaks As you increase the Avg value the display updates more smoothly providing an average
71. Within Live s built in lessons you will find a Control Surface Reference that lists all currently sup ported hardware complete with the details of their instant mappings Lessons can be accessed at any time by selecting the Help View option from the View menu Note You can always manually override any instant mappings with your own assignments In this case you will also want to enable the Remote switches for the MIDI ports that your control surface is using This is done in the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Sync Preferences tab and is described in the next section Instant mappings are advantageous because the control surface s controllers will automatically reassign themselves in order to control the currently selected device in Live Contro Surfaces Can Follow Device Selection In addition to following device selection natively supported control surfaces can be locked to specific devices guaranteeing hands on access no matter where the current focus is in your Live Set To enable or disable locking right click PC CTRL click Mac on a device s title bar and then select your preferred controller from the Lock to context menu You ll recognize the same list of control surfaces that you defined in the MIDI Sync Preferences By default the instrument in a MIDI track will automatically be locked to the control surface when the track is armed for recording MIDI and Key Remote Control 480 Cut Copy R
72. a Drum Rack the Pad Section is divided the lower left 16 pads play the Drum Rack the lower right 16 pads adjust the loop length of the clip and the up per four rows control the step sequencer Session Mode When selected the Pad Section changes to launch clips in Live s Session View Shift press and hold Shift while pressing other buttons on the controller to access additional functionality Arrow Keys move through your Live Set in Session Mode and between tracks or scenes clips in Note Mode Select In Session Mode hold Select and press a clip to select the clip without launching it This will also display the clip name in the display In Note Mode hold Select and press a Drum Rack pad to select its notes without triggering the pad Add Section Add Section These buttons add new devices or tracks to your Live Set Add Effect opens Browse Mode to add a new device to the right of the currently selected device Hold Shift while pressing Add Effect to add the new device to the left of the currently selected device Tip to add a MIDI Effect first select the instrument in a track Then hold Shift while pressing Add Effect Using Push 518 Add Track creates a new MIDI track to the right of the currently selected track Press and hold Add Track to select a different type of track to add Audio MIDI or Return Note Section Note Section These buttons adjust how notes are played on t
73. a damper functions to mute the string rather than activate it it is somewhat analogous to a hammer and shares some of the same parameters The Mass knob controls how hard the damper s surface will press against the string As you in crease the value the string will mute more quickly The stiffness of the damper s material is adjusted with the Stiffness control Lower values simulate soft materials such as felt while higher values model a metal damper Note that very high Mass and Stiffness values can simulate dampers that connect with the string hard enough to change its effective length thus causing a change in tuning The Velocity control adjusts the speed with which the damper is applied to the string when the key is released as well as the speed with which it is lifted from the string when the key is de pressed Be careful with this parameter very high Velocity values can cause the damper to hit the string extremely hard which can result in a very loud sound on key release Note that the state of the Gated switch determines whether or not the Velocity control is enabled When the Gated switch is turned on the damper is applied to the string when the key is released With Gated off the damper always remains on the string which means that the Velocity control has no effect Live Instrument Reference 463 The Mass Stiffness and Velocity parameters can be further modulated by note pitch via the sliders below The stiffn
74. a standard ADSR attack decay sustain release design and features velocity modulation and looping capabilities The attack time is set with the Attack slider This time can also be modulated by velocity via the Att lt Vel slider As you increase the Att lt Vel value the attack time will become increasingly short er at higher velocities The time it takes for the envelope to reach the sustain level after the attack phase is set by the Decay slider The Sustain slider sets the level at which the envelope will remain from the end of the decay phase to the release of the key When this knob is turned all the way to the left there is no sustain phase With it turned all the way to the right there is no decay phase The overall envelope level can be additionally modulated by velocity via the Env lt Vel slider Live Instrument Reference 382 The S Time slider can cause the Sustain level to decrease even if a key remains depressed Lower values cause the Sustain level to decrease more quickly Finally the release time is set with the Release knob This is the time it takes for the envelope to reach zero after the key is released The Slope switches toggle the shape of the envelope segments between linear and exponential This change is also represented in the envelope visualization Normally each new note triggers its own envelope from the beginning of the attack phase With Legato enabled a new note that is played while another not
75. aS Fiz Freg Resa Q o ee 396 Hz Display and Shell Parameters for the two Filters Analog s two multi mode filters come equipped with a flexible routing architecture multiple sat uration options and a variety of modulation possibilities As with the oscillators all parameters can be set independently for each filter The Fil 1 and Fil 2 switches in the shell toggle the respective filter on and off The chooser next to the filter activator selects the filter type from a selection of 2nd and 4th order low pass band pass notch high pass and formant filters The resonance frequency of the filter is adjusted with the Freq knob in the shell while the amount of resonance is adjusted with the Reso control When a formant filter is chosen in the chooser the Reso control cycles between vowel sounds Live Instrument Reference 380 Below each mode chooser is an additional control which differs between the two filters In Filter 1 the To F2 slider allows you to adjust the amount of Filter 1 s output that will be sent to Filter 2 The Slave switch below Filter 2 s mode chooser causes this filter s cutoff frequency to follow the cutoff of Filter 1 If this is enabled Filter 2 s cutoff knob controls the amount of offset between the two cutoff amounts If any of Analog s modulation sources are controlling Filter 1 s cutoff Filter 2 will also be affected by them when Slave is enabled In addition to the envelope control
76. ad justed via envelopes page 78 The Clip Fade switch is on by default for all new clips when the Create Fades on Clip Edges op tion is enabled in the Record Warp Launch Preferences Loop Warp Short Samples Auto Warp Long Samples on Default Warp Mode Automatically Create Short Fades At Clip Edges Clip View 113 8 2 8 Clip RAM Mode The RAM Mode Switch If the RAM Mode switch is on Live is loading the audio referenced by the clip into the com puter s memory rather than reading it from disk in real time RAM Mode can help with these problems e Your computer s hard disk is too slow to deliver audio for as many tracks as desired in real time For more information on disk related problems please refer to Managing the Disk Load page 571 e You are experiencing audio dropouts when playing clips in Legato Mode page 164 e Use RAM Mode with care as RAM is usually a scarce resource Your computer is using the hard disk for swapping out RAM contents that have not been used in a while The more clips you are running in RAM Mode the higher the likelihood for them to be swapped out Live can handle disk overloads more gracefully than swapped out audio arriving late Disk overloads result in unwanted mutes whereas RAM overload results in both mutes and rhythmical hiccups 8 2 9 Reversing Samples The Reverse Button This function creates a new sample by reversing the sample referenced by the current
77. adding it to the folder When saving presets that contain samples to a new location Live may copy the samples de pending on the settings in the Collect Files on Export chooser in the Library Preferences You can then type in a new name for the device or confirm the one suggested by Live with Enter 5 6 3 Managing Files in a Project Live s File Manager offers several convenient tools for managing Projects Once you ve opened a Live Set that is part of the Project you wish to manage choose the Manage Files command from the File menu and then click the Manage Project button The File Manager will present you with an overview of the Project s contents and tools for e locating files that the Project is missing e collecting external files into the Project page 62 e listing unused files in the Project page 64 e packing a Project in Pack format page 65 5 7 Locating Missing Files If you load a Live Set Live Clip or preset that references files which are missing from their ref erenced locations Live s Status Bar located at the bottom of the main screen will display a warning message Clips and instrument sample slots that reference missing samples will appear marked Offline and Live will play silence instead of the missing samples Live s File Manager offers tools for repairing these missing links Click on the Status Bar message to access these This is actually a shortcut for choosing the Manage Files command f
78. ail Warn 44 1 ke 16 Ba 2 Ch Edil Save Rev Seq BP Hi Fae RAM 98 00 Transpose Fs 2 Loop l Tones a Pasilian Grain Size Ost af all 4 Deiure Lengih 47 32 0 cl 0 00 dE 4 0 O Using Clip Start and End Controls to Change Clip Length You can also adjust the clip start and end numerically using the respective value fields to the left of the Sample Display For warped clips these fields display values as bars beats sixteenths for unwarped clips the display is in minutes seconds milliseconds Notice that you can use the Set buttons here to place the markers during playback Setting markers this way is quantized ac cording to global quantization When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live s Look Feel Preferences clicking in the lower half of the waveform or in the beat time ruler will make clip playback jump to that point Clip View 107 oe ae ee i Li ee ee eee ee eee The Clip Scrub Area The size of this jump is quantized by the global quantization setting which can be quickly changed using the CTRL 6 PC CMD 6 Mac 7 8 9 and 0 shortcuts While the mouse is held down over the scrub area a portion of the clip the size of the chosen quantization setting will be repeatedly played With small quantization settings or a setting of None this allows you to scrub through the music When the Permanent Scrub Areas preference is off you can still scrub by Shift clicking any whe
79. are not relevant and do not affect the sound Instead the Auto Filter offers two kinds of sample and hold The upper sample and hold type available in the chooser provides independent random modulation generators for the left and right channels stereo while the lower one modulates both channels with the same signal mono 22 3 Auto Pan Phase Shape l 180 26 2 To Ciitset 60 0 The Auto Pan Effect Note the Auto Pan effect is not available in the Lite Edition Auto Pan offers LFO driven manipulation of amplitude and panning for creating automatic pan ning tremolo and amplitude modulation and beat synchronized chopping effects Auto Pan s LFOs modulate the amplitude of the left and right stereo channels with sine triangle sawtooth down or random waveforms The Shape control pushes the waveform to its upper and lower limits hardening its shape The waveform can be set to Normal or Invert use Invert to for example create the saw up waveform from the saw down waveform LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo Though both LFOs run at the same frequency the Phase control lends the sound stereo move ment by offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be Live Audio Effect Reference 293 perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reac
80. be discarded immediately when unfreezing You can also decide to flatten frozen tracks which completely replaces the original clips and devices with their audible result The Flatten command is available from the Edit menu Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 571 Besides providing an opportunity to conserve CPU resources on tracks containing a large num ber of devices the Track Freeze command simplifies sharing projects between computers Com puters that are a bit low on processing power can be used to run large Live Sets as long as any CPU intensive tracks are frozen This also means that computers lacking certain devices used in one Live Set can still play the Set when the relevant device tracks are frozen 32 2 Managing the Disk Load A hard drive s access speed which is related to but not the same thing as rotational speed can limit Live s performance Most audio optimized computers use 7200 RPM or faster drives Laptops to save power often use 5400 RPM or slower drives which is why projects on laptops usually have lower track counts The amount of disk traffic Live generates is roughly proportional to the number of audio channels being written or read simultaneously A track playing a stereo sample causes more disk traffic than a track playing a mono sample ll KEY fli 2 To Oo The Disk Overload Indicator The Disk Overload indicator flashes when the disk was unable to read or write audio quickly enough When rec
81. be maintained until you quit the program and reversing the same clip again or a copy will be instantaneous It is not recommended that you reverse clips in a live performance situation as a slight glitch can sometimes occur while Live reapplies the warp and loop settings 8 2 10 Cropping Audio Clips The Sample Display s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu includes the Crop Sam ple command This function creates similarly to the Reverse function a new sample by copying the one currently in use but only the excerpt that is actually used plus a 50 millisecond safety margin on both ends The new sample can be found after saving the Live Set in the Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Crop Until the Set is saved the new sample remains at the location specified by the Temporary Folder 8 2 11 Replacing and Editing the Sample To replace the sample referenced by the clip with a different one drop the new sample directly from the browser into the Clip View Clip settings like pitch and volume will be retained The Warp Markers will be retained only if the new sample has the exact same length as the old sample Clip View 115 The Sample Display s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu includes the Manage Sample File command This opens the File Manager for the current Set with the sample refer enced by the clip selected From there you can replace and destructively edit the sample page 54 i
82. but allows you to use Vocoder s sound shaping controls to adjust the sound Pitch Tracking enables a monophonic oscillator which tunes itself to the pitch of the modu lator The High and Low sliders allow you to limit the frequency range that the oscillator will attempt to track Choose from sawtooth or one of three pulse waveforms and adjust the coarse tuning of the oscillator via the Pitch slider Pitch tracking is particularly effective with monophonic modulator sources such as melodic instruments or voices Note that the oscil lator only updates its frequency when it detects a clear pitch It then maintains this pitch until it detects a new one This means that changing the oscillator s parameters or causing it to reset when grouping page 196 Vocoder s track for example can cause unexpect ed changes in the sound With polyphonic material or drums pitch tracking is generally unpredictable but can be very interesting Particularly when using external carrier sources a vocoder s output can sometimes lose a lot of high end Enabling the Enhance button results in a brighter sound by normalizing the spectrum and dynamics of the carrier The Unvoiced knob adjusts the volume of an additional noise generator which is used to resyn thesize portions of the modulator signal that are pitchless such as f and s sounds Live Audio Effect Reference 360 Sens sets the sensitivity of the unvoiced detection algorithm At
83. but can additionally contain both MIDI and audio effects In this case all MIDI effects have to be at the beginning of the Instrument Rack s device chain followed by an instrument and then any audio effects e Drum Racks page 248 are similar to Instrument Racks they can contain instruments as well as MIDI and audio effects and their devices must be ordered according to the same signal flow rules Drum Racks can also contain up to six return chains of audio effects with independent send levels for each chain in the main Rack There are different ways to create Racks A new empty Rack can be created by dragging a generic Rack preset Audio Effect Rack for example from the browser into a track Devices can then be dropped directly into the Rack s Chain List or Devices view which are introduced in the next section If a track already has one or more devices that you would like to group into a Rack then simply select the title bars of those devices in the Device View and right click PC CTRL click Mac on one of the title bars to reveal the Group and Group to Drum Rack commands in the context menu Note that if you repeat this command again on the same device you will create a Rack within a Rack You can also group multiple chains within a Rack using the same procedure Do ing this also creates a Rack within a Rack In the Device View the contents of Racks are always contained between end brackets Just as with punctuation or
84. can adjust both parameters via the sliders or by adjusting the breakpoints in the envelope display The Sub Sync parameters in the display allow you to apply either a sub oscillator or a hard syn chronization mode When the Mode chooser is set to Sub the Level slider sets the output level of an additional oscillator tuned an octave below the main oscillator The sub oscillator produces a square wave when the main oscillator s Shape control is set to rectangle or sawtooth and a sine wave when the main oscillator is set to sine Note that the sub oscillator is disabled when the main oscillator s Shape is set to white noise When the Mode chooser is set to Sync the oscillator s waveform is restarted by an internal os cillator whose frequency is set by the Ratio slider At 0 the frequency of the internal oscillator and the audible oscillator match so sync has no effect As you increase the Ratio the internal oscillator s rate increases which changes the harmonic content of the audible oscillator For maximum analog nastiness try mapping a modulation wheel or other MIDI controller to the Sync ratio 24 1 3 Noise Generator Analog z i HE Shape Chilave Sem Deure r Freg Resa Pan Level Volume sei foe Pid LPiz Ampi ae LFOd Hz EFO Fi Ea y n us iE ry sy A F nN dele en 4 5 at za ie M 3 8k o 1A 0 0 dE 0 0 dE Rate E 0 GUICK Routing ato De dr I RET au ot Blide E Saa ETH Ja a Sole E rie Baa Delay Attack Oc
85. can also use the CTRL PC ALT Mac modifier to click and drag copies of notes to a new location If you click and drag to move notes but then decide that you would like to copy them instead you can press the CTRL PC ALT Mac modifier even after starting the drag When editing or drawing you may sometimes place a new note on top of one that already ex ists If the new note overlaps with the beginning of the original note the original note will vanish If the new note overlaps with the tail of the original the original note s length will change so that it lasts just until the new note s beginning 10 4 5 Changing Note Length Clicking and dragging on a note s left or right edges changes its length As with note positions note lengths can be adjusted freely up to the previous or next grid line but will be quantized when dragging further unless the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier is held down Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 142 pis 15 2 E D Co Changing Note Length Tip To set a group of notes to the same length select them all grab the end of the longest one drag them all down to zero length and then extend them 10 4 6 The Time Commands in the MIDI Editor The standard clipboard commands like Cut Copy and Paste only affect the currently selected notes or the notes within a time selection But as in Arrangement editing page 83 there are Time commands that
86. can quickly see this by using Snap on square wave samples As with Simpler this snap is based on the left channel of stereo samples so a small Crossfade value may be necessary in some cases to completely eliminate clicks Tip you can snap individual loop regions by right click PC CTRL click Mac on a loop brace and selecting Snap marker Sample Displays the name of the current sample layer and can be used to quickly select dif ferent layers of the loaded multisample The Sample Chooser Root Key RootKey Defines the root key of the current sample Detune Sample tuning can be adjusted here by 50 cents Volume A wide range volume control variable from full attenuation to a gain of 24 dB Pan Samples can be individually panned anywhere in the stereo panorama Sample Playback All of the following parameters work in conjunction with the global volume envelope in the Filter Global tab to create the basic voicing of Sampler These envelopes use standard ADSR Attack Decay Sustain Release parameters among others Envelope Attack Time Attack This sets the time it takes for an envelope to reach the peak level starting from the initial level The shape of the attack can be adjusted via the Attack Slope A Slope parameter Live Instrument Reference 438 Envelope Decay Time Decay This sets the time it takes for an envelope to reach the sustain level from the peak level The sha
87. chapter page 217 explains the basics of using instruments in Live 24 1 Analog Analog ALAJS E Osei Coda Odave Semi Deiunme FT Freg Reso Pan Level Volume F o EE C gt st oy oof am x B34 Hz P C A LF oe Noise Rate UCK Routing ss Yihr ta TCO Ed rine Sue Delay Attack Octave Semi Tuning Mode o9Hz Fale Color ome ome Z CONST Rate Detune Error AmtHw PE kange Stretch Error FPriovity Delay TY 682 Hz Oo D Sa ome 0 9 Hz Time Ose Odave Semi Detune Fila Freq Reso mee Pan Level F y Fr 50050 SALT SiGe Swe F The Analog Instrument Analog is a virtual analog synthesizer created in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems With this instrument we have not attempted to emulate a specific vintage analog synthesizer but rather to combine different features of legendary vintage synthesizers into a modern instrument Analog generates sound by simulating the different components of the synthesizer through phys ical modeling This technology uses the laws of physics to reproduce how an object or system produces sound In the case of Analog mathematical equations describing how analog circuits function are solved in real time Analog uses no sampling or wavetables the sound is simply cal culated in real time by the CPU according to the values of each parameter This sound synthesis method ensures unmatched sound quality realism warmth and playing dynamics The full version of Analog is not included with t
88. click Mac context menu of Operator s title bar toggles the MIDI note that is the center point when using MIDI Key as a modulation source When enabled E3 is the center When disabled C3 is the center Note that this option is only available when loading Operator presets that were made in versions of Live prior to Live 9 Live Instrument Reference 427 24 7 Sampler eZone d Sample Pitch Osce e Filler Global Modulationsee MIDI gt Start SS or iekee ee 7 xr oo The Sampler Instrument Sampler is a sleek yet formidable multisampling instrument that takes full advantage of Live s ag ile audio engine It has been designed from the start to handle multi gigabyte instrument libraries with ease and it imports most common library formats But with Sampler playback is only the beginning its extensive internal modulation system which addresses nearly every aspect of its sound makes it the natural extension of Live s sound shaping techniques The full version of Sampler is not included with the standard version of Live but is a special fea ture available for purchase separately Sampler users who want to share their presets with all Live users can convert their work to Simpler page 452 presets To do this right click PC CTRL click Mac on Sampler s title bar and choose the Sampler gt Simpler command 24 7 1 Getting Started with Sampler Getting started with Sampler is as easy as choosing a prese
89. click Mac context menu can improve the sound quality particularly at higher frequencies This is enabled by default except when loading Sets that use Chorus and were made in earlier versions of Live Live Audio Effect Reference 299 22 7 Compressor The Compressor Effect A compressor reduces gain for signals above a user settable threshold Compression reduces the levels of peaks opening up more headroom and allowing the overall signal level to be turned up This gives the signal a higher average level resulting in a sound that is subjectively louder and punchier than an uncompressed signal A compressor s two most important parameters are the Threshold and the compression Ratio The Threshold slider sets where compression begins Signals above the threshold are attenuated by an amount specified by the Ratio parameter which sets the ratio between the input and out put signal For example with a compression ratio of 3 if a signal above the threshold increases by 3 dB the compressor output will increase by only 1 dB If a signal above the threshold in creases by 6 dB then the output will increase by only 2 dB A ratio of 1 means no compression regardless of the threshold The orange Gain Reduction meter shows how much the gain is being reduced at any given mo ment The more reduction the more audible the effect a gain reduction above 6 dB or so might produce the desired loudness but significantly alters the sound a
90. clicking allowing them to be adjusted with the keyboard s cursor keys if desired Hint Envelope shapes can be copied and pasted from one oscillator to another in Operator us ing the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu As mentioned above the filter and pitch envelopes also have adjustable slopes Clicking on the diamonds between the breakpoints allows you to adjust the slope of the envelope segments Positive slope values cause the envelope to move quickly at the beginning then slower Nega tive slope values cause the envelope to remain flat for longer then move faster at the end A slope of zero is linear the envelope will move at the same rate throughout the segment With FM synthesis it is possible to create spectacular endless permuting sounds the key to do ing this is loping envelopes Loop Mode can be activated in the lower left corner of the display If an envelope in Operator is in Loop Mode and reaches sustain level while the note is still being held it will be retriggered The rate for this movement is defined by the Loop Time parameter Note that envelopes in Loop Mode can loop very quickly and can therefore be used to achieve effects that one would not normally expect from an envelope generator While Loop Mode is good for textures and experimental sounds Operator also includes Beat and Sync Modes which provide a simple way of creating rhythmical sounds If set to Beat Mode an envelope will restart a
91. components related to the string it self Excitator String Damper Termination Pickup and Body The Filter Global tab contains the Filter section as well as controls for global performance parameters Each section with the ex ception of String and the global Keyboard section can be enabled or disabled independently Turning off a section reduces CPU usage 24 9 2 String Tab The String tab contains the parameters related to the physical properties of the string itself as well as the way in which it s played The Excitator Section Tension Siring Filter Global 3 pP EXcITATOR Protrusion Stiffness Velocity Position Damping DAMPER Mass Stifiness Velocity Position Damping Peo 1 GO Cis Che Cx C 75 50 50 25 50 50 50 50 4 25 50 vel 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 Key 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 0 00 4 Mimas a STRING Decay Key Ratio Inharrn Damping lt Kkey Delay Attack Fate Amount lt hod Error 75 0 00 50 50 50 0 00 sogms Sam 51Hz 50 50 mM TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stuff Fret Sut PICKUP BODY Decay Low Cut High cut Sirgody wolune wel Key Fosiiion ra 7 Are 0 00 0 00 50 50 50 25 Mo 0 O oO oO 0 0 dB Tension s Excitator Section The modelled string can be played using different types of excitators in order to reproduce different types of instruments and playing techniques The excitator is selected using the Type chooser and the choices available are Bow Hamm
92. controlled with the Base control dictates how much the effect will be reduced or increased for very low frequencies The second Live Audio Effect Reference 353 filter essentially an equalizer is used for controlling higher frequencies It is shaped with the Freq cutoff frequency Width and Depth controls The Output control attenuates the level at the device output When the Soft Clip switch is acti vated Saturator will also apply an instance of its Analog Clip curve to the output The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Saturator in a return track Aliasing can be reduced by enabling Hi Quality mode which can be accessed via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu This improves the sound quality particularly with high frequency signals but there is a slight increase in CPU usage 22 30 Simple Delay Link L Feedback Dryvvet 3 64 o 12 The Simple Delay Effect The Simple Delay provides two independent delay lines one for each channel left and right With Link engaged the right channel s delay setting is disabled thus applying the left channel s settings to both sides To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16
93. create MIDI controller data for the clip in the form of clip envelopes Choose MIDI Ctrl from a MIDI clip s Device chooser and use the Clip Envelope Control chooser below it to select a specific MIDI controller You can create new clip envelopes for any Clip Envelopes 275 of the listed controllers by drawing steps or using breakpoints You can also edit clip envelope representations of controller data that is imported as part of your MIDI files or is created while recording new clips names of controllers that already have clip envelopes appear with an adja cent LED in the Clip Envelope Control chooser Live supports most MIDI controller numbers up to 119 accessible via the scroll bar on the right side of the menu Note that devices to which you send your MIDI controller messages may not follow the conventions of MIDI control assignments so that Pitch Bend or Pan for example will not always achieve the results that their names imply 1 16 A MIDI Controller Clip Envelope Many of the techniques described in the following section on unlinking a clip envelope from its associated clip can be adapted for use with MIDI controller clip envelopes 20 5 Unlinking Clip Envelopes From Clips A clip envelope can have its own local loop region settings The ability to unlink the envelope from its clip creates an abundance of exciting creative options some of which we will present in the rest of this chapter 20 5 1 Progr
94. determines which samples are available for triggering Once a sample has been triggered changing the position of the sample selector will not switch to a different sample during playback 24 7 6 The Sample Tab mpe Start Sustain Mode Crosstade Deture Interpol or Eras JO ooe C oe Ea fd l or O ree fos ioa d Mem Snap Roolkey Detune Scale Release Loop ome es oa roo g e d zor r EEE The Sample Tab The playback behavior of individual samples is set within the Sample tab Most of this tab is dedicated to displaying the waveform of the currently selected sample Hovering your mouse over the waveform will display relevant information about the sample in the Status Bar bottom of screen It is important to keep in mind that most of the values in this tab reflect the state of the currently selected sample only The Sample chooser always displays the current sample layer s name and is another way to switch between layers when editing Reverse This is a global modulatable control that reverses playback of the entire multisample Unlike the Reverse function in the Clip View a new sample file is not generated Instead sample Live Instrument Reference 437 playback begins from the Sample End point proceeds backwards through the Sustain Loop if active and arrives at the Sample Start point Snap Snaps all start and end points to the waveform zero crossings points where the ampli tude is zero to avoid clicks You
95. device presets any samples used etc 5 5 1 Creating Opening and Saving Sets Use the File menu s New Live Set command to create new Live Sets and the Open Live Set or Open Recent Set command to open existing ones In the browser you can double click or press Enter on a Live Set to open it The File menu s Save Live Set command saves the current Live Set exactly as it is including all clips and settings You can use the Save Live Set As command to save the current Live Set under a different name and or in a different directory location or the Save a Copy command to create a copy of the current Live Set with a new name and or new directory location 5 5 2 Merging Sets Live makes it easy to merge Sets which can come in handy when combining work from differ ent versions or pieces To add all tracks except the return tracks from one Live Set into another drag the Set from the browser into the current Set and drop it onto any track title bar or into the drop area next to or below the tracks The tracks from the dropped Set will be completely reconstructed including their clips in the Session and Arrangement View their devices and their automation Managing Files and Sets 52 TTT bene TTT 30pBass ii Drop Files and Devices Here i ieee Master iil Arrangement View Drop Area for Importing Live Sets If you prefer to import individual tracks from a Set you can unfold the Live Set in the browser just as if it we
96. device s output Since the sidechain audio isn t fed to the output and is only a trigger for the device this temporary listening option can make it much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what s actually making the device work 22 22 4 Multiband Dynamics Tips Multiband Dynamics is a feature rich and powerful device capable of up to six independent types of simultaneous processing Because of this getting started can be a bit intimidating Here are some real world applications to give you some ideas Basic Multiband Compression By using only the upper thresholds Multiband Dynamics can be used as a traditional down ward compressor Adjust the crossover points to suit your audio material then apply downward compression by dragging down in the upper blocks in the display or by setting the numerical ratios to values greater than 1 De essing To remove harshness caused by overly loud high frequency content try enabling only the upper band and setting its crossover frequency to around 5 kHz Then gradually adjust the threshold and ratio to apply subtle downward compression It may help to solo the band to more Live Audio Effect Reference 342 easily hear the results of your adjustments Generally de essing works best with fairly fast attack and release times Uncompression Mastering engineers are often asked to perform miracles like adding punch and energy to a mix that has already been heavily compre
97. effects and instruments Consider a MIDI track playing a clip The MIDI signal from the clip is fed into the track s device chain There it is first processed by any number of MIDI effects A MIDI effect receives and delivers MIDI signals One example is the Scale effect which maps the incoming notes onto a user defined musical scale The last MIDI effect in the chain is followed by an instrument Instru ments for instance Live s Simpler and Impulse receive MIDI and deliver audio Following the instrument there can be any number of audio effects as in an audio track Scare _ Sampler Zone A Sample Pitch Osc Filter Global Modulation mo O EQ Three ee E e HHHH ara aAA Aa GainLow GainMid GainHi GERE ECELEE DEI EHHH Haa j o0 0 gA u 0 03d8 0 00dB 0 0008 m jan H M LEETE E EM H em T SR SRRR ER ee 0 00 300 00 4 R oo fad Reverse Sample _ Vol Sample Stan Sustain Mode Loop Stan LoopEnd Crossfade Detune Interpol Freqlow Freqhi ENN C SSeeeee E nected Bass AO we 0 0 dB o E E E k 8424 9620 314 Oct 4 Goode 24 BB 8 SS 8 Ci Snap _ RootKeyDetune Scale Pan Sample End Release Mode Release Mode Crossfade Detune N mam LLL MGA Wao oct 4 100 18897 Grrl E Ee o o Oct RAM 155 Hz 10 9 kHz A MIDI Effect an Instrument and an Audio Effect in a MIDI Track If a MIDI track has no instrument and no audio effect
98. ex ported from Live ensures that what you hear during realtime playback will be different from what will end up in your new file Non neutral operations include 33 3 1 Playback in Complex and Complex Pro Mode The algorithms used in the Complex page 131 and Complex Pro page 132 Warp modes use an entirely different technology from the algorithms behind Beats Tones Texture and Re Audio Fact Sheet 579 Pitch modes Although the Complex modes may sound better particularly when used with mixed sound files containing many different kinds of audio material they are never neutral not even at the original tempo Because of this and because of the increased CPU demands of these algorithms we recommend using them only in cases where the other Warp modes don t produce sufficient results 33 3 2 Sample rate conversion transposition Sample rate conversion during both real time playback and rendering is a non neutral opera tion Playback of audio files at a sample rate that is different from the rate set in Live s Preferenc es window will cause signal degradation Transposition is also a form of sample rate conversion and thus also results in non neutral behavior To minimize potential negative results it is recommended to do sample rate conversion as an of fline process in another application Once the samples have been converted to the sample rate that you plan to use in Live the files can be imported without any loss of q
99. external and EQ sections allows you to listen to only the sidechain input bypassing the compressor s output Since the sidechain audio isn t fed to the Live Audio Effect Reference 304 output and is only a trigger for the compressor this temporary listening option can make it much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what s actually making the compressor work 22 7 2 Compression Tips This section presents some tips for using Compressor effectively particularly with the sidechain options Mixing a Voiceover Sidechaining is commonly used for so called ducking effects For example imagine that you have one track containing a voiceover and another track containing background music Since you want the voiceover to always be the loudest source in the mix the background music must get out of the way every time the narrator is speaking To do this automatically insert a Compressor on the music track but select the narration track s output as the external sidechain source Sidechaining in Dance Music Sidechaining ducking is a dance music producer s secret weapon because it can help to ensure that basslines or even whole mixes always make room for the kick drum By inserting a com pressor on the bass or master track and using the kick drum s track as the sidechain input you can help to control problematic low frequencies that might interfere with the kick drum s attack Using the sidechain EQ in conjunction w
100. fast methods for zooming and scrolling the Arrangement display Arrangement View 70 0 a M KE S E R S R E D Set K i X Mods o Drums mee o Bass fill Bass i Li E A Rerert l i L a I I i a i PluckGroup Navigating the Arrangement View 1 To smoothly change the zoom level click and drag vertically in the beat time ruler at the top of the Arrangement View you can also drag horizontally to scroll the display 2 To zoom in and out around the current selection use the computer keyboard s and keys To pan the display click and drag while holding the CTRL ALT PC CMD ALT Mac modifier Double clicking in the beat time ruler also zooms to the current selection If nothing is selected double clicking the beat time ruler zooms out to show the entire Ar rangement 3 The Arrangement Overview is like a bird s eye view of your music It always shows the complete piece from start to end The black rectangular outline represents the part of the Arrangement that is currently displayed in the Arrangement display below To scroll the display click within the outline and drag left or right to zoom out and in drag up and down 4 To change the displayed part of the Arrangement drag the outline s left and right edges 5 To see a specific part of the Arrangement in more detail click on it in the Overview and drag downwards to zoom in around that part Note that you can also drag horiz
101. for the LFO to reach maximum intensity Use this for example to gradually introduce vibrato as a note is held LFO Retrigger Retrig Enabling Retrigger for an LFO will cause it to reset to its starting point or initial phase on each new MIDI note This can create hybrid LFO shapes if the LFO is retrig gered before completing a cycle LFO Offset Offset This changes the starting point or initial phase of an LFO so that it begins at a different point in its cycle This can create hybrid LFO shapes if the LFO is retriggered before completing a cycle LFO Rate lt Key Key Also known as keyboard tracking non zero values cause an LFO s rate to increase relative to the pitch of incoming MIDI notes LFO 1 has four sliders for quickly modulating global parameters Volume Vol LFO 1 can modulate the global volume level This slider determines the depth of the modulation on a 0 100 scale Pan Pan LFO 1 can modulate the global pan position This slider determines the depth of the modulation on a 0 100 scale Filter LFO 1 can modulate the filters cutoff frequency Freq in the Filter Global tab This slider determines the depth of the modulation on a 0 24 scale Pitch LFO 1 can modulate the pitch of samples This slider determines the depth of the modu lation on a 0 100 scale Live Instrument Reference 450 Zone a Sample Piten Ose Filter Global Modulati AVAVA Type Rate Freq Type Av a He
102. frequencies to a much greater degree than the 12 dB modes The Ladder and SVF filters provide additional filter architectures Filter Frequency Freq This defines the center or cutoff frequency of the filter Note that the resulting frequency may also be modulated by note velocity and by the filter envelope Filter Resonance Res This defines the resonance around the filter frequency of the lowpass and highpass filters and the width of the bandpass and notch filters Envelope Filter Switches These switches toggle the display between the filter s envelope and its frequency response Filter Frequency lt Velocity Freq lt Vel Filter frequency is modulated by note velocity according to this setting Filter Frequency lt Key Freq lt Key Filter frequency is modulated by note pitch according to this setting A value of 100 means that the frequency doubles per octave The center point for this function is C3 Filter Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel This parameter exists for filter pitch LFO and vol ume envelopes It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes Filter Frequency lt Envelope Envelope Filter frequency is modulated by the filter envelope according to this setting A value of 100 means that the envelope can create a maximum fre quency shift of approximately 9 octaves Shaper This chooser selects the curve for the filter s waveshaper Drive This boosts or attenuates the
103. from Live L plugin R zn Tr Build your audio effect here CELLLTETEI CELLLTETEL t L plug t R Audio to Live A Default Max Audio Effect To load an empty Max device drag a Max Instrument Max MIDI Effect or Max Audio Effect from the browser into your Set Max for Live 474 What a Max device actually does depends on the objects that it contains and the way in which they re connected together The area where you work with Max objects is called the editor or oatcher and can be accessed by pressing the Edit button in the Max device s title bar Max Audio Effect jel B The Edit Button for a Max Device This launches the Max editor in a new window with the current device loaded and ready for editing Max Audio Effect Ioj x Fie Edit View Object Arrange Options Debug Extras Window Help See Le se eee een neeeeneenaeeee o Build your A Default Max Audio Effect in the Patcher After editing you should save your Max device before you use it in Live This is done via the Save or Save As commands in Max s File menu Saving an edited device will automatically update all instances of that device that are used in your current Live Set If you choose Save As you will be asked whether or not the new version should update only the device that was origi nally opened for editing or all instances of the device in the Set The default location when saving a Max device is the folder in the Library
104. hand side of the Clip View and allows editing and creating MIDI notes and velocities page 133 e The Notes box contains settings pertaining to how Live plays a MIDI clip as well as a col lection of tools for transforming the notes within the clip Bw lS ees E E AE EAE ST SY A EV A A E a E H E Tk The Clip View for a MIDI Clip Clip View 100 To make best use of the screen real estate you can show or hide the Launch Envelopes and Sample or MIDI boxes using the Clip View Box selector in the Clips box You can also toggle between the Sample Display MIDI Editor and the Envelope Editor by clicking in the title bars of the Sample Notes box and the Envelopes box respectively Clip Launch Drum Launch Mod Tic iy Mare Lega 4 L 4 ET kit Non Vel Filer 1 The Clip View Box Selector Shows and Hides Various Clip View Components 8 1 The Clip Box Or Launch Sample Envelopes Bass BZ launch Mode Bass B2 way Wan Siar Signature Legaio Edil Save Rey See BP End Trarnspoase a i Suaniivation Mici Fade Roe ga gg 5 1 1 Weolurre Groove R Globa ranspose Z 2 Pan i 7 Loop Laid Back Ve D Tone Eala Arin L Pasilian RegiovLoop glep i i rain Siz 1 1 Linked P _ ri H lj jil The Clip Box 8 1 1 Clip Activator Switch Using this switch you can deactivate a clip so that it does not play when launched in the Session View or during Arrangement playback Clips can also be activated deactivated di
105. if you happen to know the tempo of the loop you can type it in here Sometimes Live s guess of the original tempo is wrong by half or double If so correct this by clicking on the buttons labeled 2 and 2 respectively The sample plays at double speed when you press 2 because you are changing Live s interpretation of the sample s tempo which serves as a point of reference for determining the required time stretch factor Syncing Uncut Loops When importing a loop that has not been edited into a well cut loop Live will play it out of sync Suppose there is a portion of silence at the sample beginning prior to the first beat You can easily correct this by placing a Warp Marker at the beginning of the audio and dragging it so that it lines up with the beginning of bar one in the timeline Likewise you can eliminate silence after the actual loop end by placing a Warp Marker at the sample s right edge Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 124 Setting the Warp Markers for a Poorly Cut Loop Syncing Odd Length Loops If you import a sample that contains a seven bar loop Live initially assumes the loop is eight bars long or four depending on its length and plays it out of sync For correct playback the marker at the end of the sample needs to be at the beginning of bar eight not bar nine To fix this simply drag the ending marker to the correct position If Live s initial guess had been a four bar loop the eighth bar may not i
106. in you will want to be familiar with the concepts presented in the Audio Clips Tempo and Warping chapter page 117 If you are interested in syncing Live with external video equipment you ll also want to read the chapter on synchronization page 561 Note video support is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions 21 1 Importing Video Live can import movies in Apple QuickTime format mov to be used as video clips Movie files appear in Live s browser and can be imported by dragging them into the Live Set Note that Live will only display video for video clips residing in the Arrangement View Movie files that are loaded into the Session View are treated as audio clips Working with Video 280 21 2 The Appearance of Video in Live 21 2 1 Video Clips in the Arrangement View A video clip in the Arrangement View looks just like an audio clip except for the sprocket holes in its title bar A Video Clip with a QuickTime Marker Live also displays a movie file s QuickTime markers if present in the Arrangement View and Clip View QuickTime markers are created by external video authoring applications and although they cannot be selected or edited in any way by Live they do provide visual cues that can be helpful when scoring Note that these markers are always read from the original movie file and are not stored in the Live Set or video clip For the most part video clips in the Arrangement View are treate
107. in System Folders option 2 You may have an alternative folder in which you store your VST Plug ins perhaps those that you use only with Live You can use VST Plug ins in this folder in addition to or instead of those in the System folders To tell Live about the location of this folder click the Browse button next to the VST Plug In Custom Folder entry to open a folder search dialog for lo cating and selecting the appropriate folder 3 Note that you can turn off your VST Plug ins in this folder using the Use VST Plug In Custom folder option Once you have configured your Plug In Preferences the browser will display all plug ins it finds in the selected VST Plug in folder s as well as any sub folders Itis also possible to use VST Plug ins stored in different folders on your computer To do this create a Mac OS or Windows alias of the folder where additional VST Plug ins are stored and then place the alias in the VST Plug In Custom folder or in the VST Plug In System folder on Mac OS X selected in Live s File Folder Preferences The alias can point to a different partition or hard drive on your computer Live will scan the set VST Plug in folder as well as any alias folders contained therein Working with Instruments and Effects 233 Some VST Plug ins contain errors or are incompatible with Live During the scanning process these may cause the program to crash When you re launching Live a dialog will appear to inform you abo
108. in its own chain in the Drum Rack you can easily process individual slices with their own audio effects To process several slices with the same set of effects multi select their chains in the Drum Rack s chain list and press CTRL G PC CMD G Mac to group them to their own nested Rack Then insert the effects after this new sub Rack For even more creative possibilities try inserting MIDI effects page 363 before the Drum Rack The Arpeggiator and Random devices can yield particularly interesting results Slicing is most commonly applied to drum loops but there s no reason to stop there Experiment with slicing audio from different sources such as voices and ambient textures The same sorts of resequencing and reprocessing operations can be applied to anything you slice sometimes with unexpected results Converting Audio to MIDI 152 11 2 Convert Harmony to New MIDI Track This command identifies the pitches in a polyphonic audio recording and places them into a clip on anew MIDI track The track comes preloaded with an Instrument Rack page 237 that plays a piano sound which can of course be replaced by another instrument if you choose Note that this command as with the other Convert commands differs from slicing in that the generated MIDI clip does not play the original sound but instead extracts the notes and uses them to play an entirely different sound The Convert Harmony command can work with music fro
109. in mathematics a Rack within a Rack will have a pair of brackets within a pair of brackets To ungroup devices dismantling their Racks select the Rack s title bar and then use the Edit menu or the context menu to access the Ungroup command 18 3 Looking at Racks Components of an Effect Rack Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 241 Ma sa ose SEs m a e Components of a Drum Rack 1 Racks have distinct views that can be shown or hidden as needed Therefore every Rack has a view column on its far left side that holds the corresponding view selectors The ac tual view selectors available differ depending on whether an Instrument Drum or Effect Rack is being used 2 Macro Controls 3 Chain List In Drum Racks this view can include both drum chains and return chains 4 Devices 5 Racks are also identifiable by their round corners which bracket and enclose their content When the Devices view is shown the end bracket visually detaches itself to keep the Rack hierarchy clear 6 Pad View page 250 This is unique to Drum Racks To move copy or delete an entire Rack at once simply select it by its title bar as opposed to the title bars of any devices that it contains When selected a Rack can also be renamed by using the Edit menu s Rename command You can also enter your own info text for a Rack via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the Racks s right click PC CTRL click Mac context
110. in your User Library via an option in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Ams files can be imported back into Operator by dragging them from the browser onto one of the oscillator s display areas Ams files can also be loaded into Simpler or Sampler Hint Both the built in and user waveforms can be copied and pasted from one oscillator to an other using the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu More Oscillator Parameters The frequency of an oscillator can be adjusted in the shell with its Coarse and Fine controls An oscillator s frequency usually follows that of played notes but for some sounds it might be useful to set one or more oscillators to fixed frequencies This can be done for each individual oscilla tor by activating the Fixed option This allows the creation of sounds in which only the timbre will vary when different notes are played but the tuning will stay the same Fixed Mode would be Live Instrument Reference 410 useful for example in creating live drum sounds Fixed Mode also allows producing very low frequencies down to 0 1 Hz Note that when Fixed Mode is active the frequency of the oscilla tor is controlled in the shell with the Frequency Freq and Multiplier Multi controls Operator includes a special Osc lt Vel control for each oscillator that allows altering frequency as a function of velocity This feature can be very useful when working with sequenced sounds in which
111. indicate the following e Unlit this step doesn t contain a note e Blue this step contains a note Darker blues indicate higher velocities e Dull yellow this step contains a note but the note is muted e Light Red the right two columns of pads will turn red if triplets are selected as the step size In this case these pads are not active only the first six pads in each row of steps can be used When Triplets are Selected the Red Steps are Unavailable Using Push 497 27 3 3 Real time Recording Drum patterns can also be recorded in real time by playing the Drum Rack pads Follow these steps to record in real time e If you want to record with a click track press the Metronome button to enable Live s built in click Metronome Button e Then Press the Record button to begin recording Record Button Now any Drum Rack pads you play will be recorded to the clip Pressing Record again will stop recording but will continue playing back the clip Pressing Record a third time will enable over dub mode allowing you to record into the clip while it plays back Subsequent presses continue to toggle between playback and overdub Using Push 498 Pressing New stops playback of the currently selected clip and prepares Live to record a new clip on the currently selected track This allows you to practice before recording a new idea By default pressing New also duplicates all clips that are playing on othe
112. individual track delays page 203 or reported latencies from plug ins may cause noticeable sluggishness in the software If you are having latency related difficulties while recording and playing back instruments you may want to try turning off device delay compensation however this is not normally recommended You may also find that adjusting the individual track delays is useful in these cases but please note that the Track Delay controls are unavailable when device delay compensation is deactivated Note that device delay compensation can depending on the number of tracks and devices in use increase the CPU load Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 237 Chapter 18 Instrument Drum and Effect Racks Inside An Audio Effect Rack A Rack is a flexible tool for working with effects plug ins and instruments in a track s device chain Racks can be used to build complex signal processors dynamic performance instruments stacked synthesizers and more Yet they also streamline your device chain by bringing together your most essential controls While Racks excel at handling multiple devices they can extend the abilities of even a single device by defining new control relationships between its parameters Racks greatly expand upon the concept of device groups introduced in Live 5 The device groups of any Live Sets imported from Live 5 are automatically converted to Racks Note that these Live Sets once saved can no longer be opened
113. into three sections allowing you to simultaneously play step sequence and ad just the length of your clip ree i i O Drum Rack Pads Loop Length Controls The Pad Grid When Working With Drums The 16 Drum Rack pads are laid out like Live s Drum Rack in the classic 4x4 arrangement al lowing for real time playing The Drum Rack pad colors indicate the following e Bright yellow this pad contains a sound e Dull yellow this pad is empty e Green this pad is currently playing e Dark blue this pad is selected e Light Blue this pad is soloed e Orange this pad is muted Using Push 493 When working with Drum Racks that contain a larger number of pads use Push s touch strip or the Octave Up and Octave Down keys to move up down by 16 pads Hold Shift while using the touch strip or Octave keys to move by single rows Octave Up Down Buttons 27 3 1 Loading Individual Drums Browse Mode can also be used to load or replace individual pads within a loaded Drum Rack To switch between browsing Drum Racks and single pads press the Device button to show the devices on the track Device Button By default the Drum Rack is selected as indicated by the arrow in the display To select an indi vidual pad instead press that pad then press the selection button below the pad s name Using Push 494 Selecting an Individual Pad in a Drum Rack Now entering Browse Mode again will all
114. is dragged into a MIDI track Feeding the sidechain audio input works as described above Routing and O 189 A number of Ableton s built in devices have their own sidechain controls with integrated routing choosers that match those found in tracks Thus when using these devices it is not necessary to follow the above procedure you can simply select the sidechain source from within the device itself Layering Instruments Suppose that we have a MIDI track containing an instrument playing a string sound which we would like to augment by adding a brass sound playing the same notes This can be easily done by adding a MIDI track that contains an instrument playing the brass sound and setting its Input Type chooser to tap the string track s Post FX signal 2 Speech 3 Strings 4 Brass 5 Strings Emoia Audio From jm MIDI Fram MIDI Fram Audio From Ext li dj Brass All ins Exi li F TEN M Post FS E Al Channes I Monitor i Monitor Monitor F f lm Auta Aub Io T fi v i Using an Auxiliary MIDI Track to Layer Instruments Perhaps you wonder why this works given that the string track s output is audio and not MIDI When routing MIDI in from another track we are tapping the MIDI at the latest possible stage which is after any MIDI Effects and just before the instrument Routing and O 190 Mixing 191 Chapter 15 Mixing 15 1 The Live Mixer Live includes a mixer section that is accessible f
115. is important to remember that these models allow for much more flexibility than their physical counterparts While Collision can produce extremely realistic simulations of conven tional mallet instruments such as marimbas vibraphones and glockenspiels it is also very easy to misuse the instrument s parameters to produce sounds which could never be made by an acoustic instrument To program realistic instrument simulations it helps to think about the chain of events that pro duces a sound ona mallet instrument a marimba for example and then visualize those events as sections within Collision e a beater Mallet strikes a tuned bar Resonator 1 e the tuned bar s resonance is amplified by means of a resonating tube Resonator 2 Thus the conventional model consists of the Mallet excitator and the two resonators in a serial 1 gt 2 configuration Live Instrument Reference 397 Of course to program unrealistic sounds anything goes e try using the Noise excitator particularly with long envelope times to create washy quasi granular textures These parameters can also be used to simulate special acoustic effects such as bowed vibraphones or crystal glasses e experiment with the resonators in parallel 1 2 configuration e use the LFOs and MIDI controllers to modulate Collision s parameters A word of caution in many ways Collision s models are idealized versions of real world ob jects Consequently it
116. is too long to justify the assumption that it is a loop or a one shot Live will auto warp the clip by default though this can be changed in the Record Warp Launch Preferences Note that for the auto warp mechanism to work files which are being imported into the pro gram for the first time will need to undergo a first time analysis process and will not be immedi ately available for playing or editing Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 126 par r 113 r 129 r145 r 161 irr r 193 T CTT OMT MMT TTT T T eee FFF F F TF Oo eS EF E ee eee ee T F F r Auto Warp s Results in the Clip View As long as Auto Warp made the correct set of informed guesses the clip will be ready to play in perfect sync with the Live Set s tempo However if Auto Warp does not quite do what you want you can control its results The remainder of this section will focus on various ways of guid ing Live s auto warping Remember that the metronome in the Control Bar will probably come in handy as you warp longer pieces TAP 120 00 MIT II 4 7 fics 1 Bar The Metronome Switch It might happen that Auto Warp guesses the tempo correctly but gets the downbeat wrong To remedy this you can do one of the following e Hold the Shift key while dragging the first Warp Marker This will allow you to adjust the position of the waveform under the Warp Marker e Zoom in and create a Warp Marker on the downbeat Then drag it to the beginning of bar
117. is very easy to program resonances that are much more sensitive to input than any physical resonator could be Certain combinations of parameters can cause dramatic changes in volume Make sure to keep output levels low when experimenting with new sounds 24 3 Electric Electric Alas amp MALLET DAMPER PICKUP GLOBAL Noise Slifnmess Force Pitch Decay Distance vig 50 50 45 60 21 Level Qutpul VWelume Vel Vel 50 Key Key Key The Electric Instrument Electric is a software electric piano based on the classic instruments of the seventies and devel oped in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems Each component of these instruments has been modeled using cutting edge physical modeling technology to provide realistic and lively sounds Physical modeling uses the laws of physics to reproduce the behavior of an object In other words Electric solves in real time mathematical equations describing how its different components function No sampling or wavetables are used in Electric the sound is simply cal culated in real time by the CPU according to the values of each parameter Electric is more than a simple recreation of vintage instruments its parameters can be tweaked to values not possible with the real instruments to get some truly amazing new sounds that still retain a warm acoustic quality Live Instrument Reference 398 The full version of Electric is not included with the standard version
118. load increases only as you start playing clips or feed audio into the effects When there is no incoming audio the effects are deactivated until they are needed again If the Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 569 effect produces a tail like reverbs and delays deactivation occurs only after all calculations are complete While this scheme is very effective at reducing the average CPU load of a Live Set it cannot reduce the peak load To make sure your Live Set plays back continuously even under the most intense conditions play back a clip in every track simultaneously with all devices enabled 32 1 3 Track Freeze Live s Freeze Track command can greatly help in managing the CPU load incurred by devices and clip settings When you select a track and execute the Freeze Track command Live will create a sample file for each Session clip in the track plus one for the Arrangement Thereafter clips in the track will simply play back their freeze files rather than repeatedly calculating processor intensive device and clip settings in real time The Freeze Track command is available from Live s Edit menu and from the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu of tracks and clips Be aware that it is not possible to freeze a Group Track page 196 you can only freeze tracks that hold clips Normally freezing happens very quickly But if you freeze a track that contains an External Audio Effect page 316 or Extern
119. locked to one tempo such as live musicians or turntables As long as your Set s tempo is basically the same as that of the unsynchronized material you can use the Nudge buttons to temporarily speed up or slow down Live s playback to match what you hear As with the Tap button these buttons are much easier to use when mapped to MIDI controllers 9 2 Time Warping Samples Live s ability to play any sample in sync with a chosen tempo is a unique and important feature In addition you can warp the rhythmic flow of a piece changing its feel or even move notes to other meter positions An audio clip s warping properties are set in the Sample box page 103 which is a sub section of the Clip View Sample The Sample Box s Warping Controls The most significant control here is the Warp switch which toggles an audio clip s warping on or off The Warp section of Live s Preferences will determine the default warp settings for new clips but they can always be overridden here on a per clip basis When the Warp switch is off Live plays the sample at its original normal tempo irrespective of the current Live Set s tempo This is useful for samples that have no inherent rhythmic structure percussion hits atmospheres sound effects spoken word and the like Turn the Warp switch on to play rhythmically structured samples such as sample loops music recordings complete music pieces etc in sync with the cu
120. much less often approximately once out of every ten clip launches There are eight Follow Actions available E Stop simply stops the clip after it has played for the chosen Follow Action Time Note that this overrides clip loop region settings Play Again restarts the clip Previous triggers the previous clip the one above the current one Next triggers the next clip down in the group If a clip with this setting is last in a group this Follow Action triggers the first clip Launching Clips 166 First launches the first top clip in a group Last launches the last bottom clip in a group Any plays any clip in the group al az Other is similar to Any but as long as the current clip is not alone in the group no clip will play consecutively There is also the possibility to have no Follow Action by selecting No Action or leaving the chooser blank Note that a Follow Action happens exactly after the duration that is specified by the Follow Ac tion Time controls unless clip quantization is set to a value other than None or Global Fol low Actions circumvent global quantization but not clip quantization So why do you need these things Music is repetition and change Music based on loops or short melodic fragments has a tendency to sound static Follow Actions allow you to create struc tures that will repeat but can also be s
121. negative values the effect of the groove s velocity will be reversed loud notes will play quietly and vice versa Global Amount this parameter scales the overall intensity of Timing Random and Veloc ity for all of the available groove files At 100 the parameters will be applied at their as signed values Note that the Amount slider goes up to 130 which allows for even more exaggerated groove effects If grooves are applied to clips in your Set the Global Amount slider will also appear in Live s Control Bar TAP 12 Hi ii 4 4 oe 4 Bar The Global Groove Amount Slider in the Control Bar 12 1 2 Committing Grooves CH p The Commit Groove Button Pressing the Commit button below the Clip Groove chooser writes your groove parameters to the clip For MIDI clips this moves the notes accordingly For audio clips this creates Warp Markers at the appropriate positions in the clip After pressing Commit the clip s Groove chooser selection is automatically set to None Using Grooves 159 12 2 Editing Grooves The effect that groove files have on your clips is a combination of two factors the parameter settings made in the Groove Pool and the positions of the notes in the groove files themselves To edit the contents of groove files directly drag and drop them from the browser or Groove Pool into a MIDI track This will create a new MIDI clip which you can then edit as you would with any other MIDI clip
122. number of editing and viewing options As with the context menu in the Sample Layer List Show in Browser Manage Samples Normalize Volumes and Normalize Pan are available Addition ally you can zoom in or out of playing or looping regions depending on which Sustain and Loop Modes are selected C Pulse Bass C4 Zone nh sampe Pite Show in Browser Manage Sample b Normale Pan m O0 600 0 basini eet i i Reverse Sample Zoom Inon Played Region fan Sustain Mode Locy ON Pulse Bass C4 Zoom Out B a ink Snap Rioolhoey Delurme erate arr ri Release Mode Fete Of C3 100 C 5rar2 arf 2 Waveform Context Menu Finally a few options remain on the far right side of the Sample tab Vertical Zoom slider Magnifies the waveform height in the sample display This is for visual clarity only and does not affect the audio in any way B M L and R Buttons These buttons stand for Both Mono Left and Right and allow you to choose which channels of the sample should be displayed Live Instrument Reference 443 The Sample Tab s Vertical Zoom slider and Channel Buttons 24 7 7 The Pitch Osc Tab D Dark Thought C1 Zones Sample Pitch Osce ee FilteGlobal Modulationss MIDI G E Ini ial Peak Sustain Volume VoleVel at de Loads Cmr oe reee Joe Sine v rae JL 00 A Slope D Slope R Slope reece Time Fixed a Fire Laok E7 k oe oom Initial Peak E
123. or Ar rangement View track will give that track focus its Device View will open allowing you to drop your chain into place Since the Device View can show only one device chain at a time the Chain List also serves as a navigational aid The list selection determines what will be shown in the adjacent Devices view when enabled Try using your computer keyboard s up and down arrow keys to change the selection in the Chain List and you ll find that you can quickly flip through the contents of a Rack The Chain List also supports multi selection of chains for convenient copying organizing and regrouping In this case the Devices view will indicate how many chains are currently selected Each chain has its own Chain Activator as well as Solo and Hot Swap buttons Chains in Instru ment Drum and Audio Effect Racks also have their own volume and pan sliders and Drum Rack chains have additional send level and MIDI assignment controls Like Live Clips entire chains can be saved and recalled as presets in the browser You can give a chain a descriptive name by selecting it then choosing the Edit menu s Rename command You can also enter your own info text for a chain via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the chain s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu The context menu also contains a color palette where you can choose a custom chain color 18 4 1 Auto Select _ Beat Repeats z
124. oscillator s waveform here Volume This determines the intensity of the modulation oscillator s sample modulation Vol lt Vel The modulation oscillator s Volume parameter can be modified by the velocity of incoming MIDI notes This determines the depth of the modulation Fixed When enabled the modulation oscillator s frequency will remain fixed at the rate de termined by the Freq and Multi parameters and will not change in response to incoming MIDI notes Freq With Fixed set to On this rate is multiplied by the Multi parameter to determine the mod ulation oscillator s fixed frequency Multi With Fixed set to On the Freq parameter is multiplied by this amount to determine the modulation oscillator s fixed frequency Coarse Coarse tuning of the modulation oscillator s frequency 0 125 48 This is only avail able when Fixed is set to Off Fine Fine tuning of the modulation oscillator s frequency 0 1000 This is only available when Fixed is set to Off The Pitch Envelope The pitch envelope modulates the pitch of the sample over time as well as of the Modulation Oscillator if itis enabled This is a multi stage envelope with ADSR Initial Peak and End levels as described in the Sample Playback section page 437 The values of the envelope param eters can be adjusted via the sliders or by dragging the breakpoints in the envelope s display On the lower left of the Pitch Envelope
125. placed on a silent note lane for manual editing As with the Convert Melody command you can adjust the transient markers in the audio clip prior to conversion to determined where notes will be placed in the converted MIDI clip Convert Drums works well with recorded breakbeats but also with your own recordings such as beatboxing or tapping on a surface 11 5 Optimizing for Better Conversion Quality The Convert commands can generate interesting results when used on pre existing recordings from your collection but also when used on your own recorded material For example you can record yourself singing playing guitar or even beatboxing and use the Convert commands to generate MIDI that you can use as a starting point for new music For the most accurate results we recommend the following e Use music that has clear attacks Notes that fade in or swell may not be detected by the conversion process e Work with recordings of isolated instruments The Convert Drums command for example works best with unaccompanied drum breaks if other instruments are present their notes will be detected as well e Use uncompressed high quality audio files such as wav or aiff Lossy data formats such as mp3 may result in unpredictable conversions unless the recordings are at high bitrates Converting Audio to MIDI 154 Live uses the transient markers page 121 in the original audio clip to determine the divisions between notes in the c
126. play a fixed frequency Osc Fixed Frequency Freq This is the frequency of the oscillator in Hertz This frequency is constant regardless of note pitch Osc Fixed Multiplier Multi This is used to adjust the range of the fixed frequency Multiply this value with the value of the oscillator s Freq knob to get actual frequency in Hz Osc Output Level Level This sets the output level of the oscillator If this oscillator is modulat ing another its level has significant influence on the resulting timbre Higher levels usually create bright and or noisy sounds Envelope Oscillator Switches These switches toggle the display between the oscillator s envelope and its harmonics editor 16 32 64 These switches set the number of partials that are available for user editing Osc Waveform Wave Choose from a collection of carefully selected waveforms You can then edit them via the harmonics editor Osc Feedback Feedback An oscillator can modulate itself if it is not modulated by another oscillator The modulation is dependent not only on the setting of the feedback control but also on the oscillator level and the envelope Higher feedback creates a more complex resulting waveform Osc Phase Phase This sets the initial phase of the oscillator The range represents one whole cycle Live Instrument Reference 424 Retrigger R When enabled the oscillator restarts at the same position in its phas
127. plays in a loop It only takes a MIDI keyboard or the computer keyboard and a MIDI track with Live s Impulse percussion instrument to do this page 403 4 12 Automation Envelopes Often when working with Live s mixer and effects you will want the controls movements to become part of the Set The movement of a control across the Arrangement timeline or Session clip is called automation page 257 a control whose value changes over time is automated Live Concepts 29 Automation is represented by breakpoint envelopes which can be drawn edited and recorded in real time The Automated Pan Control and its Envelope Practically all mixer and effect controls in Live can be automated even the song tempo Record ing automation is straightforward all changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar s Automation Arm and Arrangement Record buttons are on become automation in the Arrange ment View Automation is recorded to Session View clips if controls are adjusted while recording with the Automation Arm button enabled Changing an automated control s value while not recording is similar to launching a Session clip while the Arrangement is playing It deactivates the control s automation in favor of the new control setting The control will stop tracking its automation and rest with the new value until the Re Enable Automation button is pressed or a Session clip that contains automation is launched 4 13 C
128. rectangular membrane such as a drum head with a variable size and construction e Plate simulates sound production by a rectangular plate a flat surface of different materi als and sizes e Pipe simulates a cylindrical tube that is fully open at one end and has a variable opening at the other adjusted with the Opening parameter e Tube simulates a cylindrical tube that is fully open at both ends The resonator quality chooser controls the tradeoff between the sound quality of the resonators and performance by reducing the number of overtones that are calculated Basic uses minimal CPU resources while Full creates more sophisticated resonances This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The Decay knob adjusts the amount of internal damping in the resonator and thus the decay time The Material knob adjusts the variation of the damping at different frequencies At lower values low frequency components decay slower than high frequency components which simulates objects made of wood nylon or rubber At higher values high frequency components decay slower which simulates objects made of glass or metal This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators Live Audio Effect Reference 308 The Radius parameter is only available for the Pipe and Tube resonators Radius adjusts the ra dius of the pipe or tube As the radius increases the decay time and high frequency sustain both increase At
129. refer to the section on synchronization page 561 for details 9 1 2 Tapping the Tempo ae 11 4 7 4 100 O iBar The Tap Button You can use Live s Tap Tempo function to set the tempo at any time As you click the Control Bar s Tap Tempo button once every beat the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping a af ee rel 2 D The Key Map Mode Switch It is better to assign the Tap button to a computer key than using the mouse Click on the Control Bar s KEY switch to enter Key Map Mode then select the Tap button press the key you would like to use for tapping click the KEY switch again to leave Key Map Mode The assignment will take effect immediately The Tap button can also be assigned to a MIDI note or controller like a foot switch in a similar fashion Although Live responds to your tapping immediately it does apply some degree of inertia to prevent sluggish behavior in the software The more taps Live receives in a row the more precisely it will be able to conclude the desired tempo You can also use tapping to count in If you are working in a 4 4 signature it takes four taps to start song playback at the tapped tempo 9 1 3 Nudging the Tempo TAF t fi 4 gfe ais j 100 os i Bar The Nudge Buttons Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 119 Although Live can be easily synchronized to external MIDI devices page 561 you may find yourself in situations in which you need to adjust to sources that aren t
130. removing the original WAV or AIF files will render the new Sampler presets useless Live s File Manager offers the option to collect and save these external samples page 62 24 8 Simpler Simpler EA i j HN J N N ee 00 015 Woa AM O20 Start Loop Lengih Fade Vol Attack Decay Sustain Release LFO Pan Volume C mm m G 9 9 O rar 28 2 100 580 7 94 emp P Pich 010ms 5 95s 140B 358s c o Filter Freq Res Vel LFO LFO Rale Attack Rerig Transp LFO Glide Spread Vel we Q fey ew pe reg Key Omet Demre Ew Te Type Offset Detune Env Time Voices Env LP24e 6 13kH 6 94 Warji o dA gt BBR fis ooo oct 4 ost 4 B00 ms fi2 a The Simpler Instrument Simpler is an instrument that integrates the basic elements of a sampler with a set of classic syn thesizer parameters A Simpler voice plays a user defined sample section which is in turn pro cessed by envelope filter LFO volume and pitch components Presets created in Simpler can be converted for use in Sampler page 427 and vice versa To do this right click PC CTRL click Mac on Simpler s title bar and choose the Simpler gt Sampler command In this way presets created in Simpler can be further edited with Sampler s extended functionality Owners of Sampler who wish to take their Simpler creations further can convert Simpler s current settings to an identical setup in Sampler by right click PC CTRL click Mac on
131. resampling is taking place and will not be included in the recording Samples created by resampling will be stored in with the current Set s Project folder page 55 under Samples Recorded Until the Set is saved they remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder page 214 14 6 Internal Routings Live s mixer and external routing devices allow for inter track routings These routings albeit potentially confusing enable many valuable creative and technical options Via the mixer inter track routing can work two ways 1 Track A is set up to send its output signal to Track B This is possible because every track that can receive an output signal of the appropriate type from Track A shows up in its Out put Type chooser 2 Track B is set up to receive its input signal from Track A This works because every track that delivers a signal of the appropriate type appears in Track B s Input Type chooser irach A 2 Irach amp irach A 2 lrack amp Audio Fram Audio Fram Audio Fram Audio From 1 Track A fi Post Mixer BL LL il honor fonitor tonar Auto Hi Auto Auto Hi Auto l pi h Fj Two Ways to Route Track A into Track B Both approaches result in Track A s output being fed into Track B Approach 1 leaves Track B s in out settings alone and we con at any time add more tracks that feed their output into Track B This is the method of choice for many to one routings
132. s value greater than the Max Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 253 slider s value The current values can also be inverted by pressing right click PC CTRL click Mac on the entry in the Mapping Browser 5 Select another device parameter if you d like to create more mappings or click on the Map mode button once more to exit Macro Map Mode Note that once assigned to a Macro Control a device parameter will appear disabled since it hands over all control to the Macro Control although it can still be modulated externally via Clip Envelopes page 267 You can edit or delete your assignments at any time using the Mapping Browser which only ap pears when Map Mode is enabled If more than one parameter is assigned to a single Macro the Macro s name will revert to its generic name e g Macro 3 The Macro s units will also change to a O to 127 scale except when all parameters possess both the same unit type and the same unit range Macro controls can be given custom names colors and info text entries via the corresponding commands in the Edit menu or the context menu 18 8 Mixing With Racks Any Instrument or Drum Rack that contains more than one chain can be viewed and mixed alongside the tracks in the Session View s mixer A track that contains these Racks will have a button in its title bar which will fold the Rack s mixer in or out Likewise any nested chains within the Rack will also have this button T
133. samples 4 Since you know that your samples are all in the Project folder unfold Automatic Search Managing Files and Sets 67 Then enable the Search Project and Fully Rescan Folders options Finally click Go to initi ate the search 5 When searching is complete click Collect and Save at the bottom of the File Manager to update the Project 5 12 6 How Do l Export A Project to the Library and Maintain My Own Folder Structure If you export a Project to the Library Live will look in the Library to see if the folder names there match those in your Project and will create any missing folders as necessary For example if your Project folder contains samples in Samples My Samples Live will look in the Library for a Samples folder which it will find because it s part of the standard Library and then for a My Samples sub folder which it will not find but will then create Managing Files and Sets 68 Arrangement View 69 Chapter 6 Arrangement View The Arrangement View displays the Arrangement which contains music laid out along a song timeline like a multitrack tape Pa See eee ae FI i et ar aa Porras a ae 7 r meP a a wep ee iy a T tutat mower o 5 5 A Piece of Music in the Arrangement View The Arrangement View is a powerful editing tool that easily lets you combine and arrange MIDI loops sound effects video and complete pieces of music 6 1 Navigation Live offers several
134. scene is triggered In Clip Workflow only the selected track s clip is triggered Clips in other tracks are not affected Navigating with the Up Down Arrows in Note Mode always begins playback immediately and a triggered clip will take over the play position from whatever clip was played in that track before Note that this is the same behavior as if the clips were set to Legato Mode in Live page 164 27 7 Controlling Live s Instruments and Effects Pressing the Device button puts Push in Device Mode which allows Push s encoders to control parameters in Live s devices Using Push 508 Device Button In Device Mode the Selection Control buttons select devices in the currently selected track while the State Control buttons turn the selected device on or off The currently selected device is marked with an arrow in the display Device Mode Settings The In and Out buttons allow you to navigate to additional devices and parameters that may not be immediately available In and Out Buttons Using Push 509 Use these buttons to access e additional banks of parameters for effects that have more than one bank of parameters e additional device chains within Racks that contain more than one chain 27 8 Mixing with Push To control volumes pans or sends with the encoders for up to eight tracks simultaneously press the corresponding button on Push Volume and Pan amp Send Buttons In Volum
135. section is the Amount slider This defines the limits of the pitch envelope s influence in semitones The actual range depends upon the dynamics of the envelope itself Live Instrument Reference 445 The right hand side of this section contains five sliders and one chooser that are unrelated to the Pitch Envelope but can globally effect Sampler s output Spread Transp Detune ECLI ETE REx EL The Lower Right hand Corner of the Pitch Osc Tab Spread When Spread is used two detuned voices are generated per note This also doubles the processing requirements Transpose Transp Global transpose amount indicated in semitones Detune Global detune amount indicated in cents Key Zone Shift Zn Shft This transposes MIDI notes in the Key Zone Editor only so that dif ferent samples may be selected for playback even though they will adhere to the played pitch Good for getting interesting artifacts from multisamples Glide The global Glide mode used in conjunction with the Time parameter to smoothly transi tion between pitches Glide is a standard monophonic glide while Portamento works poly phonically Time Enabling a Glide mode produces a smooth transition between the pitch of played notes This parameter determines the length of the transition 24 7 8 The Filter Global Tab Zones Sample Pitch Osce Filler Global Modulationsse MIDI Finer F Env Volume
136. settings only you might hear dropouts when launching clips in Legato Mode This happens because you are unexpect edly jumping to a point in the sample that Live has had no chance to pre load from disk in ad vance You can remedy this situation by engaging Clip RAM Mode page 113 for the clips in question 13 6 Follow Actions Follow Actions allow creating chains of clips that can trigger each other in an orderly or random way or both A clip s Follow Action defines what happens to other clips in the same group after Launching Clips 165 the clip plays A group is defined by clips arranged in successive slots of the same track Tracks can have an unlimited number of groups separated by empty slots Flere Action 1j oo E ba LO The Follow Action Controls 1 The Follow Action Time control defines when the Follow Action takes place in bars beats sixteenths from the point in the clip where play starts The default for this setting is one bar 2 The Follow Action choosers allow selecting two different Follow Actions A and B 3 The Chance A and Chance B controls set the likelihood of each of the two Follow Actions occurring If a clip has Chance A set to 1 and Chance B set to O Follow Action A will oc cur every time the clip is launched As we can see from this example a Chance setting of O means that an action will never happen Changing Chance B to 10 in this scenario makes Follow Action A occur
137. signal level being sent to the waveshaper Dry Wet This adjusts the balance between the dry signal and the signal processed by the waveshaper LFO Shell and Display LFO On This turns the LFO low frequency oscillator on and off Turning it off when it is un used saves some CPU power Live Instrument Reference 422 LFO Waveform Select from among several typical LFO waveforms Sample and Hold S amp H creates random steps and Noise supplies bandpass filtered noise All waveforms are band limited to avoid unwanted clicks LFO Range The LFO covers an extreme frequency range Choose Low for a range from 50 seconds to 30 Hz or Hi for 8 Hz to 12 kHz Sync causes the LFO s rate to be synced to your Set s tempo Due to the possible high frequencies the LFO can also function as a fifth oscillator Retrigger R When enabled the LFO restarts at the same position in its phase each time a note is triggered With R disabled the LFO is free running LFO Rate Rate This sets the rate of the LFO The actual frequency also depends on the setting of the LFO Range and the LFO Rate lt Key controls LFO Amount Amount This sets the overall intensity of the LFO Note that the actual effect also depends on the LFO envelope LFO to Osc Destination A D The LFO modulates the frequency of the respective oscillator if this is turned on LFO to Filter Cutoff Frequency Destination FIL The LFO modulates the
138. slice arranged in a chromatic sequence 2 A Drum Rack will be added to the newly created track containing one chain per slice Each chain will be triggered by one of the notes from the clip and will contain a Simpler with the corresponding audio slice loaded 3 The Drum Rack s Macro Controls will be pre assigned to useful parameters for the Sim plers as determined by the settings in the selected slicing preset In the factory Slicing presets these include basic envelope controls and parameters to adjust the loop and crossfade properties of each slice Adjusting one of these Macros will adjust the mapped parameter in each Simpler simultaneously Note Live will take a few moments to process all of this information Playing the MIDI clip will trigger each chain in the Drum Rack in order according to the timing information that you specified or that was embedded in the audio This opens up many new edit ing possibilities including Converting Audio to MIDI 151 11 1 1 Resequencing Slices Rearranging the Sliced MID Data By default your sliced MIDI data will form a chromatically ascending staircase pattern in or der to trigger the correct chains in their original order But you can create new patterns by simply editing the MIDI notes page 138 You can achieve a similar effect by dragging the Drum Rack s pads onto each other to swap their note mappings 11 1 2 Using Effects on Slices Because each slice lives
139. strong low end and fuzz at high volumes Although the real world versions of these amplifiers all have unique parameters Live s Amp ef fect uses the same set of controls for each model This makes it very easy to quickly change the overall character of your sound without having to make numerous adjustments Gain adjusts the level of input to the preamplifier while Volume adjust the output stage of the power amplifier Although Gain and Volume work together to determine Amp s overall level Gain is the primary control for the distortion amount Higher Gain settings result in a more dis torted sound When using the Blues Heavy and Bass models high Volume levels can also add considerable distortion The Bass Middle and Treble knobs are EQ controls that adjust the timbre of the sound As ona real world amplifier Amp s EQ parameters interact with each other and with the rest of Amp s parameters in non linear and sometimes unpredictable ways For example increasing EQ levels can in some cases also increase the amount of distortion Presence is an additional tone control for mid high frequencies in the power amp stage Its influence on the sound varies considerably depending on the amp model used but can add or subtract edge or crispness The Output switch toggles between mono and stereo Dual processing Note that in Dual mode Amp uses twice as much CPU The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between
140. such as submixes or several MIDI tracks playing the same instrument In this scenario soloing Track B will still allow you to hear the Routing and O 180 output of the tracks that are feeding it Also you can still solo Track A and hear its output signal In this case all other tracks are muted including those that might also feed into Track B Techni cally what you hear is the output of Track B with everything except Track A s signal removed Approach 2 on the other hand leaves Track A unaffected except for Track B tapping its output We can easily add more tracks like Track B that all tap Track A s output Instrument layering is a good example of such a one to many routing setup 14 6 1 Internal Routing Points Signals travel from Live s tracks into their respective device chains and then into the track mixer where they might become panned or have their levels altered by the tracks faders Whenever a track s Audio From input chooser is set to another track as described in the previ ous section s Approach 2 the signal received can be tapped from one of three different points chosen from the Input Channel chooser Pre FX Post FX or Post Mixer Irach A 2 Irach G 3 Aono judia From Audio From Audio From an i Track A j Ai Post Mixer Tap Points for Track Routing e Pre FX taps the signal that is coming directly from a track before it has been passed on to the track s device chains FX or m
141. switched between several modes via switches in the bottom cor ners of the display e The Collapsed view shows only the essential controls Compressor s Collapsed View e The Transfer Curve shows the input level on the horizontal axis and output level vertically This view is useful for setting the Knee parameter which is visible as a pair of dotted lines around the threshold Live Audio Effect Reference 301 Compressor s Transfer Curve e The Activity view shows the level of the input signal in light grey In this mode the GR and Output switches toggle between showing the amount of gain reduction in orange or the output level in a darker grey These views are useful for visualizing what s happening to the signal over time Compression Activity Display Showing Input and Output The Attack and Release controls are essential parameters for controlling the response time of Compressor by defining how fast it reacts to input level changes Attack defines how long it takes to reach maximum compression once a signal exceeds the threshold while Release sets how long it takes for the compressor to return to normal operation after the signal falls below the threshold With Auto Release enabled the release time will adjust automatically based on the incoming audio A slight amount of attack time 10 50 ms allows peaks to come through unprocessed which helps preserve dynamics by accentuating the initial portion of the signal
142. that corresponds to the type of device being saved We recommend always saving Max devices to this default loca tion Max for Live 475 Note unlike Live s native devices Max devices are not saved inside Live Sets but rather as separate files 25 4 Max Dependencies As mentioned earlier there are some special file management considerations when creating presets for Max devices Additionally Max devices themselves may depend on other files such as samples pictures or even other Max patches in order to work properly In this case you may want to use Live s file management tools to collect all of these dependencies into a single place particularly if you want to share your Max devices One way in which Max for Live helps to deal with external dependencies is by allowing you to freeze a Max device A frozen device contains all of the files that are needed to use it Note that freezing of Max devices is not the same as Live s Freeze Track command page 569 To learn more about freezing and about how Max deals with managing dependencies for its own files we recommend reading the built in Max documentation 25 5 Learning Max Programming To help you learn more about building and editing Max devices Cycling 74 provides compre hensive documentation and tutorials built into the Max environment To access this documenta tion select Max Help from the Help menu in any Max window There is also a Max for Live He
143. the region If you wish instead to keep the generated tempo automation to continue working with it then right click PC CTRL click Mac on the Control Bar s Tempo field and choose the Un slave Tempo Automation command All clips will then be set to Slave but the tempo automation will remain in place Note that when Live s EXT switch is enabled page 561 the Master Slave switch has no effect and appears disabled 9 2 2 Warp Markers Think of a sample as a rubber band that you want to pin to a musical time ruler In Live the pins are called Warp Markers A Warp Marker locks a specific point in the sample to a specific place in the measure You can use any number of Warp Markers to create an arbitrary mapping of the piece s inherent rhythm to a musical meter Warp Markers are set in the Clip View s Sample Display by double clicking within the sample They can then be dragged or moved with the arrow keys to different points in time Warp Mark Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 121 ers can also be deleted by double clicking them or by pressing the computer keyboard s Back space or Delete key after selecting them a e 3 4 z a x TREE HEHHE ERR HEHHE HEE HNHH ATETA TATATATA TTT Double Clicking In the Sample Creates a Warp Marker When working with your clip you can have Live scroll the Sample Display to follow playback Use the Control Bar s Follow switch to activate this feature It also might be he
144. the value shown here Sample End The time value where playback will end unless a loop is enabled even if the volume envelope has not ended Sustain Mode The optional Sustain Loop defines a region of the sample where playback will be repeated while the note is in the sustain stage of its envelope Activating the Sustain Loop also allows the Release Loop to be enabled This creates several playback options No Sustain Loop Playback proceeds linearly until either the Sample End is reached or the volume envelope completes its release stage Sustain Loop Enabled Playback proceeds linearly until Loop End is reached when it jumps immediately to Loop Start and continues looping If Release Mode is OFF looping will continue inside the Sustain Loop until the volume envelope has completed its release stage Back and Forth Sustain Loop Enabled Playback proceeds to Loop End then reverses until it reaches Loop Start then proceeds again towards Loop End If Release Mode is OFF this pattern continues until the volume envelope has completed its release stage Link Enabling the Link switch sets Sample Start equal to Loop Start Note that the Sample Start parameter box doesn t lose its original value it simply becomes disabled so that it can be re called with a single click Loop Start The Sustain Loop s start point measured in samples Loop End The Sustain Loop s end point measured in samples Release
145. the Dry Wet control At O dB no compression occurs Makeup applies gain to the signal allowing you to compensate for the reduction in level caused by compression A Makeup value that roughly corresponds to the position of the needle in the display should result in a level close to what you had before compressing The Soft clip switch toggles a fixed waveshaper useful for taming very loud transients When enabled the Glue Compressor s maximum output level is 5 dB Note that with Oversampling enabled very loud peaks may still exceed O dB The Soft clipper is not a transparent limiter and will distort your signal when active We recommend leaving it disabled unless this particular type of colored distortion is what you re looking for The Glue Compressor s needle display shows the amount of gain reduction in dB The Clip LED turns red if the device s output level is exceeding O dB If Soft clipping is enabled this LED turns yellow to indicate that peaks are being clipped Live Audio Effect Reference 327 22 18 1 Sidechain Parameters The Glue Compressor With Sidechain Section Normally the signal being compressed and the input source that triggers the compressor are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to compress a signal based on the level of another signal or a specific frequency component To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Glue Compressor window by toggling the button in its titl
146. the Freq field and type in a value Holding the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier while drag ging vertically in the X Y display changes the frequency band s Q bandwidth Live Audio Effect Reference 358 The Pinch Effect section adds odd harmonics to the input signal These distortions typically occur 180 degrees out of phase creating a richer stereo image The Pinch Effect has the same controls as the Tracing Model but generates a rather different sound The Drive control increases or decreases the overall distortion amount created by both the Trac ing Model and Pinch There are two distortion modes Soft and Hard The Soft Mode simulates the sound of a dub plate while Hard Mode is more like that of a standard vinyl record The stereo mono switch determines whether the Pinch distortion occurs in stereo or mono Set it to stereo for realistic simulation of vinyl distortions The Crackle section adds noise to the signal with noise density set by the Density control The Volume control adjusts the amount of gain applied to the noise 22 34 Vocoder i Post FX anm EP F F Snae Za Bands Range By bate Level Se Se Retro 1808 ME The Vocoder Effect Note the Vocoder effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions A vocoder is an effect that combines the frequency information of one audio signal called the carrier with the amplitude contour of another audio signal called the modulator The modu
147. the effect of a single device amongst several tracks After reading about using devices in Live it might also be interesting to Working with Instruments and Effects 222 look into clip envelopes page 267 which can automate or modulate individual device pa rameters on a per clip basis 17 1 1 Live Device Presets Every Live device can store and retrieve their parameter settings as presets Each device ap pears in the content pane of the browser as a folder that can be opened to reveal its presets Search Ctrl F Presets in the Browser You can browse and load presets quickly with the computer keyboard e Scroll up and down using the up and down arrow keys e Close and open device folders using the left and right arrow keys e Press Enter to load a device or preset Pressing Q or clicking a device s Hot Swap Presets button will temporarily link the browser to a device and reveal its presets With the device and browser linked in this manner you can quickly browse and audition different presets In Hot Swap Mode devices and presets are loaded au tomatically upon selection in the browser To load a device s default factory settings select the parent folder of its presets i e the one with the device s name from the browser Working with Instruments and Effects 223 Note that pressing Q to enter Hot Swap mode will swap from the last selected device on a given track If no device was selected swap will b
148. the key features of the program The lessons are organized in a table of contents which can be opened directly in the program via the Help menu We highly recommend following the lessons Many users have told us that the lessons helped them become familiar with the program very quickly We also recommend that you read the Live Concepts chapter page 15 which encapsulates everything that Live is and can do and is therefore a worthwhile read for both beginners and experienced users The remaining chapters of this manual serve as in depth reference for the material introduced in Live Concepts 2 1 1 Using the Info View and Index Live s Info View tells you the name and function of whatever you place the mouse over For cer tain items you can create your own text and it will appear in this window First Steps 8 The Info View and its Show Hide Button If you require more information on a specific user interface element or topic please consult this reference manual The index found at the end of the manual contains the names of all user in terface elements and will lead you to the relevant section 2 2 Setting up Preferences Live s Preferences window is where you can find various settings that determine how Live looks behaves and interfaces with the outside world This window is accessed from the Preferences command which in Windows is available in the Options menu and in OS X is available in the Live menu Preferences can al
149. the object is hit at its center Higher values move the activation point closer to the edge This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The processed signal is fed through a lowpass and highpass filter that can be controlled with an X Y controller To define the filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical axis To set the posi tion of the frequency band click and drag on the horizontal axis The filter can be toggled on or off with the Filter switch Width adjusts the stereo mix between the left and right resonators At O both resonators are fed equally to each side resulting in mono output At 100 each resonator is sent exclusively to one channel Bleed mixes a portion of the unprocessed signal with the resonated signal At higher values more of the original signal is applied This is useful for restoring high frequencies which can Live Audio Effect Reference 309 often be damped when the tuning or quality are set to low values This parameter is unavailable with the Pipe or Tube resonators Gain boosts or attenuates the level of the processed signal while the Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the dry input signal and the signal sent to Corpus s processing Turning Dry Wet down will not cut resonances that are currently sounding but rather stop new input signals from being processed Corpus contains a built in limiter that automatically activates when the audio level is too high This is
150. the positions of the notes in the groove file are compared to the nearest quarter note and all notes in any clips that are assigned to that groove will be moved proportionally towards the positions of the groove notes At a base of 1 8th the groove s notes are measured from their nearest eighth note Notes in the groove that fall exactly on the grid aren t moved at all so the corresponding notes in your clips will also not be moved Quantize adjusts the amount of straight quantization that is applied before the groove is applied At 100 the notes in your clips will be snapped to the nearest note values as selected in the Base chooser At 0 the notes in clips will not be moved from their original positions before the groove is applied Timing adjusts how much the groove pattern will affect any clips which are using it Random adjusts how much random timing fluctuation will be applied to clips using the selected groove At low levels this can be useful for adding subtle humanization to high ly quantized electronic loops Note that Random applies differing randomization to every voice in your clip so notes that originally occurred together will now be randomly offset both from the grid and from each other Using Grooves 158 e Velocity adjusts how much the velocity of the notes in clips will be affected by the veloc ity information stored in the groove file Note that this slider goes from 100 to 100 At
151. the processed and dry signals Live Audio Effect Reference 289 22 1 1 Amp Tips Because Amp is modeled on real world analog devices its behavior can sometimes be difficult to predict Here are some tips on getting the most out of Amp Amps and Cabinets Guitar amps are designed to be used with accompanying speaker cabinets For this reason Amp comes with a companion effect called Cabinet page 295 which is designed to be used after Amp in a device chain If you re looking for authenticity we recommend this signal flow But you can also achieve interesting and exotic sounds by using Amp and Cabinet independently Electricity The various circuits in guitar amps work with a continuous and fixed amount of electricity For this reason turning up a particular parameter may inadvertently decrease the amount of avail able energy somewhere else in the amp This is particularly noticeable in the EQ controls For example turning up Treble can reduce the level of bass and midrange frequencies You may find that you need to carefully adjust a number of seemingly unrelated parameters to get the results you want More than guitars While Amp and Cabinet sound great with guitars you can get very interesting results by feeding them with drums synthesizers or other sound sources For example try using Amp with Operator page 406 or Analog page 375 to add analog grit to your digital sounds Live Audio Effect Reference 290 22 2 Auto
152. thereby in creasing its overall duration by the length of the selection e Delete Time deletes a selection of time from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the deleted area closer together in the timeline This command reduces the length of your Arrangement by the amount of time you have deleted Note that the Delete Time command affects all tracks not only the selected ones Arrangement View 84 e Insert Silence inserts as much empty time as is currently selected into the Arrangement before the selection 6 11 Splitting Clips The Split command can divide a clip or isolate part of it To split a clip in two halves do the following 1 Unfold the track 2 In the waveform or MIDI display click at the position where you want the clip to be split 3 Execute the Split command To isolate a part of a clip do the following 1 Unfold the track 2 In the waveform or MIDI display drag a selection over the part of the clip you want to isolate 3 Execute the Split command to divide the original clip into three pieces fe Orumioop Crumilooan The Result of Splitting a Clip 6 12 Consolidating Clips The Consolidate command replaces the material in the Arrangement View selection with one new clip per track This is very useful for creating structure Arrangement View 85 Consolidating Several Clips Into a New Clip Suppose you have by editing or improvising come up with a la
153. to indicate which clips are currently controlled by the pad matrix This ring is red if Launch pad is enabled in the first of Live s six control surface choosers Each chooser has a different colored ring allowing you to assign multiple Launchpads at the same time The directional arrows and the Session button increase the scope of the eight by eight grid e Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene ata time Hold the Session button while hitting Up or Down to move eight scenes up or down bank shifting Using the Launchpad 552 e The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time Hold the Session button while hitting Left or Right to move eight tracks at a time bank shifting Pressing a Clip Launch pad triggers the clip in the corresponding clip slot in Live Hitting an emp ty clip slot in a track that is not armed will stop the clip playing in this track If the track is armed to record pressing the button records a new clip The buttons in the matrix light up in different colors so you know what s going on e Amber this slot contains a clip e Green this clip is playing e Red this clip is recording You can also fire horizontal lines of clips Scenes with the buttons on the right hand side of Launchpad 30 3 2 Session Overview m 0 0 0 0 O 0 Olle EERE C3 EER EERE C EERE Chi Titi i Ci EER REREROC Til it tt EERE E Tit it novation Session Overview Using th
154. to something in between This is defined by the Rate lt Key parameter in the LFO s display With the R Retrigger button enabled the LFO restarts at the same position in its phase each time a note is triggered With R disabled the LFO is free running Live Instrument Reference 412 The overall intensity of the LFO is set by the LFO Amount control in the shell This parameter scales both the Dest A and B amounts and can be modulated by note velocity via the display s Amt lt Vel control The LFO s intensity is also affected by its envelope 24 6 4 Envelopes Operator has seven envelopes one for each oscillator a filter envelope a pitch envelope and an envelope for the LFO All envelopes feature some special looping modes Additionally the filter and pitch envelopes have adjustable slopes Each oscillator s volume envelope is defined by six parameters three rates and three levels A rate is the time it takes to go from one level to the next For instance a typical pad sound starts with the initial level inf dB which is silence moves with an attack rate to its peak level moves from there to the sustain level with a decay rate and then finally after note off occurs back to inf dB at the release rate Operator s display provides a good overview of the actual shape of any particular envelope and lets you directly adjust the curve by clicking on a breakpoint and dragging The breakpoints retain their selection after
155. to the right of the selected grid marker or Warp Marker leaving Warp Markers to the left untouched These commands are also available from the start marker e Warp From Here runs the Auto Warp algorithm on the material to the right of the selected marker e Warp From Here Start At directs Auto Warp to use the current Live Set s tempo as a starting point for tempo tracking The strategy here is as follows 1 Deactivate the Warp switch for the clip so that it plays unwarped Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 128 2 Use the Control Bar s Tap Tempo button to tap along thereby setting the Live Set s tempo to match that of the clip Turn warping on again and use the Warp From Here Start At command to tell Auto Warp to use your tapped tempo as a reference e Warp From Here Straight tells Auto Warp that this is a clip with no tempo variations common in electronically produced works Auto Warp will then set a single Warp Mark er derived from its guess of the file s original tempo e Warp BPM From Here will also set a single Warp Marker but in this case Auto Warp is forced to interpret the clip as exactly matching the Live Set s tempo This is useful in cases when you happen to know the exact BPM value of an electronically produced work and can type it into the Control Bar before warping Multi Clip Warping When clips of equal length are multi selected adding or changing Warp Markers for one clip will ap
156. two voices are detuned and the amount of detuning can be adjusted with the Spread control Tip Whether or not spread is applied to a particular note depends upon the setting of the Spread parameter during the note on event To achieve special effects you could for instance create a sequence where Spread is zero most of the time and turned on only for some notes These notes will then play in stereo while the others will play mono 24 8 8 Pitch Pan Volume and Voices Simpler plays back a sample at its original pitch if the incoming MIDI note is C3 however the Transpose control allows transposing this by 48 semitones Pitch can also be modulated by an LFO or pitch envelope using the amount controls in this section The pitch envelope is espe cially helpful in creating percussive sounds Simpler reacts to MIDI Pitch Bend messages with a Live Instrument Reference 456 sensitivity of 5 semitones You can also modulate the Transpose parameter with clip enve lopes and external controllers The Voices parameter sets the maximum number of voices that Simpler can play simultaneously If more voices are needed than have been allocated by the Voices chooser voice stealing will take place in which the oldest voice s will be dropped in favor of those that are new For exam ple if your Voices parameter is set to 8 and ten voices are all vying to be played the two oldest voices will be dropped Simpler does try to make voice st
157. up Live for cueing please refer to the relevant section page 202 of the Mixing chapter Adding Clips from the Browser There are several ways to add clips to a Live Set e Files can be dragged and dropped from the browser into tracks in the Session or Arrange ment View Dragging and dropping material from the browser into the space to the right of Session View tracks or below Arrangement View tracks will create a new track and place the new clip s there JOO Drop Files and Devices Here vY eft 4 mf A i Dropping a Clip to Create a New Track e In the Session View double clicking or pressing Enter on a file in the browser will auto matically create a new track to the right of the other tracks and load it with the clip e Files can be dropped directly into Live from the Explorer Windows Finder Mac Managing Files and Sets 40 Hot Swap Mode In addition to the drag and drop method of loading files from the browser Live offers a Hot Swap Mode to reduce your mouse travel Hot Swap Mode can be toggled on and off with the Q key and establishes a temporary link between the browser and for example a virtual instrument While in Hot Swap Mode you can step through samples or presets to audition them in place that is within the instrument Hot swapping for presets is covered in the Live Device Presets section page 222 Let s go through an example of hot swapping samples Live s built in Impul
158. value The starting pitch can be modulated by velocity via the Vel slider Live Instrument Reference 391 Physical Properties Section Ratio Decay Material ListeningL lume lume ey N A etic 26 0 dB 4 Brightness ListeningR teen tiftne il Pitch Envelope 95 He jr y aaah Hit Par t j O O 127 d Key 0 0 4 Q m O ng 6 3 0 0 4 vel 0 0 4 50 00 qvel 100 4 Of Decay 44 dRo 00 1k Rally 392 A E7 ms DO ED 4 ha ms Physical Properties of the Resonator The type chooser allows you to select from seven types of physically modeled resonant objects Beam simulates the resonance properties of beams of different materials and sizes e Marimba a specialized variant of the Beam model reproduces the characteristic tuning of marimba bar overtones which are produced as a result of the deep arch cut of the bars String simulates the sound produced by strings of different materials and sizes e Membrane is a model of a rectangular membrane such as a drum head with a variable size and construction e Plate simulates sound production by a rectangular plate a flat surface of different materi als and sizes e Pipe simulates a cylindrical tube that is fully open at one end and has a variable opening at the other adjusted with the Opening parameter e Tube simulates a cylindrical tube that is closed at both ends The quality chooser controls the tradeoff between the sound quality of
159. velocities cccceeeee 144 andagi MING Senini 139 141 and recording MIDI 209 and step recording ccccccseseeeseesesees 210 creating and editing notes 004 140 editing velocities cceccceeeeteeeeee 143 loop region settings fOr 139 MIDI MNGte Sireleniaietiatare estes 146 NGVIGGHOM pes E whee 136 noted Velocity kinins ets 145 rearranging notes in eeeeseeseeeeeeeeees 140 MIDI Fact Shes heceronr a RN 583 MIDEA ES ieg 22 and time signature changes 76 MIDI Map Mode switch ccececeseeeee 483 VID EPO SI S in cS sncdetnessctnascudtb anes arens 174 MIDI Preferences s ccseucnnex sceieenenacts 9 MIDI synchronization ccccececeeeeeteeeeeee 561 MIDI Timecode Frame Rate preference 563 MIDI Track In Indicator 176 MIDI Track Out Indicator uu 176 Minimum Free Space preference 004 42 MET ren 24 191 Mixer Section selector 192 MONRONING nanye r T tre 172 ONION MIN e a 198 Multiband Dynamics effect ccccceeee 336 gnd SIASCNGIN 2 isosnceteeteesncetont es 340 interface and controls 338 11210 gy Camere ty Speen meee ee gue entree eRe NT 337 TUS ce tees tose AEE EA E E EET 341 Index 606 Multicore Multiprocessor Suppott 567 Multiple Plug In Windows preference 228 Multisampling sesessssssesesesisessssssisessesesesn 427 muting CDS nnn Ea E E 100 N Narrow Grid command ccccceceseseeeeteeeeees 82 New button sant
160. very large sizes the fundamental pitch of the resonator also changes The Decay and Material Radius parameters can also be controlled with the X Y controller Ratio is only available for the Membrane and Plate resonators and adjusts the ratio of the ob ject s size along its x and y axes The Brightness control adjusts the amplitude of various frequency components At higher values higher frequencies are louder This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators Inharm Inharmonics adjusts the pitch of the resonator s harmonics At negative values fre quencies are compressed increasing the amount of lower partials At positive values frequen cies are stretched increasing the amount of upper partials This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators Opening which is only available for the Pipe resonator scales between an open and closed pipe At 0 the pipe is fully closed on one side while at 100 the pipe is open at both ends The Listening L and R controls adjust the location on the left and right resonator where the vibra tions are measured At 0 the resonance is monitored at the object s center Higher values move the listening point closer to the edge These parameters are not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators which are always measured in the middle of their permanently open end The Hit knob adjusts the location on the resonator at which the object is struck or otherwise ac tivated At 0
161. will be played legato which means that the envelopes will not be retriggered from voice to voice and only pitch will change A global Volume control for the instrument can be found in the global section of the shell and a Pan control is located in the global section s display Pan can be modulated by note pitch or a random factor using the adjacent Pan lt Key and Pan lt Rnd controls respectively The center of the global display allows for a wide variety of internal MIDI mappings The MIDI controllers Velocity Key Aftertouch Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel can be mapped to two des tinations each with independent modulation intensities set via the Amount sliders Note that Time lt Key and pitch bend range have fixed assignments although both modulation sources can still be routed to an additional target For more information about the available modulation op tions see the complete parameter list page 417 Live Instrument Reference 416 24 6 7 Glide and Spread Il BB Envelope Aux SASIope D Slope R Slope Timeswel Oest A Pitch Eriw Spread T rare pce Di DO initial Peak Sustain Dest E w eC A 15d 83 84 Pari 31 sl Loop Time End Glide Time P A E 255m3 Baea8 lt Operator s Pitch Section Operator includes a polyphonic glide function When this function is activated new notes will start with the pitch of the last note played and then slide gradually to their own played p
162. will notice that the Video Win dow updates to show the corresponding video frame so that any point in the music can be eas ily aligned with any point in the video clip Since Live displays a movie file s embedded QuickTime markers they can be used as convenient visual cues when setting Warp Markers 21 3 Matching Sound to Video In Live it takes just a few steps to get started with video Let s look at a common scenario matching a piece of music to edits or hit points in a video 1 Make sure that Live s Arrangement View is visible Your computer keyboard s Tab key will toggle between the Session View and Arrangement View Working with Video 283 2 Drag a QuickTime movie from Live s browser and drop it into an audio track in the Ar rangement View The Video Window will appear to display the video component of the movie file Remember that you can move this window to any convenient location on the screen 3 Now that the video clip is loaded drag an audio clip into the Arrangement View s drop area A new track will automatically be created for it Unfold both tracks so you can see their contents by clicking the buttons to the left of their names 4 Double click on the video clip s title bar to view it in the Clip View In the Sample box make sure that the Warp button is enabled Warped clips in the Arrangement View can be set as tempo master or slave We want the Master Slave switch set to Master which will for
163. work in the same way as their Tine counterparts The Release knob applies to both the Tine and Tone areas and controls the decay time of the fork s sound after a key is released 24 3 4 Damper Section The metal forks in an electric piano are designed to sustain for a long time when a key is held The mechanism that regulates this sustain is called the damper When a key is pressed that note s damper is moved away from its fork When the key is released the damper is applied to the fork again to stop it from vibrating But the dampers themselves make a small amount of sound both when they are applied and when they are released This characteristic noise is mod elled in Electric s Damper section The Tone knob adjusts the stiffness of the dampers Turning this control to the left simulates soft dampers which produces a mellower sound Turning it to the right increases the hardness of the dampers producing a brighter sound The overall amount of damper noise is adjusted with the Level control The Att Rel knob adjusts whether or not damper noise is present when the dampers are applied to the fork or when they are released When turned to the left damper noise is only present dur ing the attack phase of the note When turned to the right the noise is present only during the release phase In the center an equal amount of noise will be added during both the attack and release Live Instrument Reference 400 24 3 5 Pickup Section
164. you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without look ing at your computer screen Hold down the Shift button and the matrix zooms out to reveal an overview of your Session View In the Session Overview each clip launch button represents a five scene by eight track block of clips giving you a matrix of 125 scenes by 64 tracks Hit a button to focus on that section of the Session View For example hitting the Shift button and then pressing the button in row three column one will put the focus on scenes 11 15 and tracks 1 8 Furthermore while Shift is held each scene launch button represents a block of 25 scenes if they are available in your Set In the Session Overview the color coding is a little different e Amber indicates the currently selected block of clips which will be surrounded by the red border in the software e Green there are clips playing in that block of clips though that may not be the block of clips selected e Red there are no clips playing in that range e No color there are no tracks or scenes in that range 28 4 Mixer Section The APC4O features eight tracks each with its own fader solo pre cue activator and record arm buttons A Master fader controls the master volume and a Cue Level knob controls cue vol Using the APC4O 533 ume page 202 so you can pre listen to a clip or the metronome without your audience hear ing it A SSeS Ma r Mixer Controls You can shift these eig
165. 0 TEE 0 00 HP Random Mode Mode Random Fandom 0 00 M IS os The Impulse Instrument Impulse is a drum sampler with complex modulation capabilities The eight drum samples loaded into Impulse s sample slots can be time stretched filtered and processed by envelope saturation pan and volume components nearly all of which are subject to random and velocity based modulation 24 5 1 Sample Slots Drag and drop samples into any of Impulse s sample slots from the browser or the Session and Arrangement Views Alternatively each sample slot features a Hot Swap button for hot swap Live Instrument Reference 404 ping samples page 40 Loaded samples can be deleted with your computer keyboard s Backspace or Delete key Imported samples are automatically mapped onto your MIDI keyboard providing that it is plugged in and acknowledged by Live C3 on the keyboard will trigger the leftmost sample and the other samples will follow suit in the octave from C3 to C4 Impulse s eight slots will appear labeled in the MIDI Editor s key tracks page 133 when the Fold button is active even if the given key track is void of MIDI notes Mapping can be transposed from the default by applying a Pitch device page 369 or it can be rearranged by applying a Scale device page 371 Each of the eight samples has a proprietary set of parameters located in the area below the sample slots and visible when the sample is clicked Ad
166. 10 4 1 Non Destructive Editing You can always return your MIDI clip to its previous state by using the Edit menu s Undo com mand Furthermore if the MIDI clip being edited originated in a MIDI file on your hard drive none of your editing will alter the original MIDI file as Live incorporates its contents into your Live Set when importing 10 4 2 Folding and Looping An important feature of the MIDI Editor is the Fold button located in the upper left corner Acti vating this button will immediately hide all rows or key tracks that do not contain MIDI notes in any clips in the track This is very useful when working with percussion kits for example which are oftentimes mapped out along a keyboard in sections corresponding to percussion type e g snares grouped together two octaves down from hi hat cymbals etc When working with a MIDI file created by such a mapping sometimes only one or two of each type of percussion sound is used and it becomes unnecessary to view the entire keyboard range Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 139 The Fold Button Extracts Key Tracks Containing Notes When editing MIDI you might find that you want to change which part of the clip you are listen ing to or loop the clip in order to listen to it repeatedly You can use the loop region markers page 104 for this Use the Lloop Region Markers to Select a Specific Region of the Clip to Play Tip Selecting the loop brace in a MIDI clip an
167. 2 3 Resonator Tabs Collision fj Resonator 1 F Resonator 2 Noise Tune Fine Ratio Decay Material ListeningL lags VQ O A Q es A N A Ost Oct 0 0 26 j m4 100 Key Brightness ListeningR Bleed l a Pitch Envelope 9 5 oi A Pitch Time Inharmonics Hit O O SEEL CEIT 0 0 100 ms 63 00 4 Vel 00 4 50 0 0 vel 0 0 vel Off Decay 44 Rd Collision s Resonators The majority of Collision s character is determined by the parameters in the two Resonator tabs Each stereo resonator can be toggled on or off via the switch in its tab Keep in mind that if both resonators are turned off no sound will be produced Each resonator section is further divided into three subsections On the left are controls related to tuning In the center are the controls that determine the physical properties of the resonant object To the right are mixer controls Each resonator s center subsection contains a Copy to button Pressing this button copies this subsection s parameter settings from the currently selected resonator to the other resonator The link tab between the Resonator tabs allows you to adjust parameters for both resonators simultaneously The behavior here is similar to what happens when you edit the properties for a multi selection of clips page 97 parameters that have differing values will display the value range either on the control for knobs or in the status bar for sliders and choos
168. 222 but with one important difference because a Max device can be stored out side of Live s Library it is important to make sure that any presets that refer to this device remain associated with it If you save a preset for a Max device that is outside of the Library Live will try to maintain the necessary file references by copying the Max device into the Library and saving the preset based on this copy If the referenced Max file is then moved or renamed however these file associations may be broken If this happens you can use Live s File Manager page 62 to fix the problem To avoid these issues we recommend always storing Max devices and their presets in the same folder Live s Library is the preferred location Live Devices Name Type l Wak Audio EMect Ableton Weyvpoe C ButferShutfier P Piuggo P Audio Rate Pan Audio Rate Pan inside Outsky Shiver me Timbers Slow Complexity Stereo Shudder Tiger Moth Whirty Times A Max Device and its Presets in the Browser 25 3 Editing Max for Live Devices Max for Live 473 Max devices or patches are constructed of objects that send data to each other via virtual cables An empty Max Audio Effect for example already contains some of these elements the plugin object passes all incoming audio to the plugout object which then passes the audio on to any additional devices in the chain u ef O te Max Audio Effe i EA Audio
169. 3 and Arrangement editing 0 82 Export AUdIO Vide0 c cccsesessseseeeseeteteeseees 43 and envelope drawing s s s 263 Export MIDI Clip command annaa 49 and MIDI editing AE EE E 139 External Audio Effect cccccccsesesscseseneeeees 316 and time signature Markers 79 and real time freezing cccccecccseseeees 569 in editing clip envelopes 2 7 and real time rendering cssssccccsssseseeseee 46 working with the s ssssssssesesisessesseseseee 82 External Instrument AQ groove feature s s ssssissssisisisisisissirer 101 155 and multi timbral plug ins cccccsssssee fey Gioove Poola irorun ioe 156 and real time freezing cccccsssssssseeeeeee BO GmOup slOlsyae Oman ie tiie oman 88 and real time rendering HE GUOUD TRACKS eis esc ser E R 196 and ReWire device ccccceeereeeeee 178 H F Hard Disk Overload indicator 0060 571 Fades Device CHOOSEL coerce seseescecweosts 78 262 High Quality S Wil ee a 111 File Folder Preferences scscccccccscsssssccsssssssesssseee o NOLSWODDING serce 40 and VST plug ins ssssssssssssssesssssssseeeee 23 and device presets 222 FIGIMGHOOER sa sciiteutnsceuaancamebanien 59 and GTOOVES oeeesssssssseeeeeetettesssssseeeeeen 155 File Type preference cecccccesccsesesetseeeeees 214 and IMPUlse essssssseeeeeseeeesssssseeeeeee 403 Filter Delay effect ccccccescscseseeteteteeeeeees 317 and Simpler essseseeeeeeeseereesssssseeeeee 453 Fixed Grid command
170. 76 with MIDI elips insider crscemironvewnice 139 Loop Selection command ccccceeeseeeeee 76 Loop Start Punch in Position fields 76 Loop switch Clip VieW asrep 107 276 277 Contool oc ae ee nner ne meee ree 76 with MIDI elips serssk otazacrnesaatenaresezae 139 Loop To Next Locator command cceee 74 Loop Warp Short Samples preference 120 M MiGGrO COnOlS cis ccnrtver bss ae 239 Macro Map Mode serntetssscwsndacescutens 252 Manage Files command and changing file references 54 and collecting external files 62 and collecting external samples 63 and finding unused files ccccceeee 64 and locating missing files cccccee 59 and packing Live Projects 65 and project management 59 Mapping Browsel cceccecesesseseeseeseeeeeeeees 482 mapping to MIDI keys cccccereeeee 30 477 gnd recordi Ngene aa tte ssseethe 214 Master Out ChOOSEl ccccccececeecccccecceceeeeees 203 Master IGG kapay tal ecercreus tala tes 198 Maxtor IVS sisi Matte citar 471 Maximum Cache Size preference 42 Metronome switch ccccccseecesessseeseeeeesesesees 212 MIDI editing with the transform tools 115 DONIN eee auieneseatuaninces 49 GUANIN Gessi niian anai 142 212 sending bank program changes 116 MIDI Arrangement Overdub cee 207 MIDE JNO cinstit 99 133 and drawing MIDI 134 and drawing
171. 8 3 2 Bank and Program Change Live can send MIDI bank program change messages to external devices and plug ins that sup port MIDI program change messages According to the settings in these controls launching a clip also sends its bank program change message If you are using Live to send MIDI to your synth this means that each MIDI clip in your Live Set can play a different sound on your synth Live offers messages for 128 banks with 128 sub banks each of which has 128 programs Please see the documentation that came with your synthesizer to determine how many of these messages it can use If you do not want your clip to send program or bank change messages u simply set the bank program choosers to 8 3 3 MIDI Loop Region These controls manage how the contents of a MIDI clip are played and shown in the MIDI Edi tor They work the same way as those for audio clips page 104 In the MIDI Editor the zoom scroll area is located above the beat time ruler the scrub area just below 8 4 Clip Defaults and Update Rate You can change the rate at which Live applies your Clip View settings to a running clip Clip View changes will be quantized by the rate selected from the Clip Update Rate chooser in the Record Warp Launch Preferences Certain clip settings such as Launch Mode and Warp Mode can be set up as defaults for all new clips This is also done in the Record Warp Launch Preferences Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 117
172. Ableton Reference Manual Version 9 tor Windows and Mac OS Reference Manual by Dennis DeSantis lan Gallagher Kevin Haywood Rose Knudsen Gerhard Behles Jakob Rang Robert Henke Torsten Slama I Ableton Sch nhauser Allee 6 7 10119 Berlin Germany Contact Support www ableton com support contact Copyright 2013 Ableton AG All rights reserved Made in Germany This manual as well as the software described in it is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accor dance with the terms of such license The content of this manual is furnished for informational use only is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment by Ableton Every eftort has been made to ensure that the information in this manual is accurate Ableton assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this book Except as permitted by such license no part of this publication may be reproduced edited stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic mechanical recording or otherwise without the prior written permis sion of Ableton Ableton the Ableton Logo the Live logo are trademarks of Ableton AG Apple GarageBand Mac Macintosh Mac OS and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc registered in the U S and other countries Finder is a trademark of Apple Inc Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United State
173. Bend sets the range in semitones of pitch bend modulation 24 4 External Instrument Note the External Instrument device is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Ext Instrument MIDI To Axim Pro 25 MIDI Out F Meni Audio From Gain 5 6 54 dE Peak 83 33 Hardware Latency The External Instrument The External Instrument device is not an instrument itself but rather a routing utility that allows you to easily integrate external hardware synthesizers ReWire devices and multitimbral plug ins into your projects It sends MIDI out and returns audio The two MIDI To choosers select the output to which the device will send MIDI data The top chooser selects either a physical MIDI port page 174 a ReWire slave destination page 176 or a multitimbral plug in If you select a MIDI port for use with an external synthesizer the second chooser s options will be MIDI channel numbers If you ve chosen a ReWire slave such as Reason as your routing target the choices will be the specific devices available in the slave project Live Instrument Reference 402 Hardware Interface Wiis SubTractor 1 ReWire Options Shown in the Routing Choosers If another track in your set contains a multitimbral plug in you can select this track in the top chooser In this case the second chooser allows you to select a specific MIDI channel in the plug in The Audio From chooser provides options f
174. Clips 215 Waster J 4 Stop Clips le a The Scene Up Down Buttons e086 e086 One key is used to jump to the next scene 3 MIDI 4 MND Master Cfaa 2 7 4 Stop Clips E FAH gt Oy A Track Launch Button LELE and another key to start and end recording in the respective track You can also map the step recording navigators page 210 Loop Pasilian The Step Recording Arrows This allows you to for example use MIDI foot pedals to move the clip s insert marker thereby keeping both hands free for playing a keyboard Recording New Clips 216 Working with Instruments and Eftects 217 Chapter 17 Working with Instruments and Effects Every track in Live can host a number of devices These devices can be of three different sorts e MIDI effects act upon MIDI signals and can only be placed in MIDI tracks e Audio effects act upon audio signals and can be placed in audio tracks They can also be placed in MIDI tracks as long as they are downstream from an instrument e Instruments are devices that reside in MIDI tracks receive MIDI and output audio The Device View is where you insert view and adjust the devices for the selected track To select a track and open the Device View to access its devices double click the track s name The De vice View appears in the bottom area of the Live screen Devices in the Device View Working with Instruments and Eff
175. Coarse Fire Fixed Level Nr che ati eh See RAL Time Tone Volume cl Loop Key Pate a Bo Q O T Qs The Operator Instrument as Rig di 355 Operator is an advanced and flexible synthesizer that combines the concept of frequency modulation FM with classic subtractive and additive synthesis It utilizes four multi waveform oscillators that can modulate each other s frequencies creating very complex timbres from a lim ited number of objects Operator includes a filter section an LFO and global controls as well as individual envelopes for the oscillators filter LFO and pitch With the release of Live 8 Operator has been dramatically overhauled with powerful new fea tures Despite this the interface is mostly unchanged and presets and Sets that were made with earlier versions of Operator are fully compatible with this update The full version of Operator is not included with the standard version of Live but is a special feature available for purchase separately 24 6 1 General Overview The interface of Operator consists of two parts the display surrounded on either side by the shell The shell offers the most important parameters in a single view and is divided into eight Live Instrument Reference 407 sections On the left side you will find four oscillator sections and on the right side from top to bottom the LFO the filter section the pitch section and the global parameters If you change one of the shell paramet
176. Control Live can be controlled remotely by external MIDI control surfaces such as MIDI keyboards or controller boxes Live also offers dedicated control via Ableton Push page 489 the Akai APC40 page 529 Akai APC20 page 541 and Novation Launchpad page 549 Before we explain how remote control assignments are made and implemented let s first make the distinction between MIDI remote control and a separate use of MIDI in Live as the input for MIDI and Key Remote Control 478 our MIDI tracks Let s suppose that you are using a MIDI keyboard to play an instrument in one of Live s MIDI tracks If you assign C 1 on your MIDI keyboard to a Session View Clip Launch button that key will cease playing C 1 of your MIDI track s instrument as it now belongs solely to the Clip Launch button MIDI keys that become part of remote control assignments can no longer be used as input for MIDI tracks This is a common cause of confusion that can be easily resolved by observing the Control Bar s MIDI indicators page 176 Before making any MIDI assignments you will need to set up Live to recognize your control surfaces This is done in the MIDI Sync tab of Live s Preferences which can be opened with the CTRL PC CMD Mac keyboard shortcut 26 1 1 Natively Supported Control Surfaces Control Surfaces are defined in the table at the top of the MIDI Sync tab Up to six supported control surfaces can be used simultaneo
177. Filter O Auto Filter CT Envelope LFO S amp H Audio From Amount Shape 127 a4 Gain Attack Rate 19 9 dB 5 08 ms MIME es Dry Wet Release Quantize Beat E Phase i 84 9 41 4 ms Ls Le Le a es 36r The Auto Filter Effect The Auto Filter effect provides classic analog filter emulation It can be modulated by an enve lope follower and or an LFO to create moving filter effects The envelope follower can track either the filtered signal or an external sidechain source There are four different filter types lowpass highpass bandpass and notch For each type the X Y controller adjusts frequency to adjust click and drag on the X axis and Q also called res onance to adjust click and drag on the Y axis You can also click on the Freq and Q numeric displays and type in exact values Low Q values create a broad filter curve while higher values introduce a narrow resonant peak to the sound With bandpass filtering Q sets the bandwidth of the passed signal The Quantize Beat control applies quantized modulation to the filter frequency With Quantize Beat off frequency modulation follows the control source Turning this feature on updates the fil ter modulation rhythmically with stepped changes that track the master tempo The numbered buttons represent 16th notes so for example selecting 4 as a beat value produces a modula tion change once per beat The Envelope section controls how the envelope m
178. Fold will map C3 to A2 instead The Range and Lowest controls work together to define the note range within which scale map ping will take effect Outside of the range defined by these controls the Scale effect will be inapplicable and the LED light will flash to indicate that some notes are not being processed by the effect but are playing at their unaltered pitch 23 7 Velocity Velocity Drive Operation Mode 0 73 Random The Velocity Effect Velocity can alter incoming MIDI note velocity values 1 127 in either a controlled or random manner It can function on MIDI Note On Velocity or Note Off Rel Vel messages or both depending on the setting of the Operation chooser The Out Low and Out Hi knobs control the outgoing velocity from 1 to 127 which is repre sented by the Y axis of the X Y display Incoming velocities that are shown in the display are within the range chosen by the Range and Lowest controls and are represented on the X axis The resulting curve shows how velocity is being altered by the effect If Lowest and Out Low are both set to zero and Range and Out Hi are set to 127 the display will show a straight diagonal line that indicates the equivalent of an effect bypass Softly played Live MIDI Effect Reference 373 notes are being output quietly and vice versa If instead Out Hi is set to zero and Out Low to 127 the slope of the line will be reversed and softly played notes will actua
179. G EET 62 destructive Editing cccccceeeees 55 110 finding ONUSER nasicesuctucmasincnammuneins 64 high quality interpolation ccce 111 offline missing sunisehotssnren sa nassamsetdes 59 played from RAM mode cccceeceees 113 Fel GCING estes ica anette cetaunsicas 54 LEVERING Gunnur 113 saving with clip settings ccccceeeees 111 ime W GOING ano etic 119 Saturator SNECt wrcuariscoqusienarseatummrnaits 351 Save a Copy commands ciscci me kenacuts 5I Save As coMmMand s s ssssssssissssesisisissrressseres 5 DOVE comman dra 51 Save Current Set as Default button 53 Save Default Clip button oo 42 111 Seale SHeGh sean E emucnens 371 Scene Launch button sssssssssssssssessesesesssesese 90 AE AAEE E EAEE A AEE T 18 90 and MIDI key mapping c cce 485 EAD oaia e S taney rtaeds 93 LELEN e AEE EE EE 209 Scene Select field oo cceecceeteeeeeeees 486 Scene Up Down buttons 00060 215 485 scrubbing playback in the Arrangement View sseee 72 in the Clip View nosses 106 Segs BPM heldre rrsan mitaleetace 123 Select Loop COMMANA cceceseseeeteeseteteeees 8 and exponera nein ius 44 Select Next Scene on Launch option 90 Select Next Scene on Launch preference 486 Select on Launch preference ccccececeees 93 Send Conhoiarn AAN 25 198 Session Record button ccccccesseeeeeeee 28 209 SESSION VIEW ouine eana iisi 87 and Arrangement View ccc
180. IDI pitch bend modulation wheel and aftertouch messages to be routed to multiple destinations To the right of the resonators is a section of global parameters including overall output volume polyphony and resonator routing options In addition to serving as organizational aids Collision s tabs contain LEDs that light up to indi cate that their contained sections are active Disabling unused sections can save CPU 24 2 2 Excitator Tab The Excitator tab contains parameters for the Mallet and Noise sections These model the be havior of a mallet striking a surface and provide Collision s fundamental sound These section s parameters only control the initial impulse which is a much smaller component of Collision s overall sound than the resonators Note that if both the Mallet and Noise sections are turned off Collision will not make sound The Mallet Section Collision Excitak LFC MID Resonator 1 gt Resonator 2 gt BB Fl Mallet Noise I Hz 1 31 Copy to 2 Marimba Basi Volume Noise vV Ratio GP dB _ koi 2 0 atk oa 0 fe Brightness 76 dv 76 lt tag Pitch Envelope Sh Time Iinharmonics z J D Collision s Mallet Section Stiffness Color Gorm Bha 22 Key 13 Vel Off Decay 13 Rd A K Retrig The Mallet section simulates the impact of a mallet against a surface The parameters adjust the physical properties of the mallet itself Volume controls the overall output level of the ma
181. If these peaks cause overloads you can try shortening the attack time but extremely short times take the life out of Live Audio Effect Reference 302 the signal and may lead to a slight buzziness caused by distortion Short release times can cause pumping as the compressor tries to figure out whether to compress or not while gener ally considered an undesirable effect some engineers use it on full drum kits to give unusual sucking effects Careful adjustment of attack and release times is essential when it comes to compression of rhythmical sources If you are not used to working with compressors play a drum loop and spend some time adjusting Attack Release Threshold and Gain It can be very exciting A compressor can only react to an input signal once it occurs Since it also needs to apply an at tack release envelope the compression is always a bit too late A digital compressor can solve this problem by simply delaying the input signal a little bit Compressor offers three different Lookahead times zero ms one ms and ten ms The results may sound pretty different depending on this setting Compressor can be switched between three basic modes of operation With Peak selected Compressor reacts to short peaks within a signal This mode is more aggressive and precise and so works well for limiting tasks where you need to ensure that there are absolutely no signals over the set threshold RMS mode causes Compr
182. L Shift K PC 7 CMD Shift K Mac shortcut to the Options menu entry Routing and I O 175 fe KEY Min 2 LI Activating the Computer MIDI Keyboard The center row of letter keys on the keyboard will play notes corresponding to the white keys ona piano beginning on the left with the note C3 The black keys on a piano correspond to the upper row of computer keys The four leftmost letters on the lower row of the keyboard Z X C and V ona U S English keyboard are used to transpose the note range and to set velocity as follows e The leftmost keys Z and X adjust the keyboard s octave range e The next two keys C and V adjust incoming note velocity by intervals of twenty 20 40 60 and so on As it happens when the computer keyboard is set to send notes between C3 and C4 the keys are mapped to MIDI notes such that the center row of the keyboard ASDF addresses the Im pulse percussion sampler s sample slots page 403 This means that you can play and record drum patterns right off the computer keyboard Note that when the computer MIDI keyboard is activated it will steal keys that may have oth erwise been assigned to remote control page 487 elements of the Live interface To prevent this you can turn the computer MIDI keyboard off when it is not needed 14 3 3 Connecting External Synthesizers Routing MIDI to an external synthesizer is straightforward The Output Type chooser is set to whatever MIDI port
183. Last gives priority to the most recently played notes cutting off the oldest notes as necessary The Octave Semi and Tuning controls function as coarse and fine tuners Octave transposes the entire instrument by octaves while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments The Tun ing slider adjusts in increments of one cent up to a maximum of 50 cents up or down The pitch bend modulation range in semitones is set by the P Bend slider Stretch simulates a technique known as stretch tuning which is a common tuning modification made to electric and acoustic pianos At 0 Tension will play in equal temperament which means that two notes are an octave apart when the upper note s fundamental pitch is exactly twice the lower note s But because the actual resonance behavior of a vibrating tine or string differs from the theoretical model equal temperament tends to sound wrong on pianos In Live Instrument Reference 468 creasing the Stretch amount raises the pitch of upper notes while lowering the pitch of lower ones The result is a more brilliant sound Negative values simulate negative stretch tuning upper notes become flatter while lower notes become sharper The Error slider increases the amount of random tuning error applied to each note Try very high values if you would like to relive your experiences from junior high school orchestra The Unison section allows you to stack multiple voices for each note playe
184. Loop s Recording New Clips 208 start position 5 Likewise to prevent recording after the punch out point activate the Punch Out switch The punch out point is identical to the Arrangement Loop s end position 6 When you are recording into the Arrangement Loop page 76 Live retains the audio recorded during each pass You can later unroll a loop recording either by repeatedly using the Edit menu s Undo com mand or graphically in the Clip View After loop recording double click on the new clip In the Clip View s Sample Display you can see a long sample containing all audio recorded during the loop recording process The Clip View s loop brace defines the audio taken in the last pass moving the markers left lets you audition the audio from previous passes 16 3 2 Recording Into Session Slots You can record new clips on the fly into any Session slots lt o 6 12 Fiii i i Recording Into the Session View Recording New Clips 209 1 Set the Global Quantization chooser to any value other than None to obtain correctly cut clips 2 Activate the Arm button for the tracks onto which you want to record Clip Record buttons will appear in the empty slots of the armed tracks 3 Click the Session Record button to record into the selected scene in all armed tracks A new clip will appear in each clip slot with a red Clip Launch button that shows it is cur rently recording To go fro
185. Loop Length and its Amount A to 100 high velocities will result in long loop lengths while low velocities will create shorter ones At the bottom is a Pitch Bend Range slider O to 24 steps The 14 bit range of pitch wheel values can be scaled to produce up to 24 semitones of pitch bend in Sampler Finally clicking in the Sampler image on the right will trigger a scrolling movie like credits for Sampler These are the people you can thank 24 7 11 Importing Third Party Multisamples Sampler can use multisamples created by a number of other software and hardware samplers To import a third party multisample navigate to the file in Live s browser and drag it into a Live Set This will import it into your User Library Importing will create new Sampler presets which you can find in the browser under User Li brary Sampler Imports Note that some multisample files will be converted to Instrument Rack page 237 presets that contain several Sampler instances used to emulate the original more accurately Live Instrument Reference 452 For all multisample formats except Apple EXS24 GarageBand and Kontakt Live will import the actual audio data and create new samples This means the new Sampler presets will work re gardless of whether the original multisample file is still available To import Apple EXS24 GarageBand and Kontakt multisamples Live will create new Sampler presets that reference the original WAV or AIF files This means that
186. Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the envelope follower and is never actually heard The Auto Filter also contains a Low Frequency Oscillator to modulate filter frequency in a peri odic fashion The respective Amount control sets how much the LFO affects the filter This can be used in conjunction with or instead of the envelope follower The Rate control specifies the LFO speed It can be set in terms of hertz or synced to the song tempo allowing for controlled rhythmic filtering Available LFO waveform shapes are sine creates smooth modulations with rounded peaks and valleys square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and sample and hold generates ran dom positive and negative modulation values in mono and stereo There are two LFOs one for each stereo channel The Phase and Offset controls define the rela tionship between these two LFOs Phase keeps both LFOs at the same frequency but can set the two LFO waveforms out of phase with each other creating stereo movement Set to 180 the LFO outputs are 180 de grees apart so that when one LFO reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each stereo channel is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount Live Audio Effect Reference 292 For sample and hold the Phase and Spin controls
187. Pinky Up and Pinky UpDown Thumb Up and Thumb UpDown Play Order places notes in the pattern according to the order in which they are played This is therefore only recognizable when more than one chord or note has been played In addition to the Arpeggiator styles above there is a Chord Trigger mode which repeats the incoming notes as a block chord as well as three settings for creating random arpeggios e Choosing Random will produce a continuously randomized sequence of the incoming MIDI notes e Random Other creates random patterns from incoming MIDI notes but will not repeat a given note until all other incoming notes have been used e Random Once creates one random pattern from incoming MIDI notes and repeats that pattern until the incoming MIDI changes at which point a new pattern is created Arpeggiator will play the pattern of notes at the speed set by the Rate control which can be calibrated in either milliseconds or beat time using the neighboring Sync Free button With Sync chosen Arpeggiator will be synced to the song tempo A Gate control to the right of Rate determines the length of notes played by Arpeggiator as a percentage of the current Rate setting Any setting larger than 100 will therefore play notes that overlap i e are legato The rhythmic pattern generated by Arpeggiator does not necessarily have to be straight a selection of groove patterns can be applied with the respective contr
188. Quantization Grooves can be used to apply real time non destructive quantization to clips To do this simply set the groove s Timing Random and Velocity amounts to 0 and adjust its Quantize and Base parameters to taste With only Quantize applied the actual content of the groove is ignored so this technique works the same regardless of which Groove file you use 12 3 3 Creating Texture With Randomization You can use a groove s Random parameter to create realistic doublings This can be particu larly useful when creating string textures from single voices To do this first duplicate the track containing the clip that you want to thicken Then apply a groove to one of the clips and turn up its Random parameter When you play the two clips together each note will be slightly and randomly out of sync with its counterpart on the other track Launching Clips 161 Chapter 13 Launching Clips The Live Session View is set apart by the fact that it gives you the musician a spontaneous en vironment that encourages performance and improvisation An important part of how you take advantage of the Session View lies within how you configure your various Session View clips This chapter explains the group of settings used to define how each Session View clip behaves when triggered or launched 13 1 The Launch Box Remember that clips in the Session View are launched by their Clip Launch buttons page 87 or remote contro
189. RL 4 PC CMD 4 Mac to turn grid snapping on or off When the grid is off the cursor does not snap to meter subdivisions e Use CTRL 5 PC CMD 5 Mac to toggle fixed and adaptive grid modes Arrangement View 83 The current spacing between adjacent grid lines is displayed in the lower right corner of the Ar rangement View or Clip View You can hold down the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier while performing an action to bypass grid snapping If the grid is already disabled this modifier will temporarily enable it 6 10 Using the Time Commands Whereas the standard commands like Cut Copy and Paste only affect the current selection their Time counterparts act upon all tracks by inserting and deleting time Any time signature markers within the selected region will also be affected e Cut Time cuts a selection of time from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the cut area closer together in the timeline This command reduces the length of your Arrangement by whatever amount of time you have cut Note that the Cut Time command affects all tracks not only the selected ones A Gap Between Clips Has Been Cut by First Selecting It Then Executing the Cut Time Command e Paste Time places copied time into the Arrangement thereby increasing its overall duration by the length of time you have copied e Duplicate Time places a copy of the selected timespan into the Arrangement
190. Redux Effect Nostalgic for the famed low resolution sound quality of the Ensonig Mirage Fairlight CMI or Commodore 64 computer Redux returns us to the Dark Ages of digital by reducing a signal s sample rate and bit resolution The Downsample section has two parameters Downsample and a downsample Mode switch Live Audio Effect Reference 347 1 n If the downsample dial is set to 1 every input sample passes to the output and the signal does not change If set to 2 only every second sample will be processed so the result sounds a bit more digital The higher the number the lower the resulting sample rate and the more decon structed the sound Downsampling is like applying a mosaic effect to an image There s a loss of information and sharp edges occur between the blocks The Downsample Mode switch defines if the downsampling either interpolates over a smaller range soft down to 20 0 samples or does not interpolate over a larger range hard down to 200 samples Bit Reduction is similar but while downsampling superimposes a grid in time bit reduction does the same for amplitude If the Bit Reduction amplitude dial is set to 8 amplitude levels are quantized to 256 steps 8 bit resolution If set to 1 the result is pretty brutal Each sample contains either a full positive or full negative signal with nothing in between Bit Reduction defines an input signal of OdB as 16 bit Sign
191. Send controls is just as easy Again the modulation is a relative percent age The clip envelope cannot open the send further than the Send knob but it can reduce the actual send value to minus infinite dB IQIQQEO Modulating a Send The Send Knob s Position Ring Indicates the Modulated Value 20 3 2 Modulating Pan The Pan modulation envelope affects the mixer pan stage in a relative way The pan knob s position determines the intensity of the modulation With the pan knob set to the center position modulation by the clip envelope can reach from hard left to hard right the modulation amount is automatically reduced as you move the pan knob towards the left or right When the pan knob is turned all the way to the left for instance the pan modulation clip envelope has no effect at all 20 3 3 Modulating Device Controls All devices in a clip s track are listed in the upper clip envelope Device chooser Modulating de vice parameters works similarly to modulating mixer controls When modulating device controls it is important to keep in mind the interaction between modulation and automation envelopes unlike a device preset page 219 the clip envelope cannot define the values for the devices controls it can only change them relative to their current setting 20 4 MIDI Controller Clip Envelopes Whether you are working with a new MIDI clip that was recorded directly into Live or one from your files Live allows you to edit and
192. The layout of clips does not predetermine their order the Session grid offers random access to the clips it contains Notice that even if you stop playback for a Session View clip the Play button in the Control Bar will remain highlighted and the Arrangement Position fields will continue running These fields keep a continuous flow of musical time going so that you can always know your position in song time during a live performance or while recording into the Arrangement page 94 regard less of what your individual Session clips are doing You can always return the Arrangement Position fields to 1 1 1 and stop playback for the entire Live Set by pressing the Control Bar s Stop button twice Ee The Arrangement Position Fields and the Stop Button Slots in Group Tracks page 196 show a shaded area to indicate that at least one of the contained tracks contains a clip in that scene The color of the shading is the color of the left most clip in the group These group slots also contain launch buttons which will launch all of the respective clips Group slots which have no corresponding clips contain stop buttons Clicking in any group slot selects all of the clips it refers to Session View 89 2 Group E Bass Stabs Pad Group Slots and Group Launch Buttons 7 2 Tracks and Scenes Each vertical column or track can play only one clip at a time It therefore makes sense to put a set of clips that are supposed to be played a
193. Time Pitch Mod LFOd Key Width o Mode Level 0 13 100 a Shape Oclave Semi Detune Ci Eba FIF Display and Shell Parameters for the two Oscillators Analog s two oscillators use physical modelling to capture the character of vintage hardware oscillators Because they use modelling instead of wavetables they avoid aliasing Each oscillator can be turned on or off independently via the switch labelled Osc 1 or Osc 2 in the shell and the oscillator s output level is adjusted by the slider to the right of this activator The F1 F2 slider controls the balance of the oscillator s output to each of the two filters When the slider is at the center position equal amounts of signal will be sent to both filters When set all the way to the top or bottom signal will only be sent to Filter 1 or Filter 2 respectively The Shape chooser selects the oscillator s waveform The choices are sine sawtooth rectangu lar and white noise When rectangular is selected the Pulse Width parameter is enabled in the display which allows you to change the pulse width of the waveform Low Width values result in a very narrow waveform which tends to sound tinny or pinched At 100 the waveform is a perfect square resulting in only odd harmonics The pulse width can also be modulated by an LFO via the slider next to Width Note that this parameter is only enabled when the correspond ing LFO is enabled The Octave Semi and De
194. U The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals 22 5 1 Cabinet Tips Here are some tips for using Cabinet Amps and Cabinets Guitar cabinets are normally fed by guitar amps For this reason Cabinet is paired with Amp page 287 and the two are normally used together But you can also achieve interesting and exotic sounds by using Amp and Cabinet separately Live Audio Effect Reference 297 Multiple mics A common studio technique is to use multiple mics on a single cabinet and then adjust the bal ance during mixing This is easy to do by using Live s Audio Effect Racks page 237 Try this e configure one instance of Cabinet as you like e put the Cabinet into an Audio Effect Rack e duplicate the Rack chain that contains the original Cabinet as many times as you like e in the additional chains choose a different Microphone setting and or mic type e adjust the relative volumes of the Rack s chains in the Rack s mixer 22 6 Chorus D Chorus Delay 1 Delay2 Modulation Highpass i 7 N Lor 899 Hz ta an E y a Ampun Rate 125ms 8 65 ms a Ei 6 The Chorus Effect The Chorus effect uses two parallel time modulated delays to create chorus thickening and flanging effects Each delay has its own delay time control calibrated in milliseconds Delay 1 has a highpass filter that can remove low frequencies from the delayed signal Greater highpass va
195. You might wonder at a point What does this clip sound like with a different sample This is easy to find out by selecting the clip so that it is displayed in the Clip View and dragging the desired sample from the browser or the Session or Arrangement View onto the Clip View All clip settings including the envelopes will remain unaltered only the sample will be replaced 20 3 Mixer and Device Clip Envelopes Clip envelopes can be used to automate or modulate mixer and device controls Since mixer and device controls can potentially be controlled by both types of envelopes at the same time and also by the Arrangement s automation envelopes page 261 this is a potential source Clip Envelopes 273 of confusion However modulation envelopes differ from automation envelopes in one important way Whereas automation envelopes define the value of a control at any given point in time modulation envelopes can only influence this defined value This difference allows the two types of envelopes to work together in harmony when controlling the same parameter Imagine that you have recorded volume automation for an audio clip so that it gradually fades out over four bars What happens to your fade out when you create a modulation envelope that gradually increases the mixer volume over four bars At first your fade out will become a cre scendo as the modulation envelope gradually increases the volume within the range allowed by the automation env
196. a r A 263 VON ses sine seen eet seat RE AR 263 SGN e PEE A E E 263 recording in Arrangement View 257 recording in Session View 258 Automation Arm button ccccceseeeseeeesees 257 Automation Control chooser cccccccceee 262 Auto Open Plug In Custom Editor Prefer lol e S Ren E E EE E terre etree gern 228 Auto Pan effec neninn a aAa 292 AUIO Selec anean N 243 AGOMA an NAA 125 Auto Warp Long Samples preference 120 B Back to Arrangement button c0000 18 95 DOr IAC E E EE 19 Beat Repeat effect ccccccccsccesesscessesees 293 Bedis Mode acc srona 129 beat time ruler and Arrangement editing cccccee 70 and editing MIDla cates iui 136 Bit Depth preference ccccccccesesseseseteeeees 214 POW SER aranin a 10 15 33 SE GNC MIMNG E E EE teres 37 U Er OET A 36 Cabinet eilechicnwsiasincnnarsencians 295 Cabinet effect HO Sis saxset seencarnaicennuseenee 296 Capture and Insert Scene commanid 93 Check for Updates command 3 CHOKE groups nyaris a 249 Chordie t SC Tavrin a A A 367 Chorus CHS Ctaecmscnanas se 297 clip in audio MIDI tracks 20 Clip Activator SWilenac iit eed 100 Clip Dox earan aaae ER 98 Clip Colore ho s Er ensesine 101 Clip Envelope Control chooser 060 268 Clip Envelope Device chooset 066 268 clip envelopes BaxccietenteeeGe cacti 29 267 and changing note pitch cceeeee 269 and changing note volume
197. ach the peak level starting from the initial level For the oscillator envelopes the shape of this segment of the enve lope is linear For the filter and pitch envelopes the shape of the segment can be adjusted Envelope Decay Time Decay This sets the time it takes for a note to reach the sustain level from the peak level For the oscillator envelopes the shape of this segment of the envelope is exponential For the filter and pitch envelopes the shape of the segment can be adjusted Envelope Release Time Release This is the time it takes for a note to reach the end level after a note off message is received For the oscillator envelopes this level is always inf dB and the shape of the segment is exponential For the filter and pitch envelopes the end level is deter mined by the End Level parameter and the shape of the segment can be adjusted This envelope Live Instrument Reference 425 segment will begin at the value of the envelope at the moment the note off message occurs regardless of which segment is currently active Envelope Initial Level Initial This sets the initial value of the envelope Envelope Peak Level Peak This is the peak level at the end of the note attack Envelope Sustain Level Sustain This is the sustain level at the end of the note decay The en velope will stay at this level until note release unless it is in Loop Sync or Beat Mode Envelope End Level End LFO Filter and
198. ack of only certain tracks A Single Track s Back to Arrangement Button We can also capture the current state into the Arrangement by activating the Arrangement Re cord button Disengaging Record Mode or stopping Live using the Stop button leaves us with an altered Arrangement Live Concepts 20 4 5 Audio and MIDI Clips represent recorded signals Live deals with two types of signals audio and MIDI In the digital world an audio signal is a series of numbers that approximates a continuous signal as generated by a microphone or delivered to a loudspeaker A MIDI signal is a sequence of com mands such as now play a C4 at mezzo piano MIDI is a symbolic representation of musical material one that is closer to a written score than to an audio recording MIDI signals are gen erated by input devices such as MIDI or USB keyboards It takes an instrument page 217 to convert MIDI signals into audio signals that can actually be heard Some instruments such as Live s Simpler page 452 are for chromatic playing of one sound via the keyboard Other instruments such as Live s Impulse page 403 have a dif ferent percussion sound assigned to each keyboard key Audio signals are recorded and played back using audio tracks and MIDI signals are recorded and played back using MIDI tracks The two track types have their own corresponding clip types Audio clips cannot live on MIDI tracks and vice versa Information about ins
199. act upon the entire MIDI clip by inserting and deleting time Note that these operations do not change the clip start end position or the loop brace settings e Duplicate Time places a copy of the selected timespan into the clip along with any con tained notes e Delete Time deletes a selection of time from the MIDI clip thereby moving any notes on either side of the deleted area closer together in the timeline e Insert Time inserts as much empty time as is currently selected into the clip before the se lection 10 4 7 Quantizing Notes There are three options for quantizing MIDI notes in Live First you can quantize MIDI notes as you record them page 212 Secondly as previously mentioned you can move notes so that they snap to the visible grid lines Finally you can select a note or notes and choose the Quan tize command from the Edit menu or use the CTRL U PC CMD U Mac hotkey The first time you do this you will see a dialog box with several quantization options This will quantize using default settings or the settings that you previously applied Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 143 To adjust your quantization parameters open the Quantization Settings dialog from the Edit menu Oe m A A Quantize To 1 4 F Adjust Note Amount R O Cy m aay D D T i S Al Quantizing MIDI Notes Using the options presented here you can select either the current grid size or a s
200. ad Program or Bank Button Left and Save Program or Bank Button Right VST programs and banks can be imported from files Clicking a VST s Load Program or Bank button brings up a standard file open dialog for locating the desired file Windows only Please select from the File Type menu whether you want to locate VST Device Program files or VST Device Bank files To save the currently selected program as a file click the VST Save Program or Bank button to bring up a standard file save dialog select VST Program from the Format menu Macintosh from the File Type menu Windows select a folder and name For saving the entire bank as a file proceed likewise but choose VST Bank as a file type format 17 4 Audio Units Plug Ins Audio Units Plug ins are only available in Mac OS X In most respects they operate just like VST Plug ins P PsP ea oa DiyL Fb Fit Cutott Rvb Damp 0 24 0 96 0 43 DiyL FbPan Fit Res Rvb Amt il _ _ _ _ _ _ lt lt lt S A in 0 48 0 02 0 06 DiyR Fb Drv Gain A 0 05 0 05 DiyR FbPan Main Mix 0 38 0 541 An Audio Units Plug In The first time you open Live Audio Units Plug ins will not appear in the browser In order to acti vate your Audio Units as a plug in source please press the Activate button in the browser s Plug In label or go to the File Folder Preferences by pressing CTRL PC CMD Mac There Working with In
201. ader s absolute left and right positions e Mapping to two of the three fields allows for a snapping back behavior when one of the assigned keys is held down and the other is pressed and released Tee i Hl THPS D D D D K 4 5 6 T 5 5 5 5 S m m m m 97 jp me FE FE Be E hlUlUD Crossfade Assign Buttons Each track has two Crossfade Assign buttons A and B The track can have three states with re spect to the crossfader e If neither Assign button is on the crossfader does not affect the track at all e If A is on the track will be played unattenuated as long as the crossfader is in the left half of its value range As the crossfader moves toward the right across the center position the track fades out At the crossfader s rightmost position the track is muted e Likewise if B is on the track s volume will be affected only as the crossfader moves left across its center position It is important to understand that the Crossfade Assign buttons do not affect the signal routing The crossfader merely influences the signal volume at each track s gain stage The track can be routed to an individual output bus regardless of its crossfade assignment In studio parlance you can think of the crossfader as an on the fly VCA group As with almost everything in Live your crossfading maneuvers can be recorded into the Ar rangement page 257 for later in depth editing To edit each track s crossfade assignme
202. ades at loop boundaries But by turn ing off Use Constant Power Fade for Loops in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu you can enable linear crossfades Sustain Crossfade Release Crossfade Sustain and Release Loop Crossfades Sustain and Release Loop Detune Detune Since loops are nothing more than oscillations the pitch of samples may shift within a loop relative to the loop s duration Tip this is especially noticeable with very short loops With Detune the pitch of these regions can be matched to the rest of the sample Loop End ie Interpol Nii 2 Pulse Bass Ci Sustain and Release Loop Detune Sliders Interpolation Interpol This is a global setting that determines the accuracy of transposed samples Be aware that raising the quality level above Normal to Good or Best will place significant demands on your CPU Live Instrument Reference 442 RAM Mode RAM This is also a global control that loads the entire multisample into RAM This mode can give better performance when modulating start and end points but loading large multisamples into RAM will quickly leave your computer short of RAM for other tasks In any case it is always recommended to have as much RAM in your computer as possible as this can provide significant performance gains Hovering the mouse over the waveform and right click PC CTRL click Mac provides a
203. age 471 LA oe wane EXterta Pa fs Crumboon way Project Drumloop 1 a i Ped Drumioon wav Project Live 7 Library The File Reference Lists Edit Switch e View a file s location The Location column states if a file is missing page 59 or if it resides in your User Library a Project or somewhere else external When unfolded the entry shows the specific places in the Set where the file is used Drumloop waw ia External Drumloop wav Project Drumloop 1 chorus loop PE 2 Audio Drumioop wayv Library The File Reference List s Location Column 5 6 Live Projects A Live Project is a folder containing Live related files that belong together Consider for exam ple work on a piece of music You start out with an empty Live Set you record audio and there by create new sample files you drag in samples from collections you save different versions of the Live Set along the way so that you can go back and compare Perhaps you also save Live Clips or device presets that belong to this particular musical piece The project folder for this Managing Files and Sets 56 Live Project will maintain all the files related to this piece of music and Live s File Manager will provide the tools you need to manage them page 59 5 6 1 Projects and Live Sets When you save a Live Set under a new name or in a new folder location Live will create a new project folder and store the Live Set there unless you are sav
204. ailable in the Intro and Lite Editions The Multiband Dynamics device is a flexible tool for modifying the dynamic range of audio material Designed primarily as a mastering processor Multiband Dynamics allows for upward and downward compression and expansion of up to three independent frequency bands with adjustable crossover points and envelope controls for each band Each frequency range has Live Audio Effect Reference 337 both an upper and lower threshold allowing for two types of dynamics processing to be used simultaneously per band 22 22 1 Dynamics Processing Theory To understand how to use the Multiband Dynamics device it helps to understand the four differ ent methods of manipulating dynamics When we use the term compression we re typically talking about lowering the level of signals that exceed a threshold This is how Live s Compressor page 299 works and is more ac curately called downward compression because it pushes loud signals down thus reducing the dynamic range But it is also possible to reduce a signal s dynamic range by raising the levels of signals that are below a threshold This much less common form of compression is called upward compression As you can see from this diagram employing either type of compression results in a signal with a smaller dynamic range than the original downward compression common original smaller original smaller upward compression uncommon Downw
205. al Global quantization can be quickly changed using the CTRL 6 PC CMD 6 Mac 7 8 9 and 0 shortcuts Note that any setting other than None will quantize the clip s launch when it is triggered by Follow Actions page 164 13 4 Velocity Vel T a Laren The Velocity Amount Field Launching Clips 164 The Velocity Amount control allows you to adjust the effect of MIDI note velocity on the clip s volume If set to zero there is no influence at 100 percent the softest notes play the clip silently For more on playing clips via MIDI see the respective section page 477 13 5 Legato Mode The Legato Mode Switch Suppose you have gathered in one track a number of looping clips and you now want to tog gle among them without losing the sync For this you could use a large quantization setting one bar or greater however this might limit your musical expression Another option which works even with quantization turned off is to engage Legato Mode for the respective clips When a clip in Legato Mode is launched it takes over the play position from whatever clip was played in that track before Hence you can toggle clips at any moment and rate without ever losing the sync Legato Mode is very useful for creating breaks as you can momentarily play alternative loops and jump back to what was playing in the track before Unless all the clips involved play the same sample differing by clip
206. al Instrument page 401 that routes to a hardware effects device or synthesizer the freezing process happens in real time Live will automatically detect if real time freezing is necessary and you ll be presented with several options for managing the process Please see the section on real time rendering page 46 for an explanation of these options Once any processing demands have been addressed or you have upgraded your machine you can always select a frozen track and choose Unfreeze Track from the Edit menu to change device or clip settings On slower machines you can unfreeze processor intensive tracks one at a time to make edits freezing them again when you are done Many editing functions remain available to tracks that are frozen Launching clips can still be done freely and mixer controls such as volume pan and the sends are still available Other pos sibilities include e Edit cut copy paste duplicate and trim clips e Draw and edit mixer automation and mixer clip envelopes e Consolidate Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 570 e Record Session View clip launches into the Arrangement View e Create move and duplicate Session View scenes e Drag frozen MIDI clips into audio tracks When performing edits on frozen tracks that contain time based effects such as reverb you should note that the audible result may be different once the track is again unfrozen depending on the situation This is because if a t
207. als above OdB are clipped and the red overload LED will light up Turning off Bit Reduction results in modest CPU savings 22 27 Resonators O Resonators a Filter iii iv Widi m a a oo a me me Piten Pitth Pitch Pitch Frequency Decay 100 O AAAQD w 50 0 HZ fr 7 sl 7 st 3 sl 3 sl eS eT exer ex ex ce re olor Gain Cain Gain Cain Gain Drave OQAGQQ00Q QO B5 7 0 00 dE 000 dB 0 00 dB 0 00 dB 0 00 dB 49 The Resonators Effect Note the Resonators effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Live Audio Effect Reference 348 This device consists of five parallel resonators that superimpose a tonal character on the input source lt can produce sounds resembling anything from plucked strings to vocoder like effects The resonators are tuned in semitones providing a musical way of adjusting them The first reso nator defines the root pitch and the four others are tuned relative to this pitch in musical intervals The input signal passes first through a filter and then into the resonators There are four input filter types to select from lowpass bandpass highpass and notch The input filter frequency can be adjusted with the Frequency parameter The first resonator is fed with both the left and right input channels while the second and fourth resonators are dedicated to the left channel and the third and fifth to the right channel The Note parameter defines the root pitch of all the resonators ranging f
208. also contains non neutral operations For example running an audio signal through an effects device is a non neutral operation So any neutral operations that occur after it will of course still result in audio that is altered in some way Even a gain change is technically non neutral Neutral operations include 33 2 1 Undithered Rendering The Export Audio Video page 43 command renders Live s audio output to a file on disk Rendering is a neutral operation under certain conditions e the sample rate of the rendered file is the same as that set for the audio hardware in Live s Preferences e no non neutral operations have been applied Live s rendering performance is tested by loading three types of unprocessed audio files white noise fixed frequency sine waves and sine sweeps in 16 24 and 32 bit word lengths and rendering these to output files also with varying bit resolutions Phase cancellation testing of the original and output files shows the following e rendering to a file with the same bit depth as the original results in complete phase cancel lation e rendering to a file with a higher bit depth than the original results in complete phase can cellation e rendering to a file with a lower bit depth than the original results in the smallest amount of distortion possible within a 32 bit system Audio Fact Sheet 575 33 2 2 Matching sample rate no transposition Playback of an unstretched audio file in Li
209. ameters for the two LFOs Analog s two LFOs can be used as modulation sources for the oscillators filters and amplifiers As with the other sections each LFO has independent parameters The LFO 1 and LFO 2 switches in the shell toggle the respective LFO on and off while the Rate knob sets the LFO s speed The switch next to this knob toggles the Rate between frequency in Hertz and tempo synced beat divisions The Wave chooser in the display selects the waveform for the LFO The choices are sine tri angle rectangle and two types of noise The first noise type steps between random values while the second uses smooth ramps With Tri or Rect selected the Width slider allows you to adjust the pulse width of the waveform With Tri selected low Width values shift the waveform towards an upwards sawtooth while higher values result in a downward saw At 50 the waveform is a perfect triangle The behavior is similar with the Rect setting At 50 the waveform is a perfect square wave while lower and higher values result in negative or positive pulses respectively Note that Width is disabled when the LFO s waveform is set to sine or the noise modes The Delay slider sets how long it will take for the LFO to start after the note begins while Attack sets how long it takes the LFO to reach its full amplitude With Retrig enabled the LFO restarts at the same position in its phase each time a note is trig gered The Offset slider adjust
210. ameters to Live s panel without entering Configure Mode e Adjusting a parameter in the plug in s floating window creates temporary entries for that parameter in the clip envelope and automation choosers as well as the choosers in the panel s X Y field These entries are removed when you adjust another parameter To make the entry permanent thus adding it to Live s panel either edit the parameter s automation or clip envelope select another parameter in the automation or clip envelope choosers or select the temporary parameter in one of the X Y field s choosers e When a parameter is changed on a plug in s edit window during recording automation data is recorded automatically When recording is stopped the automated parameters are automatically added to Live s panels for any plug ins that were adjusted e When in MIDI key or Macro mapping mode adjusting any parameter in the plug in s window will create it in Live s panel The new panel entry will be automatically selected allowing you to map it immediately Once a plug in is placed in a track and you have optionally configured its parameters in Live s panel you can use it just like a Live device e You can map MIDI controller messages to all of the parameters in Live s panel p g p p e You can drag or copy the device to different locations in the device chain or to other tracks according to the rules of audio effects and instruments e You can autom
211. amming a Fade Out for a Live Set Let us start with a straightforward example Suppose you are setting up a Live Set and wish to program a fade out over eight bars to occur when a specific audio clip is launched but all you have is a one bar loop Clip Envelopes 276 foo i El Hi Using a Clip Envelope to Create a Fade Out Over Several Repetitions of a Loop 1 Choose the Clip or Mixer Volume envelope and unlink it from the sample The clip envelope s loop braces now appear colored to indicate this envelope now has its own local loop region settings The loop region controls in the Envelopes box come to life If you toggle the envelope s Loop switch you ll notice the Sample box s Loop switch is not affected The sample will keep looping although the envelope is now playing as a one shot 2 Type 8 into the leftmost envelope loop length value box 3 Zoom the envelope display out all the way by clicking on the Envelope s time ruler and dragging upwards 4 Insert a breakpoint at the region end and drag it to the bottom Now as you play the clip you can hear the one bar loop fading out over eight bars 20 5 2 Creating Long Loops from Short Loops Let us take this a step further For a different part of your set you would like to use the same one bar loop because it sounds great but its repetition bores you You would like to somehow turn it into a longer loop Clip Envelopes 277
212. amounts are relative to the LFO s Depth value 24 2 5 MIDI Tab B Pitch Bend Destination A AmountA Destination B Amount B Mallet Stiffness 39 q Pitch Bend Range O OQ gt 3 96 1 CY A Modulation Wheel H Destination A AmountA Destination B Amount B O LFO 1 Rate a 83 4 Res 2 Pipe Opening 55 a Pitch Envelope Channel Pressure D N D ica N 9 Destination A Amount A Destination B Amount B LFO 2 Depth a 45 4 No Destination a 11 a Collision s MIDI Tab The MIDI tab allows for a wide variety of internal MIDI mappings The MIDI controllers Pitch Bend Modulation Wheel and Aftertouch can be mapped to two destinations each with inde pendent modulation intensities set via the Amount sliders Note that pitch bend is hardwired to pitch modulation but can still be routed to an additional target Live Instrument Reference 395 The Global Section Collision Excitator LFO MID Resonator 1 gt Resonator 2 Mallet Copy to 2 Noise Ratio 1 0 gR 35 9 29 dB He 0 et 9093 1 K K 0 0 nic a ey ay hinnaga z6 V y vioo KOO vioo p Brightness Stiffness Color 1 Pitch Envelope 0 0 A Pitch Time Inharmonics 94 52 3 EN 9 72 Key k A 06 45 ms 0 8 6 ms R 7 8 Ve Ve 13 Vel ims A EBG ms D 0 00 Si Collision s Global Section The global section contains the parameters that relate to the overall behavior and performance of Collision The Volume knob acts as Collision
213. amples gives you finer control so even in cases when you re working with analog devices you may want to fine tune your latency in samples in order to achieve the lowest possible la tency In this case be sure to switch back to milliseconds before changing your sample rate Note If the Delay Compensation option page 235 is unchecked in the Options menu the Hardware Latency slider is disabled For instructions on how to accurately set up latency compensation for your hardware please see the Driver Error Compensation lesson 22 14 Filter Delay Fitter Delay 2 Input Filter Feedback Pan Volume Dry LE Lon GO D i 21 50L 6 0dB DAG 3 0 dB OAO 24 SOR 9 0 dB E e ka o P3 The Filter Delay Effect pez 92028 aH oE EE mai BEMBE EE Note the Filter Delay effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The Filter Delay provides three independent delay lines each preceded by linked lowpass and highpass filters This allows applying delay to only certain input signal frequencies as de Live Audio Effect Reference 318 termined by the filter settings The feedback from each of the three delays is also routed back through the filters Each of the three delays can be switched on and off independently The Filter Delay device as signs delay 1 to the input signal s left channel delay 2 to the left and right channels and delay 3 to the right channel The Pan controls at the right
214. ange their width in the Session View or height in the Arrangement View Multiple adjacent or nonadjacent tracks can be selected at once by Shift clicking or CTRL clicking respectively If you drag a selection of nonadjacent tracks they will be collapsed to Mixing 196 gether when dropped To move nonadjacent tracks without collapsing use CTRL arrow keys instead of the mouse When multiple tracks are selected adjusting one of their mixer controls will adjust the same con trol for the other tracks If the tracks in the multi selection have differing values for any particular knob or slider parameter volume for example this difference will be maintained as you adjust the parameter If you drag a track s title bar to the Browser it will be saved as a new Set If a track contains au dio clips Live will manage the copying of the referenced sampled into this new location based on the selection in the Collect Files on Export chooser page 63 You can then type ina name for the newly created Set or confirm the one suggested by Live with Enter Tracks are deleted using the Edit menu s Delete command 15 3 Group Tracks You can combine any number of normal audio or MIDI tracks into a special kind of summing container called a Group Track To create a Group Track select the tracks to include and ex ecute the Edit menu s Group Tracks command Group Tracks cannot contain clips but they are similar to audio track
215. ano roll Note that if the Preview switch at the top of the piano roll is activated you can listen to the results of your piano roll playing 2 1 3 5 6 E a P m i A TIT MT TTT Maa es ES oO MIDI Editor Navigation 1 To smoothly change the time zoom level click and drag vertically in the time ruler Drag horizontally in the time ruler to scroll from left to right Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 137 2 Click and drag vertically in the note ruler to change which octaves are shown or drag horizontally to change the vertical zoom size of MIDI notes and the keyboard 3 Click and drag over one or more notes to select them or over a portion of the editor s background to select a range of time Then double click on the note ruler or time ruler to automatically zoom in on your selection If nothing is selected double clicking the note ruler will zoom in on the area from the lowest to the highest note in the clip while double clicking the time ruler will zoom out to show the time between the first and last note 4 To zoom in and out around the current selection use the computer keyboard s and keys 5 The Clip Overview just beneath the MIDI Editor can also be used for navigation It always shows the complete contents of the selected MIDI clip The black rectangular outline repre sents the part of the clip that is currently displayed in the Editor above To scroll click within the outline and drag left or r
216. any of the Session View slots in the desired MIDI track the one containing the Impulse or other instrument A new empty clip will appear in the slot The new clip will default to a loop length of one bar but you can change that by double clicking the clip Recording New Clips 210 and changing its loop properties page 115 4 Arm the track 5 Press the Session Record button 6 The notes you play are added into the looping clip and you can observe your recording in the Clip View 7 The clip overdubs as it loops allowing you to build your pattern layer by layer However if you would like to pause recording for a moment to rehearse you can deactivate overdub bing by pressing the Session Record button again The contents of the clip will continue to play but you can play along without being recorded When you are ready to record again press the Session Record button once again Subsequent presses of the Session Record button will toggle between playback and overdub Note that holding ALT PC ALT Mac while double clicking the empty slot to create a new clip will implicitly arm the track and launch the clip At any time while overdub recording is going on you can use the Undo command to remove the last take or even draw move or delete notes in the Clip View s Note Editor 16 3 4 MIDI Step Recording The MIDI Editor allows you to record notes with the transport stopped by holding down keys on your controller or computer
217. ap to the Note Editor s grid lines unless the grid is not shown or the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier is held while dragging When the mouse is between the Note Stretch markers a pseudo stretch marker will appear Dragging this stretches or compresses the material between the fixed markers without affecting the material outside of them The pseudo stretch marker has the same grid snapping behavior as fixed markers When notes but not time are selected one marker can be dragged beyond the boundary of the other which will reflect the order of the stretched notes in relation to their initial sequence this is sometimes referred to as retrograde behavior Adjusting the Note Stretch markers will also adjust the timing of any of the clip s linked clip enve lopes Unlinked clip envelopes are not affected Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 147 10 4 10 Cropping MIDI Clips MIDI data that is outside of the loop brace can be deleted by means of the Crop Clip command Simply right click PC CTRL click Mac on a MIDI clip in the Session or Arrangement View and select this option Unlike cropping audio clips page 114 cropping a MIDI clip does not create a new file on disk 10 4 11 Deactivating Notes To deactivate or mute a note or notes in the MIDI Editor select it and press 0 The Deacti vate Note s command will mute the note making it appear gray in the display Press 0 again to reactivate note
218. ard and Upward Compression The opposite of compression is expansion A typical expander lowers the levels of signals that are below a threshold This is how Live s Gate page 323 works and is more accurately called downward expansion because it pushes quiet signals down thus increasing the dynamic range It is also possible to increase a signal s dynamic range by raising the levels of signals that are above a threshold Like upward compression this technique is known as upward expansion and is much less common This diagram shows that either type of expansion results in a signal with a larger dynamic range Live Audio Effect Reference 338 upward expansion uncommon downward expansion common Downward and Upward Expansion To summarize e Downward compression common make loud signals quieter e Upward compression uncommon make quiet signals louder e Downward expansion common make quiet signals quieter e Upward expansion uncommon make loud signals louder The Multiband Dynamics device allows for all of these types of processing In fact because the device allows for incoming audio to be divided into three frequency bands and each band has both an upper and lower threshold a single instance of Multiband Dynamics can provide six types of dynamics processing simultaneously 22 22 2 Interface and Controls The High and Low buttons toggle the high and low bands on or off With both bands off the device f
219. as the visible grid which you can modify using a number of handy shortcuts page 82 For freehand drawing you can hide the grid using the Snap to Grid Options menu entry or the CTRL 4 PC CMD 4 Mac shortcut To temporarily enable freehand drawing while the grid is shown hold down ALT PC ALT Mac while drawing 19 5 2 Editing Breakpoints With Draw Mode off the envelope display looks and works differently The line segments and the breakpoints connecting them become draggable objects Clicking and dragging in the enve lope s background defines a selection Here is what you can do e Click at a position on a line segment to create a new breakpoint there e Click on a breakpoint to delete it e Click and drag a breakpoint to move it to the desired location If the breakpoint you are Automation and Editing Envelopes 264 dragging is in the current selection all other breakpoints in the selection will follow the movement HERH To Move all Breakpoints Within the Selection Drag Any One of Them Your movement is constrained by the neighboring breakpoints unless you hold down the Shift modifier while dragging which will eliminate breakpoints as you wipe over them Holding down the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier while dragging switches to a finer resolution e Hold Shift and drag a line segment between two breakpoints to move it vertically without affecting the breakpoint s horizontal position You can a
220. asing distortion is a common side effect of all digital synthesis and is the result of the finite sample rate and precision of digital systems It mostly occurs at high frequencies FM synthesis is especially likely to produce this kind of effect since one can easily create sounds with lots of high harmonics This also means that more complex oscillator waveforms such as Saw 32 tend to be more sensitive to aliasing than pure sine waves Aliasing is a two fold beast A bit of it can be exactly what is needed to create a cool sound yet a bit too much can make the timbre unplayable as the perception of pitch is lost when high notes suddenly fold back into arbitrary pitches Operator minimizes aliasing by working in a high quality Antialias mode This is on by default for new patches but can be turned off in the global section The Tone parameter in the global section also allows for controlling aliasing Its effect is sometimes similar to a lowpass Live Instrument Reference 411 filter but this depends on the nature of the sound itself and cannot generally be predicted If you want to familiarize yourself with the sound of aliasing turn Tone up fully and play a few very high notes You will most likely notice that some notes sound completely different from other notes Now turn Tone down and the effect will be reduced but the sound will be less bright 24 6 3 LFO Section LFO Rate Amount sella Ce 103 12 100 rig m
221. at 32 bit Audio that is recorded via internal routing will be identical to the source audio provided that the recording was made at 32 bits To ensure neutral recordings of plug in instruments and any audio signals that are being processed by effects plug ins internal recording at 32 bits is recom mended Please note however that if the source audio is already at a lower bit depth internal recording at that bit depth will also be neutral assuming that no effects are used internally recording an unprocessed 16 bit audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality The neutrality of internal recording is verified using cancellation tests 33 2 7 Freeze Flatten When tracks are frozen page 569 the audio files that are created are 32 bit which ensures that they will not be lower quality than the audio heard prior to freezing But there are some special cases involving Freeze that result in non neutral behavior and should be noted Frozen Arrangement View tracks can include audio material that extends beyond the end of the clip itself such as reverb tails and delay repetitions Frozen Session View tracks however are always exactly two loop cycles long so any audio that extends beyond two loop cycles during un frozen playback will be cut off after freezing Time based effects like reverbs and delays are processed in realtime for unfrozen clips so stop ping playback during a reverb or delay tail will allow the tail to continue
222. at a time Live Concepts 18 Therefore one usually puts clips that should play alternatively in the same Session View column and spreads out clips that should play together across tracks in rows or what we call scenes page 89 1 Bass Chords 3 Rhodes j Perc s 5 Beats 6 Crash Master A Scene in the Session View At any one time a track can be playing either a Session clip or an Arrangement clip but never both So who wins When a Session clip is launched the respective track stops whatever it is doing to play that clip In particular if the track was playing an Arrangement clip it will stop it in favor of the Session clip even as the other tracks continue to play what is in the Arrangement The track will not resume Arrangement playback until explicitly told to do so This is what the Back to Arrangement button is for which is found in the Master Track in the Ses sion View and at the top right of the scrub area in the Arrangement View This button lights up to indicate that one or more tracks are currently not playing the Arrangement but are playing a clip from the Session instead Live Concepts 19 The Back to Arrangement Button in the Session View The Back to Arrangement Button in the Arrangement View We can click this button to make all tracks go back to playing the Arrangement Each track in the Arrangement View also has its own Back to Arrangement button allowing you to resume Ar rangement playb
223. at patterns for ex ample Varying your finger pressure on the pad will change the volume of the repeated notes Using Push 501 Repeat Button The repeat rate is set with the Scene Grid buttons Tip if you press and release Repeat quickly the button will stay on If you press and hold the button will turn off when released allowing for momentary control of repeated notes Turn up the Swing knob to apply swing to the repeated notes When you touch the knob the display will show the amount of swing Swing Knob 27 4 2 Quantizing Pressing Push s Quantize button will snap notes to the grid in the selected clip Using Push 502 Quantize Button Press and hold Quantize to change the quantization options Quantization Options Swing Amount determines the amount of swing that will be applied to the quantized notes Note that the Swing amount can be adjusted from Encoder 1 or from the dedicated Swing knob Quantize To sets the nearest note value to which notes will be quantized while Quantize Amount determines the amount that notes can be moved from their original positions Enable Record Quantize to automatically quantize notes while recording and adjust the record quantization value with Encoder 8 Note that these controls correspond to the settings of the Record Quantization chooser in Live s Edit menu and adjustments can be made from Live or from Push When working with drums press and hold Quantiz
224. ate can also be synced to the song tempo and set in meter subdivisions e g sixteenth notes The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by setting the LFOs to run at the same fre quency but offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Live Audio Effect Reference 320 Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each delay is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount Adjusting the HiPass control will cut low frequencies from the delayed signal The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Flanger in a return track Hi Quality mode can be toggled on or off via a right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu entry Enabling Hi Quality results in a brighter sound but there is a very slight increase in CPU usage 22 16 Frequency Shifter Frequency Shifter Fa m LFO S amp H Frequency Amount Shape 15 9 Hz Rate 2 20 HZ Spin 17 64 3 The Frequency Shifter Effect Note the Frequency Shifter effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The Frequency Shifter moves the frequencies of incoming audio up or down by a user specified amount in Hertz Small amounts of shift can result in subtle tremolo or phasing effects while large shift
225. ate or modulate its continuous parameters with clip envelopes e You can use the multiple I O features of some plug ins by assigning them as sources or targets in the routing setup of tracks See the Routing and O chapter page 171 for details e You can create custom info text for the plug in Working with Instruments and Effects 231 Macintosh only The floating editor windows of some VST Plug ins do not receive computer key strokes This is generally an implementation error in the plug in itself If it is necessary to type into a plug in window for instance for entering a serial number or unlock code hold down Shift while clicking the Plug In Edit button The editor window will then appear as a normal applica tion window rather than as a floating window and receive your typing Note that this function ality is intended only as a workaround for the limitations of such plug ins We recommend clos ing the window after you have finished typing then reopening it normally before working with the plug in parameters 17 3 VST Plug Ins 17 3 1 The VST Plug In Folder When you start Live for the first time you will need to activate your VST Plug in sources before working with VST Plug ins Depending on your computer platform you may also have to tell Live about the location of the VST Plug in folder containing the devices you want to use In order to set up your VST sources press the Activate button in the browser s Plug In
226. ay the cursor will change to a bracket as it passes over the edges of the blocks on the left or right side These blocks represent the signal levels under the Below and over the Above thresholds respectively Dragging left or right on the edges of these blocks adjusts the threshold level Holding down Shift while dragging a threshold will adjust the same threshold for all bands Hold down ALT PC ALT Mac to simultaneously adjust the Above and Below thresholds for a single band As you mouse over the middle of the block the cursor will change to an up down arrow Click and drag up or down to make the signal within the selected volume range louder or quieter Holding down Shift while dragging up or down will adjust the volume of the same block for all bands Hold down ALT PC ALT Mac to simultaneously adjust the Above and Below vol umes for a single band Double clicking within the region resets the volume to its default In technical terms lowering the volume in the block above the Above threshold applies down ward compression while raising it applies upward expansion Likewise lowering the volume in the block below the Below threshold applies downward expansion while raising it applies up ward compression In all cases you are adjusting the ratio of the compressor or expander The thresholds and ratios of all bands can also be adjusted via the column to the right of the display The T B and A buttons at t
227. bass while Mode B is better for high sounds such as cymbals The Stretch value can also be modulated by MIDI note velocity Live Instrument Reference 405 24 5 3 Filter The Filter section offers a broad range of filter types each of which can impart different sonic characteristics onto the sample by removing certain frequencies The Frequency control defines where in the harmonic spectrum the filter is applied the Resonance control boosts frequencies near that point Filter Frequency can be modulated by either a random value or by MIDI note velocity 24 5 4 Saturator and Envelope The Saturator gives the sample a fatter rounder more analog sound and can be switched on and off as desired The Drive control boosts the signal and adds distortion Coincidentally this makes most signals much louder and should usually be compensated for by lowering the sample s volume control Extreme Drive settings on low pitched sounds will produce the typical overdriven analog synth drum sounds The envelope can be adjusted using the Decay control which can be set to a maximum of 10 0 seconds Impulse has two decay modes Trigger Mode allows the sample to decay with the note Gate Mode forces the envelope to wait for a note off message before beginning the de cay This mode is useful in situations where you need variable decay lengths as is the case with hi hat cymbal sounds 24 5 5 Pan and Volume Each sample has Volume and Pan controls that a
228. be available for every chain within the Rack If a track contains one or more Drum Racks page 248 internal routing points will be available for any of the Rack s return chains Each Rack will also be listed in the Input Channel chooser e Rack Name Chain Name Pre FX The signal will be tapped from the point that it enters the Rack before it reaches the chain s devices e Rack Name Chain Name Post FX The signal will be tapped from the end of the chain but before it passes to the chain s mixer e Rack Name Chain Name Post Mixer The signal will be tapped from the output of the chain s mixer just before the point where all of the chains in the Rack are summed together to create the Rack s output Soloing a track that taps a Chain at any of these points will still allow you to hear the output at that point Routing and I O 182 14 6 2 Making Use of Internal Routing This section presents several internal routing examples in more detail Post Effects Recording Let s say that you are feeding a guitar into Live building up a song track by track overlaying take onto take It is certainly powerful to have a separate effects chain per track for applying dif ferent effects to different takes after the fact You might however want to run the guitar signal through effects a noise gate or an amp model for instance before the recording stage and record the post effects signal 3 Avon 4
229. beat time ruler but this marker area is hidden if a set contains no meter changes freeing up additional space at the top of the Arrangement In many ways time signature markers look and function like locators they can be moved with the mouse or with your computer keyboard s arrow keys and their value can be changed using the Edit menu s Edit Value command or with the CTRL R PC CMD R Mac shortcut They can be also be deleted using the Backspace or Delete key or via delete commands in the Edit and Create menus The time signature marker right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu offers a number of features including a Delete All Time Signature Changes command and options to loop or select the area up to the next time signature marker Arrangement View 75 Any time signature with a one or two digit numerator and a denominator of 1 2 4 8 or 16 can be used as a time signature marker value The numbers must be separated by a delimiter such as a slash comma period or any number of spaces These marker values can also be set by adjusting the time signature fields in the Control Bar either by typing in values or dragging the numerator and denominator sliders This will change the time signature marker value at the current play location and works either with the transport stopped or during playback When the Arrangement contains time signature changes the time signature editor displays an automation LED in the uppe
230. browsed Each column to the right shows the next subfolder if any exist Navigate up via the Selection Control button the first row below the display in each column Navigate down one folder via the State Control button for each level the second row below the display To load a device preset press the green button on the right To load the default state of a device press the green button on the left Using Push 491 Loading Devices or Device Presets in Browse Mode You can scroll quickly through folders and subfolders via Encoders 1 3 and 5 What you see when in Browse Mode depends on the device that was last selected If you were working with an instrument Browse Mode will show you replacement instruments If you were working with an effect you will see effects After pressing a device or preset load button the button will turn amber This indicates that the currently selected entry is loaded if you navigate to a different entry the button will turn green again Tip pressing an amber load button will load the next entry in the list allowing you to quickly try out presets or devices 27 3 Playing and Programming Beats To create beats using Push first make sure Note Mode is enabled The Note Mode Button Using Push 492 Then use Browse Mode to load one of the Drum Rack presets from Live s library When working with a MIDI track containing a Drum Rack Push s 8x8 pad grid automatically configures itself
231. can override the delay channels outputs other wise each delay outputs on the channel from which it derives its input Each delay channel s filter has an associated On switch located to the left of each X Y control ler The X Y controllers adjust the lowpass and highpass filters simultaneously for each delay To edit filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical axis click and drag on the horizontal axis to set the filter band s frequency To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay With Sync Mode active changing the Delay Time field percentage value short ens and extends delay times by fractional amounts thus producing the swing type of timing effect found in drum machines If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Feedback parameter sets how much of the output signal returns to the delay line input Very high values can lead to runaway feedback and produce a loud oscillation watch your ears and speakers if you decide to check out extreme feedback settings Each delay channel has its own volume control which can b
232. cceeeseseeeeees 481 instant mappings for cccceeeeeeeeeees 479 locking to devices eeecceeeeteteeeeeeees 479 mantal SOLU Doses i oaa ccaaisclnecanece 480 natively supported ccceeeesseeseeeesees 478 Convert Drums to MIDI command 153 Convert Harmony to MIDI command 152 Convert Melody to MIDI command 152 Conus EHEC hick En ARAE 305 count in for recording cccccccsscscsesesseeesesees 213 CPU sce a chce seceetelea na arte candi nee ee 567 CPU NG GG MMGtCR eagan ene 568 CPU Pretenene ese nA 9 Create Analysis Files preference 604 43 ChOSSTOAG ST a r a codename 25 199 and remote control cccccsceeeseeeeees 200 automating Ihe nsei 201 crossfades GON Clio E E ste 581 MODELI ae nner r unenats 418 EEE S EE T E EA 44 if Ople eua E 453 in the Arrangement View sesee 78 a E oe e E EE EE EEE TE 202 Cue Oure hose aa ictal 203 Cut Time COMmimal Cecennttseemaemnreema suas 83 D Decoding Cache preference ccccceceeeeeees Al Default Ores St Seiad iuteracernmdivwsessatereswonsiss 224 Delay Compensation option ccccceee 235 Delete All Time Signature Changes com TE La e E T aes E AEEA 74 Delete Automation command 260 Delete command and device S cameras 220 and SNVElO PES eilaticesctcierceeemui Se 268 and HOCK S eriin E 196 Delete Fragmentary Bar Time command 75 Delete Locator button oo ccceceeseeeeteeeesees 74 Delete Locator comma
233. ce the rest of the clips in the Live Set to adapt to the video clip s tempo i e its normal playback rate 5 Now add Warp Markers to the video clip and adjust them to your liking The locations of the Warp Markers define the synchronizing points between our music and our video Notice how the video clip s waveform in the Arrangement View updates to reflect your changes as you make them 6 If desired enable the Arrangement Loop page 76 to focus on a specific section of the composition 7 When you have finished choose the Export Audio Video command from Live s File menu All of your audio will be mixed down and saved as a single audio file You can also export your video file using this command 21 4 Video Trimming Tricks Commonly composers receive movie files with a few seconds of blank space before the real beginning of the action This pre roll two beep serves as a sync reference for the mixing engineer who expects that the composer s audio files will also include the same pre roll While working on music however the pre roll is in the composer s way It would be more natural for the movie action to start at song time 1 1 1 and SMPTE time 00 00 00 00 This can be accom modated by trimming video clips as follows 1 First we drop a movie file at the start of the Arrangement 1 1 1 Working with Video 284 I L A Video Clip at the Start of the Arrangement 2 Next we double click on the video
234. ced samples etc 5 12 3 Can Work On Multiple Versions of a Set If you d like to work on different versions of the same Live Set save them into the same Project This will usually be the Project that was created when you saved the first version of the Live Set If a Project contains multiple Live Sets it will only collect one copy of any samples used by the vari ous versions which can save disk space and help with organization 5 12 4 Where Should I Save My Live Sets You can save Live Sets anywhere you want but saving to pre existing Project folders can cause problems and should be reserved for special cases You should only save a Live Set to an exist ing Project if it is somehow related to the Project for example an alternate version of a song that s already in the Project 5 12 5 Can Use My Own Folder Structure Within a Project Folder You can organize your files any way you want within a Project but you ll need to use the File Manager to relink the files that you ve moved around 1 In Live s Browser or via your operating system reorganize the files and folders within your Project folder 2 Navigate to the Project folder in the Browser and choose Manage Project via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu 3 If you ve changed the original location of any samples used in the Project the Missing Samples section of the File Manager will indicate this Click the Locate button to search for the
235. ched via the Configure option at the bottom of each chooser Below each chooser is a Peak level indicator that shows the highest audio level attained Click on the indicators to reset them The Gain knobs next to the choosers adjust the levels going out of and back into Live These lev els should be set carefully to avoid clipping both in your external hardware and when returning the audio to your computer The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using the External Audio Effect in a return track The Invert button inverts the phase of the processed signal coming back into Live Live Audio Effect Reference 317 Since hardware effects introduce latency that Live cannot automatically detect you can manu ally compensate for any delays by adjusting the Hardware Latency slider The button next to this slider allows you to set your latency compensation amount in either milliseconds or samples If your external device connects to Live via a digital connection you will want to adjust your la tency settings in samples which ensures that the number of samples you specify will be retained even when changing the sample rate If your external device connects to Live via an analog connection you will want to adjust your latency settings in milliseconds which ensures that the amount of time you specify will be retained when changing the sample rate Note that adjusting in s
236. chitecture used Jitter much more so than latency creates the feeling that MIDI timing is sloppy or loose 34 3 Live s MIDI Solutions Ableton s approach to MIDI timing is based on two key assumptions 1 In all cases latency is preferable to jitter Because latency is consistent and predictable it can be dealt with much more easily by both computers and people MIDI Fact Sheet 585 2 If you are using playthrough while recording you will want to record what you hear even if because of latency this occurs slightly later than what you play Live addresses the problems inherent in recording playback and playthrough so that MIDI tim ing will be responsive accurate and consistently reliable In order to record incoming events to the correct positions in the timeline of a Live Set Live needs to know exactly when those events were received from the MIDI keyboard But Live cannot receive them directly they must first be processed by the MIDI interface s drivers and the operating system To solve this problem the interface drivers give each MIDI event a timestamp as they receive it and those are passed to Live along with the event so that Live knows exactly when the events should be added to the clip During playthrough a DAW must constantly deal with events that should be heard as soon as possible but which inevitably occurred in the past due to inherent latency and system delays So a choice must be made sh
237. citator model and specifies the point on the string where the excitator makes contact At 0 the excitator contacts the string at its termination point while at 50 it activates the string at its midpoint The behavior is a bit different if the Fix Pos switch is enabled however In this case the contact point is fixed to a single location rather than changing as the length of the string changes This behavior is similar to that of a guitar Live Instrument Reference 460 where the picking position is always basically the same regardless of the notes being played On a piano the excitator position is relative the hammers normally strike the string at about 1 7th of their length and so is best modelled with Fix Pos turned off The excitator s position can additionally be modulated by velocity or note pitch via the Vel and Key sliders The Excitator section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name With it off the string can only be activated by interaction with its damper If both the Excitator and Damper sections are disabled nothing can set the string in motion if you find that you re not producing any sound check to see that at least one of these sections is on Please note that the Excitator section s parameters work closely together to influence the overall behavior of the instrument You may find that certain combinations of settings result in no sound at all for example The String Section Ten
238. clip Clip View 97 Chapter 8 Clip View The Clip View is where clip properties can be set and adjusted The Clip View The Clip View is opened by clicking on the Clip Overview or double clicking a clip in the Ses sion or Arrangement View ITT TATA lo 10 1 Audio Y l P Clicking the Clip Overview Opens the Clip View In the Session View clicking on a Track Status Field opens the Clip View for editing the clip that is currently running in the track Clip View 98 je s vli n MAMAN Clicking a Session View Track Status Field Opens the Clip View The properties of more than one clip can be edited collectively in the Clip View as a multi selec tion To create a multi selection click and drag from an empty clip slot to highlight the clips or select one clip and use the CTRL PC CMD Mac or Shift modifiers to add to your selec tion The properties available in the Clip View for a multi selection depend on the contents of the clips generally only properties which the clips have in common are shown 2 Beats prime A Proms Prmse prms 8 l PrmsE guia rehord Creating a Clio Multi Selection Controls such as sliders and knobs behave slightly differently when they are part of a multi selection If the clips in a multi selection have differing values for any particular knob or slider parameter clip transposition for example the range of these values will b
239. clip s title bar to display its contents in the Clip View There we drag the Start Marker to the right so the video clip starts at the beginning of the action Dragging the Start Marker behind the Pre Roll 3 Now both the action and the music to be composed start at 1 1 1 00 00 00 00 Once the music is done and ready to be rendered to disk we need to bring back the pre roll 4 In the Arrangement View we select all materials Edit menu Select All then drag the en tire composition a few seconds to the right Working with Video 285 The Video Clip and the Final Clip of Music 5 Now we click on the video clip s title bar to deselect everything else then drag the video clip s left edge to the left as far as possible to reveal the pre roll again The Video Clip with Pre Roll Restored The Export Audio Video command by default creates sample files as long as the Arrangement selection as the video clip is still selected the exported sample file will have the exact same duration as the original movie file including the pre roll Working with Video 286 Live Audio Effect Reference 287 Chapter 22 Live Audio Effect Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in audio effects The Working with Instru ments and Effects chapter page 217 explains the basics of using effects in Live ra NARARARARAS output X a Tay NAANA AOOO NX walur Clean Boost Blues
240. clip It then reapplies the old clip s settings according to some rules that we will explain in a moment and replaces the original sample with the reversal in the Clip View The new sample can be found Clip View 114 after saving the Live Set in the Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Reverse Until the Set is saved new samples remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder There are a few rules for the reversing process First any Warp Markers will remain fixed to their positions in the sample This means that a Warp Marker on the downbeat of the second bar of a clip will end up on the downbeat of the second to last bar after reversal Clip loop region settings are similarly flipped Second clip envelopes remain fixed to their position in time There fore a mixer volume envelope that lowers the volume of the first half of a clip will continue to do exactly that after reversal The reversal process is quite fast about as fast as copying but for very long samples it might take a little time When this is the case the Status Bar in the lower portion of the Live screen will give you a progress display and further actions in the program will be temporarily locked though running clips will continue to play You can play the reversed clip and perform other ac tions in the program as soon as Live begins to draw the new waveform into the Sample Display Once a sample is reversed a link to the reversed sample will
241. clip in the group but this one can be set to loop This sec ond clip can have any manner of Follow Action settings so that it might then play forever for a specified time or until random chance leads to the next clip in the group 13 6 4 Adding Variations in Sync Paired with clip envelopes page 267 and warping page 119 Follow Actions can be used to create all sorts of interesting variations within a group of similar clips You could for example use Follow Actions to randomly trigger clips with different MIDI controller clip envelopes so that fine variations in pitch bend or modulation of an instrument or synth could occur as the clips in a group interacted Audio clips could morph between different effect or clip transposition settings Using Follow Actions and Legato Mode together provides a powerful way of gradually chang ing a melody or beat Imagine that you have several identical clips of a melody that form a group and they are set up to play in Legato Mode Whenever their Follow Actions tell them to move on to another clip in the group the melody will not change as Legato Mode will sync the new play position with the old one in beat time The settings and clip envelopes of each clip or even the actual notes contained in a MIDI clip can then be slowly adjusted so that the melody goes through a gradual metamorphosis 13 6 5 Mixing up Melodies and Beats You can let Follow Actions perform unpredictable remixes and solos for y
242. contains the parameters that relate to the overall behavior and performance of Electric The Volume knob sets Electric s overall output level The Voices chooser sets the available polyphony Since each voice that s used requires ad ditional CPU you may need to experiment with this chooser to find a good balance between playability and performance particularly on older machines The Semi and Detune controls function as coarse and fine tuners Semi transposes the entire in strument up or down in semitone increments while the Detune slider adjusts in increments of one cent up to a maximum of 50 cents up or down Stretch simulates a technique known as stretch tuning which is a common modification made to both electric and acoustic pianos and is an intrinsic part of their characteristic sound At 0 Live Instrument Reference 401 Electric will play in equal temperament which means that two notes are an octave apart when the upper note s fundamental pitch is exactly twice the lower note s But because the actual reso nance behavior of a vibrating tine or string differs from the theoretical model equal tempera ment tends to sound wrong on pianos Stretch tuning attempts to correct this by sharpening the pitch of upper notes while flattening the pitch of lower ones The result is a more brilliant sound Negative values simulate negative stretch tuning upper notes become flatter while lower notes become sharper P
243. cording MIDI iscsi scsssesccvcsecctesass 212 Unfold Track button ceeeeeeeeeee 78 81 262 Untreeze Track command cccceeeees 569 User Audio Units preference cccccceee 234 User BTO Vossen E seterann 35 Use VST Plug In Custom Folder 06 231 Use VST Plug In System Folders 6 231 UIE ERO C neern nena 356 V Velocity Amount fleld ccccccccecceseteeeees 163 Veloci EIOPA center teak 134 Index 610 Velocity CHEECH ccccccccsesesscscsesetseeeseneeeees 372 fo T S EEE a er E Leet 279 and warp moarkel ccccseseseeeeseeeeees 282 EEVEE 281 EXD OMING p r E 43 IMPON air ANE 279 in the Arrangement View 0 280 matching sound to VideO cceeeee 282 rimming riek sosssnaanis 283 WdoWa a 281 View menu commands Crossfader option cccccccsceseseeeeeees 192 In Out option ccceeeeeee 24 171 192 Mixef OPliCn aesiettiecG ena 24 192 Returns OPtiON cccecereees 24 192 198 SENOS OPOR seasann ia 24 192 Track Delays option cccceceeceeeteees 192 Vinyl Distortion eff Ct cccccccsecsceeeseeeees 357 Vocoder CMCC lycii tenths 358 TUS E E TEE E 361 Volyme conio senansa ns 193 VST Plug In Custom Folder button 232 W Warp As Bar Loop command 0006 127 Warp BPM From Here command 128 Warp From Here command ccccccceceees 127 Warp From Here Start At command 127 Warp From Here Straight command
244. cted Launchpad can be used to play note data into Live s MIDI tracks if no custom MIDI assignments have been made When User 2 is selected Launchpad does not send note data by default This mode is ideal for doing extensive MIDI customization or programming Max for Live page 471 patches Using the Launchpad 554 30 4 1 Customizing the Launchpad Controls You can change the assignment of all of the Launchpad s controls by enabling the Remote switches in the MIDI Sync Preferences as described in the section on manual control surface setup page 480 MIDI Ports Track Sync Remote npu Muliitace hiig CHi CHI CHi Cuipul Multiage Midi m i CHI CHI Setting Up The Launchpad For Custom Assignments Now by entering Live s MIDI Map Mode page 482 you can override the pre assigned functions of all of the Launchpad s controls Tip If you have overridden the Launchpad s default mappings with manual mappings you can easily switch back to the defaults by deactivating the Remote switch of the Launchpad s input port Activating the switch again will re establish your manual mappings Using the Launchpad 555 30 5 Mixer Mode Launchpad Mixer Buttons Launchpad s Mixer mode gives you access to essential mixing controls in Live volume pan sends clip stop track activation solo and record arm The directional arrows to change the focus of the ring are still accessible in Mixer mode Using the Launchpad 556
245. ctice you will often want to try out new control moves without overwriting existing automa tion data in the Arrangement Well nothing is forever in the world of infinite Undo page 138 but it s easy to disable a control s automation temporarily to avoid overwriting existing data If you change an automated control s value while not recording the automation LED goes off to indicate the control s automation is inactive Any automation is therefore overridden by the cur rent manual setting When one or more of the automated controls in your Live Set are not active the Control Bar s Re Enable Automation button lights up Automation and Editing Envelopes 261 o s a mor q The Re Enable Automation Button This button serves two purposes It reminds you that the current state of the controls differs from the state captured in Session clips or the Arrangement and you can click on it to reactivate all automation and thereby return to the automation state as it is written on tape You can also re enable automation for only one parameter via the Re Enable Automation op tion in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu for that parameter And in the Ses sion View you can re enable overridden automation by simply relaunching a clip that contains automation 19 5 Drawing and Editing Automation In the Arrangement View and in Session View clips automation curves can be viewed and ed ited as breakpoint e
246. ctory presets for Audio Units will only appear in the browser once the device has been placed in a track and its Hot Swap button activated Note The first time you start Live no plug ins will appear in the Plug In label as you must first activate your plug in sources Activating your plug in sources tells Live which plug ins you want to use and where they are located on your computer Information on activating and de Working with Instruments and Effects 227 activating plug in sources can be found later in this chapter in the sections on the VST Plug in folder page 231 and Audio Units Plug ins page 234 Note for Intel Mac users Intel Mac computers cannot natively run VST or AU plug ins that have been written for the PowerPC platform Only plug ins of type Universal or Intel can be used in Live If you install de install a plug in while the program is running Live will not detect your changes or implement them in the browser until the next time you start the program Use the Rescan but ton in the File Folder Preferences to rescan your plug ins while Live is running so that newly installed devices become immediately available in the browser You can also rescan if you believe that your plug in database has somehow become corrupted Holding down the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier while pressing Rescan will delete your plug in database altogether and run a clean scan of your plug ins 17 2 1 Plug Ins in
247. cutoff frequency of the filter if this is turned on LFO Amount A This sets the intensity of the LFO s modulation of the oscillators and filter LFO Destination B This sets the second modulation destination for the LFO LFO Amount B This sets the intensity of the LFO s modulation of the secondary target LFO Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel This parameter exists for filter pitch LFO and vol ume envelopes It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes LFO Rate lt Key Rate lt Key The LFO s frequency can be a function of note pitch If this is set to 100 the LFO will double its frequency per octave functioning like a normal oscillator LFO Amount lt Velocity Amt lt Vel This setting adjusts modulation of the LFO intensity by note velocity Live Instrument Reference 423 Oscillators A D Shell and Display Osc On This turns the oscillator on and off Osc Coarse Frequency Coarse The relationship between oscillator frequency and note pitch is defined by the Coarse and Fine parameters Coarse sets the ratio in whole numbers creating a harmonic relationship Osc Fine Frequency Fine The relationship between oscillator frequency and note pitch is defined by the Coarse and Fine parameters Fine sets the ratio in fractions of whole numbers creating an inharmonic relationship Osc Fixed Frequency On Fixed In Fixed Mode oscillators do not respond to note pitch but instead
248. d Arrangement View 74 To name a locator select it by clicking its triangular marker and choose the Rename Edit menu command or use the CTRL R PC CMD R Mac shortcut You can also enter your own info text page 7 for a locator via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the locator s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Locators can be removed with your com puter s Backspae or Delete key the Create menu or the Delete Locator button Note that the locator right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu offers a quick way of looping playback page 76 between two locators with its Loop To Next Locator command The locator right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu s Set Song Start Time Here com mand can be used to overrule the default play starts at selection rule when this command is checked play starts at the locator 6 4 Time Signature Changes Ay 43 A Al 4 AQ Li Li Li E Drums ODrums OiGrums O Grums Grums LA Drums LR ee ee E N ee ee ae a ee ee ee ee ee T r gi Wa a 1p F 1p re p pP Fe eee 7 er ie FF i Y a Fe Time Signature Changes Live s time signature can be changed at any point in the Arrangement by using time signature markers These can be added at the insert marker position via the Create menu or anywhere below the beat time ruler using the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Time signature markers appear just below the
249. d Move Insert Marker to Beginning a arrow Back to Arrangement a O Activate Deactivate Track 1 8 F1 F8 F1 F8 35 6 Editing T Live Keyboard Shortcuts 594 By holding down an additional modifier key some of the above commands can also be applied to Windows Macintosh O Clips and Slots Across all Tracks Shift Shift Time Across all Tracks Shift Shift The Selected Part of the Envelope Tab can be used to move from one track or scene to another while renaming 35 7 Loop Brace and Start End Markers The loop brace and start end markers must first be selected before any of the following com mands will apply to them Windows Macintosh O Move Start Marker to Position Shift click Shift click Nudge Loop Left Right right and left arrow right and left arrow keys keys Move Loop By Loop Length up and down arrow up and down arrow iiia C aitererer Halve Double Loop Length CTRL up and down CMD up and down Shorten Lengthen Loop CTRL right and left CMD right and left arrow keys arrow keys credis lems 35 8 Session View Commands See also the editing commands Windows Macintosh Launch Selected Clip Slot Live Keyboard Shortcuts 595 re wot nse Cored Scone CRUST OWS Move Nonadjacent Scenes Without Collaps CTRL up and down CMD up and down ing arrow keys arrow keys Drop Browser Clips as a Scene CTRL CMD 35 9 Arrangement View Com
250. d Samba Project next to Tango Project Search Ctrl F A New Project Was Added Next to Tango Project So far we have seen how to create Live Projects and save versions of Live Sets into them How do we open a Project Simply by opening any of its contained Live Sets Double clicking Tango with Piano als opens that Set and the associated Project as displayed in Live s title bar Managing Files and Sets 58 Let s suppose that in the course of our work on Tango with Piano als we get sidetracked The piece evolves towards something entirely different and we feel that it should live in a Project of u its own So we Save As under a new name and in some location outside the current Project say the Desktop Sounds Drums Instruments nr Audio Effects SS Tango Project MIDI Effects O Max for Live lt E Plug ins Clips aie Samples A New Project Was Added by Saving a Live Set Outside its Original Project Note that the new project folder has no Samples folder yet Electro with Piano als is still refer encing the piano sample from the original Tango Project There is nothing wrong with this except for when the Tango Project is moved away or deleted then Tango with Piano als will be miss ing samples You can prevent this by collecting external files page 62 Even after the fact Live s tools for searching missing files page 59 can help solve this problem T
251. d The switch next to the name toggles the section on or off The Voices switch selects between two or four stacked voices while Detune adjusts the amount of tuning variation applied to each stacked voice Low values can create a subtle chorusing ef fect while high values provide another good way to approximate a youth orchestra Increasing the Delay amount adds lag before each stacked voice is activated The Portamento section is used to make the pitch slide between notes rather than changing im mediately The effect can be toggled on and off via the switch next to its name With Legato enabled the sliding will only occur if the second note is played before the first note is released Proportional causes the slide time to be proportional to the interval between the notes Large intervals will slide slower than small intervals Disabling this switch causes the slide time to be constant regardless of interval The Time slider sets the overall speed of the slide The Volume knob sets the overall output of the instrument 24 9 4 Sound Design Tips At first glance Tension s modular architecture may not seem so different from what you re used to in other synthesizers it consists of functional building blocks that feed information through a signal path and modify it as it goes But it s important to remember that Tension s components are not isolated from one another what you do to one parameter can have a dramatic effect on a para
252. d just like audio clips They can be trimmed for example by dragging their right or left edges However there are some edit ing commands that when applied to a video clip will cause it to be replaced by an audio clip which by definition has no video component This replacement only occurs internally your original movie files are never altered The commands which will cause this are Consolidate Reverse and Crop Working with Video 281 21 2 2 The Video Window AE bE RE OL OR SE ENN oa Oh ead OT ee har MeN SS be ll E 2 Audio il ww 3 MID Master il The Video Window is a separate floating window that always remains above Live s main win TELLI The Video Window in the Arrangement View JOLAJ dow It can be dragged to any location you like and it will never get covered up by Live You can toggle its visibility with a command in the View menu The Video Window can be resized by dragging its bottom right hand corner The size and location of this window are not specific to the Set and will be restored when you open a video again The video can be shown in full screen and optionally on a second monitor by double clicking in the Video Window ALT PC ALT Mac double click in the Video Window to restore it to original size of the video Movies with Partial Tracks In the QuickTime file format the audio and video components do not have to span the entire length of a movie gaps in playback are allowed Du
253. d of con trolling Live s Session View 3 G E BEREREREEEEE amp e a Note Mode Button 29 7 Combination Mode The real power of the APC20 comes through when you combine it with additional APC20s or the Akai Professional APC4O page 529 When you connect more than one APC unit to Ableton Live the controllers will automatically work in Combination Mode You can use up to six total APC20s or APC40s side by side The topmost controller selected in your preferences will control tracks 1 8 the second controller Using the APC20 548 selected will control tracks 9 16 and so on When an APC4O and an APC20 are connected at the same time the APC20 s buttons will default to Track Selection and its faders will default to volume allowing swift access to an expanding array of clips and tracks Using the Launchpad 549 Chapter 30 Using the Launchpad The Launchpad is a dedicated controller for Ableton Live co designed by Ableton and Nova tion Launchpad has 64 square shaped pads and 16 round buttons all of which are pre configured to integrate perfectly with Live This chapter will help you set up your Launchpad and introduce its capabilities 30 1 Setup Once the Launchpad has been connected to one of your computer s USB ports you will need to select the Launchpad in Live s Preferences The Launchpad is one of Live s natively supported control surfaces page 478 so setup is quite
254. d on the track several new buttons appear 6 The button moves the envelope into its own automation lane below the clip You can then select another automation parameter from the choosers to view it simultaneously If the Fades Device chooser is set to None this button will be hidden 7 The button hides its respective automation lane Note that hiding a lane from view does not deactivate its envelope 8 If any automation lanes have been created for a given track you can hide or show them all by clicking the additional button that appears at the bottom of the track s title bar Clicking right click PC CTRL click Mac on a track name or automation lane header opens a context menu with additional options for viewing envelopes This context menu also contains commands to quickly clear all automation envelopes for the track or any of its devices Automation editing for Session View clips is covered in detail in the Clip Envelopes chapter page 267 Automation and Editing Envelopes 263 19 5 1 Drawing Envelopes With Draw Mode enabled you can click and drag to draw an envelope curve a REY WGI Fa LJ The Draw Mode Switch To toggle Draw Mode select the Draw Mode option from the Options menu click on the Con trol Bar s Draw Mode switch or press B Holding B while editing with the mouse temporarily toggles Draw Mode ____ ___ _ Drawing an Envelope Drawing creates steps as wide
255. d pressing CTRL D PC CMD D Mac dovu bles the length of the loop brace and zooms as necessary to show the entire loop Any notes to the right of the loop will be moved so that they maintain their position relative to the end of the loop 10 4 3 Grid Snapping Most functions in the MIDI Editor are subject to grid snapping page 82 But when adjusting events with the mouse the grid is magnetic event positions can be moved freely up to the pre vious or next grid line and then will snap if you continue to drag You can hold down the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier while performing an action to bypass grid snapping Note movements will also snap to an offset which is based on the original placement of the note relative to the grid This is useful for preserving a groove or loose playing style that you do not necessarily want to set straight Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 140 10 4 4 Editing Notes Editing in the MIDI Editor is similar to editing in the Arrangement page 80 In both cases your actions are selection based you select something using the mouse then execute a menu command e g Cut Copy Paste Duplicate on the selection Here is how selection works e Clicking a note selects the note Multiple notes can be selected in unison rubber band select more than one note with one mouse motion by clicking in empty space then drag ging to enclose the notes in the dotted line that appear
256. data within the computer itself MIDI data outside of the computer can make no use of this information and so timing information coming from or going to external hardware is processed by the hardware as soon as it arrives rather than according MIDI Fact Sheet 586 to a schedule Additionally MIDI cables are serial meaning they can only send one piece of information ata time In practice this means that multiple notes played simultaneously cannot be transmitted simultaneously through MIDI cables but instead must be sent one after the other Depending on the density of the events this can cause MIDI timing problems Another issue that can arise particularly when working with hardware synthesizers from the early days of MIDI is that the scan time of the device may occur at a relatively slow rate Scan time refers to how often the synthesizer checks its own keyboard for input If this rate is too slow jitter may be introduced Of course any such timing problems present at the hardware level may be multiplied as addi tional pieces of gear are added to the chain Even within the computer the accuracy of timestamps can vary widely depending on the quality of the MIDI hardware errors in driver programming etc Live must assume that any timestamps attached to incoming MIDI events are accurate and that outgoing events will be dealt with ap propriately by any external hardware But both situations are impossible for Live to verify Test
257. decay time of the string s oscillation during note onset and re lease At 0 the time set by the Decay slider sets the decay time for both the onset and release of the note As you increase the Ratio the release time decreases but the onset decay time stays the same The Vibrato Section Tension Siring FiterGloba 3 i EXCITATOR Protrusion Stiffmess Welocity Position Gamping DAMPER Mass Slifiness Velocity Position Damping STRING Decay Key Fatin Inhaim Damping Key Delay Attack Fate Amount lt hiod Error 75 0 00 50 50 50 o 00 sogms Soames S1H2 50 5 mM TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stii Fret Sut PPAP BODY Lea Low Ci High Cul Sirfeody Volume Wi i eu ik m azili a T SILICA Piano i ry lt j j j i dA Tension s Vibrato Section The Vibrato section uses an LFO to modulate the string s pitch As with all of Tension s param eters the controls in this section can be used to enhance the realism of a stringed instrument model or to create something never heard before The two most important parameters in this section are the Rate and Amount sliders Rate adjusts the frequency of the pitch variation while Amount adjusts the intensity amplitude of the effect The Delay slider sets how long it will take for the vibrato to start after the note begins while At tack sets how long it takes for the vibrato to reach full intensity as set by the Amount knob The lt Mod slider adjusts how much the modulation wheel will a
258. djust amplitude and stereo positioning respec tively Both controls can be modulated Pan by velocity and a random value and Volume by velocity only 24 5 6 Global Controls The parameters located to the right of the sample slots are global controls that apply to all samples within Impulse s domain Volume adjusts the overall level of the instrument and Transp adjusts the transposition of all samples The Time control governs the time stretching and decay of all samples allowing you to morph between short and stretched drum sounds Live Instrument Reference 406 24 5 7 Individual Outputs When a new instance of Impulse is dragged into a track its signal will be mixed with those of the other instruments and effects feeding the audio chain of the track It can oftentimes make more sense to isolate the instrument or one of its individual drum samples and send this signal to a separate track Please see the Routing chapter page 186 to learn how to accomplish this for Impulse s overall signal or for Impulse s individual sample slots 24 6 Operator D Operator W Coarse Fine Fixed Level LFO Rate Amount Q Q Oe E OQ 1 5 10 dB 88 30 6 2 Coarse Fine Fixed Level Filter Freq Res G u o iii Bemet TEE SN D 3 oO 13 0B Envelope Oscillator 369 Hz 1 06 Attack Baty Freq Multi Fixed Level ee aaa ee PitehEnv Spread Transpose GQ OHz ee E 7 9 dB E Initial Peak Sustain el Feedkhack Repeat ie D m n ag t y 2 st 15
259. dragging an envelope segment Double clicking while holding ALT PC ALT Mac returns the segment to a straight line 1 2 4 MIDI Editing Improvements e A new set of transform tools page 115 allows for fast manipulation of a MIDI clip s contents Transpose reverse invert or apply legato in a single click e MIDI notes can now be moved and resized freely without a modifier even while off the grid is active It is also possible to adjust note lengths while in Draw Mode page 263 e MIDI Note Stretch page 146 markers are now available whenever notes are selected ina MIDI clip 1 2 5 Improved Keyboard Workflow e B toggles Draw Mode Holding B while editing with the mouse toggles Draw Mode temporarily Additionally MIDI notes can now be resized while in Draw Mode e The currently selected tracks devices notes or clips can be activated or deactivated with the O key e The Enter key now toggles between time and note selection in MIDI clips If the loop Welcome to Live 5 brace is selected pressing Enter will switch the selection to the time within the loop brace e Q toggles Hot Swap mode page 40 e D toggles the Hot Swap selection between a Drum Rack and its last selected pad 1 2 6 Redesigned Browser e Live s new browser page 33 features a two pane view that shows all of Live s devices and Packs clearly separated e A search field in the browser filters results as you type You can nav
260. e Press and hold the Session button to temporarily toggle Session Mode Releasing the button will then return to Note Mode Likewise pressing and holding Note while in Session Mode will temporarily toggle Note Mode Session Button Using Push 512 In Session Mode the 8x8 pad grid will now launch clips and the Scene Grid Buttons will launch scenes Pressing a pad triggers the clip in the corresponding location in Live s Session View If the track is selected pressing the button records a new clip The pads light up in different colors so you know what s going on e The color of all non playing clips in your Live Set is reflected on the controller e Playing clips pulse green to white e Recording clips pulse red to white You can stop all music in a track by enabling Stop Mode and pressing that track s State Control button Stopping Clip Playback To stop all clips press and hold Shift and then press Stop Push tells you what s going on in the software but importantly the software also reflects what s happening on the hardware The clip slots currently being controlled by Push s pad grid are shown in Live with a colored border The directional arrows and Shift button increase the scope of the eight by eight grid e Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene ata time Hold the Shift button while hitting Up or Down to move eight scenes up or down Tip you can also use the Oc tave Up and Down button
261. e gate is closed there is no effect on the signal Settings in between these two extremes attenuate the input to a greater or lesser degree when the gate is closed Normally the signal being gated and the input source that triggers the gate are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to gate a signal based on the level of another signal To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Gate window by toggling the button in its title bar Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select another track from the choos ers below This causes the selected track s signal to act as the gate s trigger instead of the signal that is actually being gated The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the gate s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the gate is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the gate and is never actually heard Sidechain gating can be used to superimpose rhythmic patterns from one source onto another For example a held pad sound can be triggered with the rhythm of a drum loop by inserting a Gate on the pad s track and choosing the drum loop s track as the sidechain input On the right of th
262. e submix track which outputs to the Master The submix track gives us a handy volume control for the entire drum kit Alternatively you could combine the separate drum tracks into a Group Track page 196 for even more flexibility This automatically creates the necessary output routings and also allows you to hide or show the component tracks Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From Exin e mie Sve iz M i2 Monitor Monitor itor j Cin Rat Om Cin NG OA n fa OA Cin ANG OF Audio To Audio To Audio To Audio To oends Only Semds Only Sends Only Sends Only Submixing by setting a track s Output Type to Sends Only l A third possibility is to use Live s return tracks for submixing This is done by selecting the Sends Only option in a track s Output Type then turning up a Send control as desired The correspond ing return track will then act as a submixer channel Several MIDI Tracks Playing the Same Instrument Consider a MIDI track containing a virtual instrument a Simpler playing a pad sound for ex ample We have already recorded MIDI clips into this track when we realize that we would like to add an independent parallel take for the same instrument So we add another MIDI track We could now drag another Simpler into the new track but we would really like to reuse the Simpler from the pad track so that changing the pad s sound affects the notes from both tracks Routing and I O
263. e 50 5 458 56 10 Frequency O 1 73 kHz Last Rate Oct ListeningR Width Bleed perme S Ci Cor Q o32 M AZ 0 ct 90 100 ioo Phase read Hit Gain Dryivet Off Decay P ts 0 0 180 isi Eas Eii Cos The Corpus Effect Corpus is an effect that simulates the acoustic characteristics of seven types of resonant objects Developed in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems Corpus uses physical modelling technology to provide a wide range of parameters and modulation options The full version of Corpus is not included with the standard version of Live but is bundled with the Collision instrument page 386 as a special feature available for purchase separately The frequency and or decay rate of the resonance can be MIDI modulated by enabling the Frequency and or Off Decay switches in the Sidechain section Toggle the button in Corpus s title bar to access Sidechain parameters The MIDI From choosers allow you to select the MIDI track and tapping point from which to receive MIDI note information With Frequency enabled the tuning of the resonance is determined by the incoming MIDI note If multiple notes are held simultaneously the Last Low switch determines whether the last or the Live Audio Effect Reference 306 lowest note will have priority The Transpose and Fine knobs allow for coarse and fine offset of the MIDI modulated tuning PB Range sets the range in semitones of pitch bend modulation With Frequency disab
264. e Launchpad 553 The Launchpad s Session Overview lets you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without looking at your computer screen Hold down the Session button and the matrix zooms out to re veal an overview of your Session View In the Session Overview each pad represents an eight by eight block of clips giving you a matrix of 64 scenes by 64 tracks Hit a pad to focus on that section of the Session View For example hitting the Session button and then pressing the pad in the third row in the first column will put the focus on scenes 17 25 and tracks 1 8 Furthermore while session is held each scene launch button represents a block of 64 scenes if they are available in your Set In the Session Overview the color coding is a little different e Amber indicates the currently selected block of clips which will be surrounded by the ring in the software e Green there are clips playing in that block of clips though that may not be the block of clips selected e Red there are no clips playing in that range e No color there are no tracks or scenes in that range 30 4 User Modes The User modes allow the grid of 64 buttons plus the 8 vertical system buttons to be freely as signed to any parameter in Live Alternatively if no assignments have been made then note data will be sent from the 64 button grid in a layout designed to work well with the Drum Rack device starting from note Cl When User 1 is sele
265. e MIDI controller differ For example imagine that you have assigned the pan knob on your control surface to the pan parameter of a track in Live If the hardware control is panned hard right and the Live control is panned hard left a slight movement in a hardware pan knob that sends absolute values would tell Live to pan right caus ing an abrupt jump in the track s panning A pan knob sending relative messages would prevent MIDI and Key Remote Control 485 this since its incremental message to Live would simply say Pan slightly to the left of your cur rent position There are four types of relative controllers Signed Bit Signed Bit 2 Bin Offset and Twos Com plement Each of these are also available in a linear mode Some MIDI encoders use acceleration internally generating larger changes in value when they are turned quickly For control surfaces that are not natively supported Live tries to detect the controller type and whether acceleration is being used or not You can improve the detection process by moving the relative controller slowly to the left when you make an assignment Live will offer its suggestion in the Status Bar s mode chooser but if you happen to know the relative controller type you can manually select it Live will do the following with relative MIDI controller messages e Session View Slots Value increment messages are treated like Note On messages Value decrement message
266. e Mode the encoders control track volume Pressing the Pan amp Send button repeatedly will cycle between controlling pans and however many sends are available in your Live Set Press Push s Track button to enable Track Mode Track Button Using Push 510 In Track Mode the encoders control track volume pan and the first six sends of the selected track Press the Selection Control buttons to select which track will be controlled in Track Mode Selecting Tracks in Track Mode Press the Master button to select the Master track 27 9 Recording Automation Changes that you make to device and mixer parameters can be recorded to your clips as au tomation so that the sound will change over time as the clip plays To record automation press Push s Automation button Automation Button This toggles Live s Session Automation Arm button allowing you to record changes you make to Push s encoders as the clip plays or records When you re done recording parameter changes Using Push 511 press the Automation button again to turn it off To delete the changes you ve recorded for a particular parameter press and hold the Delete button and touch the corresponding encoder Delete Button To reenable all automation that you have manually overridden press and hold Shift and press the Automation button 27 10 Controlling Live s Session View Press Push s Session button to switch from Note Mode to Session Mod
267. e and press a Drum Rack pad to quantize only that drum s notes in the current clip Using Push 503 27 5 Playing Melodies and Harmonies After working on a beat you ll want to create a new track so that you can work on a bassline harmony parts etc Press the Add Track button to add a new MIDI track to your Live Set Add Track Button Tip press and hold the Add Track button to select between Audio MIDI and Return tracks Adding a track puts Push into Browse mode so you can immediately load an instrument After loading your instrument make sure Note Mode is enabled When working with a MIDI track containing an instrument Push s 8x8 pad grid automatically configures itself to play notes By default every note on the grid is in the key of C major The bot tom left pad plays C1 Moving upward each pad is a fourth higher Moving to the right each pad is the next note in the C major scale Play a major scale by playing the first three pads in the first row then the first three pads in the next row upwards Continue until you reach the next C Using Push 504 C Major Scale The pad colors help you to stay oriented as you play e Blue this note is the root note of the key C e White this note is in the scale but is not the root Green the currently playing note other pads will also turn green if they play the same note e Red the currently playing note when recording To play triads t
268. e any other parameter Connection A Amount A Connection B Amount E Velocity AY 15 63 BO 26 56 il Key OFF 0 00 Time Oo Ww Ti Chan Press OFF 0 00 FF O 00 E Fitchhend OFF 0 00 Pitch 5 51 Mod wheel Fh OF 100 00 Feede 4575 Pee a i Volume Voices Rtg Interpol Antialias Par ParntKkey Parncend Q AB di J D E i Cie Operator s Global Display Live Instrument Reference 408 Typically FM synthesis makes use of pure sine waves creating more complex waveforms via modulation However in order to simplify sound design and to create a wider range of possible sounds we designed Operator to produce a variety of other waveforms including two types of noise You can also draw your own waveforms via a partial editor The instrument is made com plete with an LFO a pitch envelope and a filter section Note that lots of classic FM synthesiz ers create fantastic sounds without using filters at all so we suggest exploring the possibilities of FM without the filter at first and adding it later if necessary Operator will keep you busy if you want to dive deep into sound design If you want to break the universe apart completely and reassemble it you should also try modulating Operator s controls with clip envelopes page 267 or track automation page 257 24 6 2 Oscillator Section Envelope stilato F 7 Attack Decay eh PERSER _ f i Gea 1 i Initial Peak Sustain We ck O
269. e are for hosting and playing clips as explained earlier page 15 You can add new audio and MIDI tracks to your Live Set s mixer using the appropriate Create menu commands Tracks can also be created by double clicking or pressing Enter on files in the browser to load them or by dragging objects from the Browser into the space to the right of Session View tracks or below Arrangement View tracks Devices or files loaded into Live in this manner will cre ate tracks of the appropriate type e g a MIDI track will be created if a MIDI file or effect is dragged in A track is represented by its track title bar You can click on a track title bar to select the track and then execute an Edit menu command on the track One such command is Rename One can quickly rename a series of tracks by executing this command or the Rename shortcut CTRL R PC CMD R Mac and then using the Tab key to move from title bar to title bar When a symbol precedes a name the track will get a number that updates automatically when the track is moved Adding additional symbols will prepend the track number with additional zeros You can also enter your own info text page 7 for a track via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the tracks s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Tracks are Represented by Track Title Bars You can drag tracks by their title bars to rearrange them or click and drag on their edges to ch
270. e bar The sidechain parameters are divided into two sections On the left are the external controls Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select any of Live s internal routing points from the choosers below This causes the selected source to act as the Glue Compressor s trigger instead of the signal that is actually being compressed The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the Glue Compressor s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the Glue Compressor is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the Glue Com pressor and is never actually heard On the right of the external section are the controls for the sidechain EQ Enabling this section causes the Glue Compressor to be triggered by a specific band of frequencies instead of a complete signal These can either be frequencies in the compressed signal or by using the EQ in conjunction with an external sidechain frequencies in another track s audio The headphones button between the external and EQ sections allows you to listen to only the sidechain input bypassing the Glue Compressor s output Since the sidechain audio isn t fed to the output and is only a trigger f
271. e displayed and can be adjusted with the control Dragging the knob or slider to its absolute maximum or minimum value will make the clips settings thereafter identical adjustable as a single value MIDI clips and audio clips in Live have different sets of properties and consequently do not share the same set of Clip View controls The two types of clips do have the following in com mon e The Clip box contains basic clip settings e The Envelopes box and the Envelope Editor manage the clip s envelopes which are used to automate or modulate the effects mixer and clip or MIDI controls Clip envelopes and their associated Clip View components are covered in detail in a separate manual chapter page 267 e The Launch box controls clip launch behavior and as such only appears for Session View Clip View 199 clips Setting Session View clip launch properties is covered in detail in a separate manual chapter page 161 Audio clips have these additional Clip View controls e The Sample Display toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right hand side of the Clip View and controls Live s sample warping capabilities and clip playback settings page 104 e The Sample box contains settings pertaining to how the clip plays its sample and displays it in the Sample Display The Clip View for an Audio Clip MIDI clips have these additional Clip View controls The MIDI Editor toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right
272. e each time a note is triggered With R disabled the oscillator is free running Repeat Higher harmonics can be generated by repeating the drawn partials with a gradual fadeout based on the settings in the Repeat chooser Low Repeat values result in a brighter sound while higher values result in more high end roll off and a more prominent fundamental With Repeat off partials above the 16th 32nd or 64th harmonic are truncated Osc Frequency lt Velocity Osc lt Vel The frequency of an oscillator can be modulated by note velocity Positive values raise the oscillator s pitch with greater velocities and negative values lower it Osc Freq lt Vel Quantized Q This allows quantizing the effect of the Frequency lt Velocity pa rameter If activated the sonic result is the same as manually changing the Coarse parameter for each note Volume Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel This parameter exists for filter pitch LFO and volume envelopes It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes Osc Output Level lt Velocity Vel This defines how much the oscillator s level depends upon note velocity Applying this to modulating oscillators creates velocity dependent timbres Osc Output Level lt Key Key This defines how much the oscillator s level depends upon note pitch The center point for this function is C3 Envelope Display Envelope Attack Time Attack This sets the time it takes for a note to re
273. e elements These messages can produce the following effects on controls in Live e Session View Slots Note On and Note Off messages affect clips in the slot according to their Launch Mode settings page 162 e Switches A Note On message toggles the switch s state e Radio Buttons Note On messages toggle through the available options e Variable Parameters When assigned to a single note Note On messages toggle the pa rameter between its Min and Max values When assigned to a range of notes each note is assigned a discrete value equally spaced over the parameter s range of values Hint Session View slots can be assigned to a MIDI note range for chromatic playing First play the root key this is the key that will play the clip at its default transposition and then while holding down the root key hold one key below the root and one above it to define the limits of the range MIDI and Key Remote Control 484 26 2 3 Mapping to Absolute MIDI Controllers Absolute MIDI controllers send messages to Live in the form of absolute values ranging from O to 127 These values lead to different results depending on the type of Live control to which they are assigned A value message of 127 for example might turn the Volume control on a Live track all the way up or play a Session View clip Specifically MIDI controller messages from O to 127 can produce the following effects on controls in Live e Session View Slots
274. e enabled from the first audio effect on audio tracks or the instrument on MIDI tracks B Operator The Hot Swap Presets Button The link between the browser and the device will be broken if a different view is selected or if the Q key or the Hot Swap button is pressed again Preset hot swapping can also be cancelled with a press of the Esc key or by pressing the close button in the Hot Swap bar at the top of the browser Note that although importing via the browser is the recommended method presets can also be dropped directly into Live from the Explorer Windows Finder Mac Saving Presets You can create and save any number of your own presets in the browser s User Library The Save Preset Button Click the Save Preset button to save a device s current settings including any custom info text as a new preset You will be redirected to the browser where you can press Enter to use Live s suggested name or you can type one of your own To cancel preset saving press the Esc key You can also save presets to specific folders in the Places section of the browser such as your Current Project folder by dragging from the title bar of the device and dropping into the brows er location of your choice For detailed information on what can be done with the browser please see the Managing Files and Sets chapter page 33 For more on how to store project specific presets see the ap propriate section page 59 Worki
275. e external section are the controls for the sidechain EQ Enabling this section causes the gate to be triggered by a specific band of frequencies instead of a complete signal Live Audio Effect Reference 325 These can either be frequencies in the signal to be gated or by using the EQ in conjunction with an external sidechain frequencies in another track s audio The headphones button between the external and EQ sections allows you to listen to only the sidechain input bypassing the gate s output Since the sidechain audio isn t fed to the output and is only a trigger for the gate this temporary listening option can make it much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what s actually making the gate work When this button is on the display area shows the level of the sidechain input signal in green 22 18 Glue Compressor The Glue Compressor Effect Note the Glue Compressor effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The Glue Compressor is an analog modeled compressor created in collaboration with Cytomic and is based on the classic bus compressor from a famous 80 s mixing console Like Live s origi nal Compressor page 299 the Glue Compressor can be used for basic dynamics control of individual tracks but is mainly designed for use on the Master track or a Group Track to glue multiple sources together into a cohesive sounding mix The Threshold knob sets where compression begins Signals above
276. e input The feedback loop also includes a filter that can color the feedback sound thus producing different timbres with successive echoes The Freeze button labeled F will cause the delay to endlessly cycle the audio which is in its buffer at the moment that the button is pressed ignoring any new input until Freeze is disabled Live Audio Effect Reference 346 The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Ping Pong Delay in a return track Changing the delay time while Ping Pong Delay is processing audio can cause abrupt changes in the sound of the delayed signal You can choose between three delay transition modes via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu of the device s title bar e Repitch causes a pitch variation when changing the delay time similar to the behavior of old hardware delay units e Fade creates a crossfade between the old and new delay times This sounds similar to time stretching if the delay time is gradually changed Fade mode is the default option e Jump immediately jumps to the new delay time Note that this will cause an audible click if the delay time is changed while delays are sounding Jump mode corresponds to the de fault behavior prior to Live 8 When loading Sets that were made in earlier versions Jump will be selected automatically 22 26 Redux Bit Reduction Q i Overtoad Downsample G The
277. e is already depressed will use the first note s envelope at its current position Enabling the Free switch causes the envelope to bypass its sustain phase and move directly from the decay phase to the release phase This behavior is sometimes called trigger mode because it produces notes of equal duration regardless of how long the key is depressed Free mode is ideal for percussive sounds The Loop chooser offers several options for repeating certain segments of the envelope while a key is depressed When Off is selected the envelope plays once through all of its segments without looping With AD R selected the envelope begins with the attack and decay phases as usual but rather than maintaining the sustain level the attack and decay phases will repeat until the note is re leased at which point the release phase occurs ADR R mode is similar but also includes the release phase in the loop for as long as the key is held Note that in both AD R and ADR R modes enabling Free will cause notes to behave as if they re permanently depressed ADS R mode plays the envelope without looping but plays the attack and release phases once more when the key is released With short attack and release times this mode can simulate in struments with audible dampers Live Instrument Reference 383 24 1 7 LFOs wave width Delay Reta Offset Attack Rale os i Rale width Delay Fetrig OFFSET Attack 30 o i 1151 Display and Shell Par
278. e on your screen If you scroll the pad overview to show a different set of pads your controller will update automatically Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 252 18 7 Using the Macro Controls Drive Macro 2 ws Macro 4 Drive Eoad ked E eee Frequenc Widllh WS y Period Making Macro Control Assignments in Map Mode With the potential for developing complex device chains Macro Controls keep things manage able by taking over the most essential parameters of a Rack as determined by you of course Once you have set up your ideal mapping the rest of the Rack can be hidden away The Macro Control view s dedicated Map button opens the door to this behavior Enabling Macro Map Mode causes three things to happen e All mappable parameters from a Rack s devices will appear with a colored overlay e Map buttons will appear beneath each Macro Control dial e The Mapping Browser page 482 will open The following steps will get you started mapping 1 Enable Macro Map Mode by clicking the Map mode button 2 Select a device parameter for mapping by clicking it once 3 Map the parameter by clicking on any Macro Control s Map button The details will be added to the Mapping Browser By default the Macro will take its name and units from the device parameter it is controlling 4 Refine the value range if desired using the Min Max sliders in the Mapping Browser In verted mappings can be created by setting the Min slider
279. e output of the transposition envelope is simply added to the Transpose control s value The result of the modulation is clipped to stay in the available range 48 48 semitones in this case Clip Envelopes 271 20 2 3 Muting or Attenuating Notes in a Sample Select Clip in the Device chooser and Volume Modulation in the Control chooser By draw ing steps in Draw Mode or creating shapes with breakpoints you can impose an arbitrary vol ume shape onto the sample 1 12 1 3 E P di fim Imposing a Volume Envelope on a Sample The volume envelope s output is interpreted as a relative percentage of the clip volume slider s current value The result of the clip envelope s modulation can therefore never exceed the abso lute volume setting but the clip envelope can drag the audible volume down to silence 20 2 4 Scrambling Beats One very creative use of clip envelopes is to modulate the sample offset Sample offset modula tion makes the most sense for rhythmical samples and is only available for clips that are set up to run in the Beats Warp Mode Try sample offset modulation with a one bar drum loop Make sure Beats Mode is chosen in the Envelopes box choose Clip from the Device chooser and Sample Offset from the Control chooser The Envelope Editor appears with a vertical grid overlay In envelope Draw Mode set steps to non zero values to hear the loop scrambled What is going on Ima
280. e tempo as the Set is a neu tral operation However if a groove page 155 is applied playback will be non neutral at any tempo 33 4 Tips for Achieving Optimal Sound Quality in Live For users looking to achieve optimal audio quality in Live we have provided a list of recom mended practices and program settings e Decide which sample rate to use for a project prior to beginning work rather than chang ing the sample rate while working on the project e Record audio into Live using high quality hardware components audio interface cables etc and at the highest sample rate and bit depth your interface and computer will support e Avoid using samples that are at different sample rates within the same project If you want to work with such files we recommend that you first convert them to the sample rate set for your audio interface in an offline application that is optimized for this task Audio Fact Sheet 582 e For all audio clips disable both the Warp and Fade options in the Clip View e Do not adjust the Transpose and Detune controls for any clips e Always render at 32 bit and at the sample rate set for your audio interface If you need au dio files at a different sample rate and or bit depth we recommend that you convert your rendered files in an offline application that is optimized for these tasks rather than in Live Please note that these practices while ensuring optimal audio quality disable some of Live s funct
281. e than one track simultaneously and or prefer viewing the recording linearly and in progress the Arrangement View may be the better choice If you want to break your recording seamlessly into multiple clips or record while you are also launching clips in Live use the Session View 16 3 1 Recording Into the Arrangement N Sim er molio A Bass fill Recording Into the Arrangement 1 Pressing the Control Bar s Arrangement Record button starts recording The specific behav ior depends on the state of the Start Transport with Record button in the Record Warp Launch preferences When enabled recording starts as soon as the button is pressed When disabled recording will not start until the Play button is pressed or Session clips are launched Tip regardless of the state of this preference holding Shift while pressing Ar rangement Record will engage the opposite behavior 2 Recording creates new clips in all tracks that have their Arm button on 3 When MIDI Arrangement Overdub is enabled new MIDI clips contain a mix of the signal already in the track and the new input signal Note that overdubbing only applies to MIDI tracks 4 To prevent recording prior to a punch in point activate the Punch In switch This is useful for protecting the parts of a track that you do not want to record over and allows you to set up a pre roll or warm up time The punch in point is identical to the Arrangement
282. e the grain pitch with the Pitch parameter which acts much like a crude pitch shifter The Random Pitch control adds random variations to each grain s pitch Low values create a sort of mutant chorusing effect while high values can make the original source pitch completely unin telligible This parameter can interact with the main Pitch control thus allowing degrees of stabil ity and instability in a sound s pitch structure The Feedback parameter sets how much of the output signal returns to the delay line input Very high values can lead to runaway feedback and produce a loud oscillation watch your ears and speakers if you decide to check out extreme feedback settings Grain Delay also has a dry wet control which can be routed to the vertical axis of the X Y con troller Live Audio Effect Reference 330 22 20 Limiter Gain Ceiling The Limiter Effect Note the Limiter effect is not available in the Lite Edition The Limiter effect is a mastering quality dynamic range processor that ensures that the output does not exceed a specified level Limiter is ideal for use in the Master track to prevent clipping A limiter is essentially a compressor with an infinite ratio For more information about compres sion theory see the manual entry for the Compressor device page 295 The Gain knob allows you to boost or attenuate the incoming level before applying limiting Ceiling sets the absolute maximum level that the
283. e the incoming MIDI is passed on to the MIDI tracks The Key MIDI Map Controls Session clips switches buttons and radio buttons can be mapped to computer keyboard keys as well This happens in Key Map Mode page 487 which works just like MIDI Map Mode Live Concepts 31 Live offers in addition to this general purpose mapping technique dedicated support for Able ton Push page 489 the Akai APC40 page 529 Akai APC20 page 541 and Novation Launchpad page 549 which allows for mouse free operation of the program 4 15 Saving and Exporting Saving a Live Set saves everything it contains including all clips their positions and settings and settings for devices and controls An audio clip can however lose the reference to its cor responding sample if it is moved or deleted from disk The links between samples and their clips can be preserved with a special command Collect and Save page 62 which makes a copy of each sample and stores it in a project folder along with the Live Set A separate Save button in the Clip View saves a set of default clip settings page 111 along with the sample so that each time the sample is dragged into the program it will automatically appear with these settings This is especially useful if you have made warp settings for a clip and want to use it in multiple Live Sets Exporting audio from Live can be done from both the Session and Arrangement Views Live will export the audio coming
284. e turned up to 12 dB to compen sate for drastic filtering at the input The Dry control adjusts the unprocessed signal level Set it to minimum if using Delay in a return track Live Audio Effect Reference 319 22 15 Flanger Envelope LFO SAH Amount Shape i 44 1 40 9 Aak Raie i J 5 00 ms 0 11 Hz Release Phase a h Delay Time Feedback dh Beer 100 E 200ms S02 The Flanger Effect Note the Flanger effect is not available in the Lite Edition Flanger uses two parallel time modulated delays to create flanging effects Flanger s delays can be adjusted with the Delay Time control The Feedback control sends part of the output signal back through the device input while the Polarity switch or sets the polarity Delay Time and Feedback can be changed simultaneously using the effect s X Y con troller Periodic control of delay time is possible using the envelope section You can increase or de crease the envelope amount or invert its shape with negative values and then use the Attack and Release controls to define envelope shape Flanger contains two LFOs to modulate delay time for the left and right stereo channels The LFOs have six possible waveform shapes sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and random The extent of LFO influence on the delays is set with the Amount control LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz R
285. ealing as subtle as possible Panorama is defined by the Pan control but can be further swayed by randomness or modu lated by the LFO Finally the output volume of Simpler is controlled by the Volume control which can also be de pendent upon note velocity as adjusted by the Velocity control Tremolo effects can be achieved by allowing the LFO to modulate the Volume parameter 24 8 9 Strategies for Saving CPU Power Real time synthesis needs lots of computing power However there are strategies for reducing CPU load Save the CPU spent on Simpler by doing some of the following e Turn off the Filter if it is not needed e Use filter types that are less CPU intensive when possible A filter s CPU cost correlates with the steepness of its slope LP24 requires more CPU than LP12 e Turn off the LFO for a slightly positive influence on CPU e Stereo samples need significantly more CPU than mono samples as they require twice the processing e Decrease the number of simultaneously allowed voices with the Voice control e Turn Spread to O if it is not needed Live Instrument Reference 457 24 9 Tension Tension String Filler Global ala s amp EXCITATOR Protrusion Stiffness Velocity Position Damping DAMPER Mass Slifiness Velocity Position Damping A O gt gt O Ecaea AY A OAOA AY AY 75 50 50 25 50 50 50 50 25 50 Vel Vel Key 0 00 4 0 00 Fae Key 0 00 STRING Decay K
286. easy 1 Open Live s Preferences from the Live menu in OS X or the Options menu in Windows 2 Go to the MIDI Sync Tab 3 Select the Launchpad preset from the Control Surface chooser Then select the port that the Launchpad is connected to in the Input and Output choosers 10 http www novationmusic com Using the Launchpad 550 Control Surface Input Output Setting Up The Launchpad 30 2 Launchpad s Four Modes Launchpad s Mode Buttons The row of buttons on the top of Launchpad includes four directional arrow buttons to navigate through the Session View and four mode buttons which switch between Session mode User mode 1 User mode 2 and Mixer mode These modes are explained in more detail below 30 3 Session Mode In Session Mode the Launchpad s matrix of pads gives you physical access to the clips in your Session View page 87 The matrix has 64 three color pads arranged in a eight by eight grid The color coding system lets you know exactly what is happening in each clip and direc tional controls let you move around inside your Session View Using the Launchpad 551 0000 6 gt es Launchpad Session Mode Button 30 3 1 Launching Clips 00 0 0 2 Oiiz ttt tT ft o E C BESSE o Ps E Ci ie foe BE Ee Eo ped i Pa te novation Session Mode When Launchpad is chosen as an active control surface a ring appears on the Session View in Live
287. ecific frequency component To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Compressor window by toggling the button in its title bar The sidechain parameters are divided into two sections On the left are the external controls Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select any of Live s internal routing points page 180 from the choosers below This causes the selected source to act as the com pressor s trigger instead of the signal that is actually being compressed The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the compressor s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the compressor is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the compressor and is never actually heard Note that automatic Makeup is not available when using external sidechain On the right of the external section are the controls for the sidechain EQ Enabling this section causes the compressor to be triggered by a specific band of frequencies instead of a complete signal These can either be frequencies in the compressed signal or by using the EQ in conjunc tion with an external sidechain frequencies in another track s audio The headphones button between the
288. ects 218 To save space in the Device View a device can be collapsed by double clicking on its title bar or by choosing Fold from its right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu BS E amp amp EE EA EA EA Devices Can Be Folded To learn about a particular device and how to operate it consult the Live Audio Effect Reference page 287 Live MIDI Effect Reference page 363 or the Live Instrument Reference page a7 3 To learn about creating and using custom groupings of instruments and effects check out the Instrument Drum and Effect Racks chapter page 237 Get hands on with devices by assigning their parameters to MIDI or key remote control page 477 Working with Instruments and Effects 219 17 1 Using the Live Devices Devices in Live s Browser Live s built in devices can be accessed in the browser You will notice that Live s Synths Audio Effects and MIDI Effects each have their own labels in the browser s sidebar The easiest way to place a device in a track is to double click on it in the browser which creates a new track to hold the device Alternatively select a destination track by clicking within it then select a device or preset in the browser and press Enter to add it to the selected track You can also drag devices into tracks or drop areas in the Session and Arrangement Views or into the Device View Dragging a sample to the Device View of a MIDI track creates a Sim
289. ed files Live will inspect each file in a Project folder checking if it is referenced by any of the Live Sets Live Clips or device presets in the Project If not the file is regarded as unused even if other Projects or programs still use it To find the unused files for the currently open Project choose the Manage Files command from the File menu click the Manage Project button and then click on the triangular shaped fold but ton next to Unused Files to access a summary and the Show button Clicking the Show button makes the browser list the unused files there you can preview samples page 37 and delete them if you like Note you can also find the unused files from the Library choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the Manage Library button and then see the Unused Files section Managing Files and Sets 65 Last but not least you can find the unused files for all Projects found in a specific folder and its sub folders right click PC CTRL click Mac on a folder in the browser and choose the Manage Projects command then see the Unused Files section Live inspects each Project indi vidually and labels a file unused even if another Projects in the same folder does use that file To prevent losses you may want to first collect the files into their respective Projects and then purge the Projects of unused files 5 11 Packing Projects into Packs Live s File Manager provides the optio
290. ed by a clip with a one bar volume en velope loop The volume envelope loop now works as a pattern that is repeatedly punching holes into the music so as to perhaps remove every third beat You can certainly think of other parameters that such a pattern could modulate in interesting ways Clip Envelopes 278 20 5 4 Clip Envelopes as LFOs If you are into sound synthesis you may want to think of a clip envelope with a local loop as an LFO This LFO is running in sync with the project tempo but it is also possible to set up a loop period odd enough to render the envelope unsynchronized By hiding the grid you can adjust the clip envelope loop start and end points completely independent of meter grid 20 5 5 Warping Linked Envelopes When in Linked mode clip envelopes respond to changes in the clip s Warp Markers This means that moving a warp marker will lengthen or shorten the clip envelope accordingly Addi tionally Warp Markers can be adjusted from within the envelope editor r h C I ink l 11 Clip Envelopes and Warp Markers Can Be Adjusted Together Working with Video 279 Chapter 21 Working with Video Live s flexible architecture makes it the perfect choice for scoring to video You can trim video clips to select parts of them and use Warp Markers to visually align music in the Arrangement View with the video You can then render page 43 your edited video file along with your audio Before diving
291. ee Envelope LF w 1 Attack Decay Release TimecVel Dest A l P A Sey initial Peak Sustain Dest E A FM Dr i A Loop End RatetKey Amtel oa A D000 a i j i UL Si i i Operator s LFO Parameters The LFO in Operator can practically be thought of as a fifth oscillator It runs at audio rates and it modulates the frequency of the other oscillators It is possible to switch LFO modulation on or off for each individual oscillator and the filter using the Dest A buttons in the LFO s display The intensity of the LFO s modulation of these targets can be adjusted by the Dest A slider The LFO can also be turned off entirely if it is unused The Dest B chooser allows the LFO to modulate an additional parameter The intensity of this modulation is determined by the Dest B slider The LFO offers a choice of classic LFO waveforms sample and hold S amp H and noise Sample and hold uses random numbers chosen at the rate of the LFO creating the random steps useful for typical retro futuristic sci fi sounds The noise waveform is simply bandpass filtered noise Tip FM synthesis can be used to create fantastic percussion sounds and using the LFO with the noise waveform is the key to great hi hats and snares The frequency of the LFO is determined by the LFO Rate control in the shell as well as the low high sync setting of the adjacent LFO Range chooser The frequency of the LFO can follow note pitch be fixed or be set
292. eeds the associat ed return track s input What s more even the return track s own output can be routed to its input allowing you to create feedback Because runaway feedback can boost the level dramatically and unexpectedly the Send controls in Return tracks are disabled by default To enable them right click PC CTRL click Mac on a Return track s Send knob and select Enable Send or Enable All Sends Every return track has a Pre Post toggle that determines if the signal a clip track sends to it is tapped before or after the mixer stage i e the pan volume and track active controls The Pre setting allows you to create an auxiliary mix that is processed in the return track independently of the main mix As the return track can be routed to a separate output this can be used to set up a separate monitor mix for an individual musician in a band Mixing 199 The Master track is the default destination for the signals from all other tracks Drag effects here to process the mixed signal before it goes to the master output Effects in the Master track usually provide mastering related functions such as compression and or EQ You can create multiple return tracks using the Create menu s Insert Return Track command but by definition there is only one Master track 15 5 Using Live s Crossfader Live includes a crossfader that can create smooth transitions between clips playing on different tracks Live s crossfade
293. eeeee 16 NRE E arene E S E eet RISE 92 copying to Arrangement 96 recording an Arrangement 94 recording audio IN eccseeeesesseseseeeesees 208 Sele CIOT ranoni ER 17 Set 1 1 1 Here command yicic tsccesucieana tec 126 Set Locator DUNOMiacssensrmse iosian 73 Set LocaloncOmmeandesi incites 73 Set Song Start Time Here command 74 Show Hide Plug In Windows command 229 Simple Delay effect ccccccccceseteeeeeee 353 SIMPLE e laser nucl deca iamienaion 452 and CPU resources s s s 456 ET S E A A E ea 454 Miei gonere Sor E 454 Glide and Spreads iste 455 REO opra rene acne ce 455 PO ae E E A 456 sample controls cccccccsesseeseeeeseeeeees 453 Sample VIEW citer n a 453 MANS DOSE O 455 VOICE Sane arias AN 456 WOIUIM S Seeger oa EE 456 LOOM ATE tice iaeanneat 454 Skin preference sssssssessesesiessisessisirresissrsesees 8 SENG eater cases nt cana eceentel anette 149 Snap to Grid COMMANA L cccecscssesesetseseteees 82 Solo Cue Mode switch oo cece cece 203 SOMO PIG Srsincmde cuswe tuners te oumeenaanene 202 SOLOS WO aane ea ee eset 193 SoundCloud EXPONO Onana ettioi 46 SPSCIFUM davit Enss airis 354 SPI DUNO iepen n cca aclnscmedebinast tele 134 Slit COMMCANG sessin a 84 start end markers 105 Start Recording on Scene Launch 209 SLED ME CORCING aceon Mitre aetictart eles eentiient als 210 Stop All Clips button a scssacecsrsssemneea neeascs 95 Op 010 10 p Ree EE ee vero RE Re
294. elay and At tack parameters for the vibrato applied to each polyphonic voice The Amt lt MW slider adjusts how much the modulation wheel will affect the vibrato intensity This control is relative to the value set by the Amount percentage slider in the shell The Uni switch in the shell turns on the unison effect which stacks multiple voices for each note played The Detune slider next to this switch adjusts the amount of tuning variation applied to each stacked voice Turning on the unison effect enables the two additional Unison parameters in the display The Voices chooser selects between two or four stacked voices while the Delay slider increases the lag time before each stacked voice is activated Live Instrument Reference 385 The Gli switch turns the glide effect on or off This is used to make the pitch slide between notes rather than changing immediately With Legato enabled the sliding will only occur if the second note is played before the first note is released The Time slider sets the overall speed of the slide Turning on the glide effect enables an additional Glide Mode chooser in the display Selecting Const causes the glide time to be constant regardless of interval Choosing Prop proportional causes the glide time to be proportional to the interval between the notes Large intervals will glide slower than small intervals The Keyboard section in the display contains all of Analog s polyphony and tuning parameters T
295. elope But once the decreasing automated value meets with the increasing modulation envelope value the fade out will begin as automation forces the absolute control value and the operable range of the modulation envelope down Modulation envelopes for the mixer and devices are hidden by default in the Clip Envelope Control choosers but can be shown by selecting the Show Modulation option available in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on controls Modulation envelopes are always labelled with the word Modulation in the name while automation envelopes are la belled only with the name of the parameter Both automation and modulation clip envelopes are available for clips in Session View while Arrangement View clips only have modulation envelopes 20 3 1 Modulating Mixer Volumes and Sends Notice that there are actually two modulation envelopes that affect volume Clip Volume Modu lation and Track Volume Modulation The latter is a modulation for the mixer s gain stage and therefore affects the post effect signal To prevent confusion a small dot below the mixer s vol ume slider thumb indicates the actual modulated volume setting Modulating the Mixer Volume The Little Dot Below the Volume Slider Thumb Represents the Modu lated Volume Setting Clip Envelopes 274 As you raise and lower the Volume slider you can observe the dot following your movement in a relative fashion Modulating the track s
296. elope is applied to the carrier s signal At 0 the modulator s envelope is discarded At 200 only high amplitude peaks will be used 100 results in classic vocoding The Attack and Release controls set how quickly Vocoder responds to amplitude changes in the modulator signal Very fast times preserve the transients of the modulator but can cause distor tion artifacts The Mono Stereo switches determine how many channels are used for the carrier and modula tor In Mono mode both the carrier and modulator are treated as mono sources Stereo uses a mono modulator but processes the carrier in stereo L R processes both the carrier and modula tor signals in stereo The frequencies of the carrier s filterbank can be shifted up or down via the Formant knob With voice as the modulator small Formant changes can alter the apparent gender of the source Live Audio Effect Reference 361 The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals 22 34 1 Vocoder Tips This section explains how to set up the most common Vocoder applications Singing Synthesizer The classic vocoder application is the singing synthesizer To set this up in Live 1 Insert Vocoder in the track that contains your vocal material You can either use a clip that contains a prerecorded voice clip or to process a live vocal signal connect a microphone to a channel on your audio hardware and choose this as the input source page
297. ely and hopefully successfully through the scenes 4 Assign these buttons to launch the clip at the highlighted scene in the respective track Relative Session mapping is useful for navigating a large Live Set as Live always keeps the high lighted scene at the Session View s center Mapping to Clip View Controls The Clip View page 97 displays the settings for whichever clip happens to be currently selected but it will also display the settings of multi selected clips To avoid unpleasant musical surprises it is important to remember that creating remote control mappings for any control in the Clip View interface could potentially affect any clip in the Live Set For this reason we rec ommend mapping Clip View controls to relative MIDI controllers to prevent undesirable jumps in parameter values MIDI and Key Remote Control 487 26 2 5 Computer Keyboard Remote Control E yd MIDI 2 D The Key Map Mode Switch Creating control surface assignments for your computer keyboard is straightforward 1 Enter Key Map Mode by pressing the KEY switch in the upper right hand corner of the Live screen Notice that the assignable elements of the interface become highlighted in red when you enter Key Map Mode The Mapping Browser will also become available If the Browser is hidden you will want to show it at this point using the appropriate View menu command 2 Click on the Live parameter that you wish to assign to a key Remembe
298. ely to produce aliasing Volume This sets the overall volume of the instrument Algorithm An oscillator can modulate other oscillators be modulated by other oscillators or both The algorithm defines the connections between the oscillators and therefore has a signifi cant impact on the sound that is created Live Instrument Reference 418 Voices This sets the maximum number of notes that can sound simultaneously If more notes than available voices are requested the oldest notes will be cut off Retrigger R When enabled notes that are enabled will be retriggered rather than generat ing an additional voice Interpolation This toggles the interpolation algorithm of the oscillators and the LFO If turned off some timbres will sound more rough especially the noise waveform Turning this off will also save some CPU power Antialias This toggles Operator s high quality antialias mode which helps to minimize high frequency distortion Disabling this modes reduces the CPU load Time lt Key The rates of all envelopes can be controlled by note pitch If the global Time lt Key parameter is set to higher values the envelopes run faster when higher notes are played Pitch Bend Range PB Range This defines the effect of MIDI pitch bend messages Pan Use this to adjust the panorama of each note This is especially useful when modulated with clip envelopes Pan lt Key Key If Pan lt Key is set
299. emember the change and use your new velocity on any notes that you draw afterward Note Off Velocity By default the Velocity Editor allows you to adjust note on velocities But you can toggle the editor to show note off velocities via options in the editor s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu 4 A ridia The Velocity Editor Showing Note Oft Velocities Please note that note off or release velocity is a somewhat esoteric parameter and is only supported by certain devices Ableton s Sampler instrument page 427 for example provides note off velocity as a controller for a variety of parameters Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 146 10 4 9 MIDI Note Stretch Jo uie JUTE MIDI Note Stretch Markers When multiple notes or a range of time are selected in the Note Editor Note Stretch markers will appear allowing notes to be scaled proportionally in time The markers are a pair of down ward pointing indicators that snap to the beginning and end of the selection By clicking and dragging one of the markers horizontally the selected notes will move and stretch so that they continue to occupy the same proportion of time that they did when they were initially selected As with notes Note Stretch markers can be freely moved until reaching the pre vious or next grid or offset point after which they will sn
300. en Automation Arm is on all changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar s Ar rangement Record button is on become Arrangement automation Try recording automation for a control for instance a mixer volume slider After recording play back what you have just recorded to see and hear the effect of the control movement You will notice that a little LED has appeared in the slider thumb to indicate that the control is now automated Try recording auto mation for track panning and the Track Activator switch as well their automation LEDs appear in their upper left corners main comp 1 Comps Foa 5 eg iiakis m Miia 7 Se cee baal m Speake lac i ree TTT mra T Track Fanning Volume Pan and the Track Activator Switch Have Been Automated 19 2 Recording Automation in Session View Automation can also be recorded to Session View clips Here is how it works Automation and Editing Envelopes 259 mividi di iA Pr SaR Controls for Recording Session Automation 1 Enable the Automation Arm button to prepare for automation recording 2 Activate the Arm button for the tracks onto which you want to record Clip Record buttons will appear in the empty slots of the armed tracks 3 Click the Session Record button to begin recording automation Itis also possible to record automation into all playing Session clips regardless of whether or not they are in armed tracks This is done via the Session Automa
301. ename Device Ls E Edit Info Text Stai Loop Lengih Fade Sustain Release LFO Pan Delete 0 00 W Group Cli G i Rand 0 00 100 100 0 00 Group To Drum Rack 0 0 dB 50 0 ms C Filter Freg Res Vel Fold Transp LFO Glide spread P oo Show Preset Name Lost 4 0 00 or Type Key i ae Detune Env Time oa 4 4 500m 0 Getting Hands On Control Surfaces Can Be Locked to Devices A hand icon in the title bar of locked devices serves as a handy reminder of their status Note Some control surfaces do not support locking to devices This capability is indicated for individual controllers in the Control Surface Reference lesson Select the Help View option from the Help menu to access Live s built in lessons 26 1 2 Manual Control Surface Setup If your MIDI control surface is not listed in the MIDI Sync Preferences Control Surface chooser it can still be enabled for manual mapping in the MIDI Ports section of this tab input Oxygen Port 1 ean of om b Input RemoteSL Port 1 en on on b Input RemoteSL Port 2 on on on b Output Oxygend Port 1 on om on b Output RemoteSL Port 1 on of oF b Output RemoteSL Port 2 or of ica gt Output RemoteSL Port 3 on j on ow Defining Control Surfaces Manually The MIDI Ports table lists all available MIDI input and output ports To use an input port for remote control of Live make sure the correspond
302. ender as Loop is on Live will go through the rendering process twice The first pass will not actually write samples to disk but add the specified delay effect As the second pass starts writing audio to disk it will include the delay tail resulting from the first pass e Convert to Mono If this is activated Live will create a mono file instead of a stereo file Managing Files and Sets 46 e File Type Bit Depth Sample Rate These options specify the type of sample to be cre ated Dither Options If you are rendering at a bit depth lower than 32 bit choose one of the dither modes Dithering adds a small amount of noise to rendered audio but minimizes artifacts when reducing the bit depth By default Triangular is selected which is the saf est mode to use if there is any possibility of doing additional processing on your file Rectangular mode introduces an even smaller amount of dither noise but at the expense of additional quantization error The three Pow r modes offer successively higher amounts of dithering but with the noise pushed above the audible range Note that dithering is a pro cedure that should only be applied once to any given audio file If you plan to do further processing on your rendered file it s best to render to 32 bit to avoid the need for dithering at this stage In particular the Pow r modes should never be used for any material that will be sent on to a further mastering stage the
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304. eore Che Q 13 vel ims A fo ms d _0 00 sficms R 7 8 vel 11 vel Off Decay 13 4qRd 0 0 4k M The Collision Instrument Collision is a synthesizer that simulates the characteristics of mallet percussion instruments Cre ated in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems Collision uses physical modeling tech nology to model the various sound generating and resonant components of real or imagined objects The full version of Collision is not included with the standard version of Live but is bundled with the Corpus effect page 305 as a special feature available for purchase separately 24 2 1 Architecture and Interface Collision s sound is produced by a pair of oscillators called Mallet and Noise which feed a pair of independent or linked stereo resonators While the oscillators produce the initial component of the sound it is the resonator parameters that have the greatest impact on the sound s charac ter Collision s interface is divided into tabs which are further divided into sections The Excitator tab contains the controls for the Mallet and Noise oscillators The Resonator tabs contain the parameters for the independent resonator sections while the Link tab allows you to adjust both resonators simultaneously Live Instrument Reference 387 The LFO tab contains two independent low frequency oscillators LFOs which can each modu late multiple parameters Similarly the MIDI tab allows for M
305. er Hammer bouncing and Plectrum Bow this excitator is associated with bowed instruments such as the violin viola or cello The bow sets the string in sustained oscillation The motion of the bow hair across the string creates Live Instrument Reference 459 friction causing the string to alternate between sticking to the hair and breaking free The fre quency of this alternation between sticking and slipping determines the fundamental pitch The Force knob adjusts the amount of pressure being applied to the string by the bow The sound becomes more scratchy as you increase this value The friction between the bow and the string can be adjusted with the Friction control Higher values usually result in a faster attack Velocity adjusts the speed of the bow across the string Finally the Vel and Key sliders below these three controls allow you to modulate their behavior based on note velocity or pitch respectively Hammer and Hammer bouncing these two excitator types simulate the behavior of soft ham mers or mallets Hammer models a hammer that is located below the string and strikes it once before falling away This type of mechanism is found in a piano for example Hammer bounc ing models a hammer that is located above the string and is dropped onto it meaning that it can bounce on the string multiple times This playing mode can be found on a hammered dulci mer for example The mass and stiffness of the hammer a
306. er you want to work with is in its own lane Any edit commands applied to an envelope selection within a single lane will only apply to this envelope The clip itself will be unaffected You can also work with envelopes in multiple lanes simultaneously Automation and Editing Envelopes 266 If you want your edits to apply to both the clip and all of its associated envelopes apply edit commands to a selection in the clip track Note that Live allows you to copy and paste envelope movements not only from one point in time to another but also from one parameter to another Since the parameters may be completely unrelated this can have unexpected but possibly interesting results 19 5 5 Editing the Tempo Automation The ability to dynamically stretch and compress audio to track any tempo or tempo variation is one of Live s specialties In Live the song tempo is just another automated control To edit the song tempo envelope unfold the Master track in Arrangement View choose Mixer from the top envelope chooser and Song Tempo from the bottom one TAP HI 47 4 O 4Bar The Tempo Envelope When adjusting the tempo envelope you might want to scale the value axis display which is the function of the two value boxes below the envelope choosers The left box sets the minimum and the right box sets the maximum tempo displayed in BPM Note that these two controls also determine the value range of a MIDI controller page
307. erforming cancellation tests on ren dered output 33 2 4 Summing at Single Mix Points Since version 7 Live uses double precision 64 bit summing at all points where signals are mixed including Clip and return track inputs the Master track and Racks Mixing in Live is thus a neutral operation for signals mixed at any single summing point This is tested by loading pairs of 24 bit files white noise and fixed frequency sine waves and their phase inverted complements adding the pairs together eight times and rendering the output as 32 bit files All tests result in perfect phase cancellation Please note that while 64 bit summing is applied to each single mix point Live s internal pro cessing is still done at 32 bit Thus signals that are mixed across multiple summing points may still result in an extremely small amount of signal degradation This combination of 64 bit sum Audio Fact Sheet 576 ming within a 32 bit architecture strikes an ideal balance between audio quality and CPU memory consumption 33 2 5 Recording external signals bit depth gt A D converter Recording audio signals into Live is a neutral operation provided that the bit depth set in Live s Preferences window is the same or higher than that of the A D converters used for the record a u ing In this context neutral means identical to the audio as it was delivered to Live by the A D ul converters 33 2 6 Recording internal sources
308. ernal input a specific MIDI channel from a specific MIDI in device audio from ReWire slave programs or a signal coming from another track The Routing chapter page 171 describes these options in detail 16 2 Arming Record Enabling Tracks f T h dh l p Ty i g aay Track Arm Buttons in the Arrangement Left and Session Right Mixers To select a track for recording click on its Arm button It doesn t matter if you click a track s Arm button in the Session View or in the Arrangement View since the two share the same set of tracks By default armed tracks are monitored meaning that their input is passed through their device chain and to the output so that you can listen to what is being recorded This behavior is called auto monitoring and you can change it to fit your needs page 172 If you are using a natively supported control surface arming a MIDI track will automatically lock this control surface to the instrument in the track page 478 Clicking one track s Arm button unarms all other tracks unless the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier is held If multiple tracks are selected clicking one of their Arm buttons will arm the other tracks as well Arming a track selects the track so you can readily access its devices in the Device View Recording New Clips 207 16 3 Recording Recording can be done in both the Session and the Arrangement Views If you want to record onto mor
309. ers and can be Live Instrument Reference 390 adjusted with the linked control Dragging the parameter to its absolute maximum or minimum value will make the settings thereafter identical adjustable as a single value Tuning Section Collision f t MIDI f 1 f Mallet Noise F riz Copy to 2 Volume Noise Volume Ri Volume Jolu 30 dB Q 30 dB 40 2 A de Ost Oct 0 3 0 dB A dt K A K J ule 100 Key Bright R Bleed F V Y tructure a i gt 2 Stiffnes Pitch Envelope 9 5 28 A Pitch Time Inharmor Par 1 Am F 4 1 Ke rf 5 a ED 2 ok 4 k 0 0 100 ms Il oC 1y 44 Rd r Retrig Resonator Tuning Parameters The Tune and Fine knobs function as coarse and fine tuning controls Tune moves up or down in semitone increments while Fine adjusts in increments of one cent up to a maximum of one quar ter tone 50 cents up or down The Key slider below the Tune knob controls how much the resonator s tuning is adjusted by changes in MIDI note pitch The default value of 100 means that the resonator will conform to a conventional equal tempered scale At 200 each half step on the keyboard will result in a whole step change in tuning At negative values the resonator will drop in pitch as you play higher on the keyboard The Pitch Envelope parameters apply a ramp that modulates the resonator s pitch over time Pitch sets the starting pitch while Time adjusts how long it will take the pitch to glide to its final
310. ers the display in the center will automatically show the details of the relevant section When creating your own sounds for example you can conveniently access the level and frequency of all oscillators at once via the shell and then adjust each individual oscil lator s envelope waveform and other parameters in its display Operator can be folded with the triangular button at its upper left This is convenient if you do not need to access the display details Freq Multi Fixed Level LFO Rate Amount Gq EY o fr e Em Q G 10 0Hz 0 01 10 dB 88 30 6 2 Coarse Fine Fixed Level Filter Freq Res a T m T W Low ize E E 2 0 13 dB 369Hz 1 06 Freg Multi Fixed Level r Fitch Enw Spread Transpose Q o fa a D O Jioorz 0 01 7 9 dB 28 49 12 st Coarse Fine Fixed Level Time Tone volume A E Q Q C Q Gx CO 2 3 8 dB l 0 63 12 dB Operator Folded Each of Operator s oscillators can either output its signal directly or use its signal to modulate another oscillator Operator offers eleven predefined algorithms that determine how the oscilla tors are connected An algorithm is chosen by clicking on one of the structure icons in the global display which will appear if the bottom right global section of the shell is selected Signals will flow from top to bottom between the oscillators shown in an algorithm icon The algorithm selector can be mapped to a MIDI controller automated or modulated in real time just lik
311. erting reordering and deleting audio and MIDI tracks is found here page 195 4 6 Audio Clips and Samples An audio clip contains a reference to a sample also known as a sound file or audio file or a compressed sample such as an MP3 file The clip tells Live where on the computer s drives to find the sample what part of the sample to play and howto play it When a sample is dragged in from Live s built in browser Live automatically creates a clip to play that sample Prior to dragging in a sample one can audition or preview it directly in the browser the switch in the browser with the headphone icon activates previewing 4 Foran introduction to MIDI and digital audio please see http en wikipedia org wiki Midi and http en wikipedia org wiki Digital_audio Live Concepts 21 Samples Are Dragged in from Live s Browser Live offers many options for playing samples in exciting new ways allowing you to create an abundance of new sounds without actually changing the original sample all the changes are computed in real time while the sample is played The respective settings are made in the Clip View page 97 which appears on screen when a clip is double clicked An Audio Clip s Properties as Displayed in the Clip View Many powerful manipulations arise from Live s warping capabilities page 119 Warping means changing the speed of sample playback independently from the pitch so as to match the son
312. es the last action Press and hold Shift while pressing Undo to Redo Note that the controller s Undo button applies Live s Undo functionality so it will undo actions in your Live Set even if they were done without using the controller Delete In Note Mode this button deletes the selected clip In Session Mode hold Delete and then press a clip to delete that clip Hold Delete and select a device or track with Push s Selec tion Control buttons to delete Hold Delete and touch an encoder to delete automation con trolled by that encoder Quantize press and release to quantize the selected notes or all notes in the clip if there is no selection Hold Quantize and press a drum pad to quantize that pad s notes For audio clips Quantize will affect transients Press and hold Quantize to access quantization settings After changing these settings press once to exit and then press and release to apply your changes Double doubles the material within the loop as well as the length of the loop Using Push 524 Transport Section Transport Section Fixed Length when enabled all newly created clips will be a fixed number of bars When disabled new clips will continue to record until you press the Record New or Play Stop buttons Press and hold then use the buttons beneath the display to specify the fixed recording length Tip enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars
313. ess of the damper mechanism is adjusted with the Damping knob which affects the overall amount of vibration absorbed by the damper Lower values result in less damping lon ger decay times But this becomes a bit less predictable as the Damping value goes over 50 At higher values the mechanism becomes so stiff that it bounces against the string This in turn reduces the overall amount of time that the damper is in contact with the string causing an in crease in decay time The best way to get a sense of how this parameter behaves is to gradually turn up the knob as you repeatedly strike a single key The Position knob serves an analogous function to the control in the Excitator section but here specifies the point on the string where the damper makes contact At 0 the damper contacts the string at its termination point while at 50 it damps the string at its midpoint The behavior is a bit different if the Fix Pos switch is enabled however In this case the contact point is fixed to a single location rather than changing as the length of the string changes The damper s position can additionally be modulated by velocity or note pitch via the Vel and Key sliders The Damper section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name The Termination Section Tension Siring FillenGiobal 3 EXCITATOR Protrusion Stiffness Velocity Position Damping DAMPER Mass stittiness Velocity Position Damping Plectrum aA AOAOGA 755 509 50
314. essages to an external MIDI sequencer or drum machine After connecting the sequencer to Live and setting it up to receive MIDI sync turn the device on as a sync destination in Live s MIDI Sync Preferences Synchronization and ReWire 562 MID Ports Track Sync Remote Jt Output RemoteSt Port 2 on Choosing a MIDI Slave for Live The lower indicator LED next to the Control Bar s EXT button will flash when Live is sending sync messages to external sequencers 31 1 2 Synchronizing Live to External MIDI Devices Live can be synchronized via MIDI to an external sequencer After connecting the sequencer to Live and setting it up to send sync use Live s MIDI Sync Preferences to tell Live about the con nection MID Parts Track Sync Remote at Input RemoteSt Port 1 Setting up Live as a MIDI Slave When an external sync source has been enabled the EXT button appears in the Control Bar You can then activate external sync either by switching on this button or by using the External Sync command in the Options menu The upper indicator LED next to the EXT button will flash if Live receives useable sync messages TAP T20 00 II1 1 4 4 om Live Devices The External Sync Switch When Live is synced to an external MIDI device it can accept song position pointers from this device syncing it not only in terms of tempo but in terms of its position in the song If the master jumps to a new position within the
315. essor to be less sensitive to very short peaks and compress only when the incoming level has exceeded the threshold for a slightly longer time RMS is closer to how people actually perceive loudness and is usually considered more n n musical In Expand mode the Ratio can also be set to values below 1 In this state Compressor acts as an upward expander and will increase the gain when signals exceed the threshold For more information about the various types of dynamics processing see the Multiband Dynamics chap ter page 336 In addition to these modes Compressor can be switched between two envelope follower shapes that offer further options for how the device measures and responds to signal levels In linear Lin mode the speed of the compression response is determined entirely by the Attack and Release values In logarithmic Log mode sharply compressed peaks will have a faster release time than less compressed material This can result in smoother and less noticeable com pression than Lin mode Note that the Lin Log switch is not visible in Compressor s collapsed view Live Audio Effect Reference 303 22 7 1 Sidechain Parameters AA AAR AA ANA AAA ARANA The Compressor Device With Sidechain Section Normally the signal being compressed and the input source that triggers the compressor are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to compress a signal based on the level of another signal or a sp
316. etwork creates the reverberant tail that follows the early reflections The decay time control adjusts the time required for this tail to drop to 1 1000th 60 dB of its initial ampli tude High and low shelving filters provide frequency dependent reverberation decay The high frequency decay models the absorption of sound energy due to air walls and other materials in the room people carpeting and so forth The low shelf provides a thinner decay Each filter may be turned off to save CPU consumption The Freeze control freezes the diffuse response of the input sound When on the reverberation will sustain almost endlessly Cut modifies Freeze by preventing the input signal from adding to the frozen reverberation when off the input signal will contribute to the diffused amplitude Flat bypasses the high and low shelf filters when freeze is on If Flat is off the frozen reverberation will lose energy in the attenuated frequency bands depending on the state of the high and low shelving filters Live Audio Effect Reference 351 The Echo Density and Scale parameters provide additional control over the diffusion s density and coarseness and when the room size is extremely small have a large impact on the color ation contributed by the diffusion The Chorus section adds a little modulation and motion to the diffusion Like the Spin section you can control the modulation frequency and amplitude or turn it off 22 28 5 Output At
317. ex ternal connections via an audio or MIDI interface and is called the Input Output Type chooser If this signal type offers sub selections or channels they are available from the lower chooser or the Input Output Channel chooser In our Ext example these would be the individual audio MIDI inputs and outputs 14 1 Monitoring Monitoring in the context of Live means passing a track s input signal on to the track s output Suppose you have set up an audio track to receive its input signal from a guitar Monitoring then means that the signal from your live guitar playing actually reaches the track s output via the track s device chain If the track s output is set to Master you can hear the guitar signal processed by whatever effects are used and delayed by whatever latency the audio hardware interface incurs over your speakers The In Out section offers for every audio track and MIDI track a Monitor radio button with the following three options e The default Auto monitoring setting does the right thing for most straightforward recording applications Monitoring is on when the track is armed record enabled page 205 but monitoring is inhibited as long as the track is playing clips ee r j i F F bal RLERLE LAL ET TO Audio and MIDI Track Arm Buttons e To permanently monitor the track s input regardless of whether the track is armed or clips are playing choose In This setting e
318. ey Ratio Inharr Damping key Delas Attack Fate Amount lt hod Error 0 00 0 00 sogms 509m 51Hz 50 SO SOM E TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stiff Fret suf D Pickup D BODY Decay LowCut HighCut StrBody Volume Vel Key ai a Position Q Q Q a 50 50 50 Jow o Moy 0 0 0 dB The Tension Instrument Tension is a synthesizer dedicated to the emulation of string instruments and developed in col laboration with Applied Acoustics Systems The synthesizer is entirely based on physical mod eling technology and uses no sampling or wavetables Instead it produces sound by solving mathematical equations that model the different components in string instruments and how they interact This elaborate synthesis engine responds dynamically to the control signals it receives while you play thereby reproducing the richness and responsiveness of real string instruments The full version of Tension is not included with the standard version of Live but is a special fea ture available for purchase separately Tension features four types of excitators two types of hammer a pick and a bow an accurate model of a string a model of the fret finger interaction a damper model and different types of soundboards The combination of these different elements allows for the reproduction of a wide range of string instruments Tension is also equipped with filters LFOs and envelope parameters that extend the sound sculpting possibilities beyond what would be poss
319. ffect the vibrato intensity This control is relative to the value set by the Amount knob The Error slider introduces unpredictability into the vibrato by introducing random deviation to the Rate Amount Delay and Attack parameters Live Instrument Reference 462 The Damper Section Tension Siring FiltenGiobal EXCITATOR Protrusion Stiffness Velocity Position Dampingg E DAMPER Mass Piedrum A AY 5 y H Gated N Slifiness Velocity Position Damping A A 50 50 25 50 50 50 50 25 50 Vel 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Vel Key 0 00 4 0 00 0 00 0 00 Hira Key 0 00 STRING Decay Key Ratio Inharr Damping key VIERATO Attack Fate Amount god Error 75 000 509 509 50 0 00 sogms Sgm 51Hz 50 50 M TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stiff Fret Stf PICKUP BODY Decay Low Cut High ut StrBody volume Vel Key Position Piano T ry rh teh m twh aay ar a 7c E 5 Pl m i 5 f Ad 5 A TAUN TAN ii An Ao 4 EJ A D 3i O Oo 1 0 0 dB Tension s Damper Section All string instruments employ some type of damping mechanism that mutes the resonating string In pianos this is a felt pad that is applied to the string when the key is released In instruments such as guitars and violins the player damps by stopping the string s vibration with the fingers Dampers regulate the decay of strings but also produce some sound of their own which is an important characteristic of a string instrument s timbre Although
320. ffectively turns the track into what is called an Aux on some systems the track is not used for recording but for bringing in a signal from else Routing and I O 173 where for instance a ReWire slave program With this setting output from the clips is suppressed An In monitoring setting can be easily recognized even when the In Out section is hidden by the orange color of the track s Activator switch Monitoring can be turned off altogether by choosing the Off option This is useful when recording acoustic instruments which are monitored through the air when using an ex ternal mixing console for monitoring or when using an audio hardware interface with a direct monitoring option that bypasses the computer so as to avoid latency Generally it is preferable to work with an audio interface that allows for negligible latencies a few milliseconds If you are recording into Live with monitoring set to Off you may want to make the Audio Preferences Overall Latency adjustment which is described in the built in program tutorial on setting up the Audio Preferences If multiple tracks are selected pressing one of the Monitor buttons applies this selection to all of the selected tracks 14 2 External Audio In Out An audio interface s inputs are selected by choosing Ext In from the Input Type chooser of an audio track The Input Channel chooser then offers the individual input channels Entries in th
321. folder you ve added or an add on Pack The actual contents of the Places section will vary depending on how you ve configured your library but will contain at least the following e Packs all Packs that come pre installed with Live as well as any that you ve installed yourself Each Pack appears as a folder in the content pane which can be unfolded to reveal that Pack s contents Presets samples and Live Clips installed by Packs will also ap pear in the appropriate Categories labels e User Library the User Library is the default location for items you save yourself including default presets grooves your personalized Racks and device presets your own samples Live Clips etc Files that you save to your User Library will also be available in the appro priate Categories labels e Current Project all of the files that are contained in the currently active Project page 55 If you re working on a Live Set that you haven t yet saved the current Project refers to a temporary location Managing Files and Sets 36 e any folders from any of your hard drives that you ve added to Live s Browser Moving through the files in Live s browser can be done with either the mouse or the computer keyboard e Scroll up and down in the Browser with the up and down arrow keys the mousewheel or by clicking and dragging while holding the CTRL ALT PC 7 CMD ALT Mac modifier e Close and open folders or move between the s
322. from each other by at least one character For example 2 4 108 BPM 72 BPM 7 8 and 60 BPM Chorus 3 4 are all scene names that will cause simultaneous meter and tempo changes Session View 91 bass 2 Bongos 3 string perc 4 drums Master 3 4 96 BPM 7108 BPM 7 16 i main groove Bridge 6 8 112 BPM wating nat 1208PM Outro 4 4 These Scenes Will Change the Tempo and Time Signature Scenes with tempo and or time signature changes in their names will have a colored Scene Launch button 7 3 The Track Status Fields You can tell a track s status by looking at the Track Status field just above the active track s mixer controls CE MAN A Track Playing a Looping Session Clip The pie chart icon in a clip track represents a looping Session clip page 104 The number to the right of the circle is the loop length in beats and the number at the left represents how many times the loop has been played since its launch A pie chart without numbers appears in the Track Status field for a Group Track if at least one clip in a contained track is currently playing Audio From Audio F A One shot Session Clip The progress bar icon represents a one shot non looping Session clip The value displays the remaining play time in minutes seconds Session View 92 ram MIDI From All ins AJl ima Monitoring the Input A microphone icon appears in an audio track that is set to monito
323. fter the beat time selected from the Repeat chooser In Beat Mode the repeat time is defined in fractions of song time but notes are not quantized If you Live Instrument Reference 413 play a note a bit out of sync it will repeat perfectly but stay out of sync In Sync Mode however the first repetition is quantized to the nearest 16th note and as a result all following repetitions are synced to the song tempo Note that Sync Mode only works if the song is playing and oth erwise it will behave like Beat Mode Note To avoid the audible clicks caused by restarting from its initial level a looped envelope will restart from its actual level and move with the set attack rate to peak level There is also a mode called Trigger that is ideal for working with percussive sounds In this mode note off is ignored This means that the length of time a key is held has no effect on the length of the sound The rates of all the envelopes in Operator can be scaled in unison by the Time control in the global section of the shell Note that beat time values in Beat and Sync Modes are not influ enced by the global Time parameter Envelope rates can be further modified by note pitch as dictated by the Time lt Key parameter in the global section s display The rate of an individual envelope can also be modified by velocity using the Time lt Vel parameter These modulations in conjunction with the loop feature can be used to create very very complex thing
324. g The Launch Sample Editor Button The Edit button opens the sample in an external sample editing application which you can spec ify in the File Folder Preferences To process a sample in an external program you have to stop Live s playback When you return to Live the edited version of the sample will be played back The current set of Warp Markers is retained only if the sample length remains the same as it did prior to editing Remember that changes made to one sample may affect other clips that play the same sample Clip View 111 8 2 5 Saving Default Clip Settings with the Sample The Save Default Clip Button The Save Default Clip button saves the current clip s settings with the sample With multiple clips selected this button will save them all simultaneously Once saved Live will restore the current clip settings whenever you drop the sample into a Live Set This is especially useful with regards to the Warp Markers which have to be set correctly for Live to play long files in sync Note that you can use the Save button without affecting any existing clips Save just saves default settings for future clips using this sample The clip data becomes part of the analysis file that accompanies the sample page 42 Note that storing default clip settings with the sample is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip page 50 which also saves devices and device settings 8 2 6 High Quality Interpolation Hi Q
325. g Cycles One of the most obvious possibilities that Follow Actions open up is using a group of samples to form a musical cycle If we organize several clips as a group and use the Play Next Clip Fol low Action with each clip they will play one after the other ad infinitum or until we tell them to stop Cycles can be peppered with occasional rearrangements through the addition of other Follow Actions such as Any with smaller relative Chance settings 13 6 3 Temporarily Looping Clips There are some interesting applications of Follow Actions when it comes to creating temporary musical loops Launching Clips 168 The default setting for Follow Action is actually a 1 0 chance that No Action happens after the Follow Action Time which means that there is effectively no Follow Action But now imagine a group consisting of one single clip Follow Action A is set to Play Again with a Chance of 8 Follow Action B is set to No Action with a Chance of 1 The clip uses a long sample and Fol low Time is set to one bar Clicking on the clip will play the first bar after which it will be very likely that it will play the first bar again However after a few repetitions it will eventually come to Action B No Action and continue playing the rest of the sample Or a clip can be played from its start to a specific point when its Follow Action tells it to Next The same file can be used in the next
326. g tempo The tempo can be adjusted on the fly in the Control Bar s Tempo field i Doe The Control Bar s Tempo Field The most elementary use of this technique and one that usually requires no manual setup is synchronizing sample loops to the chosen tempo Live s Auto Warp algorithm actually makes it easy to line up any sample with the song tempo such as a recording of a drunken jazz band s Live Concepts 22 performance It is also possible to radically change the sonic signature of a sound using extreme warp settings 4 7 MIDI Clips and MIDI Files A MIDI clip contains musical material in the form of MIDI notes and controller envelopes When MIDI is imported from a MIDI file page 49 the data gets incorporated into the Live Set and the original file is not referenced thereafter In Live s browser a MIDI file appears with a special icon and with the mid file extension Search Ctrl F MIDI Files Are Dragged in from Live s Browsers As you d expect a MIDI clip s contents can be accessed and edited page 133 via the Clip View for instance to change a melody or paint a drum pattern a fe eS ee ee ae oe SS ee a A MIDI Clip s Properties as Displayed in the Clip View Live Concepts 23 4 8 Devices and the Mixer A track can have not only clips but also a chain of devices page 217 for processing signals Double clicking a track s title bar brings up the Device View which shows
327. get an even better view you can toggle the location of the display between the device chain and Live s main window by clicking the button in Spectrum s title bar or by double clicking in the display 22 32 Utility O Utility gt a Mute IGG sain 5 00 dE Panorama Vidi The Utility Effect Utility can perform some very useful tasks especially in combination with other devices The Mute button simply silences the incoming signal when enabled Note The active mute con trols of a track are always placed at the very end of the signal chain However since you can place Utility anywhere in a signal chain you can use its mute function to cut the input of a delay line or reverb without turning off the output of these devices The DC switch filters out DC offsets and extremely low frequencies that are far below the audible range It will only have a sonic effect if a signal contains these frequencies and is processed after Utility with nonlinear effects such as compressors or waveshapers The Gain control adjusts the level of the input signal 35 dB The Channel Mode chooser allows selective processing of the left and right channels of a sam ple If for example Left is selected the right channel is ignored and the left channel appears on both outputs This is especially useful if you have a stereo file that contains different information on both channels and you want to use only one The Panorama chooser pans t
328. ght click PC CTRL click Mac context menu command Delete mappings using your computer s Backspace or Delete key Note that Instant Mappings are context based and are not displayed in the Mapping Browser Their mapping structure can be displayed while working in Live by choosing the Help View op tion from the Help menu and then opening the Control Surface Reference lesson 26 2 1 Assigning MIDI Remote Control The MIDI Map Mode Switch MIDI and Key Remote Control 483 Once your remote control setup has been defined in the MIDI Sync Preferences giving MIDI controllers and notes remote control assignments is simple 1 Enter MIDI Map Mode by pressing the MIDI switch in Live s upper right hand corner Notice that assignable elements of the interface become highlighted in blue and that the Mapping Browser becomes available If your browser is closed CTRL ALT B PC CMD ALT B Mac will open it for you 2 Click on the Live parameter that you d like to control via MIDI 3 Send a MIDI message by pressing a keyboard key turning a knob etc on your MIDI controller You will see that this new MIDI mapping is now listed in the Mapping Browser 4 Exit MIDI Map Mode by pressing the MIDI switch once again The Mapping Browser will disappear but you can always review your mappings by entering MIDI Map Mode again 26 2 2 Mapping to MIDI Notes MIDI notes send simple Note On and Note Off messages to Live s interfac
329. gine the audio is read out by a tape head the position of which is modulated by the enve lope The higher a value the envelope delivers the farther away the tape head is from its center position Positive envelope values move the head towards the future negative values move it towards the past Fortunately Live performs the modulation in beats rather than centimeters A vertical grid line is worth a sixteenth note of offset and the modulation can reach from plus eight sixteenths to minus eight sixteenths Clip Envelopes 272 Sample offset modulation is the tool of choice for quickly creating interesting variations of beat loops We discourage using this technique for analytical cut and splice tasks they are much easier to perform using Live s Arrangement View and the results can easily be consolidated into new clips Repeating Steps and Slowing Time with the Sample Offset Envelope Some sample offset envelope gestures have a characteristic effect a downward escalator shape for instance effectively repeats the step at the envelope s beginning Similarly a smooth ramp with a downwards slope is slowing time and can create nice slurring effects when the slope is not quite exactly 45 degrees try this with a 1 32 Granulation Resolution 20 2 5 Using Clips as Templates As you are making creative use of clip envelopes the clips containing them develop a life of their own independent of the original sample
330. grain size is determined in a signal dependent manner For signals with a clear sense of pitch contour a small grain size works best Larger grain sizes help avoid artifacts that can occur when the pitch contour is unclear but the trade off can be audible repetitions Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 131 9 3 3 Texture Mode Texture Mode works well for sound textures with an ambiguous pitch contour e g polyphonic orchestral music noise atmospheric pads etc It also offers rich potential for manipulating all kinds of sounds in a creative way The Grain Size control determines the grain size used but unlike in Tones Mode this is a setting that Live will use unaltered without considering the signal s characteristics Fluctuation introduces randomness into the process Larger values give more randomness 9 3 4 Re Pitch Mode In Re Pitch Mode Live doesn t really time stretch or compress the music instead it adjusts the playback rate to create the desired amount of stretching In other words to speed up playback by a factor of 2 it s transposed up an octave This is like the DJ stretching method of using variable speed turntables to sync two records or what happens to samples in samplers when they re transposed The Transpose and Detune controls have no effect in Re Pitch Mode 9 3 5 Complex Mode Complex Mode is a warping method specifically designed to accommodate composite signals that combine the characteris
331. h a studio desktop computer and a tour laptop but not at the same time Should the Ableton server reject your demand for another authorization please contact Able ton s technical support To use Live on more than one computer at a time you may require a secondary license or a site license Ableton offers these licenses at special rates 3 1 4 Can Play my Set from a Computer That Is Not Authorized Even if Live is not authorized you can still load and perform a Live Set with no time limitation You cannot however save or export your work When you go on tour consider taking along your Live program CD and a CD with the last state of your Live Set s In case of an emergency you can install and run Live on any computer available and play your backup Live Set s 2 http www ableton com shop 3 http www ableton com support Authorizing Live 13 3 1 5 What Do I Do About Problems or Questions Regarding Copy Protection Please visit Ableton s technical support page Authorizing Live 14 Live Concepts 15 Chapter 4 Live Concepts This chapter introduces the essential concepts of Live We advise you to read this chapter early in your Live career as a solid understanding of the program s basic principles will help you fully exploit Live s potential for your music making 4 1 The Browser Live s browser page 33 is the place where you interact with your library of musical assets the core library of
332. h the Frequency control which can be adjusted in tandem with Feedback using the effect s X Y controller The device has two modes Space and Earth for changing the spacing of notches along the spectrum and hence the color of the sound This effect can be further adjusted with the Color control Periodic control of the filter frequency is possible using the envelope section You can increase or decrease the envelope amount or invert its shape with negative values and then use the Attack and Release controls to define envelope shape Phaser contains two LFOs to modulate filter frequency for the left and right stereo channels The LFOs have six possible waveform shapes sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and random The extent of LFO influence on the filter frequency is set with the Amount control LFO speed is controlled with the Rate control which can be set in terms of hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo and set in meter subdivisions e g sixteenth notes The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by setting the LFOs to run at the same fre quency but offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each filter frequency is then modulated using a different LFO frequency as determined b
333. hain s output to either the main output of the Rack or directly to the return tracks of the Set Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 250 18 6 1 Pad View a ae a 808 808 Open 808 Low 808 sepals a co Risa ai baat lei Pad View The Pad View is unique to Drum Racks and offers an easy way to map and manipulate samples and devices Each pad represents one of the 128 available MIDI notes The pad overview to the left shifts the set of visible pads up or down in groups of 16 either by dragging the view selec tor to a new area or by using your computer keyboard s up and down arrow keys Use the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier to shift the view by single rows instead Almost any object from Live s browser samples effects instruments and presets can be dragged onto a pad mapping automatically to the pad s note and creating or reconfiguring internal chains and devices as necessary Dropping a sample onto an empty pad for example creates a new chain containing a Simpler with the dropped sample ready to play from the pad s note If you then drag an audio effect to the same pad it is placed downstream from the Simpler in the same chain To replace the Simpler simply drop another sample onto the same pad any downstream audio effects or upstream MIDI effects will be left intact and only the Simpler and sample will be replaced In addition to dragging objects from the browser pads can also be filled quickly via Hot S
334. he Amp 1 and Amp 2 switches in the shell toggle the respective amplifier on and off while the output level is controlled by the Level knob The Pan knob sets the position of the amplifier s out put in the stereo field Live Instrument Reference 381 In addition to the envelope controls the displays for the amplifiers contain various modulation parameters The Pan and Level amounts can be independently modulated by LFO note pitch and amp envelope via the sliders in the Pan Mod and Level Mod sections respectively Note that when using note pitch as the modulation source for Level middle C will always sound the same regardless of the modulation amount Positive values will cause the level to increase for higher notes 24 1 6 Envelopes m Ea ewi F01 Hz Shape dave Sem Detune z Freg Reso wolune m Ep N Gq A i j dB Exp Slope Legato Free aAttt vel Attack Decay Sustain Time Alesse Loop Ral i x ah Weel EL Fan Mod LEV Mod __ Rah LF Ker Eny LF Ker Eri Lin 0 11 0 06 0 24 0 00 0 08 C100 0 de crane eave SEM Elune TT TF Freg Resa aAmpz Daj eve Ton O ao Sh Q A le nt 00 iceland ta Hy lO j dB Analog s Envelope Parameters In addition to the pitch envelopes in the oscillator sections Analog is equipped with indepen dent envelopes for each filter and amplifier All four of these envelopes have identical controls which are housed entirely within the display Each envelope is
335. he Push controller Scales When Note Mode is on and an instrument track is selected pressing this button allows you to select which scale will be played on the pads Note that this button has no effect when a Drum Rack track is selected or when in Session Mode e Fixed Y N When Fixed Mode is on the notes on the pad grid remain in the same posi tions when you change keys the bottom left pad will always play C except in keys that don t contain a C in which case the bottom left pad will play the nearest note in the key When Fixed is off the notes on the pad grid shift so that the bottom left pad always plays the root of the selected key e In Key Chromatic With In Key selected the pad grid is effectively folded so that only notes within the key are available In Chromatic Mode the pad grid contains all notes Notes that are in the key are lit while notes that are not in the key are unlit e Scale selection Select the base scale with the up down buttons on the lefthand side User All of Push s built in functionality can be disabled via User Mode This allows Push to be reprogrammed to control alternate functions in Live or other software Press and hold the User button to access a number of configuration options Tip Push s relative encoders work best in Relative 2 s Comp mode To ensure this mode is selected turn the encoder slowly to the left during mapping Using Push 519 Repeat when Repeat
336. he Voices chooser sets the available polyphony while Priority determines which notes will be cut off when the maximum polyphony is exceeded When Priority is set to High new notes that are higher than currently sustained notes will have priority and notes will be cut off starting from the lowest pitch Low is the opposite A Priority setting of Last gives priority to the most recently played notes cutting off the oldest notes as necessary The Octave Semi and Tuning controls function as coarse and fine tuners Octave transposes the entire instrument by octaves while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments The Tun ing slider adjusts in increments of one cent up to a maximum of 50 cents up or down PB Range sets the range in semitones of pitch bend modulation Stretch simulates a technique known as stretch tuning which is a common tuning modification made to electric and acoustic pianos At 0 Analog will play in equal temperament which means that two notes are an octave apart when the upper note s fundamental pitch is exactly twice the lower note s Increasing the Stretch amount raises the pitch of upper notes while lower ing the pitch of lower ones The result is a more brilliant sound Negative values simulate nega tive stretch tuning upper notes become flatter while lower notes become sharper The Error slider increases the amount of random tuning error applied to each note The four Quick Routing buttons in the
337. he bottom right of the display area toggle between displaying the Time attack and release Below threshold and ratio and Above threshold and ratio for each band Live Audio Effect Reference 340 For the Above thresholds Attack defines how long it takes to reach maximum compression or expansion once a signal exceeds the threshold while Release sets how long it takes for the de vice to return to normal operation after the signal falls below the threshold For the Below thresholds Attack defines how long it takes to reach maximum compression or expansion once a signal drops below the threshold while Release sets how long it takes for the device to return to normal operation after the signal goes above the threshold With Soft Knee enabled compression or expansion begins gradually as the threshold is ap proached The RMS Peak switch also affects how quickly Multiband Dynamics responds to level changes With Peak selected the device reacts to short peaks within a signal RMS mode causes it to be less sensitive to very short peaks and to begin processing only when the incoming level has crossed the threshold for a slightly longer time The global Output knob adjusts the overall output gain of the device The Time control scales the durations of all of the Attack and Release controls This allows you to maintain the same relative envelope times but make them all faster or slower by the same amount The Amount knob adjusts the in
338. he list makes the Live Set reference the new file instead of the old one For samples used in audio clips Live retains the clip properties the Warp Markers are kept if the new sample has the same or a greater length as the old sample and discarded otherwise Please note that re placing a sample will change all clips in your set that reference this sample List of referenced mias ell m more Mame Liat Candidates Drumioop warv Externa b Brumioop wav Every Entry in the File Reference List is a Drop Target for Files e Hot swap files Using the Hot Swap button at the left hand side of each entry you can quickly browse through alternatives for the file that is currently being referenced This is like dragging files here only quicker Managing Files and Sets 55 Drumloop wayv Externa Ep Egil Drumloop waw Project Drumloop i rumioop waw Project Live 7 Library The File Reference Lists Hot Swap Button e Edit a referenced sample using an external application which can be chosen in the Preferences File Folder tab Clicking the Edit button will open the referenced sample in the external application The sample will remain offline as long as the Edit switch is en gaged For samples used in audio clips the current set of Warp Markers is retained only if the sample length remains the same as before Note that the Edit button is only available for samples not for other types of files such as Max for Live devices p
339. he rendering process audio ren dering will begin After the audio rendering is complete the video will be rendered Note that Managing Files and Sets 49 depending on the encoder used video rendering may occur in more than one pass Live will display a progress bar that will indicate the status of the process Unless you ve specified a special window size or aspect ratio in the encoder settings the ren dered video file will play back exactly as it appeared during real time playback in Live The video file will also contain the rendered audio For more information about working with video in Live see the chapter on video page 279 5 3 MIDI Files A MIDI file contains commands that prompt MIDI compatible synthesizers or instruments such as Live s Simpler to create specific musical output MIDI files are exported by hardware and software MIDI sequencers Importing MIDI files into Live works differently than with samples MIDI file data is incorporated into the Live Set and the resulting MIDI clips lose all reference to the original file MIDI files appear with a special icon in the browser Leli Name Sounds C Defaults o D Drums C Sampi J Bach 85 A instruments DSP he Audio Effects L MIDI Effects A MIDI File in the Browser 5 3 1 Exporting MIDI Files Live MIDI clips can be exported as Standard MIDI files To export a MIDI clip use the File menu s Export MIDI Clip command Thi
340. he signal anywhere in the stereo field Live Audio Effect Reference 357 The Width control acts as a continuous mono to stereo controller when set from O to 100 per cent However beyond 100 percent the output starts to fold in on itself At 200 percent the output contains only the difference between the left and right channels If either Left or Right have been chosen in the Channel Mode chooser the Width control has no function and is there fore disabled At the bottom of the device you will find two Phase controls one for each channel As their names imply they invert the phase of each channel 22 33 Vinyl Distortion O viny Distortion Tracing Model GA 26 Freq BIBER 2 e B45 Pinch 9 Q Freq MP1 Hz e ME 0 88 The Vinyl Distortion Effect Note the Vinyl Distortion effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The Vinyl Distortion effect emulates some of the typical distortions that occur on vinyl records during playback These distortions are caused by the geometric relationships between the needle and the recorded groove The effect also features a crackle generator for adding noisy artifacts The Tracing Model section adds even harmonic distortion to the input signal Adjust the amount of distortion with the Drive knob or click and drag vertically in the Tracing Model X Y display To adjust the distortion s frequency or color drag horizontally in the X Y display or double click on
341. he standard version of Live but is a special fea ture available for purchase separately Live Instrument Reference 376 24 1 1 Architecture and Interface Analog s signal flow is shown in the figure below Oscillator 1 Filter 1 ieee E E O A E ole eich ately A a cineca ERE E EEEE Pre Filter Mix R E ARS EA a A E eee eee ete dete cite E E E Diagram of Analog s Signal Flow The primary sound sources of the synthesizer are two oscillators and a noise generator These sources can be independently routed to two different multi mode filters which are each con nected to an amplifier Furthermore the signal flow can be run through the filters in series or in parallel Analog also features two low frequency oscillators LFOs which can modulate the oscillators filters and amplifiers Additionally each filter and amplifier has its own envelope generator The Analog interface consists of two parts the display surrounded on all sides by the shell The shell contains the most important controls for a given section while the display updates to show parameter visualizations and additional controls for the selected section In addition to the syn thesis modules there is a Global section that contains general performance parameters such as instrument volume vibrato and polyphony Live Instrument Reference 377 24 1 2 Oscillators Shape Octave Semi Dehure P1jr2 Soa ast 0 13 Pitch Eri Initial
342. hen the low band goes from O Hz to 500 Hz the mid band from 500 Hz to 2000 Hz and the high band from 2000 Hz up to whatever your soundcard or sample rate supports A very important control is the 24 dB 48 dB switch It defines how sharp the filters are cutting the signal at the crossover frequency The higher setting results in more drastic filtering but needs more CPU Note The filters in this device are optimized to sound more like a good powerful analog filter cascade than a clean digital filter The 48 dB Mode especially does not provide a perfect linear transfer quality resulting in a slight coloration of the input signal even if all controls are set to 0 00 dB This is typical behavior for this kind of filter and is part of EQ Three s unique sound If you need a more linear behavior choose 24 dB Mode or use the EQ Eight Live Audio Effect Reference 315 22 12 Erosion Freq Width Amount The Erosion Effect The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing downsampling like distortions that sound very digital To change the sine wave frequency or noise band center frequency click and drag along the X axis in the X Y field The Y axis controls the modulation amount If you hold down the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier key while clicking in the X Y field the Y axis controls the bandwidth Note that bandwidth is not adju
343. here is actually no need to keep a Project s Live Set exactly one level below the Project itself Within a project folder you can create any number of sub folders and move files around to or ganize them as desired although you many need to use the File Manager to teach the Project about the changes you ve made page 66 In general Live will do what it can to prevent situations such as orphaned Project less Live Sets which have the potential of confusing both the user and Live s file management tools It cannot however control situations in which Sets or files are moved out of order and become disorga nized via the Explorer Windows Finder Mac A note for users of older Live versions Live does not allow overwriting Live Sets that were cre ated by older major versions to prevent compatibility problems Instead you will be requested to Save As Doing this will insure that the newly saved Live Sets reside in project folders Managing Files and Sets 59 5 6 2 Projects and Presets By default new instrument and effect presets are stored in your current Project At times how ever it may make more sense to save a preset to another folder or to your User Library so that you can access them from other Projects You can drag a preset between folders after saving it page 223 or simply drag the title bar of the device over a folder in the sidebar wait for the content pane to open and then drop it into the content pane
344. hes its peak the other is at its minimum Phase is particularly effective for creating vibrato effects The Offset control shifts the start point of each LFO along its waveform The device s influence on incoming signals is set with the Amount control 22 4 Beat Repeat D Beat Repeat 0 0625 0 125 0 1875 Offset Grid Variation i ks 4 16 1 256 2 Gate Pitch Pitch Decay e W Ost 100 o The Beat Repeat Effect Beat Repeat allows for the creation of controlled or randomized repetitions of an incoming sig nal The Interval control defines how often Beat Repeat captures new material and begins repeating it Interval is synced to and set in terms of the song tempo with values ranging from 1 32 to 4 Bars The Offset control shifts the point defined by Interval forward in time If Interval is set to 1 Bar for example and Offset to 8 16 material will be captured for repetition once per bar on the third beat i e halfway or eight sixteenths of the way through the bar You can add randomness to the process using the Chance control which defines the likelihood of repetitions actually taking place when Interval and Offset ask for them If Chance is set to 100 percent repetitions will always take place at the given Interval Offset time if set to zero there will be no repetitions Gate defines the total length of all repetitions in sixteenth notes If Gate is set to 4 16 the rep etitions will
345. his knob is replicated on the Filter Global tab 24 9 3 Filter Global Tab The Filter Global tab contains the filter parameters for the instrument as well as global controls The Filter Section MI FILTER LPiz P ENVELOPE P LFO KEYBOARD UNISON Freg Res B34 Hz Attack Decay Sustain Release Delay Allack Ralte ki k TY 283 ma 50 283 ms PORTAMENTO se Vel mie ry Key 0 00 _ 000 0 00 Tension s Filter Section Live Instrument Reference 466 Tension s Filter section features a highly configurable multi mode filter that sits between the String and Body sections In addition the filter can be modulated by a dedicated envelope gen erator and low frequency oscillator LFO The filter s chooser allows you to select the filter type You can choose between 2nd and 4th order low pass band pass notch high pass and formant filters The resonance frequency of the filter is adjusted with the Freq slider while the amount of reso nance is adjusted with the Res control When a formant filter is chosen in the chooser the Res control cycles between vowel sounds The Freq and Res controls can each be modulated by LFO envelope or note pitch via the sliders below Note that the LFO and Env sliders have no ef fect unless the Envelope and LFO subsections are enabled The Envelope generator is a standard ADSR attack decay sustain release This section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name
346. his makes it easy to get an overview of your Rack s hierarchy or hide it when you just want to work on your mix Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 254 Drums Snare Rim CH OH Kick E Kick3 E Kick7 Clave Shake Clap afReverb bDelay Bass Drums B2 gt Bass A o o E ii a r gt gt gt gt gt gt Ine j gt E 20 16 MIDI From RIP RIP RIP RIP Recv PL Recv PL Recv PL RO RIP RIP Audio From AN AN aa 3 Aas OC 3 Ls Les Les e Monitor Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke Choke E EE Nerve Nonvw 1__e 1___ one_e None Ee one Norve None None Audio To ATo A To A To A To Audio To Audio To Audio To A T A To Audio To Audio To Audio To taster ol I ek Cue Rack ue aaa a Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends Sends ee Sends Sends Sends ge EE SE Eidal imo afb a p de int d b Hint d b Hint d b inf djb inf ae b Lint d b intg ae Male ata Ty Ht allel el el ot k al ss val cal coal cols a A a ey eye a al AI a E m j S E T g El 6 hh j Mixing Rack Chains in the Session View Chains in the Session View mixer look similar to tracks but they have no clip slots Their mixing and routing controls mirror those found in the Rack s chain list so any changes made to these controls in either area will be reflected in the other immediately Likewise many chain operations such as reordering renaming and regrouping can be performed from either the m
347. ht tracks around the Session View using the directional controls Press the right or left arrows to move incrementally one track at a time Hold the Shift button and press the right or left arrows to jump in blocks of eight tracks at a time 28 5 Device Control The APC40 features eight endless dials and four control buttons that map to your devices auto matically page 479 for flexibility and speed on stage or in the studio Using the APCAO 534 ni SSS m A L T T T T A oF A l L I i i 4 af ai ai R i E ace EEJ D inva iva F S OO 3 Po Bee BEE Be Bi k f b TEA TE t i r z a n a r 4 a Device Controls The Track Selection buttons route the eight endless encoders to the first device or Rack on that track with LED rings to automatically show you the levels on the selected parameter Four buttons below the dials give you additional control options Clip Track lets you switch be tween viewing the devices on a track or the properties of a track s clip in the currently selected scene Device On Off turns the currently selected device on or off Device Left and Device Right indicated by two arrows shift you one step sideways along a track s device chain Some effects or virtual instruments have more than eight parameters When holding down the Shift button these eight buttons let you select eight banks of eight device parameter controls For more
348. ial The Play button plays back the current state of Looper s buffer without recording any new material The Stop button stops playback The behavior of the transport controls changes depending on whether or not Live s playback is running With the transport running Looper behaves like a clip and is subject to launch quan tization as determined by the Quantization chooser page 27 When Live s playback is stopped Looper s transport engages immediately regardless of the Quantization setting The Clear button erases Looper s buffer If you press Clear in Overdub mode while the transport is running the contents of the buffer are cleared but the tempo and length are maintained Press ing Clear in any other mode resets the tempo and length The Undo button erases everything that you ve overdubbed since the last time Overdub was enabled Your original recording and anything that was overdubbed in a previous pass is pre served After pressing Undo the button changes to Redo which replaces the material removed by the last undo The large button below the transport controls is the Multi Purpose Transport Button As with the normal transport buttons this button s behavior changes depending on Looper s current playback state and whether or not material has already been recorded If the buffer is empty a single click starts recording If Looper is recording overdubbing or stopped a single click switches to play mode During playbac
349. ible in the Ses sion View mixer Make sure you have the Mixer and In Out options checked in the View menu AVDI From The Cueing Related Session Mixer Controls Mixing 203 1 The Master Out chooser selects the output on your interface to be used as the main output 2 The Cue Out chooser selects the output on your hardware interface to be used for cueing This has to be set to an output other than that selected for the Master If the desired outputs don t show up in these choosers please check the Audio Preferences 3 Activate cueing by setting the Solo Cue Mode switch to Cue 4 The tracks Solo switches are now replaced by Cue switches with headphone icons When a track s Cue switch is pressed that track s output signal will be heard through the output selected in the Cue Out chooser Note that the Track Activator switch on the same track still controls whether or not the track is heard at the Master output 5 The Cue Volume control adjusts the volume of the cueing output Note that when cueing is set up and activated the output of audio files that you are previewing in the browser is also heard through the Cue Out 15 7 Track Delays A Track Delay control is available for every track in Live The control allows delaying or pre de laying the output of tracks in milliseconds in order to compensate for human acoustic hardware and other real world delays This section of the interface can be shown or hidden usi
350. ible with real world instruments Finally Tension offers a wide range of performance features including keyboard modes portamento vibrato and legato functions 24 9 1 Architecture and Interface It is the vibration from the string which constitutes the main sound production mechanism of the instrument The string is set into motion by the action of an excitator which can be a hammer a pick or a bow The frequency of the oscillation is determined by the effective length of the string which is controlled by the finger fret interaction or termination A damper can be applied to the strings in order to reduce the decay time of the oscillation This is the case on a piano for exam Live Instrument Reference 458 ple when felt is applied to the strings by releasing the keys and sustain pedal The vibration from the string is then transmitted to the body of the instrument which can radiate sound efficiently In some instruments the string vibration is transmitted directly to the body through the bridge In other instruments such as the electric guitar a pickup is used to transmit the string vibration to an amplifier In addition to these main sections a filter section has been included between the string and body sections in order to expand the sonic possibilities of the instrument The Tension interface is divided into two main tabs which are further divided into sections The String tab contains all of the fundamental sound producing
351. ical axis To assign a pa rameter to the X axis choose it from the parameter row below the controller To assign a param eter to the Y axis use the parameter row on the left side To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter Live Audio Effect Reference 329 note of delay With Sync Mode active changing the Delay Time field percentage value short ens and extends delay times by fractional amounts thus producing the swing type of timing effect found in drum machines If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Delay Time can also be routed to the horizontal axis of the X Y controller The Spray control adds random delay time changes Low values smear the signal across time which adds noisiness to the sound High Spray values completely break down the structure of the source signal introducing varying degrees of rhythmic chaos This is the recommended set ting for anarchists The size and duration of each grain is a function of the Frequency parameter The sound of Pitch and Spray depends very much on this parameter You can transpos
352. idebar and content pane with the left and right arrow keys By default any previously open folders will close when you open a new one but you can over ride this behavior by holding CTRL PC CMD Mac while opening new folders 5 1 2 User Folders Live s browser allows you to work with your creative tools regardless of where they are installed on your computer This allows you to for example store large sample collections on one or more external drives and still use the browser to access their contents there is no need to keep them in a single centralized location In order to work with your own folders in Live you must first add them to the browser either by dropping them directly into Live from the Explorer Windows Finder Mac or by pressing the Add Folder button in the browser s sidebar After adding a user folder Live will scan it which teaches the browser about its contents Fol lowing this it will appear in the Places section of the sidebar Note adding a user folder does not actually move the folder to a new location but simply makes it available in Live s browser If you reorganize your drives using Explorer Windows Finder Mac Live may not be able to find user folders if they ve been moved For example if a user folder is contained on an external hard drive and Live is opened without the drive at tached the user folder will still appear in the browser but will be greyed out You can attempt to
353. iew Tab at the bottom of the browser Managing Files and Sets 38 The Preview Switch Hint You can preview files even when the Preview switch is not activated by pressing Shift En ter or the right arrow key Click on a file or use the up and down arrow keys to select it Click in the Tab s scrub area to make playback jump to that point Note that it is not possible to scrub clips that have been saved with Warp turned off You can select Live Clips in the browser to load them into the Preview Tab but they will not play automatically You can click on the tab or press the right arrow key to preview them You can also preview Live s instrument presets in the Preview Tab When selected you ll hear a short audio example of the preset so you can get an idea of how it sounds before loading it With the Raw button enabled files will preview at their original tempo and will not loop With Raw disabled Live will try to preview files in sync with the current Set so that you can better judge which samples will work for you Please note that scrubbing is not possible when Raw is enabled The previewing volume can be adjusted using the mixer s Preview Volume knob Managing Files and Sets 39 The Preview Volume Knob If your audio hardware offers multiple audio outs you can privately audition or cue files via headphones connected to a separate pair of outs while the music continues to play To learn how to set
354. igate between the search field and the filtered entries using your computer keyboard s arrow keys e The browser s Preview Tab now previews Live s instrument presets by playing a short ex ample sound when presets are selected 1 2 7 Convert Harmony Melody or Drums to MIDI Three new commands page 152 allow you to extract the musical information from audio clips and place it into MIDI clips on new tracks e Convert Harmony to MIDI extracts the notes from polyphonic audio and is designed for reimagining samples or loops e Convert Melody to MIDI extracts the notes from monophonic audio e Convert Drums to MIDI extracts the rhythms from unpitched percussive audio The new MIDI track will contain a Drum Rack with the kick snare and hihat notes from the original audio playing the appropriate instruments 1 2 8 Consolidate Time to New Scene The Consolidate Time to New Scene command consolidates the material within the selected time range in the Arrangement View to one new clip per track The new clips are placed into a new Session View scene below the previously selected scene Welcome to Live 6 1 2 9 Default Presets for MIDI and Audio Tracks Newly created MIDI and Audio tracks can now come with devices already loaded page 224 1 2 10 Device Improvements e The Glue Compressor page 325 is a new analog modeled compressor based on the classic bus compressor from a famous 80s mixing console e EQ Eight page 310
355. igh Cut StrfBody Volume Vel nT 9 A A Position H Piano _ M_ O Q q a IT 0 00 _ 0 00 50 50 50 25 0 0 0 0 00B Tension s Body Section The role of the body or soundboard of a string instrument is to radiate the vibration energy from the strings The body also filters these vibrations based on its size and shape In some instru ments such as guitars the body also includes an air cavity which boosts low frequencies Live Instrument Reference 465 The body type chooser allows you to select from different body types modelled after physical instruments The body size chooser sets the relative size of the resonant body from extra small XS to extra large XL In general as you increase the body size the frequency of the resonance will be come lower You can further modify the body s frequency response with the Hi Cut and Low Cut knobs The decay time of the body s resonance can be adjusted with the Decay knob Higher values mean a longer decay The Str Body knob adjusts the ratio between the String section s direct output and the signal filtered by the Body section When turned all the way to the right there is no direct output from the String section When turned all the way to the left the Body section is effectively bypassed The Body section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name The lonely Volume knob to the right of this section sets the overall output of the instrument T
356. ight to zoom in and out drag up and down 6 Change the length of what is shown in the Editor by dragging the left or right edges of the outline in the Clip Overview 7 To quickly change what is shown in the Editor click on a section that you want to examine in the Clip Overview then drag downwards to zoom in or scroll by dragging left and right m I 1 1 gt mo The Control Bar s Follow Switch The area displayed in the Note Editor can be set to scroll with playback using the Follow switch from the Control Bar When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live s Look Feel Preferences clicking in the scrub area below the beat time ruler starts playback from that point rounded by the global quantiza tion setting When the Permanent Scrub Areas preference is off you can still scrub by Shift clicking anywhere in the scrub area or in the beat time ruler Learning about the loop region controls page 116 and associated shortcuts can also be helpful in getting around in the MIDI Editor and playing selections quickly and easily Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 138 As you work with MIDI you may find yourself needing extra screen space You can click and drag vertically on the window split between the Session or Arrangement View and the Clip View to enlarge the MIDI Editor n 5 6 A B a S 5 5 5 h T i 7 Enlarge the MIDI Editor by Dragging the Window Split Between Session and Clip Views 10 4 Editing MIDI
357. ight and left arrow keys keys Select Warp Marker CTRL right and left CMD right and left arrow keys arrow keys Scroll Display to Follow Playback CTRL Shift F CMD Shift F Move Clip Region with Start Marker Shift right and left Shift right and left arrow keys arrow keys Live Keyboard Shortcuts 598 35 15 Clip View MIDI Editor The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the MIDI Editor OOo a Scroll Editor Horizontally CTRL Page Up CMD Page Up Down keys Down keys CTRL drag CMD drag Change Velocity From Note Editor ALT drag ALT drag Move Insert Marker to Beginning Function left arrow key Move Insert Marker to End Scroll Display to Follow Playback CTRL Shift F CMD Shift F Move Clip Region with Start Marker Shift right and left Shift right and left arrow keys arrow keys 35 16 Grid Snapping and Drawing Windows Mcintosh Toae Drw Mode w Ci Live Keyboard Shortcuts 599 35 17 Global Quantization Windows Macintosh Sixteenth Note Quantization CTRL 6 CMD 6 Eighth Note Quantization CTRL 7 CMD 7 CTRUIL8 CMD 8 CTRUIS CMD II9 Quantization Off CTRL O CMD O 35 18 Working with Sets and the Program o w oS ewe oo o i oS 35 19 Working with Plug Ins and Devices Windows Macintosh Show Hide Plug In Windows CTRL ALT P CMD ALT P Open Second Multiple Windows with Plug CTRL CMD In Ed
358. ignature Changes cccccscsccesesseeseees 74 logge VOCS ctor ie oa ucaenrati 162 lones MoO Snups eaa 130 Track Activator SWilChicxin 2ctrsacen wutelesanecs 193 Track Delays control inca ct sacenncalanscatdn 203 Track Delays selecioraccioe ee i 203 Fack MIG le ha epeka 193 PACKS E E seboaseentaleadarnenetas 17 SE e S E eamaccuetet 193 audio and MIDI in eee eeeeteteeeees 20 AUOMOHION N sa Quertsccelietamisnntniee 261 compensating for device delays 203 device Stie AE 217 KE E aLe PEPE EEE 196 in Arrangement VieW cccceceeceeseeseees 77 UNS EGNING nek a a eomonnease antes 195 in Session VIEW dcccessccteseucseeecaaptebinanielles 89 mixer controls in Sesscces ender os masnewrss eer wacorace 19 MUTI EEE asennad E 193 PUMIDEDING siaren 195 ENGMAN Grii seuss saetelrrans areas cameras crix 195 FOSIZUING apene n E S 196 E a EA 25 reluin MOCK eea 198 the Master trackesnssionisnissniens 198 UNIOIGING AA EE 78 81 262 Tack Sras Nelda A 91 Tack Tle Bai snriyine e 195 Transient ENVElO DES tctecceceterscrdsreeecnreeseeut cee 130 Transient Loop Mode ccccccceceseseeseseesesees 130 HONS DOM seccsicvacatsicscden aie eenanneaneneeoners 7 Transposition knob cccceeeeseeeseeeeteeeeees 110 TIGGER Mode esros au orate lne aenceb nett te 162 Triplet Grid COMMANGA ccccscssesesesseseteeeesees 82 U Undoconmand soenen seco 138 and automation editing 260 and recorded ClOSiciccciiscelnetetebnadtee 208 and re
359. in 6 The output of all parallel chains is mixed together to produce the MIDI Effect Rack s final output If there happened to be another device following after the Rack in the track s de vice chain it would now receive the Rack s output for processing 18 5 2 Key Zones The Key Zone Editor When the Key button is selected the Key Zone Editor appears to the right of the Chain List il lustrating how each chain maps to the full MIDI note range nearly 11 octaves Chains will only respond to MIDI notes that lie within their key zone The zones of individual chains may occupy any number of keys allowing for flexible keyboard split setups Key zone fade ranges attenuate the velocities of notes entering a chain Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 246 18 5 3 Velocity Zones The Velocity Zone Editor Each chain in an Instrument Rack or MIDI Effect Rack also has a velocity zone specifying the range of MIDI Note On velocities that it will respond to The Velocity Zone Editor when displayed replaces the Key Zone Editor to the right of the Chain List MIDI Note On velocity is measured on a scale of 1 127 and this value range spans the top of the editor Otherwise the functionality here is identical to that of the Key Zone Editor Velocity zone fade ranges attenuate the velocities of notes entering a chain 18 5 4 Chain Select Zones The Chain Select Editor Activating the Chain button in an Instrument o
360. in stalled The Categories section is organized as follows e Sounds all of your Instrument Racks page 237 and instrument presets organized by the type of sound they make rather than by their devices e Drums all of your drum presets This includes full drum kits which are available as Drum Racks as well as single drum hits which are delivered as Instrument Racks Managing Files and Sets 35 e Instruments all of your Instrument Racks as well as raw Live instruments and their pre sets organized by device rather than by the type of sound e Audio Effects all of your Audio Effect Racks as well as raw Live audio effects devices and presets e MIDI Effects all of your MIDI Effect Racks as well as raw Live MIDI effects devices and presets e Max for Live all of your Max for Live page 471 devices and presets as well as any Racks that are built with those devices organized into Audio Effect Instrument and MIDI Effect folders e Plug Ins your third party VST and or Audio Units plug ins page 226 e Clips all of your Live Clips e Samples all of your raw audio samples e All results this section appears after you ve typed something into the search field It shows search results for every section of the browser in a single list The Places labels show the contents of folders on your hard drives Use this section when you want to access a particular place such as a
361. in Full Screen Mode by selecting the Full Screen command from the View menu To leave Full Screen Mode click the button that appears in the lower right corner of the screen Full Screen Mode can also be toggled by pressing F11 Note On Mac OS X this key is as signed by default to Expos and will not toggle Full Screen Mode unless Expos has been de activated or assigned to a different key in OS X s System Preferences If Live s browser is open you can adjust the main window s horizontal split by dragging Adjusting the Main Window Split Authorizing Live 11 Chapter 3 Authorizing Live Live is protected against illegal use by a copy protection scheme This scheme has been de signed to meet the highest security standards while avoiding hassles for our customers If you find this procedure to be an inconvenience please understand that the copy protection secures your investment It allows Ableton to provide you with support and to continue developing Live Please be aware that the standard Live license grants you the right to use Live on only one com puter at a time You can however authorize Live more than once under the legal and technical conditions described later page 11 The first time you run Live you will be prompted to complete the authorization process The soft ware will walk you through the steps If the computer that you wish to authorize is connected to the internet you can authorize imme diatel
362. in new frequencies at 880 Hz and 1760 Hz 22 16 1 Frequency Shifter Tips Frequency shifting and ring modulation can produce some very interesting sounds Here are some tips for using the Frequency Shifter device Drum tuning Tuning sampled acoustic drums can be tricky Using a sampler s transposition controls often changes the character of the sounds in unrealistic ways resulting in pinched or tubby sam ples Frequency shifting can be a useful alternative Try using the device in Shift mode with the Dry Wet amount at 100 Then adjust the Fine fre quency no more than about 100 Hz up or down This should change the apparent size and tun ing of the drum while retaining the quality of the original sample Phasing To create lush phasing effects try using extremely small amounts of shift no more than about 2 Hz Note that the phasing is caused by the interaction of the processed and dry signals so you won t hear an effect until you adjust the Dry Wet balance so that both are audible the strongest phasing will be heard when Dry Wet is at 50 Tremolo In Ring mode frequencies below the audible range about 20 Hz create a tremolo effect You can also impart a sense of stereo motion to the tremolo by turning on Wide and using small Spread values Learning more Try putting a Spectrum device page 354 after the Frequency Shifter to watch how the signal changes as you change parameters To get a good overview
363. in older versions of Live Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 238 18 1 An Overview of Racks 18 1 1 Signal Flow and Parallel Device Chains Chain Selector Inside An Audio Effect Rack In any of Live s tracks devices are connected serially in a device chain passing their signals from one device to the next left to right By default the Device View displays only a single chain but there is actually no limit to the number of chains contained within a track Racks allow among other things additional device chains to be added to any track When a track has multiple chains they operate in parallel In Instrument and Effect Racks each chain receives the same input signal at the same time but then processes its signal serially through its own devices The output of each of the parallel chains is mixed together producing the Rack s output Drum Racks also allow multiple parallel chains to be used simultaneously but their chains pro cess input somewhat differently Rather than receiving the same input signals each Drum Rack chain receives input from only a single assigned MIDI note The entire contents of any Rack can be thought of as a single device This means that adding a new Rack at any point in a device chain is no different than adding any other device and Racks can contain any number of other Racks If more devices are placed after a Rack in a track s de vice chain the Rack s output is passed on to them as u
364. in the Filter section The Key tracking control allows for shift ing the filter s frequency according to note pitch Live Instrument Reference 455 24 8 6 LFO The LFO low frequency oscillator section offers sine square triangle sawtooth down saw tooth up and random waveforms The LFO run freely at frequencies between 0 01 and 30 Hz or sync to divisions of the Set s tempo LFOs are applied individually to each voice or played note in Simpler The Key parameter scales each LFO s Rate in proportion to the pitch of incoming notes A high Key setting assigns higher notes a higher LFO rate If Key is set to zero all voices LFOs have the same rate and may just differ in their phase The LFO will modulate the filter pitch panorama and volume according to the setting of the LFO amount controls in each of these sections The time required for the LFO to reach full intensity is determined by the Attack control 24 8 7 Glide and Spread Simpler includes a glide function When this function is activated new notes will start from the pitch of the last note played and then slide gradually to their own pitch Two glide modes are available Glide which works monophonically and Portamento which works polyphonically Glide is also adjusted with the Glide Time control Simpler also offers a special Spread parameter that creates a rich stereo chorus by using two voices per note and panning one to the left and one to the right The
365. indicated by the LED in the upper right corner of Corpus s display 22 9 Dynamic Tube Dynamic Tube i Envelope La e Drive Tone Bias Release a 000 8 57 dB a 32 13 15 3 ms 5 268 ms The Dynamic Tube Effect Note the Dynamic Tube effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The Dynamic Tube effect infuses sounds with the peculiarities of tube saturation An integrated envelope follower generates dynamic tonal variations related to the level of the input signal Three tube models A B and C provide a range of distortion characteristics known from real amplifier tubes Tube A does not produce distortions if Bias is set low but will kick in whenever the input signal exceeds a certain threshold creating bright harmonics Tube C is a very poor tube amp that produces distortions all the time The qualities of Tube B lie somewhere between these two extremes Live Audio Effect Reference 310 The Tone control sets the spectral distribution of the distortions directing them into the higher registers or through the midrange and deeper The Drive control determines how much signal reaches the tube greater Drive yields a dirtier output The intensity of the tube is controlled by the Bias dial which pushes the signal into the celebrated realms of nonlinear distortion With very high amounts of Bias the signal will really start to break apart The Bias parameter can be positively or negatively modu
366. information see the Control Surface Reference Lesson Using the APCAO 535 28 6 Transport and Global Buttons Live s Play Stop and Arrangement Record buttons are all easily accessible and four global buttons access Live s functions cleaning up your screen view onstage and freeing you from the mouse in the studio Teada LLIN Paley Lael Transport and Global Controls e Detail View opens and closes the Clip Device View so you can see more of your clips e Record Quantization lets you toggle input quantization page 212 between none and the last selected quantization setting e MIDI Overdub lets you overdub page 209 ona MIDI clip e Metronome turns the metronome page 211 on and off Using the APCAO 536 28 7 Track Control The Track Control section covers pan settings or send levels for whichever eight tracks are cur rently selected It consists of eight endless dials with LED rings and four buttons Pan Send A Send B and Send C ani SD ees Track Controls The buttons let you select what the encoders are controlling while the encoders control the amount or depth of the pan or send levels 28 8 Tempo Control Tap Tempo and Nudge Left Right buttons are essential for live performance helping you to stay in sync with turntables other musicians or a live band and correct timing issues quickly Using the APCAO 537 O aiii seeeeeee a A O O O Tempo Contr
367. ing Key m Delay Attack Rate Amount lt eiot Error spams SO9Mme 5 1 Hz 50 Sa TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stiff Fret Stiff E Bopy Decay Low Cut High Cul Strf ody Volume vel Key O O OQ e reo SI OY OQ OL 0 0 00 _ 0 00 50 50 50 03 o o 0 0 0 dB Tension s Pickup Section The Pickup section models an electromagnetic pickup similar to the type found in an electric guitar or electric piano The only control here is the Position slider which functions similarly to this parameter in the Excitator and Damper sections At 0 the pickup is located at the string s termination point while at 50 it is under the midpoint of the string Lower values generally re sult in a brighter thinner sound while higher values have more fullness and depth The Pickup section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name The Body Section Tension siring Filter slobal 7 i m EXCITATOR Protrusion Stifiness Velocity Position Damping T DAMPER Mass Stiffness Velocity Position Damping Fem WM O O 1 A A A A AO fTh ee 50 50 25 50 50 50 50 25 50 Vel 0 00 0 00 4 0 00 4 000 4 Vel 0 00 Key 0 00 4 0 00 0 00 4 0 00 FEES Key 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 _ STRING Decay KEY Ratin nham amping lt kKey MIERATO Delay Attack Rate Amot 75 0 00 SO S FO ys 50 5 O00 s ms SO08me 51Hz 50 o TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Stiff Fret suf D PICKUP ij Bopy Low Cut H
368. ing Play or Overdub mode will start Live s transport while pressing Looper s Stop button will stop Live s transport The 2 button doubles the length of Looper s recording buffer Any material that you ve al ready recorded will simply be duplicated This allows you to for example record a series of one bar ideas and then overlay a series of two bar ideas The length and tempo of Looper s buffer is shown in the display area Similarly the 2 button cuts the length of the current buffer in half The material in the currently playing half is kept while the other half is discarded The Drag me area in the display allows you to export Looper s buffer as a new audio file You can drag and drop to the browser or directly to a track creating a new clip The newly created clip s Warp mode will be set to Re Pitch by default page 131 You can also drag audio files to the Drag me area which will replace the contents of Looper s buffer You can then use this material as a bed for further overdubs for example The Speed knob adjusts Looper s playback speed and thus pitch The up and down arrow but tons to the left are shortcuts to raise or lower the pitch by octaves thus doubling or halving the playback speed These buttons are subject to the Quantization chooser setting Live Audio Effect Reference 335 Enabling the Reverse button plays the previously recorded material backwards Any mate
369. ing at a velocity equal to that of the incoming MIDI note Use the Velocity controls to do anything from adding slight overtones to washing out most of the other chord elements Live MIDI Effect Reference 368 The order in which pitches are added to the chord is inconsequential The effect of a 12 semi tone shift added with the Shift 1 control for example is equal in effect to a 12 semitone shift added with the Shift 6 control Note that no two notes of the same pitch can contribute to the chord and that selecting the same shift value twice e g 8 semitones on both Shift 2 and Shift 3 will result in the latter control appearing disabled indicating that it is a duplicate and therefore not in use Actually there is no such thing as two notes with the same pitch playing at the same time within the entire Live universe 23 3 Note Length Trigger Release Vel Moge m Length Decay Time a il 4 i if it j sy T 1 8 24 5 5 E ies Gate aa The Note Length Effect Note Length alters the length of incoming MIDI notes It can also be used to trigger notes from MIDI Note Off messages instead of the usual Note On messages When the device is set to trigger from a Note On message only the timing controls are avail able The length of held notes can be adjusted in milliseconds or synced in relation to the song tempo Gate defines the percentage of the Length value that notes should be held for At 200 pe
370. ing multiple samples 066 250 PG VieW i scram E 250 Duplicate Loop command 06 108 139 Duplicate Time command in the VArraNGeMmentvtclaciaae ieee 83 in the MIDI Bion ieactuntin encase 142 Dynamic Tube effect ccccccccscsesesseeesesees 309 E Edit DOOM psss siesoes feacunaautccasecenstsen eeacaatunse 110 Edit menu commands and AutOMAHION ccceceeeeceeeeee 260 265 GING Expor ena a rk eee 44 and MIDI notes sssini 140 ONG Eo e EE E 90 WNEI OS apa 101 with Clip Stop buttons cccccceseeeees 93 WINA EViICE Senere s 220 Index 604 WII SCENE Sasana ey out on tacts asin auteneads 93 G FEE gee meee meter ee ten reer ara Renn See 397 eel tei peed TS EI GCE a gog Ca ehec sunsa enaa EE 323 damper section u n BOO Gate Mode sorses e 162 FOE SECON adasen aneasaemnnien waits 399 Global Quantization chooser 28 glSbalsection cick iiuaheiuwiies 400 and Session recording 208 mallet section nissianaunemnaeait 398 Glue Compressor effect eee 325 pickup SECTION o n 400 GNSS CMGI epus iuu e 327 Envelope Editor ccccccssssssssssssssssseseseeeeee 98 267 Grain Delay BHCC AEE A A E eu 328 e E E ET 98 267 Grain Flux TS e ETE ETE EET 131 EQ Eight effect AIG GIGINESIZE feldesssnscsssreri esan 131 EG Thies effeoc tess eiaassscnsdiiercaneieuens 313 Grain Size knob sssusssssssssesssessssessssessses 130 Erosion etet Eyr see n anette 315 grid Exclusive Arm Solo preference 004 19
371. ing switch in its Remote column is set to On MIDI and Key Remote Control 481 You can use any number of MIDI ports for remote mapping Live will merge their incoming MIDI signals When working with a control surface that provides physical or visual feedback you will also need to enable the Remote switch for its output port Live needs to be able to communicate with such control surfaces when a value has changed so that they can update the positions of their motorized faders or the status of their LEDs to match To test your setup try sending some MIDI data to Live from your control surface The Control Bar s MIDI indicators will flash whenever Live recognizes an incoming MIDI message Once your controller is recognized by Live you have completed the setup phase but we rec ommend that you take the time to select a Takeover Mode before you leave the Preferences behind Your next step will be creating MIDI mappings between your control surface and Live Luckily this is a simple task and you only need to do it for one parameter at a time 26 1 3 Takeover Mode Take Over Mode Value Scaling l MID Ports rack Sync Remote MIDI Controller Takeover Mode When MIDI controls that send absolute values such as faders are used in a bank switching setup where they address a different destination parameter with each controller bank you will need to decide how Live should handle the sudden jumps in values that will occur when mo
372. ing the Live Set into an existing Live Project Let s look at an example to illustrate this process We have recorded some audio into a new Live Set We now save the Live Set under the name Tango on the Desktop The Desktop is available in the browser because we have previously added it as a user folder Here is the result as displayed by the Live browser A Live Set and its Recordings in a Live Project Folder The project folder Tango Project contains the Live Set Tango als and a Samples folder which in turn contains a Recorded folder with two samples in it Note that the current Project is also indicated in the title bar of Live s application window Next we record another track into our Project We save the modified version of the Live Set un der a new name so that we do not lose the previous version Accepting the Save As command s default suggestion we store the new version of the song in the Tango Project folder Managing Files and Sets 57 A Second Version of the Live Set Has Been Added to the Project The Tango Project now contains two Live Sets and its Samples Recorded folder contains the samples used by both of them And now for something completely different We choose the File menu s New Live Set command and record a samba tune As this has nothing to do with our tango dabblings we decide to save it outside the Tango Project folder say on the Desktop Live creates a new project folder name
373. ing via MIDI chapter page 561 for details Note Sync is not available in Live Lite e The File Folder Preferences pertain to Live s file management page 33 and the loca tion of plug in devices page 226 e The Library Preferences allow you to specify a default location for various types of in stalled files including Packs and your User Library as well as whether or not samples and other files are self contained when saving Sets page 63 e The Record Warp Launch Preferences allow customizing the default state for new Live Sets page 51 and their components page 97 as well as selecting options for new recordings page 205 e The CPU Preferences include options for managing the processing load page 567 including multicore multiprocessor support e The Licenses Maintenance Preferences are used to manage licensing and installation of the Live platform page 11 2 3 The Main Live Screen Most of your work in Live happens in the main Live screen This screen consists of a number of views and each view manages a specific aspect of your Live Set which is the type of document First Steps 10 that you create and work on in Live Since screen space is usually limited the Live views can t all be displayed at the same time Each one of the selector buttons at the screen borders calls up a specific view clicking this one for instance opens and closes Live s browser The Browser Selector You can run Live
374. ion the signal flow direction can be adjusted with the button above the waveshaper area with the triangle pointing up the signal passes from the shaper to the filter with the triangle pointing down it passes from the filter to the shaper T Sampler Y The Filter Shaper Order Button Live Instrument Reference 447 The Volume Envelope sce Filter Global Modulations ee MIDI i Voolurree volse Imiiial Peak Sustain Loop Lint ae 0 046 17 48 ETE OAttack Decay Release Time lt Vel Repeat 3 08 ms 13 98 Bsr ms 0 ize Pan Pan lt Rnd Time Time lt Key Voices i6t_q 34 73 dl 29 q i2 viR The Global Volume Envelope The volume envelope is global and defines the articulation of Sampler s sounds with standard ADSR attack decay sustain release parameters Please see the Sample Playback section page 437 for details on these parameters This envelope can also be looped via the Loop chooser When a Loop mode is selected the Time Repeat slider becomes important For Loop and Trigger modes if a note is still held when the Decay stage ends the envelope will restart from its initial value The time it takes to move from the Sustain level to the initial value is defined by the Time parameter For Beat and Sync modes if a note is still held after the amount set in the Repeat slider the envelope will restart from its initial value The Pan slider is a global pan control acting on al
375. ion will be disabled synchronize to the ReWire master application instead Live will not send sync or controller messages to the MIDI output Controlling Live via MIDI is still possible e Live will not act as a ReWire master application For instance you cannot run Rebirth as a ReWire slave of Live while Live is running as a ReWire slave of Cubase You can however run both Live and Rebirth as ReWire slaves of Cubase at the same time e Time signature and tempo will be determined by the settings in the ReWire master applica tion If your Live Set contains any tempo or time signature changes they will be ignored 31 2 3 More on ReWire You can find additional information about configuring and using ReWire at Ableton s FAQ web pages If you cannot seem to find an answer there please contact the Ableton support team 11 http www ableton com pages faq rewire 12 http www ableton com support Synchronization and ReWire 566 Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 567 Chapter 32 Computer Audio Resources and Strategies Real time audio processing is a demanding task for general purpose computers which are usu ally designed to run spreadsheets and surf the Internet An application like Live requires a pow erful CPU and a fast hard disk This section will provide some insight on these issues and should help you avoid and solve problems with running audio on a computer 32 1 Managing the CPU Load To output a con
376. ionality in particular stretching and synchronization 33 5 Summary and Conclusions Ableton wrote this paper in order to help users understand exactly how audio is affected when performing various procedures in Live Our focus has been on functions that have proven over the years to cause confusion or uncertainty and the list of both neutral and non neutral opera tions presented here is necessarily incomplete We encourage you to refer to this paper if you have any questions about the functions discussed but we also encourage you to contact us if you have additional questions that we haven t an swered Live is a product but it is also an ongoing process and one that benefits greatly from user input 13 https www ableton com help MIDI Fact Sheet 583 Chapter 34 MIDI Fact Sheet In conjunction with our work on the audio engine Ableton has spent additional effort analyzing Live s MIDI timing and making improvements where necessary We wrote this fact sheet to help users understand the problems involved in creating a reliable and accurate computer based MIDI environment and to explain Live s approach to solving these problems Note the MIDI timing issues discussed in this paper are generally not applicable to users with high quality audio and MIDI hardware If you have already invested time and money into op timizing these factors in your studio and are not experiencing problems with MIDI timing you probably do no
377. ip Envelope Control chooser selects among the controls of the item cho sen in the top menu In both choosers parameters with altered clip envelopes appear with LEDs next to their names You can simplify the appearance of these choosers by selecting Only show adjusted envelopes from either of them The techniques for drawing and editing clip envelopes are the same as those for automation envelopes in the Arrangement View page 261 Please see Recording Automation in Session View page 258 for information on recording Session View automation To delete a clip envelope i e to set it back to its default value right click PC CTRL click Mac in the Clip View s Envelope Editor to open its context menu and select Clear Envelope Let us now look at some uses of clip envelopes Clip Envelopes 269 20 2 Audio Clip Envelopes 1 ul Clip envelopes extend Live s elastic approach to audio and in conjunction with Live s audio effects turn Live into a mighty sound design tool Using clip envelopes with audio clips you can create an abundance of interesting variations from the same clip in real time anything from subtle corrections to entirely new and unrelated sounds 20 2 1 Clip Envelopes are Non Destructive Using clip envelopes you can create new sounds from a sample without actually affecting the sample on disk Because Live calculates the envelope modulations in real time you can have hundreds of clips in a Li
378. ip between these two LFOs Phase available only when the LFOs are synced to song tempo keeps both LFOs at the same frequency but can set the two LFO waveforms out of phase with each other creating stereo movement Set to 180 the LFO outputs are 180 degrees apart so that when one LFO reaches its peak the other is at its minimum With Phase set to 360 or O the two LFOs run in sync Spin only available when the LFOs are in Hertz mode detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each stereo channel is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount For the noise waveforms the Phase and Spin controls are not relevant and do not affect the sound Live Audio Effect Reference 307 Spread detunes the two resonators in relation to each other Positive values raise the pitch of the left resonator while lowering the pitch of the right one while negative values do the opposite At 0 the resonators are tuned the same The resonance type chooser allows you to select from seven types of physically modeled reso nant objects e Beam simulates the resonance properties of beams of different materials and sizes e Marimba a specialized variant of the Beam model reproduces the characteristic tuning of marimba bar overtones which are produced as a result of the deep arch cut of the bars e String simulates the sound produced by strings of different materials and sizes e Membrane is a model of a
379. is chooser each have meters next to their names to help you identify signal presence and overload when the meter flashes red Setting up the audio interface s outputs works the same way via the output chooser pair If multiple tracks are selected any changes you make to these choosers will be applied to all selected tracks The list of available inputs and outputs depends on the Audio Preferences which can be reached via the Input and Output Channel choosers Configure option Note that the Audio Preferences also provide access to the Channel Configuration dialogs which determine which inputs and outputs are used and whether they are available to Live as mono or stereo pairs Essentially the Channel Configuration dialog tells Live what it needs to know about how the computer is connected to the other audio components in your studio 14 2 1 Mono Stereo Conversions When a mono signal is chosen as an audio track s input the track will record mono samples otherwise it will record stereo samples Signals in the track s device chain are always stereo even when the track s input is mono or when the track plays mono samples Routing and O 174 Mono is turned into stereo simply by using the identical signal for left and right channels When a track is routed into a mono output the left and right signals are added together and attenu ated by 6 dB to avoid clipping 14 3 External MIDI In Out MIDI from the outside world
380. is enabled holding down a pad will retrigger the note The Scene Grid buttons change the rhythmic value of the repeated note Accent when Accent is enabled all incoming notes are played at full velocity Hold Accent and press a step sequencer step to program the step at full velocity Octave Up Down if an instrument track is selected these buttons shift the pads up or down by octave If a Drum Rack is selected these buttons shift the Drum Rack s pad overview up or down by 16 pads In Session Mode these buttons shift control of the Session View up or down by eight scenes These buttons will be unlit if no additional octaves are available State Control Section State Control Section When working with tracks the leftmost eight buttons will either stop clips or mute or solo the cor responding track depending on which of the three rightmost buttons is pressed Stop Mute or Solo When working with devices instead of tracks the leftmost eight buttons will toggle devices on and off These buttons have additional functionality in other modes scale selection etc Tip to stop all clips press and hold Shift and then press Stop Selection Control Section Selection Contro Section These buttons work in conjunction with the Display Encoder Section buttons and select what parameters can be edited by the encoders and shown in the display The In and Out buttons allow you to access devices inside Racks or additional paramete
381. is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions 9 3 7 REX Mode REX Mode differs from the other Warp modes in several ways Most notably it is not available as an option in the Clip View s Sample Box but is instead enabled automatically when loading a file in REX format REX files associated with the program ReCycle by Propellerhead Software contain embedded tempo and timing information and will synchronize to your Set s tempo just like any other audio file Although REX files are audio files they can quickly be transformed into playable instruments via the Slice to New MIDI Track command page 149 which is available in the Create Menu or the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu for the clip Warp Markers parameters Clip Envelopes page 267 that affect warping properties and the Clip Nudge page 102 controls are not available for REX files Please note that REX file support is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 133 Chapter 10 Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities A MIDI clip in Live contains notes and controller data for playing a MIDI instrument This instru ment can be a virtual instrument in a MIDI track s device chain page 217 or an external synth fed via the track s output routing page 171 The MIDI clip page 22 provides the device with a musical score to play specifying note pitch length position and dynamics referred to as velocity in the MIDI
382. is routed into Live just like audio From the Input Type chooser of a MIDI track you can either select a specific MIDI input port or All Ins which is the merged in put of all external MIDI ports The Input Channel chooser offers the individual input channels of the selected MIDI port and the merged signal of all channels All Channels As is the case with audio inputs the Input Channel chooser also has meters next to every entry to represent activity on the respective input channel If multiple MIDI tracks are selected any changes you make to these choosers will be applied to all selected tracks 14 3 1 The MIDI Ports List in the Preferences MIDI Ports Track Sync Remote input ReMOTE LE on Output ReMOTE LE The MIDI Ports List in the Preferences You can configure which MIDI ports are made available to Live using the MIDI Ports section of the MIDI Sync Preferences All available input and output ports are listed here For Live s tracks to receive send MIDI from to a specific MIDI port the corresponding switch in the Track column must be set to On You can use any number of MIDI ports for track input and output the mixer s In Out choosers allow them to be addressed individually 14 3 2 Playing MIDI With the Computer Keyboard The computer keyboard can be used for generating MIDI notes from computer keyboard strokes To turn the computer MIDI keyboard on use the Control Bar s Computer MIDI Keyboard button or the CTR
383. it Button Open Mac Keystroke Plug In Window with Shift Plug In Edit Button Live Keyboard Shortcuts 600 Group Ungroup Devices CTRL G CMD G Activate Deactivate All Devices in Group ALT device activator ALT device activator Click to Append Devices to a Selected Device Shift Shift Load Selected Device From Browser 35 20 Using the Context Menu A context menu is available in Live for quick access to many commonly used menu items To ac cess the context menu right click PC CTRL click Mac on the part of the interface where you would like to execute a particular command It is worth noting that Live s context menu may sometimes contain applicable settings from the Preferences You should change these options with care as they will affect not only the currently selected item but the general settings of the program Some commands only appear in the context menu Among these are various options for work ing with the browser page 33 the special grid marker commands for directing Auto Warp page 125 detailed options for zoom adaptive and fixed grid line width page 82 copy ing and pasting for Operator s envelopes and oscillators page 406 and numerous device specific commands Index A Adaptive Grid Options ccccccccesseeseeeesees 82 Add Remove Stop Button command 93 PONCE Ct asic annua TE 287 Amp effect tips oo ccccecccesesscscseseesceeseneeeees 289 7 G1 oo Renee et nee
384. itch Glide can be turned on or off and adjusted with the Glide Time control in the pitch display Operator also offers a special Spread parameter that creates a rich stereo chorus by using two voices per note and panning one to the left and one to the right The two voices are detuned and the amount of detuning can be adjusted with the Spread control in the pitch section of the shell Tip Whether or not spread is applied to a particular note depends upon the setting of the Spread parameter during the note on event To achieve special effects you could for instance create a sequence where Spread is O most of the time and turned on only for some notes These notes will then play in stereo while the others will play mono Note Spread is a CPU intensive parameter The pitch section also contains a global Transpose knob 24 6 8 Strategies for Saving CPU Power If you want to save CPU power turn off features that you do not need or reduce the number of voices Specifically turning off the filter or the LFO if they do not contribute to the sound will save CPU power For the sake of saving CPU resources you will also usually want to reduce the number of voices to something between 6 and 12 and carefully use the Spread feature The Interpolation and Antialias modes in the global display can also be turned off to conserve CPU resources Live Instrument Reference 417 Note that turning off the oscillators will not save CPU power 24
385. ith Instruments and Effects 236 process an input signal and output a result The compensation algorithm keeps Live s tracks in sync while minimizing delay between the player s actions and the audible result Note there are a few situations in which Live cannot compensate for plug in delay e Automation page 257 is not delay compensated As a result when using automation on tracks that contain devices that cause delays the automation may sound early e Tempo synced effects and other devices that get timing information from Live s internal clock may sound out of sync if they are placed in a device chain after devices which cause delay Device delay compensation is on by default and does not normally have to be adjusted in any way However Live Sets that were created with Live 4 or earlier will open without device delay compensation To manually turn latency compensation on or off use the Delay Compensation option in the Options menu When Delay Compensation is on the Reduced Latency When Monitoring option is available in the Options menu This option toggles latency compensation on and off for tracks which have in put monitoring on When enabled input monitored tracks will have the lowest possible latency but may be out of sync with some other tracks in your Set such as Return tracks which are still delay compensated When disabled all tracks will be in sync but input monitored tracks may have higher latency Unusually high
386. ith the mouse or with your computer keyboard s ar row keys Horizontal movement changes the filter frequency while vertical movement adjusts the filter band s gain To adjust the filter Q also called resonance or bandwidth hold down the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier while dragging the mouse Note that the gain cannot be Live Audio Effect Reference 312 adjusted for the low cut notch and high cut filters In these modes vertical dragging adjusts the filter Q To get an even better view you can toggle the location of the display between the device chain and Live s main window by clicking the button in EQ Eight s title bar When using this expand ed view all eight filters can be edited simultaneously in the Device View EN Eign i f Freq Freq Freg Freg Freg Freg Freq fe i ralk GON DO wee gi 48 1 HZ 113Hz 5 88 kHz 50 0 Hz sig B65 Hz 15 2 kHz Block p Gain Gain Gain aan A 2 00 kHz Gain Gain Gain mm COOMA YD C iy en saama T 2 er eer oe gona care Stan es rr C H Ta En i om e e Gain xcs E lt gt wil wil wi e aE P 4 Gs P 7 ma 0 00 ae a m2 EQ Eight s Controls With the Display Expanded By default EQ Eight s output spectrum is shown in the display If you would prefer to work en tirely by ear you can turn off the Analyze button to disable the spectrum view With Adaptive Q enabled the Q amount increases as the amount of boost or cut increases This results in a m
387. ith this technique can create ducking effects even if you only have a mixed drum track to work with as opposed to an isolated kick drum In this case insert the Compressor on the track you want to duck Then choose the drum track as the external sidechain source Then enable the sidechain EQ and select the lowpass filter By carefully adjust ing the Frequency and Q settings you should be able to isolate the kick drum from the rest of the drum mix Using the sidechain listen mode can help you tune the EQ until you find settings you re happy with Note that mastery of these techniques may result in a noticeable increase in drink tickets remix offers and dates Live Audio Effect Reference 305 22 7 3 Upgrading from Legacy Mode Compressor s internal algorithms were updated in Live 9 in collaboration with Dr Joshua D Reiss of the Centre for Digital Music Queen Mary University of London Live Sets that use Compressor and which were made in earlier versions of Live will show an Up grade button in the title bar of each instance of Compressor when loading the Set in Live 9 Press the Upgrade button in order to upgrade that Compressor instance to the latest improved algo rithms Note that this may cause your Set to sound different 22 8 Corpus O Corpus Aas Sidechain E LFO Transpose E Fitter ch MIDI From D Amount Shape Ost Ratio Decay Material Listenmingl Hemi P Fi My Post FX _ A i u T a if O el 0 0 Fir
388. iting paradigm e When playing live or when DJing the order of pieces the length of each piece and the order of parts within each piece is generally not known in advance e In the theatre sound has to react to what happens on stage e When working along with a piece of music or a film score it can be more efficient and inspirational to start with an improvisation which is later refined into the final product This is exactly what Live s unique Session View is for 7 1 Session View Clips 3 Rhodes j Percs 5 Beats 6 Crash r Fill im i H 7 5 5 E 5 5 5 The Controls for a Session View Clip Session View 88 1 Each clip in the Session View has a triangular button at the left edge Click the button with the mouse to launch clip playback at any time or pre select a clip by clicking on its name and launch it using the computer s Shift key You can then move on to the neigh boring clips using the arrow keys Please refer the manual section on clip launch settings page 161 for details on how to customize this behavior 2 Click on a square Clip Stop button to stop a running clip either in one of the track s slots or in the Track Status field below the Session grid Clips can be controlled remotely with the computer keyboard or a MIDI controller page 477 They can even be mapped to MIDI note ranges so that they play chromatically Clips can be played at any time and in any order
389. ixer Therefore changes that are made to the tapped track s devices or mixer have no effect on the tapped signal Soloing a track that taps an other track Pre FX will allow you to hear the tapped track e Post FX taps the signal at the output of a track s device chains FX but before it has been passed back to the track mixer Changes to the tapped track s devices will therefore alter the tapped signal but changes to its mixer settings will not Soloing a track that taps an other track Post FX will allow you to hear the tapped track e Post Mixer taps the final output of a track after it has passed through its device chains Routing and O 181 and mixer Soloing a track that taps another track Post Mixer will not allow you to hear the tapped track Routing Points in Racks Track A 2 Track B 3 Audo 4 Guitar Auga Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From Audio From Me i Track I Post Mixer 2 Wii Post Mixer cll jj 1989 Multi FX Delay Chain Pre FX Wij 1989 Multi FX Delay Chain Post FX eT UL ii 1989 muti Fx Delay Chain Post Mixer or il te ii 1989 Multi FX Phaser Chain Pre FX Ip Le ij 1989 Multi FX Phaser Chain Post Fx i ij 1989 Multi FX Phaser Chain Post Mixer 5 2 5 Tap Points for Every Chain in a Track If a track has one or more Instrument or Effect Racks page 237 in its device chain internal routing points Pre FX Post FX and Post Mixer will also
390. ixer or the chain list Clicking in a chain s mixer title bar shows only that chain s devices in the Device View As with tracks when chains are multiselected in the Session View mixer adjusting a mixer pa rameter for one of the chains will adjust the same parameter in the other selected chains Note that this behavior only applies to parameters adjusted via the Session mixer and not when ad justing the same parameters in the Rack s chain list 18 8 1 Extracting Chains All chains can be dragged from their parent Racks and placed into other tracks or Racks ei ther from the chain list or from the Session View mixer A Drum Rack s return chains can also be extracted and will create new return tracks if dragged to the mixer Drum chains have an ad ditional feature when dragged from the mixer to a new track they take their MIDI notes with them For example if you are working on a MIDI drum loop within a single track and decide that you would like to move just the snare onto its own track simply select the snare chain s title bar Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 255 in the mixer and drag it to the mixer s drop area This creates a new track with the full contents of the snare chain both its devices and its MIDI data If you would like to extract only the devices drag from the chain list instead of from the mixer Master Drums H Kick CH OH Rim Clave Shake Clap aReverb b Delay Jouma e a A Pume Drop Files and B Oru
391. justments to sample settings are only cap tured once you hit a new note they do not affect currently playing notes Note that this behav ior also defines how Impulse reacts to parameter changes from clip envelopes or automation which are applied once a new note starts If you want to achieve continuous changes as a note plays you may want to use the Simpler page 452 Slot 8 s parameters also include a Link button located in the lower left corner which links slot 8 with slot 7 Linking the two slots allows slot 7 s activation to stop slot 8 s playback and vice versa This was designed with a specific situation in mind but can of course be used for other purposes Replicating the way that closed hi hats will silence open hi hats Each slot can be played soloed muted or hot swapped using controls that appear when the mouse hovers over it 24 5 2 Start Transpose and Stretch The Start control defines where Impulse begins playing a sample and can be set up to 100 ms later than the actual sample beginning The Transp Transpose control adjusts the transposition of the sample by 48 semitones and can be modulated by incoming note velocity or a ran dom value as set in the appropriate fields The Stretch control has values from 100 to 100 percent Negative values will shorten the sam ple and positive values will stretch it Two different stretching algorithms are available Mode A is ideal for low sounds such as toms or
392. k a click switches to overdub mode allowing you to toggle back and forth between overdub and playback via additional single clicks Quickly pressing the button twice stops Looper from either play or overdub mode Clicking and holding the button for two seconds while in play mode activates Undo or Redo Pressing and holding for two seconds while stopped clears Looper s buffer Live Audio Effect Reference 333 Stopped lt Clear Record Overdub Undo Redo Click Doubleclick Hold Diagram of Looper s Multi Purpose Transport Button Behavior Looper s Multi Purpose Transport Button is optimized for use with a MIDI footswitch To assign a footswitch enter MIDI Map Mode page 482 click the button and then press your attached footswitch Then exit MIDI Map Mode The Tempo Control chooser affects how Looper determines the tempo of recorded material e None Looper s internal tempo is independent of Live s global tempo e Follow song tempo The speed of Looper s playback will be adjusted so that the recorded material plays back at Live s global tempo e Set amp Follow song tempo Live s global tempo will be adjusted to match the tempo of mate rial recorded into Looper Any subsequent changes to Live s global tempo will adjust the speed of Looper s playback so that the recorded material plays back at the new global tempo The Record Length chooser is used to set the length
393. ks and a master fader all of which can be ex panded with the Session Overview A Cue Level knob controls cue volume page 202 so you can pre listen to a clip or the metronome without your audience hearing it You can shift these eight tracks around the Session View Press the right or left buttons to move incrementally one track at a time In the Session Overview you can jump in blocks of eight tracks at a time Using the APC20 546 Mixer Controls The Vol Pan Send A Send B Send C User 1 User 2 and User 3 buttons provide additional control possibilities by re assigning the eight faders to the selected function Selecting Pan for example lets you use the eight faders to control track pan setting To change the functionality of the faders simply hold down the Shift button and select the pa rameter you want to control The selected parameter bank will light up red showing you that it s selected When you release the shift button the faders will remain locked to the corresponding function The user banks let you use Live s MIDI Map Mode to customize what the banks of faders control Try mapping tempo or the global groove amount to your faders The Master fader works as a master fader in all modes Using the APC20 547 29 6 Note Mode Pressing the Note Mode button changes the functionality of the clip launch matrix When Note Mode is on i e when the button is lit the buttons on the grid send MIDI notes instea
394. l page 477 Clip launch settings are made in the Launch box The Launch box only applies to Session View clips as Arrangement View clips are not launched but played according to their positions in the Arrangement To view the Launch box open the Clip View page 97 of a Session View clip by double clicking the clip then activating the leftmost Clip View Box selector panel Use the Clip View Box Selector to Bring up the Launch Box Launching Clips 162 Note that you can edit the launch settings of more than one clip at the same time by first select ing the clips and then opening the Clip View 13 2 Launch Modes Clip Launch l Launch Mode The Clip Launch Mode Chooser The Launch Mode chooser offers a number of options for how clips behave with respect to mouse clicks computer keyboard actions or MIDI notes e Trigger down starts the clip up is ignored e Gate down starts the clip up stops the clip e Toggle down starts the clip up is ignored The clip will stop on the next down e Repeat As long as the mouse switch key is held the clip is triggered repeatedly at the clip quantization rate Launching Clips 163 13 3 Clip Launch Quantization Quantization The Clip Quantization Chooser The Clip Quantization chooser lets you adjust an onset timing correction for clip triggering To disable clip quantization choose None To use the Control Bar s Global Quantization setting choose Glob
395. l amplitude Live Instrument Reference 467 The LFO s speed is set with the Rate knob The switches below this knob toggle the Rate between frequency in Hertz and tempo synced beat divisions The entire Filter section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name Global and Keyboard Parameters Tension Siring FilbenGlobal 3 KEYBOARD Ocave Semi Detune Volos EE E j oods P Bend Stretch Error Priority E2 o 4 0 High UNISON FILTER LP iz Oy I rey R PR i 5 Voloes Detune Deta al A oe Alar CAY aslam TEASE 2 4 14 ms Baad Hz D in x ra ia 50 Env 0 00 a Ml 5 mig 283 ma 50 on 283 ma 1 0 1 08 o 9 HA E PORTAMENTO Volume LFO 0 00 0 00 el el Time MH Legato Key 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Hz ei H Proportional 0 0 dB Tension s Global and Keyboard Parameters The remaining section contain all of the parameters that adjust how Tension responds to MIDI data as well as controls for performance parameters such as tuning and portamento The Keyboard section contains all of Tension s polyphony and tuning parameters The Voices chooser sets the available polyphony while Priority determines which notes will be cut off when the maximum polyphony is exceeded When Priority is set to High new notes that are higher than currently sustained notes will have priority and notes will be cut off starting from the low est pitch Low Priority is the opposite A setting of
396. l samples while Pan lt Rnd adds a degree of randomness to the global pan position Time Global Time Envelope will proportionally shrink or expand the length of all envelopes in Sampler Time lt Key Global Envelope Time lt Key will proportionally shrink or expand the length of all envelopes in Sampler relative to the pitch of incoming MIDI notes Pan Pan lt Rnd Time Time lt Key Controls For Global Pan and Global Time Finally the Voices selector provides up to 32 simultaneous voices for each instance of Sampler Voice retriggering can optionally be enabled by activating the Retrigger button R to the right of the Voices chooser When activated notes which are already playing will be retriggered rather Live Instrument Reference 448 than generating an additional voice Turning Retrigger on can save CPU power especially if a note with a long release time is being triggered very often and very quickly 24 7 9 The Modulation Tab E Sampler Y 5 PiteOsce FiltenGlobal Modulations MIDI Ha HAIA Type so Peak Sustain End TE Retrig ma DE 0 0 Loo 100 27 73 None v 0 10 ms _On_ _0 00 010 ms On 000 o Alack Decay Release Time lt Vel Time Key i 18 2 s 600s 600s 0 0100 ms A Lro zama laad NETE B Sample Selector 211 694 Fan 0 00 F a for 0 00 J The Modulation Tab The Modulation tab offers an additional loopable envelope plus three LFOs all capable of
397. la tor source is generally something with a clear rhythmic character such as speech or drums while the carrier is typically a harmonically rich synthesizer sound such as a string or pad The most familiar application of a vocoder is to create talking synthesizer or robotic voice effects Live Audio Effect Reference 359 Vocoders work by running both the carrier and modulator signals through banks of bandpass filters The output level of each of the modulator s filters is then analyzed and used to control the volume of the corresponding filter for the carrier signal Live s Vocoder should be inserted on the track that contains the audio material you plan to use as your modulator The Carrier chooser then provides a variety of options for the carrier signal e Noise uses Vocoder s internal noise generator as the carrier source With this selected an X Y display is shown which allows you to adjust the character of the noise The horizontal axis adjusts downsampling Click and drag to the left to decrease the sample rate of the carrier s output The vertical axis adjusts the density of the noise Click and drag downward to decrease the density External allows you to select any available internal routing points from the choosers below This is the option you ll want for classic robot voice applications Modulator uses the modulator itself as the carrier This essentially outputs a resynthesized version of the modulator signal
398. lated by an envelope follower which is controlled with the Envelope knob The more deeply the envelope is applied the more the Bias point will be influenced by the level of the input signal Negative Envelope values create expan sion effects by reducing distortion on loud signals while positive values will make loud sounds dirtier Attack and Release are envelope characteristics that define how quickly the envelope reacts to volume changes in the input signal Together they shape the dynamic nature of the distortions Note that if Envelope is set to zero they will have no effect Cut or boost the device s final signal level with the Output dial Aliasing can be reduced by enabling Hi Quality mode which can be accessed via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu This improves the sound quality particularly with high frequency signals but there is a slight increase in CPU usage 22 10 EQ Eight Q 18 0 P i mz P 3 ma Ms P we a The EQ Eight Effect Live Audio Effect Reference 311 Note the EQ Eight effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The EQ Eight effect is an equalizer featuring up to eight parametric filters per input channel use ful for changing a sound s timbre The input signal can be processed using one of three modes Stereo L R and M S Stereo mode uses a single curve to filter both channels of a stereo input equally L R mode provides an independently adjustable filter c
399. lected track Select which clip track to control via the eight Selection Control buttons Press the Master button to select the Master track In Clip Mode the encoders control various parameters for the selected clip The parameters de pend on the type of clip selected Clio Mode With a MIDI Clip Selected e Loop Start or Clip Start if Loop is off e Position Loop Length or Clip End if Loop is off e Loop On Off Clio Mode With an Audio Clip Selected e Loop Start or Clip Start if Loop is off e Position e Loop Length or Clip End if Loop is off e Loop On Off e Warp Mode e Detune Using Push 522 e Transpose e Gain Device The encoders contro parameters for the selected device Browse The encoders scroll through the available devices and presets Tempo Section Tempo Section Tap Tempo as you press once every beat the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping You can also use tapping to count in If you are working in a 4 4 signature it takes four taps to start song playback at the tapped tempo Metronome toggles Live s metronome on or off The left encoder adjusts Live s tempo in increments of one BPM Holding Shift while adjusting will set the tempo in increments of 1 BPM Using Push 523 The right encoder sets the amount of swing applied when Quantizing Record Quantizing or when Repeat is pressed Edit Section Edit Section Undo undo
400. led the Tune control adjusts the base frequency of the resonance in Hertz The corresponding MIDI note number and fine tuning offset in cents is displayed below Enabling Off Decay causes MIDI note off messages to mute the resonance The slider below the switch determines the extent to which MIDI note off messages mute the resonance At 0 note offs are ignored and the decay time is based only on the value of the Decay parameter which is located under the Resonance Type selector This is similar to how real world mallet instruments such as a marimbas and glockenspiels behave At 100 the resonance is muted immediately at note off regardless of the Decay time You can hide or show the Sidechain parameters by toggling the button in Corpus s title bar This button will light up if the sidechain is active Corpus contains a Low Frequency Oscillator LFO to modulate the resonant frequency The Amount control sets how much the LFO affects the frequency The Rate control specifies the LFO speed It can be set in terms of Hertz or synced to the song tempo allowing for controlled rhythmic modulation Available LFO waveform shapes are sine creates smooth modulations with rounded peaks and valleys square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and two types of noise stepped and smooth Although only one set of LFO controls is visible there are actually two LFOs one for each stereo channel The Phase and Spin controls define the relationsh
401. left side of the display provide an easy way to quickly set up common parameter routings The upper left option configures a parallel routing structure with each oscillator feeding its own filter and amplifier exclusively The upper right button is simi lar but the oscillators each split their output evenly between the two filters The bottom left op tion feeds both oscillators into Filter 1 and Amp 1 disabling Filter 2 and Amp 2 entirely Finally the bottom right option configures a serial routing structure with both oscillators feeding Filter 1 which is then fed exclusively to Filter 2 and Amp 2 Live Instrument Reference 386 Note that the Quick Routing options do not affect any changes you may have made to the oscil lator level tuning or waveform parameters they only adjust the routing of the oscillators to the filters and subsequent amplifiers 24 2 Collision Collision Excitatoree LFOee MIDI E Resonator1 lt gt Resonator 2 aas E Mailet E Noise HP EE m Marimba v Basico Volume Noise Volume Tune Fine Ratio Decay Material ListeningL Volume Volume Q an O O Mes 100 04 CY gt 0 0 dB 35 29 dB M _ 18 6008 355 91 4k 00 4k 00 4K 100 qKey Ley 76 qv 76 dv 76 4v 00 qk 00 qv 00 JE i a Structure Stiffness Color Pitch Envelope 0 0 A O Pitch Time Inharmonics Hit Pan lt A H gt 50 Kay 0 0 Voices 22 Key 20 Casm Cosy Boxdv
402. les Live devices generally do not load down the CPU unless they are active For more information please refer to the CPU load section page 567 The Freeze Track command discussed there is especially helpful when working with CPU intensive devices Devices in Live s tracks have input and output level meters These meters are helpful in finding problematic devices in the device chain Low or absent signals will be revealed by the level meters and relevant device settings can then be adjusted or the device can be turned off or removed Beat Repeat f Auto Pan Fa TAn a oe maar aa relly Lh Di T i a ms T a n Hi ee 4 ka hp a ee Fa S amp 1 a8 kas a7 a a Ls r i a LA y k J ro aby be Fa 1 ae Os f Fa B A w ee M a oe ilerva tse ark Variation 4 ih 21 1 dB Filter i H Rale Phase shape Sere i i ee Be 4 16 f p r er g Repeal Mo Tip Trigge Mix ins Gate OO 9 z B0 0 00 w widi hange Dale Pitch Fiict cay Wolure Derai Cit i i pm Hz G EE ir MHormal F hile it OO 5 BIG 1 si w A 0 0 dE 5 salted The Level Meters Between Devices in a Chain Note that no clipping can occur between devices because there is practically unlimited head room Clipping can occur when an overly strong signal is sent to a physical output or written to a sample file Further information about track types in Live can be found in the Routing and O chapter page 171 including information on using return tracks to distribute
403. lexicon MIDI is composed and edited in Live s MIDI Editor 10 1 Creating an Empty MIDI Clip MIDI clips are created e by means of recording page 205 e or by double clicking an empty Session slot in a MIDI track e or by selecting an empty Session slot in a MIDI track and choosing the Create menu s In sert MIDI Clip command e or in the Arrangement View by selecting a timespan in a MIDI track and choosing the Create menu s Insert MIDI Clip command Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 134 10 2 The MIDI Editor To bring up the MIDI Editor double click a MIDI clip to open the Clip View You can use the Clip View Box selector to make sure the Notes box page 115 is showing then click in the title bar of the Notes box to bring up the MIDI Editor on the right hand side of the screen The MIDI Editor The MIDI Editor is divided into two editing windows the upper Note Editor and the lower Veloc ity Editor You can resize the Velocity Editor by dragging on the split line that runs between it and the Note Editor You can also show and hide the Velocity Editor using the triangular button on the left hand side of the split line The Control Bar s Draw Mode Switch Switch to Draw Mode by activating the Control Bar s Draw Mode switch or by pressing the B key You can now draw MIDI notes into the Note Editor with the mouse Deactivating Draw Mode allows notes to be selected and moved around via clipboard operations o
404. lip s warping behavior page 119 and thus only work on clips with Warp enabled 12 1 Groove Pool Once you ve applied a groove file you can modify its behavior by adjusting its parameters in the Groove Pool which can be opened or closed via its selector button at the bottom of Brows er G Desktop jel Grain Delay Add Folder Ei Limiter B The Groove Pool Selector Button You can also double click grooves in the browser to load them directly to the Groove Pool be fore applying them to a clip The Groove Pool contains all grooves that have been loaded in this way or that are being used in clips Inactive grooves those that are not being used by a clip appear with their parameters greyed out Note In Live Intro and Lite grooves can be loaded from the browser and applied to clips but cannot be edited in the Groove Pool Using Grooves 157 I E ow 0 30 4 1m5 o 70 a om 0 4 The Groove Pool 12 1 1 Adjusting Groove Parameters Grooves in the Groove Pool appear in a list and offer a variety of parameters that can be modi fied in real time to adjust the behavior of any clips that are using them You can also save and hot swap grooves via the buttons next to the Groove s name The Groove Pool s controls work as follows e Base The Base chooser determines the timing resolution against which the notes in the groove will be measured A 1 4 Base for example means that
405. lip Envelopes Envelopes can be found in both tracks and clips Clip envelopes page 267 are used to au tomate or modulate device and mixer controls Audio clips have in addition clip envelopes to influence the clip s pitch volume and more these can be used to change the melody and rhythm of recorded audio MIDI clips have additional clip envelopes to represent MIDI controller data Clip envelopes can be unlinked from the clip to give them independent loop settings so that larger movements like fade outs or smaller gestures like an arpeggio can be superimposed onto the clip s material Live Concepts 30 An Envelope for Clip Transposition 4 14 MIDI and Key Remote To liberate the musician from the mouse most of Live s controls can be remote controlled via an external MIDI controller Remote mappings are established in MIDI Map Mode page 482 which is engaged by pressing the MIDI switch in the Control Bar In this mode you can click on any mixer or effect control and then assign it to a controller sim ply by sending the desired MIDI message for example by turning a knob on your MIDI control box Your assignments take effect immediately after you leave MIDI Map Mode Session clips can be mapped to a MIDI key or even a keyboard range for chromatic playing MIDI keys and controllers that have been mapped to Live s controls are not available for record ing via MIDI tracks These messages are filtered out befor
406. llecting External Files Separated by location other Projects the User Library installed by factory Packs and else where sample collections from external drives for example the File Manager provides Managing Files and Sets 63 e A file count and the associated disk space used e A Show button that will list the files in the browser e A Yes No toggle for engaging or disengaging collection Note Make sure to confirm your choices by clicking the File Manager s Collect and Save but ton Collect and Save The File Manager s Collect and Save Button The File menu s Collect All and Save command is a shortcut that collects and saves all external files referenced by the current Set including those from Live s Core Library or other installed Packs Note that this can cause a lot of copying especially if your Live Set uses large multisam ple collections 5 8 1 Collect Files on Export When you save Live Clips device presets or tracks by dragging them into the Browser Live man ages the copying of associated files based on the selection made in the Collect Files on Export chooser in the Library Preferences This chooser provides the following options e Always the default setting will copy files into the same folder as the clip preset or track without notification e When Ask is selected Live provides a dialog box with options for copying files e Never means that files will not be copied when saving 5 9 Agg
407. llet section while the Noise knob sets the amount of impact noise that is included in each mallet strike This is useful for simulating the chiff sound of a felt wrapped mallet head The Volume and Noise parameters can be modu lated by pitch and velocity by adjusting the K Key and V Velocity sliders respectively Live Instrument Reference 388 The Stiffness knob adjusts the hardness of the mallet At low levels the mallet is soft which results in fewer high frequencies and a longer less distinct impact As you increase the stiffness the impact time decreases and high frequencies increase This parameter can also be modulated by pitch and velocity via the Key and Vel sliders The Color knob sets the frequency of the noise component At higher values there are less low frequencies in the noise This parameter has no effect if Noise is set to O The Mallet section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name The Noise Section Matto Noise 182 Volume e lt U O dB s D CY 0 0 kK 0 0 qV 0 0 qK 3 1 dv 11 4E s JA 7 ms OB 48 siho ms R Collision s Noise Section The Noise section can be used instead of or in addition to the Mallet section Like the Mallet the Noise section produces Collision s initial impulse sound But Noise also produces a white noise component which is then fed into a multimode filter and a dedicated envelope generator Volume con
408. llow sound The Force knob adjusts the intensity of the mallet s impact on the fork Low values simulate a soft impact while high values mean a hard impact The stiffness and force can also be modified by velocity and note pitch via the Vel and Key slid ers found below the knobs The Noise subsection simulates the impact noise caused by the mallet striking the fork The De cay knob adjusts how long it takes for this noise to fade to silence while the Pitch control sets the center frequency Level adjusts the overall volume of the noise component An additional Key scaling control adjusts how much the noise volume is determined by note pitch Live Instrument Reference 399 24 3 3 Fork Section The Fork section is further divided into Tine and Tone subsections This area is the heart of Elec tric s sound generating mechanism The Tine subsection controls the portion of the fork that is directly struck by the mallet The De cay knob adjusts how long it takes the tine s sound to fade out while a note is held The Color knob controls the relative amplitude of high and low partials in the tine s soectrum Low values increase the amount of low harmonics while higher values result in higher harmonics The ampli tude of the tine is adjusted with the Level knob This level can be further modulated by note pitch via the Key scaling control The Tone subsection controls the secondary resonance of the fork Decay and Level parameters here
409. lly produce the loudest output What happens to incoming notes that are outside of the range set with the Range and Lowest controls This depends on which Mode is selected e Clip Mode does just what it says It clips incoming note velocities so that they stay within the range Gate Mode removes incoming notes altogether if their velocities are outside of the range You will see the little LED below the X Y display flash when a note is blocked by gating e In Fixed Mode the Out Hi velocity defines all outgoing note velocities regardless of in coming note velocity The Random function adds or subtracts a random value to the all velocities and is represented by a gray area on the display curve The Drive and Compand controls can be combined to create more complex curves Compand is a simultaneous expanding and compressing tool When set to values greater than zero it forces incoming notes to the outer boundaries of the curve making them play either loudly or softly Compand values of less than zero on the other hand force outgoing velocity toward the mid range Drive pushes all values in the curve to the outer extremes Use these two controls together to sculpt or even redefine the dynamic structure of a piece Live MIDI Effect Reference 374 Live Instrument Reference 375 Chapter 24 Live Instrument Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in instruments The Working with Instru ments and Effects
410. lp entry in the same menu Max for Live also comes with a number of Lessons which provide step by step tutorials for build ing a variety of Max devices These Lessons are available from Live s Help View which can be accessed from Live s Help menu Max for Live 476 MIDI and Key Remote Control 477 Chapter 26 MIDI and Key Remote Control To liberate the musician from the mouse most of Live s controls can be remote controlled with an external MIDI controller and the computer keyboard This chapter describes the details of map ping to the following specific types of controls in Live s user interface 1 Session View slots Note that MIDI and computer key assignments are bound to the slots not to the clips they contain 2 Switches and buttons among them the Track and Device Activator switches the Control Bar s tap tempo metronome and transport controls 3 Radio buttons A radio button selects from among a number of options One instance of a radio button is the crossfader assignment section in each track which offers three options The track is assigned to the crossfader s A position the track is unaffected by the crossfader or the track is affected by the crossfader s B position 4 Continuous controls like the mixer s volume pan and sends 5 The crossfader the behavior of which is described in detail in the respective section of the Mixing chapter page 199 26 1 MIDI Remote
411. lpful to vertically resize the Sample Display by dragging on the split line between the Clip View and the Session View track area The Follow Switch in the Control Bar Transients and Pseudo Warp Markers When you first load a sample into Live Live automatically analyzes the audio and finds its transients These are the points in the audio where notes or events begin and are usually good places to put Warp Markers Transients appear as small markers at the top of the sample display after zooming in Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 122 Transient Markers As you mouse over transients temporary pseudo Warp Markers appear These have the same shape as regular Warp Markers but they re grey Double clicking or dragging a pseudo Warp Marker creates an actual Warp Marker or if there are no Warp Markers later in the clip changes the tempo for the clip segment Holding the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier while creating a Warp Marker on a transient also creates Warp Markers at the adjacent transients Holding the Shift modifier while clicking on a pseudo Warp Marker allows you to drag the transient to a new position Once a Warp Marker has been created holding Shift while drag ging the Warp Marker will move the waveform beneath the marker rather than the marker itself You can also select a range of time and create Warp Markers at all of the transients within the range via the Create menu s Insert Warp Markers command
412. lso hold the mouse pointer near but not on the line segment in order to move it vertically If the line segment is in the cur rent selection the envelope moves vertically across the selected timespan and Live inserts breakpoints at the selection s edges to make sure the move only affects the selected part of the envelope Dragging an Envelope Line Segment Moves the Segment Vertically e Hold ALT PC ALT Mac and drag a line segment to curve the segment Double click while holding ALT PC ALT Mac to return the segment to a straight line A Curved Envelope Segment 19 5 3 Locking Envelopes Automation and Editing Envelopes 265 When moving Arrangement View clips Live normally moves all automation with the clip Some times you might want to lock the envelopes to the song position rather than to the clips and the Lock Envelopes switch does just that You can also choose to lock envelopes from the Options menu D 2Chords B E e jj drumioop D 3Rhodes TE Ei il m Mixer F 36 F o 4 The Lock Envelopes Switch 19 5 4 Edit Menu Commands When working with automation data in the Arrangement View differently depending on whether or not your selection is within lanes the Edit menu commands behave the clip track or its automation To copy cut delete or duplicate automation from a track independent of the associated clip make sure the paramet
413. lternatively in the same columns parts of a song variations of a drum loop etc l lielpi ii FIFFI A Resized Session View Tracks For convenient access to more clips at once you can resize Session View tracks by clicking and dragging at the edges of their title bars Tracks can be narrowed this way so that only Clip Launch buttons and essential track controls are visible 1 Bass 2 Chords 3 Rhodes 4d Perc s 5 Beats 6 Crash Master Intro ENTIA ag a gt p A Scene in the Session View Session View 90 The horizontal rows are called scenes The Scene Launch buttons are located in the rightmost column which represents the Master track page 198 To launch every clip in a row simulta neously click on the associated Scene Launch button This can be very useful in organizing the live performance of a song with multiple parts The scene below a launched scene will automatically be selected as the next to be launched un less the Select Next Scene on Launch option in the Launch Preferences is set to Off This allows you to trigger scenes from top to bottom without having to select them first Computer keys or a MIDI controller can be used to launch scenes and scroll between them page 485 Scenes can be renamed using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu One can quickly rename several scenes by executing the Re name command and using the compu
414. lues let only very high frequencies pass through to Delay 1 Live Audio Effect Reference 298 Delay 2 can switch among three different modes When off only Delay 1 is audible In Fix Mode only Delay 1 s delay time will be modulated When Mod is activated Delay 2 will re ceive the same modulation as Delay 1 ncn To set both delay lines to Delay 1 s delay time turn on the link button This is especially use ful if you want to change both delays with a single gesture The Modulation X Y controller can impart motion to the sounds To change the modulation rate for the delay times click and drag along the horizontal axis To change the amount of modula tion click and drag along the vertical axis You can also make changes by entering parameter values in the Amount and Rate fields below the X Y controller The Amount value is in milliseconds while the modulation frequency rate is in Hertz Clicking the 20 switch multiplies the modulation frequency by 20 to achieve more extreme sounds The Feedback control determines how much of the output signal feeds back into the input while the Polarity switch sets surprise the polarity Polarity changes have the most effect with high amounts of feedback and short delay times The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Chorus in a return track Enabling the Crisp option via the right click PC CTRL
415. lume is not attenuated allowing the chain s effects like long reverb tails or delays to fade out according to their own settings Let s consider how we can make use of chain select zones in a performance situation Making Preset Banks Using Chain Select Using Chain Select Zones to Create Effects Presets Unlike the other zone types the default length of a chain select zone is 1 and the default value is O From this setup we can quickly create preset banks using the Chain Select Editor Again we will use a Rack with four chains as our starting point Each of the four chains contain different effects that we would like to be able to switch between To make this a hands on experience we have MIDI mapped the Chain selector to an encoder on an external control surface Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 248 Let s move the chain select zones of the second and third chains so that each of our zones is oc cupying its own adjacent value The first chain s zone has a value of O the second chain s zone has a value of 1 the third has a value of 2 and the fourth has a value of 3 Since each of our chain select zones has a unique value with no two zones overlapping we now have a situation where only one chain at a time can ever be equal to the Chain selector value shown at the top of the editor Therefore by moving the Chain selector we determine which chain can process signals With our MIDI encoder at hand we ca
416. ly dithering in order to minimize artifacts Dithering a kind of very low level noise is inherently a non neutral proce dure but it is a necessary evil when lowering the bit resolution Please note that Live s internal signal processing is all 32 bit so applying even a single gain change makes the resulting audio 32 bit as well even if the original audio is 16 or 24 bit Dither should never be applied more than once to any given audio file so unless you are mas tering and finalizing in Live it is best to always render at 32 bit and avoid dithering altogether 33 3 5 Recording external signals bit depth lt A D converter Recording audio signals into Live is a non neutral operation if the bit depth set in Live s Prefer ences window is lower than that of the A D converters used for the recording This is not recom mended 33 3 6 Recording internal sources below 32 bit Audio that is recorded via internal routing will lose quality if the recording is made at a bit depth below 32 bits To ensure neutral recordings of plug in instruments and any audio signals that are being processed by effects plug ins internal recording at 32 bits is recommended Please note however that if the source audio is already at a lower bit depth internal recording at that bit depth will also be neutral assuming that no effects are used internally recording an unpro cessed 16 bit audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality 33 3 7 Con
417. m recording immediately into loop playback press the Session Record button again 4 Alternatively you can click on any of the Clip Record buttons to record into that slot To go from recording immediately into loop playback press the clip s Launch button 5 To stop a clip entirely press its Clip Stop button or the Stop button in the Control Bar 6 To stop playback and prepare for a new take press the New button This stops the clips in all armed tracks selects a scene where new clips can be recorded creating a new scene if necessary Note that by default launching a Session View scene will not activate recording in empty re cord enabled slots belonging to that scene However you can use the Start Recording on Scene Launch option from the Record Warp Launch Preferences to tell Live that you do want empty scene slots to record under these circumstances 16 3 3 Overdub Recording MIDI Patterns Live makes pattern oriented recording of drums and the like quite easy Using Live s Impulse instrument and the following technique you can successively build up drum patterns while listen ing to the result Or using an instrument such as Simpler which allows for chromatic playing you can build up melodies or harmonies note by note 1 Set the Global Quantization chooser to one bar 2 To automatically quantize the notes you are about to record choose an appropriate value for Record Quantization page 212 3 Double click
418. m the pitch of the last played note to their played pitch Note that all envelopes are not retriggered in this case if notes are being played legato Glide Time Time This is the time it takes for a note to slide from the pitch of the last played note to its final pitch when Glide is activated This setting has no effect if Glide is not activated Pitch Envelope to Osc Destination A D The pitch envelope affects the frequency of the re spective oscillator if this is turned on Pitch Envelope to LFO Destination LFO The pitch envelope affects the frequency of the LFO if this is turned on Pitch Envelope Amount A This sets the intensity of the pitch envelope s modulation of the oscil lators and LFO Pitch Envelope Destination B This sets the second modulation destination for the pitch enve lope Pitch Envelope Amount B This sets the intensity of the pitch envelope s modulation of the sec ondary target Filter Shell and Display Filter On This turns the filter on and off Turning it off when it is unused saves CPU power Live Instrument Reference 421 Filter Type This chooser selects one of 14 filter types including a variety of lowpass high pass bandpass and notch filters The filter names imply the part of the spectrum they affect A notch filter passes everything apart from its center frequency and is more audible with low resonance settings The 24 dB filter modes attenuate the filtered
419. m your collection but you can also get great results by generating MIDI from audio recordings of yourself playing harmonic instruments such as guitar or piano 11 3 Convert Melody to New MIDI Track This command identifies the pitches in monophonic audio and places them into a clip on a new MIDI track The track comes preloaded with an Instrument Rack that plays a synthesizer sound Using the Rack s Synth to Piano Macro you can adjust the timbre of this sound between an analog style synth and an electric piano The instrument was designed to be versatile enough to provide a good preview but can of course be replaced with another instrument if you choose I d l aoe o ama BaF a The Melody to MIDI Instrument Rack Converting Audio to MIDI 153 The Convert Melody command can work with music from your collection but also allows you to record yourself singing whistling or playing a solo instrument such as a guitar and use the recording to generate MIDI notes 11 4 Convert Drums to New MIDI Track This command extracts the rhythms from unpitched percussive audio and places them into a clip on anew MIDI track The command also attempts to identify kick snare and hihat sounds and places them into the new clip so that they play the appropriate sounds in the preloaded Drum Rack Any additional sounds such as cymbals toms or other percussion will be retained but
420. mands The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the Ar rangement View See also the editing commands gt irons ios 35 10 Commands for Tracks See also the editing commands Live Keyboard Shortcuts 596 OOT ions Yio TRISTE eno ids Gevped Teds Yt mere Nonadjacent Tracks Without Collaps CTRL arrow keys CMD arrow keys a Multiple Tracks CTRL click CMD click 35 11 Commands for Breakpoint Envelopes The shortcuts for zooming snapping drawing and loop region settings also work in the Enve lope Editor and Arrangement View See also the editing commands po Windows Macintosh Finer Resolution for Dragging CTRL CMD Enable Dragging Over Breakpoints Shift Shift 35 12 Key MIDI Map Mode and the Computer MIDI Keyboard Windows Macintosh CTRUIM CMD M CTRUIK CMD K Live Keyboard Shortcuts 597 CTRUEShIFIEK CMO I ShiFITK 35 13 Zooming Display and Selections Windows Macintosh Zoom Out Drag Click to Append to a Selection Shift Shift Click to Add Adjacent Clips Tracks Scenes to Multi Selection Click to Add Nonadjacent Clips Tracks Scenes to a Multi Selection 35 14 Clip View Sample Display The shortcuts for zooming and loop region settings also work in the Sample Display Windows Macintosh O CTRU U CMD U CTRL Shif U CMD IE ShifILU Move Selected Warp Marker right and left arrow r
421. menu When all of a Rack s views are hidden its title bar will fold into the view column making the entire Rack as slim as possible This has the same effect as choosing Fold from the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu or double clicking on the Rack s title bar If you would like to locate a particular device in a Rack without searching manually through its entire contents you will appreciate this navigation shortcut right click PC CTRL click Mac on the Device View selector and a hierarchical list of all devices in the track s device chain will Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 242 appear Simply select an entry from the list and Live will select that device and move it into view for you Navigate Racks Quickly Via a Context Menu 18 4 Chain List The Chain List in an Audio Effect Rack As signals enter a Rack they are first greeted by the Chain List We will therefore also choose this point for our own introduction The Chain List represents the branching point for incoming signals Each parallel device chain starts here as an entry in the list Below the list is a drop area where new chains can be added by dragging and dropping presets devices or even pre existing chains Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 243 Note Racks chains and devices can be freely dragged into and out of other Racks and even between tracks Selecting a chain then dragging and hovering over another Session
422. mes playing it in higher notes each time When Distance is set to a negative value the sequence will transpose lower each time The dynamics of Arpeggiator are controlled using the velocity section With Velocity set to On and Target set to O for example the sequence will gradually fade out eventually reaching O velocity The Decay control sets the amount of time Arpeggiator takes to reach the Target veloc ity With Retrigger activated retriggering of the sequence will also retrigger the velocity slope Tip The velocity section s Retrigger option can be used in conjunction with Beat retriggering to add rhythm to the dynamic slope 23 2 Chord i i i Chord i Shift 1 Shift 2 Shift 3 OAC 16 st 3 St 18 si Shift 4 Shift 5 sl 100 4 The Chord Effect This effect assembles a chord as the name implies from each incoming note and up to six others of user defined pitch The Shift 1 6 knobs allow selecting the pitch of the notes that contribute to the chord from a range of 36 semitones relative to the original Setting Shift 1 to 4 semi tones and Shift 2 to 7 semitones for example yields a major chord in which the incoming note is the root The Velocity control beneath each Shift knob makes further harmonic sculpting possible given that the instrument allows for changes in volume or timbre as function of velocity It is a relative control with a range of 1 to 200 percent 100 percent defined as play
423. meter somewhere else Because of this it s very easy to find parameter combinations that produce no sound at alll It s also very easy to create extremely loud sounds so be careful when setting levels Live Instrument Reference 469 When programming Tension it may help to think about the various sections as if they really are attached to a single physical object For example a bow moving at a slow speed could per haps excite an undamped string But if that string is constricted by an enormous damper the bow will need to increase its velocity to have any effect To get a sense of what s possible it may help to study how the presets were made You ll soon realize that Tension can do far more than just strings Live Instrument Reference 470 Max for Live 471 Chapter 25 Max for Live Max for Live an add on product co developed with Cycling 74 allows users to extend and customize Live by creating instruments audio effects and MIDI devices Max for Live can also be used to extend the functionality of hardware controllers and even modify clips and param eters within a Live Set In addition to providing a comprehensive toolkit for building devices Max for Live also comes with a collection of pre made instruments effects and tutorials These can be used just like Live s built in devices and can also give you ideas for your own device building projects Please note that this content will only be available after Max is in
424. ms B2 Devices Here FA Variant empty Stop Clips 1 0 T 6 0 ji li I p 5a F32 Fop sl i rei E E a fF dt fl li Ii Extracting Drum Chains in the Mixer Extracts MIDI Data Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 256 Automation and Editing Envelopes 257 Chapter 19 Automation and Editing Envelopes Often when working with Live s mixer and devices you will want the controls movements to become part of the music The movement of a control across the song timeline or Session clip is called automation a control whose value changes in the course of this timeline is automated Practically all mixer and device controls in Live can be automated including the song tempo 19 1 Recording Automation in Arrangement View Automation can be recorded to the Arrangement View in two ways 1 by manually changing parameters while recording new material directly into the Arrange ment 2 by recording a Session View performance into the Arrangement page 94 if the Ses sion clips contain automation During Session to Arrangement recording automation in Session clips is always recorded to the Arrangement as are any manual changes to parameters in tracks that are being recorded from the Session When recording new material directly to the Arrangement the Automation Arm button deter mines whether or not manual parameter changes will be recorded ey The Automation Arm Button E Automation and Editing Envelopes 258 Wh
425. n When an APC4O and an APC20 are connected at the same time the APC20 s buttons will default to Track Selection and its faders will default to volume allowing swift access to an expanding array of clips and tracks Using the APCAO 540 Using the APC20 541 Chapter 29 Using the APC20 The APC20 Ableton Performance Controller is a dedicated controller for Ableton Live co designed by Ableton and Akai Professional This chapter will help you set up your APC20 and introduce its capabilities 29 1 Setup The APC20 is one of Live s natively supported control surfaces page 478 so setup is easy Once the APC20 has been powered on and connected to your computer s USB port it will be automatically configured by Live If it does not configure properly you can manually select the APC 20 in Live s Preferences 1 Open Live s Preferences from the Live menu in OS X or the Options menu in Windows 2 Go to the MIDI Sync Tab 3 Select the APC20 preset from the Control Surface chooser Then select the port that the APC20 is connected to in the Input and Output choosers 9 http www akaipro com Using the APC20 542 Preferences E Control Surface input APC20 USB Audio Device USB Audio Device Dumip Takeover Mode Setting Up The APC20 29 2 Clip Launch Matrix The APC20 s matrix of buttons gives you direct access to the clips in your Session View page 87 The matrix has 40 three col
426. n the Pad Section changes its functionality based on the type of track that is currently selected e MIDI track containing an instrument the Pad Section plays notes e MIDI track containing a Drum Rack the Pad Section is divided the lower left 16 pads play the Drum Rack the lower right 16 pads adjust the loop length of the clip and the up per four rows control the step sequencer Using Push 527 Scene Grid Section Scene Grid Section These buttons also change their functionality depending on whether Session Mode or Note Mode is selected When Session Mode is selected these buttons launch Session View scenes When Note Mode is selected the Scene Grid Section determines the rhythmic resolution of re peated notes when Repeat is enabled and for MIDI tracks containing a Drum Rack determines the rhythmic resolution of the step sequencer grid Footswitches Two ports on the back of Push allow you to connect momentary footswitches Footswitch 1 acts as a sustain pedal Footswitch 2 is not yet supported but will be added in a future update Note that certain footswitches may behave backwards notes will sustain only when the pedal is not depressed Footswitch polarity can usually be corrected by connecting the footswitch to the port while depressing it but we recommend using footswitches with a physical polarity switch Using Push 528 Using the APC40 529 Chapter 28 Using the APC40 The APC4O Ableton
427. n a linear or exponential manner Live Instrument Reference 435 Velocity Zones mi ft ht ht a The Velocity Zone Editor Velocity zones determine the range of MIDI Note On velocities 1 127 that each sample will respond to The timbre of most musical instruments changes greatly with playing intensity There fore the best multisamples capture not only individual notes but also each of those notes at different velocities The Velocity Zone Editor when toggled appears alongside the sample layer list Velocity is measured on a scale of 1 127 and this number range appears across the top of the editor The functionality of the Velocity Zone Editor is otherwise identical to that of the Key Zone Editor Sample Select Zones The Sample Select Editor Each sample also has a Sample Select zone which is a data filter that is not tied to any particu lar kind of MIDI input Sample Select zones are very similar to the Chain Select Zones page 246 found in Racks in that only samples with sample select values that overlap the current value of the sample selector will be triggered Live Instrument Reference 436 The Sample Select Editor when toggled appears alongside the sample layer list The editor has a scale of 0 127 similar to the Velocity Zone Editor Above the value scale is the draggable indicator known as the sample selector The Sample Selector Please note that the position of the sample selector only
428. n and ReWire 561 Chapter 31 Synchronization and ReWire 31 1 Synchronizing via MIDI The MIDI protocol defines two ways to synchronize sequencers both of which are supported by Live Both protocols work with the notion of a sync master which delivers a sync signal that is tracked by the sync slave s MIDI Clock MIDI Clock works like a metronome ticking at a fast rate The rate of the incoming ticks is tempo dependent Changing the tempo at the sync master e g a drum machine will cause the slave to follow the change The MIDI Clock protocol also provides messages that indi cate the song position With respect to MIDI Clock Live can act as both a MIDI sync master and slave MIDI Timecode MIDI Timecode is the MIDI version of the SMPTE protocol the standard means of synchronizing tape machines and computers in the audio and film industry A MIDI Timecode message specifies a time in seconds and frames subdivisions of a second Live will interpret a Timecode message as a position in the Arrangement Timecode messages carry no meter relat ed information when slaving Live to another sequencer using MIDI Timecode you will have to adjust the tempo manually Tempo changes cannot be tracked Detailed MIDI Timecode prefer ences are explained later in this chapter page 563 With respect to MIDI Timecode Live can only act as a MIDI sync slave not a master 31 1 1 Synchronizing External MIDI Devices to Live Live can send MIDI Clock m
429. n now flip effortlessly between instrument or effect setups Crossfading Preset Banks Using Fade Ranges Crosstading Between Effects Presets Using Chain Select Zones Taking the previous example one step further we can tweak our chain select zones to produce a smooth transition between our presets To accomplish this we will make use of our zones fade ranges To create some room for fading let s extend the length of our zones a bit Setting the zones as shown maintains four exclusive values for our presets so that each still has one point where neither of the others are heard We crossfade between the presets over eight steps If this is too rough a transition for your material simply reposition the zones to maximize the fade ranges 18 6 Drum Racks We ve already talked a bit about Drum Racks and most of their features are the same as those found in Instrument and Effect Racks But Drum Racks have a slightly different layout some unique controls and special behavior that is optimized for creating drum kits Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 249 308 808 open sos Low 806 Clave 808 Tom Low Hihat Tom Mid EEEH Outp The Chain Listin a Drum Rack 1 In addition to the standard selectors found on all Racks Drum Racks have four additional controls in the view column From top to bottom these are toggles for the Input Output Send and Return sections and the Auto Select button 2 Input Output Sec
430. n of packing a Live Project in Pack format for convenient archiving and transfer To do this choose the Manage Files command from the File menu click the Manage Project button and then click on the triangular shaped fold button next to Pack ing Click the Create Pack button to bring up a file select dialog where you can specify the name and location of a new Pack file Creating a new Pack from a Project does not affect the Project If you want the Project deleted you can delete it using the browser Live employs lossless compression techniques to minimize the file size of Packs Depending on the audio materials in a Project this saves up to 50 percent in file size To unpack a Pack i e to restore the original Live Project double click the Pack file alp drag it into the Live main window or locate it via the File menu s Install Pack command Live will then install the Pack to its default location and it will appear in the Packs label in the browser 5 12 File Management FAQs 5 12 1 How Do I Create a Project A Project is automatically created whenever you save a Live Set except when you save it into a preexisting Project Managing Files and Sets 66 5 12 2 How Can Save Presets Into My Current Project You can save presets directly to the current project by dragging from the device s title bar and dropping into the Current Project label in the browser You can then use the File Management tools collect any referen
431. n such a way that all clips and instruments referencing the sample will be affected You can also use the Show in Browser command in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu to reveal the file in the browser 8 3 The Notes Box The Notes Box 8 3 1 Transform Tools The Note Box s transform tools allow for fast manipulation of a MIDI clip s contents These con trols affect the selected notes or time range If nothing is selected they affect the whole clip e the Transpose slider transposes the selection Type a number to transpose by semitones Type a note name to set the lowest note Adding a before the note name sets the highest note e the 2 and 2 buttons double or halve the playback speed of the selection respectively e Rev reverses the selection so that the last note swaps places with the first note e Inv flips the selection upside down so that the highest note is swapped with the lowest note Clip View 116 e Legato lengthens or shortens each selected note so that it is just long enough to reach the beginning of the next note e Dupl Loop doubles the material within the loop brace as well as the length of the loop brace itself zooming as necessary to show the entire loop Any notes to the right of the loop will be moved so that they maintain their position relative to the end of the loop For a more detailed discussion of MIDI editing see the chapter on this topic page 133
432. n the Session or Arrangement View containing no tracks Note that Live Clips that are imported into tracks already containing devices or clips will appear with their clip settings but not their devices You could for instance drop a bassline Live Clip on an existing track that drives a bass instrument rather than creating a new track Clips belonging to any Live Sets already on disk are also Live Clips Please see the section on merging Sets page 51 for more on this topic Note that storing default clip settings with a sample s analysis file is different from saving a Live Clip The default clip in the asd file annotates the sample with sensible default values warp gain and pitch settings so that it will play in a defined way when it is added to a Set Live Clips on the other hand are stored on disk as separate musical ideas For example you could create Managing Files and Sets 51 a number of variations from the same audio clip by using different warp pitch envelope and effect settings and store them all as separate Live Clips In the browser you could then inde pendently sort and preview these clips even though they are all referring to the same source sample 5 9 Live Sets The type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set Think of this as a single song Sets must be saved inside projects so that Live can keep track of and manage all of the various components of the Live Set Live Clips
433. narrow upper section that defines fade ranges Resizing of either section is done by clicking and drag ging on its right or left edges while moving is accomplished by clicking and dragging a zone from anywhere except its edges 18 5 1 Signal Flow through Zones To understand how zones work let s examine the signal flow in a MIDI Effect Rack Our MIDI Effect Rack resides in the device chain of a MIDI track and therefore processes MIDI signals We will assume that it contains four parallel device chains each containing one MIDI effect 1 All MIDI data in the track is passed to its device chain and therefore into the input of the MIDI Effect Rack 2 Our MIDI Effect Rack has four device chains all of which receive the same MIDI data at the same time 3 Before any MIDI data can enter a device chain it must be able to pass through every zone in that chain Every chain in a MIDI Effect Rack has three zones a key zone a velocity zone and a chain select zone Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 245 4 An incoming MIDI note gets compared to a chain s key zone If the MIDI note lies within the key zone it is passed to the next zone for comparison if it does not then we already know that the note will not be passed to that chain s devices 5 The same comparisons are made for the chain s velocity and chain select zones If a note also lies within both of these zones then it is passed to the input of the first device in that cha
434. nce deactivate grid snapping with the CTRL 4 PC CMD 4 Mac shortcut or simply hold down the ALT PC 7 CMD Mac modifier Fold Drawing Identical Velocities Left and a Crescendo Righi Tip To draw a velocity ramp with notes that are all in the same key track press Shift and click on the piano roll to select all notes within the desired key track make sure Draw Mode is acti vated and draw the ramp into the Velocity Editor while holding the Shift modifier so that you affect only the selected notes Tip 2 To draw a linear velocity ramp across a selection of notes first select the notes that should be affected using the Shift modifier to select non adjacent notes if necessary Make sure Draw Mode is not activated and draw the line into the Velocity Editor while holding the CTRL PC 7 CMD Mac modifier Notes in the Note Editor display their velocity in their coloring light notes play softly and vice versa To change the velocity of notes without the Velocity Editor open click any selected note and drag vertically while pressing the ALT PC CMD Mac modifier Vertical movements in Draw Mode correspond to velocity changes This means that with one horizontal motion and one vertical motion you can draw multiple notes and their velocities Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 145 without releasing the mouse button If you change velocity with this vertical movement Live will r
435. nd ccccssseeeeseesesees 74 Delete Time command in the Arrangement ccccsccceseseeeseees 83 in the MIDI Editor ccccecseeeeeeeeees 142 Delete Time Signature Change command 74 Delme SLC dectchesk stsvntacetenssanararaactenisan ouataie 110 Device Activator switch ccccccccecceseesesees 221 Device Chains HNC PS NG ING erick ones Solae statins Maclean adibeans at 149 SXIRCICHIN E E AT 254 Index 603 internal routing points for c0c0e 179 signal flow in ROCK Siiitit sthessienetiacns 238 WAP ZOMG Siene E 244 GOVI O Sora cbetarieieaa tao cats 23 compensating for delayS ccc00e 235 Uy TNS ROW SOW E EE 219 EE AE AE noua niet EAN 222 the Live audio effects oo cece 287 the Live instruments ccccceeeeseeeteees 375 the Live MIDI effects cccccceeteeeees 363 the Max Audio Effect 471 the Max IStEUM SCIAP xacce eorectetoen ertneceaiee 471 the Max MIDI Effect cccceeeeceees 471 using Audio Units Plug ins 066 234 USING Live devices oo eceeeeseteteeseeteeeees 219 using plug in GEVICES ceeeeeeseeeeees 226 USING VST PlUG INS ccceeceteseeseteeeesees 231 DEVICE VIEW anro nE eine 218 ANET oaee semanas ceo cawntted 46 Double Halve Original BPM buttons 123 Draw Mode sasesu nenea aannaces 263 and drawing MIDI 134 with clip envelopes ccceccceseseeereees 269 Draw Mode comman c cccccccscsseeseesesees 263 Droni Kae kse 248 load
436. nd Arrangement recording the Record Quantization setting cannot be changed mid recording When overdub recording with the Clip View Loop activated changes to the Record Quantiza tion take effect immediately and they cannot be separately undone with the Edit menu com mand Recorded MIDI notes can also be quantized post recording with the Edit menu s Quantize com mand as described in the chapter on editing MIDI page 142 16 6 Recording with Count in A count in for recording can be set via the pull down menu next to the Metronome switch When set to any value other than None Live will not begin recording until the count in is complete The Arrangement Position fields in the Control Bar display the count in in orange as bars beats sixteenths The Count In is Displayed in the Control Bar The count in runs from negative bars beats sixteenths beginning at 2 1 1 for example with a Count In setting of 2 bars up to 1 1 1 at which point recording commences Note that count in recording does not apply when Live is synced to external MIDI devices or being used as a ReWire slave page 561 Recording New Clips 214 16 7 Setting up File Types The following Preferences from the Record Warp Launch tab are relevant to the sample files that are created by recording e The sample file type you would like Live to create can be chosen from the File Type choos er in the Record Warp Launch Preferences e The bit depth of
437. nd Loop Spread Transp Detune 00 q 100 q 00 4 100 4 None w o f ost 4 oa 4 A Slope D Slope eae Timescwel Time zn i Glide Time roose roos s9 0 rooms Lost or 50 0 ms The Pitch Osc Tab The Modulation Oscillator Osc Sampler features one dedicated modulation oscillator per voice which can perform frequency or amplitude modulation FM or AM on the multisample The oscillator is fully featured with 21 waveforms available in the Type chooser plus its own loopable amplitude envelope for dynamic waveshaping Note that this oscillator performs modulation only its output is never heard directly What you hear is the effect of its output upon the multisample FM In this mode the modulation oscillator will modulate the frequency of samples resulting in more complex and different sounding waveforms AM In this mode the modulation oscillator will modulate the amplitude of samples Subsonic modulator frequencies result in slow or rapid variation in the volume level audible modulator frequencies result in composite waveforms Live Instrument Reference 444 The modulation oscillator is controlled via Initial Peak Sustain End Loop Attack and Time lt Velocities parameters For detailed information on how these work see the Sample Play back section page 437 Additionally the right side of the modulation oscillator section fea tures the following controls Type Choose the modulation
438. nd end of audio clips in the Arrangement View have adjustable volume fades Additionally adjacent clips on the same audio track can be crossfaded To access the fades for an audio track s clips 1 Unfold the track by clicking the button next to the track name 2 Select Fades in the Fades Device chooser 3 Click and drag the fade handle to change the length of the fade 4 Click and drag the slope handle to change the shape of the fade s curve Arrangement View 79 3 Audio 3 alg jj Fades in the Arrangement View You can also set the length of a fade by selecting a range of time within the clip page 80 that includes the clip s beginning or end and executing the Create Fade command in the clip s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Adjacent audio clips can be crossfaded Creating and editing crossfades is similar to creating and editing start and end fades e click and drag a fade handle over the opposite clip s edge to create a crossfade e click and drag the slope handle to adjust the shape of the crossfade s curve e select a range of time that includes the boundary between the adjacent clips and execute the Create Crossfade command from the right click PC CTRL click Mac context Menu Crossfaded Clips Selecting a fade handle and pressing the Delete key deletes the fade unless the Create Fades on Clip Edges option is enabled in the Record Warp Launch Preferences In
439. nd is easily capable of destroy ing its dynamic structure This is something that cannot be undone in later production steps Keep this in mind especially when using a compressor limiter or sound loudness maximizing tool in the master channel Less is often more here Because compression reduces the volume of loud signals and opens up headroom you can use the Output Out control so that the peaks once again hit the maximum available headroom The Output meter shows the output signal s level Enabling the Makeup button automatically com pensates the output level if the threshold and ratio settings change Live Audio Effect Reference 300 Dry Wet adjusts the balance between the compressed and uncompressed signals At 100 only the compressed signal is heard while at 0 the device is effectively bypassed The Knee control adjusts how gradually or abruptly compression occurs as the threshold is ap proached With a setting of O dB no compression is applied to signals below the threshold and full compression is applied to any signal at or above the threshold With very high ratios this so called hard knee behavior can sound harsh With higher or soft knee values the com pressor begins compressing gradually as the threshold is approached For example with a 10 dB knee and a 20 dB threshold subtle compression will begin at 30 dB and increase so that signals at 10 dB will be fully compressed Compressor s display can be
440. nding pattern Live Instrument Reference 434 Key Zones cz ier co cn Sc cs Sc Sc Sc Sc TIMTIMAMTEMEM TMAH TMTTHMOHIM THERM 3 ie sel eer TT a T famboreenccurtre es ANSI 1 itis Mmm Sere o MAN fae TUT The Key Zone Editor Key zones define the range of MIDI notes over which each sample will play Samples are only triggered when incoming MIDI notes lie within their key zone Every sample has its own key zone which can span anywhere from a single key up to the full 127 A typical multisampled instrument contains many individual samples distributed into many key zones Samples are captured at a particular key of an instrument s voice range known as their root key but may continue to sound accurate when transposed a few semitones up or down This range usually corresponds to the sample s key zone ranges beyond this zone are repre sented by additional samples as needed By default the key zones of newly imported samples cover the full MIDI note range Zones can be moved and resized like clips in the Arrangement View by dragging their right or left edges to resize them then dragging them into position Zones can also be faded over a number of semitones at either end by dragging their top right or left corners This makes it easy to smoothly crossfade between adjacent samples as the length of the keyboard is traversed The Lin and Pow boxes above the sample layer list indicate whether the zones will fade i
441. nds before starting a real time render This should allow any sound from external devices to fade out but if you need more time for example if you re waiting for a long reverb tail you can increase the wait time by typing a new number in the number box On the other hand if you re sure that your external de vices aren t making any sound you can speed the process along by pressing Skip which will start the render immediately After the render has begun the dialog changes to show a recording progress bar Rendering Audio to Disk in real time Auto Restart on drop outs Attempts 2 i Restart E Cancel j Real Time Rendering in Progress e Auto Restart on drop outs Rendering in real time requires somewhat more CPU power than non real time rendering and in some cases drop outs small gaps or glitches in the audio can occur Live detects when drop outs happen and rendering will start again from the beginning if the Auto Restart option is enabled e Restart manually restarts the rendering process e Cancel stops the rendering process and deletes the partially rendered file The number of rendering attempts if there has been more than one will also be listed in the dia log box If you find that dropouts and restarts keep happening you should close other running Managing Files and Sets 48 applications to allow more processing power for rendering Please see the chapter on computer audio resources page
442. ne 71 submixes creating SUDMIXES ccceceeeteeeeteeeeees 183 submixing With Group Tracks cccccccscseeseseseeseeees 196 Sync Delay preference ccccccceeeeeeeee 563 Index 609 Sync In Indicator saisine a 176 Sync Out Indicator saris 176 7 Takeover Mode preference ccccccceccceees 481 Tap Tempo DUNOMS sssieesu eR 118 with warping s ssssssessesesesosessoseseesesereese 128 tempo and SCENE NAMES cceeeceeesceeceeeeees 90 94 GOMANG Sasun 266 MIDI mapping ranges cceceeereeee 266 iere al E E EA E 118 SIS AEE T E S EE T 117 ol se laa ME E 118 Tempo feldesdssunaneinsudee as 104 117 Tempo Nudge button ccccceseseeeeeeeee 118 Temporary Folder preference cccc0 214 Ten Oncor a tse actebendeedennsc 457 architecture and interface 0004 457 Bodys homon a ioauaecra ee 464 Damper section sisi ciediavincens 462 EXCIIGIOR SECHOM aiicsinerccutseeieceensa Glasrianes 458 FIER secho Missense aa iterators 465 Global and Keyboard parameters 467 PICKUP SE CHOON sisted Qesten teste actrees 464 sound design HIPS cceccseseeseseeeeeeeeees 468 SMJ SECO Naa guea 460 Termination section ccceceeeeseeteeteeees 463 Vibrato section auccncrieatiean eee 461 lexie Modeen e elesantcieetaleesnil 131 Timecode Start Offset preference 563 Time Ruler Format option cccccceseeseees 563 time signature and SCENE NAMES eeeecceessceeeeeeeees 90 94 Time S
443. ne a pitch range through which notes are allowed to pass Notes outside of the defined pitch range will be blocked and the effect s LED light will flash when this happens Notes outside of the pitch range are limited based on their untransposed pitch prior to the trans position stage of the effect Live MIDI Effect Reference 370 23 5 Random Chance J 100 i Choices i Mode Sign Scale G 7 The Random Effect Random adds an element of the unknown to the otherwise commonplace pitch parameter The Chance control defines the likelihood that an incoming note s pitch will be changed by a random value You can think of it as being something like a dry wet control for randomness The random value that determines the pitch change is created by two variables The Choices control defines the number of different random notes possible from a range of 1 to 24 the Scale control value is multiplied by the Choices control value and the result dictates the pitches that random notes are allowed to have relative to that of the incoming note For example if you play the note C3 with Chance set to 50 percent Choices set to 1 and Scale set to 12 half of the resulting notes will play at C3 and half will play at C4 But with Chance set to 50 percent Choices set to 12 and Scale set to 1 half of the resulting notes will play at C3 and half will play at one of any semitone that is between C 3 and C4 These examples assume that the Sign b
444. ng Leg acy Mode option will be enabled by default when loading an old Set that uses EQ Eight You can disable this via a right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu entry in EQ Eight s title bar Note as of Live 9 the Hi Quality right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu option has been removed EQ Eight now always operates in this mode 22 11 EQ Three i EQ Three EA 1 7 GainLow GainMid GainHi j P i Pi infde 6 00dB inf de mh ia The E Three Effect If you have ever used a good DJ mixer you will know what this is An EQ that allows you to ad just the level of low mid and high frequencies independently Live Audio Effect Reference 314 Each band can be adjusted from infinite dB to 6 dB using the gain controls This means that you can completely remove for example the bass drum or bassline of a track while leaving the other frequencies untouched You can also turn on or off each band using the On Off buttons located under the gain controls These buttons are especially handy if assigned to computer keys EQ Three gives you visual confirmation of the presence of a signal in each frequency band using three LEDs Even if a band is turned off you can tell if there is something going on in it The inter nal threshold for the LEDs is set to 24 dB The frequency range of each band is defined via two crossover controls FreqLo and FreqHi If FreqLo is set to 500 Hz and FreqHi to 2000 Hz t
445. ng MIDI Repeat steps 2 5 to feed and tap additional components of your multi timbral instrument You could also put the entire system of External Instrument devices into a single track by placing each one in a Rack s device chain Note that the main outputs of the multi timbral instrument will still output to the track that contains the instrument only auxiliary outputs are available to the External Instrument device Feeding Sidechain Inputs Some effects have so called sidechain inputs A vocoder for instance imposes spectral char acteristics taken from one signal say spoken word onto another signal for instance a string pad The vocoder is inserted as an audio effect into the string track It has a sidechain input for the speech signal which has to be delivered from another track So we create an additional audio track named Speech and set its Output Type chooser to the Strings track From the Output Channel chooser we select the vocoder s sidechain input ADSI 2 Speech 3 Strings 4 ivi MIDI Fram Audio Fram Audio Fram MIDI Fram m dE Monitor Monitor Monitor Monitor Auto if Audio To T Audio To Audio To MIDI To gt f n Oron k F in Fj Routing a Speech Signal Into a Vocoder s Sidechain Input Some vocoder plug ins include a built in synthesizer to generate the carrier signal In this case the only difference from the above procedure is that the vocoder instrument
446. ng architecture allows for a variety of scenarios including routing from before or after any track s effects or mixer and tapping the output of individual sample slots within the Impulse instrument In these cases it is likely that the signal heard at the output point will be dif ferent from the signal heard prior to routing because it has been tapped before reaching the end of its original signal chain 33 2 10 Splitting Clips Clips which are already neutral will remain neutral after splitting page 84 Splitting only af fects playback position within the sample and has no effect on the sample data itself Playback across a split boundary is seamless and sample accurate The neutrality of clip splitting is tested under a variety of conditions e splitting unwarped clips with loop on and off e splitting warped but unstretched clips with loop on and off In all cases output is rendered and compared with the output of an unsplit version of the same source Phase cancellation testing of the two files confirms that they are identical 33 3 Non Neutral Operations Procedures in Live that will cause a change in audio quality are referred to as non neutral oper ations Users can be guaranteed that using these operations will cause at least some change to the signal Applying non neutral operations to files imported into Live ensures that the imported audio will differ from the files saved on disk Applying non neutral operations to files being
447. ng its respective Mixer Section selector Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay Track Delay 0 00 ms l 0 00 mg 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms 0 00 ms The Track Delay Control and Selector We do not recommend changing track delays on stage as it could result in undesirable clicks or pops in the audio signal Micro offsets in Session View clips can be achieved using the nudge buttons in the Clip View page 102 however track delays can be used in the Arrangement View for such offsets Mixing 204 Note that delay compensation for plug ins and Live devices is a separate feature page 235 and is automatic by default Unusually high Track Delay settings or reported latencies from plug ins may cause noticeable sluggishness in the software If you are having latency related difficul ties while recording and playing back instruments you may want to try turning off device delay compensation however this is not normally recommended You may also find that adjusting the individual track delays is useful in these cases Note that the Track Delay controls are unavail able when device delay compensation is deactivated Recording New Clips 205 Chapter 16 Recording New Clips This chapter is about recording new clips from audio and MIDI input signals Note that this is a different kind of recording than the capturing of Session clips into the Arrangement page A O For successful a
448. ng with Instruments and Effects 224 Default Presets Presets saved to the Defaults folders in your User Library will load in place of Live s generic de vice settings There are also Defaults folders that allow you to customize how Live responds to various user actions such as sample dropping slicing and converting audio to MIDI You can even create default presets for newly created MIDI and audio tracks so that they will load with devices already in place CATEGORIES J Sounds OO Drums Ay Instruments 4h Audio Effects MIDI Effects Max for Live lt E Plug ins Lr Clips Samples The Default Presets folders in the User Library To save the current settings of a device as a default preset open the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on the device s header and select Save as Default Preset This works for all of Live s instruments MIDI effects and audio effects including the various types of Racks page 237 If you have already saved a default preset for a particular device Live will ask you before overwriting it To create default presets for MIDI and audio tracks e Load the device s you would like as default onto a track or no devices if you would like your default track to be empty e Adjust the device parameters as you like e Open the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on the track header and se lect Save as Default Audio MIDI Track
449. ning Volume Volume D st O t 0 0 6 0 dB A 6 dB M Rae M Joep E JRate ey Brightness 00 qKey 00 dve 00 key O Pitch Envelope Destination Amount Destination Amount lt D Bleex Structure 3 1 2 Collisions LFOs Collision s two independent LFOs can be used as modulation sources for a variety of excitator and resonator parameters which are selectable in the Destination choosers Additionally they can modulate each other The LFO 1 and LFO 2 switches toggle the respective LFO on and off while the waveform choos er determines the wave shape The choices are sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and two types of noise The first noise type steps between random values while the second uses smooth ramps Live Instrument Reference 394 The switch next to the waveform chooser toggles the LFO s rate between frequency in Hertz and tempo synced beat divisions Depth sets the overall intensity of the LFO while Rate adjusts its speed The sliders below these parameters allow for additional modulations Depth can be modulated by velocity while Rate can be modulated by note pitch With Retrig enabled triggering a note restarts the LFO with the waveform phase set by the Off set parameter The Offset slider adjusts the phase Each LFO can modulate two targets which are set via the Destination choosers The intensity of the modulations is adjusted with the Amount sliders Note that these modulation
450. nitially be visible In that case you can drag the Warp Marker at the end toward the right until the eight becomes visible Manipulating Grooves You can now create any number of Warp Markers by double clicking within the clip or on tran sient locations Drag in a straight looped sample set a few Warp Markers and move them around to see what happens Warp Markers really serve two purposes 1 to provide a correct interpretation of the flow of musical time in the sample 2 to mess up the flow of time in the sample If a single event in a percussive audio loop comes late just pin a Warp Marker to it and drag the marker to the correct beat position You may want to pin the adjacent events as well to avoid affecting neighboring regions in the sample Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 125 Using Warp Markers to Manipulate the Groove Removing a sample s natural groove by applying Warp Markers is an interesting creative method particularly in conjunction with Live s ability to impose an artificial groove onto clips in real time page 155 Syncing Longer Pieces Live s Auto Warp algorithm makes longer samples and entire songs readily available for inte gration into your project You can use the browser to import long samples or MP3 AAC Ogg Vorbis Ogg FLAC and FLAC files Please note that not all of these file formats can be played in the Intro and Lite Editions When you drag an audio file into Live that
451. nt please choose Mixer from the Envelope Device chooser and X Fade Assign from the Control Mixing 202 chooser The crossfader s automation curve is accessible when Mixer is chosen from the Mas ter track s Device chooser and Crossfade is selected from its Control chooser 15 6 Soloing and Cueing By default soloing a track simply mutes all other tracks except in some cases where tracks are feeding other tracks page 179 The signal from the soloed tracks is heard through their respective outputs with the pan setting of each track preserved Soloing a clip track leaves any return tracks audible provided that the Solo in Place option is enabled in the Solo button s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Solo in Place can also be set as the default behavior by selecting the entry in the Options menu Soloing a return track mutes the main output of all other tracks but still allows you to hear any signals that arrive at the return via track sends Live allows you to replace the standard soloing operation with a cueing operation that lets you preview tracks as though you were cueing a record on a DJ mixer This allows choosing clips and adjusting effects without the audience hearing before bringing tracks into the mix In order to set Live up for cueing you must be using an audio interface with at least four dedicat ed outputs or two dedicated stereo outputs The respective settings are access
452. nvelopes Here is how automation editing works in the Arrangement 1 Drums 1 5 l 2 Chords i 2 5 aae Mixer wl int mal ain comp 4 Hiii MERE P r AN a kl haai bL lh i i i ala Automation Envelopes in the Arrangement View Automation and Editing Envelopes 262 1 To show a track s envelopes unfold the track by clicking the button next to the track name Note that for Group Tracks page 196 you may need to expand the track s height in order to see its envelopes 2 Clicking on one of the track s mixer or device controls will display this control s envelope on the clip track 3 Envelopes appear on top of the audio waveform or MIDI display An envelope s vertical axis represents the control value and the horizontal axis represents time For switches and radio buttons the value axis is discontinuous 4 The Fades Device chooser either selects audio clip fades page 78 the track mixer one of the track s devices or None to hide the envelope It also provides you with an overview of which devices actually have automation by showing an LED next to their la bels You can make things clearer still by selecting Show Automated Parameters Only from the bottom of the chooser 5 The Automation Control chooser selects a control from the device chosen in the Fades Device chooser The labels of automated controls have an LED Once an envelope has been selecte
453. o problems Note that the CPU meter takes into ac count only the load from processing audio not other tasks the computer performs e g manag ing Live s user interface Audio calculations have the highest priority in Live Therefore even if the CPU shows a high percentage of processor usage the audio stream should remain uninterrupted However non critical functions such as screen redraws might slow down because these tasks are handled only when the audio processing lightens up a bit 32 1 1 CPU Load from Multichannel Audio One source of constant CPU drain is the process of moving data to and from the audio hard ware This drain can be minimized by disabling any inputs and outputs that are not required in a project There are two buttons in the Audio Preferences to access the Input and Output Configu ration dialogs which allow activating or deactivating individual ins and outs Live does not automatically disable unused channels because the audio hardware drivers usu ally produce an audible hiccup when there is a request for an audio configuration change 32 1 2 CPU Load from Tracks and Devices Generally every track and device being used in Live incurs some amount of CPU load How ever Live is smart and avoids wasting CPU cycles on tracks and devices that do not contribute anything useful For example dragging devices into a Live Set that is not running does not significantly increase the CPU load The
454. o show only the plug in parameters that you need to access To do this e Enter Configure Mode by pressing the Configure button in the device s header e Click on a parameter in the plug in edit window to add it to Live s panel For some plug ins it may be necessary to actually change the parameter s value Additionally certain plug ins do not publish all of their parameters to Live These parameters cannot be added to Live s panel While in Configure Mode parameters in Live s panel can be reordered or moved by dragging and dropping them to new locations Parameters can be deleted by pressing the Delete key If you try to delete a parameter that has existing automation data clip envelopes or MIDI key or Macro mappings Live will warn you before proceeding The parameters that you assign are unique for each instance of a given plug in in your Set and are saved with the Set If you would like to save a setup using a particular collection of param Working with Instruments and Effects 230 eters you can create a Rack page 237 containing the configured plug in Racks can then be saved to your User Library and loaded into other Sets Certain plug ins do not have their own windows and instead only show their parameters in Live s panel For these plug ins it is not possible to delete parameters when in Configure Mode although they can still be moved and reordered There are several ways to add plug in par
455. oard Shortcuts 591 Chapter 35 Live Keyboard Shortcuts 35 1 Showing and Hiding Views Windows Macintosh O Toggle Full Screen Mode F11 CTRL F11 Toggle Session Arrangement View Tab Tab Shift Tab or F12 Shift Tab or CTRL F12 Hide Show Detail View CTRL ALT L or CMD ALT L or Shiftl F12 CTRL Shift F12 Toggle Hot Swap Mode Ca Toads un foc as ecedPod 0 11 Close Window Dialog Live Keyboard Shortcuts 592 35 2 Accessing Menus Under Windows you can access each menu by pressing ALT and the first letter of the menu ALT F for File for instance While a menu is open you can use e the up and down arrow keys to navigate the menu items e the right and left arrow keys to open the neighboring menu e Enter to choose a menu item 35 3 Adjusting Values Windows Macintosh Decrement Increment up and down arrow up and down arrow keys keys Finer Resolution for Dragging CTRL CMD Return to Default Delete Delete Confirm Value Entry 35 4 Browsing In addition to the shortcuts shown here the editing shortcuts can also be used in the browser Windows Macintosh Scroll Down Up up and down arrow up and down arrow keys keys Close Open Folders right and left arrow right and left arrow keys keys Live Keyboard Shortcuts 593 Preview Selected File Shift Enter Shift Enter TRU MOI 35 5 Transport _ irs itis Speed pee
456. occur over the period of one beat starting at the position defined by Interval and Offset Live Audio Effect Reference 294 Activating the Repeat button bypasses all of the above controls immediately capturing material and repeating it until deactivated The Grid control defines the grid size the size of each repeated slice If set to 1 16 a slice the size of one sixteenth note will be captured and repeated for the given Gate length or until Repeat is deactivated Large grid values create rhythmic loops while small values create sonic artifacts The No Triplets button sets grid division as binary Grid size can be changed randomly using the Variation control If Variation is set to 0 grid size is fixed But when Variation is set to higher values the grid fluctuates considerably around the set Grid value Variation has several different modes available in the chooser below Trigger creates variations of the grid when repetitions are triggered 1 4 1 8 and 1 16 trigger varia tions in regular intervals and Auto forces Beat Repeat to apply a new random variation after each repetition the most complex form of grid variation in Beat Repeat especially if triplets are also allowed Beat Repeat s repetitions can be pitched down for special sonic effects Pitch is adjusted through resampling in Beat Repeat lengthening segments to pitch them down without again compressing them to adjust for the length change This means tha
457. odulation affects the filter frequency The Amount control defines the extent to which the envelope affects the filter frequency while the Attack control sets how the envelope responds to rising input signals Low Attack values cause a fast response to input levels high values integrate any changes gradually creating a looser slower response Think of it as adding inertia to the response Live Audio Effect Reference 291 Lower Release values cause the envelope to respond more quickly to falling input signals Higher values extend the envelope s decay Normally the signal being filtered and the input source that triggers the envelope follower are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to filter a signal based on the envelope of another signal To access the Sidechain parameters unfold the Auto Filter window by tog gling the button in its title bar Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select another track from the choos ers below This causes the selected track s signal to trigger the filter s envelope follower instead of the signal that is actually being filtered The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob allows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the envelope follower s trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the envelope follower tracks the sidechain source exclusively At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed
458. of the clip depending on the Fixed Length setting Automation toggles Live s Automation Record button When on your parameter changes will be recorded into playing Session View clips Hold Shift and press Automation to reenable any automation that you have overridden Hold Delete and press the Automation button to delete all automation in a clip Duplicate duplicates the material you re working on into a new scene p p y g New Pressing New stops the selected clip and prepares Live to record new material This al lows you to practice before making a new recording Record Press the Record button to begin recording Pressing Record again will stop recording but will continue playing back the clip Pressing Record a third time will enable overdub mode allowing you to record into the clip while it plays back Using Push 525 Play Stop toggles the play button in Live s transport bar Hold Shift while pressing Play Stop return Live s transport to 1 1 1 without starting playback Touch Strip Touch Strip When an instrument track is selected the touch strip adjusts pitch bend When a Drum Rack track is selected the touch strip selects the Drum Rack bank Using Push 526 Pad Section Pad Section The functionality of the Pad Section is determined by the Note and Session Mode buttons When Session Mode is on the Pad Section is used to launch clips in Live s Session View When Note Mode is o
459. of Live but is a special fea ture available for purchase separately 24 3 1 Architecture and Interface The mechanism of the electric piano is actually quite simple A note played on the keyboard ac tivates a mallet that hits a fork The sound of that fork is then amplified by a magnetic coil pickup and sent to the output very much like an electric guitar The fork is made of two parts called the tine bar and tone bar The tine bar is where the mallet hits the fork while the tone bar is a tuned metal resonator sized appropriately to produce the correct pitch Once the fork is activated it will continue to resonate on its own for a long time But releasing the key applies a damper to the fork which mutes it more quickly The Electric interface is divided into five main sections some of which are further divided into related subsections The first four main sections Mallet Fork Damper and Pickup correspond to the sound producing components mentioned above The Global section contains parameters that affect overall behavior and performance such as pitch bend and polyphony 24 3 2 Mallet Section The Mallet section contains the parameters related to the physical properties of the mallet itself as well as how it s affected by your playing The Stiffness control adjusts the hardness of the mallet s striking area Higher values simulate a harder surface which results in a brighter sound Lower values mean a softer surface and a more me
460. of gain applied to the filter s waveshaper LFO Rate Modulates the rate of the LFO LFO Amount Modulates the intensity of the LFO Pitch Envelope Amount Modulates the intensity of the pitch envelope Volume Modulates Operator s global output volume Panorama Modulates the position of Operator s output in the stereo field Tone Modulates the global Tone parameter Time Modulates the global control for all envelope rates Pitch Shell and Display Pitch Envelope On This turns the pitch envelope on and off Turning it off if it is unused saves some CPU power Live Instrument Reference 420 Pitch Envelope Amount Pitch Env This sets the overall intensity of the pitch envelope A value of 100 means that the pitch change is exactly defined by the pitch envelope s levels A value of 100 inverts the sign of the pitch envelope levels Spread If Spread is turned up the synthesizer uses two detuned voices per note one each on the left and right stereo channels to create chorusing sounds Spread is a very CPU intensive effect Transpose This is the global transposition setting for the instrument Changing this parameter will affect notes that are already playing Pitch Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel This parameter exists for filter pitch LFO and vol ume envelopes It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes page 424 Glide G With Glide on notes will slide fro
461. of recorded material Its behavior changes depending on whether or not Live s global transport is running and depending on the setting of the Tempo Control chooser can set Live s global tempo e Song running If Looper s Record Length chooser is set to the default x bars Looper will Live Audio Effect Reference 334 record until you press another transport button If you specify a fixed number of bars to record by selecting another option in the chooser Looper will record for the specified time and then switch to Play or Overdub as determined by the button next to this chooser e Song not running If Looper s Record Length chooser is set to the default x bars Looper will make a guess about the tempo of the material you ve recorded as soon as you press Overdub Play or Stop But this might result in a tempo that s twice or half as fast as you d like If you first specify a fixed number of bars Looper s tempo will adjust so that your re cording fits into this time The Song Control chooser determines how Looper s transport controls will affect Live s global transport e None means that Looper s transport controls have no effect on Live s global transport e Start Song will start Live s global transport whenever Looper enters Play or Overdub mode Looper s Stop button has no effect on the global transport e Start amp Stop Song locks Live s global transport to Looper s transport controls Enter
462. of the spectrum over time This is more consistent with the way we actually hear The Graph button switches between displaying the spectrum as a single interpolated line and discrete frequency bins Max toggles the display of the accumulated maximum amplitude With Max enabled you can reset the maximum amplitude by clicking in the display The Scale X buttons allow you to toggle the scaling of the frequency display between linear logarithmic and semitone Note that logarithmic and semitone are actually the same scaling but switch the legending at the top of the display between Hertz and note names Linear scaling is particularly useful for detailed analysis of high frequencies As you move your mouse over Spectrum s display a box appears that shows the amplitude frequency and note name at the pointer s position The Range Auto button at the bottom left of Spectrum s interface toggles between manually and automatically adjusting the display s dynamic range With Range selected you can zoom and scroll the amplitude by moving your mouse over the amplitude legending on the display s left side Drag vertically to scroll and hori zontally to zoom You can also use the Range sliders to set the minimum and maximum amplitude values shown With Auto selected the display automatically scales itself based on the incoming audio level Note that in Auto mode the Range sliders and zooming are disabled Live Audio Effect Reference 356 To
463. of what s happening try using a simple continuous sine wave as your input Live Audio Effect Reference 323 22 17 Gate The Gate Effect Note the Gate effect is not available in the Lite Edition The Gate effect passes only signals whose level exceeds a user specified threshold A gate can eliminate low level noise that occurs between sounds e g hiss or hum or shape a sound by turning up the threshold so that it cuts off reverb or delay tails or truncates an instrument s natural decay As of Live 9 Gate s internal behavior has been subtly improved Although it works more cor rectly than it did in previous Live versions Live Sets that use Gate and which were made prior to Live 9 may sound slightly different To ensure that older Sets sound exactly the same the Gate Legacy Mode option will be enabled by default when loading an old Set that uses Gate You can disable this via a right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu entry in Gate s title bar Gate s display area shows the level of the input signal in light grey and the level of the output signal in a darker grey with a white outline This allows you to see the amount of gating that is occurring at any moment and helps you to set the appropriate parameters The Threshold knob sets the gate s sensitivity The Threshold value is represented in the display as a horizontal orange line which can also be dragged Return also known as hysteresis sets
464. ol As you hit the Tap Tempo page 118 button once every beat the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping You can also use tapping to count in If you are working in a 4 4 signature it takes four taps to start song playback at the tapped tempo On stage and in the studio you may find yourself in situations in which you need to adjust to sources that aren t locked to one tempo such as live musicians or turntables You can use the Nudge buttons page 118 to temporarily speed up or slow down Live s playback to match what you hear Using the APCAO 538 28 9 Crossfader The APC40 s replaceable crossfader is an essential DJ control and is also handy for controlling effect volume and modulation curves SIn C 3 Tro q a i A m E O Ti y 4 z T a oe E ray CET Bare kik n i y r arn A a os E Crossfader In Live you can set any track as an A or B destination and then crossfade page 199 be tween the A and B selections Normal wear and tear can render a crossfader obsolete The APC40 s crossfader is fully re placeable from the bottom of the device so you can extend the lifetime of this already durable unit Using the APCAO 539 28 10 Customizing the APC40 Controls You can change the assignment of all of the knobs faders and buttons on the APC4O by en abling the Remote switches in the MIDI Sync Preferences as described in the
465. ol Surface Locks Sampler to a natively supported control surface defined in the MIDI Sync Preferences guaranteeing hands on access no matter where the current focus is in your Live Set By default Sampler will automatically be locked to the control surface when the track is armed for recording A hand icon in the title bar of locked devices serves as a reminder of their statuses Save as Default Preset Saves the current state of Sampler as the default preset Use Constant Power Fade for Loops By default Sampler uses constant power fades at loop boundaries Uncheck this to enable linear crossfades at looping points Sampler gt Simpler Converts Sampler presets to Simpler presets 24 7 4 Sampler s Tabs Sampler s features are organized categorically into tabs Zone Sample Pitch Osc Filter Global Modulation and MIDI accessed from Sampler s title bar Clicking a tab will with the exception of the Zone tab reveal its properties below In addition to serving as an organiza tional aid each tab has one or more LEDs that indicate if there is modulation information in the corresponding area We will get to know Sampler by examining each of these tabs Zoned Sample Pitch Osce FilleriGlobal Modulations es MIDI amp i Sustain Mode Con Ext poa em af E L Rooikey Detune Scale Pan mpl End Release Mode oF es oa 4 fix c 4 P1202 CA 4 4 Sampler s Tabs in the Title Bar Live Inst
466. ol just beneath the Mode Live MIDI Effect Reference 366 chooser Grooves in Arpeggiator behave similarly to grooves in clips and the intensity of the groove is determined by the Amount slider in the Groove Pool page 156 With the Hold parameter active Arpeggiator will continue to play the pattern even after the keyboard keys have been released The pattern will be repeated until any other key is pressed When Hold is active and any of the original keys also remain physically held notes can be added to the pattern simply by playing them Notes can also be removed from the pattern in this scenario by playing them a second time allowing the gradual buildup and rearrangement of the pattern over time Tip If you want the pattern to stop playing momentarily deactivate Hold The Offset parameter shifts the sequence of notes in the pattern by the number of places selected 7 au with the control This is best illustrated with an example A setting of 1 makes the second note in the pattern play first and the first note last If you imagine the pattern as a circle of notes that is played in a clockwise direction from a set start point the Offset parameter effectively rotates this circle counter clockwise one note at a time changing where in the pattern play begins With the Repeats parameter the pattern can be set to repeat a specified number of times until itis retriggered A setting of inf will repeat the pattern indefini
467. omponents With large values the reflections decay more rapidly and the diffused onset occurs later A higher value can some times improve the source s intelligibility while a lower value may give a smoother decay Live Audio Effect Reference 350 Spin applies modulation to the early reflections The X Y control accesses the depth and fre quency of these modulations A larger depth tends to provide a less colored more spectrally neutral late diffusion response If the modulation frequency is too high doppler frequency shift ing of the source sound will occur along with surreal panning effects Spin may be turned off using the associated switch for modest CPU savings 22 28 3 Global Settings The Quality chooser controls the tradeoff between reverb quality and performance Eco uses minimal CPU resources while High delivers the richest reverberation The Size parameter controls the room s volume At one extreme a very large size will lend a shifting diffused delay effect to the reverb The other extreme a very small value will give it a highly colored metallic feel The Stereo Image control determines the width of the output s stereo image At the highest setting of 120 degrees each ear receives a reverberant channel that is independent of the other this is also a property of the diffusion in real rooms The lowest setting mixes the output signal to mono 22 28 4 Diffusion Network The Diffusion n
468. on The Sync Delay for a specific MIDI device appears as you select the MIDI device from the MIDI Sync Preferences MIDI Ports list To adjust the delay have both Live and the other sequencer play a rhythmical pattern with pronounced percussive sounds While listening to the output from both adjust the Sync Delay control until both sounds are in perfect sync MIDI Ports rack Sync Remote J MIDI Clock Syne Delay Syne Type Adjusting Sync Delay Synchronization and ReWire 564 31 2 Connecting via ReWire Live supports the ReWire interface for connecting with another ReWire compatible audio pro gram running on the same computer The ReWire technology developed by Propellerhead Software provides ReWire compatible programs with e common access to the audio hardware e shared transport functionality e synchronization to audio word clock and song positioning e exchange of audio streams The programs in a ReWire connection play distinct roles The ReWire master accesses the audio hardware and provides mixing facilities the ReWire slave s have no direct link to the audio hardware but instead send their audio output into the Master s mixer Common ReWire master applications are Pro Tools Cubase Nuendo Logic Digital Performer Sonar and Max MSP Common ReWire slave applications are Reason Rebirth Storm Project 5 and Max MSP Live can act as both a ReWire master and slave Note that the ReWire protocol itself does n
469. on This editing method lends itself to an efficient division of labor be tween the two hands One hand operates the mouse or trackpad while the other hand issues the keyboard shortcuts for the menu commands The menu eventually is only used as a reference for looking up the keyboard shortcuts Here is how selection works Arrangement View 81 e Clicking a clip selects the clip e Clicking into the Arrangement background selects a point in time represented by a flash ing insert marker The insert marker can then be moved in time with the left and right arrow keys or between tracks via the up and down arrow keys Holding CTRL PC ALT Mac while pressing the left and right arrow keys snaps the insert marker to locators and the edges of clips in the selected track or tracks e Clicking and dragging selects a timespan e To access the time within a clip for editing unfold its track by clicking the button next to the track name Adjusting an Unfolded Track s Height Clicking and dragging in the waveform display below the clip s horizontal strip allows you to select time within the clip Notice that you can adjust the height of the unfolded track by dragging the split line below the Unfold Track button Note that you can actually unfold all of your tracks at once by holding down the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier when clicking the Q button e Clicking on the loop brace is a shortcut for executing the Edit menu
470. on is on Live logs all of your actions into the Arrangement e the clips launched e changes of those clips properties page 97 e changes of the mixer and the devices controls also known as automation page 257 e tempos and time signature changes if they are included in the names of launched scenes To finish recording press the Arrangement Record button again or stop playback a M KEY Mio 2 D Chorus Master The Arrangement Selector To view the results of your recording bring up the Arrangement View As you can see Live has copied the clips you launched during recording into the Arrangement in the appropriate tracks Session View 95 and the correct song positions Notice that your recording has not created new audio data only clips The Session clips and the Arrangement clips in one track are mutually exclusive Only one can play ata time When a Session clip is launched Live stops playing back that track s Arrange ment in favor of the Session clip Clicking a Clip Stop button causes the Arrangement playback to stop which produces silence Arrangement playback does not resume until you explicitly tell Live to resume by clicking the Back to Arrangement button which appears in the Arrangement View and lights up to remind you that what you hear differs from the Arrangement The Back to Arrangement Button in the Arrangement View To disable all Arrangement clips simultaneously click on the Stop All Clip
471. on to enter the Volume page In the Volume page all eight pads of a column turn into a track volume fader The pads have the following values in dB from bottom to top inf 48 24 18 12 6 O 6 All pads below and including the selected value light up in full brightness to indicate the fader position Using the Launchpad 558 30 5 3 The Pan Page nowation Launchpad Pan Page Press the pan button to enter the Pan page In the Pan page all eight pads of a column turn into a track panorama knob for the selected track with left at the bottom and right at the top The pads have the following values from bot tom to top 50L 30L 15L center center 15R 30R 50R The pan control is centered when the two pads in the middle are fully lit Using the Launchpad 559 30 5 4 The Send Pages OMe 0 0 0 pa E EA E K 0S OE OE OE a a L novation Launchpad Send Page Press the snd A or snd B button to enter a Send page In the two Send pages for Send A and Send B all eight pads of a column turn into a send knob for the selected track The pads have the following values in dB from bottom to top inf 48 24 18 12 6 O 6 All pads below and including the selected value light up in full brightness to indicate the knob position The behavior of this page is similar to the Volume page Using the Launchpad 560 Synchronizatio
472. ontally to scroll the display Using this method you can zoom and scroll to focus around any part of the Arrangement with just one mouse motion 6 To have the Arrangement display follow the song position and scroll automatically turn on the Follow switch or use the Follow command from the Options menu Arrangement View 71 6 2 Transport There are a number of ways to control Live s transport with the computer keyboard and mouse 1 You can start Arrangement playback by clicking the Control Bar s Play button and stop playback by clicking the Stop button Arrangement playback can also be toggled on and off by pressing the keyboard s space bar 48 4 rong i The Play and Stop Buttons in the Control Bar 2 You can set the Arrangement playback position by clicking anywhere along the Arrange ment to place the flashing insert marker You can return the Arrangement play position to 1 1 1 by double clicking the Stop button or by pressing the Home key PC Function left arrow key Mac Arrangement Playback Begins trom the Insert Marker To continue playback from the position where it last stopped rather than from the insert marker hold down the Shift modifier while pressing the space bar 3 When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live s Look Feel Preferences clicking in the scrub area above the tracks will make playback jump to that point The size of these jumps is quantized according to the Control Bar s Quan
473. ontrol positions the track s output in the stereo field To reset the Pan control to center click on its associated triangle With multiple tracks selected adjusting the pan knob for one of them will adjust the others as well 4 To mute the track s output turn off the Track Activator switch With multiple tracks selected toggling one of their Track Activators will toggle the others as well 5 The Solo switch solos the track by muting all other tracks but can also be used for cueing page 202 With multiple tracks selected pressing any of their Solo switches will solo alll of them Otherwise tracks can only be soloed one at a time unless the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier is held down or the Exclusive Solo option in the Record Warp Launch Preferences is deactivated Mixing 194 6 If the Arm Recording button is on the track is record enabled page 205 With multiple tracks selected pressing any of their Arm switches will arm all of them Otherwise tracks can only be armed one at a time unless the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier is held down or the Exclusive Arm option in the Record Warp Launch Preferences is deactivated With Exclusive Arm enabled inserting an instrument into a new or empty MIDI track will automatically arm the track 15 1 1 Session Mixer Features 5 Aud 6Audio 7 Audio 11 Audio 12 Audio 13Au A A M M Master O Bie 8 e E Stop Clips nf 6 o qo
474. onverted MIDI clip This means that you can tune the results of the con version by adding moving or deleting transient markers in the audio clip before running any of the Convert commands Although each of the commands has been designed for a particular type of musical material you can sometimes get very interesting results by applying the wrong command For example Convert Harmony will usually create chords So running it on a monophonic clip like a vocal re cording will often generate notes that weren t present in the original audio This can be a great way to spark your creativity Using Grooves 155 Chapter 12 Using Grooves The timing and feel of each clip in your Set can be modified through the use of grooves Live comes with a large selection of grooves which appear as agr files in the browser y D sP1200 Groove Files in the Browser The easiest way to work with library grooves is to drag and drop them from the browser directly onto clips in your Set This immediately applies the timing characteristics of the groove file to the clip If you want to quickly try out a variety of grooves you can enable the Hot Swap but ton above a clip s Clip Groove chooser page 101 and then step through the grooves in the browser while the clip plays Using Grooves 156 The Hot Swap Groove Button Grooves can be applied to both audio and MIDI clips In audio clips grooves work by adjusting the c
475. or buttons arranged in a five scene deep by eight track wide grid The color coding system lets you know exactly what is happening in each clip and directional controls let you move around inside your Session View Using the APC20 543 SERRE BEES LATO AALS Lo ee ee ee ee e Session View Clip and Navigation Controls Pressing a Clip Launch button triggers the clip in the corresponding clip slot in Live If the track is armed to record pressing the button records a new clip The buttons in the matrix light up in different colors so you know what s going on e Amber this slot contains a clip e Green this clip is playing e Red this clip is recording e No color this slot is empty Many aspects of the Live interface are replicated in the APC20 You can stop all music in a track with its Clip Stop button and fire horizontal lines of clips with the Scene Launch buttons Pressing Shift and any of the Clip Stop buttons stops alll clips Using the APC20 544 The controller tells you what s going on in the software but importantly the software also re flects what s happening on the controller The clip slots currently being controlled by the APC s button matrix are shown in Live with a red border The cursor controls allow you to navigate around the Session View e Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene at a time e The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time 29
476. or returning the audio from the hardware synth plug in or ReWire device If you re routing to a hardware synth use this chooser to select the ports on your audio interface that are connected to the output of your synth The available choices you ll have will depend on the settings in the Audio Preferences If you re routing to a ReWire slave the Audio From chooser will list all of the audio channels available in the slave Select the audio channel that corresponds to the instrument to which you are sending MIDI If you re routing to a multitimbral plug in on another track in your Live Set the Audio From chooser will list the auxiliary outputs in the plug in Note that the main outputs will be heard on the track that contains the instrument The Gain knob adjusts the audio level coming back from the sound source This level should be set carefully to avoid clipping Since external devices can introduce latency that Live cannot automatically detect you can manually compensate for any delays by adjusting the Hardware Latency slider The button next to this slider allows you to set your latency compensation amount in either milliseconds or samples If your external device connects to Live via a digital connection you will want to adjust your latency settings in samples which ensures that the number of samples you specify will be retained even when changing the sample rate If your external device connects to Live via an analog connection you
477. or the Glue Compressor this temporary listening option can make it much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what s actually making the Glue Com pressor work Live Audio Effect Reference 328 Context Menu Options Oversampling can be toggled on or off via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu Enabling this option causes the Glue Compressor to internally process at two times the current sampling rate which may reduce aliasing and transient harshness There is a slight in crease in CPU usage with Oversampling enabled Note that with Oversampling enabled the level may exceed O dB even with Soft clip enabled 22 19 Grain Delay 2 3 8 0 Spray so Hz Frequency MG _Drywver gel F Time Spray Frequency Pitch Rand Pitch Feedback The Grain Delay Effect Note the Grain Delay effect is not available in the Lite Edition The Grain Delay effect slices the input signal into tiny particles called grains that are then individually delayed and can also have different pitches compared to the original signal source Randomizing pitch and delay time can create complex masses of sound and rhythm that seem to bear little relationship to the source This can be very useful in creating new sounds and textures as well as getting rid of unwelcome house guests or terrifying small pets just kidding You can route each parameter to the X Y controller s horizontal or vert
478. ording audio this condition causes a gap in the recorded sample when play ing back you will hear dropouts Do the following to avoid disk overload e Reduce the amount of audio channels being written by choosing mono inputs instead of stereo inputs in the Audio Preferences Channel Configuration dialog e Use RAM Mode page 113 for selected clips e Reduce the number of audio channels playing by using mono samples instead of stereo samples when possible You can convert stereo samples to mono using any standard digi tal audio editing program which can be called up from within Live page 54 Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 572 Audio Fact Sheet 573 Chapter 33 Audio Fact Sheet Prior to the release of Live 7 much of Ableton s development effort was focused on carefully and objectively testing Live s fundamental audio performance As a result of this testing we have implemented a number of low level improvements to the audio engine We have also written this fact sheet to help users understand exactly how their audio is or is not being modified when us ing certain features in Live that are often misunderstood as well as tips for achieving the highest quality results As mentioned above the focus of our research has been on objective that is quantifiable and measurable behavior We make no claims about what you can hear because we can t possibly predict the variables that make up your listening environment
479. ore consistent output volume and is based on the behavior of classic analog EQs To temporarily solo a single filter enable Audition mode via the headphone icon In Audition mode clicking and holding on a filter dot allows you to hear only that filter s effect on the output You can also select a band for editing by clicking near its number and then edit parameter val ues with the Freq Gain and Q dials and or type values into the number fields below each dial As boosting will increase levels and cutting will decrease levels use the global Gain slider to optimize the output level for maximum level consistent with minimum distortion The Scale field will adjust the gain of all filters that support gain all except low cut notch and high cut Live Audio Effect Reference 313 Context Menu Options Several of EQ Eight s controls are only available via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu These include e Oversampling enabling this option causes EQ Eight to internally process two times the current sample rate which allows for smoother filter behavior when adjusting high fre quencies There is a slight increase in CPU usage with Oversampling enabled Shelf Scaling Legacy Mode As of Live 9 the shape of EQ Eight s shelf filters has been improved Live Sets that use EQ Eight and which were made prior to Live 9 may sound slightly different To ensure that older Sets sound exactly the same the Shelf Scali
480. ortions of time regardless of the content The Drum Rack page 248 provides an ideal environment for working with sliced files and most of the setup happens automatically after you make a few choices Converting Audio to MIDI 150 Create one slice per 1118 Note F The current clip region is amp beats long this will result in 32 slices Slicing Preset Buill in The Slicing Dialog When you select Slice to New MIDI track you ll be presented with a dialog box This offers a list of slicing divisions as well as a chooser to select the Slicing Preset The top chooser allows you to slice at a variety of beat resolutions or according to the clip s transients or Warp Markers Since a Rack can contain a maximum of 128 chains Live won t let you proceed if your choice would result in more than 128 slices You can fix this by either setting a lower slice resolution or by selecting a smaller region of the clip to slice If your audio file is in REX format page 132 the slicing will be based on the file s internal timing information and you won t see this chooser The Slicing Preset chooser contains a few Ableton supplied slicing templates as well as any of your own that you may have placed in your User Library s default presets folder page 224 Once you ve made your slicing choices and clicked OK a number of things will happen 1 Anew MIDI track will be created containing a MIDI clip The clip will contain one note for each
481. ot consume much CPU power However as expected running two audio intensive programs on the same computer requires more resources than run ning a single program 31 2 1 Running Live in ReWire Master Mode The step by step procedure for sending MIDI to and receiving audio from a ReWire slave pro gram is presented in the routing chapter page 176 31 2 2 Running Live in ReWire Slave Mode In ReWire slave mode Live can both receive MIDI from but also send audio to the master ap plication All of Live s MIDI tracks are accessible to the master application as destinations for Synchronization and ReWire 565 MIDI signals and all of its audio tracks and MIDI tracks containing instruments are accessible as audio sources If you have not used Live yet please launch Live so that it can install its ReWire engine in your system Live will run in ReWire slave mode if it detects a running ReWire master application upon startup Therefore always start the ReWire master application first and then start Live Likewise you will first have to quit Live then the ReWire master application Live s operation in ReWire slave mode differs from the usual operation in some regards e Live will not have direct access to the audio interfaces audio input output is handled by the ReWire master application No audio input will be available to Live e The sample rate is determined by the host application rather than by Live e External synchronizat
482. ou Use a clip contain ing a beat or melody and copy it so that there are several instances of it forming a group Alter natively you can use several different beats or melodies that you want to mix together The start and end page 104 for each clip can be set differently as can clip envelopes page 267 and other clip settings As long as Follow Action Time in each clip is equal to the length of the clip that you want to play you can set up two Follow Actions with different Chance values in each clip launch a clip and surprise yourself Launching Clips 169 13 6 6 Creating Nonrepetitive Structures Follow Actions are great when it comes to sound installations as they allow you to create struc tures that play for weeks or months and never exactly repeat You can set the Follow Action Time controls in a series of clips to odd intervals and the clips will interact with each other so that they never quite play in the same order or musical position Remember that each clip can have two different Follow Actions with corresponding Chance settings have fun Launching Clips 170 Routing and O 171 Chapter 14 Routing and I O In the context of Live routing is the setup of the tracks signal sources and destinations i e their inputs and outputs Most routing happens in the mixer s track In Out section which offers for every track choosers to select a signal source and destination The mixer s In Out section is
483. ould events be played at the moment they are received which can re sult in jitter if that moment happens to occur when the system is busy or should they be delayed which adds latency Ableton s choice is to add latency as we believe that it is easier for users to adjust to consistent latency than to random jitter When monitoring is enabled during recording Live adds an additional delay to the timestamp of the event based on the buffer size of your audio hardware This added latency makes it possible to record events to the clip at the time you hear them not the time you play them For playback of hardware devices Live also generates timestamps that it attempts to communi cate to the MIDI interface drivers for scheduling of outgoing MIDI events Windows MME driv ers cannot process timestamps however and for devices that use these drivers Live schedules outgoing events internally Even during high system loads that cause audio dropouts Live will continue to receive incom ing MIDI events In the event of audio dropouts there may be timing errors and audio distortion during playthrough but Live should still correctly record MIDI events into clips Later when the system has recovered from the dropouts playback of these recorded events should be accurate 34 4 Variables Outside of Live s Control In general timestamps are an extremely reliable mechanism for dealing with MIDI event timing But timestamps are only applicable to
484. ous filterbank parameters as well Live MIDI Effect Reference 363 Chapter 23 Live MIDI Effect Reference Live comes with a selection of custom designed built in MIDI effects The Working with Instru ments and Effects chapter page 217 explains the basics of using effects in Live 23 1 Arpeggiator i i Arpeggiator EA i Style Transpose Veloci Groove Key Gale Steps t Th iy 50 2 Repeats Distance Target W inf 12 st The Arpeggiator Effect Live s Arpeggiator effect takes the individual MIDI notes from a held chord or single note and plays them as a rhythmical pattern The sequence and speed of the pattern can be controlled by the device which also provides a full complement of both classic and original arpeggiator features Arpeggiators are a classic element in Eighties synth music The name originates with the musical concept of the arpeggio in which the notes comprising a chord are played as a series rather than in unison Arpeggio is derived from the Italian word arpeggiare which refers to playing notes on a harp Live MIDI Effect Reference 364 23 1 1 Style and Rate Sections Arpeggiator s Style chooser determines the sequence of notes in the rhythmical pattern E Up and Down UpDown and DownUp Down amp Up and Up amp Down Converge and Diverge Con amp Diverge Live MIDI Effect Reference 365 O a
485. over view of your waveform When your mouse is over the Oscillator display area the cursor will change to a pencil Draw ing in the display area then raises or lowers the amplitudes of the harmonics As you adjust the amplitudes the Status Bar will show the number of the harmonic you re adjusting as well as its amplitude Holding Shift and dragging will constrain horizontal mouse movement allowing you to adjust the amplitude of only one harmonic at a time You can switch between editing the first 16 32 or 64 harmonics via the switches to the right of the display Higher harmonics can be generated by repeating the drawn partials with a gradual fadeout based on the settings in the Repeat chooser Low Repeat values result in a brighter sound while higher values result in more high end roll off and a more prominent fundamental With Repeat off partials above the 16th 32nd or 64th harmonic are truncated The right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu on the harmonics display offers options for editing only the even or odd harmonics This is set to All by default The context menu also offers an option to toggle Normalize on or off When enabled the oscillator s overall output level is maintained as you draw additional harmonics When disabled additional harmonics add additional level Note that the volume can become extremely loud if Normalize is off You can export your waveform in ams format to the Samples Waveforms folder
486. ow Display Encoder Section Tempo Section Selection Control State Control Note Section Edit Section Add Section Transport Section Focus Navigation Section Touch Strip Pad Section Scene Grid Section Overview of Push s Controls Much of Push s behavior depends on which mode it is in as well as on which type of track is selected To help you learn how to work with Push this chapter will walk you through some of the fundamental workflows and then will provide a reference of all of Push s controls Using Push 490 There are also a number of videos that will help you get started with Push These are available at httos www ableton com learn push 27 1 Setup Setting up the Push hardware is mostly automatic As long as Live is running Push will be auto matically detected as soon as it is connected to a USB port on your computer After connection Push can be used immediately It is not necessary to install drivers and Push does not need to be manually configured in Live s Audio MIDI Preferences 27 2 Browsing and Loading Sounds You can browse and load sounds directly from Push without needing to use Live s browser This is done in Push s Browse Mode Press Push s Browse button The Browse Button In Browse Mode the display shows all of your available sounds and effects The display is di vided into columns The far left column shows the specific type of device being
487. ow you to load or replace the sound of only the se lected pad Once in Browse Mode pressing other pads will select them for browsing allowing you to quickly load or replace multiple sounds within the loaded Drum Rack 27 3 2 Step Sequencing Pressing a pad also enables it for step sequencing Tip to select a pad without playing it press and hold the Select button while pressing a pad Select Button To record notes with the step sequencer press the pads in the step sequencer controls to place notes in the clip where you want them The clip will begin playing as soon as you press a step By default each step sequencer pad corresponds to a 16th note but you can change the step size via the buttons in the Scene Grid section Using Push 495 Scene Grid Buttons As the clip plays the currently playing step is indicated by the moving green pad in the step sequencer section When Record is enabled the moving pad will be red Pressing a step that already has a note will delete that note Press and hold the Mute button while pressing a step to deactivate it without deleting it Press and hold the Mute or Solo buttons while pressing a pad to mute or solo that sound respectively Mute and Solo Buttons Using Push 496 Press and hold a step to adjust the velocity and length of the step and to nudge it backwards or forwards in time Hold a Step to Adjust Note Parameters The pad colors in the step sequencer section
488. p particularly when comparing the editing options 1 Piano J 2 Strings 3 Absynth 4 MIDI BETE Ce ee E MA o Audio From Audio From MIDI From MiG From 3 Absynth _ Computer Kew All Ins lit Post Mixer E All Channes Al Channe Ext lin Monitor Monitor Monitor Monitor lim ube in in lm Autol a Audio To E Audio To Audio To MID To z OF OPO 1 2 3 CSl 5 5 5 E Recording the Output of a Complex Instrument in Audio Tracks A setup similar to the one described above page 182 accomplishes the task We have one MIDI track hosting the virtual instrument and we use additional audio tracks to record the audio result of playing the instrument Creating Submixes 2 Snare 3 Bass 4 Hi Hats 5 Submix rakes 0 c E o E E E E O Q Audio Fram Audio From Audio From Audio From a i Monitor Monitor Monitor Lin Auto on in Auto in Audio To Audio To Audio To Audio To 5 Submix 5 Submix 5 Submix e Submixing the Individual Drums of a Drum Kit Routing and O 184 Suppose we have the individual drums of a drum kit coming in on separate tracks for multitrack recording In the mix we can easily change the volumes of the individual drums but adjusting the volume of the entire drum kit against the rest of the music is less convenient Therefore we add a new audio track to submix the drums The individual drum tracks are all set to output to th
489. panel or open the File Folder Preferences by pressing CTRL PC CMD Mac There you will find the Plug In Sources section Use VST Plug in Custom Folder 1 VST Plug in Custom Folder CAProgram Files siplugins Setting up VST Plug In Sources for Windows For Windows proceed as follows 1 Use the VST Plug In Custom Folder entry to tell Live about the location of your VST Plug ins Click the Browse button to open a folder search dialog for locating and selecting the ap propriate folder 2 Once you have selected a VST Custom Folder and Live has scanned it the path will be displayed Note that on Windows Live may have found a path in the registry without the need for browsing Working with Instruments and Effects 232 3 Make sure that the Use VST Plug In Custom Folder option is set to On so that your se lected folder is an active source for VST Plug ins in Live Note that you can choose not to use your VST Plug ins in Live by turning off the Use VST Plug In Custom Folder option g Use VST Plug in System Folders Use VST Plug in Custom Folder VST Plug in Custom Folder Setting up VST Plug In Sources for Mac OS X Set up your VST Plug ins under Mac OS X by doing the following 1 Your VST Plug ins will normally be installed in the following folder in your home and local directories Library Audio Plug Ins VST You can turn Live s use of these plug ins on or off with the Use VST Plug ins
490. pe Simpler contains three classic ADSR envelopes as seen in most synthesizers for shaping the dynamic response of the sample Volume filter frequency and pitch modulation are all modi fiable by toggling their respective buttons in the envelope section Attack controls the time in milliseconds that it takes for the envelope to reach its peak value after a note is played Decay controls the amount of time it takes for the envelope to drop down to the Sustain level which is held until the note is released Release time is the amount of time after the end of the note that it takes for the envelope to drop from the Sustain level back down to zero The influence of envelopes on pitch and filter cutoff can be decided using the envelope amount Env controls in each of these sections 24 8 5 Filter The Filter section offers classic 12 dB or 24 dB lowpass bandpass and highpass filters as well as a notch filter each of which can impart different sonic characteristics onto the sample by re moving certain frequencies from the waveform The most important parameters are the typical synth controls Frequency and Resonance Frequency determines where in the harmonic spectrum the filter is applied Resonance boosts frequencies near that point The best way to understand the effects of these controls is simply to play with them The Frequency parameter can be modulated by an LFO note velocity and an envelope each of which have an amount control
491. pe of the decay can be adjusted via the Decay Slope D Slope parameter Envelope Sustain Level Sustain This is the sustain level at the end of the envelope decay The envelope will stay at this level until note release unless it is in Loop Sync or Beat Mode Envelope Release Time Release This is the time it takes for an envelope to reach the end level after a note off message is received The shape of this stage of the envelope is determined by the Release Slope R Slope value Envelope Initial Level Initial This sets the initial value of the envelope Envelope Peak Level Peak This is the peak level at the end of the envelope attack and the beginning of the Decay stage Envelope End Level End LFO Filter and pitch envelopes only This is the level reached at the end of the Release stage Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel Envelope segments will be modulated by note velocity as defined by this setting This is especially interesting if the envelopes are looping Note that this modulation does not influence the beat time in Beat or Sync Modes but the envelope segments themselves Envelope Loop Mode Loop If this is set to Loop the envelope will start again after the end of the decay segment If set to Beat or Sync it will start again after a given beat time In Sync Mode this behavior will be quantized to song time In Trigger mode the envelope ignores note off Envelope Beat Sync
492. pecific meter value for quantization and set either the note start or end or both to be quantized Quantizing the note end will stretch the note so that it ends at the chosen meter subdivision You can also quantize notes without giving them that quantized feel using the Amount control which will move notes only by a percentage of the set quantization value 10 4 8 Editing Velocities To change velocity for a MIDI note click and drag on the associated marker in the Velocity Edi tor To help you locate the velocity marker belonging to a MIDI note that may be stacked verti cally with others Live highlights the velocity marker for whichever note your mouse is hovering over Velocity changes will be shown numerically in a small display in the time ruler Changing Note Velocity Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 144 As in the Note Editor you can select multiple velocity markers to change by clicking with the Shift modifier held down Tip To set a group of notes so that they all have the same velocity select their markers in the Velocity Editor drag them up or down to either maximum or minimum velocity and then adjust velocity to the desired value As we saw earlier Draw Mode allows drawing identical velocities for all notes within a grid tile While in Draw Mode velocity drawing is limited to only those notes that are currently selected To draw markers individually as you would want to with a crescendo for insta
493. pitch envelopes only This is the level reached at the end of the Release stage Envelope Loop Mode Loop If this is set to Loop the envelope will start again after the end of the decay segment If set to Beat or Sync it will start again after a given beat time In Sync Mode this behavior will be quantized to song time In Trigger mode the envelope ignores note off Envelope Beat Sync Rate Repeat The envelope will be retriggered after this amount of beat time as long as it is still on When retriggered the envelope will move at the given attack rate from the current level to the peak level Envelope Loop Time Time If a note is still on after the end of the decay sustain segment the envelope will start again from its initial value The time it takes to move from the sustain level to the initial value is defined by this parameter Envelope Rates lt Velocity Time lt Vel Envelope segments will be modulated by note velocity as defined by this setting This is especially interesting if the envelopes are looping Note that this modulation does not influence the beat time in Beat or Sync Modes but the envelope segments themselves The filter and pitch envelopes also provide parameters that adjust the slope of their envelope segments Positive slope values cause the envelope to move quickly at the beginning then slow er Negative slope values cause the envelope to remain flat for longer then move faster at the end
494. pler instrument with this sample loaded Note If you are using an external input signal to feed your Live track using the default settings the track s Arm button in the mixer must be activated in order to hear the input through the de vices in your track s device chain On MIDI tracks this is normally activated automatically when inserting an instrument Ses 0000086 OF 2 3 5 5 All B MIDI and Audio Track Arm Buttons Working with Instruments and Effects 220 This is how you would play live instruments through effects on a track for example or use a MIDI keyboard s input to play a track s instrument Note that you can easily move from this setup into recording new clips for further use in Live page 205 If you have alternative monitoring preferences please see the Monitoring section page 172 to learn how to make these set tings To add another device to the track simply drag it there or double click its name to append it to the device chain Signals in a device chain always travel from left to right You can drop audio effects in at any point in an audio track s device chain keeping in mind that the order of effects determines the resulting sound The same is true for a MIDI track s device chain If you drop an instrument into a MIDI track s device chain be aware that signals following to the right of the instrument are audio signals available only to audio effects Signals preceding to the left of
495. ply identical Warp Markers to all This is convenient in any situation where several tracks have the same rhythm and you wish to alter the timing of each recording in the same way A common scenario would be when multi tracking a band s performance where the musicians all play in time with each other yet the timing itself is in some way flawed 9 2 4 Quantizing Audio In the previous section you learned how to adjust the timing of events in audio files by manu ally dragging Warp Markers along the timeline But it is also possible to automatically snap the entire sample to the grid at once by using the Quantize command To do this click in the back ground of the sample editor and choose the Quantize command from the Edit menu or use the CTRL PC CMD Mac hotkey This will quantize using default settings or the settings that you previously applied To adjust your quantization parameters open the Quantization Settings dialog from the Edit menu Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 129 Quantize To Current Grid Amount ae Quantizing Audio Samples Using the options presented here you can select either the current grid size or a specific meter value for quantization You can also quantize without that quantized feel by adjusting the Amount control which will move Warp Markers by a percentage of the set quantization value 9 3 Adjusting for Good Stretching Quality Live offers a number of time stretching mode
496. precise the other track keeps playing but its MIDI is Routing and I O 186 played by an instrument that is out of the mix This can be easily remedied by cutting the clips from the pad track and pasting them into a third track that can be independently muted and that can hold its own MIDI effects The original pad track now acts as a mere instrument container As we are not recording new clips into this track we can set its Input Type chooser to No Input which makes its Arm button disappear and helps to avoid confusion when the mixer s In Out section is hidden Tapping Individual Outs From an Instrument Some software instruments like Live s Impulse percussion sampler offer multiple audio outputs for the signals they produce By default Impulse mixes the output of its eight sample slots inter nally and delivers the mix at the instrument s audio out Any audio effects following Impulse in the same track process the composite signal Sometimes it is desirable to take an individual drum sound out of the mix for individual effects processing and mixing This is possible because Im pulse offers its sample slots as audio sources to other tracks T Avan 2 Snare J NLN J Bass Audio From Audio Fram MIDI Fram Audio From a hl q Al ng 1 ji Post Mixer li Monitor il Pre FX Monitor ie ii Post Ex iva ji Post Mixer jj bass Impulse jj snare a Impulse TY i ij snare b Impulse T Ji r ji tom a Impulse A F ji tom b Im
497. pulse k 4 jj pan lmpulse ij nh c impulse ij hh o Impulse Using Impulse s Individual Outs to Separately Process Sample Slots We simply create an audio track and select from its Input Type chooser the track with the Im pulse The Input Channel chooser now offers in addition to Pre FX Post FX and Post Mixer Impulse s eight individual outputs labeled according to the sample used in each slot Notice that routing an individual output from Impulse into another track automatically takes this signal out of Impulse s own internal mix This convenience is not standard behavior of most plug in instru ments however Soloing a track that taps one of Impulse s sample slots will still allow you to hear the output of that slot Routing and O 187 Using Multi Timbral Plug In Instruments Many plug in instruments support multi timbral operation A multi timbral instrument is like sev eral instruments in one with each component part or whatever term the manufacturer uses receiving MIDI on a separate MIDI channel Usually the multi timbral instrument offers indi vidual outputs so that the parts can be separately routed into the mixer Or the instrument might offer a submixer of its own 1 Bass Out Drum Out 3 Lead 4d Bass 5 Drums E a HU Wo Wu Audio From Audio From MIDI From MIDI From fi 34 Konta i 56 Konte s E All Channes f All Channes Monitor Monit r Monitor Monitor Monitor i Auto On
498. r 5 Managing Files and Sets Various types of files are used in making music with Live from those containing MIDI page 49 and audio page 41 to more program specific files such as Live Clips page 50 and Live Sets page 51 This chapter will explain everything you need to know about work ing with each of these file types in Live However we should first take a look at Live s browser through which most files arrive in the program 5 1 Working with the Browser Live s browser is the place where you interact with your library of musical assets the core library of sounds that are installed with the program any additional sounds you ve installed via Ableton Packs presets and samples you ve saved your Ableton and third party devices and any folder on your hard drive that contains samples tracks etc Managing Files and Sets 34 The Browser The browser display is divided into left and right sections called the sidebar and the content pane respectively To resize the sections drag the divider line horizontally 5 1 1 Understanding the Browser s Hierarchy Working in the browser involves choosing one of the labels from the Categories or Places sec tions in the sidebar and then selecting from the items that appear in the content pane The Categories labels show all items of a given type regardless of where they are in your library Use this section to explore and discover all of the instruments and sounds you have
499. r Effect Rack displays the Chain Select Editor These Racks have chain select zones which allow you to filter chains spontaneously via a single parameter The editor has a scale of 0 127 similar to the Velocity Zone Editor Above the value scale however you will find a draggable indicator known as the Chain selector Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 247 The chain select zone is a data filter just like the other zones although all chains in a Rack re ceive input signals only those with chain select zones that overlap the current value of the Chain selector can be addressed and thereby produce output By default the chain select zones of Instrument and MIDI Effect Racks filter only notes ignoring all other incoming MIDI events such as MIDI CCs To filter all MIDI events enable the Chain Selector Filters MIDI Ctrl option available in the context menu right click PC CTRL click Mac of a Rack s Chain Select Ruler In MIDI Effect Racks fade ranges attenuate the velocities of notes entering a chain In Instrument Racks and Audio Effect Racks which both output audio signals fade ranges attenuate the vol ume level at each chain s output So what happens then if the Chain selector is moved outside of the chain select zone where a sound is currently playing If the zone ends in a fade range the chain s output volume is attenuated to zero while the Chain selector is outside of the zone If the zone had no fade range the output vo
500. r banks for devices with more than eight parameters Using Push 520 Display Encoder Section Lo Ww Cut His ah C sut Ti n neii RES aEREEERBEEE Di beh yasai B Hz Phe End HBB ms Lb Ab s G st HB dE ALLEELE ciai Display Encoder Section The six buttons to the right of the display determine the editing mode of the encoders In all modes the ninth encoder controls the volume of the Master track or the Pre Cue volume if Shift is held Note that you can temporarily toggle to a different editing mode by pressing and hold ing the corresponding button Releasing the button will then return to the previous mode Wo Lune Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume 0 0 dB 0 0 de 00 dB 00 ab OBB ug A A db 8 8 db HHHHHI ML NRIN ENIN HANHHH J E t1 Ki Cr 2 Bss Ae S Elctre 4 Oerate 5 Tenson H Reverb B Del ad Volume Mode In Volume Mode the encoders control volume of the eight selected tracks Fan P ri i C R pi ppi eee TERT EETTT TaT o S Elctre 4 Oerate 3 Tenson H Reverb B Del as Pan amp Send Mode In Pan amp Send Mode press once to control pans Subsequent presses cycle through sends Volume SF seng A Seng E seng C Send D send E Serg F 7o12 k 47 438 inf gE HHHH f srssananauuunun x 1 Kt Cre souReean es Elctre 4 OnDaGA F Tenson H Reverb B Delas Track Mode Using Push 521 In Track Mode the encoders control track volume pan and the first six sends of the se
501. r by clicking and dragging either vertically to change their transposition or horizontally to change their po sition in time MIDI notes can also be added and deleted by double clicking when Draw Mode is inactive Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 135 Previewing MIDI Notes Provided your MIDI track s device chain contains an instrument page 217 activating the Preview switch in the MIDI Editor allows you to hear notes as you select and move them If the MIDI track is armed activating Preview also allows you to step record page 210 new notes into the clip Note velocity is adjusted in the Velocity Editor by clicking and dragging on the associated markers You can also use Draw Mode in the Velocity Editor It will draw identical velocities for all notes within a grid tile After drawing a few notes and moving them around you will probably want to know how to get around in the Note Editor So before we get into detailed editing information we will first ex plain MIDI Editor navigation Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 136 10 3 MIDI Editor Navigation and Transport Note Scale Position Is Shown Vertically and Beat Time Horizontally The MIDI Editor has both vertical and horizontal navigation Along the horizontal axis lies a time ruler which shows note position along a musical timeline The vertical axis contains the note ruler displaying octaves C 2 C8 and a representation of a piano keyboard the pi
502. r its input page 172 A key board icon appears in a MIDI track under these same circumstances Playing the Arrangement If the track is playing clips from the Arrangement a miniature display representing the Arrange ment clips being played appears 7 4 Setting Up the Session View Grid Clips arrive in the Session View by being imported from the browser or through recording page 205 Dropping Multiple Clips Into the Session View If you are dragging multiple clips into the Session View Live defaults to arrange them vertically in one track Hold down CTRL PC CMD Mac prior to dropping them so as to lay the clips out in one scene Session View 93 Clips can be moved around the Session grid by drag and drop To move several clips at once select them by using the Shift or CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier before dragging You can also click into an empty slot and rubber band select from there 7 4 1 Select on Launch By default clicking a Session View clip s Launch button also selects the clip since you will typi cally want the Clip View to show the newly launched clip However some power users don t want the current focus e g a return track s devices to disappear just because a clip has been launched especially when starting a clip in order to try it with the return track device settings Turn off the Select on Launch option from the Launch Preferences if you prefer the view to remain as i
503. r left corner TAP 123 00 mll 100 ow 4Bar The Time Signature Editor Can Change Time Signature Marker Values and Shows an Automation LED Time signature markers are not quantized they may be placed anywhere in the timeline and their positioning is only constrained by the editing grid page 82 This means that it is pos sible to place meter changes in impossible places such as before the end of the previous measure This creates a fragmentary bar which is represented in the scrub area by a cross hatched region Live is happy to leave these incomplete measures as they are but if you d like your Set to conform to the rules of music theory you can use the two right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu options to correct incomplete bars eee HA THE Delete Fragments ry Bar Time complete Frag mentam Bar Imsen Time A Fragmentary Bar and its Resolution Options Delete Fragmentary Bar Time deletes the duration of the fragmentary bar from the Arrangement thereby moving any audio or MIDI on either side of the deleted area closer together in the time line The next time signature marker will now fall on a legal barline Complete Fragmentary Bar inserts time at the beginning of the fragmentary bar so that it be comes complete The next time signature marker will now fall on a legal barline Please note that these resolution options affect all tracks deleting and inserting time changes
504. r own 5 5 4 Template Sets Use the File Folder Preferences Save Current Set as Default button to save the current Live Set as the default template Live will use these settings as the initialized default state for new Live Sets You can use this to pre configure e Your multichannel input output setup e Preset devices like EQs and Compressors in every track Managing Files and Sets 54 e Computer key mappings page 487 e MIDI mappings page 477 The template Live Set Template als is located in Live s Preferences folder and can be copied or deleted from there The easiest way to locate this folder is to search your disk for Template u als In addition to the template Set that loads by default the Live Library contains a folder called Templates This is a collection of Sets with pre configured tracks and routing configurations for a variety of common recording scenarios 5 5 5 Viewing and Changing a Live Set s File References To view a list of the files referenced by the current Live Set choose the Manage Files command from the File menu click the Manage Set button and then click the View Files button Live will display one line for each file used by the Live Set To list all clips or instruments in the Live Set where the file is actually used click the triangle to expand the line Here is what you can do e Replace a file Dragging a file from the browser and dropping it on an entry in t
505. r that only the con trols that are shown with a red overlay are available for mapping 3 Press the computer key to which you wish to assign the control The details of your new mapping will be displayed in the Mapping Browser 4 Leave Key Map Mode by pressing Live s KEY switch once again The Mapping Browser will disappear but your mappings can be reviewed at any time simply by entering Key Map Mode again Keyboard assignments can produce the following effects in Live e Clips in Session View slots will be affected by mapped keys according to their Launch Mode settings page 162 e Keys assigned to switches will toggle switch states e Keys assigned to radio buttons will toggle through the available options Please be sure not to confuse this remote control functionality with Live s ability to use the com puter keyboard as a pseudo MIDI keyboard page 174 that can generate MIDI notes from computer keystrokes for use with instruments MIDI and Key Remote Control 488 Using Push 489 Chapter 27 Using Push Ableton Push is an instrument for song creation that provides hands on control of melody and harmony beats sounds and song structure In the studio Push allows you to quickly generate clips that populate Live s Session View as you work entirely from the hardware On stage Push serves as a powerful clip launching controller Push s controls are divided into a number of sections as shown in the diagram bel
506. r tracks to a new scene and continues playing them back seamlessly This behavior can be changed by changing the Workflow mode in Push s User preferences page 513 New Button 27 3 4 Fixed Length Recording Press the Fixed Length button to set the size of new clips to a predetermined length Using Push 499 Fixed Length Button Press and hold Fixed Length to set the recording length Fixed Length Recording Options When Fixed Length is disabled new clips will continue to record until you press the Record New or Play Stop buttons Tip enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars of the clip depending on the Fixed Length setting 27 3 5 Changing the Loop Length The Loop Length controls allow you to set the length of the clip s loop To create a one bar loop that starts at the beginning of the clip press and release the upper left pad in this area To cre ate a longer loop press and hold the upper left pad then press and release the second pad to Using Push 500 change the loop length to two bars Each pad in the Loop Length Controls area corresponds to one of 16 possible bars Each Loop Length Pad Corresponds to One Bar 27 4 Additional Recording Options 27 4 1 Recording with Repeat With Push s Repeat button enabled you can hold down a pad to play or record a stream of continuous rhythmically even notes This is useful for recording steady hi h
507. r works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader except that it allows crossfad ing not only two but any number of tracks including the returns rp lll lL mom hl Mm om ll ae ue ie ae l 4 5 6 7 5 5 5 5 g The Crossfader and Selector The crossfader is accessed via the Session View s mixer selectors It features seven different crosstade curves so that you can choose the one that fits your style the best To change the curve right click PC CTRL click Mac on the crossfader then select an entry from the con text menu Mixing 200 Dipped Intermediate Constant Power Slow Fade slow Cul Fast Cut k Transition B Retumto Defaut Del Choose from Seven Crossfader Curves The chart below details the power level and response of each crossfader curve A B Power Level Crossfader Response Transition Dipped Intermediate Constant es Power Slow Fade Slow Cut Fast Cut Crossfader Curve Properties The crossfader can be mapped to any continuous MIDI controller absolute or incremental page 477 In addition to the crossfader s central slider its absolute left and right positions are Mixing 201 separately available for MIDI or keyboard mapping There are two special scenarios for remote control with respect to the crossfader e A key mapped to any one of the three assignable crossfader positions left center or right will toggle the crossf
508. rack is frozen the applied effects are not being calculated at all and therefore cannot change their response to reflect edited input material When the track is again unfrozen all effects will be recalculated in real time 4 Seth a r e AA a tAudio H Revert x i eee z g may y 2N A Frozen Arrangement Track with a Reverb Tail Frozen Arrangement View tracks will play back any relevant material extending beyond the lengths of their clips e g the tails of Reverb effects These frozen tails will appear in the Ar rangement as crosshatched regions located adjacent to their corresponding clips They are treated by Live as separate temporary clips that disappear when unfrozen since the effect is then calculated in real time Therefore when moving a frozen clip in the Arrangement you will usually want to select the second frozen tail clip as well so that the two remain together For frozen Session clips only two loop cycles are included in the frozen clip which means that clips with unlinked clip envelopes page 275 may play back differently after two loop cycles when frozen The samples generated by the Freeze Track command are stored in your temporary recording folder until you save your Live Set at which point they are moved to the following project folder sub directory Samples Processed Freeze Please note that freeze files for tracks that contain an External Instrument or External Audio Effect will
509. ranges as evenly as possible around their root keys but without overlapping For layers that share a root key the ranges will be distributed evenly Live Instrument Reference 433 Small Medium Large Adjusts the zoom level of the Zone Editor Show in Browser Navigates to the selected sample in the browser and selects it Manage Sample Opens the File Manager and selects the chosen sample Normalize Volume Adjusts Sampler s Volume control so that the highest peak of each selected sample uses the maximum available headroom Normalize Pan Adjusts Sampler s Pan control so that each selected sample has equal volume across the stereo spectrum Note that this does not necessarily return panned stereo samples to the center position rather Live intelligently calculates a pan position for an even stereo spread Select All With Same Range Selects all layers whose zone range matches the currently se lected layer The results will change depending on which Zone Editor Key Velocity or Sample Select is active Sort Alphabetically Ascending and Descending Arranges samples alphabetically according to their names Sort by Key Ascending and Descending Sorts key zones in an ascending or descending pattern Sort by Velocity Ascending and Descending Sorts velocity zones in an ascending or de scending pattern Sort by Selector Ascending and Descending Sorts sample select zones in an ascending or desce
510. rcent the Gate parameter will double a note s length When the device is set to trigger from a Note Off event the moment at which a played note is released the timing of an incoming note will be delayed by its length because it will be starting at the point at which it would have been stopping Note Length s other settings will then deter mine the duration of the newly triggered note Three other parameters are available when the device is triggering from Note Off messages Live MIDI Effect Reference 369 On Off Balance This determines the velocity of the output note It is a balance between the incoming note s Note On and Note Off velocities If your MIDI keyboard does not support MIDI Note Off velocity you can just set this to zero Decay Time This is the time needed for an incoming note s velocity to decay to zero The decay begins immediately from the moment the device receives a MIDI Note On message The value at the time of Note Off will become the velocity of the output MIDI note Key Scale The pitch of incoming notes can be used to alter the length of the output notes With positive values notes below C3 will be made progressively longer and notes above C3 will be made shorter Negative values will invert this relationship 23 4 Pitch Pitch The Pitch Effect Pitch is a transposition tool that changes incoming note pitch by 128 semitones The Range and Lowest controls act together to defi
511. re a folder Unfolding a Set to Reveal its Contents You can now drag the individual tracks and drop them as described at the beginning of this section Any grooves page 155 that were saved with your Set are also available as a folder within the unfolded Set Managing Files and Sets 53 In addition to unfolding Sets you can further unfold the tracks within the Sets to access the indi vidual Session View clips that were used on the track CATEGORIES Name J Sounds Beatbox alc Bo Drums HE Blue in Green alc Ay Instruments hum bassline aif ah Audio Effects 7 MarimbaPadSketch als T MIDI Effects a 1 Ambient Andromeda Horizon D Max for Live 2 Bright Marimba SF Plug ins Clips i Samples Revealing the Session View Clips Contained in a Set You can browse preview and import Session View clips from the Set as if they had been stored as individual Live Clips This means that any Live Set can serve as a pool of sounds for any other suggesting creative reuse and crossover 5 5 3 Exporting Session Clips as New Sets You can export a selection of Session View clips as a new Live Set by dragging them to the browser To export a Set first click and drag or use the Shift or CTRL PC ALT Mac modi fiers to select more than one Session View clip Then simply drag and drop the clips into the Current Project or any user folder where you can either confirm Live s suggested name or type in one of you
512. re adjusted with the surprise Mass and Stiffness knobs while Velocity controls the speed at which the hammer is struck against the string As with the Bow excitator these three parameters can be further modulated by note velocity and pitch by adjusting the Vel and Key sliders The behavior of the hammer is further controlled by the Damp ing knob which adjusts how much of the hammer s impact force is absorbed back into the ham mer It is somewhat analogous to the Stiffness parameter but instead of controlling the stiffness of the hammer s surface it adjusts the stiffness of the virtual spring that connects the hammer to the mass that powers it As you increase the Damping amount the interaction between the ham mer and string will become shorter generally resulting in a louder brighter sound Plectrum a plectrum or pick is associated with instruments such as guitars and harpsichords It can be thought of as an angled object placed under the string that snaps the string into motion The Protrusion knob adjusts how much of the plectrum s surface area is placed under the string Lower values results in a thinner smaller sound as there is less mass setting the string into mo tion The Stiffness Velocity and Damping knobs behave similarly to the Hammer mode Protru sion Stiffness Velocity and Position can be modulated by velocity or note pitch via the Vel and Key sliders The Position knob is applicable to each ex
513. re in the scrub area or in the beat time ruler Looping Clips To have the clip play as a potentially infinite loop turn on the Loop switch Note that the Warp switch must be activated before the Loop switch is accessible as unwarped clips cannot be looped You can click and drag to change the position and length of the loop brace in the Sample Dis play or you can type exact values into the Loop Length and Position fields to the left of the dis play Clip View 108 T Position Sei Length Geb The Clip Loop Controls The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and its position changed with commands from the computer keyboard e the left and right arrow keys nudge the loop brace to the left right by the current grid set ting page 82 e the up and down arrow keys shift the loop brace left right in steps the size of its length e CTRL PC CMD Mac plus the left or right arrow shortens or lengthens the loop brace by the current grid setting e CTRL PC CMD Mac plus the up or down arrow doubles or halves the loop length e MIDI clips only The loop s length and its contents can be duplicated at once via the Edit Menu s Duplicate Loop command Any notes to the right of the loop will be moved so that they maintain their position relative to the end of the loop Regardless of the position of the loop brace clip play will begin at the position marked by the start marker which means you can
514. ready be available for download Please check on our website now or choose the Check for Updates command from the Help menu We hope you enjoy using Live and that it enhances your creative process Your Ableton Team 1 2 What s New in Live 92 1 2 1 Session View Automation e Automation can now be recorded drawn and edited in Session View clips page 258 Automation envelopes appear in a clip s Device and Control Choosers alongside modula tion envelopes Automation in Session clips becomes timeline automation when recording from the Session to the Arrangement and vice versa when bringing Arrangement clips back to the Session 1 http www ableton com downloads Welcome to Live 4 1 2 2 Envelope Editing Improvements e Envelope breakpoints are now created by single clicking on the envelope When hover ing over the envelope a pseudo breakpoint appears to show where the breakpoint will be placed after clicking Hovering near the envelope or holding the Shift modifier while clicking on an envelope segment a portion of the envelope between breakpoints now selects the entire segment e Clip Envelopes in Linked mode will now respond to changes in the clip s Warp Markers page 278 1 2 3 Envelope Curves It is now possible to create convex and concave curves in all breakpoint envelopes in both the Arrangement timeline and in clips Curves are created and adjusted by holding the ALT PC ALT Mac modifier while
515. rectly from the Session or Arrangement View with their right click PC CTRL click Mac context menus Clip View 101 8 1 2 Clip Name and Color The Clip Name field allows naming the clip By default a clip s name matches the name of the file it references but in general the clip name is independent from the file name You can also rename a clip by selecting it in the Session grid or Arrangement View and using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the clip s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu This method also allows you to create your own info text for the clip via the Edit Info Text command Renaming an audio clip does not rename the referenced sample file To rename a file select it in Live s browser and then choose the Edit menu s Rename command The Clip Color chooser allows choosing a clip color 8 1 3 Clip Signature Using the Clip Signature fields you can specify the time signature of a MIDI or audio clip This setting is relevant only for display it does not affect playback Please note that Clip Signature is completely separate from the project s time signature and can be set independently for each clip This makes it easy to create complex polymetric textures by simultaneously triggering clips with different meters and or loop lengths 8 1 4 Clip Groove Chooser The Clip Groove chooser selects the groove used for the clip from the grooves available in the Groove Pool page 156 The
516. regated Locating and Collecting Instead of having to deal with problems while you are in a creative mode you might prefer put ting aside some dedicated housekeeping time to solve all the problems in one go Using Live s Managing Files and Sets 64 File Manager you can find missing files and collect external files not only for the current Live Set but also for e The User Library choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the Manage User Library button e The current Live Project choose the Manage Files command from the File menu then click the Manage Project button e Any Live Project right click PC CTRL click Mac on a Project in the browser s con tent pane and choose the Manage Project option e All Projects found in a specific folder and its sub folders right click PC CTRL click Mac on a folder in the browser and choose the Manage Projects command e Any selection of Live Sets Live Clips Live Presets right click PC CTRL click Mac on the respective items in the browser and choose the Manage Files command Remember to click the Collect and Save button at the bottom of the File Manager when you are finished Otherwise your changes will be discarded 5 10 Finding Unused Files Live s File Manager can find the unused files in a Project for you You can then review them and decide to delete them individually or collectively When searching for unus
517. repre sented in the following diagram MIDI Fact Sheet 588 Live MIDI Clip MIDI to Audio _ Audio Recording another instance of Live Audio Clip MIDI Output Test Configuration In all cases the output tests showed comparable results to the input tests 34 5 Tips for Achieving Optimal MIDI Performance In order to help users achieve optimal MIDI performance with Live we have provided a list of recommended practices and program settings e Use the lowest possible buffer sizes available on your audio hardware thereby keeping latency to a minimum Audio buffer controls are found in the Audio tab of Live s Prefer ences and vary depending on the type of hardware you re using For more information see the Lesson Setting Up Audio I O Use a high quality MIDI interface with the most current drivers in order to ensure that MIDI timestamps are generated and processed as accurately as possible Do not enable track monitoring if you are recording MIDI while listening directly to a hard ware device such as an external synthesizer as opposed to listening to the device s audio through Live via the External Instrument device Likewise disable track monitoring when recording MIDI data that is generated by another MIDI device such as a drum machine When monitoring is enabled Live adds latency to compensate for playthrough jitter Therefore it is important to only enable monitoring when actually playing through
518. rial that you overdub after enabling Reverse will be played forward Note that disabling Reverse will then swap this behavior the original material will play forward again while the material that was overdubbed while Reverse was enabled will play backwards Engaging the Reverse button is subject to the Quantization chooser setting Feedback sets the amount of previously recorded signal that is fed back into Looper when over dubbing When set to 100 the previously recorded material will never decrease in volume When set to 50 it will be half as loud with each repetition Any changes to the Feedback amount won t take effect until the next repetition Note that Feedback has no effect in Play mode each repetition will be at the same volume The Input gt Output chooser provides four options for monitoring Looper s input e Always allows the input signal to be heard regardless of Looper s playing or recording state You ll typically want to choose Always when using Looper as an effect in a single track e Never means that the input signal will never be heard You ll typically want to choose Never when using Looper as an effect in a return track where it may be fed by send levels from a variety of other tracks e Rec OVR means that the input is only audible when recording or overdubbing but not when Looper is in Play mode or stopped This is useful for situations in which you are feed ing audio to multiple tracks each containing its o
519. ring gaps in video Live s Video Window will display a black screen gaps in audio will play silence 21 2 3 Clip View Soundtrack composers will want to note the Tempo Master option in Live s Clip View When scoring to video video clips are usually set as tempo masters while audio clips are left as tempo slaves These are therefore the default warp properties of clips in the Arrangement View In this scenario adding Warp Markers to a video clip defines hit points that the music will sync to Note that a video clip s Warp switch needs to be activated in order for the clip to be set as the tempo master Working with Video 282 Clip Sample 1 13 14 14 MUSIC THe WMUWSHC THAT FOLLy ciarn 44 0 kH 16 Ba z2 Ch 1 1 1 Signature Edil Save Rev Seq BPM End 4 ii 4 Hi RANI BS 70 Bll 1 1 Groove E Transp se 2 z Loc None Beals Pasilian oe Preserve Lt Sf l r l 1 168 Dejurme Length 100 D gi 0 00 dE 4 Oy O Setting a Video Clip as Tempo Master Remember from the Audio Clips Tempo and Warping chapter page 117 that although any number of warped Arrangement clips can have the Tempo Master option activated only the bottom most currently playing clip is the actual tempo master This also means that it is possible for video clips that are not the current tempo master to become warped resulting in warped video output in the Video Window Warp Markers While dragging a Warp Marker belonging to a video clip you
520. rking with only the currently selected clip In Scene Workflow e Duplicate creates a new scene containing all of the currently playing clips and seamlessly switches to playing them back This is the same as the Capture and Insert Scene command in Live s Create menu page 93 e New is identical to Duplicate except that it does not duplicate the currently selected clip Instead an empty clip slot is prepared allowing you to create a new idea in the current Using Push 516 track e the Up Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene Playback of the clips in the new scene begins seamlessly In Clip Workflow e Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in a new scene while continuing playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks e New prepares an empty clip slot on the currently selected track Clips in other tracks are not affected e the Up Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene Playback of the currently select ed track s clip in the new scene begins seamlessly Clips in other tracks are not affected 27 12 Push Control Reference The function of each section and control is explained below Focus Navigation Section Focus Navigation Section Using Push 517 Note Mode when selected the Pad Section changes its functionality based on the type of track that is currently selected e MIDI track containing an instrument the pads plays notes e MIDI track containing
521. rol which can be set in terms of Hertz Rate can also be synced to the song tempo and set in meter subdivisions e g sixteenth notes The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by setting the LFOs to run at the same fre quency but offsetting their waveforms relative to each other Set this to 180 and the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase 180 degrees apart so that when one reaches its peak the other is at its minimum Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to each other Each stereo channel is modulated at a different frequency as determined by the Spin amount When using the random waveform the Phase and Spin controls are not relevant and do not af fect the sound The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals This knob is called Mix when Drive is enabled Note that the Drive effect is post Mix which means that you can use Frequency Shifter as a pure distortion effect by enabling Drive and setting Mix to 0 Frequency shifting is accomplished by simply adding or subtracting a value in Hertz to the in coming audio This is distinct from pitch shifting in which the ratios of the incoming frequencies and thus their harmonic relationships are preserved For example imagine you have an incom ing audio signal consisting of sine waves an octave apart at 440 Hz and 880 Hz To pitch shift Live Audio Effect Reference 322 this up an octave we multiply these frequencies by two resulting
522. rols Sample Sshicert Brigt The Sample Box Warp Controls When the Warp switch is off Live plays the sample at its original normal tempo irrespective of the current Live Set tempo This is useful for samples that have no inherent rhythmic structure percussion hits atmospheres sound effects spoken word and the like Turn the Warp switch on to play rhythmically structured samples such as sample loops music recordings complete music pieces etc in sync with the current song tempo Clip View 104 Tanga i 464 O 4 Bar The Control Bar s Tempo Field To verify this note that a warped sample s speed follows the tempo as you change the Control Bar s Tempo control Live offers a number of controls to adjust the time warping engine for optimal stretching qual ity page 129 For accurate warping Live needs to know the sample s metrical structure For properly prepared loops tempo and duration are calculated automatically most of the time this is accurate enough that the sample is immediately ready for use in Live For other samples you may have to provide some hints We will examine these topics thoroughly in the Audio Clips Tempo and Warping chapter page 117 8 2 2 Sample Loop Region and Display Zooming and Scrolling foo eee ee ee T Audig arr rr eH The Clip Zoom Scroll Area Zooming and scrolling in the Sample Display work much like they do in the Arrangement View When Warp i
523. rom C 1 to C5 It can also be detuned in cents using the Fine parameter The Decay parameter lets you adjust the amount of time it takes for the resonators to be silent after getting an input signal The longer the decay time the more tonal the result will be similar to the behavior of an undamped piano string As with a real string the decay time depends on the pitch so low notes will last longer than higher ones The Const switch holds the decay time constant regardless of the actual pitch Resonators provides two different resonation modes Mode A provides a more realistic sounding resonation while Mode B offers an effect that is especially interesting when Resonator l s Note parameter is set to lower pitches The brightness of the resulting sound can be adjusted using the Color control All of the resonators have an On Off switch and a Gain control A resonator that is turned off does not need CPU Turning off the first resonator does not affect the other ones Resonators II through V follow the Note parameter defined in Resonator but they can each be individually transposed 24 semitones using the Pitch controls and detuned in cents using the Detune controls The output section features the obligatory Dry Wet control and a Width parameter that affects only the wet signal and blends the left and right outputs of Resonators II V into a mono signal if set to zero Live Audio Effect Reference 349 22 28 Reverb O Reverb m Inp
524. rom the File menu clicking the Manage Set button and then clicking the Locate button found in the Missing Managing Files and Sets 60 Files section The File Manager will present you with a list of the missing files and associated controls Missing Media Files 3 of the referenced files are missing Tall me more b Automatic Search Go gt Me a Name Location 6 b 0001 4 Audio wav Missing 6 b CS Step Sequencer amad Missing EN b Seen AWS 04 07 06 1 wav Missing The File Manager s List of Missing Files 5 7 1 Manual Repair NA NA NA To manually fix a broken file reference locate the missing file in the browser drag it over to the File Manager and drop it on the respective line in the list of missing files Note that Live will not care if the file you offer is really the file that was missing 5 7 2 Automatic Repair Live offers a convenient automatic search function for repairing file references To send Live on a search click the Automatic Search section s Go button To reveal detailed options for guiding the automatic search function click the neighboring triangular shaped button Managing Files and Sets 61 AJ WNS Sing Mea Filles ft 3 of the referenced files are missing Tall me more Tv Automatic Search Search folder Drop cusiom folder here Set Folder J Search Project Search Library Name Location Candi 0004 4 Audio wayv Missing NIA amp CS Step Saquencer ams d
525. rom two views 24 13 The Arrangement View Mixer In the Arrangement View the mixer appears as a horizontal strip to the right of the track area To display all mixer controls for a track unfold the track using the button next to its name and adjust its height accordingly Mixing 192 Q il Ls EF a e The Session View Mixer The Session View is a standard vertical mixer layout which you may find more intuitive than the Arrangement mixer Note that the Tab key toggles between the Arrangement and Session Views The View menu options listed below show or hide mixer components You can use different mixer view setups in the Session View and in the Arrangement View e In Out e Sends e Returns e Mixer e Track Delays e Crossfader The Mixer Section selectors on the right hand side of the screen duplicate the View Menu com mands making it possible to quickly show or hide different mixer components Mixing 193 The Mixer Section Selectors Let s look at the mixer controls 1 5 5 0 3 z a a 2 3 2 il T T P al r g 2 7 E 4l H mi m B The Mixer Controls 1 The Meter shows the track s RMS average and peak output level While monitoring how ever it shows the input level 2 The Volume control adjusts the track s output level With multiple tracks selected adjusting the volume of one of them will adjust the others as well 3 The Pan c
526. rrent song tempo Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 120 To direct Live s assumptions about new samples use the Record Warp Launch tab of Live s Preferences If the Auto Warp Long Samples preference is on Live assumes that long samples contain music that should be played in sync with the Live Set s tempo If you would rather have Live default to playing long samples as they are disengage this preference 9 2 1 Tempo Master Slave All warped clips in the Arrangement View have one further option They can be defined as tem po masters by toggling their Master Slave switches Any number of clips can be set as fempo masters but only one clip at a time can actually be the tempo master This distinction is always granted to the bottom most currently playing clip in the Arrangement View The clip that is the current tempo master will play as if warping was off but with one important difference the rest of the Live Set will be warped so that it plays in sync with the current tempo master This is achieved by adding tempo automation to the Master track for the duration of the tempo master clip You will notice that the Tempo field in Live s Control Bar becomes disabled in this state this is because all tempo control is handed over to the tempo master clip When toggling a clip s Master Slave switch or when deleting a clip that was set as tempo master the Master track tempo automation is removed again restoring the proper tempo to
527. rument Reference 430 24 7 5 The Zone Tab EA sampe Pitcn Ose The Zone Tab Clicking on the Zone tab toggles the display of Sampler s Zone Editor which offers a hands on interface for mapping any number of samples across three types of ranges the Key Zone the Velocity Zone and Sample Select Editors respectively Pulse Bass C1 The Zone Editor opens in its own dedicated view directly above the Device View When used in conjunction with Sampler s other tabs this layout greatly accelerates the creation and editing of multisamples On the left side of the Zone Editor is the sample layer list where multisamples are organized All of the individual samples belonging to a multisample are shown in this list where they are referred to as layers For complex multisamples this list can be quite long The rest of the view is occupied by one of three editors that correspond to the sample layers the Key Zone Editor page 434 the Velocity Zone Editor page 435 and the Sample Select Editor page 435 These editors can be horizontally zoomed by right clicking PC CTRL clicking Mac within them to bring up a context menu and selecting Small Medium or Large Auto Select Auto As MIDI notes arrive at Sampler they are filtered by each sample layer s key velocity and sample select zones With Auto Select enabled all sample layers that are able Live Instrument Reference 431 to play an incoming no
528. ry out the following shape anywhere on the grid C Major Chord Using Push 505 27 5 1 Playing in Other Keys Press Push s Scales button to change the selected key and or scale Scales Button Using the display and the Selection and State Control buttons you can change the key played by the pad grid The currently selected key is marked with an arrow in the display Key and Scale Selection In addition to changing the key you can also change the layout of the grid using the two buttons on the far right Fixed Y N When Fixed Mode is on the notes on the pad grid remain in the same positions when you change keys the bottom left pad will always play C except in keys that don t contain a C in which case the bottom left pad will play the nearest note in the key When Fixed is off the notes on the pad grid shift so that the bottom left pad always plays the root of the selected key Using Push 506 In Key Chromatic With In Key selected the pad grid is effectively folded so that only notes within the key are available In Chromatic Mode the pad grid contains all notes Notes that are in the key are lit while notes that are not in the key are unlit By default the pads and scale selection options indicate major scales You can change to a variety of other scale types using the two buttons on the far left Holding the Shift button while in Scales mode allows you to access a number of additional note layou
529. s The pitch envelope can be turned on or off for each individual oscillator and for the LFO using the Destination A D and LFO buttons in its display The intensity of this envelope s modulation of these targets can be adjusted by the Dest A slider and the envelope can be turned off altogether via the switch in the pitch section of the shell Like the LFO the pitch envelope can modulate an additional parameter as chosen by the Dest B chooser The intensity of this modulation is determined by the Amt B slider and the main Pitch Env value The pitch and filter envelopes each have an additional parameter called End which determines the level the envelope will move to after the key is released The rate of this envelope segment is determined by the release time Tip If the pitch envelope is only applied to the LFO and is looping it can serve as another LFO modulating the rate of the first And since the envelope of the LFO itself can loop it can serve as a third LFO modulating the intensity of the first Live Instrument Reference 414 24 6 5 Filter Section Filter Freq GG Pi A ane Envelope ilter High 24B Li l EUs E Thal Aa KJ Toa Hz TR Pry p i oAttack Decay Release eggyel Shaper rar Res 2 G2 mi o Or oF g A i Initial Peak Sustain Envelope Fregskey Drive D 0 0 dB Loop End Ory et a i it BEB j i 100 4 Operator s Filter Section Operator s filters can be very
530. s Windows e Interface A The maximum jitter was 4 ms with the majority of the jitter occurring at 1 ms e Interface B For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 3 or 4 ms At 96 kHz and 1024 sample buffer there were a small number of events with 5 ms of jitter At 44 1 kHz and 512 sample buffer occasional events with 6 ms occurred In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms e Interface C For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 5 ms At 96 kHz and 512 sample buffer there were a small number of events with between 6 and 8 ms of jitter At 44 1 kHz and 1024 sample buffer there were a small number of events with jitter as high as 10 ms In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms OS X e Interface A At 44 1 kHz and 1152 sample buffer jitter was fairly evenly distributed be tween 4 and 11 ms For all other tests the maximum jitter was 5 ms In all tests the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms e Interface B For most of the tests the maximum jitter was 4 or 5 ms At 44 1 kHz and 1152 sample buffer there was a fairly even distribution of jitter between 2 and 11 ms In all cases the majority of the jitter occurred at 1 ms e Interface C In all tests the maximum jitter was 1 ms with most events occurring with no jitter We also performed a similar procedure for testing the timing of outgoing MIDI events as
531. s Esc deselects all selected notes e Clicking into the background of the MIDI Editor selects a point in time represented by a flashing insert marker e Clicking and dragging in the background selects a timespan Press Enter to toggle the selection between the timepan and any notes that begin within it After placing the insert marker you can manipulate it using your computer keyboard e Press the left or right arrow keys to move the insert marker to the left or right according to the grid settings CTRL PC CMD Mac plus the left or right arrow keys moves the in sert marker to the next note boundary e Hold down Shift while pressing the arrow keys to extend or retract the selected timespan by moving the insert marker ALT PC ALT Mac plus Shift while pressing the arrow keys extends or retracts from the opposite side of the selection e The insert marker can be moved to the beginning or end of a MIDI clip by pressing the Home or End key respectively As we have seen notes in the MIDI Editor can be moved both horizontally changing their posi tion in time and vertically changing their transposition They can be moved either by clicking and dragging or with the arrow keys on your computer keyboard Notes moved with the arrow keys are always subject to grid and offset snapping while notes dragged with the mouse can be freely moved until reaching the previous or next grid or offset point If you are pla
532. s then the track s output is a plain MIDI signal which has to be sent somewhere else to be converted into audio In this case the track s mix and Send controls disappear from the mixer Live Concepts 26 Al y Baie 7 E Ffi J Agir 1 Audio 2 NLN J NLN a NLN in TFET ELE ET ee ge SECC CCRC ES B fi i The Mixer for a MIDI Track without an Instrument 4 9 Presets and Racks Every Live device can store and retrieve particular sets of parameter values as presets page 222 As presets are stored independently from Live Sets new presets become part of your user library that any project can draw from Live s Instrument Drum and Effect Racks page 237 allow saving combinations of devices and their settings as a single preset This feature allows for the creation of powerful multi device creations and effectively adds all the capabilities of Live s MIDI and audio effects to the built in instruments 4 10 Routing As we have seen all tracks deliver signals either audio or MIDI Where do these signals go This is set up in the mixer s In Out section which offers for every track choosers to select a signal source and destination The In Out section accessible through the View menu s In Out option is Live s patchbay Its routing options page 171 enable valuable creative and tech nical methods such as resampling submixing layering of synths complex effects setups and more Live Concepts 27
533. s You can de or reactivate all of the notes in a single key track at once by clicking a key on the piano roll and pressing 0 10 4 12 The Transform Tools In addition to the editing possibilities within the MIDI Editor itself the Notes Box s transform tools page 115 offer a number of ways to quickly manipulate the notes within a MIDI clip Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 148 Converting Audio to MIDI 149 Chapter 11 Converting Audio to MIDI Note the features discussed in this chapter are not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Although Live s warping allows for audio files to be used much more flexibly than in traditional audio software there are also a number of ways to extract musical information from audio clips and place it into MIDI clips for additional creative possibilities When an audio clip is selected four conversion commands are available in the Create Menu or the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu for the clip Slice lo New MIDI Track Convert Harmony to New MIDI Track Convert Melody to New MIDI Track Convert Drums to New MIDI Track Context Menu Commands For Converting Audio To MIDI 11 1 Slice to New MIDI Track This command divides the audio into chunks which are assigned to single MIDI notes Slicing differs from the Convert commands below in that it doesn t analyze the musical context of your original audio Instead it simply splits the original audio into p
534. s page 381 the displays for the filters contain various modulation parameters and the Drive chooser Cutoff frequency and resonance can be inde pendently modulated by LFO note pitch and filter envelope via the sliders in the Freq Mod and Res Mod sections respectively Positive modulation values will increase the cutoff or resonance amounts while negative values will lower them The Drive chooser in the display selects the type of saturation applied to the filter output The three Sym options apply symmetrical distortion which means that the saturation behavior is the same for positive and negative values The Asym modes result in asymmetrical saturation For both mode types higher numbers result in more distortion Drive can be switched off entirely by selecting Off in the chooser Experiment with the various options to get a sense of how they af fect incoming signals 24 1 5 Amplifiers i i ne Ei Pan Level i jens al x pelei Ampi C C er a S lt aN A i o l i T 14L 0 dB Exp Slope Legato Free Attevel Attack Decay Sustain S Time ea Ens vel Fan iod Level Moid FY LF Key Th ee key Eri 0 5 11 O 1 0 00 100 Pan Level mM Gs dB Display and Shell Parameters for the two Amplifiers After the filters the signal is routed to an amplifier which further shapes the sound with an ampli tude envelope and panning All parameters can be set independently for each amplifier T
535. s Select Loop com mand which selects all material included within the loop e Holding Shift while clicking extends an existing selection in the same track or across tracks You can also hold Shift and use the arrow keys to manipulate the selection Arrangement View 82 r1 rI par poo r73 gt Bridge gt Chorus Bass eass_ HECH ha pa o TE riean eip a fea ined pame A Ti mmnm TT ac Drums amp 1 Clicking the Loop Brace to Select the Loop for Editing 6 9 Using the Editing Grid To ease editing the cursor will snap to grid lines that represent the meter subdivisions of the song tempo The grid can be set to be either zoom adaptive or fixed You can set the width of both zoom adaptive and fixed grid lines using the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu available in either the Arrangement View track area or the Clip View display The following shortcuts to Options menu commands allow quickly working with the grid e Use CTRL 1 PC CMD 1 Mac to narrow the grid doubling the density of the grid lines e g from eighth notes to sixteenth notes e Use CTRL 2 PC 7 CMD 2 Mac to widen the grid halving the density of the grid lines e g from eighth notes to quarter notes e Use CTRL 3 PC CMD 3 Mac to toggle triplets mode this would for instance change the grid from eighth notes to eighth note triplets e Use CT
536. s and Results Our procedure for testing the timing of incoming MIDI events is represented in the following diagram MIDI Source MIDI to Audio Converter MIDI Input Test Configuration The output of a MIDI Source a keyboard or other DAW playing long sequences of random MIDI events is fed to a zero latency hardware MIDI Splitter One portion of the splitter s output is recorded into a new MIDI clip in Live The other portion is fed to a MIDI to Audio Converter This device converts the electrical signal from the MIDI source into simple audio noise Because the device does not interpret the MIDI data it performs this conversion with zero latency The MIDI Fact Sheet 587 converter s output is then recorded into a new audio clip in Live In an ideal system each event in the MIDI clip would occur simultaneously with the corresponding event in the audio clip Thus the difference in timing between the MIDI and audio events in the two clips can be measured to determine Live s accuracy In order to assess MIDI performance under a variety of conditions we ran the tests with three different audio MIDI combo interfaces at different price points all from well known manufac turers We will refer to these interfaces as A B and C All tests were performed with a CPU load of approximately 50 on both OS X and Windows machines at both 44 1 and 96 kHz and at three different audio buffer sizes for a total of 36 discrete test configuration
537. s and other countries Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries SONiVOX is the brand name trademark of Sonic Network Inc VST and ASIO are trademarks and software of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH ReWire Recycle and REX2 are trademarks of Propellerhead Software AB All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders Content provided by SONiVOX www sonivoxrocks com Chocolate Audio www chocolateaudio com Puremagnetik www puremagnetik com Cycling 74 www cycling74 com SonArte www sonarte ca e instruments www e instruments com Zero G www zero g co uk Physical Modeling technology provided by Applied Acoustics Systems www applied acoustics com Q ASIO Audio Units QuickTime Mac Universal SONIVOX egio cytomic w Softube A Aa sige InstrumentsiN SIDE the ultimate source for samples Welcome to Live 3 Chapter Welcome to Live 1 1 The Ableton Team Says Thank You Live is the result of musicians wanting a better way to create produce and perform music us ing a computer A great deal of effort has been put into making Live easy and fun to use yet at the same time capable of helping you create music with unlimited depth and sophistication This effort continues even as you read these lines in fact a new improved Live version might al
538. s are treated like Note Off messages e Switches Increment messages turn the switch on Decrement messages turn it off e Radio Buttons Increment messages make the radio button jump forward to the next available option Decrement messages make it jump backward e Continuous Controls Each type of relative MIDI controller uses a different interpretation of the 0 127 MIDI controller value range to identify value increments and decrements Please consult the documentation that came with your MIDI controller if you need further infor mation on relative MIDI controllers Relative Session View Navigation Notice that you can make not only absolute mappings to individual slots and scenes but also relative mappings to move the highlighted scene and operate on the highlighted clips In both MIDI Map Mode and Key Map Mode page 487 a strip of assignable controls ap pears below the Session grid MIDI and Key Remote Control 486 The Relative Session Mapping Strip 1 Assign these buttons to keys notes or controllers to move the highlighted scene up and down 2 Assign this scene number value box to a MIDI controller preferably an endless en coder to scroll through the scenes For details see the previous section on Relative Map Modes page 484 3 Assign this button to launch the highlighted scene If the Record Warp Launch Prefer ences Select Next Scene on Launch option is checked you can move successiv
539. s button in the Master Track Status field The clips in the Arrangement and in the Session View exist independently from one another which makes it easy to improvise into the Arrangement over and over again until it s right Session View 96 The Stop All Clips Button Furthermore you can move clips not only within the Session grid but also from the Session View to the Arrangement and vice versa by using Copy and Paste or by dragging clips over the or O selectors When pasting material from the Arrangement into the Session View Live attempts to preserve the temporal structure of the clips by laying them out in a matching top to bottom order Moving through the scenes from the top down you can reconstruct the original arrangement This is use ful for taking a composed piece of music back to the improvisational stage Another way to move material from the Arrangement to the Session is with the Arrangement View s Consolidate Time to New Scene command which is available from the Create menu or in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu of an Arrangement selection This com mand consolidates the material within the selected time range to one new clip per track The new clips are placed into a new Session View scene below the previously selected scene Note that as with the Arrangement s Consolidate command page 84 this command creates a new sample for every audio track in the selection that contained at least one
540. s can create dissonant metallic sounds The Coarse and Fine knobs set the amount of shift that will be applied to the input For example if the input is a sine wave at 440 Hz and the frequency is set to 100 Hz the output will be a sine wave at 540 Hz Live Audio Effect Reference 321 By changing the Mode from Shift to Ring Frequency Shifter switches from classical frequency shifting to ring modulation In Ring mode the selected frequency amount is added to and sub tracted from the input For example if the incoming audio signal A is a sine wave at 440 Hz and the Frequency is set to 100 Hz B the output will contain partials at 340 Hz A B and 540 Hz A B The Drive button enables a distortion effect while the slider below it controls the level of the distortion Drive is only available in Ring mode Enabling the Wide button creates a stereo effect by inverting the polarity of the Spread value for the right channel This means that increasing the Spread value will shift the frequency down in the right channel while shifting it up in the left Note that Wide has no effect if the Spread value is set to O Frequency Shifter contains two LFOs to modulate the frequency for the left and right stereo chan nels The LFOs have six possible waveform shapes sine square triangle sawtooth up sawtooth down and random The extent of LFO influence on the frequency is set with the Amount control LFO speed is controlled with the Rate cont
541. s command will open a file save dialog allowing you to choose the location for your new MIDI file Exporting a MIDI file is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip Managing Files and Sets 50 5 4 Live Clips Individual audio or MIDI clips can be exported to disk in the Live Clip format for easy retrieval and reuse in any project Audio clips only contain references to samples on disk rather than the audio data itself so they are very small which makes it easy to develop and maintain your own collection To save a clip from the open Live Set to disk simply drag it to the Places section of the browser and drop it into the Current Project or any user folder For audio clips Live will manage the copying of the clip s sample into this new location based on the selection in the Collect Files on Export chooser page 63 You can then type in a new name for the clip or confirm the one suggested by Live with Enter Name Sounds B Defaults OO Drums C Samples Ay Instruments a Bach mid h Audio Effects No Hats al MIDI Effects I Max tor Live A Live Clip in the Browser Live Clips are a great way of storing your ideas for later use or development as they save not only the original clip including all its clip and envelope settings but also the original track s de vices In order to recreate a Live Clip s device chain either drag it into a track containing no clips or devices or drag it into the space i
542. s disabled zooming and scrolling can be done anywhere in the Sample Display When Warp is enabled however scrolling only happens in the beat time ruler and the bottom half of the waveform Clip View 105 Click and drag vertically in these areas to smoothly change the zoom level and horizontally to scroll the display ili da af TE The Clip Overview The Clip Overview provides additional zoom scrolling functionality It always shows the com plete clip from start to end The black rectangular outline represents the part of the clip that is currently displayed You can click within the outline and drag horizontally or vertically to scroll or ZOOM To have the Sample Display follow the play position and scroll automatically turn on the Follow switch or use the Follow command from the Options menu m i 1 iF The Follow Switch Playing and Scrubbing Clips The section of the sample that plays when a clip is launched is set with the clip s region and loop controls page 107 An unlooped clip will play from its start marker to its end marker or until it is stopped Clip View 106 The Clip Start and End Markers These markers can be clicked and dragged to new positions in the Sample Display or they can be moved with the left and right arrow keys To move the entire clip region i e both the start and end markers select the start marker hold down Shift and use the arrow keys Sample Bass 22
543. s file The next time the sample is dragged into Live it will appear with all its clip settings intact This is particularly useful for retaining Warp Marker settings with the sample Stor ing default clip settings with the analysis file is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip While analysis files are a handy way to store default information about a particular sample s settings keep in mind that you can use different settings for each clip within a Live Set even if Managing Files and Sets 43 those clips refer to the same sample on disk But if you drag a new version of the sample into a Live Set Live will use the settings stored in the analysis file for the newly created clip The analysis file s name is the same as that of the associated sample with an added asd ex tension Live puts this analysis file in the same folder as the sample Pea Samples that have an asd file are displayed like this in the browser be Samples without an asd file look like this The analysis files themselves do not appear in Live s browser Note that you can suppress the creation of asd files by turning off the Create Analysis Files op tion in the File Folder Preferences All data except for the default clip settings can be recreated by Live if the asd file is missing however this will take some time for longer samples 5 2 3 Exporting Audio and Video The File menu s Export Audio Video command allows you to export Live s a
544. s in conjunction with pitch transposition The Transient Loop Mode chooser sets the looping properties for the clip s transients Loop Off Each segment of audio between transients plays to its end and then stops Any remaining time between the end of a segment and the next transient will be silent Loop Forward Each segment of audio between transients plays to its end Playback then jumps back to a zero crossing near the middle of the segment and continues looping until the time when the next transient occurs Loop Back and Forth Each segment of audio between transients plays to its end Play back then reverses until it reaches a zero crossing near the middle of the segment and then proceeds again towards the end of the segment This pattern continues until the time when the next transient occurs This mode in conjunction with the Preserve Transients selection can often result in very good quality at slower tempos The Transient Envelope slider applies a volume fade to each segment of audio At 100 there is no fade At O each segment decays very quickly Long envelope times can help to smooth clicks at the end of segments while short times can be used to apply rhythmic gating effects 9 3 2 Tones Mode Tones Mode serves well for stretching material with a more or less clear pitch structure such as vocals monophonic instruments and basslines Grain Size provides rough control over the average grain size used The actual
545. s in that they have mixer controls and can host audio effects Group Tracks provide a quick way to create submixes page 183 and also offer the ability to fold and unfold their contained clip tracks via the button in the title bar This can help you to organize large Sets by hiding away tracks that you don t need to see Mixing 197 Wil From Wil From Wil From i lings lings A in i Al Chane i Al Channe i Al Channe honitor honitor honitor lin Autol Cet lin Auer C lin Auta CHT Audio To Audio To Audio To Audio To Master dicroup v An Unfolded Group Track Visualized in Session View When tracks are placed into a group their Audio To routing choosers page 179 are auto matically assigned to Group unless they already had a custom routing i e to a destination other than Master You can also use a Group Track purely as a folder track by rerouting the outputs of the contained tracks to some other destination End P Orums 1 5 2 5 jj 3 s jj 4 slileliil 5 s jj and in Arrangement View Once a Group Track has been created tracks can be dragged into or out of the group Delet ing a Group Track deletes all of its contents but a group can be dissolved back into individual tracks by executing the Edit Menu s Ungroup Tracks command Group Tracks in Arrangement View show an overview of the clips in the contained tracks In Session View slots in Group Tracks have launch and stop b
546. s master output control Collision contains a built in limiter that automatically activates when the audio level is too high This is indicated by the LED above Collision s global Volume control The Structure buttons determine whether Collision s resonators are arranged in series 1 gt 2 or in parallel 1 2 When in series Mallet and Noise output to Resonator 1 This resonator s output is then mixed down to mono and routed to Resonator 2 as well as to its own mixer in stereo Note that Reso nator 1 must be turned on when using serial mode Mallet Resonators in 1 gt 2 Serial Configuration g In parallel mode the output of Mallet and Noise is mixed and then sent directly to both resona tors which then output to their own mixers Live Instrument Reference 396 Mallet a Resonators in 1 2 Parallel Configuration The Voices chooser sets the available polyphony Since each voice that s used requires ad ditional CPU you may need to experiment with this chooser to find a good balance between playability and performance particularly on older machines With Retrig enabled notes which are already sounding will be immediately stopped when re triggered rather than generating an additional voice This can be useful for keeping CPU down when working with long decay times 24 2 6 Sound Design Tips Although Collision has been designed to model the behavior of objects that exist in the physical world it
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548. s the phase of the LFO s waveform Live Instrument Reference 384 24 1 8 Global Parameters Volume oy O O ai 2 Q Q A A Cu Rate rz HCE Routing ss Yihrato ULC RY TE Delay Attack octave Semi Tuning Voces Voices Miode same 77 4 Prop Detune Gl Erfar Amts PB Range Stretch Error Priority Delay Uni SB Si 12 2 ne Fz A ETF ran i am E j Time dB Hazi A Fil F A A Ampe y nahi he g FE E C eC C Display and Shell Parameters for the Global Options The Global shell and display parameters adjust how Analog responds to MIDI data as well as controls for performance parameters such as vibrato and glide The Volume control in the shell adjusts the overall output of the instrument This is the instrument s master level and can boost or attenuate the output of the amplifier sections The Vib switch turns the vibrato effect on or off while the percentage slider next to it adjusts the amplitude of the vibrato Analog s vibrato effect is essentially an additional LFO but is hard wired to the pitch of both oscillators The Rate slider sets the speed of the vibrato Turning on the vibrato effect enables the four additional Vibrato parameters in the display The Delay slider sets how long it will take for the vibrato to start after the note begins while Attack sets how long it takes for the vibrato to reach full intensity The Error slider adds a certain amount of random deviation to the Rate Amount D
549. s to accommodate all sorts of audio material Each clip s time stretching mode and associated parameters are set in the Clip View s Sample Box The warp modes are different varieties of granular resynthesis techniques Granular resynthesis achieves time compression and expansion by repeating and skipping over parts of the sample the grains The warp modes differ in the selection of grains as well as in the details of over lapping and crossfading between grains Let s investigate which warp modes work best for different types of signals and how to adjust the warping controls for clean stretching It s also fun to misuse these controls to achieve interest ing artifacts instead of accurate stretching 9 3 1 Beats Mode Beats Mode works best for material where rhythm is dominant e g drum loops as well as most pieces of electronic dance music The granulation process is optimized to preserve transients in the audio material Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 130 Use the Preserve control to preserve divisions in the sample as boundaries when warping For the most accurate results particularly with percussive material choose Transients This setting uses the positions of the analyzed or user created transients to determine warping behavior To preserve specific beat divisions regardless of the sample s contents choose one of the fixed note values For some interesting rhythmic artifacts choose large note value
550. s to move by eight scenes at a time e The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time Hold the Shift but ton while hitting Left or Right to move eight tracks at a time 27 10 1 Session Overview Push s Session Overview lets you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without looking at your computer screen Hold down the Shift button and the pad grid zooms out to reveal an over Using Push 513 view of your Session View In the Session Overview each pad represents an eight scene by eight track block of clips giving you a matrix of 64 scenes by 64 tracks Hit a pad to focus on that section of the Session View For example holding the Shift button and then pressing the pad in row three column one will put the focus on scenes 17 24 and tracks 1 8 Furthermore while Shift is held each scene launch button represents a block of 64 scenes if they are available in your Set In the Session Overview the color coding is a little different e Amber indicates the currently selected block of clips which will be surrounded by the colored border in the software e Green there are clips playing in that block of clips though that may not be the block of clips selected e Red there are no clips playing in that range e No color there are no tracks or scenes in that range 27 11 Setting User Preferences Press and hold the User button to adjust the sensitivity of Push s velocity response and other set
551. s when you launch clips or scenes 7 4 2 Removing Clip Stop Buttons T Augo 2 Audio 3 Augo 4 fi Slots Without Clip Stop Buttons You can add and remove Clip Stop buttons from the grid using the Edit menu s Add Remove Stop Button command This is useful for pre configuring the scene launch behavior If for in stance you don t want scene 3 to affect track 4 remove the scene 3 track 4 Stop button 7 4 3 Editing Scenes In addition to the standard Edit menu commands such as cut copy paste and duplicate there are two useful commands in the Create menu that apply specifically to scenes e Insert Scene inserts an empty scene below the current selection Capture and Insert Scene inserts a new scene below the current selection places copies of Session View 94 the clips that are currently running in the new scene and launches the new scene immedi ately with no audible interruption This command is very helpful when developing materials in the Session View You can capture an interesting moment as a new scene and move on changing clip properties and trying clip combinations Note the number of scenes is lim ited in the Intro and Lite Editions 7 5 Recording Sessions into the Arrangement Your Session View playing can be recorded into the Arrangement allowing for an improvisa tional approach to composing songs and scores s 31 i 1 mej The Control Bar s Arrangement Record Button When the Arrangement Record butt
552. sanen ENNES errr 222 converting Sampler to Simpler 427 converting Simpler to Sampler 452 DSU sas na S 224 for specific Live Projects 59 SAVING WIN AES n A 63 previewing m THE DOWO oren S 37 in the MIDI Editor ccccceeseeeseeeeees 135 Previewing SWilehit ic n siete 37 Preview SWIICHh ccccssccssercconsccoeecees 135 136 Preview TA coe secietta i Meissen icel seeteslneesteatat ss 37 Preview Volume knob cccccceseesesesseseteees 212 Previous Locator button ccccceceeseeeeeeeees 73 Punch In Out switches 207 PUS e sculls N 489 adjusting velocity sensitivity 6 513 Automation With oo ceceeseeeseeeeeeeeees 510 browsing Of cnc citearteie eae ct 490 changing keys On 505 controlling devices With ece 507 control reference cccccceseseseseseeeesesees 516 fOOISWILCHES acomssinnetateerumnuearteeanrns 527 melody and harmony ON ccccceeees 503 PRICING Wil ener E 509 DIGViING DeOls takes E ceo 491 programming beats cccccceseeseees 491 GUGM zing OM sinisi A s 501 repeating Notes ON sssssssssssesssssrseeseesee 500 Session View Control c ccccceseeseeseees 511 Index 607 step sequencing With cccceeeeeeees 494 Q quantization command for audio wu cceeeteeeeeeeees 128 command for selected MIDI notes 142 for clip launching sssssssssesissesesssssiseen 163 for MIDI notes during recording 212 Quantize m
553. se are for final output only Please note that the Pow r modes are not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Create Analysis File If this is activated Live will create an asd file that contains analysis information about the rendered sample If you intend to use the new sample in Live check this option Upload Audio to SoundCloud If activated a helper application will launch that will al low you to upload your exported audio file to SoundCloud Real Time Rendering Normally rendering happens as an offline process But if your set contains an External Audio Effect page 316 or External Instrument page 401 that routes to a hardware effects device or synthesizer the rendering process is a bit different In this case rendering the master output happens in real time If you render individual tracks all tracks that don t route to an external device anywhere in their signal paths will be rendered offline Then any tracks that do access these devices will be rendered in real time Live will automatically trace each track s signal flow and detect if real time rendering is necessary You ll then be presented with several options when you start to render Managing Files and Sets 47 Waiting for external instruments amp effects to become silent 6 of seconds remaining Skip Auto Restart on drop outs Restart Waiting for External Devices to Become Silent e Skip By default Live will wait for ten seco
554. se instrument features eight sample player slots that can be filled by dropping samples into them Alternatively we can click the Hot Swap button that appears as we move the mouse over a slot impulse The Hot Swap Button in an Impulse Slot Clicking the Hot Swap button or pressing the Q key engages Hot Swap Mode CATEGORIES Mi Sounds f TE OO Drums Kick 606 Mod alf J instruments Kick 707 alf 4 Audio Effects Kick 707 b alf MIDI Effects Kick 808 alf O Max for Live Kick 909 alf cE Plug ins Kick BrightRoom Plastic Hard aift e Clips Kick BrightRoom Plastic Softaif ai Samples Kick BritishVintage Felt Hard aif The Browser in Hot Swap Mode While in Hot Swap Mode pressing the up or down arrow key moves to the next file in the content pane and loads it into the Impulse slot presumably while Impulse is playing incoming MIDI notes The link between the browser and the instrument will be broken if a different view is selected or if the Q key or the Hot Swap button is pressed again Hot swapping can also be Managing Files and Sets 41 cancelled with a press of the ESC key or by pressing the close button in the Hot Swap bar at the top of the browser When Hot Swap Mode is re entered the browser will show the location of the currently loaded sound and pre select it 5 2 Sample Files A sample is a file that contains audio data Live can play both uncompressed file formats WAV AIF and Sound Designer II for Mac
555. section on manual control surface setup page 480 MI Ports Track Sync Piantate npu MMulliface Mid CEN CHI cH ajb input APC40 Input USB Audio Device on b Output APC40 Output USB Audio Device Off On CAMPLI ta PAra pee N TA i iiu hMititarce hidi zii zii cei Setting Up The APC4O For Custom Assignments Now by entering Live s MIDI Map Mode page 482 you can override the pre assigned functions of all of the APC40 s knobs faders and buttons The eight Track Control knobs can be assigned in four banks which can be switched with the buttons below them Likewise the Device Control knobs can be assigned in eight banks by holding down Shift while pressing one of the eight buttons below these knobs Tip If you have overridden the APC40 s default mappings with manual mappings you can eas ily switch back to the defaults by deactivating the Remote switch of the APC40 s input port Acti vating the switch again will re establish your manual mappings 28 11 Combination Mode The APC4O controller becomes even more powerful when combined with additional APC40s or the Akai Professional APC20 page 541 When you connect more than one APC unit to Ableton Live the controllers will automatically work in Combination Mode You can use up to six total APC20s or APC4Os side by side The topmost controller selected in your preferences will control tracks 1 8 the second controller selected will control tracks 9 16 and so o
556. seeseteeees 176 Key MIDI Out Indicator 176 L Language preference c cccccsssscseseseeseseseseeeees 8 latency and delay compensation c000 235 and the External Audio Effect 317 Ee E DO Kress se cortatsrasdsrenoactavmcarsrcesaetes 98 161 LOUNEN IMO GES stscs xacracermen enenncermeenngs 162 kavn 91 06 0 Rete sireen tit Beart font harerene reign 549 legalo ModE skeen Orden eee 164 IESSOMS E E A 7 Licenses Maintenance Preferences 0 A EE e E EE E E 330 Link Unlink Envelope switch c cccccee 275 ViVi CMO o N 50 Hive Proe ipn e T amma 55 and deVicepresels nice esteuicass 59 Index 605 gnad LIVE Se csceenate sat sicsnteente on meee tt kes 55 50X61 4 a Bearer eer eter ne Meer sep nn OREE SS Ree ooo 65 ENES E AP ERE EAT AEA ET 16 51 changing file references ccceceeee 54 exporting and importing cceeeee 5 saving the default template 0 53 elo fo e ee ee een ten ene 73 Lock Envelopes command ccccccceeeees 265 Lock Envelopes switch cccccccceseeteeeesees 265 Look Feel Preferences 8 loop brace in the Arrangement i 2cccecncitiertaisecalt 76 WIRE OS e can surertencyesss 107 LOO RENE eG ni uincneusestaaaaseaensuaemient 33 Feedback routing cccccesecscseseteeeees 335 Loop Punch Region Length fields 76 Loop Region controls ccccceeee 105 107 and clip envelopes cceeeteteeeee 2
557. set up the clip to run into a loop Clip View 109 Start Gat End Sat EE Position Sat Lengih Sel L a o o Setting the Clip to Run Into a Loop The Loop Length and Position fields are equipped with Set buttons which can be used to create loops spontaneously during playback Playing the clip and then clicking the Set Loop Position button moves the beginning of loop to the current playback position rounded to the global quantization setting and engages the loop Then clicking the Set Loop Length button moves the end of the loop to the current playback po sition This lets you capture the music in a loop on the fly While the loop is still off you can click the Set Loop Length button to set the loop to end at the current playback position without changing its preset length This simultaneously activates loop ing The Set buttons the Loop switch the loop brace and the start end markers can all be mapped to MIDI controls page 477 You could for example use a rotary encoder to move the loop through a sample in increments the size of the chosen quantization interval Clip View 110 8 2 3 Clip Pitch and Gain Doe tui ree 0 00 dB The Clip Pitch and Gain Controls The Transpose control shifts the clip pitch in semitones The Detune field fine tunes the clip in cents 100 cents one semitone The Clip Gain slider calibrated in dB changes the clip gain 8 2 4 Destructive Sample Editin
558. sion Siring Fillersloba 3 i EXCITATOR Protrusion Stifiness Welocity Pasilion Damping UAMPER ass Sitiness Velocity Pasilion Dann pire RE AE em De MN STRING Decay lt Key Ratio nham Damping Key Delay Attack Rate Amount lt hod Error 0 00 0 00 S05ms 503m 51Hz 50 So 50 iy 50 is TERMINATION Fing Mass Fing Sut Fret Stitt Fin Ui BODY Tension s String Section The vibration of the string is the main component of a stringed instrument s sound The effective length of the string is also responsible for the pitch of the sound we hear The theoretical model of a resonating string is harmonic meaning that the string s partials are all exact multiples of the fundamental frequency Real world strings however are all more or less inharmonic and this increases with the width of the string The Inharm slider models this behav ior causing upper partials to become increasingly out of tune as its value increases The Damping slider adjusts the amount of high frequency content in the string s vibration Higher values result in more upper partials less damping This parameter can be modulated by note pitch via the lt Key slider to its right Live Instrument Reference 461 The Decay slider determines how long it takes for the resonating string to decay to silence Higher values increase the decay time The lt Key slider next to Decay allows decay time to be modulated by note pitch The Ratio slider sets the ratio of the
559. so be accessed with the CTRL PC CMD Mac shortcut Live s Preferences are distributed over several tabs e In the Look Feel tab you can modify various settings including the language used for text display and the color scheme or skin for the Live user interface This is also where you can adjust the size of objects displayed on the screen the Zoom Display slider allows you to zoom Live s screen to any percentage between 50 and 200 of the standard inter face size e The Audio Preferences are used to set up Live s audio connections with the outside world via an audio interface Please take the time to follow the program s built in Setting up Au dio I O lesson which will walk you through all the steps required to set up and optimize First Steps 19 the settings for any given system To access the lesson use the Help View command from the Help menu e The MIDI Sync Preferences are used to help Live recognize MIDI devices for three sepa rate and distinct purposes Playing MIDI notes To learn how to route an external device into Live for MIDI input or how to send MIDI to an external device please see the Routing and I O chapter page 174 Controlling parts of the interface remotely This subject is covered in detail in the MIDI and Key Remote Control chapter page 477 Syncing the program with an external sequencer or drum machine either as a master or a slave Please see the Synchroniz
560. so be controlled with the X Y controller and modulated by note pitch and velocity via the sliders below the X Y panel Ratio is only available for the Membrane and Plate resonators and adjusts the ratio of the ob ject s size along its x and y axes The Brightness control adjusts the amplitude of various frequency components At higher values higher frequencies are louder This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The Inharmonics knob adjusts the pitch of the resonator s harmonics At negative values fre quencies are compressed increasing the amount of lower partials At positive values frequen cies are stretched increasing the amount of upper partials This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators Inharmonics can also be modulated by velocity via the slider below the knob Opening which is only available for the Pipe resonator scales between an open and closed pipe At 0 the pipe is fully closed on one side while at 100 the pipe is open at both ends This parameter can also be modulated by velocity via the slider below the knob The Listening L and R controls adjust the location on the left and right resonator where the vibra tions are measured At 0 the resonance is monitored at the object s center Higher values move the listening point closer to the edge These parameters are not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators which are always measured in the middle of their permanently open end
561. solidate Consolidating clips page 84 in the Arrangement View creates new audio files which are non neutral in comparison to the original audio data Specifically the new files will be normal ized with their clip volumes adjusted to play back at the same volume as heard prior to consoli dation Normalization is a gain change which is a non neutral operation Also the new files will be created at the sample rate and bit depth set in Live s Preferences window which may differ from those in the original audio files Audio Fact Sheet 581 33 3 8 Clip fades When Create Fades on Clip Edges is enabled in the Record Warp Launch Preferences a short up to 4 ms fade is applied to the clip start and end to avoid clicks at the clip edges These de clicking fades can also be applied to Session View clips via the Clip Fade page 112 button Additionally Arrangement View clips have editable fades and crossfades page 78 Apply ing any of these fade options is a non neutral operation 33 3 9 Panning Live uses constant power panning with sinusoidal gain curves Output is O dB at the center posi tion and signals panned fully left or right will be increased by 3 dB In order to minimize this volume change it may be helpful to narrow the overall stereo width before doing extreme pan ning This can be done via the Width control in the Utility device 33 3 10 Grooves Under most conditions playback of a warped clip that is at the sam
562. song Live will do the same However if the Control Bar s Synchronization and ReWire 563 Loop switch is activated playback will be looped and song position pointers will simply be wrapped into the length of the loop 31 1 3 MIDI Timecode Options Timecode options can be set up per MIDI device Select a MIDI device from the MIDI Sync Preferences MIDI Ports list to access the settings The MIDI Timecode Frame Rate setting is relevant only if MIDI Timecode is chosen from the MIDI Sync Type menu The MIDI Timecode Rate chooser selects the type of Timecode to which Live will synchronize All of the usual SMPTE frame rates are available When the Rate is set to SMPTE All Live will auto detect the Timecode format of incoming sync messages and interpret the messages accordingly Note that you can adjust the Timecode format that is used for display in the Arrangement View Go to the Options menu and then access the Time Ruler Format sub menu The MIDI Timecode Offset setting is also only relevant if MIDI Timecode is chosen from the Sync Type menu You can specify a SMPTE time offset using this control Live will interpret this value as the Arrangement s start time 31 1 4 Sync Delay The Sync Delay controls which are separately available for each MIDI device allow you to delay Live s internal time base against the sync signal This can be useful in compensating for de lays incurred by the signal transmissi
563. sounds that are installed with the program any additional sounds you ve installed via Ableton Packs presets and samples you ve saved your Ableton and third party devices and any folders that you ve added manually Live s Browser Live Concepts 16 4 2 Live Sets The type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set page 51 Live Sets reside in a Live Project a folder that collects related materials and can be opened ei ther through the File menu s Open command or via Live s browser CATEGORIES Name d Sounds HE Beatbox ale O0 Drums EE Blue in Groen alc Agy Instruments hum bassline aif Audio Effects MIDI Effects A Live Set in the Browser 7 J 4 3 Arrangement and Session The basic musical building blocks of Live are called clips A clip is a piece of musical material a melody a drum pattern a bassline or a complete song Live allows you to record and alter clips and to create larger musical structures from them songs scores remixes DJ sets or stage shows A Live Set consists of two environments that can hold clips The Arrangement is a layout of clips along a musical timeline the Session is a real time oriented launching base for clips Every Session clip has its own play button that allows launching the clip at any time and in any order Each clip s behavior upon launch can be precisely specified through a number of settings page 161 F
564. ssed and thus has almost no remaining transients Most of the time these mixes have also been heavily maximized meaning that they also have no remaining headroom Luckily upward expansion can sometimes help add life back to such overly squashed material To do this 1 Turn down the Input knob to provide some additional headroom 2 Adjust the Above thresholds for the bands so that they re below the highest peaks 3 Add a small amount of upward expansion to each band Be careful excessive upward expansion can make transients very loud 4 Carefully adjust the attack and release times for each band Note that unlike in typical downward compression very fast attack times will increase the impact of transients while slower times result in a more muffled sound Note Adding a maximizer or limiter to boost gain after you ve returned some peaks to your material may simply destroy them again 22 23 Overdrive Overcrive The Overdrive Effect Live Audio Effect Reference 343 Note the Overdrive effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Overdrive is a distortion effect that pays homage to some classic pedal devices commonly used by guitarists Unlike many distortion units it can be driven extremely hard without sacrificing dynamic range The distortion stage is preceded by a bandpass filter that can be controlled with an X Y control ler To define the filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical a
565. ssing any of their Arm buttons will arm all of them You can also hold down the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier when clicking the Arm buttons to arm several tracks at once If the Exclusive Arm option is enabled in the Record Preferences inserting an instrument into a new or empty MIDI track will automatically arm the track When the Control Bar s Arrangement Record button is on every armed track records its input signal into the Arrangement Every take yields a new clip per track Live Concepts 28 rae rab rr ill D 5 3 4 5 6 H S 5 S 5 Track Arm Buttons as They Appear in the Session View It is also possible to record into Session View slots on the fly page 208 This technique is very useful for the jamming musician as Session recording does not require stopping the music Clicking the Session Record button records a new clip in the selected Session scene in all armed tracks i 1 1E a The Control Bar s Session Record Button Clicking the Session Record button again defines the end of the recording and launches the new clips As these actions are subject to real time launch quantization the resulting clips can be automatically cut to the beat TAP 120 00 mim 4 4 Of The Control Bars Quantization Chooser Session recording in conjunction with overdubbing and Record Quantization is the method of choice for creating drum patterns which are built up by successively adding notes to the pattern while it
566. ssive possibilities Sampler is designed to let you approach multisampling on whatever level you like you can load and play multisample presets import multisamples from third party vendors page 451 or create your own multisamples from scratch Lastly you do not have use multisamples at all drop a single sample into Sampler and take advantage of its internal modulation system how ever you like 24 7 3 Title Bar Options Before delving into Sampler s deep modulation features let s look at Sampler s title bar context menu Rename Edit inio Text Deheie rmp Group To Drum Rack show Presell Name Lock to Control Surface 1 TriggerFinger save as Defaull Preset Use Constant Power Fade for Loops Sampler gt Simpler F AANNHHHNANASSANNANNANNHHNSNANANSNSANHANSSSAHAHANSAASANNHNAAANT Sampler s Title Bar Context Menu Although Cut Copy Rename Edit Info Text and Delete should already be familiar the other options deserve some explanation Live Instrument Reference 429 Group Selecting this will load Sampler into a new Instrument Rack Fold Folds Sampler so that only the device title bar is visible Unfold quickly by double click ing the device title bar Show Preset Name By default Sampler takes the top most sample in the sample layer list as its title Unchecking Show Preset Name will replace the current title with Sampler Lock to Contr
567. stable when Sine is selected The Frequency control determines the color or quality of the distortion If the Mode control is set to Noise this works in conjunction with the Width control which defines the noise bandwidth Lower values lead to more selective distortion frequencies while higher values affect the entire input signal Width has no effect in Sine Mode Noise and Sine use a single modulation generator However Wide Noise has independent noise generators for the left and right channels which creates a subtle stereo enhancement Live Audio Effect Reference 316 22 13 External Audio Effect Ext Audio Effect amp Audio To Gain Ei 7 Peak 3 54 4 16 dB Audio From tain Peak 886 37 9 40 dB Phase giii Hardware Latency 67 5 The External Audio Effect Note the External Audio Effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions The External Audio Effect is a bit different than Live s other effects devices Instead of processing audio itself it allows you to use external hardware effects processors within a track s device chain The Audio To chooser selects the outputs on your computer s audio hardware that will go to your external device while the Audio From chooser selects the inputs that will bring the processed signal back into Live As with the track inputs and outputs the list of available inputs and outputs n depends on the Audio Preferences which can be rea
568. stalled and authorized 25 1 Installing and Authorizing Max for Live In order to use Max for Live you must install Live 8 1 or newer and Max 5 1 or newer Max is available as a download from Cycling 74 s website Like all Ableton add ons Max for Live must be authorized before it can be used The chapter on authorizing Live page 11 contains more information about this process and in depth instructions can be found at the Ableton website If you ve installed Max to somewhere other than the default location you will first need to point to it in Live s File Folder Preferences 6 http www cycling74 com 7 http www ableton com authorization live8 Max for Live 472 sample Editar Record Warp C Program Files Cyding T4 Max 5 0 Launch Downoad the lalesi version of Max from cycing 74 cam CPU Decoding amp Web Cache The Path to the Max Installation Once authorization is complete and Live has found the Max application Max for Live should be ready for use At this point the Max content will begin to install into your Live Library 25 2 Using Max for Live Devices Max for Live comes with a collection of instruments and effects which are ready for use Max for Live devices appear in the Max Instrument Max MIDI Effect and Max Audio Effect folders in the Max for Live label in the browser Many of these devices also come with their own presets which are similar to Live s device pre sets page
569. struments and Effects 235 you will find the Plug In Sources section Turning on the Use Audio Units option activates Audio Units Plug ins so that they appear in Live s browser Note that you can always turn this option off later if you decide not to use Audio Units Plug in Sources Rescan Plug ins Resca JUse Audio Units Use VST Plug In System Folders or Activating Audio Units Plug Ins Audio Units Plug ins sometimes have a feature that allows choosing between different modes for the device You might be able to choose for example between different levels of quality in the rendering of a reverb Choosers for these device modes can only be accessed through the origi nal plug in panel which is opened using the Plug In Edit button MicroTonicAU Fattern F lay Stop Opening an Audio Units Plug In Window Audio Units have presets that function just like those for the Live effects However some AU pre sets cannot be dragged to different locations in the browser as they are read only Audio Units presets have an aupreset extension and are stored in the following directory ac cording to their manufacturer s name Home Library Audio Presets Manufacturer Name Plug in Name 17 5 Device Delay Compensation Live automatically compensates for delays caused by Live and plug in instruments and effects including those on the return tracks These delays can arise from the time taken by devices to Working w
570. sual Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 239 18 1 2 Macro Controls O Audio Effect Rack skitter slosh Fizz 2009 18 30 Drife Cough Waompa 3 9 Jz ae The Macro Controls One unique property of Racks are their Macro Controls The Macro Controls are a bank of eight knobs each capable of addressing any number of parameters from any devices in a Rack How you use them is up to you whether it be for con venience by making an important device parameter more accessible for defining exotic multi parameter morphs of rhythm and timbre or for constructing a mega synth and hiding it away behind a single customized interface See Using the Macro Controls page 252 for a detailed explanation of how to do this For the greatest degree of expression try MIDI mapping page 482 the Macro Controls to an external control surface 18 2 Creating Racks Four Rack variants cover the range of Live s devices Instrument Racks Drum Racks Audio Effect Racks and MIDI Effect Racks Just as with track types each kind of Rack has rules regarding the devices it contains e MIDI Effect Racks contain only MIDI effects and can only be placed in MIDI tracks e Audio Effect Racks contain only audio effects and can be placed in audio tracks They can also be placed in MIDI tracks as long as they are downstream from an instrument Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 240 e Instrument Racks contain instruments
571. t arrow keys nudge the loop brace to the left right by the current grid set ting page 82 e the up and down arrow keys shift the loop brace left right in steps the size of its length e The CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier used with the arrow left and right keys shortens or lengthens the loop by the current grid setting e The CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier with the arrow up and down keys doubles or halves the loop length You can also drag the Arrangements loop brace Dragging the left and right ends sets the loop start and end points dragging between the ends moves the loop without changing its length The loop s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu s Set Song Start Time Here com mand can be used to overrule the default play starts at selection rule when this command is checked play starts at the loop start 6 6 Moving and Resizing Clips A piece of audio or MIDI is represented in the Arrangement View by a clip sitting at some song position in one of Live s tracks a4 lt 44 lt Moving a Clip Dragging a clip moves it to another song position or track Arrangement View 78 4 4 4 lt Changing a Clip s Length Dragging a clip s left or right edge changes the clip s length Clips snap to the editing grid as well as various objects in the Arrangement including the edges of other clips locators and time signature changes 6 7 Audio Clip Fades and Crossfades The beginning a
572. t from the browser Like all of Live s devices Sampler s presets are located in folders listed beneath its name Presets imported from third party sample libraries are listed here too in the Imports folder Once you have loaded a Sampler preset into a track remember to arm the track for recording which also enables you to hear any MIDI notes you might want to play and then start playing 24 7 2 Multisampling Before going on let s introduce the concept of multisampling This technique is used to accurate ly capture the complexity of instruments that produce dynamic timbral changes Rather than rely Live Instrument Reference 428 on the simple transposition of a single recorded sample multisampling captures an instrument at multiple points within its critical sonic range This typically means capturing the instrument at dif ferent pitches as well as different levels of emphasis played softly moderately loudly etc The resulting multisample is a collection of all the individually recorded sample files The acoustic piano for example is a commonly multisampled instrument Because the piano s pitch and dynamic ranges are very wide and timbrally complex transposing one sample across many octaves would not reproduce the nuances of the instrument Since multisampling relies on different sound sources three or more samples per piano key could be made soft medium loud very loud and so on maximizing the sampler s expre
573. t need this information 34 1 Ideal MIDI Behavior To understand how MIDI works within a digital audio workstation DAW it is helpful to intro duce some common terms and concepts A DAW must be able to accommodate three distinct MIDI related scenarios 1 Recording refers to sending MIDI note and controller information from a hardware device such as a MIDI keyboard into a DAW for storage An ideal recording environment would capture this incoming information with perfect timing accuracy in relation to the timeline of the song as accurately as an audio recording 2 Playback refers to two related scenarios when dealing with DAWs The first involves send ing MIDI note and controller information from the DAW to a hardware device such as a synthesizer The second involves converting stored MIDI information into audio data within the computer as played back by a plug in device such as the Operator synthesizer In both cases an ideal playback environment would output a perfect reproduction of the stored information MIDI Fact Sheet 584 3 Playthrough involves sending MIDI note and controller information from a hardware de vice such as a MIDI keyboard into the DAW and then in real time back out to a hard ware synthesizer or to a plug in device within the DAW An ideal playthrough environment would feel as accurate and responsive as a physical instrument such as a piano 34 2 MIDI Timing Problems The realities of compu
574. t options Additional Note Layout Options The 4th and 3rd options refer to the note interval that the grid is based on while the and gt symbols refer to the rotation of the grid For example the default layout is 4th which means that each row of pads is a 4th higher than the row below it The 4th gt option is also built on Aths but now moves to the right rather than upwards each column is a 4th higher than the col umn to the left The Sequent options lay out all notes in order These options are useful if you need a very large range of notes available because they have no duplicated notes 27 6 Navigating in Note Mode Now that you ve created a few tracks you can continue to add more But you may want to move between already existing tracks to continue working on musical ideas using those instruments and devices The Arrow Keys allow you to do this Using Push 507 Arrow Keys The Left Right Arrows move between tracks Note that selecting a MIDI track on Push automati cally arms it so it can be played immediately In Live track Arm buttons will appear pink to indi cate that they have been armed via selection fu SHCCCCCBEREOES Pink Track Arm Button The specific behavior of the Up Down Arrows is determined by the Workflow mode which is set in Push s User preferences page 513 In both modes the Up Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene In Scene Workflow the selected
575. t point then continue playing only the loop region When the sample s start or end points are moved Simpler will try to preserve the loop length for as long as possible by automatically adjusting the Start Loop and Length settings It is possible for glitches or pops to occur between a looped sample s start and end points due to the discontinuity in waveform amplitude i e the sample s loudness The Snap switch will help mitigate these by forcing Simpler s loop markers to snap to zero crossing points in the sample points where the amplitude is zero Note Snapping is based on the left channel of stereo samples It is therefore still possible even with Snap activated to encounter glitches with stereo samples The transition from loop end to loop start can be smoothed with the Fade control which cross fades the two points This method is especially useful when working with long textural samples By default Simpler uses constant power fades But by turning off Use Constant Power Fade for Live Instrument Reference 454 Loops in the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu you can enable linear cross fades 24 8 3 Zoom Quite often one starts with a longer region of a sample and ends up using only a small part of it Simpler s Sample view can be zoomed and panned just as in other parts of Live drag verti cally to zoom and drag horizontally to pan different areas of the sample into view 24 8 4 Envelo
576. t shows the original VST or Audio Units Plug in panel Changing parameters on the floating window has the same effect as changing them in the Live panel and vice versa There are a few important Plug In Preference settings for working with plug in edit windows e If activated the Auto Open Plug In Custom Editor Preference assures that plug in custom editor windows open automatically when plug ins are loaded into tracks from the browser e If the Multiple Plug In Windows option in the Plug In Preferences is activated you can open any number of plug in windows at once Even with this option off you can hold down the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier when opening a new plug in window to keep the previous window s from closing e Using the Auto Hide Plug In Windows preference you can choose to have Live display Working with Instruments and Effects 229 only those plug in windows belonging to the track that is currently selected You can use the View menu s Show Hide Plug In Windows command or the CTRL ALT P PC CMD ALT P Mac shortcut to hide and show your open plug in windows Notice that the name of the track to which the plug in belongs is displayed in the title bar of the plug in editor window Plug In Configure Mode B A polyiblit dEonngure E Sectionume To add Plug in parameters to this panel click the Configure button The Configure Button Configure Mode allows you to customize Live s panel t
577. t the rhythmical structure can become quite ambiguous with higher Pitch values The Pitch Decay control tapers the pitch curve making each repeated slice play lower than the previous one Warning This is the most obscure parameter of Beat Repeat Beat Repeat includes a combined lowpass and highpass filter for defining the passed frequency range of the device You can turn the filter on and off and set the center frequency and width of the passed frequency band using the respective controls The original signal which was received at Beat Repeat s input is mixed with Beat Repeat s repetitions according to one of three mix modes Mix allows the original signal to pass through the device and have repetitions added to it Insert mutes the original signal when repetitions are playing but passes it otherwise and Gate passes only the repetitions never passing the original signal Gate mode is especially useful when the effect is housed in a return track You can set the output level of the device using the Volume control and apply Decay to create gradually fading repetitions Live Audio Effect Reference 295 22 5 Cabinet cao amp Speaker Microphone The Cabinet Effect Cabinet is an effect that emulates the sound of five classic guitar cabinets Developed in collabo ration with Softube Cabinet uses physical modelling technology to provide a range of authentic sounds with optimized mics and mic positioning
578. tave Semi Detune Voices Voices iade 0 9 Hz ome 59 Wie Ost 0 00 ee r 2 Const Rale Detre tna S e i FE Range Stretch Error Prioity Delay E Lin 0 00 Oo 0 1i 6 00 D So D Yo High Ome 0 9 Hz Cec ee Share Octave Sem Dene Re LPI Freq Reso mee Pan Level pod ae fem 50 n Fa Y G gt A me l3 if 5st N 0 09 elt 834 0 C ae Coode Analog s Noise Generator Live Instrument Reference 379 The Noise generator produces white noise and includes its own 6db octave low pass filter The generator can be turned on or off via the Noise switch in the shell Its output level is adjusted by the slider to the right of this activator The F1 F2 slider controls the balance of the noise generator s output to each of the two filters When the slider is at the center position equal amounts of signal will be sent to both filters When set all the way to the top or bottom signal will only be sent to Filter 1 or Filter 2 respec tively The Color knob sets the frequency of the internal low pass filter Higher values result in more high frequency content Note that Noise has only shell parameters so adjusting them does not change what is shown in the display 24 1 4 Filters i Freq Reso the 5 th ha 4 freer Oye Exp Slope Legato Free Att lt vVel Attack Decay Sustain 5 Time please Eriva vel Freg Mod CdR Mod Drive LF key Eri LFO Key Eri A ym 0 36 O72 0 62 0 0g TAE JERE aa ETT
579. te will become selected in the sample layer list for the duration of that note Zone Fade Mode Lin Pow These buttons toggle the fade mode of all zones between linear and constant power exponential slopes r Key vel se S Auto Select and Zone Fade Modes Lin Pow Zone Editor View Key Vel Sel These buttons toggle the display of the Key Zone Velocity Zone and Sample Select Editors C 2 B 2 co THI IRIAIini J 5 Key Zone Velocity Zone and Sample Select Editors The Sample Layer List 0 45 0 15 0 30 E Auto Pow ve sei G mmi The Sample Layer List All samples contained in the currently loaded multisample are listed here with each sample given its own layer For very large multisamples this list might be hundreds of layers long For tunately layers can be descriptively named according to their root key for example Mous Live Instrument Reference 432 ing over a layer in the list or a zone in the zone editors will display relevant information about the corresponding sample in the Status Bar bottom of screen Selecting any layer will load its sample into the Sample tab for examination 7 B z 0 1 Gg G3 Ca 5 CO CE s Auto Pow Sel oa Ay ENEN A TCT TOU A Pulse Bass C3 aay Del I Duplicate Chi B Pulse Bass Cd Pulse Bass C5 Rename Ctri R ma SS SaaS SS aldni Distribute Ranges Equally u Pulse Bass Fitz Distribute Ranges Around Root
580. tely Hint This feature provides an excellent way of emulating the strum of a guitar or playing a chord as an arpeggio once or twice Another interesting effect can be achieved by combining this feature with the Retrigger parameter which we will explain in a moment This can be used to create rhythmically gener ated arpeggios separated by pauses The Retrigger parameter resets the pattern so that it starts again from the beginning Retriggering can be deactivated Off set to occur when new notes are pressed Note or set to occur at a specified song position or beat time Beat Beat retriggering can be specified in terms of notes or bars and is aligned with song position An LED in the upper right corner of the section indi cates when the pattern has been retriggered 23 1 2 Transposition and Velocity Sections The pattern generated by Arpeggiator can be transposed the device s transposition controls al low forcing this transposition into a specific major or minor key or using the Transpose chooser s Shift option doing it in semitones The distance between transposition steps is set in scale inter vals for Major and Minor transposition or semitones for Shift transposition with the Distance control Using the Steps parameter you can choose the number of times the sequence is trans posed When Distance is set to a positive value a setting of 8 Steps will transpose the sequence Live MIDI Effect Reference 367 a total of eight ti
581. tensity of the compression or expansion applied to all bands At 0 each compressor expander has an effective ratio of 1 meaning that it has no effect on the signal 22 22 3 Sidechain Parameters The Multiband Dynamics Device With Sidechain Section Live Audio Effect Reference 341 Normally the signal being processed and the input source that triggers the device are the same signal But by using sidechaining it is possible to apply dynamics processing to a signal based on the level of another signal or a specific frequency component To access the Sidechain pa rameters unfold the Multiband Dynamics window by toggling the button in its title bar Enabling the Sidechain button allows you to select any of Live s internal routing points from the choosers below This causes the selected source to act as the device s trigger instead of the sig nal that is actually being processed The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain s input while the Dry Wet knob al lows you to use a combination of sidechain and original signal as the trigger With Dry Wet at 100 the device is triggered entirely by the sidechain source At 0 the sidechain is effectively bypassed Note that increasing the gain does not increase the volume of the source signal in the mix The sidechain audio is only a trigger for the device and is never actually heard The headphones button allows you to listen to only the sidechain input bypassing the
582. ter s Tab key to move from one scene to the next You can also enter your own info text for a scene via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the scene s right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu The context menu also contains a color palette where you can choose a custom scene color Scenes can be reordered by drag and drop Multiple adjacent or nonadjacent scenes can be selected at once by Shift clicking or CTRL clicking respectively If you drag a selection of nonadjacent scenes they will be collapsed together when dropped To move nonadjacent scenes without collapsing use CTRL the up or down arrow keys instead of the mouse Scene names can be both descriptive and functional if Live detects a viable tempo and or time signature as part of a scene name the project will automatically adjust to these parameters when the scene is launched To assign a tempo to a scene select the scene and rename it with a viable tempo e g 96 BPM Any tempo can be used as long as it is within the range allowed by Live s Tempo control 20 999 BPM To assign a time signature to a scene rename the scene with a meter in the form of x y e g 4 4 Any time signature can be used provided it has a numerator between 1 and 99 and a denominator with a beat value of 1 2 4 8 or 16 Tempo and time signature changes can coexist within a single scene name and can appear in any position as long as they are separated
583. ter based MIDI are complex and involve so many variables that the ideal systems described above are impossible to achieve There are two fundamental issues 1 Latency refers to inherent and consistent delay in a system This is a particular problem in a DAW because digital audio cannot be transferred into or out of an audio interface in real time and must instead be buffered But even acoustic instruments exhibit a certain degree of latency in a piano for example there is some amount of delay between the time a key is depressed and the time the hammer mechanism actually activates the string From a per formance perspective small latency times are generally not a problem because players are usually able to adapt the timing of their playing to compensate for delays as long as the delays remain consistent 2 Jitter refers to inconsistent or random delay in a system Within a DAW this can be a par ticular problem because different functions within the system e g MIDI audio and the user interface are processed separately Information often needs to be moved from one such process to another when converting MIDI data into a plug in s playback for ex ample Jitter free MIDI timing involves accurate conversion between different clocks within the system s components the MIDI interface audio interface and the DAW itself The accuracy of this conversion depends on a variety of factors including the operating sys tem and driver ar
584. th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay Live Audio Effect Reference 354 If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Feedback parameter defines how much of each channel s output signal feeds back into the delay lines inputs Internally they are two independent feedback loops so a signal on the left channel does not feed back into the right channel and vice versa The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent when using Simple Delay in a return track Changing the delay time while Simple Delay is processing audio can cause abrupt changes in the sound of the delayed signal You can choose between three delay transition modes via the right click PC CTRL click Mac context menu of the device s title bar e Repitch causes a pitch variation when changing the delay time similar to the behavior of old hardware delay units e Fade creates a crossfade between the old and new delay times This sounds similar to time stretching if the delay time is gradually changed Fade mode is the default option e Jump immediately jumps to the new delay time Note that this will cause an audible click if the delay time is changed while delays are sounding Jump mode corresponds to the de fault behavior prior to Live 8
585. the Device View poiyinnt a i SectionOne Mixer Osci Lave Mixeri Osc3 Lave 41 92 dB 41 51 dB Mixeri Osc Leave Bch Cutoff 41 51 dB 152 5 Hz Mixer Osci1 Leave bch a 8 34 dB Ta Mixer Noise Lov Dc Cutoff 8 34 dB 570 2 Hz A VST Plug In in the Device View Once a plug in is dragged from the browser into a track it will show up in the Device View For plug ins with fewer than 32 modifiable parameters a Live panel will represent all of the param eters as horizontal sliders Plug ins that contain more than 32 parameters will open with an emp ty panel which you can then configure to show the parameters you want to access The plug in s original interface can be opened in a separate window page 228 Working with Instruments and Effects 228 J polyiblit or E SectionUne Mixeri Osci Lave 1 92 dB Mixeri Osc Lave 1 51 dB The Plug In Unfold Button You can view or hide the plug in s parameters by toggling the button in the plug in s title bar The X Y control field can be used to control two plug in parameters at once and is therefore especially well suited for live control To assign any two plug in parameters to the Live panel X Y field use the drop down menus directly beneath it Showing Plug In Panels in Separate Windows D rio E ection ne Mixeri sci Lave 1 92 dB Mixeri Osc Lave 1 51 dB The Plug In Edit Button The Plug In Edit button opens a floating window tha
586. the difference between the level that opens the gate and the level that closes it Higher hysteresis values reduce chatter caused by the gate rapidly opening and closing when the input signal is near the threshold level The Return value is repre sented in the display as an additional horizontal orange line Live Audio Effect Reference 324 With the Flip button enabled the gate works in reverse the signal will only pass if its level is below the threshold A gate can only react to an input signal once it occurs Since it also needs to apply an attack release envelope the gating is always a bit too late A digital gate can solve this problem by simply delaying the input signal a little bit Gate offers three different Lookahead times zero ms one ms and ten ms The results may sound pretty different depending on this setting The Attack time determines how long it takes for the gate to switch from closed to open when a signal goes from below to above the threshold Very short attack times can produce sharp click ing sounds while long times soften the sound s attack When the signal goes from above to below the threshold the Hold time kicks in After the hold time expires the gate closes over a period of time set by the Release parameter The Floor knob sets the amount of attenuation that will be applied when the gate is closed If set to inf dB a closed gate will mute the input signal A setting of 0 00 dB means that even if th
587. the instrument are MIDI signals available only to MIDI effects This means that it s possible for a MIDI track s device chain to hold all three types of devices first MIDI effects then an instrument and finally audio effects A MIDI Track s Device Chain Can Contain All Three Device Types To remove a device from the chain click on its title bar and press your computer s Backspace or Delete key or select Delete from the Edit menu To change the order of devices drag a de vice by its title bar and drop it next to any of the other devices in the Device View Devices can be moved to other tracks entirely by dragging them from the Device View into the Session or Arrangement Views Edit menu commands such as cut copy paste and duplicate can be used on devices Pasted devices are inserted in front of the selected device You can paste at the end of a device chain Working with Instruments and Effects 221 by clicking in the space after the last device or by using the right arrow key to move the selec tion there Generally devices can be placed reordered and deleted without interrupting the audio stream a a e Fa r a I Random BE Operator Coarse Fine I EN D i i k 1 j E 5 l i AEL EYE rr Device Activator Switches Devices are turned on and off using their Activator switches Turning a device off is like tempo rarily deleting it The signal remains unprocessed and the device does not consume CPU cyc
588. the resonators and per formance by reducing the number of overtones that are calculated Basic uses minimal CPU resources while Full creates more sophisticated resonances This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The Decay slider adjusts the internal damping of the resonator which determines its decay time Off Decay determines the extent to which MIDI note off messages mute the resonance At 0 note offs are ignored and the decay time is based only on the value of the Decay parameter Live Instrument Reference 392 This is similar to how real world mallet instruments such as a marimbas and glockenspiels be have At 100 the resonance is muted immediately at note off regardless of the Decay time The Material slider adjusts the variation of the damping at different frequencies At lower values low frequency components decay slower than high frequency components which simulates objects made of wood nylon or rubber At higher values high frequency components decay slower which simulates objects made of glass or metal This parameter is not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators The Radius parameter is only available for the Pipe and Tube resonators This slider adjusts the radius of the pipe or tube As the radius increases the decay time and high frequency sustain both increase At very large sizes the fundamental pitch of the resonator also changes The Decay and Material Radius parameters can al
589. the reverb output you can adjust the effect s overall Dry Wet mix and vary the amplitude of reflections and diffusion with the Reflect Level and Diffuse Level controls 22 29 Saturator 4 Saturator Drive Output Soft Clip 0 00 dB Lor utpui Se Drive Curve Depth eee Base Depth Driv uve Depth Freg Wid 7 Dryer Pod N A Lin Damp Period LY 857 1000H z 30 i28 P Fe1 000 g5 The Saturator Effect Note the Saturator effect is not available in the Lite Edition Saturator is a waveshaping effect that can add that missing dirt punch or warmth to your sound It can coat input signals with a soft saturation or drive them into many different flavors of distor tion An X Y grid helps to visualize Saturator s shaping curve The shaper s input and output values are mapped to the X and Y axes respectively The curve defines the transfer function which is the extent to which output values fluctuate in relation to input values Because this is usually Live Audio Effect Reference 352 a nonlinear process the incoming signal is reshaped to a greater or lesser degree depending upon its level at each moment in time Incoming signals are first clipped to the dB level set by the Drive control The meter on the right side of the display shows how much Saturator is influencing the signal Signal shaping has six fixed modes Analog Clip Soft Sine Medium Curve Hard Curve Sinoid Fold and Digital Clip
590. the sample file you will create by recording can be chosen from the Bit Depth chooser in the Record Warp Launch Preferences You can save time by setting up reasonable defaults for the clips you are recording in the Re cord Warp Launch Preferences tab In particular it is smart to indicate the rough category of sound to be recorded by choosing the appropriate default Warp Mode If you decide later on a different song tempo the program will automatically maintain good sound quality page 129 usually without further adjustment 16 8 Where are the Recorded Samples Recorded samples are stored with the current Set s Project folder under Samples Recorded Until the Set is saved it remains at the location specified by the Temporary Folder preference which is found in the Preferences File Folder tab To make sure Live will not run out of disk space while recording into a new Set please make sure the Temporary Folder is on a drive partition with sufficient free space 16 9 Using Remote Control for Recording Using Key Map Mode and MIDI Map Mode page 477 you can operate Live s recording functions without using the mouse You can map the Control Bar s Arrangement Record and transport controls as well as the track Arm buttons For recording into the Session slots you can map the Session Record and New but tons the individual slots and the relative navigation controls to initiate recording remotely for instance Recording New
591. the synthesizer is connected to the Output Channel chooser is used to select which MIDI channel to send on In addition to routing via a track s In Out section it is also possible to route from within a track s device chain by using the External Instrument device page 401 In this case you can send MIDI out to the external synthesizer and return its audio all within a single track Note the External Instrument device is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Important If you are using a keyboard synthesizer both as a master keyboard to play into Live and as a sound generator then please make sure to check the synthesizer s Local Off func tion Every synthesizer has this function which effectively separates the keyboard from the sound Routing and I O 176 generator allowing you to treat both components as if they were separate devices This allows you to use Live as the hub of your MIDI studio which receives MIDI from the keyboard and dis patches the incoming MIDI as well as the MIDI from the clips as appropriate 14 3 4 MIDI In Out Indicators Live s Control Bar contains three pairs of indicator LEDs that tell you about incoming and outgo ing MIDI These indicators tell you not only about the presence of signals but also about their use In every pair the upper indicator flashes when a MIDI message is received and the lower indicator flashes when a MIDI message is sent ex 12 wii 474 41 9 1Bar
592. the threshold are attenuated by an amount specified by the Ratio parameter which sets the ratio between the input and out put signal Unlike the Compressor the Glue Compressor does not have a user adjustable knee Instead the knee becomes more sharp as the ratio increases Attack defines how long it takes to reach maximum compression once a signal exceeds the threshold The Attack knob s values are in milliseconds Release sets how long it takes for the Live Audio Effect Reference 326 compressor to return to normal operation after the signal falls below the threshold The Release knob s values are in seconds When Release is set to A Auto the release time will adjust auto matically based on the incoming audio The Glue Compressor s Auto Release actually uses two times a slow one as a base compression value and a fast one to react to transients in the sig nal Auto Release may be too slow to react to sudden changes in level but generally is a useful way to tame a wide range of material in a gentle way Dry Wet adjusts the balance between the compressed and uncompressed signals At 100 only the compressed signal is heard while at 0 the device is effectively bypassed Another way of controlling the amount of compression is with the Range slider which sets the how much compression can occur Values between about 60 and 70 dB emulate the original hardware while values between 40 and 15 dB can be useful as an alternative to
593. the track s device chain The Device View Displaying a MIDI Track s Device Chain Live s built in audio effects page 287 MIDI effects page 363 and instruments page 375 are available from the browser and can be added to tracks by dragging them from there into the Device View or into a Session or Arrangement track Live s Built in Devices Are Available from the Browser You can also use plug in devices page 226 in Live VST and Audio Units Mac OS X only Plug ins are available from the browser s Plug Ins label Live Concepts 24 CLATEGORIES Name 2 Sounds HH Amber OC Drums AmberF x Ay Instruments EA Cypher 4h Audio Effects a cypherFx MIDI Effects dblue_Glitch_v1_3 O Max for Live fA Diva Plug ins HH Fusor f iZotope Meter Tap i Samples E iZotope Ozone 5 Plug In Devices Are Available from the Browser s Plug Ins Label Consider an audio clip playing in an audio track The audio signal from the clip reaches the leftmost device in the chain This device processes changes the signal and feeds the result into the next device and so on The number of devices per track is theoretically unlimited In prac tice the computer s processor speed imposes a limit on the number of devices you can use at the same time a topic that deserves separate discussion page 567 Note that the signal con nections between audio devices are always stereo but the software s inputs and outputs can be
594. the velocity of each note can be adjusted carefully Part of this functionality is the adjacent Q Quantize button If this control is activated the frequency will only move in whole numbers just as if the Coarse control were being manually adjusted If quantize is not activated the frequency will be shifted in an unquantized manner leading to detuned or inharmonic sounds which very well could be exactly what you want The amplitude of an oscillator depends on the Level setting of the oscillator in the shell and on its envelope which is shown and edited when the Envelope display is visible The envelopes can also be modified by note velocity and note pitch with the Vel and Key parameters available in the Envelope section of each oscillator s display The phase of each oscillator can be adjusted using the Phase control in its display With the R Retrigger button enabled the waveform restarts at the same position in its phase each time a note is triggered With R disabled the oscillator is free running As explained earlier oscillators can modulate each other when set up to do so with the global display s algorithms When an oscillator is modulating another oscillator two main properties define the result the amplitude of the modulating oscillator and the frequency ratio between both oscillators Any oscillator that is not modulated by another oscillator can modulate itself via the Feedback parameter in its display Aliasing Ali
595. this case pressing Arrangement View 80 Delete returns the fade handle to a default length of 4 ms With this option enabled new clips in the Arrangement View will have these short declicking fades by default Record l l _ z Loop Warp Short Samples he r Warp J Launch Auto Warp Long Samples Default Warp Mode i TET GPU E l Licenses Maintenanta Automatically Create Short Fades At Clip Edges Another result of enabling the Create Fades on Clip Edges option is that adjacent audio clips will get automatic 4 ms crossfades These can then be edited just like manually created crossfades There are some limits to the length of fades and crossfades e Fades cannot cross a clip s loop boundaries e A clip s start and end fades cannot overlap each other When a fade handle is selected a dotted red line will appear on the relevant clip to indicate the limit for that fade handle This is especially helpful when editing crossfades because one clip s loop boundary may be hidden under the other clip Note that fades are a property of clips rather than the tracks that contain them and are inde pendent of automation envelopes page 257 6 8 Selecting Clips and Time With the exception of moving and resizing clips Arrangement editing in Live is selection based You select something using the mouse then execute a menu command e g Cut Copy Paste Duplicate on the selecti
596. through on the Master output as an audio file of your specifications via Export Audio Video page 43 Live can also export individual MIDI clips as MIDI files page 49 Exporting and saving material for later use in Live can be done very conveniently with the Live Clip format page 50 Session View clips can be dragged back out of a Live Set to the browser and thereby exported to the disk as Live Clips Name Sounds G Defaults OO Drums C Samples Ay Instruments 4 Bach mid ah Audio Effects 7L MIDI Effects O Max for Live A Live Clip in the Browser Live Concepts 32 Live Clips are a very powerful way of storing ideas as they save not only the clip s Clip View settings but also the corresponding track s instruments and effects chain Live Clips in the brows er can be previewed and added to any open Live Set just like sample files In the Live Set they restore the original clip s creative options Using Live Clips you can build your own personalized library of e MIDI sequences with matching instruments and effects e g a MIDI drum pattern with the associated Impulse and effects settings e Different regions or loops page 104 referencing the same source file e Variations of a sample loop created by applying Warp Markers page 119 clip enve lopes page 267 and effects page 217 e Ideas that may not fit your current project but could be useful in the future Managing Files and Sets 33 Chapte
597. tics covered by other Warp Modes it works well for warping entire songs which usually contain beats tones and textures Complex Mode is a rather CPU intensive function using approximately ten times the CPU resources required by the other Warp Modes As such you may want to freeze tracks page 569 where Complex Mode is used or record page 205 the results as a new clip to use as a substitute Please note that Complex Mode is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions Audio Clips Tempo and Warping 132 9 3 6 Complex Pro Mode Complex Pro Mode uses a variation of the algorithm found in Complex mode and may offer even better results although with an increase in CPU usage Like Complex Mode Complex Pro works especially well with polyphonic textures or whole songs The Formants slider adjusts the extent to which the formants of the sample are compensated when transposing At 100 the original formants will be preserved which allows for large changes in transposition while maintaining the sample s original tonal quality Note that this slider has no effect if the sample is played back untransposed The Envelope slider also influences the spectral characteristics of the material The default setting of 128 should work well for most audio For very high pitched samples you may have better results with lower Envelope values Likewise low pitched material may sound better with higher values Please note that Complex Pro Mode
598. tinuous stream of sound through the audio hardware Live has to perform a huge number of calculations every second If the processor can t keep up with what needs to be calculated the audio will have gaps or clicks Factors that affect computational speed include processor clock rates e g speed in MHz or GHz architecture memory cache performance how efficiently a processor can grab data from memory and system bus bandwidth the com puter s pipeline through which all data must pass For this reason many people involved with pro audio use computers that are optimized for musical applications Fortunately Live supports multicore and multiprocessor systems allowing the processing load from things like instruments effects and I O to be distributed among the available resources Depending on the machine and the Live Set the available processing power can be several times that of older systems If you are working on a multicore or multiprocessor system you will want to enable support for it in the CPU tab of Live s Preferences Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 568 The CPU Load Meter The Control Bar s CPU meter displays how much of the computer s computational potential is currently being used For example if the displayed percentage is 10 percent the computer is just coasting along If the percentage is 100 percent the processing is being maxed out it s likely that you will hear gaps clicks or other audi
599. tion The Receive chooser sets the incoming MIDI note to which the drum chain will respond The list shows note names MIDI note numbers and standard GM drum equivalents The Play slider sets the outgoing MIDI note that will be sent to the devices in the chain The Choke chooser allows you to set a chain to one of sixteen choke groups Any chains that are in the same choke group will silence the others when triggered This is useful for choking open hihats by triggering closed ones for example If All Notes is selected in the Receive chooser the Play and Choke choosers are disabled in this case the chain simply passes the note that it receives to its devices The small Preview button to the left of these choosers fires a note into the chain making it easy to check your mappings away from a MIDI controller 3 Mixer Section In addition to the mixer and Hot Swap controls found in other Rack types Drum Racks also have send sliders These sliders allow you to set the amount of post fader signal sent from each drum chain to any of the available return chains Note that send controls are not available until return chains have been created 4 Return Chains A Drum Rack s return chains appear in a separate section at the bottom of the chain list Up to six chains of audio effects can be added here which are fed by send sliders in each of the drum chains above The Audio To chooser in the mixer for return chains allows you to route a return c
600. tion Recording switch in the Record Warp Launch Preferences The Session Automation Recording Preference Automation and Editing Envelopes 260 This allows you to for example overdub Session automation into an existing MIDI clip without also recording notes into the clip Any automation in Session View becomes track based automation when clips are recorded or copied into Arrangement View 19 2 1 Session Automation Recording Modes The automation recording behavior differs depending on how you adjust parameters while recording When using the mouse recording stops immediately when you let go of the mouse button This is referred to in some editing applications as touch behavior When adjusting pa rameters via knobs or faders on MIDI controllers recording will continue as long as you adjust the controller When you let go recording will continue until the end of the clip s loop and then will punch out automatically This is known as latch behavior in some applications 19 3 Deleting Automation To delete all automation data right click PC CTRL click Mac on an automated control to open its context menu and select Delete Automation The automation LED disappears and the control s value stays constant across the entire Arrangement timeline and in any Session View clips You can also delete selected portions of automation by editing breakpoint envelopes page 261 19 4 Overriding Automation In pra
601. tization menu setting While the mouse is held down over the scrub area a portion of the Arrangement the size of the chosen quan tization setting will be repeatedly played With small quantization settings or a setting of None this allows you to scrub through the music When the Permanent Scrub Areas preference is off you can still scrub by Shift clicking Arrangement View 72 anywhere in the scrub area or in the beat time ruler guitarchord uitarcho 420_KRid 20_KRidjrhoces Scrubbing Arrangement Playback 4 The song position can be adjusted numerically using the Control Bar s Arrangement Posi tion fields PEO Setting the Play Position in the Arrangement Position Fields The Arrangement Position fields show the song position in bars beats sixteenths To change the values e Click and drag up or down in any of these fields e Click and type a number then hit Enter e Click and decrement or increment the value with the up and down arrow keys 5 Arrangement playback can be started at a particular point in one of your clips using the scrub area in the Clip View page 97 6 Several Arrangement playback positions can be set using launchable locators page 73 Note that any computer keyboard key or MIDI message can be mapped to the transport con trols as described in the respective chapter page 477 Arrangement View 73 6 3 Launching the Arrangement with Locators if 21 25 29
602. to higher values low notes will pan relatively more to the left channel and higher notes to the right Typically this is used for piano like sounds Pan lt Random Rnd This defines the extent to which notes are randomly distributed between the left and right channels Modulation Targets These modulation targets are available as MIDI routing destinations in the global display and also as modulation targets for the LFO and pitch envelope Off Disabled this controller s modulation routing OSC Volume A D Modulates the volume of the selected oscillator OSC Crossfade A C Crossfades the volumes of the A and C oscillators based on the value of the modulation source Live Instrument Reference 419 OSC Crossfade B D Crossfades the volumes of the B and D oscillators based on the value of the modulation source OSC Feedback Modulates the amount of feedback for all oscillators Note that feedback is only applied to oscillators that are not modulated by other oscillators OSC Fixed Frequency Modulates the pitch of all oscillators that are in Fixed Frequency mode FM Drive Modulates the volume of all oscillators which are modulating other oscillators thus changing the timbre Filter Frequency Modulates the cutoff frequency of the filter Filter Q Modulates the resonance of the filter Filter Envelope Amount Modulates the filter s envelope intensity Shaper Drive Modulates the amount
603. trols the overall output level of the Noise section and can be modulated by pitch and velocity by adjusting the K Key and V Velocity sliders below the knob respectively To the right are the filter controls The type chooser allows you to choose between low pass high pass and two types of band pass filters Filter cutoff and resonance can be adjusted by the sliders above the filter display or by dragging within the display itself In BP mode the second slider adjusts resonance while in LP HP mode it adjusts bandwidth The filter frequency can also be modulated by note pitch velocity or the envelope generator via the K V and E sliders below the display The envelope generator is a standard ADSR attack decay sustain release Live Instrument Reference 389 The attack time how quickly Noise reaches full volume is set with the A Attack slider while the time it takes for the envelope to reach the sustain level after the attack phase is set by the D Decay slider The S Sustain slider sets the level at which the envelope will remain from the end of the decay phase to the release of the key When this slider is set to O there is no sustain phase With it set to 100 there is no decay phase Finally the release time is set with the R Release slider This is the time it takes for the envelope to reach zero after the key is released The Noise section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name 24
604. tune knobs in the shell function as coarse and fine tuners Octave transposes the oscillator by octaves while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments The Detune knob adjusts in increments of one cent up to a maximum of three semitones 300 cents up or down Oscillator pitch can be modulated according to the settings of the Pitch Mod and Pitch Env pa rameters in the display The LFO slider sets the amount that the LFO modulates pitch Again this parameter is only enabled if the LFO is on The Key slider controls how much the oscillator tuning is adjusted by changes in MIDI note pitch The default value of 100 means that the oscillator will conform to a conventional equal tempered scale Higher or lower values change the amount Live Instrument Reference 378 of space between the notes on the keyboard At 0 the oscillator is not modulated by note pitch at all To get a sense of how this works try leaving one of the oscillators at 100 and set ting the other s Key scaling to something just slightly different Then play scales near middle C Since C3 will always trigger the same frequency regardless of the Key value the oscillators will get farther out of tune with each other the farther away from C3 you play The Pitch Env settings apply a ramp that modulates the oscillator s pitch over time Initial sets the starting pitch of the oscillator while Time adjusts how long it will take for the pitch to glide to its final value You
605. uality Rendering audio from Live with a sampling rate other than the one that was used while work ing on the project is also a non neutral operation and may result in a loss of sound quality It is recommended to always render using the original sampling rate and then convert the rendered file using a dedicated mastering application that is optimized for these kinds of CPU intensive offline tasks While we recommend that you use a high quality offline tool for sample rate conversion we rec ognize that one of Live s core features is its ability to pitch shift and warp audio in real time For this situation it is necessary to make a trade off between CPU performance and precision We recommend the use of the Hi Q button page 111 for any clips which undergo transposition in a given Set The algorithm behind the Hi Q switch was rewritten for Live 7 and now results in considerably lower distortion than in previous versions 33 3 3 Volume Automation Automation of volume level results in a change in gain which is necessarily a non neutral opera tion But certain implementations of automation envelopes can result in audible artifacts particu larly if the envelopes are not calculated at a fast enough rate Since Live 7 volume automation curves are updated for each audio sample resulting in extremely low levels of distortion Audio Fact Sheet 580 33 3 4 Dithering Whenever rendering audio to a lower bit depth it is a good idea to app
606. udio output as new samples The resulting files can be used to burn an audio CD for listening purposes or a data CD which could serve as a backup of your work or be used with other digital audio applica tions If your set includes video you can also use the Export Audio Video command to export this to a new video file which will be created in the same directory as the rendered audio files Note video export is not available in the Lite and Intro Editions You can also upload your exported audio files directly to your SoundCloud account Which Signal Will Be Rendered Gata Rendered rack MHormalize All Tracks Render as Loop VWox Convert to Mono l Audio File Type Sample Rate The Rendered Track Chooser Managing Files and Sets 44 The Export dialog s Rendered Track chooser offers several options for which audio signal to render e Master the post fader signal at Live s Master output If you are monitoring the Master output you can be sure that the rendered file will contain exactly what you hear e All tracks the post fader signal at the output of each individual track including return tracks and MIDI tracks with instruments Live will create a separate sample for each track All samples will have the same length making it easy to align them in other multitrack pro grams Individual tracks the post fader signal at the output of the selected track When Export Audio Video is invoked while the
607. udio recording please make sure the audio preferences are set up properly For more on this please see the built in program lesson on setting up Audio Preferences Also keep in mind that devices such as microphones guitars and turntables do not operate at line level meaning that they will need to have their levels boosted before they can be recorded For these devices you must therefore use either an audio interface with a preamp or an external preamp 6 1 Choosing an Input A track will record whatever input source is shown in its In Out section which appears when the View menu s In Out option is checked In the Arrangement View unfold and resize the track in order to completely see the In Out section i All Channey in on MIDI From MID From Master _ __ v ESTEEN EAI Channew Monitor Monitor mi om Lin On in on Audio To MIDI To 5 Beals Master z e The Track In Out Section in the Arrangement Left and Session View Right Audio tracks default to recording a mono signal from external input 1 or 2 MIDI tracks default to recording all MIDI that is coming in through the active external input devices page 174 Recording New Clips 206 The computer keyboard is by default activated as a pseudo MIDI input device page 174 allowing you to record MIDI even if no MIDI controller hardware is currently available For every track you can choose an input source other than the default any mono or stereo ex t
608. udio result back into an audio track 1 First start Live 2 Then start Reason and set up the Reason rack as desired 3 Select Reason from the MIDI track s Output Type chooser 4 The Output Channel chooser presents you with a list of the instruments that you currently have in your Reason rack select the instrument you want to address 5 Select Reason from the audio track s Input Type chooser 6 From the audio track s Input Channel chooser select the audio channel that corresponds to the instrument to which you are sending MIDI 7 Set the audio track s Monitor radio button to In 8 Select All Ins from the MIDI track s Input Type chooser 9 Arm the MIDI track Now any MIDI that you are playing into Live will arrive in Reason which will generate the cor responding audio back into the audio track ready for further processing in Live s mixer and Routing and O 178 effects If you want to continue work on the project without reopening Reason simply record Reason s audio by arming the audio track and engaging Record Mode A similar procedure is possible with the External Instrument device The following example shows how to send MIDI from within a track s device chain and return the audio to the same track 1 First start Live 2 Then start Reason and set up the Reason rack as desired 3 Insert an External Instrument device into a MIDI track 4 Select Reason from the
609. uencer 23 6 Scale Transpose 7128 Lowest EE EE E EE E EHE E EHE EE E EE E E E BES HHH 8 BEE SEER BEEEEE SESE Ee E E EE E E EE BEEEEE HEEEEE E E EE E E HE BEEEEEEE HENE LO OJ ee oe EEEEEEEEEE ELL The Scale Effect Scale alters incoming note pitch based on a scale mapping Each incoming note is given an outgoing equivalent on the X Y scale map of the effect All incoming Cs for example might be converted to outgoing Ds The X Y scale map is 12 squares in length and width corresponding to the 12 notes in a full octave Darker squares represent the black keys on a keyboard The base of the diagonal scale the lower left square shown on the map can be changed using the Base control The X axis of the map shows incoming note values and the Y axis their outgoing equivalents Use mouse clicks to move or delete the orange squares which define where an incoming note will be sent on the scale Deleting a note on the scale map means that it will no longer play Live MIDI Effect Reference 372 The Transpose slider can raise or lower the pitch of incoming MIDI notes by 36 semitones You could for example shift a melody written in C major to G major by setting Transpose to 7 st Fold makes it more convenient to create scales by automatically folding back notes if their offset to the original note is greater than six semitones For example if Scale normally maps an incoming C3 to A3 enabling
610. unctions as a single band effect In this case only the Mid controls affect the incoming signal The frequency sliders below the High and Low buttons adjust the crossovers that define the frequency ranges for each band If the low frequency is set to 500 Hz and the high fre Live Audio Effect Reference 339 quency is set to 2000 Hz then the low band goes from O Hz to 500 Hz the mid band from 500 Hz to 2000 Hz and the high band from 2000 Hz up to whatever your soundcard or sample rate supports Each band has activator and solo buttons With the activator button disabled for a given band its compression expansion and gain controls are bypassed Soloing a band mutes the others The Input knobs boost or attenuate the level of each band before it undergoes dynamics pro cessing while the Output knobs to the right of the display adjust the levels of the bands after processing The display area provides a way of both visualizing your dynamics processing and adjusting the relevant compression and expansion behavior For each band the output level is represented by large bars while the input level before processing is represented by small bars With no pro cessing applied the input meters will be aligned with the top of the output meters The scaling along the bottom of the display shows dB As you adjust the gain or dynamics processing for a band you can see how its output changes in comparison fo its input As you move your mouse over the displ
611. urprising Remember that you can always record page 205 the results of your experiments so this can provide a good source for new material In the following sections we will look at some practical examples and ideas for Follow Actions 13 6 1 Looping Parts of a Clip Let s say that you want to play a longer clip but then you want only the last eight bars to loop You can set this up using Follow Actions 1 Drag the clip into the Arrangement View and make sure that the Clip View s Loop switch is not activated Use the Edit menu s Split command page 84 to split the clip between the non looping and looping parts 2 Click and drag the resulting two clips into the Session View by letting the mouse cursor hover over the Session View selector Drop the two clips into a track They now form a Fol low Action group Launching Clips 167 2 Audio 3 Audio 4 MIDI 2 _Jorsitent _ Jorsitent Creating a Group With the Two Clips 3 Set up Follow Actions for the first clip You will want to make Follow Action Time equal to the clip s length Set the Follow Action A chooser to Next with a Chance setting of 1 leaving Follow Action B alone Now this clip is set up to advance to the looping clip after it plays 4 Activate the Loop switch for the second clip The first clip will now proceed to the second after it has played in its entirety the second clip will simply play in a loop until it is stopped 13 6 2 Creatin
612. urve for the left and right channels of a stereo input M S mode Mid Side provides the same functionality for signals that have been recorded using M S en coding In all modes the frequency spectrum of the output is displayed behind the filter curves when the Analyze switch is on When using the L R and M S modes both curves are displayed simultaneously for reference although only the active channel is editable The Edit switch indicates the active channel and is used to toggle between the two curves Each filter has a chooser that allows you to switch between eight responses From top to bottom in the choosers these are e 48 or 12 dB octave Low cut cuts frequencies below the specified frequency e Low shelf boosts or cuts frequencies lower than the specified frequency e Bell curve boosts or cuts over a range of frequencies e Notch sharply cuts frequencies within a narrow range e High shelf boosts or cuts frequencies higher than the specified frequency e 12 or 48 dB octave High cut cuts frequencies above the specified frequency Each filter band can be turned on or off independently with an activator switch below the chooser Turn off bands that are not in use to save CPU power To achieve really drastic filtering effects assign the same parameters to two or more filters To edit the filter curve click and drag on the filter dots in the display Drag enclose multiple filter dots to adjust them simultaneously either w
613. useful for modifying the sonically rich timbres created by the oscil lators And since the oscillators also provide you with the classic waveforms of analog synthe sizers you can very easily build a subtractive synthesizer with them The filter section offers 14 different filter types including multiple varieties of lowpass bandpass highpass and notch filters The 12 and 24 dB modes refer to the amount of attenuation The 24 dB modes attenuate the filtered frequencies to a much greater degree than the 12 dB types and are commonly used in the creation of bass patches The SVF state variable filter modes are 12 dB types but with a different architecture They will self oscillate as their resonance is increased The Ladder modes have 24 dB slopes and are based on the filters found in some classic analog synthesizers The Envelope and Filter buttons in the filter section s display area toggle between showing the filter envelope and its frequency response Filter cutoff frequency and resonance can be adjust ed in the shell or by dragging the filter response curve in the display area Filter frequency can also be modulated by the following e note velocity via the Freq lt Vel control in the filter s display e note pitch via the Freq lt Key control in the filter s display e filter envelope via the Envelope control in the filter s display e LFO done either by enabling the Dest A FIL switch in the LFO s display or by setting
614. usly in Live Control Surface Input Output 1 Dump 2 Oxygendve 7 Gump 3 Tranzport Gump 4 Gump 5 Dump 6 Dump Setting Up Control Surfaces Open the first chooser in the Control Surface column to see whether your control surface is sup ported natively by Live if it is listed here you can select it by name and then define its MIDI input and output ports using the two columns to the right If your controller is not listed here don t fret it can still be enabled manually in the next section Manual Control Surface Setup page 480 Depending on the controller Live may need to perform a preset dump to complete the setup If this is the case the Dump button to the right of your control surface s choosers in the Live Preferences will become enabled Before pressing it verify that your control surface is ready to receive preset dumps The method for enabling this varies for each manufacturer and product so consult your hardware s documentation if you are unsure Finally press the Dump button Live will then set up your hardware automatically MIDI and Key Remote Control 479 Instant Mappings In most cases Live uses a standard method for mapping its functions and parameters to physical controls This varies of course depending upon the configuration of knobs sliders and buttons on the control surface These feature dependent configurations are known as instant mappings
615. ut Processing Early Reflections Global Diffusion Network Reflect EE uality SORE 6 47 kenonisy gt ana j 3 5 dB Diffuse gt E f i i 3 I EEEH ES RH MMS 1000o Low S00rz 07s MORPH M 30d Predelay Shape Stereo Decay Time Freere Density Scale Dry VVet K G Q e ma 7 O C 30 a mg 0 50 100 00 1 65 3 60 40 35 The Reverb Effect 22 28 Input Processing The input signal passes first through high and low cut filters whose X Y controller allows chang ing the band s center frequency X axis and bandwidth Y axis Either filter may be switched off when not needed to save CPU power Predelay controls the delay time in milliseconds before the onset of the first early reflection This delays the reverberation relative to the input signal One s impression of the size of a real room depends partly on this delay Typical values for natural sounds range from Ims to 25ms 22 28 2 Early Reflections These are the earliest echoes that you hear after they bounce off a room s walls before the onset i of the diffused reverberation tail Their amplitude and distribution give an impression of the I room s character The Shape control sculpts the prominence of the early reflections as well as their overlap with the diffused sound With small values the reflections decay more gradually and the diffused sound occurs sooner leading to a larger overlap between these c
616. ut which plug in caused the problem Depending on what Live detects about the plug in you may be given the choice between performing another scan or making the problem atic plug in unavailable If you choose to rescan and they crash the program a second time Live will automatically make them unavailable meaning that they will not appear in the browser and will not be rescanned again until they are reinstalled 17 3 2 VST Programs and Banks Every VST Plug in instance owns a bank of programs A program is meant to contain one com plete set of values for the plug in s controls 7 E polyibiit gt B amp SectionOne 7 The VST Plug In Program Chooser To select a program from the plug in s bank use the chooser below the title bar The number of programs per bank is fixed You are always working in the currently selected program that is all changes to the plug in s controls become part of the selected program Note that VST programs are different from Live device presets Whereas the presets for a Live device are shared among all instances and Live Sets the VST programs belong to this specific instance of the VST Plug in Renaming a VST Plug In Program To rename the current program select the VST s Device Title Bar and execute the Edit menu s Rename Plug In Program command Then type in a new program name and confirm by pressing Enter Working with Instruments and Eftects 234 The VST Lo
617. uttons are set to Add and the Mode button is set to Rnd The Sign controls decide whether the random alteration adds to the original note s pitch subtracts from it or does a little of both The LEDs above the Sign controls give you a visual idea of how output pitch compares with that of the original The Mode button determines whether the alteration will be random or when set to Alt will cycle between the allowed output notes in a fixed order sometimes known as cycle round rob in The Chance control behaves a bit differently in Alt mode at 100 percent the next output note will always be the next note in the series At O percent the next output note will always be the incoming note Live MIDI Effect Reference 371 For example with Chance set to 100 percent Choices set to 12 and Scale set to 1 playing C3 once will trigger C3 and each successive C3 will trigger the next semitone higher until the device reaches C4 at which point it will start over at C3 But with Chance set to 100 percent Choices set to 2 and Scale set to 2 incoming C3s will alternate between C3 and D3 This setting is perfect for simulating upbow and downbow alternation with stringed instruments or alternat ing right and left hand drum samples Hint Try using the Scale effect after Random to constrain the output values to a specific har monic range Using Random s Alt mode with the Scale device allows you to create a simple step seq
618. uttons whenever at least one clip is available in a given scene Launching or stopping this button has the same effect as launching or stopping all contained clips Likewise selecting a Group Slot serves as a shortcut for selecting all of the contained clips Mixing 198 15 4 Return Tracks and the Master Track In addition to Group Tracks and tracks that play clips a Live Set has a Master track and return tracks these cannot play clips but allow for more flexible signal processing and routing The return tracks and the Master track occupy the right hand side of the Session mixer view and the bottom end of the Arrangement View Note that you can hide and show the return tracks using the Returns command in the View menu Like the normal clip tracks the returns and the Master can host effects devices However whereas a clip track s effect processes only the audio within that track return tracks can process audio sent to them from numerous tracks For example suppose you want to create rhythmic echoes with a delay effect If you drag the ef fect into a clip track only clips playing in this track will be echoed Placing this effect in a return track lets it receive audio from any number of tracks and add echoes to them QO Od Bas Arr j ay We ty E A il i H Lt ii L ji i wo ko ko Wo The Send Controls and Pre Post Toggle A clip or group track s Send control regulates how much of the track s output f
619. ve Set that all sound different but use the same sample You can of course export a newly created sound by rendering page 43 or by resampling page 205 In the Arrangement View you can use the Consolidate command page 84 to create new samples 20 2 2 Changing Pitch and Tuning per Note Drop a sample loop from the browser into Live and play it Select Clip in the Device chooser and Transposition Modulation in the Control chooser You can now alter the pitch transposition of individual notes in the sample as you listen to it The fast way to do this is by enabling Draw Mode page 263 and drawing steps along the grid Deactivate Draw Mode to edit breakpoints and line segments This is useful for smoothing the coarse steps by horizontally displacing breakpoints Clip Envelopes 270 The Transposition Envelope with Steps Top and Ramps Bottom Note that the warp settings determine how accurately Live s time warping engine tracks the envelope shape To obtain a more immediate response reduce the Grain Size value in Tones or Texture Mode or choose a smaller value for the Granulation Resolution in Beats Mode To correct the tuning of individual notes in the sample hold down the CTRL PC CMD Mac modifier while drawing or moving breakpoints to obtain a finer resolution To scroll the display hold down the CTRL ALT PC CMD ALT Mac modifier while drag ging Pitch is modulated in an additive way Th
620. ve is a neutral operation provided that the file s sam ple rate is the same as that set in Live s Preferences and that the file is played back without trans position This is verified by cancellation tests of rendered output Please note that playback in this context refers only to the audio within Live prior to the point at which it reaches your audio hardware 33 2 3 Unstretched Beats Tones Texture Re Pitch Warping If the tempo of a Clip is the same as the tempo of the Set that clip will play back unstretched In this case if the Warp mode page 129 of the Clip is set to Beats Tones Texture or Re Pitch but not Complex or Complex Pro playback will be neutral Any Warping caused by chang ing the Set s tempo is non permanent and audio that plays back unwarped at a given tempo will always play back unwarped at that tempo even if the tempo is changed and then changed back For example if you ve recorded some tracks at 120 BPM but then decide you d like to slow the tempo down to record a particularly difficult solo passage the original tracks will play back neutrally again after returning the tempo to 120 BPM Only the recording made at the slower tempo will be stretched Please note that grooves page 155 work by modifying the positions of Warp markers This means that playback of audio clips with groove applied will be non neutral even at the original tempo The neutrality of unstretched clip playback is verified by p
621. vice parameters before invoking the Flatten command This procedure is tested by rendering the output of an audio track and comparing it to the frozen audio from the same track via phase cancellation to ensure that the files are identical 33 2 8 Bypassed Effects Bypassed effects in Live are removed from the signal flow This is true for both Live s built in ef fects devices and third party VST and AU plug ins Consequently audio at the output of a by passed effect is identical to the audio at the input Please note however that effects devices with parameters that inherently require delay e g the Look Ahead settings in Compressor will still introduce this delay when bypassed in order to maintain automatic delay compensation with the rest of the project In most cases the effects of this behavior will be completely inaudible The neutrality of bypassed effects is tested by loading one instance of each of Live s effects devices into an audio track deactivating them and then rendering the output of the track The rendered file is then compared to the rendered output of the same track with no loaded devices Phase cancellation testing of the two files confirms that they are identical 33 2 9 Routing The routing page 171 of signals within Live is a neutral operation The signal at the routing destination will be identical to the signal at the routing source It is important to note that Live s Audio Fact Sheet 578 flexible routi
622. ving a control for the first time after switching the bank Three takeover modes are available None As soon as the physical control is moved its new value is sent immediately to its desti nation parameter usually resulting in abrupt value changes Pick Up Moving the physical control has no effect until it reaches the value of its destination parameter As soon as they are equal the destination value tracks the control s value 1 1 This option can provide smooth value changes but it can be difficult to estimate exactly where the pick up will take place MIDI and Key Remote Control 482 Value Scaling This option ensures smooth value transitions It compares the physical control s value to the destination parameter s value and calculates a smooth convergence of the two as the control is moved As soon as they are equal the destination value tracks the control s value 1 1 26 2 The Mapping Browser The Mapping Browser All manual MIDI computer keyboard page 487 and Macro Control page 239 map pings are managed by the Mapping Browser The Mapping Browser is hidden until one of the three mapping modes is enabled It will then display all mappings for the current mode For each mapping it lists the control element the path to the mapped parameter the parameter s name and the mapping s Min and Max value ranges The assigned Min and Max ranges can be ed ited at any time and can be quickly inverted with a ri
623. wap If you re in Hot Swap mode pressing the D key will toggle the Hot Swap target between the Drum Rack itself and the last selected pad If a multi selection of samples is dropped onto a pad new Simplers and chains will be mapped upwards chromatically from this pad replacing any other samples that may have already been assigned to the pads in question but as before leaving any effects devices alone ALT PC CMD Mac dragging a multi selection layers all of the samples to a single pad by creating a nested Instrument Rack Instrument Drum and Effect Racks 251 Dragging a pad to another pad swaps the note mapping between the pads This means that any MIDI clips triggering the affected notes will now play the wrong sounds although this might be exactly what you want ALT PC CMD Mac dragging one pad to another will layer any chains from both pads in a nested Instrument Rack You can always change your mappings from within the chain list as well by adjusting the Re ceive choosers The Pad View will update automatically to reflect your changes If you set the same Receive note for multiple chains that note s pad will trigger them all If you re working with lots of nested Racks the inner structure can quickly become complicated Pad View can make it much easier to work by letting you focus on only the top level the notes and sounds It s important to remember that a pad represents a note rather than a chain
624. will want to adjust your latency settings in milliseconds which ensures that the amount of time you specify will be retained when changing the sample rate Note that adjusting in samples gives you finer control so even in cases when you re working with analog devices you may want to fine tune your latency in samples in order to achieve the lowest pos Live Instrument Reference 403 sible latency In this case be sure to switch back to milliseconds before changing your sample rate Any latency introduced by devices within Live will be compensated for automatically so the slider will be disabled when using the External Instrument Device to route internally Latency adjustments when routing to ReWire devices will probably not be necessary as most ReWire enabled programs also compensate automatically But if you feel that something is off in the timing of your set try adjusting this slider Note If the Delay Compensation option page 235 is unchecked in the Options menu the Hardware Latency slider is disabled For more detailed information about routing scenarios with the External Instrument device please see the Routing and I O chapter page 171 24 5 Impulse D Impulse i Volume Kick Snare PercA Perc B PercC Perc D Hi Start Transp Stretch Drive Freg Res ADAHDADG AC O 00 ms 2 sl 0 0 Fo 1 00 kHa 0 30 10 0 3 G 0 00 dB 00 Velocity Velocity Volocity Velocity Velocity Transp Sen 0 0 0 0 4 Satya 0
625. wn Looper If each of these Loopers is controlled with its own foot pedal you can switch the recording and playback state while playing an instrument without having to worry about monitor settings e Rec OVR Stop allows the input signal to be heard except when Looper is in play mode This is similar to Beat Repeat s page 293 Insert mode and can be used to record mate rial that can suddenly interrupt your live playing 22 21 1 Feedback Routing Looper can be used as both a source and a target for internal routing page 179 to other tracks This allows you to for example create Looper overdubs that continually feed back through another track s devices To set this up 1 Insert Looper on a track Live Audio Effect Reference 336 2 Record at least one pass of material into Looper 3 Create another audio track 4 In the new track s top Audio From and Audio To choosers select the track containing the Looper 5 In the new track s bottom Audio From and Audio To choosers select Insert Looper 6 Switch this track s Monitoring to In 7 Add additional effects devices to the device chain of the new track 8 Put Looper into Overdub mode Looper s output will now be routed through the other track s device chain and then back into itself creating increasingly processed overdub layers with each pass 22 22 Multiband Dynamics The Multiband Dynamics Effect Note the Multiband Dynamics effect is not av
626. xis To set the position of the frequency band click and drag on the horizontal axis These parameters can also be set via the slider boxes below the X Y display The Drive control sets the amount of distortion Note that O does not mean zero distortion Tone acts as a post distortion EQ control At higher values the signal has more high frequency content The Dynamics slider allows you to adjust how much compression is applied as the distortion is increased At low settings higher distortion amounts result in an increase in internal compression and make up gain At higher settings less compression is applied The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Overdrive in a return track 22 24 Phaser ity bh Envelope LFO S amp H F Amount Shape QO 43 6 Mo 46 5 fo Attack Rate Color te 7 F 14 7ms 1 6 DryVWet Release Phase Offset rN a fr fr W Frequency Feedback N 100 z D 220m 180 22r The Phaser Effect Live Audio Effect Reference 344 Note the Phaser effect is not available in the Lite Edition Phaser uses a series of all pass filters to create a phase shift in the frequency spectrum of a sound The Poles control creates notches in the frequency spectrum The Feedback control can then be used to invert the waveform and convert these notches into peaks or poles Filter cutoff frequen cy is changed wit
627. y by pressing the appropriate button in the dialog box If you do not have an internet con nection press the No internet on this computer button and follow the instructions 3 1 Copy Protection FAQs 3 1 1 Can Use Live or Other Ableton Products Without a Serial Number If you do not yet own Live or its add on products you can still try them out but saving and exporting will be disabled Authorizing Live 12 If trying Live or another product raises your interest in purchasing it please visit the Ableton web shop This site contains information about Ableton s distributor and dealer network It also offers you the opportunity to buy Ableton products online 3 1 2 What if Change My Computer s Components If you change your computer components for some reason Live may indeed ask you to autho rize the software another time Live does not need to be reauthorized when computer peripher als are replaced audio or MIDI hardware printers modems But you may need to authorize again if the motherboard processor or network card is replaced On some computers refor matting a hard drive will require a new authorization 3 1 3 Can Authorize Live More than Once The standard Live license allows you to use Live on only one computer at a time However the Ableton server will provide you with two authorizations in good faith that you will use Live on only one machine at a time You can therefore run Live on bot
628. y the Spin amount The Dry Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals Set it to 100 percent if using Phaser in a return track Live Audio Effect Reference 345 22 25 Ping Pong Delay The Ping Pong Delay Eftect Note the Ping Pong Delay effect is not available in the Lite Edition The Ping Pong Delay effect uses a single tapped delay line to create a delay that jumps from the left to the right output The delay is preceded by a lowpass and highpass filter that can be controlled with an X Y con troller To define the filter bandwidth click and drag on the vertical axis To set the position of the frequency band click and drag on the horizontal axis To refer delay time to the song tempo activate the Sync switch which allows using the Delay Time beat division chooser The numbered switches represent time delay in 16th notes For example selecting 4 delays the signal by four 16th notes which equals one beat a quarter note of delay This delay time represents the time it takes for the input signal to appear at the left channel The delay time between the input and the right channel is twice as long If the Sync switch is off the delay time reverts to milliseconds In this case to edit the delay time click and drag up or down in the Delay Time field or click in the field and type in a value The Feedback parameter controls how much of the right channel output signal returns to the delay lin
629. ying the clip while you edit notes you can listen to them play in their new assignments as you change them Several key modifiers also apply to note editing e To transpose selected notes by octave hold down Shift while pressing the up or down Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities 141 arrow keys e Shift plus the up or down arrow keys extends or retracts the duration of selected notes according to the grid settings To extend or retract notes without snapping to the grid also hold ALT PC CMD Mac e To change the selection to the next note in the same key track hold CTRL PC ALT Mac while pressing the left or right arrow keys CTRL PC ALT Mac plus the up or down arrow keys moves the selection to the next note in time e To nudge notes without snapping to the grid hold ALT PC CMD Mac and press the left or right arrow keys e You can use the Shift modifier to click and add individual notes or additional rubber band selections to your current selection You can also remove a single note from your selection by holding down Shift and clicking on it Holding Shift and clicking on the piano roll adds all notes in a single key track to the current selection or removes them if they were already selected Selecting a note or notes makes it subject to commands from the Edit menu such as Copy and Paste Notes in the clipboard will be pasted starting at the location of the insert marker You
630. yout of clips that sound good in Arrangement Loop mode Selecting that part of the Arrangement for instance by using the Edit menu s Select Loop command and then executing the Consolidate command creates a new clip that can be treated as a loop You can now for instance drag the clip edges to create more rep etitions You might also want to drag the new loop via the Session View selector into a Session View slot for real time arrangement purposes When operating on audio clips Consolidate actually creates a new sample for every track in the selection The new samples are essentially recordings of the time warping engine s audio output prior to processing in the track s effects chain and mixer Hence the new sample incor porates the effects of in clip attenuation time warping and pitch shifting and of the respective clip envelopes page 267 however it does not incorporate the effects To create a new sam ple from the post effects signal please use the Export Audio Video command page 43 The new samples can be found in the current Set s Project folder under Samples Processed Consolidate Until the Set is saved they remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder page 214 Arrangement View 86 Session View 87 Chapter 7 Session View In Live s Arrangement View page 69 as in all traditional sequencing programs everything happens along a fixed song timeline For a number of applications this is a lim
631. ything will later play in sync TAP 720 00 m1 II 4 gaa 1 Bar The Metronome Switch The easiest way to record in sync is to play along with or to use the built in metronome which is activated via its Control Bar switch and will begin ticking when the Play button is pressed or a clip is launched The Preview Volume Knob To adjust the metronome volume use the mixer s Preview Volume knob Notice that Live s metrical interpretation of the material in a clip can be edited at any time using Warp Markers Warp Markers can be used to fix timing errors and to change the groove or feel of your audio or MIDI recordings Using Warp Markers you can fix things that would otherwise require complicated editing or could not be done at alll 16 5 Recording Quantized MIDI Notes If you will be recording MIDI you have the option of automatically quantizing MIDI notes while recording The Record Quantization chooser in the Edit menu allows selecting the meter subdivi sions with which your recorded notes will align When recording into Session slots or into the Arrangement record quantization is an independent step in Live s Undo history This means that Recording New Clips 213 if for example you recorded with Record Quantization set to Eighth Note Triplet Quantization and then changed your mind using the Edit menu s Undo command would undo only the quanti zation and leave your recording otherwise intact For Session a

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