How long would it take me to learn ableton?

[djshiva]

getting ableton to "beatmatch" is a piece of cake. you just have to tell it how to play the tunes. that's where warping comes in. for those who haven't quite gotten their heads around that, i give you this:

DJ Shiva's Super Duper Slacker's Guide to Easy Warping in Ableton (that was a tad sarcastic).

set your tap tempo to a key. listen (without warping) and use tap tempo to find the tempo (there is a reason for this, trust me).

then in the clip properties, click "warp". MOST of the time, autowarp gets the approximate tempo right, it just doesn't set the first marker correctly. if it doesn't get the tempo right and sets up a trillion warp markers, click on one, select all, and delete them. then enter the approximate tempo you found in the Seg. BPM box.

now, once the tempo is close to correct, place the first warp marker on the first beat you want to warp from. sometimes you can place it at the beginning of an intro, sometimes it may be simpler just to find the first real beat of the song. turn on your metronome. this is a simple way to make sure your track is lined up with the correct tempo.

most electronic music is sequenced, which makes it easier. i usually go to the 17 mark and check to make sure things are in sync. if they are, continue to the 33rd. if things are still synced, they will prolly stay that way. to make a warp marker, double click on the number and that will make a warp marker. if you need to move it, click once and drag. do not double click until you have it where you want it, and do not drag if you have already made a marker. you can do this at varying points throughout the song, depending on how in sync it already it.

what you are looking for are the transients at the beginning of beats. use your eyes and your ears and eventually you will be able to do this in your sleep. it takes me about 30 secs to a minute to warp a tune, depending on the complexity.

i generally make warp markers at the beginning of phrases, like when the bass first drops, when there is a beatless break, when the beat breaks down for the outro. i use them as visual reminders, as well as telling ableton how to play.

if you have a tune that is NOT sequenced by a computer (live music, bands, etc.), you will need to make many more warp markers. use your ears. the great thing about this is that you can use ableton and warp markers to play tunes together that you never in a million years would have been able to work together on the decks.

and most importantly, when you are done warping each tune, click on "save" in the clip properties box in the "sample" section. if you do not do this, you will lose all of your work when you pull up the tune. if you transfer your tunes to another computer or folder, take both the tune AND the corresponding .asd file.

typically, you want to use repitch mode instead of beats (beats mode can leave some ugly transient wibble on a steady bassline), unless this would drastically alter the pitch (say it's a 130 bpm tune with a vocal, we don't want any chipmunk action here). then complex warp comes into play.

be forewarned, complex mode will not only use more processor to play, but will also alter the sound a bit (deadens the highs and undermines the lows just a smidge). there are some methods you can use (involving bbe sonic maximizer and PSP vintage warmer) to fix that that you can find at http://www.abletonlivedj.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6262.

this is the super fast version of the explanation. check youtube for some great video tutorials and also go to www.ableton.com and get into the forums. tons of great info there. www.abletonlivedj.com is another fantastic source.

p.s. my best advice, after telling you how to warp tunes, is to never think of ableton in terms of how turntable djing works. don't just think 2 channels, think 3 or 4. don't just think tunes, think pieces...you can have a hell of a lot of fun, but the creativity is up to you.

i hope this helps, and if you need any clarification, holla.

p.s. there is another nifty trick in ableton for making multiple clips of one song, and dragging it into the browser so it saves all the clips as one .asd file. rather nifty and i use it a lot, too. ;)