Tips for Ableton newbies

[RDR]

Go and register at the forums on ableton.com thats the very best place.

[stjohn]

this is one that ive just realised is probably best for my way of working, and wished i had copped it earlier. its nothing mad, but i reckon could help you get over some of the bad things that ableton brings.
usually, i work in session view, looping away anything from synths, recording in my grooveboxes, impulses etc....
i found that stuff can get very loopy very quickly with Live, because session view is always looping, and if you have audio there, its not that apparent that editing is piss-easy. it wasnt to me anyway.

so ive began jumping alot more from arrangement to session view.

-i leave a blank canvas on arrangement view.
-copy whatever clips i have in session, all at once, and paste into arrangment
-slightly change up the pattern, subtle, dramtic whatever..
-consolidate the clips, and paste right back into session, under the last group of clips, and set them to loop.

if you do this just a couple of times, ull see how simple but effective this is. futhermore, if you assign a number on the keypad to tigger each group of loops, u can jam it out nicely.

this is something so basic i was kicking myself i hadnt done it properly earlier. but doing it consciously now speeds up my workflow ad infinitum, and makes the tracks way less obvious and loopy.

hope that helps

[stjohn]

sorry the above post might be something u might consider once your getting comfortable with the program. here some more beginner things.

- make sure the levels are displayed. drag the line above the faders (below the sends) on the GUI. this will display the peak meter, and track volume numbers. watchin this can help alot. similarly after each plug in GUI (at the bottom) there is a mini-level meter to monitor. watch the levels on this. sometimes things can get crazy there.

-record LOADS. when arsing around with synths and stuff.. route audio into another track and record it. im still using recorded sounds from years ago, as the browser allows u to go through the samples of old projects and drag them in.

-read up on effects racks. theyre great.