What are /r/ableton's favorite Products & Services?

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DON'T USE ASIO4ALL!!!

That's the solution to ASIO4ALL causing problems! You should only ever use ASIO4ALL as an absolute last resort... It's a giant pile of duct tape and WILL CAUSE YOU PROBLEMS!

If for some unknown reason, you are refusing to use the driver that came with your audio interface, then use FlexASIO which is a much more full featured ASIO driver, is currently being developed, and doesn't have nearly the issues of ASIO4All.

You can download it here: https://github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO

Alternatively, FLStudio and Reaper both install their own ASIO drivers, so if you absolutely need an ASIO driver, refuse to use the driver that came with your audio interface, can't or won't use FlexASIO, there are still other options than ASIO4All.

TL;DR: Don't use ASIO4All!!!

The orchestral stuff was part of 10 suite (as well as the surround panner afaik). The others are new to 11 suite. (I guess I wouldn’t call any of these free? Unless they’re giving them to standard and intro users which doesn’t look to be the case (https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/) but I could be wrong)

I use soundflower it works perfect to port Audio around your computer. The only thing you have to look out for is digital distortion from clipping. I’m on OSX, not sure if there’s a windows version.

You just make soundflower the input in ableton and the output on your computer.

https://en.softonic.com/download/soundflower/mac

I'm pretty sure she made a post on Facebook awhile back and said she automates everything to trigger and loop. It would take some time to set up, but if you know how the arrangement will go, it shouldn't be too difficult.

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For people asking about the foot pedal, here is a USB/MIDI version:

https://www.amazon.com/Logidy-UMI3-MIDI-over-Controller/dp/B002YL81RW/ref=sr_1_11?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1538681040&sr=1-11&keywords=usb+foot+pedal

I've purchased this awhile back because I was planning on doing live looping but never performed. I can confirm it does work with Ableton and you can map each foot switch to different "loopers" on different channels. Honestly though, it might just be easier to do what Elise does by setting up the arrangement to automate & record than loop. Makes things hands free.

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Timing is everything when it comes to Live looping. Elise has this shit down to a tee.

Check out this book: (full disclosure, I am the author).

Music Theory for Electronic Music Producers: The producers guide to harmony, chord progressions, and song structure in the MIDI grid. https://www.amazon.com/dp/069209329X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Brx8AbH0F0BJX

This isn't a perfect copy but I think it's good enough for the purpose of this? here

It's relatively simple

I used like 3 clap samples I had cause I layered 2 together (more on the later), you can use as many as you want

The roll is pretty much 5 half notes in a row (the last 4 of a beat and then the first of the next beat) and then on the last one is layered with the normal clap. As for velocity I did a gradual raising velocity but didn't go overboard with it, just a little bit

I layered the normal clap to get a sharper attack but that's up to you

Added some reverb and EQ'd some of the low end and that's it

The sample choice is definitely gonna influence the final sound, if you want it to sound like the one you posted you should get a sample that sounds like the one you posted

I hope this helps

hearthis is a competitor to soundcloud, but it's not so crowded (yet) and the pricing model is a bit different. They also offer a service to move your tracks from SC to their platform.

I am definitely over due for a bookmark spring cleaning by a few years. Except at some point I started using OneTab a few years back and the amount of abandoned tabs has gotten overwhelming; and the fact that these aren't synced across devices only makes it worse since I have three different machines with hundreds of tab sessions each to be sorted through.

Check out coursera. There's a course offered by the Berkeley School of Music that you can take for free called "introduction to ableton live" and it's actually quite comprehensive. if you want you can opt to pay (I think it's like $50) and upon successful completion of the course you will be awarded a certificate from Berkeley. This is also acknowledged on ableton's website [see sources below] under the section "Find Certified Training". The certificate portion is optional though, you can take the course for free if you don't want the certificate.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/ableton-live

https://www.ableton.com/en/certified-training/#?item_type=online

I've experienced this problem as well using ASIO4ALL.

A bit random, but I also have FL Studio on my pc and when I used their FL Studio ASIO in Ableton, everything worked. But you must have FL Studio.

Otherwise, have a look at FlexASIO

I use Lemur on the iPad all the time for mixing/recording/remixing on the fly, and best of all, the entire interface can be rearranged to your liking on the computer. It might be a bit cumbersome to set up, but there's no lag whatsoever. It's $30 on the App Store, and the desktop counterpart is free.

https://liine.net/en/products/lemur/

Honestly you can pull up abletons version comparison and then just type in feature that suite has the lite didn't and you should be able to find a tutorial on that specifically.

There are a number of channels that have done a video explaining every single effect and instrument. Honestly, the new devices are the main upgrade, so learn the new instruments and effects.

That's automation. If you don't know about it, then your knowledge of DAWs is pretty poor (one guessing you're just starting?) & it would be advisable to first try to learn the basics by yourself and then come asking here if you get stuck.

Luckily Ableton has a great video series:

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/learn-live/

...and an even better on-line help:

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/

Your midi controller is probably sending random midi data because of debris buildup on the knob connectors. It probably needs to be inspected and cleaned by somebody who repairs electronics. You can install Midiox app on your computer to see if some of the knobs send random data without being touched, if this is the case:

http://www.midiox.com/?http://midiox.com/moxdown.htm

Alienware 1900R 34.1", Curved Gaming Monitor LED-Lit, WQHD 3440 x 1440p Resolution, 4ms 120Hz Overclocked Refresh Rate, NVIDIA G-Sync, 21:9 Aspect Ratio, HDMI, Display Port, 4x USB 3.0, AW3418DW, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0777RY75V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fab_lJ9DFb3NMXH30

It’s this one. There is a newer one now. It has good reviews and I’ve had no issues but I could have gotten something cheaper probably. The gsync is great for gaming though. I just wish it had HDR.

the 'Builtin Lessons' folder is what, less than 50mb?

you are not saving much space by deleting that, and I think you've got more problems if 50MB is going to make the difference in size on your HDD.

I'd use a program like the freeware Folder-Size to find things that are really eating into the storage space on your drive.

1. Start at ableton.com/en/live/learn-live/ and watch every single video that’s there.
2. Then, typing "Ableton Live for Beginners" into YouTube search bar reveals hundreds of useful videos. Your pick.
3. If you’ll come across any technical issues, contact Ableton or your interface support.
4. For at least a year avoid posting questions in forums. There’s answer to any of your questions already somewhere. Most likely right in the manual.

This page has some nifty chord shapes for chromatic mode (my personal poison) https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=186293

This page has some chord shapes for In-Scale mode https://gumroad.com/l/sWfgb

Hope these help!

This article may help you...

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209072289-How-to-reduce-latency

Are you running on Mac or Windows? I know when I was on Windows, I had to run a program called Asio4all and it really helped with my latency at the time. http://www.asio4all.org

I'm in the same boat as you more or less... running Ableton with Wine is a hassle. Right now I'm considering to switch to BitWig. It's from a former Ableton development team.

http://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio.html

As you can see it looks really similar and I only heard good things about it.

Go through Ableton's tutorial series. You're going to keep running into menial questions if you don't learn through a proper tutorial.

Left of the midi editor in the bottom is a section for clip length. You can edit it there. Your second question will be addressed as you learn how Ableton's workflow works, it's not easy to answer on here. Set apart an hour or two a day to plug through tutorials, you'll be grateful in the long run.

2 great audio routing max devices that could be added.

Simple Audio Route

Outist Bus anywhere

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Just made a patch of that with every drum rack labeled to match the AD2 Standard Mapping. It has two channels, one with a labeled drum rack and one with addictive drums on it. The drum rack channel sends midi to the addictive drums channel which has audio send back to the drum rack channel by using side chain monitoring of a gate plugin. This way you can record midi and have audio coming out of the same channel https://www.mediafire.com/?np8b5otmg2k439x

Suite gives you a lot more bang for your buck. Compare them here: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

The big things here are the number of samples available (1800+ vs. 5000+) and Max for Live. The latter opens up a lot of instrument and effect possibilities, even if you don't do Max programming.

Yes, it's a much higher initial investment. I went with Suite back with Live 7, and have simply paid to upgrade to the next suite version as they've come along, and $250 every few years isn't a huge amount. I spend more than that collecting new VSTs and hardware. Not to mention I believe Ableton lets you split that payment up now.

Solving the problem probably depends on the soundcard, driver, and settings. This link suggests that SoundBlaster cards have a record from "Stereo Mix" or "Mic/Line" setting that can cause this problem.

If you're on Windows, using the internal soundcard and not already using ASIO4ALL, you might solve the problem (and others) by switching to that excellent driver.

If your piano has USB MIDI, a good workaround could be to record to midi (thereby bypassing soundcard input) and use Ableton's Grand Piano pack.

You can make it work with BetterTouchTool. It’s a tool that lets you map shortcuts for all kinds of Mac apps to touch gestures and it works with Ableton as well. There is a trial version and you can get it here: https://folivora.ai

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of this book: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-3E-Idiots-Guides/dp/1465451676/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

My suggestion is to try not to drown yourself in information. Pick out areas that you think you are weak and just start learning.

I like that you already know that you want to improve your chords and melody writing. Pick one of those things and just dig in.

No worries my g. If you're a student or know someone in school that would want to split with you, you can also get a 40% student discount. Suite comes with a bunch of really powerful instruments that standard doesn't include, like Wavetable and operator. Standard also has less audio effects and sound packs. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/ Check out that link to see the differences, if you haven't already. Suite gives you alot and I haven't found myself searching for many additional instrument or effects plugins.

It's not just built in synths between Standard and Suite--there is actually a growing number of audio effects and even a couple midi effects different between the two. Suites also boasts about 60gb more in audio files, be those one-shots, phrases and loops or whatever else.

I assume you've checked out the comparison between Ableton versions? If you're not using the stuff that comes in Suite, then yeah it's not really worth that extra $300. I never ended up bumping up to Suite because Ableton was really basically just a Serum container for me 😂

You'd not have Max for Live, a good amount of the audio effects, and a bunch of Packs. Full list is here: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

what kind of things are on your list that you don't want to lose?

This lists what comes in each version for side by side comparison. Intro is limited but comes with enough sounds and Simpler to make music. As the other person said theres a plethora of free insturment VSTs around. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/learn-live/

start here i guess

https://learningmusic.ableton.com/

and you can learn how to make songs here. it'll even let you export what you've played around with so you can use it in the daw

Thank you so much for this. It's very helpful. I registered and I'm looking to start working with it tonight.

One note, the latest write-up on Live 10 Lite says it allows 16 Audio & MIDI tracks. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

The main differences between standard and suite are the effects and synths included in each package. But even if you get intro that will be more than enough to start producing as a beginner imo. It’s a huge investment to jump right into suite but that could be used as motivation to actually learn how to produce and make music using Live 10.

Ableton 10 has amp, cabinet, and drum bus(transient processor, good for basses), and pedal. Coupled with Echo, erosion, vinyl distortion, and others, you can get some really tasty effects.

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/

Enjoy!

Edit: scroll down for sound demos

Lite does not come with Gate. See https://www.ableton.com/en/products/live-lite/features/#audio-effects

I think your screenshot is for Live Intro. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/

Specific to Ableton is Ableton Export. Only 6 apps currently support it, listed at the above link. Of those, only Gadget and Patterning export MIDI. Elastic Drums is Export-enabled, and not listed at the above site, tho only does Audio. From there it's approach-based, you want iPhone/Midi clip export/beats/synths - so you can either pick up a DaW complement it with apps to record in and export, or go with individual synths/beat-making apps with MIDI export options. Gadget might be your best first look.

Ableton has a pretty comprehensive list of the differences:

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/

To me, I would really miss Analog, Operator, and EQ8 which don't come with Lite. But for simple things (and especially if you have plenty of 3rd party instruments/effects), Lite should be fine.

Live Lite Features here

Live Version Comparison including Intro here

The only real difference is Lite has 8 tracks max and Intro has 16.

Have you got the DIN connectors the right way round on the P95? The OUT plugged into the IN and the IN plugged into the OUT, assuming that the MIO is this? You could try simplifying the problem with Midiox to see if the pc is receiving the midi in any way before it actually comes to setting up Abletons preferences.

I think you will learn more from a book on the topic than you will a YouTube video. Video classes are not rigorous on the chromatic scale and rhythm theory that you need to make music. If I were starting all over again I would pick a book like this... Although there are fantastic books out there with dance music and Ableton focus.

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Dummies-Career-Education/dp/1119575524/ref=pd\_sbs\_4/136-9920540-3497659?pd\_rd\_w=pUjxD&pf\_rd\_p=f8e24c42-8be0-4374-84aa-bb08fd897453&pf\_rd\_r=GT7KF5Q3KB6ZVDB8QRSH&pd\_rd\_r=7085f915-14a1-4aaf-8a...

OK. there's a vibrator that responds to music

https://www.amazon.com/OHMIBOD-Freestyle-Wireless-Music-Vibrator/dp/B00975HGFG

couldn't be that hard to bluetooth or hack a connection and then send it like a rimshot sample or impulse. Not midi, but it's something?

I got this stand for the push 1, waiting for it to be delivered though.

Laptop Stand Amazon

Must have been a bundle. $110 on Amazon right now by itself. Focusrite Scarlett Solo (3rd Gen) USB Audio Interface with Pro Tools | First https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07QR6Z1JB/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_apa_i_HjIMEbEDH05NZ

I got a heavy duty laptop stand for mine and it allows it to stand tall and almost vertical..helps so much with posture for me. CRANE stand is the brand I think.

Edit: fixed photo upload

Here's some references that helped me put "mastering" a skill in perspective.

10,000 Hour Theory, Malcom Gladwell in his book, Outliers.

The War of Art, Steven Pressfield. (Recommend by Chill Harris who is actively creating new genres of EDM.)

That being said, you're in it for the wrong reasons if you only want to headline the festival circuit. Please, please do it for your creative outlet not the attention. Otherwise you'll burn out fast, many have and many more will.

In summary, 5 hours a day is about 5 1/2 years till you become world class at any skill according to Gladwell . Keep reading, keep practicing. Know what you want, plan ahead and get that shit.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/05/check-sha1-checksum-in-mac-os-x/

i'm downloading a version now to check

update: works

MacbookAwshumLAN:~ MYNAME$ shasum /Users/MYNAME/Downloads/ableton_live_lite_10.0.3_64.dmg

2a4fc43d35f4a2a169698770f41432cd71f6aaae /Users/MYNAME/Downloads/ableton_live_lite_10.0.3_64.dmg

Honestly in the first 10 seconds I thought I wasn't going to like this song but man once that first synth came in... I fell in love!

Very well done!

Also this song is equally amazing.

Mhkaay. Let me be blunt: I wouldn't call this a remix, this is more an edit.

On the upside: I like how you approached rearringing/chopping the song.

But apart from that...

I sounds like you had two tracks in Ableton, one for the original sample and one for the drumloop. That's not really alot. Also the drums get really boring and irritating after a few bars because they are simply looping throughout the track (and thus killing all the dynamics of the original song). You really need some variations in there, fill-ins, rolls, some hats or cymbals. And you should really add some own material, even if it's just effects, but basically any additional instrument playing along/elevating the song would be great.

Check this for example: https://soundcloud.com/roquettescience/4-ps-ich-wurde-wenn-ich-wusste-dass-ich-konnte-roquette-science-remix

Also, keep an eye out for the free Intro to Ableton course at Coursera.org. They have peer-reviewed assignments, so getting honest feedback on your work is built into the course.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/ableton-live

Agreed. Something that looks like too much thinking makes folks assume creativity is necessarily absent from the process. A false dichotomy to begin with; file under left-brain/right-brain myth.

meantime, observe Coltrane's undoubtedly, fiercely creative AND structured ideas around music making

http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/the-tone-circle-john-coltrane-drew-to-illustrate-the-theory-behind-his-most-famous-compositions-1967.html

oh! i recommend saving the default live 8 compressor device to your library. from live 9 forward, the compressor has been updated and both sidechaining and the compression itself behave differently. the newer compressor can have nasty artifacts when sidechaining, but has an expand mode: very useful for restoring some dynamics when using a tad extra compression for tone. here is a pretty thorough video about the differences between the two versions of compressor.

The goal with a good design is still to promote functionality of the product. Regardless of original intention the design hierarchy of other DAWs makes them way easier to immediately understand than Ableton. I think something like this https://dribbble.com/shots/2255100-Ableton-Live-Redesign-Concept/attachments/422134 is easier on the eyes while not being in any way flashy.

> It definitely was! The log pop is making its way into my beats for sure. 🙌🏼

I'm definitely looking forward to using these samples in future projects myself! I think they will make some stellar drum layers.

> Do you make sounds regularly?

I'm challenging myself to make a new sample pack every month. I think it will be a great way to expand my library and provide some neat stuff to other people too. This was last month's.

> If you had a Patreon or something similar I would consider subscribing.

I do! You can find it right here. :)

Download https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Run it and use the dialog option to apply all recommended settings, close the program and restart your PC. You should have better performance.

This will shut up windows 10 and all of it's spyware and it's significant in reducing the backend CPU usage that Cortana wants to use, One Drive, all of microsofts call-home procedures(which are designed for data collection). Having your PC make any extra connections to the internet will cause you random spikes. Network cards are one of the biggest issues you will face with their drivers and with the way windows handles latency. I feel like it doesn't need to be said, but if you are networked to other computers in the house, that is a no no. Are you running any sort of service on your computer that constantly connects to the internet? All of this sort of stuff is an impedence to the DPC routines and ISR Execution times.

Other than that, you're just going to have to use latencymon to figure out all of the programs you are running on your PC to cause issues.

More technical part to this is related to options in your BIOS. Dynamic CPU throttling will cause issues. Intel "Speed Step" and various other throttling options in the BIOS need to be disabled. Don't allow turbo boost. Overclock your CPU and set it to a constant ratio. 70 celsius is actually decently hot and if it is getting above 80-90c it will throttle.

• https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions

What specifically are you lacking in Beatmaker? You said storage space, but that really has nothing to do with the DAW you chose...

Mixing can be done in any ableton version. The Intro version is limited to 8 tracks, and the Standard version is limited to 24 returns (that's a lot)... For me, what really sells suite is Max4Live which is an environment for creating devices (like synths) and modifying Ableton (you can control almost any parameter in ableton with M4L almost like a scripting environment), Operator, Wavetable, and Sampler (though Intro and Standard come with "Simpler" which is a simpler sampler...) are all amazing stock instruments and Sampler is a gamechanger with the three LFOs (you could put a M4L LFO on Simpler... but then, you'd own Suite and have Sampler anyway...), Echo is frankly a game changer... it's such a great echo effect, but it's also the best sounding distortion... You'll want at least Standard for EQ8 if you want to do mixing. Ditto for Glue Compressor, also an amazing distortion...

I think you at least want Standard, but I'm a big proponent of Suite if nothing else than because of Max4Live.

Ah, I'm guessing you're on windows, then. In that case, if you're just using the speakers in your screen over HDMI or some headphones/speakers plugged into the audio jacks on your computer, make sure the drivers for your motherboard, cpu, bios, etc are all up to date. If you're using an external audio device, like USB speakers or an audio interface, also make sure those drivers are fully updated. If literally nothing fixes it, and this is always a worst-case-scenario solution, this can help 'fix' things by breaking the way windows handles audio and replacing the pipeline with its own, but it can be horribly buggy and unintuitive.

Alternatively, you could buy a mac and set your buffers down to, say, 64 samples for no latency at all and no crackles, but then again, macs cost more for a reason

What specific driver are you using?

I highly recommend using the ASIO4ALL driver

http://www.asio4all.org

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000204630-Setting-up-ASIO4ALL-Windows-

You may want to try a different audio driver like ASIO. MME/DirectX is known to cause latency.

Your overall latency is 98.7 ms.

You can download ASIO here - http://www.asio4all.org/

Here's another thread I found with a similar issue.

One of the comments suggests trying out FlexASIO instead. Never tried it myself, so can't speak for it's effectiveness, but... could be worth a shot.

(Also, general consesnsus seems to be that ASIO4All is not ideal.)

FYI this isn’t an windows issue, it’s an issue with the specific ASIO driver you were using not supporting multi client. Plug any audio interface into your system and chances are the ASIO driver supplied by its manufacture will work just fine with multiple apps open and much better latencies.

Another universal ASIO driver worth checking out is flexASIO, I haven’t had the chance to test it much personally but I’ve heard good things and you might get better latency than the FL studio ASIO. In general though I’d always recommend using an audio interface of some kind in Windows with its own ASIO driver.

My realtek driver did not allow me to disable exclusive mode. I use this driver when I want to flip back and forth between Ableton and web sites like Splice or youtube: https://github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO

Took a bit but I finally figured out how to use Packages. Installer is now up. Thanks for the offer to help. You could check to make sure everything works on your computer. That would be helpful.

https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole/releases

Definitely check offerup even the shipping. I just bought a Push 2 for $463 after shipping. I just made sure to pay via Paypal instead of OfferUp's plan and he cut the price for me.

I think audio samples might be more available (vs VSTs). I found this site which has different sounds and an option to export to audio. You can probably find a ton more by searching "wind/rain/birds sound effect".

You could set up an iPhone as an external display using Duet Display, iDisplay, or one of the other apps for that purpose, and follow this guide: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201834

I also found this Caffeine clone on Github

I usually just use Ableton, but I tried out this random free DAW that didn't have a sample library and came across Resonic Player which was pretty neat, also has a pro version with some extra functions but I havent looked at that.

You really haven't given enough detail to answer this, but if you just need to convert a video from one format to another, your best bet will be handbrake or ffmpeg (or the mac gui).

If purchasing a copy of Kontakt is a problem, Native Instruments makes a free Kontakt Player that should play back any libraries made for Kontakt. I say this because there are a lot of good third party orchestral Kontakt libraries.

I have, and Lemur is a good open source effort, but it's not really in the same ballpark as Touchable.

Lemur is more a way to connect to MIDI servers and design very general MIDI and OSC tools....it's best to think of Lemur as more of a "language/framework" for tools people build.

So you install Lemur, and then you have a LONG road ahead of you to have a usable, reliable midi controller. The best Ableton Lemur template is live control 2. Its got a couple of the features touchable ships with, such as a few X/Y controllers you can map, a session view where you can see clips, and some rough attempts at device control .

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https://liine.net/en/products/lemur/premium/livecontrol-2/

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Touchable is basically the much better, more flexible, and more reliable "midi controller" for IOS and Android working with Ableton.

​

Personally, I use my ipad pro and iphone 7 plus heavily in my production and live setup, but I haven't used Lemur in years.

Your best available tools, imho:

• For Ableton control, hands down Touchable is the top of the line.
• For other times where I need to send midi to the ios device, or times where i want to use another tool to send midi from IOS into Ableton, I use midimttr and midleusb for the MIDI connection.
• The best sequencer tools: Fugue Machine, Navichord, Thumbjam, Ribn, Chordpolypad
• For audio recording;utility tasks I use Audiocopy and Audioshare.
• For drums/beats, my favorites are iSpark, ElasticDrums, and Egoist
• My most used ios synths are synthmaster one, synthmaster player, animoog, Korg Gadget, and korg electribe wave
• Every now and then I use duet and use one of the idevices as a touchscreen monitor from my laptop.
  

Cheers

He also uses Audiomulch which is some really techy shit. I think he went with ableton in this vid because he was only allotted 10 minutes to make the beat. This article sheds some more insight into his approach, but it's from 2003 -- when ableton was still pretty young -- so I don't think he was using it just yet. He also talks shit on Reason in that article which is pretty cool.

Use sites like Chordify and Hooktheory to study and emulate different chord progressions and timings. Learn to play songs that outwith your usual sound, that way your creative mind will stop defaulting to the same patterns, it'll have more paths to pick from.

And not too applicable to my suggestions but serves as a good attitude to have towards creativity - "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got"

Weird how your CPU is stuck at 1,3Ghz. Check the power management settings and make sure your CPU max-speed is set to 100% and min-speed is also 100%.

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209071469-Optimizing-Windows-for-Audio

https://www.cantabilesoftware.com/glitchfree/ (Check page 19 of the PDF to see what I’m talking about but the whole document is very good!)

As mentioned before, using User Library folder to keep all of your samples (in subfolders) is a good idea. Just don’t “collect and save” your projects (to avoid duplicates).

You can add shortcuts to a specific folder (for example “Drums” subfolder that resides in your User Library) in Ableton Live’s browser for faster browsing.

Bonus tip - use a sample manager to catalogue your library.

Here's a tool I found that might help. It's free and looks pretty useful. Also works as a plug-in so that's cool. Sadly I haven't delved to deep in it yet (spent the last year planning and getting married) but I'm looking forward to giving it a go. https://www.adsrsounds.com/product/software/adsr-sample-manager/

Probably. I would imagine it would be alot easier with macOS. If you are running mac this Should be useful. Otherwise you can use virtual ausio cable if you are on windows. Good luck.

It's super easy! I'm just using Quicktime to to record the screen and route the audio through it with Loopback. Blackhole is a really good open source alternative as well. Then I just crop the whole thing with iMovie. That's all you'll need for this sort of simple vid.

Definitely worth buying AbletonBut if you want to test the waters consider a look at Cakewalk

https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk

Fully featured, free and the experience of years of development.

And if you find this is something you want to continue with, consider switching to Ableton. There's so much coverage and support for Ableton that helps.

I think

r/Cakewalk 570 subscribers

And

r/ableton 62k subscribers

says it all.

Yes. You can use VoiceMeeter, route your audio through it, and then select it as the audio device in Ableton. Make an audio track, select 'ext. in' as the input source, select '1/2' so it's stereo and hit record.

Good question. Main differences between Simpler and Sampler: Sampler will give you the ability to play multiple samples at once and allow you to control the samples you play based on what key you press, how hard you press it, and a couple other variables as well (can't remember off the top off my head). Not sure this is something you'd be needing, but could be worth checking out a bit. Simpler is more suited for single samples, like loops and one-shots, and gives you the ability to warp the audio.

Also, since you say you wanna make hip-hop, here's some specific stuff included in Suite that you may be interested in:

- Beat Tools and all the piano, brass, and strings libraries under 'Packs' on the compare editions page https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

And then, on that same page, I'd take a quick look at the two reverb effects and echo. I use these a lot when making hip hop. Depending on what your beats are like, they could come in handy for you too.

You should be able to get a good guitar setup going without suite. I'm not sure if you're referring to outboard pedal gear, a midi pedal controller or software-based pedal effects. But you should be able to get any of these to work without buying suite. /u/qubitrenegade made a good guess that you may be referring to the pedal effect.

I use the nektar pacer with ableton live, and you can also integrate external hardware effects if you want to get that routing working. Lite does have some limitations that may affect your recording, but pedal support shouldn't be one of them.

What version of Live do you have - Intro, Standard, or Suite? Certain features are only included in Standard or Suite. There's a full comparison between the versions here: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/#effects

If ALLLLLL you'll ever do is record and mix, then Intro should be enough, you are limited to two returns, but I think you can do a lot of that in your Digi?

This table compares the features.

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

I would posit that that upgrade to Suite from Standard is worth the $200 just for Max4Live as it opens a lot of possibilities for "custom" plugins controlling various aspects of your set... So if you're considering Standard, Suite might be worth it (they do have a payment plan). But again, for just recording and mixing, that's probably overkill.

Download the trial (if you haven't already) and then use this to compare versions. That way you'll know what to use and what not to use, should you decide to upgrade to standard.

I haven't bought Suite yet, I'm about to today. I'm going by YouTube videos I've seen and the comparison between the different versions (look under Software Instruments): https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

Wavetable is the full featured synthesizer that comes with Suite. This for many, is the single most powerful instrument to upgrade to Suite for.

Collision is an instrument that emulates and morphs the sounds of mallet percussion (marimbas, bells, etc.). In the link I gave you, it shows you how much more expansive Suite is than Standard. That's why I'm going Suite.

Edit: "Amp" and "Cabinet" seem to be quick and easy ways to record guitars, so that's another big one for me. And the instrument, "Electric", for some quick electric pianos.

He’s not being a dickhead though.. I would seriously consider taking his advice. They did a great job with the Ableton Live manual (and online Learn Live instructional videos.

Look don’t take this the wrong way, but how you phrased your question makes it pretty obvious that you’re new to Ableton. And that’s fine, you picked a great DAW. I’ve only been using it for about 6 months now and the single most beneficial step I took was to read the manual and watch their videos. It takes maybe a day or two to get that done and I promise it will save you from headaches and wasted time in the long run.

I'd say to check out this page, then decide what would work best for you. If you think it's too limiting, just upgrade later on and it will cost you about the same.

If you're gonna use the EDU discount, though, start with the best one you can afford. The discount only applies for first-time purchases, so you'll actually pay more if you decide to upgrade later on.

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

It all comes down to native instruments, sample content, and Max.

If you plan to mainly use plugins, won't likely use the extra samples, and aren't interested in Max, there is no advantage to Suite.

This is your friend: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

It just came in today... they might not send them all out at the same time but the e-mail I got says:

>Improvements to Push 1 > >Live 10 lets you do more on Push 1 away from the computer. A new step sequencing layout allows simultaneous note sequencing and real time playing. And improvements to layouts, and building and extending patterns deliver a more fluid experience while you’re in the creative process. > >Read the full release notes ›

I personally went with the Suite only because I figured go big or go home. The biggest difference between Suite and Standard are the affects and some Midi functions. I personally have no regrets with Suite. If you are getting the Push, I would suggest Suite so you can have all of the extra cool effects and add-ons.

If you only plan on using the Push to mix some tracks and dabble with some Midi, the the Standard would work okay. Just depends on what you are wanting to do, and how much you plan on using Ableton. In either case, it’s all up to you!

Here are some links that may help:

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/ ^ Breaks down the differences between Intro, Standard, and Suite.

You get drum rack, simpler and impulse. Any other synth only comes with suite - https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/#software-instruments

The default instruments within suite are more than adequate for a beginner. I can imagine it being massively frustrating trying to make anything using only the three instruments you get in the lite/standard version.

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison

if all he really wants to do is sample and chop intro could get him by (see simpler and drum rack) but i would urge you to consider suite since it should have everything he could need for quite awhile.

very limited when compared with suite

u can only use like 16 or so tracks on a single project which was the biggest deal breaker for me. if u use a lot of third party VSTs, standard is good enough but lite was too limited for me when i first started. u can check out the comparison of features at the link

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/

i dont support piracy but i would use the copy of suite until u can purchase it

I think both Sampler and Simpler were upgraded significantly in 9, in particular the filters are now analog modeled.

I think Glue Compressor is new. And as @junkis said, EQ8 is "how did I ever live without this" material. I think several of the audio effects are new to 9 as well.

I would recommend starting with the just the standard Live package, not the Suite, or 'Intro' as you'll find to many limitations with Intro and won't need the additional features in Suite, but as you said you can upgrade if need be. My only issue with Intro is that you're limited to 16 channels, but have a look at the differences between each package here: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/

Suite comes with quite a large number of built in effects and instruments. There is plenty there to create, mix, and master music with. I haven't felt the need to look beyond that wide set of options yet.

Just as an FYI, I bought an Akai midi controller doodad for $129.99 and it included Ableton Live 9 'Lite', which is the same as their Intro version. Here's the comparison matrix if you might be interested going that route.

Looking at the list of effects in Live Intro, I'd say you should be able to replicate just about any of the 404's effects. Intro also looks like it has VST support, so you can use all manner of free VST effects to fill any gaps if need be.

Probably the best approach is to post any must-have 404 effects you can't seem to replicate - if be surprised if you don't get a solution.

Which ones do you mean by current instruments? Are you aware you can download o bunch of free packs from the ableton website?

https://www.ableton.com/en/live/feature-comparison/

Take a look at this list, scroll down to packs. You can download all the packs for Live Intro and Standard, as long as you google for them.

For solo patches idk, but for ensemble, you can get this: https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover/

About the sheet score, you could use something like Muse Score (https://musescore.org) to make the sheet and export as midi, then import into Ableton.