Ableton Live 12 Manual

for Windows and Mac

Reference Manual by Michelle Hughes, Sara Riegel, Ania Kuźbik, Chandler Tipton, Timothy Beutler,
Dennis DeSantis, Ian Gallagher, Kevin Haywood, Rose Knudsen, Gerhard Behles, Jakob Rang,
Robert Henke, Torsten Slama.

Schönhauser Allee 6-7 | 10119 Berlin, Germany

Contact Support: www.ableton.com/support/contact
Contents
1. Welcome to Live 21
1.1 The Ableton Team Says: Thank You 21

2. First Steps 22
2.1 Installation and Authorization 22
2.2 Learn About Live 22
2.2.1 Using the Info View 22
2.3 Live’s Settings 23
2.3.1 Display & Input 23
2.3.2 Theme & Colors 24
2.3.3 Audio 24
2.3.4 Link, Tempo & MIDI 25
2.3.5 File & Folder 25
2.3.6 Library 25
2.3.7 Plug-Ins 26
2.3.8 Record, Warp & Launch 26
2.3.9 Licenses & Updates 26

3. Live Concepts 27
3.1 The Browser 27
3.2 Live Sets 28
3.3 Arrangement and Session 28
3.4 Tracks 29
3.5 Audio and MIDI 32
3.6 Audio Clips and Samples 33
3.7 MIDI Clips and MIDI Files 35
3.8 Devices and the Mixer 36
3.9 Presets and Racks 40
3.10 Routing 40
3.11 Recording New Clips 41
3.12 Automation Envelopes 43
3.13 Clip Envelopes 43
3.14 MIDI and Key Remote 44
3.15 Saving and Exporting 44

4. Working with the Browser 46

4.1 Search Bar and Browser History 47

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 4.2 Filters and Tags 53
4.2.1 Filter Groups 54
4.2.2 Tags 57
4.2.3 Tags Editor 57
4.3 Collections 59
4.4 Library 62
4.5 Places 63
4.5.1 Downloading and Installing Packs in the Browser 64
4.5.2 Using Ableton Cloud 69
4.5.3 Transferring Files from Push 3 in Standalone Mode 70
4.5.4 User Library 73
4.5.5 Current Project 76
4.5.6 User Folders 78
4.6 Navigating in the Browser 80
4.7 Previewing Files 80
4.8 Hot-Swap Mode 83
4.9 Adding Content from the Browser to a Live Set 86

5. Managing Files and Sets 88

5.1 Sample Files 88
5.1.1 The Decoding Cache 88
5.1.2 Analysis Files (.asd) 89
5.1.3 Exporting Audio and Video 90
5.2 MIDI Files 96
5.2.1 Exporting MIDI Files 96
5.3 Live Clips 97
5.4 Live Sets 98
5.4.1 Creating, Opening and Saving Sets 98
5.4.2 Merging Sets 98
5.4.3 Exporting Session Clips as New Sets 101
5.4.4 Template Sets 101
5.4.5 Viewing and Changing a Live Set’s File References 102
5.5 Live Projects 104
5.5.1 Projects and Live Sets 104
5.5.2 Projects and Presets 108
5.5.3 Managing Files in a Project 109
5.6 Locating Missing Files 109
5.6.1 Manual Repair 110
5.6.2 Automatic Repair 110
5.7 Collecting External Files 112
5.7.1 Collect Files on Export 113
5.8 Aggregated Locating and Collecting 114
5.9 Finding Unused Files 114
5.10 Packing Projects into Packs 115
5.11 File Management FAQs 115
5.11.1 How Do I Create a Project? 115
5.11.2 How Can I Save Presets Into My Current Project? 115

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 5.11.3 Can I Work On Multiple Versions of a Set? 115
5.11.4 Where Should I Save My Live Sets? 116
5.11.5 Can I Use My Own Folder Structure Within a Project Folder? 116

6. Arrangement View 117

6.1 Layout 117
6.2 Navigation and Zooming 120
6.3 Transport and Playback 120
6.4 Launching the Arrangement with Locators 122
6.5 Time Signature Changes 124
6.6 The Arrangement Loop 126
6.7 Moving and Resizing Clips 127
6.8 Audio Clip Fades and Crossfades 129
6.9 Selecting Clips and Time 131
6.10 Using the Editing Grid 132
6.11 Using the …Time Commands 133
6.12 Splitting Clips 133
6.13 Consolidating Clips 134
6.14 Linked-Track Editing 135
6.14.1 Linking and Unlinking Tracks 135
6.14.2 Editing Linked Tracks 136
6.15 The Mixer in Arrangement View 137

7. Session View 139

7.1 Session View Clips 140
7.2 Tracks and Scenes 141
7.2.1 Editing Scene Tempo and Time Signature Values 143
7.2.2 Scene View 144
7.3 The Track Status Fields 146
7.4 Setting Up the Session View Grid 147
7.4.1 Select on Launch 148
7.4.2 Removing Clip Stop Buttons 148
7.4.3 Editing Scenes 148
7.5 Recording Sessions into the Arrangement 149

8. Clip View 152

8.1 The Clip Tabs/Panels 156
8.1.1 Clip Activator Switch 156
8.1.2 Clip View Sample Details 156
8.1.3 Clip Tabs/Clip Panels 157
8.1.4 Clip Name and Color 158
8.1.5 Clip Region/Loop and Display 159
8.1.6 Clip Signature 163
8.1.7 Clip Groove Chooser 164
8.1.8 Saving Default Audio Clip Settings with the Sample 165
8.1.9 MIDI Clip Scales 165

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 8.1.10 MIDI Clip Bank and Program Change 166
8.2 The Audio Tab/Panel 168
8.2.1 Warp Controls 168
8.2.2 Clip Start and End Fades 169
8.2.3 Clip RAM Mode 170
8.2.4 High Quality Interpolation 171
8.2.5 Clip Gain and Pitch 172
8.2.6 Destructive Sample Editing 173
8.2.7 Reversing Samples 174
8.2.8 Cropping Audio Clips 175
8.2.9 Replacing and Editing the Sample 175
8.3 The Pitch and Time Utilities Tab/Panel 176
8.4 The Transform and Generate Tabs/Panels 177
8.5 Clip Defaults and Update Rate 179

9. Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping 181

9.1 Tempo 181
9.1.1 Setting the Tempo 181
9.1.2 Tapping the Tempo 182
9.1.3 Nudging the Tempo 183
9.1.4 Clip Tempo Followers and Leaders 183
9.2 Warping 185
9.2.1 Warping Options in Settings 186
9.2.2 Importing Samples 187
9.2.3 Warp Markers 187
9.2.4 Warping Short Samples 189
9.2.5 Auto-Warping Long Samples 191
9.2.6 Manipulating Grooves 195
9.2.7 Quantizing Audio 195
9.3 Warp Modes 196
9.3.1 Beats Mode 196
9.3.2 Tones Mode 197
9.3.3 Texture Mode 197
9.3.4 Re-Pitch Mode 198
9.3.5 Complex and Complex Pro Mode 198

10. Editing MIDI 199

10.1 The Clip Content Editor Layout for MIDI Clips 199
10.2 Zooming and Navigating in the MIDI Note Editor 201
10.2.1 Grid Snapping 202
10.2.2 Playback Options 202
10.3 Creating a MIDI Clip 203
10.4 Adding MIDI Notes 203
10.4.1 Draw Mode 204
10.4.2 Previewing Notes 204

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 10.5 Editing MIDI Notes 205
10.5.1 Non-Destructive Editing 205
10.5.2 Selecting Notes and Timespan 205
10.5.3 Moving Notes 206
10.5.4 Changing Note Length 207
10.5.5 MIDI Note Stretch 208
10.5.6 Deactivating Notes 209
10.5.7 Note Operations 209
10.5.8 Pitch and Time Utilities 213
10.5.9 MIDI Tools 222
10.5.10 Quantizing Notes 222
10.5.11 Editing Velocities 223
10.5.12 Editing Probabilities 228
10.6 Folding and Scales 231
10.7 Editing MIDI Clips 234
10.7.1 Cropping MIDI Clips 234
10.7.2 The …Time Commands in the MIDI Note Editor 234
10.7.3 Looping 235
10.8 Multi-Clip Editing 236
10.8.1 Focus Mode 237
10.8.2 Multi-Clip Editing in the Session View 238
10.8.3 Multi-Clip Editing in the Arrangement View 238

11. MIDI Tools 240

11.1 Transformation Tools 242
11.1.1 Arpeggiate 242
11.1.2 Connect 244
11.1.3 Ornament 246
11.1.4 Quantize 250
11.1.5 Recombine 251
11.1.6 Span 253
11.1.7 Strum 255
11.1.8 Time Warp 257
11.2 Generative Tools 259
11.2.1 Rhythm 259
11.2.2 Seed 261
11.2.3 Shape 262
11.2.4 Stacks 264

12. Editing MPE 266

12.1 Viewing MPE Data 267
12.2 Editing MPE Data 268
12.3 Drawing Envelopes 271
12.4 MPE in Live’s Devices and on Push 2 272
12.5 MPE in External Plug-ins 272

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 12.6 MPE/Multi-channel Settings 272
12.6.1 Accessing the MPE/Multi-channel Settings Dialog 273
12.6.2 The MPE/Multi-Channel Settings Dialog 275

13. Converting Audio to MIDI 276

13.1 Slice to New MIDI Track 276
13.1.1 Resequencing Slices 278
13.1.2 Using Effects on Slices 278
13.2 Convert Harmony to New MIDI Track 279
13.3 Convert Melody to New MIDI Track 279
13.4 Convert Drums to New MIDI Track 280
13.5 Optimizing for Better Conversion Quality 280

14. Using Grooves 281

14.1 Groove Pool 282
14.1.1 Adjusting Groove Parameters 283
14.1.2 Committing Grooves 284
14.2 Editing Grooves 285
14.2.1 Extracting Grooves 285
14.3 Groove Tips 286
14.3.1 Grooving a Single Voice 286
14.3.2 Non-Destructive Quantization 286
14.3.3 Creating Texture With Randomization 286

15. Using Tuning Systems 287

15.1 Loading a Tuning System 289
15.2 The Tuning Section 292
15.3 MIDI Track Options for Tuning Systems 293
15.3.1 Bypass Tuning 293
15.3.2 MIDI Controller Layouts 294
15.4 Learn More About Tuning Systems 295

16. Launching Clips 296

16.1 The Launch Controls 296
16.2 Launch Modes 297
16.3 Legato Mode 298
16.4 Clip Launch Quantization 299
16.5 Velocity 300
16.6 Clip Offset and Nudging 300
16.7 Follow Actions 302
16.7.1 Looping Parts of a Clip 305
16.7.2 Creating Cycles 306
16.7.3 Temporarily Looping Clips 306
16.7.4 Adding Variations in Sync 306
16.7.5 Mixing up Melodies and Beats 307
16.7.6 Creating Nonrepetitive Structures 307

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17. Routing and I/O 308
17.1 Monitoring 310
17.2 External Audio In/Out 311
17.2.1 Mono/Stereo Conversions 311
17.3 External MIDI In/Out 311
17.3.1 MIDI Port Inputs and Outputs 312
17.3.2 Playing MIDI With the Computer Keyboard 314
17.3.3 Connecting External Synthesizers 315
17.3.4 MIDI In/Out Indicators 315
17.4 Resampling 316
17.5 Internal Routings 316
17.5.1 Internal Routing Points 317
17.5.2 Making Use of Internal Routing 319

18. Mixing 330

18.1 The Live Mixer 330
18.1.1 Additional Mixer Features 333
18.2 Audio and MIDI Tracks 334
18.3 Group Tracks 335
18.4 Return Tracks and the Main track 337
18.5 Using Live’s Crossfader 339
18.6 Soloing and Cueing 342
18.7 Track Delays 344
18.8 Keep Monitoring Latency in Recording Track Toggles 344
18.9 Performance Impact Track Indicators 345

19. Recording New Clips 346

19.1 Choosing an Input 346
19.2 Arming (Record-Enabling) Tracks 347
19.3 Recording 347
19.3.1 Recording Into the Arrangement 348
19.3.2 Recording Into Session Slots 348
19.3.3 Overdub Recording MIDI Patterns 350
19.3.4 MIDI Step Recording 350
19.4 Recording in Sync 351
19.4.1 Metronome Settings 353
19.5 Recording Quantized MIDI Notes 353
19.6 Recording with Count-in 354
19.7 Setting up File Types 354
19.8 Where are the Recorded Samples? 354
19.9 Using Remote Control for Recording 355
19.10 Capturing MIDI 356
19.10.1 Starting a New Live Set 357
19.10.2 Adding Material to an Existing Live Set 358

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20. Comping 359
20.1 Take Lanes 359
20.2 Inserting and Managing Take Lanes 360
20.3 Recording Takes 361
20.4 Inserting Samples 361
20.5 Auditioning Take Lanes 362
20.6 Creating a Comp 362
20.7 Source Highlights 363

21. Working with Instruments and Effects 365

21.1 Using the Live Devices 367
21.1.1 Live Device Presets 369
21.2 Using Plug-Ins 374
21.2.1 Plug-Ins in the Device View 375
21.2.2 Sidechain Parameters 378
21.3 VST Plug-Ins 379
21.3.1 The VST Plug-In Folder 379
21.3.2 VST Presets and Banks 382
21.4 Audio Units Plug-Ins 383
21.5 Device Delay Compensation 384

22. Instrument, Drum and Effect Racks 386

22.1 An Overview of Racks 386
22.1.1 Signal Flow and Parallel Device Chains 386
22.1.2 Macro Controls 387
22.2 Creating Racks 388
22.3 Looking at Racks 389
22.4 Chain List 390
22.4.1 Auto Select 391
22.5 Zones 392
22.5.1 Signal Flow through Zones 392
22.5.2 Key Zones 393
22.5.3 Velocity Zones 393
22.5.4 Chain Select Zones 394
22.6 Drum Racks 396
22.6.1 Pad View 397
22.7 Using the Macro Controls 399
22.7.1 Map Mode 399
22.7.2 Randomizing Macro Controls 400
22.7.3 Macro Control Variations 402
22.8 Mixing With Racks 403
22.8.1 Extracting Chains 404

23. Automation and Editing Envelopes 406

23.1 Recording Automation in Arrangement View 406

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 23.2 Recording Automation in Session View 407
23.2.1 Session Automation Recording Modes 409
23.3 Deleting Automation 409
23.4 Overriding Automation 409
23.5 Drawing and Editing Automation 410
23.5.1 Drawing Envelopes 411
23.5.2 Editing Breakpoints 412
23.5.3 Stretching and Skewing Envelopes 414
23.5.4 Simplifying Envelopes 415
23.5.5 Inserting Automation Shapes 416
23.5.6 Locking Envelopes 417
23.5.7 Edit Menu Commands 417
23.5.8 Editing the Tempo Automation 417

24. Clip Envelopes 419

24.1 The Clip Envelope Editor 419
24.2 Audio Clip Envelopes 420
24.2.1 Clip Envelopes are Non-Destructive 420
24.2.2 Changing Pitch and Tuning per Note 420
24.2.3 Muting or Attenuating Notes in a Sample 421
24.2.4 Scrambling Beats 422
24.2.5 Using Clips as Templates 423
24.3 Mixer and Device Clip Envelopes 423
24.3.1 Modulating Mixer Volumes and Sends 425
24.3.2 Modulating Pan 426
24.3.3 Modulating Device Controls 426
24.4 MIDI Controller Clip Envelopes 427
24.5 Unlinking Clip Envelopes From Clips 427
24.5.1 Programming a Fade-Out for a Live Set 428
24.5.2 Creating Long Loops from Short Loops 428
24.5.3 Imposing Rhythm Patterns onto Samples 429
24.5.4 Clip Envelopes as LFOs 429
24.5.5 Warping Linked Envelopes 429

25. Working with Video 431

25.1 Importing Video 431
25.2 The Appearance of Video in Live 431
25.2.1 Video Clips in the Arrangement View 431
25.2.2 The Video Window 432
25.2.3 Clip View 433
25.3 Matching Sound to Video 434
25.4 Video Trimming Tricks 434

26. Live Audio Effect Reference 437

26.1 Amp 437
26.1.1 Amp Tips 438

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26.2 Auto Filter 439
26.3 Auto Pan 442
26.4 Beat Repeat 443
26.5 Cabinet 445
26.5.1 Cabinet Tips 446
26.6 Channel EQ 447
26.6.1 Channel EQ Tips 448
26.7 Chorus 449
26.8 Chorus-Ensemble 450
26.8.1 Chorus-Ensemble Tips 452
26.9 Compressor 452
26.9.1 Sidechain Parameters 455
26.9.2 Compressor Tips 456
26.10 Corpus 457
26.10.1 Resonator Parameters 458
26.10.2 LFO Section 460
26.10.3 Filter Section 461
26.10.4 Global Parameters 462
26.10.5 Sidechain Parameters 462
26.11 Delay 463
26.11.1 Delay Tips 465
26.12 Drum Buss 465
26.13 Dynamic Tube 467
26.14 Echo 468
26.14.1 Echo Tab 469
26.14.2 Modulation Tab 470
26.14.3 Character Tab 471
26.14.4 Global Controls 472
26.15 EQ Eight 472
26.16 EQ Three 475
26.17 Erosion 476
26.18 External Audio Effect 477
26.19 Filter Delay 478
26.20 Flanger 479
26.21 Frequency Shifter 481
26.21.1 Frequency Shifter Tips 482
26.22 Gate 483
26.23 Glue Compressor 485
26.23.1 Sidechain Parameters 487
26.24 Grain Delay 488
26.25 Hybrid Reverb 489
26.25.1 Signal Flow 490
26.25.2 Input Section 490
26.25.3 Convolution Reverb Engine 491
26.25.4 Algorithmic Reverb Engine 492
26.25.5 EQ Section 495
26.25.6 Output Section 495

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26.26 Limiter 496
26.27 Looper 497
26.27.1 Feedback Routing 500
26.28 Multiband Dynamics 501
26.28.1 Dynamics Processing Theory 501
26.28.2 Interface and Controls 503
26.28.3 Sidechain Parameters 504
26.28.4 Multiband Dynamics Tips 505
26.29 Overdrive 506
26.30 Pedal 507
26.30.1 Pedal Tips 508
26.31 Phaser 510
26.32 Phaser-Flanger 511
26.33 Redux 514
26.33.1 Downsampling 515
26.33.2 Bit Reduction 515
26.34 Redux Legacy 516
26.35 Resonators 517
26.36 Reverb 518
26.36.1 Input Filter 519
26.36.2 Early Reflections 519
26.36.3 Diffusion Network 520
26.36.4 Chorus 521
26.36.5 Global Settings 521
26.36.6 Output 522
26.37 Roar 523
26.37.1 Input Section 523
26.37.2 Gain Stage Section 525
26.37.3 Modulation Section 526
26.37.4 Feedback Section 528
26.37.5 Global Section 529
26.38 Saturator 530
26.39 Shifter 532
26.39.1 Tuning and Delay Section 532
26.39.2 LFO Section 533
26.39.3 Envelope Follower Section 534
26.39.4 Shifter Mode Section 535
26.39.5 Sidechain Parameters 536
26.39.6 Shifter Tips 536
26.40 Spectral Resonator 537
26.40.1 Spectral Resonator Tips 539
26.41 Spectral Time 540
26.41.1 Freezer Section 541
26.41.2 Delay Section 542
26.41.3 Resolution Section 543
26.41.4 Global Controls 543
26.42 Spectrum 544

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 26.43 Tuner 545
26.43.1 View Switches 546
26.43.2 Classic View 546
26.43.3 Histogram View 548
26.43.4 Note Spellings 549
26.43.5 Reference Slider 549
26.44 Utility 550
26.45 Vinyl Distortion 552
26.46 Vocoder 553
26.46.1 Vocoder Tips 555

27. Live MIDI Effect Reference 557

27.1 Arpeggiator 557
27.1.1 Style and Rate Sections 558
27.1.2 Transposition and Velocity Sections 560
27.2 CC Control 561
27.3 Chord 562
27.4 Note Length 563
27.5 Pitch 564
27.6 Random 565
27.7 Scale 566
27.8 Velocity 567

28. Live Instrument Reference 569

28.1 Analog 569
28.1.1 Architecture and Interface 569
28.1.2 Oscillators 570
28.1.3 Noise Generator 572
28.1.4 Filters 572
28.1.5 Amplifiers 573
28.1.6 Envelopes 574
28.1.7 LFOs 575
28.1.8 Global Parameters 576
28.1.9 MPE Sources 577
28.2 Collision 578
28.2.1 Architecture and Interface 578
28.2.2 Mallet Section 579
28.2.3 Noise Section 580
28.2.4 Resonator Tabs 581
28.2.5 LFO Tab 584
28.2.6 MIDI/MPE Tab 585
28.2.7 Sound Design Tips 586
28.3 Drift 587
28.3.1 Subtractive Synthesis 587
28.3.2 Oscillator Section 588
28.3.3 Filter Section 591

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 28.3.4 Envelopes Section 592
28.3.5 LFO Section 594
28.3.6 Mod Section 595
28.3.7 Global Section 596
28.4 Electric 597
28.4.1 Architecture and Interface 598
28.4.2 Hammer Section 599
28.4.3 Fork Section 600
28.4.4 Damper/Pickup Section 601
28.4.5 Global Section 602
28.5 External Instrument 603
28.6 Impulse 605
28.6.1 Sample Slots 605
28.6.2 Start, Transpose and Stretch 606
28.6.3 Filter 606
28.6.4 Saturator and Envelope 606
28.6.5 Pan and Volume 606
28.6.6 Global Controls 607
28.6.7 Individual Outputs 607
28.7 Meld 607
28.7.1 General Overview 607
28.7.2 Oscillators 608
28.7.3 Oscillator Macros 609
28.7.4 Envelopes Tab 611
28.7.5 LFOs Tab 612
28.7.6 Matrix Tab 612
28.7.7 MIDI and MPE Tabs 613
28.7.8 Settings Tab 613
28.7.9 Filters 614
28.7.10 Mix Section 616
28.7.11 Global Controls 616
28.8 Operator 617
28.8.1 General Overview 617
28.8.2 Oscillator Section 619
28.8.3 LFO Section 621
28.8.4 Envelopes 622
28.8.5 Filter Section 623
28.8.6 Global Controls 625
28.8.7 Glide and Spread 626
28.8.8 Strategies for Saving CPU Power 626
28.8.9 Finally… 626
28.8.10 The Complete Parameter List 627
28.9 Sampler 634
28.9.1 Getting Started with Sampler 635
28.9.2 Multisampling 635
28.9.3 Title Bar Options 635
28.9.4 Sampler’s Tabs 637

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 28.9.5 The Zone Tab 637
28.9.6 The Sample Tab 642
28.9.7 The Pitch/Osc Tab 649
28.9.8 The Filter/Global Tab 651
28.9.9 The Modulation Tab 653
28.9.10 The MIDI Tab 656
28.9.11 Importing Third-Party Multisamples 656
28.10 Simpler 657
28.10.1 Playback Modes 658
28.10.2 Warp Controls 663
28.10.3 Filter 663
28.10.4 Envelopes 665
28.10.5 LFO 667
28.10.6 Global Parameters 667
28.10.7 Context Menu Options 668
28.10.8 Strategies for Saving CPU Power 669
28.11 Tension 669
28.11.1 Architecture and Interface 670
28.11.2 String Tab 670
28.11.3 Filter/Global Tab 678
28.11.4 Sound Design Tips 682
28.12 Wavetable 682
28.12.1 Wavetable Synthesis 682
28.12.2 Oscillators 683
28.12.3 Sub Oscillator 685
28.12.4 Filters 685
28.12.5 Matrix Tab 686
28.12.6 Mod Sources Tab 687
28.12.7 MIDI Tab 689
28.12.8 Global and Unison Controls 690
28.12.9 Hi-Quality Mode 691

29. Max for Live 693

29.1 Setting Up Max for Live 693
29.2 Using Max for Live Devices 694
29.3 Editing Max for Live Devices 694
29.4 Building Max for Live MIDI Tools 696
29.5 Max Dependencies 698
29.6 Learning Max Programming 698

30. Max for Live Devices 699

30.1 Max for Live Instruments 699
30.1.1 DS Clang 699
30.1.2 DS Clap 700
30.1.3 DS Cymbal 701
30.1.4 DS FM 702

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 30.1.5 DS HH 703
30.1.6 DS Kick 704
30.1.7 DS Sampler 705
30.1.8 DS Snare 706
30.1.9 DS Tom 707
30.2 Max for Live Audio Effects 708
30.2.1 Align Delay 708
30.2.2 Envelope Follower 709
30.2.3 LFO 710
30.2.4 Shaper 711
30.3 Max for Live MIDI Effects 712
30.3.1 Envelope MIDI 712
30.3.2 Expression Control 714
30.3.3 Expression Control Legacy 716
30.3.4 MIDI Monitor 717
30.3.5 MPE Control 718
30.3.6 Note Echo 724
30.3.7 Shaper MIDI 725
30.4 Max for Live MIDI Tools 726
30.4.1 Velocity Shaper 726
30.4.2 Euclidean 728

31. MIDI and Key Remote Control 731

31.1 MIDI Remote Control 731
31.1.1 Natively Supported Control Surfaces 732
31.1.2 Manual Control Surface Setup 733
31.1.3 Takeover Mode 734
31.2 The Mapping Browser 735
31.2.1 Assigning MIDI Remote Control 736
31.2.2 Mapping to MIDI Notes 736
31.2.3 Mapping to Absolute MIDI Controllers 736
31.2.4 Mapping to Relative MIDI Controllers 737
31.2.5 Computer Keyboard Remote Control 739

32. Using Push 1 740

32.1 Setup 740
32.2 Browsing and Loading Sounds 741
32.3 Playing and Programming Beats 742
32.3.1 Loop Selector 742
32.3.2 16 Velocities Mode 744
32.3.3 64-Pad Mode 744
32.3.4 Loading Individual Drums 744
32.3.5 Step Sequencing Beats 745
32.3.6 Real-time Recording 747
32.3.7 Fixed Length Recording 749

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 32.4 Additional Recording Options 750
32.4.1 Recording with Repeat 750
32.4.2 Quantizing 751
32.5 Playing Melodies and Harmonies 752
32.5.1 Playing in Other Keys 754
32.6 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies 755
32.6.1 Adjusting the Loop Length 757
32.7 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes 758
32.7.1 32 Notes 758
32.7.2 Sequencer 759
32.8 Navigating in Note Mode 759
32.9 Controlling Live’s Instruments and Effects 760
32.10 Mixing with Push 1 761
32.11 Recording Automation 763
32.12 Step Sequencing Automation 764
32.12.1 Note-Specific Parameters 764
32.12.2 Per-Step Automation 765
32.13 Controlling Live’s Session View 765
32.13.1 Session Overview 766
32.14 Setting User Preferences 767
32.15 Push 1 Control Reference 769

33. Using Push 2 780

33.1 Setup 781
33.2 Browsing and Loading Sounds 781
33.3 Playing and Programming Beats 784
33.3.1 Loop Selector 784
33.3.2 16 Velocities Mode 786
33.3.3 64-Pad Mode 786
33.3.4 Loading Individual Drums 787
33.3.5 Step Sequencing Beats 790
33.3.6 Real-time Recording 793
33.3.7 Fixed Length Recording 795
33.4 Additional Recording Options 796
33.4.1 Recording with Repeat 796
33.4.2 Quantizing 797
33.4.3 Arrangement Recording 798
33.5 Playing Melodies and Harmonies 798
33.5.1 Playing in Other Keys 801
33.6 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies 802
33.6.1 Adjusting the Loop Length 804
33.7 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes 805
33.7.1 32 Notes 806
33.7.2 Sequencer 806
33.8 Working with Samples 808
33.8.1 Classic Playback Mode 809
33.8.2 One-Shot Mode 810

17
 33.8.3 Slicing Mode 812
33.9 Navigating in Note Mode 814
33.10 Working With Instruments and Effects 815
33.10.1 Adding, Deleting, and Reordering Devices 817
33.10.2 Working with Racks 818
33.11 Track Control And Mixing 820
33.11.1 Rack and Group Track Mixing 822
33.12 Recording Automation 823
33.13 Step Sequencing Automation 824
33.14 Clip Mode 825
33.14.1 Using MIDI Tracks in Clip Mode 827
33.14.2 Real-Time Playing Layouts 827
33.14.3 Sequencing Layouts 827
33.14.4 Note-Specific Parameters 829
33.15 Controlling Live’s Session View 829
33.15.1 Session Overview 831
33.16 Setup Menu 832
33.17 Push 2 Control Reference 833

34. Synchronizing with Link, Tempo Follower, and MIDI 839

34.1 Synchronizing via Link 839
34.1.1 Setting up Link 839
34.1.2 Using Link 840
34.2 Synchronizing via Tempo Follower 841
34.2.1 Setting Up Tempo Follower 841
34.3 Synchronizing via MIDI 842
34.3.1 Synchronizing External MIDI Devices to Live 843
34.3.2 Synchronizing Live to External MIDI Devices 843
34.3.3 Sync Delay 844

35. Computer Audio Resources and Strategies 845

35.1 Managing the CPU Load 845
35.1.1 The CPU Load Meter 845
35.1.2 CPU Load from Multichannel Audio 847
35.1.3 CPU Load from Tracks and Devices 847
35.1.4 Track Freeze 848
35.2 Managing the Disk Load 850

36. Audio Fact Sheet 851

36.1 Testing and Methodology 851
36.2 Neutral Operations 851
36.2.1 Undithered Rendering 852
36.2.2 Matching sample rate/no transposition 852
36.2.3 Unstretched Beats/Tones/Texture/Re-Pitch Warping 852
36.2.4 Summing at Single Mix Points 853
36.2.5 Recording external signals (bit depth >/= A/D converter) 853

18
 36.2.6 Recording internal sources at 32 bit 853
36.2.7 Freeze, Flatten 854
36.2.8 Bypassed Effects 854
36.2.9 Routing 855
36.2.10 Splitting Clips 855
36.3 Non-Neutral Operations 855
36.3.1 Playback in Complex and Complex Pro Mode 856
36.3.2 Sample rate conversion/transposition 856
36.3.3 Volume Automation 856
36.3.4 Dithering 856
36.3.5 Recording external signals (bit depth < A/D converter) 857
36.3.6 Recording internal sources below 32 bit 857
36.3.7 Consolidate 857
36.3.8 Clip fades 857
36.3.9 Panning 857
36.3.10 Grooves 857
36.4 Tips for Achieving Optimal Sound Quality in Live 858
36.5 Conclusion 858

37. MIDI Fact Sheet 859

37.1 Ideal MIDI Behavior 859
37.2 MIDI Timing Problems 860
37.3 Live’s MIDI Solutions 860
37.4 Variables Outside of Live’s Control 861
37.5 Tips for Achieving Optimal MIDI Performance 863
37.6 Summary and Conclusions 863

38. Accessibility Options in Live 865

38.1 Menu and Keyboard Navigation Settings 865
38.1.1 Using Tab for Navigation 865
38.1.2 Settings Menu 866
38.1.3 Options Menu 867
38.1.4 Speak Help Text 867
38.2 Audio Setup 867
38.3 Connecting MIDI Devices 867
38.4 Navigating in Live 868
38.4.1 Navigate Menu 868

39. Live Keyboard Shortcuts 874

39.1 Showing and Hiding Views 874
39.2 Keyboard Focus and Navigation 875
39.3 Working with Sets and the Program 876
39.4 Working with Devices and Plug-Ins 877
39.5 Editing 877
39.6 Adjusting Values 878
39.7 Commands for Breakpoint Envelopes 879

19
 39.8 Loop Brace and Start/End Markers 880
39.9 Zooming, Display and Selections 880
39.10 Clip View Editor View Modes 881
39.11 Clip View Sample Editor 881
39.12 Clip View MIDI Note Editor 882
39.13 Grid Snapping and Drawing 884
39.14 Global Quantization 885
39.15 Session View 885
39.16 Arrangement View 886
39.17 Comping 888
39.18 Commands for Tracks 889
39.19 Transport 890
39.20 Audio Engine 891
39.21 Browser 891
39.22 Similar Sample Swapping 892
39.23 Key/MIDI Map Mode and the Computer MIDI Keyboard 892
39.24 Momentary Latching Shortcuts 893
39.25 General Keyboard Navigation and Workflow 893
39.25.1 Using Tab for Navigation 894
39.25.2 Navigating Between Controls in the Settings Menu 894
39.26 Accessing Menus 895
39.27 Using Live’s Context Menu 895

40. Credits 896

20
1. 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 using 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. You can use this
manual as a reference to get familiar with all of Live’s features and workflows.

We hope you enjoy using Live and that it enhances your creative process.

Your Ableton Team.

21
2. First Steps

2.1 Installation and Authorization

Before getting started with Live, make sure you have the latest version of the software installed and
authorized. You can download the Live installer from your ableton.com User Account and then launch
it to install the software. Once installed, you can authorize Live. Note that each Live license comes
with two authorizations, so you can use the software on up to two computers, providing that you only
use one computer at a time.

2.2 Learn About Live

Live comes with a set of interactive lessons to take you step by step through 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, 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.

2.2.1 Using the Info View

Live’s Info View displays the name and function of whatever you place the mouse over.

You can show or hide Info View by using the view control toggle in the bottom left corner of Live’s
window or by using the ? key.

22
The Info View and its Show/Hide Button.

You can also create your own text notes for tracks, clips, devices and more, by selecting “Edit Info
Text” in the context menu for the corresponding item. You can then type text into the Info View, which
will be saved and displayed in your Live Set.

2.3 Live’s Settings

The Settings window is where you can customize various settings for Live. Settings can be found in the
Options menu on Windows and in the Live menu on macOS. You can also open the Settings window
using the shortcut Ctrl , (Win) / Cmd , (Mac).

Live’s Settings are distributed over several tabs, which are described below.

2.3.1 Display & Input

The Display & Input Settings contain options for language and zoom settings, as well as keyboard
navigation and other application settings.

• The Display section lets you select your preferred language for Live’s UI, as well as set the zoom
amount for Live’s main window (as well a second window, if open).

23
 • In Display Options, you can enable “Outline View in Focus” so that a border is drawn around
whatever view is currently selected. You can also choose how scroll bars are displayed, set the
Follow behavior for Arrangement View and clips, and show or hide user interface labels.
• You can enable various keyboard workflow options in the Navigation and Keyboard section,
such as using the Tab key to move keyboard focus, having the Tab key navigate in a section
continuously, and using the arrow keys to move clips.
• Mouse and Pen Input lets you enable Pen Tablet Mode, as well as permanent scrub areas.
• You can restore any “Don’t Show Again” warning dialogs that you previously switched off in
the Application Options section.

2.3.2 Theme & Colors

In the Theme & Color Settings, you can determine the overall look of Live’s appearance.

• You can choose a color scheme from the Theme section, or have Live follow the light/dark
mode settings from your OS. You can also set a warm, cool, or neutral tone to the color palette,
and enable high contrast if needed.
• The Customization tab lets you determine the opacity of the grid lines in the UI, adjust the
brightness level, and set the color intensity and hue.
• You can switch auto-assigning track colors on or off in the Track and Clip Colors section, or
choose a default color for all tracks. The Clip Color toggle can be set to generate random
colors or use the track’s color for new clips.

2.3.3 Audio

The Audio Settings options can be used to set up Live’s audio connections with the outside world via
an audio interface. This includes access to individual input/output devices, sample rate and latency
settings, and a testing section for audio interface calibration.

On macOS, you can use the Use System Device option in the audio output chooser to have the output
device in Live match what is selected in the macOS Sound System Settings. This way, you can
automatically use the same device for both Live and your operating system.

24
The Use System Device Option on macOS.

We suggest taking the time to follow the program’s built-in Setting up Audio I/O lesson, which will
walk you through all the steps required to set up and optimize the settings for any given system. To
access the lesson, use the Help View command from the Help menu.

2.3.4 Link, Tempo & MIDI

The Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings are used to help Live recognize external devices for three separate
and distinct purposes:

• Syncing the program with external devices, either via Ableton Link, Tempo Follower, or MIDI.
Please see the Synchronizing with Link, Tempo Follower, and MIDI chapter for details.
• 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.
• Controlling parts of the interface remotely. This subject is covered in detail in the MIDI and Key
Remote Control chapter.

2.3.5 File & Folder

The File & Folder Settings are used to configure settings related to data handling, custom Max for Live
paths, and Live’s decoding cache.

2.3.6 Library

The Library Settings allow you to specify a default location for various types of installed files, including
Packs and your User Library, as well as whether or not samples and other files are self-contained
when saving Sets. You can also choose to show or hide synchronization options for Ableton Cloud
and Push in Live’s Places.

25
2.3.7 Plug-Ins

The Plug-Ins Settings allow you to set the location of plug-in folders, specify which folders you want
Live to use, and modify the display behavior of plug-in windows.

2.3.8 Record, Warp & Launch

The Record, Warp & Launch Settings allow customizing the default state for new Live Sets and their
components, as well as selecting options for new recordings.

2.3.9 Licenses & Updates

The Licenses & Updates Settings are used to manage authorization, automatic updates, and usage
data.

26
3. 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.

3.1 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 Live Packs,
presets and samples you’ve saved, built-in and third-party devices, and any folders that you’ve
added manually.

The Browser and its View Control.

27
You can show or hide the browser using its view control in the top left corner of Live’s window or by
using the shortcut Ctrl Alt 5 (Win) / Cmd Option 5 (Mac).

3.2 Live Sets

The type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set. Live Sets reside in a Live
Project — a folder that collects related materials. Once the Project folder is saved, the Set can be
opened again using the File menu’s Open command.

A Live Set in the Browser.

The Live Project folder and related files belonging to the currently open Live Set are also accessible via
the Current Project label in Live’s Places.

3.3 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 and linear 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.

28
Clips in the Arrangement View (Left) and in the Session View (Right).

The Arrangement is accessed via the Arrangement View and the Session via the Session View.

If you’re using Live in a single window, you can toggle between the two views using the computer’s
Tab key or their respective view controls in the top right corner of Live’s window. If you’re using two

windows, pressing Tab will swap the Session and Arrangement from one window to the other. Note
that if the ‘Use Tab Key to Navigate’ option is enabled in the Display & Input Settings, pressing Tab
will not switch between Arrangement and Session View. However, you can switch between the views
using their Navigate menu entries or the shortcuts Alt 1 (Win) / Option 1 (Mac) for Session
View and Alt 2 (Win) / Option 2 (Mac) for Arrangement View.

The Arrangement and Session View Controls.

Because the two views have distinct applications, they each hold individual collections of clips.
However, it is important to understand that toggling or swapping the views simply changes the
appearance of the Live Set and does not switch modes, alter what you hear or change what is stored.

The Arrangement View and the Session View interact in useful ways. One can, for instance, improvise
with Session clips and record a log of the improvisation into the Arrangement for further refinement.
This works because Arrangement and Session are connected via tracks.

3.4 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.

29
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 at a time.

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.

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 Main track in the Session 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.

30
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
Arrangement playback of only certain tracks.

31
A Single Track’s Back to Arrangement Button.

We can also capture the current state from the Session into the Arrangement by activating the
Arrangement Record button from Session View.

The Arrangement Record Button.

Disengaging Record Mode or stopping Live using the Stop button leaves us with an altered
Arrangement.

3.5 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 commands, 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 generated by input devices such
as MIDI or USB keyboards.

32
It takes an instrument to convert MIDI signals into audio signals that can actually be heard. Some
instruments, such as Live’s Simpler, are for chromatic playing of one sound via the keyboard. Other
instruments, such as Live’s Impulse, have a different 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 inserting, reordering, and deleting audio and MIDI tracks can be found in the
Audio and MIDI Tracks section of the Mixing chapter.

3.6 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 how to 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.

33
A Selected Sample with Audio Preview in the 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,
which opens 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. Warping means changing the
speed of sample playback independently from the pitch so as to match the song tempo. The tempo
can be adjusted on the fly in the Control Bar’s Tempo field.

The Control Bar’s Tempo Field.

34
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
performance. It is also possible to radically change the sonic signature of a sound using extreme warp
settings.

3.7 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, 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.

MIDI Files Are Dragged in from Live’s Browser.

As you’d expect, a MIDI clip’s contents can be accessed and edited via the Clip View, for instance to
change a melody or “paint“ a drum pattern.

A MIDI Clip’s Properties as Displayed in the Clip View.

35
3.8 Devices and the Mixer
A track can have not only clips but also a chain of devices for processing signals. Double-clicking a
track’s title bar brings up the Device View, which shows the track’s device chain.

The Device View Displaying a MIDI Track’s Device Chain.

Live’s built-in audio effects, MIDI effects and instruments 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 in Live. VST and Audio Units (macOS only) Plug-ins are available
from the browser’s Plug-Ins label.

36
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 practice, 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. Note that the signal connections between audio devices are
always stereo, but the software’s inputs and outputs can be configured to be mono in the Audio
Settings.

When the signal has passed through the device chain, it ends up in Live’s mixer. 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.

The Live Mixer in the Arrangement View.

37
To optimize the screen layout, the individual mixer sections can be shown or hidden using the View
menu’s “Mixer Controls” entries or menu next to the mixer view control in the bottom right corner of
Live’s window.

The Mixer Controls.

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, which can create smooth transitions between clips playing on
different tracks. Live’s crossfader works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader, except that it allows
crossfading not only two but any number of tracks — including the returns.

38
The Crossfader and Track Crossfader Assign Buttons.

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 devices are available
for use in MIDI tracks: MIDI 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. Instruments, 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.

A MIDI Effect, an Instrument and Some Audio Effects in a MIDI Track.

If a MIDI track has no instrument (and no audio effects), 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.

39
The Mixer for a MIDI Track without an Instrument.

3.9 Presets and Racks

Every Live device can store and retrieve particular sets of parameter values as presets. 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 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.

3.10 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 choosers to select a signal source and destination for

40
every track. The In/Out section, accessible via the In/Out option in the Mixer Controls submenu of
the View menu, is Live’s “patchbay.“ Its routing options enable valuable creative and technical
methods such as resampling, submixing, layering of synths, complex effects setups, and more.

Track Routing Is Set up Using the In/Out Section in the Arrangement (Left) or Session View
(Right).

Signals from the tracks can be sent to the outside world via the computer’s audio and MIDI interfaces,
to other programs that are connected to other tracks or devices within Live. Tracks can also be
combined into a Group Track 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 devices.
Again, tracks can receive their input from the outside 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 and External Instrument devices.

3.11 Recording New Clips

Audio tracks and MIDI tracks can record their input signal and thereby create new clips. Recording is
enabled on a track by pressing its Arm button. With multiple tracks selected, pressing any of their Arm
buttons will arm all of them. You can also hold down the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier when
clicking the Arm buttons to arm several tracks at once. If the Exclusive Arm option is enabled in the
Record Settings, 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.

41
Track Arm Buttons, as They Appear in the Session View.

It is also possible to record into Session View slots on the fly. 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.

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.

The Control Bar’s 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
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.

42
3.12 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; a control whose value changes over time is automated. Automation is represented by
breakpoint envelopes, which can be drawn, edited and recorded in real-time.

Automated Parameters in the Arrangement View.

Practically all mixer and effect controls in Live can be automated, even the song tempo. Recording
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 Arrangement 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.

3.13 Clip Envelopes

Envelopes can be found in both tracks and clips. Clip envelopes are used to automate 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.

An Envelope for Clip Transposition.

43
3.14 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, 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 simply 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 recording
via MIDI tracks. These messages are filtered out before 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, which works just like MIDI Map Mode.

Live offers, in addition to this general purpose mapping technique, dedicated support for Ableton Push
1, Push 2, and Push 3.

3.15 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 corresponding
sample if it is moved or deleted from disk. The links between samples and their clips can be preserved
with a special command, Collect All and Save, 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 Title Bar of an audio clip can be used to save a set of default clip
settings 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 specific warp settings for
a clip that you want to use in multiple Live Sets.

Exporting audio from Live can be done from both the Session and Arrangement Views by selecting
‘Export Audio/Video’ from the File menu or by using the shortcut Ctrl Shift R (Win) / Cmd

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 Shift R (Mac). By default, Live will export the audio coming through on the Main output as an
audio file of your specifications via the Export Audio/Video dialog options.

Live can also export individual MIDI clips as MIDI files.

Exporting and saving material for later use in Live can be done very conveniently with the Live Clip
format. Session View clips can be dragged back out of a Live Set to the User Library, and thereby
exported to the disk as Live Clips.

A Live Clip in the Browser.

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 browser 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:

• MIDI sequences with matching instruments and effects, e.g., a MIDI drum pattern with the
associated Impulse and effects settings;
• Different regions or loops referencing the same source file;
• Variations of a sample loop created by applying Warp Markers, clip envelopes and effects;
• Ideas that may not fit your current project but could be useful in the future.

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4. Working with the Browser
Live’s browser is the place where you interact with your library of musical assets: the Core Library of
sounds included with the program, any additional sounds you’ve installed via Live Packs, presets,
samples you’ve saved, built-in and third-party devices, and any folders on your hard drive that
contain samples, tracks, etc. Additionally, you can access files from Ableton Cloud and Push in
Standalone Mode via the browser’s Places section.

The browser is divided into four main sections: the search bar, filters, sidebar and content pane.

The Browser’s Sections.

1. The search bar helps you find browser items and tagged content. The Browse Forward and
Browse Back buttons to the left of the search field let you access the browser’s previous search
or navigation states.

2. The Filters section can be used to search for items in your library using descriptive tags. You can
also access the Tags Editor using the Edit button to the right of the Filters bar to assign and
create tags.

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 3. The browser’s sidebar contains the Collections, Library, and Places labels.

4. The content pane displays the items in whatever label is selected in the browser, or the results of
searching and filtering.

You can adjust how the width is split between the left and right panels of the browser by dragging the
middle divider line horizontally. You can also expand the overall size of the browser by dragging its
right edge to the right.

Working in the browser involves choosing one of the labels from the Collections, Library or Places
sections in the sidebar, and then filtering or selecting the items that appear in the content pane. You
can also use the search bar to look for specific items or tags.

4.1 Search Bar and Browser History

To find browser content, type your desired search term(s) into the search bar. The results will include
files that match all search terms, as opposed to any. For example, if you search for “electric bass” any
items containing both “electric” and “bass” in their filenames will be displayed.

To search across all Library locations, select the All label or press Ctrl F (Win) / Cmd F
(Mac) to automatically switch to the All label; this shortcut also places a cursor in the search field.

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The Browser’s Search Field.

You can further refine your search by selecting tags from various filter groups to narrow the results. For
example, if you want to find string sounds, you can type “strings” into the search field and then click
on any tags in the Filters view to display results matching only those tag descriptions.

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You Can Search for Content Using Search Terms and Narrow the Results Using Tags.

It is also possible to search for tagged content via tags directly by typing # into the search bar
followed by the tag name, e.g., #Drums. Auto-complete suggestions for tags will appear as you start
typing after the hashtag.

You Can Also Find Tagged Content by Searching For Tag Names.

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If you stumble upon a set of search results that you like and want to easily find again, you can create
a custom user label containing the search results by clicking the Add Label button to the right of the
Clear button.

Use the Add Label Button to Save Search Results.

Once saved, you can access the label and its contents like any other label in the Library.

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A Saved Custom User Label.

You can also use custom labels to store specific items in one place for easy access — similar to using
the Collections labels — by tagging content with your own custom tags and then saving the search
results into a new label.

You can rename or remove the label using the right-click context menu options as needed.

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Context Menu Options for a Custom User Label.

You can click the x button in the search bar to clear any search terms. Note this does not reset the
Filters view. You can use the Clear button in the Results bar to remove any selected tags as well as
entered search terms.

For mouse-free searching, we suggest the following sequence of keyboard actions:

1. Ctrl F (Win) / Cmd F (Mac) to place a cursor in the search field and switch browser
focus to the All label;
2. Type your search terms or tag names;
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 and show all items in the All label again.

The arrow buttons to the left of the search bar can be used to go forward or backwards in the
browser’s history.

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Use the Arrow Buttons to Access the Browser History.

You can also use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Go forward in the browser’s history: Ctrl ] (Win) / Cmd ] (Mac)

• Go back in the browser’s history: Ctrl [ (Win) / Cmd [ (Mac)

The history includes past searches as well as previous navigation states.

4.2 Filters and Tags

The browser includes a set of filters which can be used to search specific content using descriptive
tags.

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Filters in the Browser.

Relevant filters are displayed based on which category of the browser is selected. To search with all
available filters, use the All label in the browser’s Library.

The Filters section contains filter groups, tags, and the Tags Editor.

4.2.1 Filter Groups

Each filter group contains a set of tags that you can click on to narrow the results that appear in the
content pane. To select multiple tags in one group, use the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier when
clicking on tags.

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The Sounds Filter Group and its Associated Tags.

Filter groups can be hidden/shown by right-clicking the Filters header in the browser and then
selecting/deselecting groups. You can also right-click on individual filter group names in any browser
label to hide those groups for that label.

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You Can Choose Which Filters are Displayed for Each Label.

The set of available filter groups is unique to each label, and the state of enabled filters is saved and
recalled when moving between Library labels. This means you can customize exactly which groups
are shown for every label as needed.

To reset the Filters view and remove any selected tags (as well as any entered search terms), click the
Clear button in the Results bar.

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Use the Clear Button to Remove All Selected Tags.

4.2.2 Tags

Searching for items using tags is a good way to explore content in the browser that you may not
realize is there if you tend to use the same devices and presets over and over again. Tags are also
useful for organizing browser content, especially when you create your own custom tags and tag
groups.

All included Live content (i.e., content from the Core Library and Live Packs that come with each Live
edition) is tagged with a set of descriptive tags. Content from the third-party Packs available in the
Ableton webshop are tagged with the “Sounds” filter group tags.

It is not possible to remove any default tags from installed content, however you can add your own
additional custom tags using the Tags Editor.

4.2.3 Tags Editor

The Tags Editor allows you to create and assign tags to any items in the browser. You can also create
your own tag groups to further organize your tags library.

Click on the Edit button to the right of the Filters bar to open the Tags Editor.

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Use the Edit Button to Expand the Tags Editor.

Once opened, you will see which tags are currently assigned to a selected browser item in the set of
default filter groups.

The Tags Editor.

To add or remove a tag, check or uncheck the box next to the relevant tag. You can apply multiple
tags to the same browser item by checking multiple boxes. To tag several items at once, hold Shift
and select multiple files in the browser before applying the desired tags.

You can add custom tags to any filter group using the Add Tag… option at the end each group.

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Use the Add Tag… Option to Create Custom Tags.

You can also create your own tag groups using the Add Group… option at the bottom of the Tags
Editor. Tag groups are similar to filter groups, in that any custom tags created within a tag group will
be shown in the Filters view.

Use the Add Group… Option to Create Custom Tag Groups.

Once a new group is created you can add custom tags for that group. As soon as a browser item is
tagged with a new tag from that group, the group will appear in the Filters view. This is a good way to
organize browser items for specific uses, such as tagging all of your field recordings or vocal samples
in their own unique groups for easy access later.

Note that it is not possible to edit or remove any of the default filter groups or their associated tags.

4.3 Collections
The Collections labels each have their own assignable color, which you can use to group different
browser items together (including folders) in one place. These labels enable you to quickly organize
and access particular browser items (for example, your favorite or most-used items).

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You can assign Collections labels via a selected item’s context menu, or by using the number key
shortcuts 1 through to 7 . Use 0 to reset color assignments.

Note that Collections labels can also be assigned to multiple browser items within a selection.
Additionally, it is possible to assign a color label to different item types. For example, you can assign
the same color label to a drum sound, a MIDI effect, and a plug-in.

Clicking on a Collections label in the sidebar shows all items tagged with that color. Folders that
appear in the Collections labels can be unfolded to show their contents.

In the content pane, square icons indicate the respective color(s) assigned to each item. Note that
although multiple colors can be assigned to an item, no more than three of those colors will be shown
in the content pane.

Browser Items and Their Assigned Colors in the Content Pane.

Each Collection label can be renamed via its context menu, or by pressing Ctrl R (Win) / Cmd
R (Mac).

You can choose which labels are visible in the browser by clicking the Edit button, which will appear
when hovering the mouse to the right of the Collections header, and checking the Show/Hide Label
option next to each label.

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The Collections Edit Button in the Browser.

Editing Shown and Hidden Collections in the Browser.

To exit Edit Mode, click the “Done” button.

Note that when a hidden unassigned color becomes assigned to a browser item, the Collections label
for that color will be shown in the sidebar automatically. However, visible color labels are not
automatically hidden if all their assignments are removed.

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4.4 Library
The Library section consists of various labels that contain different browser items organized by type.
You can use the search bar or filters to find and explore all of the available instruments and sounds in
your library. The Library section is organized as follows:

• All — all items from every label of the browser in a single list with devices at the start and file
types after.
• Sounds — all of your Instrument Racks and instrument presets.
• Drums — all of your drum presets. This includes full drum kits, which are available as Drum
Racks, at the top of the list, as well as single drum hits, which are shown after the Drum Rack
presets.
• Instruments — all of your Instrument Racks, as well as default Live instruments and their presets,
organized by device rather than by the type of sound.
• Audio Effects — all of your Audio Effect Racks, as well as “raw” Live audio effects devices and
presets.
• MIDI Effects — all of your MIDI Effect Racks, as well as “raw” Live MIDI effects devices and
presets.
• Max for Live — all of your Max for Live devices and presets, as well as any Racks that are built
with those devices.
• Plug-Ins — your third-party VST and/or Audio Units plug-ins.
• Clips — all of your Live Clips.
• Samples — all of your raw audio samples.
• Grooves — all of your grooves.
• Templates — all of your template Live Sets.
• Tunings — all tuning systems in the Core Library and user-saved .ascl or .scl files.

By default, all of the Library labels are visible in the browser. You can customize which labels are
shown by clicking the Edit button that appears when hovering to the right of the Library header and
then selecting or deselecting labels.

The Library Edit Button in the Browser.

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Editing Shown and Hidden Labels in the Browser.

When you are finished, click the “Done” button to exit Edit Mode.

4.5 Places
The Places labels contain your Live Packs, User Library, Current Project folder, and any external
folders that you’ve added to the browser. Additionally, you can enable the Cloud or Push labels in
Places via the corresponding Library Settings options to access files from Ableton Cloud or your
standalone Push in Live.

The actual contents of the Places section will vary depending on how you’ve configured your library,
however, all of the available labels are as follows:

• Packs — all Packs that come pre-installed with Live, any Packs that you’ve installed yourself,
and available Pack updates and downloads.
• Cloud — your currently synced Note Sets are displayed here when you have enabled Ableton
Cloud in Live and Note.
• Push — all of your files from Push 3 are shown here when Push is connected in Standalone
Mode.

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 • User Library — the User Library is the default location for items you save yourself, such as
default presets, grooves, personalized Racks and device presets, samples, Live Clips, etc.
• Current Project — all of the files that are contained in the currently active Project.
• User Folder — specific folders from any of your hard drives that you’ve added to Live’s browser.
• Add Folder — click this label to add a folder from any of your hard drives to Places.

4.5.1 Downloading and Installing Packs in the Browser

The Packs label in the browser shows all Packs that come pre-installed with Live, any Packs that you’ve
installed yourself, and available Pack updates and downloads.

Installed Packs appear as a folder in the content pane, which can be unfolded to reveal the included
Pack contents. Presets, samples, and Live Clips installed by Packs will also appear in the appropriate
Library labels.

Installed Packs in the Browser.

To check for existing updates for your installed Packs, navigate to the Packs label and expand the
Updates section.

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Available Updates for Installed Packs in the Browser.

You can also view Packs that you own, but have not installed. These uninstalled Packs appear in the
Available Packs section.

Downloadable Packs in the Browser.

You can download any available Packs or updates by clicking the download icon to the right of the
Pack name.

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Press the Download Icon to Download a Pack.

While the Pack is downloading, the download icon changes to a pause icon that also indicates the
progress of the Pack’s download.

The Download Progress Is Indicated in Yellow.

Should you need to, you can pause Pack downloads and resume them at a later point. To pause a
download, click the pause icon. When a download is paused, the paused icon changes back to a
download icon. To resume a paused download, click the download icon again.

Note that you can also download a Pack, pause, resume or cancel a download, or install a Pack by
choosing the appropriate command in that Pack’s context menu.

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Context Menu Options for a Pack.

You can download several Packs at once by selecting them in the Available Packs list and then
clicking one of the download icons. You can also pause and resume downloading multiple selected
Packs using one of their pause icons.

When the download is complete, you can install a Pack by pressing the Install button.

Press the Install Button to Install a Pack.

Upon pressing the Install button, Live will display a progress bar in a pop-up dialog that indicates the
status of the process.

It can be useful to know the size of a Pack before you download and install it. For example, you may
have limited space on your hard drive. You can configure the browser to show the size of all Packs
that appear in the Updates and Available Packs sections. To do this, right-click on the Name header in
the browser’s content pane and choose the Size option in the context menu.

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Show or Hide the Size of Packs in the Browser.

You can delete an installed Pack via its context menu or by selecting it in the browser and pressing the
Delete key. Note that deleted Packs will appear once again in your list of Available Packs.

By default, updates and downloadable Packs are shown in the Packs label, however, it is possible to
hide the Updates and Available Packs sections. To do so, use the Show Downloadable Packs toggle
in the Library Settings.

Show or Hide Downloadable Packs in the Browser.

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4.5.2 Using Ableton Cloud

Ableton Cloud is a service that is available for Ableton Note and Live (version 11.2.5 and later).
Cloud sends Note Sets directly to Live’s browser and across iOS devices, and can store up to five
Sets.

To enable Cloud functionality, open Live’s Settings, go to the Library tab, and switch the Show Cloud
option to On.

The Show Cloud Option in Live’s Settings.

Once enabled, a Cloud label will appear in the Places section of Live’s browser, along with a
message prompting you to sign in to ableton.com. Click the “Sign In” button to launch a web browser
where you will be prompted to log into your ableton.com user account.

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Sign In to Enable Ableton Cloud in Live.

After activating Ableton Cloud for your User Account, any Note Sets that are uploaded to Cloud will
appear in Live’s browser.

Please note that factory and imported samples for transferred Sets are stored in Live’s User Library,
which must be set and accessible whenever using Cloud. If you open a transferred Set and see that
samples are missing, check whether your User Library is set to a custom location, such as an external
hard drive. To find the samples again, make sure any custom location for the User Library is
accessible. We also suggest using Live’s Collect All and Save command, available from the File menu,
when saving transferred Sets, which will gather all of the Set’s external files into a single Project folder.

4.5.3 Transferring Files from Push 3 in Standalone Mode

You can develop songs continuously between Push and Live: any Set you make in Standalone Mode
on Push can be opened on or transferred to your computer. You can also transfer Sets back to Push to
continue your work away from your studio, as long as you use native devices, freeze any tracks
containing plug-ins, and collect all of your samples into the Project folder.

Make sure that Push is in Standalone Mode and connected to the same Wi-Fi network as your
computer. By default, the “Show Push” option in Live’s Library Settings will be set to On.

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The Show Push Option in Live’s Settings.

When you click on the Push label in Places, you will see any available Push units within range. The
Push name for the device is also shown. If there are multiple Push units in range, you can find the
specific “Push xxx-xxx” name in the Status Tab of Push’s Setup menu; that way you can confirm
exactly which unit will be paired. Click on the Connect button to pair Push with Live.

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Connect Push to Transfer Files.

On Push, a six-digit code will be displayed; enter this code in the dialog window that appears in Live,
and then press OK to continue the pairing process.

Once you’ve successfully paired Push with Live, all of your saved Project folders from Standalone
Mode and Push’s User Library will appear in Live’s browser.

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Push Project Folders in the Browser.

As long as Push is paired with Live, you can view any new Sets or changes that you make to existing
Sets in Standalone Mode in Live’s browser by switching away from the Push label in Places and then
back again to refresh the list of files.

You can unpair Push and your computer by right-clicking on the Push label in Places and selecting
Disconnect.

Read more about continuity between Push and Live in the Push manual.

4.5.4 User Library

The User Library is where all of your saved custom presets, defaults, Live Clips, template Sets, etc., are
stored. Because the User Library has its own unique location (separate from other installed content), it
can easily be backed up or shared between different Live installations or computers.

By default, the User Library is created at the following location when Live is first installed:

• Windows: \Users\<username>\Documents\Ableton\User Library

• Mac: Macintosh HD/Users/<username>/Music/Ableton/User Library

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You can set a different location for the User Library using the “Location of User Library” option in the
Library Settings.

Initially, the User Library is mostly empty; it only contains a set of default folders: Clips, Defaults,
Grooves, Presets and Samples. You can add your own custom folders and sub-folders, as well as
remove the default folders if needed.

Folders in the User Library.

Items that you save to your User Library will also be available in the appropriate Library labels.

4.5.4.1 Clips Folder

Live Clips are stored in the Clips folder. You can drag any clip into the folder to save it.

When saving a MIDI clip, the MIDI data (e.g., notes and automation), as well as any device settings,
are included.

When saving an audio clip, or a MIDI clip that uses a device that references audio samples (such as
Drum Rack, Sampler, etc.), the referenced samples will also be stored with the clip. This happens
automatically when the Browser Behavior option “Collect Files on Export” is set to Always in the
Library Settings, which is the default setting.

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4.5.4.2 Defaults Folder

The Defaults folder contains your saved defaults for tracks, devices, effects, Slicing to MIDI options,
and more. Using default presets allows you to recall specific device settings each time you load that
device.

See the Default Presets section for more information about saving and using default presets.

For an overview of all the possible defaults in Live, refer to the Using Defaults article in our Knowledge
Base.

4.5.4.3 Grooves Folder

The Grooves folder is where your custom groove files are stored.

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 context menu.

Check out the Using Grooves chapter for more details about how grooves work in Live.

4.5.4.4 Presets Folder

The Presets folder contains your saved Instrument, Max for Live, MIDI and Audio Effect presets.

As with saving clips, any referenced audio samples included in the preset will also be saved.

You can read more about saving device presets in the Saving Presets section of the Working with
Instruments and Effects chapter.

4.5.4.5 Samples Folder

All referenced samples from saved presets, tracks, etc., are stored in the Samples folder.

A separate folder for recorded samples or processed samples will be created as soon as said
samples are saved, depending on their source.

4.5.4.6 Templates Folder

Saved template Sets, as well as any custom default Live Set, are stored in the Templates folder.

See the Template Sets section of the Managing Sets and Files chapter for more details about using
templates.

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4.5.4.7 Managing Files in the User Library

You can access an overview of your User Library, including its contents, as well as any missing or
external files, by selecting “Manage Files” from the File menu and then clicking on the “Manage User
Library” button that appears in the Help View.

You Can Manage the User Library in the Help View.

4.5.5 Current Project

The Current Project label contains all of the files that are included in the currently loaded Project.

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An Expanded Live Set in the Current Project Label.

You can access all of the tracks in the Set (including their clips and devices), the Return and Main
tracks, as well as any loaded grooves.

Once a Project has been saved at least twice, a Backup folder will appear in the Current Project
label.

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Backup Sets in the Current Project Label.

This folder contains the last ten saved versions of the Live Set. You can identify backup Sets by the
timestamp in brackets next to the Set name. Live automatically deletes the oldest backup Set once
there are more than ten backups. Deleted backups are moved to the trash bin.

This feature can be especially useful if you have accidentally overwritten a Project file, or want to
access a previous version of your Live Set.

If you’re working on a Live Set that you haven’t yet saved, there is no Backup folder, and the current
Project refers to a temporary location.

You can right-click on the Current Project label and select Show in Explorer (Win)/Finder(Mac) to
open the Project folder’s location on your computer.

Check out the Live Projects section of the Managing Files and Sets chapter for in depth information
regarding how Project folders and Sets work in Live.

4.5.6 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

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external drives, and still use the browser to access their contents - there is no need to keep files 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 the Places section from the Explorer (Win)/Finder (Mac), or by using the
Add Folder option in the browser’s sidebar.

The Add Folder Option.

After adding a user folder, Live will scan it, which “teaches” the browser about its contents. How long
the scanning process takes depends on the number of files and sub-folders contained in the folder. A
spinning wheel next to the Places label indicates that scanning is still in progress. Once completed, the
files in the folder will be accessible from Places.

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 (Win)/Finder (Mac), Live
may not be able to find user folders that have been moved or renamed. Additionally, if a user folder is
contained on an external hard drive, and Live is opened while the drive is not connected, the folder
will not be found.

A user folder that cannot be located by Live will still appear in the browser but its name will be grayed
out. You can attempt to find it by using the context menu’s Locate Folder command, or tell Live to
“forget” the 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.

Note: Only add discrete content folders to Places rather than entire hard drives. Adding hard drives or
very large folders can slow the indexing process, or the content may need to be continually re-
indexed each time Live is started.

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4.6 Navigating in the Browser
Moving through the files in Live’s browser can be done with either the mouse or the computer
keyboard:

• Scroll up and down in a browser label with the up and down arrow keys, the mousewheel, or
by clicking and dragging while holding the Ctrl Alt (Win) / Cmd Option (Mac)
modifier.
• Close and open folders, or move between the sidebar 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 override
this behavior by holding Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while opening new folders.

4.7 Previewing Files

Live allows you to preview samples, clips, and instrument presets directly in the browser. This can help
give you an idea of how something sounds before adding a new element to your Set.

To enable previewing, activate the Preview switch next to the Preview Tab at the bottom of the
browser.

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The Preview Switch.

Once enabled, you can preview a file in the browser by selecting it. Use the up and down arrow keys
to move between files and their audio previews.

You can preview files even when the Preview switch is not enabled by pressing Shift Enter or the
right arrow key when a browser item is selected.

When a file is being previewed, a waveform is shown in the Preview Tab. You can click in the 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.

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The Preview Tab’s Scrub Area.

By default, the Raw button is deactivated, which allows Live to preview files at the beginning of the
next bar when transport is running. This helps you get an idea of how the sound fits into your current
project. Enable the Raw button to preview files at their original tempo. Audio previews are looped
when Raw is deactivated and unlooped when Raw is enabled.

Please note that scrubbing is not possible when Raw is enabled.

You can adjust the volume of audio previews using the Main track’s Preview/Cue Volume knob.

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The Preview/Cue Volume Knob.

If you have an audio interface with at least four dedicated outputs (or two dedicated stereo outputs),
you can preview or cue files via headphones connected to a separate pair of outs — while the music
continues to play from the Main outputs. Check out the Soloing and Cueing section of the Mixing
chapter to learn how to set up Live for cueing.

4.8 Hot-Swap Mode

Hot-Swap Mode can be used to quickly preview and swap out sounds via the browser. You can enter
Hot-Swap Mode by pressing the Q key, or by clicking any of the hot-swap buttons on devices.

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The Hot-Swap Button in an Instrument Rack.

When Hot-Swap Mode is enabled, a temporary connection is established between the browser and
the selected device on a track. This allows you to access and preview other devices directly in the
browser.

You can navigate through browser items using the up and down arrow keys to hear an audio preview
of whatever is selected. When you find a new sound that interests you, press the Enter key to load
the corresponding device in place of the one currently on the track.

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Hot-Swap Mode Results for a Drift Preset.

For devices that use samples, such as Simpler, Drum Rack, Sampler and Impulse, you can swap out
the entire device preset itself using the hot-swap button in the device title bar, as well as the individual
samples using the hot-swap buttons that appear in the following locations:

• Simpler - on the lower right side of the Sample Display.

• Drum Rack - on each of the Drum Rack pads.
• Sampler - at the top left of the Zone Editor, when it is expanded.
• Impulse - on each of the sample slots.

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Hot-Swap Mode Results for a Drum Rack Pad.

To exit Hot-Swap Mode you can use the Q key, or click the X button in the browser content pane or
on the device’s hot-swap button.

4.9 Adding Content from the Browser to a Live

Set
There are several ways to add browser content to a Live Set:

• Items can be dragged and dropped from the browser into tracks in the Session or Arrangement
View. Dragging and dropping content 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
item(s) there.
• In the Session View, double-clicking or pressing Enter on a device in the browser will load it
into the currently selected track. Similarly, double-clicking or pressing Enter on a sample will
load it into the currently selected track. Samples will be loaded into a Simpler device for MIDI
tracks, or into a clip slot for audio tracks.

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• In the Arrangement View, double-clicking or pressing Enter on a device or sample in the
browser will load the item onto whatever track is currently selected.
• Files can also be dropped directly into Live from the Explorer (Win)/Finder (Mac).

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5. Managing Files and Sets
Various types of files are used in making music with Live, from those containing MIDI and audio, to
more program-specific files such as Live Clips and Live Sets. This chapter will explain everything you
need to know about working with each of these file types in Live.

5.1 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) 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.)

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
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 for an explanation.

5.1.1 The Decoding Cache

To save computational resources, Live keeps the decoded sample files of compressed samples in the
cache. 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 Settings’ Decoding Cache section. The cache will not grow larger 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.

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Settings for the Decoding Cache.

5.1.2 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.

When adding a long sample to a project, Live might tell you that it cannot play the sample before 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 Settings’ Auto-Warp Long Samples
preference has been deactivated.

An analysis file can also store default clip settings for the sample:

Clicking the Clip View’s Save button will store the current clip’s settings with the sample’s analysis 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. Storing 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 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“ extension.
Live puts this analysis file in the same folder as the sample.

Samples that have an .asd file are displayed like this in the browser.

Samples without an .asd file look like this.

The analysis files themselves do not appear in Live’s browser.

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Note that you can suppress the creation of .asd files by turning off the Create Analysis Files option in
the File & Folder Settings. 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.

5.1.3 Exporting Audio and Video

The File menu’s Export Audio/Video command allows you to export Live’s audio 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 applications. 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 that video export is
not available in the Lite and Intro Editions.

5.1.3.1 Selection Options

The Render Dialog’s Selection Options.

The Export dialog’s Rendered Track chooser offers several options for which audio signal to render:

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The Rendered Track Chooser.

• Main — The post-fader signal at Live’s Main output. If you are monitoring the Main output, you
can be sure that the rendered file will contain exactly what you hear.
• All Individual 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 programs.
• Selected Tracks Only — This is identical to the All Individual Tracks option, but only renders
tracks that were selected prior to opening the Export dialog.
• (single tracks) — The post-fader signal at the output of the selected track.

The other Selection fields determine the start time and length of the exported material:

• Render Start — Sets the position at which rendering will begin.

• Render Length — Determines the length of the rendered sample.

Tip: A fast way to set both the Render Start and Length values is to select a range of time in the
Arrangement View prior to invoking the Export Audio/Video command. But remember — a rendered
audio file contains only what you heard prior to rendering. So, for example, if you’re playing back
some combination of Session View clips and Arrangement material, then that is what will be captured
in your rendered file — regardless of which view is active when you render.

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5.1.3.2 Rendering Options

Audio Rendering Options.

The Export dialog offers several audio rendering options:

• Include Return and Main Effects – If this is activated, Live will individually render each selected
track with any return tracks used by that track, as well as effects used in the Main track. This is
especially useful when rendering material for a live performance, or when providing stems to a
mixing engineer or remix artist.
• 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 Render 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.
• Convert to Mono — If this is activated, Live will create a mono file instead of a stereo file.
• Normalize — If this is activated, the sample resulting from the render process will be normalized
(i.e., the file will be amplified so that the highest peak attains the maximum available
headroom).
• 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.
• Sample Rate — Note that your choice of sample rate works as follows: if you select a sample
rate equal to or higher than the rate you’re using in your project (as set in the Audio tab of Live’s
Settings), Live will export in a single step, at the sample rate you’ve chosen in the Export dialog.
If you export at a sample rate that is lower than your current project sample rate, Live will first

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 export at the current project sample rate and then downsample the file in a second step using a
high-quality process. Note that this may take a few moments.

5.1.3.3 Encoding Options

Audio Encoding Options.

• Encode PCM — If activated, a lossless audio file is created.

• File Type — WAV, AIFF, and FLAC formats are available for PCM export.
• Bit Depth, 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 “safest“
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 procedure 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 — these are for final output only. (Please note that the Pow-r modes are
not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)
• Encode MP3 — If activated, a CBR 320 kbps MP3 file is created. It is possible to export PCM
and MP3 simultaneously. If neither toggle is enabled, the Export button will be disabled.

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5.1.3.4 Video Rendering Options

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:

• Create Video — 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.
• Video Encoder — This chooser allows you to select the encoder to use for the video rendering.
The choices you have here depend on the encoders you have installed.
• Video Encoder Settings — This button opens the settings window for the selected encoder. 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 Export to begin the rendering process, audio
rendering will begin. After the audio rendering is complete, the video will be rendered. Note that,
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 rendered
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 Working with Video chapter.

5.1.3.5 Real-Time Rendering

Normally, rendering happens as an offline process. But if your Set contains an External Audio Effect
or External Instrument that routes to a hardware effects device or synthesizer, the rendering process is
a bit different. In this case, rendering the Main output happens in real time. If you render single tracks,
all tracks that don’t route to an external device anywhere in their signal paths will be rendered offline.

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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:

Waiting for External Devices to Become Silent.

• Skip — By default, Live will wait for ten seconds 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 devices 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:

Real-Time Rendering in Progress.

• 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.
• Restart — Manually restarts the rendering process.
• 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 dialog
box. If you find that dropouts and restarts keep happening, you should close other running

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applications to allow more processing power for rendering. Please see the chapter on computer
audio resources for more tips on improving performance.

5.2 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.

A MIDI File in the Browser.

You can import MIDI files by using the browser or the Create menu’s Import MIDI File… command.
Note that when using the Import MIDI File… command in the Arrangement View, the file will be
inserted at the Insert Marker position. When using the command in the Session View, the file will be
inserted in the currently selected clip slot.

5.2.1 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. This 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.

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5.3 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. You
can then type in a new name for the clip or confirm the one suggested by Live with Enter .

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 devices. 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 in 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 for more on this topic.

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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 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 independently sort and preview these clips,
even though they are all referring to the same source sample.

5.4 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, device presets, any samples used, etc.

5.4.1 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.

5.4.2 Merging Sets

Live makes it easy to merge Sets, which can come in handy when combining work from different
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.

Session View Drop Area for Importing Live Sets.

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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 were a folder.

Unfolding a Set to Reveal its Contents.

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You can now drag the individual tracks and drop them as described at the beginning of this section.
Any grooves that were saved with your Set are also available as a folder within the unfolded Set.

If you only want the device chain (e.g., a device and its audio or MIDI effects) from another Set, you
can drag in the Devices icon from the Set in the browser.

The Devices Icon in an Expanded Live Set.

You can also drag Group Tracks and nested Group Tracks from Live’s browser. Group Tracks can be
expanded in the browser, allowing you to load an individual track from within.

In addition to unfolding Sets, you can further unfold the tracks within the Sets to access the individual
Session View clips that were used on the track:

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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.

5.4.3 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 (Win) / Option (Mac) modifiers, 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 your own.

5.4.4 Template Sets

Use the File menu’s Save Live Set As Default Set… command 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:

• Your multichannel input/output setup.

• Preset devices, like EQs and Compressors, in every track.
• Computer key mappings.
• MIDI mappings.

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Note that any template Set in Live’s browser can be set as the default Live Set via the Set Default Live
Set entry in the Set’s context menu or the File menu.

In addition to this default template, you can create additional template Sets for different types of
projects, each with their own unique configuration of tracks, devices, etc. To do this, save the current
Live Set using the File menu’s Save Live Set As Template… command. Any Sets saved as a template
will appear in the browser’s Templates category and the Templates folder in the User Library. Note
that the User Library’s Templates folder is automatically created the first time a template Set is saved.
These Sets will then function as templates: they will load with the configuration you saved, but with the
name Untitled.als, ready to be used as a new Set.

Multiple Template Sets in the User Library.

5.4.5 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:

• Replace a file — Dragging a file from the browser and dropping it on an entry in the 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 replacing a sample
will change all clips in your Set that reference this sample.

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Every Entry in the File Reference List is a Drop Target for Files.

• 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.

The File Reference List’s Hot-Swap Button.

• Edit a referenced sample — using an external application (which can be chosen in the Settings’
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 engaged. 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.

The File Reference List’s Edit Switch.

• View a file’s location — The Location column states if a file is missing, 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.

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The File Reference List’s Location Column.

5.5 Live Projects

A Live Project is a folder containing Live-related files that belong together. Consider, for example,
work on a piece of music: You start out with an empty Live Set; you record audio and thereby 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 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.

5.5.1 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 saving 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:

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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 under 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.

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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 named Samba Project
next to Tango Project.

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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.

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 its own. So,
we “Save As…“ under a new name and in some location outside the current Project, say the Desktop:

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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
referencing 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 “Electro with Piano.als“ will be missing
samples. You can prevent this by collecting external files. Even after the fact, Live’s tools for searching
missing files can help solve this problem.

There 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 organize them as
desired, although you may need to use the File Manager to “teach“ the Project about the changes
you’ve made.

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 disorganized via
the Explorer (Windows)/Finder (Mac).

A note for users of older Live versions: Live does not allow overwriting Live Sets that were created by
older major versions to prevent compatibility problems. Instead, you will be requested to “Save As…“.
Doing this will ensure that the newly saved Live Sets reside in project folders.

5.5.2 Projects and Presets

By default, new instrument and effect presets are stored in your current Project. At times however, 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, 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, adding it to the folder.

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When saving presets that contain samples to a new location, Live may copy the samples depending
on the settings in the Collect Files on Export chooser in the Library Settings. You can then type in a
new name for the device or confirm the one suggested by Live with Enter .

5.5.3 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:

• Locating files that the Project is missing.

• Collecting external files into the Project folder.
• Listing unused files in the Project.
• Packing a Project in Pack format.

5.6 Locating Missing Files

If you load a Live Set, Live Clip or preset that references files which are missing from their referenced
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 from the File menu,
clicking the Manage Set button, and then clicking the Locate button found in the Missing Files section.)
The File Manager will present you with a list of the missing files and associated controls.

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The File Manager’s List of Missing Files.

5.6.1 Manual Repair

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.

5.6.2 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.

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Automatic Repair Options in the File Manager.

• 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.
• Search Project — includes this Set’s project folder in the search.
• 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:

• No candidate found — you can choose another folder and try again, or locate the sample
manually.
• One candidate found — Live accepts the candidate and considers the problem solved.
• 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.

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5.7 Collecting External Files
To prevent a Live Set from containing broken file references, Live provides the option of collecting (i.e.,
copying) them into the Set’s project folder. This is accomplished via the File Manager:

• Choose the Manage Files command from the File menu

• Click the Manage Set button
• Unfold the triangular-shaped fold button in the External Files section.

Options for Collecting External Files.

Separated by location (other Projects, the User Library, installed by factory Packs, and elsewhere —
sample collections from external drives, for example), the File Manager provides:

• A file count and the associated disk space used;

• A Show button that will list the files in the browser;
• 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 button!

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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 multisample collections!

5.7.1 Collect Files on Export

When you save Live Clips, device presets or tracks by dragging them into the Browser, Live manages
the copying of associated files based on the selection made in the Collect Files on Export chooser in
the Library Settings. This chooser provides the following options:

• Always, the default setting, will copy files into the same folder as the clip, preset, or track
without notification.
• When Ask is selected, Live provides a dialog box with options for copying files.
• Never means that files will not be copied when saving.

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5.8 Aggregated Locating and Collecting
Instead of having to deal with problems while you are in a creative mode, you might prefer putting
aside some dedicated housekeeping time to solve all the problems in one go. Using Live’s File
Manager, you can find missing files and collect external files not only for the current Live Set but also
for:

• The User Library — choose the Manage Files command from the File menu; then click the
Manage User Library button.
• The current Live Project — choose the Manage Files command from the File menu; then click the
Manage Project button.
• Any Live Project — right-click on a Project in the browser’s content pane, and choose the
Manage Project option.
• Any selection of Live Sets, Live Clips, Live Presets — right-click 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.

5.9 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 “unused“ 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 button 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 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.

Last but not least, you can find the unused files for all Projects found in a specific folder (and its sub-
folders): right-click on a folder in the browser and choose the Manage Projects command, then see
the Unused Files section. Live inspects each Project individually 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.

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5.10 Packing Projects into Packs
Live’s File Manager provides the option 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 “Packing.“ 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.

5.11 File Management FAQs

5.11.1 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.

5.11.2 How Can I 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 referenced samples, etc.

5.11.3 Can I 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 various versions,
which can save disk space and help with organization.

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5.11.4 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 existing
Project if it is somehow related to the Project — for example, an alternate version of a song that’s
already in the Project.

5.11.5 Can I 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 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 samples.
4. Since you know that your samples are all in the Project folder, unfold Automatic Search. Then
enable the Search Project and Fully Rescan Folders options. Finally, click Go to initiate the
search.
5. When searching is complete, click Collect and Save at the bottom of the File Manager to
update the Project.

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6. Arrangement View
The Arrangement View is one of Live’s two main views for song structuring and composition. In
contrast to Session View, which centers around improvisation, looping, and clip launching, the
Arrangement View lets you combine and arrange different elements of a song on a linear timeline. The
complete layout of a song or project is referred to as the Arrangement.

A Song in the Arrangement View.

6.1 Layout

The Upper Area of the Arrangement View.

1. The Overview displays the Arrangement’s entire layout of clips from start to end and can be
used for zooming and navigation. The black outline represents the currently displayed part of

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 the Arrangement. You can click and drag horizontally to scroll left or right, or click and drag
vertically to zoom in or out. To zoom out to the full Arrangement, double-click anywhere within
the black outline.
2. In the beat-time ruler, time is displayed in bars-beats-sixteenths. Clicking and dragging in this
area works the same way as in the Overview: drag left or right to scroll through the timeline, or
drag vertically to zoom. Double-clicking in the beat-time ruler zooms in to the current selection.
If nothing is selected, double-clicking the beat-time ruler zooms out to show the entire
Arrangement.
3. Clicking anywhere in the scrub area launches playback from that point. You can also hold the
left mouse button down over a point in the scrub area to loop playback for that area based on
the current global launch quantization value.
4. Locators can be added to any point in the scrub area to trigger playback for multiple areas of
the Arrangement. This is useful for organizing a piece into launchable sections.
5. Use the Set Locator button to add locators to the scrub area during playback or while
recording. When a locator is selected, the Set Locator button becomes the Delete Locator
button, which can be used to remove locators.
6. The Previous and Next Locator buttons launch playback for locators. The jump between
triggered locators is quantized based on the global launch quantization value.
7. Use the Automation Mode toggle to show or hide automation lanes.
8. The Lock Envelopes toggle can be used to lock envelopes to the song position rather than to
clips. This lets you move clips without moving automation envelopes.

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Track, Mixer, and Additional Zoom Controls in the Arrangement View.

1. Clips are contained and arranged in a track’s main lane. When using the comping workflow,
you can add clips from various take lanes into the main lane.
2. Volume, panning, I/O, and additional mixer controls are available via the Arrangement Track
Controls. You can customize which controls are shown using the Arrangement Track Controls
submenu in the View menu.
3. In the Arrangement View, tracks are stacked vertically. Tracks can be reordered by selecting
and dragging them above or below other tracks.
4. You can add new tracks to the Arrangement by dragging instruments and devices into the
Mixer Drop Area underneath tracks. Adding instruments or MIDI effects to this area will create
a MIDI track, while adding audio effects will create an audio track.
5. The Optimize Height and Optimize Width toggles can be used to fit all tracks into the current
height or width of the Arrangement. You can also use the corresponding keyboard shortcuts
H and W .

6. You can enlarge the waveform display in audio clips using the Waveform Vertical Zoom Level
slider. This is useful for highlighting transients and waveform details without having to adjust the
clip gain. The zoom level is applied to all audio tracks in the Arrangement, as well as new clips
as they are recorded.
7. In the time ruler, time is displayed in minutes-seconds-milliseconds. You can click and drag in
the time ruler to scroll left or right.
8. You can open the mixer in Arrangement View via the Mixer option in the View menu or by
using the Mixer View toggle in the bottom right corner of Live’s window.

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6.2 Navigation and Zooming
In addition to some of the options described in the Layout section, the following navigation and
zooming methods are also available:

• To zoom in and out around the current selection progressively, use the + and - keys, or
scroll with the mouse wheel or trackpad while holding Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac). You can
pan the display by clicking and dragging while holding the Ctrl Alt (Win) / Cmd
Option (Mac) modifier.

• To zoom in the current selection completely, press Z or use the Zoom to Arrangement Time
Selection command in the View menu. You can revert to the previous zoom state by pressing the
X key. Note that when zooming in multiple times using the Z key, the X key can be

pressed multiple times to go back one step each time the key is pressed.
• If you select time on a clip in the Arrangement, the Clip Content Editor will zoom in on that
selected time as well.
• To vertically zoom a selected track, scroll inside a track’s main lane with the mouse wheel or
trackpad while holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier. Note that if the Arrangement
contains a time selection, all tracks with selected content will zoom vertically.
• To have the Arrangement display follow the song position and scroll automatically, turn on the
Follow switch in the Control Bar, or use the Follow command from the Options menu. Follow will
pause if you make an edit or scroll the view horizontally in the Arrangement, or if you click on
the beat-time ruler. Follow will start again once you stop or restart playback, or click in the
Arrangement or clip scrub area.

The Follow Switch in the Control Bar.

6.3 Transport and Playback

The transport controls in the Control Bar trigger playback of the Arrangement.

You can click the Play button to start playback; to stop playback, click the Stop button. Alternatively,
you can use the space bar to toggle playback on or off.

The Play and Stop Buttons in the Control Bar.

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It is also possible to map computer keyboard keys or MIDI messages to the transport controls, which
lets you set up a specific configuration for triggering playback as needed.

The flashing blue insert marker on a track determines where playback starts. By default, the marker is
at the start of the Arrangement. You can click anywhere within a track to move the insert marker and
set a new play position. To return the insert marker to the starting play position, you can double-click
the Stop button or press the Home key (Win) or Function + left arrow key (Mac).

Arrangement Playback Begins from the Insert Marker.

To continue playback from where it last stopped, rather than from the insert marker, hold Shift while
pressing the space bar.

The play position is also accessible via the Control Bar’s Arrangement Position fields.

Set the Play Position in the Arrangement Position Fields.

The Arrangement Position fields show the play position in bars-beats-sixteenths. When one of the
fields is selected, the value can be adjusted using a few different methods: - Use the mouse to adjust
the value by dragging up or down. - Type a number and then press Enter . - Use the up and down
arrow keys to increase or decrease the value.

Adjusting the Arrangement Position fields automatically moves the insert marker.

You can also launch playback using the scrub area above the tracks. By default, the Permanent Scrub
Areas option is enabled in Live’s Display & Input Settings, which lets you click anywhere in the scrub
area to start playback from that point.

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Use the Scrub Area to Launch Playback.

When clicking between different points in the scrub area, the jump between triggered play positions is
quantized based on the Quantization Menu’s value in the Control Bar. You can also hold the left
mouse button down on a specific point in the scrub area to play a repeated portion of the
Arrangement based on the global launch quantization value.

Even if the Permanent Scrub Areas option is switched off, you can still scrub through the Arrangement
by Shift -clicking anywhere in the scrub area or in the beat-time ruler.

The Clip Content Editor in the Clip View also has its own scrub area in individual clips that can be
used to trigger playback.

To ensure that MIDI notes play even if playback starts after the beginning of a note, Live will chase
MIDI notes by default. You can also deactivate or reactivate this behavior using the Chase MIDI
Notes command in the Options menu.

6.4 Launching the Arrangement with Locators

To set up multiple locations in the Arrangement for triggering playback, you can add launchable
locators to the scrub area.

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Use Locators to Launch Playback in the Arrangement.

The Set Locator button can be used to add locators to any part of the Arrangement in real time during
playback or when recording. Locators are quantized according to the global launch quantization
value set in the Control Bar.

The Set Locator Button.

If you use the Set Locator button while transport is not running, a locator will be added at the insert
marker location or at the start of the time selection. You can also set locators using the Add Locator
option in the scrub area’s context menu or via the Create menu.

Note that when locators are added to the Arrangement, the Set Locator button becomes the Delete
Locator button for any selected locators.

You can jump to locators by clicking on them or by using the Previous and Next Locator buttons below
the Set button. After jumping to the first or last locator in the Arrangement, the Previous and Next
Locator buttons will jump to the Arrangement start or end, respectively.

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The Previous and Next Locator Buttons.

Locators can also be triggered using MIDI/key mapping. If the transport is stopped, double-clicking
on a locator will select it and start playback from that point.

Selected locators can be moved by clicking and dragging or by using the arrow keys. You can
rename selected locators using the Rename option in the Edit menu or the shortcut Ctrl R (Win) /
Cmd R (Mac). You can also enter your own info text descriptions for locators via the Edit Info Text

option in the Edit menu or the locator’s context menu. To delete a locator, use the Delete key, the
Delete Locator option in the Create menu, or the Delete Locator button.

The Loop to Next Locator command in a locator’s context menu offers a quick way of looping
playback between two locators. The Set Song Start Time Here command can be used to overrule the
default “playback starts at selection“ behavior: when this command is checked, playback starts at the
locator instead.

6.5 Time Signature Changes

Live’s time signature can be changed at any point in the Arrangement using time signature markers. To
add a marker at the current insert marker position, use the Insert Time Signature Change command via
the Create menu or the scrub area’s context menu.

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 value for a marker. The numbers must be separated by a delimiter such as a slash, comma,
period, or any number of spaces.

You can also type or adjust time signature values using the Time Signature Numerator and
Denominator fields in the Control Bar. This will change the time signature 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 fields show an automation
LED in the upper left corner.

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The Time Signature Fields.

Time signature markers appear just below the beat-time ruler. Note that this marker area is hidden if a
Set contains no meter changes.

Time Signature Changes.

Time signature markers can be moved with the mouse or left and right arrow keys. You can edit the
time signature values for selected markers via the Edit Time Signature command in the Edit menu or the
scrub area’s context menu, or by using the shortcut Ctrl R (Win) / Cmd R (Mac). To delete a
time signature marker, use the Delete key or the Delete command in the Edit menu.

Time signature markers are not quantized; they may be placed anywhere in the timeline, and their
positioning is only constrained by the editing grid. This means that it is possible to place meter
changes in “impossible“ places — such as before the end of the previous measure. Doing so creates a
fragmentary bar, which is represented in the scrub area by a crosshatched 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 choose one of the context menu options for “correcting“ incomplete bars.

A Fragmentary Bar and its Context Menu Options.

Delete Fragmentary Bar Time deletes the duration of the fragmentary bar from the Arrangement,
thereby moving any audio or MIDI clips on either side of the deleted area closer together in the
timeline. The next time signature marker will now fall on the expected barline.

Complete Fragmentary Bar inserts time at the beginning of the fragmentary bar, so that it becomes
complete. The next time signature marker will now fall on the expected barline.

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Please note that both of these options affect all tracks — deleting and inserting time changes the
length of the entire Arrangement.

When importing a MIDI file 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 automatically
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.

6.6 The Arrangement Loop

To repeatedly play a section of the Arrangement, activate the Arrangement Loop using the Loop
Switch toggle in the Control Bar.

The Control Bar’s Loop Switch.

If no clip(s) or time is selected, the loop brace will cover the entire Arrangement. You can set the loop
length numerically using the Loop Start and Loop Length fields in the Control Bar, which determine the
loop start position and loop length, respectively.

The Loop Start Fields (Left) and the Loop Length Fields (Right).

The Loop Selection command in the Edit menu can be used to turn on the Arrangement loop and set
the loop brace to the current time selection. The corresponding shortcut for this command is Ctrl L
(Win) / Cmd L (Mac), which can also be used toggle the Arrangement loop on or off when a
clip or time is selected.

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The Arrangement’s Loop Brace.

The loop brace can be adjusted using the following keys and commands:

• The left and right arrow keys nudge the loop brace to the left or right based on the current grid
settings.
• The up and down arrow keys shift the loop brace left or right in steps based on the loop brace
length.
• Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) + the left and right arrow keys shortens or lengthens the loop by
the current grid settings.
• Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) + the up and down arrow keys doubles or halves the loop length.

You can also drag the loop brace: dragging from the left or right edge adjusts the loop start/end
points, while dragging the brace bar horizontally moves the loop without changing its length.

To trigger playback from the loop brace’s starting point, enable the Set Song Start Time Here
command in the brace’s context menu. This command overrules the default behavior, which triggers
playback at the insert marker or active time selection.

6.7 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.

Dragging a clip moves it to another song position or track.

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Moving a Clip.

Dragging a clip’s left or right edge changes the clip’s length.

Changing a Clip’s Length.

Note that only the clip bar is draggable, it is not possible to drag from the clip’s waveform or MIDI
display.

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.

To slide the contents of a warped audio clip or a MIDI clip within the clip’s boundaries, hold Ctrl
Shift (Win) / Shift Option (Mac) while dragging the clip’s waveform or MIDI display. To bypass

grid snapping, hold down Ctrl Alt Shift (Win) / Cmd Option Shift (Mac) while dragging
the clip’s contents.

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6.8 Audio Clip Fades and Crossfades
The beginning and end of audio clips in the Arrangement View have adjustable volume fades.
Additionally, adjacent clips on the same audio track can be crossfaded.

Fade controls are located at the edges of audio clips, provided that the tracks are expanded enough
for the fade handles to be visible. If a track is folded or too small, you can adjust the height of the
track until the handles appear.

You can hover over an audio clip to access the fade handles, which initially appear as small squares
at the clip’s edges.

Fade Handles in an Audio Clip.

If Automation Mode is enabled, you can momentarily toggle the fade controls by holding the F key
while hovering over an automation lane.

The Fade In Start and Fade Out End handles let you change the duration of a fade in or fade out
without affecting the fade peaks. However, fade edges cannot move beyond fade peaks. You can
select one of the handles and drag it out across the clip to change the length of the fade. You can
further adjust the fade’s intensity using the Fade Curve handle, which shapes the curve of the fade.

Adjusted Fades in a Clip.

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You can also set the length of a fade by selecting a range of time within the clip that includes the clip’s
beginning or end and executing the Create Fade In/Out command in the Create menu or using the
shortcut Ctrl Alt F (Win) / Cmd Option F (Mac).

Adjacent audio clips can be crossfaded. Creating and editing crossfades is similar to creating and
editing start and end fades:

• Click and drag a fade handle over the adjacent clip’s edge to create a crossfade.
• Click and drag the slope handle to adjust the shape of the crossfade’s curve.
• Select a range of time that includes the boundary between the adjacent clips and execute the
Create Crossfade command from the Create 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 Settings. In this case, pressing Delete
returns the fade handle to a default length of 4 ms. These default fades help prevent pops or clicks at
clip edges.

Automatically Create Short Fades At Clip Edges.

Another result of enabling the Create Fades on Clip Edges option is that adjacent audio clips will
automatically get 4 ms crossfades. These can then be edited just like manually-created crossfades.

There are some limits to the length of fades and crossfades:

• Fades cannot cross a clip’s loop boundaries.

• A clip’s start and end fades cannot overlap each other.

When a fade handle is selected, a dotted black line will appear on the relevant clip to indicate the
limit for that handle. This is especially useful when editing crossfades, because one clip’s loop
boundary may be hidden under the other clip.

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Note that fades are a property of clips rather than the tracks that contain them, and are independent
of automation envelopes.

6.9 Selecting Clips and Time

Apart from moving and resizing clips, Arrangement editing is selection-based: you select something
and then execute a command (e.g., Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate) on the selection.

Here is how selection works:

• Clicking a clip selects the clip.

• Clicking into the Arrangement background selects a point in time, represented by a flashing
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 (Win) / Option (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.
• Clicking and dragging selects a timespan.
• To access the time within a clip for editing, unfold its track by clicking the button next to the
track name. Note that selected tracks can also be unfolded by pressing the U key. You can
adjust the height of the unfolded track by dragging the split line below the Unfold Track button,
or by using the Alt + (Win) / Option + (Mac) and Alt - (Win) / Option -
(Mac) shortcut keys. You can also resize the height of a track by pressing Alt (Win) /
Option (Mac) while using a pinch gesture on a supported trackpad or touchscreen. To resize

all tracks in the Arrangement View at once, hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) while resizing a
single track. You can also unfold all of your tracks at once by holding down the Alt (Win) /
Option (Mac) modifier when clicking the button, or by using the Alt U (Win) /
Option U (Mac) shortcut.

Adjusting an Unfolded Track’s Height.

• Clicking and dragging in the clip’s waveform or MIDI display allows you to select time within
the clip.

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 • Clicking on the loop brace is a shortcut for executing the Edit menu’s Select Loop command,
which selects all material within the loop.
• 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 extend or shorten the selection.
• Pressing the 0 key deactivates a selection of material, even if it contains multiple clips. Note
that pressing the 0 key while a track header is selected will deactivate that track.
• It is possible to reverse a selection of audio material, even if it contains multiple audio clips. To
do this, select the range of time you want to reverse, and choose the Reverse Clip(s) command
from the clip’s context menu or press the R shortcut key. Note that it isn’t possible to reverse a
selection that contains MIDI clips.
• You can nudge a selection of material using the left and right arrow keys.

6.10 Using the Editing Grid

To ease Arrangement 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 context menu available in
either the Arrangement View track main lanes or the MIDI Note Editor in the Clip View.

The following shortcuts, also available as Options menu commands, allow you to quickly adjust the
grid:

• Ctrl 1(Win) / Cmd 1 (Mac) narrows the grid, doubling the density of the grid lines
(e.g., from eighth notes to sixteenth notes).
• Ctrl 2 (Win) / Cmd 2 (Mac) widens the grid, halving the density of the grid lines (e.g.,
from eighth notes to quarter notes).
• Ctrl 3 (Win) / Cmd 3 (Mac) toggles triplets mode; this would, for instance, change the
grid from eighth notes to eighth note triplets.
• Ctrl 4 (Win) / Cmd 4 (Mac) turns grid snapping on or off. When the grid is off, the
cursor does not snap to meter subdivisions.
• Ctrl 5 (Win) / Cmd 5 (Mac) toggles fixed and adaptive grid modes.

The current spacing between adjacent grid lines is displayed above the time ruler in the lower right
corner of the Arrangement View.

You can hold down the Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier while performing an action to bypass
grid snapping. If the grid is switched off, using the modifier will temporarily enable it.

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6.11 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. This means that adding time
inserts the selected time across all tracks in the Arrangement, while removing time deletes the selected
time across all tracks. Any time signature markers within the selected region will also be affected.

• Cut Time cuts a selection of time from the Arrangement, thereby moving any audio or MIDI clips
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.

The Selected Area to be Cut (Left), The Result of the Cut Time Command (Right).

• Paste Time places copied time into the Arrangement, thereby increasing its overall duration by
the length of time you have copied.
• Duplicate Time places a copy of the selected timespan into the Arrangement, thereby
increasing its overall duration by the length of the selection.
• Delete Time deletes a selection of time from the Arrangement, thereby moving any audio or
MIDI clips 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.
• Insert Silence inserts a chosen amount of empty time into the Arrangement starting at the insert
marker.

6.12 Splitting Clips

The Split command divides a clip into individual parts, which is useful for isolating certain areas of one
clip into its own separate clip, or breaking down one clip into multiple parts.

You can click anywhere within a clip’s waveform or MIDI display and then use the shortcut Ctrl E

(Win) / Cmd E (Mac) or the Split context menu option to divide the clip at that location. The
newly split clip will have its own clip edges and can be moved or edited like any other clip.

You can also isolate a specific portion within a clip by dragging over the desired area of the clip’s
waveform or MIDI display and then using the same shortcut or context menu option to separate out
that selection into a new clip.

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The Result of Splitting a Clip.

6.13 Consolidating Clips

The Consolidate command combines selected material from several adjacent clips into one new clip.
The command can be applied to clips per track or to adjacent clips across multiple tracks in the
Arrangement. Consolidating clips is a good way to join material from several clips into a new loop.

For example, if you have a set of clips that sound good in Arrangement Loop mode that you want to
combine into a loop, you can select your desired clips and then use the Consolidate command in the
Edit menu or main lane context menu, or use the shortcut Ctrl J (Win) / Cmd J (Mac).

The Result of Consolidating Clips.

The consolidated clip can be now treated like any other clip; you can for instance, move the clip to a
new position in the Arrangement, or drag MIDI clip edges to create more repetitions.

When consolidating audio clips, a new sample is created for every track in the selection. These
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 samples incorporate the effects of in-clip attenuation,
time-warping and pitch shifting, and of the respective clip envelopes, however, they do not
incorporate the effects. If you want to create a new sample from the post-effects signal, use the Export
Audio/Video command to export a specific selection of clips into one audio file.

Consolidated samples can be found in the current Set’s Project folder, under Samples/Processed/
Consolidate. If the Set has not yet been saved, consolidated samples are stored at the location
specified by the Temporary Folder.

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6.14 Linked-Track Editing
Linked-track editing makes it possible to use the comping workflow and other phase-locked editing
operations on multiple tracks at once.

(Note: Linked-track editing is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)

6.14.1 Linking and Unlinking Tracks

Selected tracks can be linked by using the Link Tracks command in the track header’s context menu.

The Link Tracks Command.

It is also possible to link tracks in a Group Track by opening the Group Track header’s context menu
and using the Link Tracks command.

Linked tracks display a linked-track indicator button in the track headers.

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A Track’s Linked-Track Indicator Button.

Note that you can create multiple instances of linked tracks in a Set, however each track can only
belong to one of these instances.

Hovering over a track’s linked-track indicator highlights the tracks that are linked together. This can be
especially useful for identifying multiple instances of linked tracks. Clicking on a track’s linked-track
indicator selects all tracks that are linked together.

You can add tracks to an existing instance of linked tracks by first selecting the tracks you want to add,
then holding Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) and using the Link Tracks command in one of the existing
linked track header’s context menu.

Any subset of linked tracks, or a mix of linked and unlinked tracks, can be linked together by selecting
their track headers and clicking the Link Tracks context menu command.

To remove tracks from an instance of linked tracks, select the tracks you want to unlink and use the
Unlink Track(s) option in the track or Group Track header’s context menu.

6.14.2 Editing Linked Tracks

Once you have created an instance of linked tracks, the following operations can be applied to all
tracks simultaneously:

• Moving and resizing clips.

• Selecting clips and time.
• Using the “… Time” commands.
• Splitting and consolidating clips.

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 • Creating and editing audio clip fades. Only clip fades that start at the same time position can
be adjusted simultaneously.
• Arming and disarming tracks.
• Renaming, inserting, and deleting take lanes, as well as enabling and disabling Audition Mode
on take lanes. This also applies when take lanes are hidden in some linked tracks.

6.15 The Mixer in Arrangement View

There are two sets of mixer controls available in the Arrangement View: the mixer and the
Arrangement track controls.

The Mixer (Bottom) and Arrangement Track Controls (Right).

The mixer can be opened using the Mixer command in the View menu or the shortcut Ctrl Alt M
(Win) / Cmd Option M (Mac). You can also show/hide the mixer using the mixer view control
in the bottom right corner of Live’s window.

You can customize which controls are available in the mixer via the Mixer Controls submenu in the
View menu.

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The Mixer Controls Submenu.

The View menu also contains a submenu for showing/hiding the various Arrangement track controls.

Values and settings are shared between the mixer and Arrangement track controls, so you can use
either to adjust tracks. Note that some controls are only available in the mixer, such as the
Performance Impact indicators, track delays and crossfader.

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7. Session View
In Live’s Arrangement View, as in all traditional sequencing programs, everything happens along a
fixed song timeline. For a number of applications, this is a limiting paradigm:

• 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.
• In the theatre, sound has to react to what happens on stage.
• 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.

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7.1 Session View Clips

The Controls for a Session View Clip.

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 Enter key. You can then move on to the neighboring clips using
the arrow keys. Please refer to the manual section on clip launch settings 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.

Pressing the 0 key while a Session View clip(s) is selected will deactivate that clip(s).

Clips can be controlled remotely with the computer keyboard or a MIDI controller. 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. 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, regardless of what your individual
Session clips are doing.

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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.

The Arrangement Position Fields and the Stop Button.

Clips can be renamed using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the clip’s context menu. You
can rename several selected clips at once by executing the Rename command. You can also enter
your own info text for a clip via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the clip’s context
menu. The context menu also contains a color palette where you can choose a custom clip color.

Clips can be reordered by drag-and-drop. Multiple adjacent or nonadjacent clips can be selected at
once by Shift -clicking or Ctrl -clicking, respectively.

Slots in Group Tracks 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.

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 alternatively in the same columns: parts of a song, variations of a
drum loop, etc.

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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. Note that you can resize all Session View tracks at
once by holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) while resizing a single track.

A Scene in the Session View.

Note that pressing the 0 key while a Session View track header is selected will deactivate that track.

The horizontal rows are called scenes. The Scene Launch buttons are located in the rightmost column,
which represents the Main track. To launch every clip in a row simultaneously, click on the associated
Scene Launch button. This can be very useful in organizing the live performance of a song with
multiple parts. Note that you can cancel the launch of any previously triggered scene by clicking the
Cancel Scene Launch entry in the Main track’s context menu.

The scene below a launched scene will automatically be selected as the next to be launched unless
the Select Next Scene on Launch option in the Launch Settings 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.

Scenes can be renamed using the Rename command in the Edit menu or the scene’s context menu.
One can quickly rename several scenes by executing the Rename command and using the computer’s
Tab key to move from one scene to the next. You can also enter your own info text for a scene via

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the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the scene’s 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.

Each scene has its own number, which is displayed in a column at the right-hand side. Scene numbers
are determined by their position; when a scene is moved, its number changes according to the scene’s
new position.

7.2.1 Editing Scene Tempo and Time Signature Values

Dragging the left edge of the Main track’s title header reveals the Scene Tempo and Scene Time
Signature controls, which allow you to assign a tempo and/or time signature to a selected scene.
These controls are hidden by default. The project will automatically adjust to these parameters when
the scene is launched. To change a scene’s tempo or time signature values:

• Click and drag up or down in any of these fields.

• Click and type a number, then hit Enter .

Note that you can also edit tempo and time signature values for scenes in the Scene View.

Any tempo can be used, as long as it is within the range allowed by Live’s Tempo control (20-999
BPM). 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.

When enabled, the Scene Tempo and Scene Time Signature controls can be disabled and reset via
the Return to Default context menu entry, or pressing the Delete key. You can also disable the
controls by double-clicking them.

You can use the left and right arrow keys to quickly navigate from a selected clip slot or scene to the
Scene Tempo and Scene Time Signature controls. When editing a scene name, or a tempo or time
signature value in the Main track using the keyboard, the Tab or Shift Tab keyboard shortcut
navigates to the next or previous control, to allow editing these controls quickly. The navigation moves
to the next or previous scene when reaching the last or first control in a scene.

Note: When a Scene Tempo/Time Signature control is selected in the Main track, pressing Enter

once will select the respective scene. Pressing Enter again launches the selected scene.

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These Scenes Will Change the Tempo and Time Signature.

Scenes with assigned tempo and/or time signature changes will have a colored Scene Launch button.

Note: Sets that were created in older Live versions than Live 11, with tempo and/or time signature
values specified by scene names, will have their values carried over to the Scene Tempo and/or Time
Signature controls. When opening these Sets in newer versions of Live, the Main track’s width is
adjusted so that the Scene Tempo and Scene Time Signature controls are visible.

7.2.2 Scene View

The Scene View is where scene properties can be set and adjusted.

The Scene View.

Selecting one or multiple scenes, clicking a Scene Tempo or Scene Time Signature control, or clicking
the Main track title bar opens the Scene View.

In the upper section of the Scene View, the Tempo and Signature sliders allow you to edit tempo and
time signature values for the selected scene(s). More information about these controls is available in
the Editing Scene Tempo and Time Signature Values section of this chapter.

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Tempo and Time Signature Controls in the Scene View.

In the lower section of the Scene View, controls allow you to edit Follow Actions for the selected
scene(s).

Follow Action Controls in the Scene View.

When a single scene is selected, the Scene View’s title bar displays the name and number (and color,
if assigned) of that scene. Note that when multiple scenes are selected, the Scene View’s title bar
indicates the number of selected scenes instead.

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In the context menu of the Scene View’s title bar, two options allow you to rename a scene, and also
choose a custom scene color from the color palette. Note that this also applies when multiple scenes
are selected.

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:

A Track Playing a Looping Session Clip.

The pie-chart icon in a clip track represents a looping Session clip. 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.

… 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.

… Monitoring the Input…

A microphone icon appears in an audio track that is set to monitor its input. A keyboard icon appears
in a MIDI track under these same circumstances.

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… Playing the Arrangement.

If the track is playing clips from the Arrangement, a miniature display representing the Arrangement
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.

Dropping Multiple Clips Into the Session View.

If you are dragging multiple clips into your Set, Live defaults to arranging them in one track; vertically
in the Session View or horizontally in the Arrangement View. Hold down Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac)
prior to dropping them so as to lay the clips out in multiple tracks instead. This works for raw audio or
MIDI files but not for Live Clips because they can contain their own embedded devices.

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 (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier before dragging. You can also click
into an empty slot and “rubber-band“ select from there.

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7.4.1 Select on Launch

By default, clicking a Session View clip’s Launch button also selects the clip, since you will typically
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 Settings if you prefer the view to remain as is when you launch clips
or scenes.

7.4.2 Removing Clip Stop Buttons

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 instance, 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:

• 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 the
clips that are currently running in the new scene and launches the new scene immediately 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 that the number of scenes is limited in the Intro
and Lite Editions.

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7.5 Recording Sessions into the Arrangement
Your Session View playing can be recorded into the Arrangement, allowing for an improvisational
approach to composing songs and scores.

The Control Bar’s Arrangement Record Button.

When the Arrangement Record button is on, Live logs all of your actions into the Arrangement:

• The clips launched;

• Changes of those clips’ properties;
• Changes of the mixer and the devices’ controls, also known as automation;
• 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.

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 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 at
a time. When a Session clip is launched, Live stops playing back that track’s Arrangement 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.

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The Back to Arrangement Button in the Session View.

The Back to Arrangement Button in the Arrangement View.

To disable all Arrangement clips simultaneously, click on the Stop All Clips button in the Main 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.

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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, by dragging clips over the or selectors,
or by simply dragging clips between the two windows if you’ve enabled the Second Window option
via Ctrl Shift W (Win) / Cmd Shift W (Mac) or in the View menu.

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 useful 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 context
menu of an Arrangement selection. This command 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, this command
creates a new sample for every audio track in the selection that contained at least one clip.

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8. Clip View
The Clip View is where clip properties can be set and adjusted.

The Clip View with Clip Tabs Arranged Horizontally.

Clip View properties can be arranged horizontally in tabs, vertically in panels, or automatically
(switching between the horizontal and vertical views depending on the height of the Clip View area).

To arrange Clip View vertically, drag the right edge of the Clip View panel (next to the Sample
Editor/MIDI Note Editor) to the left; drag it to the right to switch back to horizontal arrangement. To
change views automatically, you can select “Arrange Clip View Panels Automatically” from the View
menu or from the title bar’s context menu. Live will remember the Clip View arrangement when you
open it again in the future.

Clicking on the Clip Overview or double-clicking a clip in the Session or Arrangement View opens the
Clip View.

Clicking the Clip Overview Opens the Clip View.

If you’re using dual monitors, the Clip View will open in the same window you just clicked. To switch
the Clip View to the other window, press Shift Tab .

Single-clicking a clip will show that clip in the Clip View, but will not move the Clip View from its
current window. This allows you to, for example, dedicate one window to detailed clip editing while
using the other window for your work in the Session or Arrangement.

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.

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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-selection. 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 (Win) / Cmd (Mac) or Shift modifiers to add to your selection. 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.

Creating a Clip 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 be 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 common:

• The clip tabs/panels contain basic clip settings.

• You can access the clip launch properties by clicking on the relevant clip tab when Clip View is
arranged horizontally. When Clip View is arranged vertically, you can expand the
corresponding clip panel to view the clip launch properties. The Session View clip launch
properties are covered in detail in the Launching Clips chapter.
• The Envelopes tab/panel 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 the Clip Envelopes chapter.

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Audio clips have these additional Clip View controls:

• The Sample Editor 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.
• The Audio tab/panel contains settings pertaining to how the clip plays its sample and displays
it in the Sample Editor.

The Clip View for an Audio Clip.

MIDI clips have these additional Clip View controls:

• The MIDI Note Editor toggles with the Envelope Editor on the right-hand side of the Clip View,
and allows editing and creating MIDI notes and velocities.
• The Notes tab/panel contains settings pertaining to how Live plays a MIDI clip, as well as a
collection of tools for transforming the notes within the clip.
• The Note Expression tab/panel toggles Expression Editors underneath the MIDI Note Editor on
the right-hand side of the Clip View, to allow editing different dimensions of MIDI Polyphonic
Expression (MPE) for each note in a clip. You can find more information about working with
MPE and the Expression Editors in the Editing MPE chapter.

The Clip View for a MIDI Clip.

To make use of the screen real estate, you can minimize the Clip View tabs/panels by double-clicking
the Clip View title bar. You can toggle between the Sample Editor/MIDI Note Editor, the Envelope
Editor, and the Expression Editors by clicking on the relevant clip tabs/panels. You can also switch
between tabs/panels using the following key combinations:

In MIDI clips:

Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) Tab switches between the Notes, Envelopes, and MPE tabs

In audio clips:

Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) Tab switches between the Sample and Envelopes tabs

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Clip View Tabs Arranged Horizontally.

Clip View Panels Arranged Vertically.

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8.1 The Clip Tabs/Panels

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 directly from the Session
or Arrangement View with the clip’s context menu entries.

The Clip Activator Switch.

8.1.2 Clip View Sample Details

The sample rate, bit depth, and channel count of a sample can be viewed in the Clip View title bar or
underneath the title bar, depending on whether Clip View is arranged horizontally or vertically.

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The Sample Properties in the Clip View Title Bar.

When multiple audio clips are selected, the sample properties for all samples will be displayed. If a
value is not the same for all samples, the character “*” will be displayed. You will also see the total
number of samples selected.

Clicking on the sample properties from Clip View will open the sample file in the browser.

8.1.3 Clip Tabs/Clip Panels

When Clip View properties are arranged horizontally, you will see clip tabs for various clip settings
and the clip launch properties.

Clip Tabs.

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In vertical Clip View arrangement, these settings are displayed in clip panels.

Clip Panels.

8.1.4 Clip Name and Color

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. To change the name of a clip, right-click on the title bar of the Clip
View, and choose “Rename” from the context menu.

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 context menu. From the Edit menu you can also 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.

Newly created clips take the same color as the track on which they’re created, but you can also
choose a clip color from the color palette in the clip’s context menu manually.

You can quickly apply the track’s color to each of its clips by using the Assign Track Color to Clips
command in the track header’s context menu.

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To apply a Group Track’s color to all of its contained tracks and clips, you can use the Assign Track
Color to Grouped Tracks and Clips command in the respective Group Track header’s context menu.

Note that when using the Assign Track Color to Clips or Assign Track Color to Grouped Tracks and
Clips command in Session View, the color change will only affect Session clips. Likewise, using either
command in Arrangement View will only change the color of Arrangement clips.

8.1.5 Clip Region/Loop and Display

8.1.5.1 Zooming and Scrolling

The Clip Zoom/Scroll Area.

Zooming and scrolling in the Sample Editor/MIDI Note Editor work much like they do in the
Arrangement View. For audio clips, when Warp is disabled, zooming and scrolling can be done
anywhere in the upper half of the Sample Editor. When Warp is enabled, however, scrolling only
happens in the beat-time ruler.

Click and drag vertically in these areas to smoothly change the zoom level, and horizontally to scroll
the display.

To zoom in on the current time selection completely, press Z or use the View menu’s Zoom to Clip
Selection command. You can revert back to the previous zoom state by pressing the X key. Note
that when zooming in multiple times using the Z key, the X key can be pressed multiple times to
go back one step each time the key is pressed.

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The Clip Overview.

The Clip Overview provides additional zoom/scrolling functionality. It always shows the complete
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 Editor/MIDI Note Editor follow the play position and scroll automatically, turn on
the Follow switch, or use the Follow command from the Options menu. Follow will pause if you make
an edit in the Sample Editor/MIDI Note Editor. Follow will start again once you stop or restart
playback, or click in the Arrangement or clip scrub area.

The Follow Switch.

8.1.5.2 Playing and Scrubbing Clips

The section of the clip that plays when a clip is launched is set with the clip’s region and loop controls.
An unlooped clip will play from its start marker to its end marker or until it is stopped.

The Clip Start and End Markers.

These markers can be clicked and dragged to new positions in the Sample Editor/MIDI Note Editor,
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 either marker, hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac), and use the
arrow keys.

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Use the Clip Start and End Controls to Change Clip Length.

You can also adjust the clip start and end numerically using the respective value fields. For warped
audio clips, these fields display values as bars-beats-sixteenths; for unwarped audio 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 according to global quantization.

When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live’s Display & Input Settings, clicking in the lower half of
the waveform or in the beat-time ruler will make clip playback jump to that point.

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 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 0 (Win) / Cmd 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 0 (Mac)
shortcuts. When the left mouse button 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

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setting of “None,“ this allows you to scrub through the music. Activating the Options menu’s Chase
MIDI Notes command allows MIDI notes to play back even if playback begins after the MIDI note’s
start time.

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.

8.1.5.3 Looping Clips

To have the clip play as a (potentially infinite) loop, turn on the Loop switch. Note that for audio clips,
the Warp switch must be activated before the Loop switch is accessible, as unwarped audio clips
cannot be looped.

You can click and drag to change the position and length of the loop brace in the Sample Editor/
MIDI Note Editor, or you can type exact values into the Loop Length and Position fields.

The Loop Controls.

The loop brace can be selected with the mouse and its position changed with commands from the
computer keyboard:

• The left and right arrow keys nudge the loop brace to the left/right by the current grid setting.
• The up and down arrow keys shift the loop brace left/right in steps the size of its length.
• Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) plus the left or right arrow shortens or lengthens the loop brace by
the current grid setting.
• Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) plus the up or down arrow doubles or halves the loop length.
• 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. (MIDI clips only)

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Regardless of the position of the loop brace, clip play will begin at the position marked by the start
marker, which means you can set up the clip to run into a loop.

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 the 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 position. 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 looping.

The Set buttons, the Loop switch, the loop brace and the start/end markers can all be mapped to
MIDI controls. You could, for example, use a rotary encoder to move the loop through a sample in
increments the size of the chosen quantization interval.

8.1.6 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 see which clips can be used to create complex polymetric textures when simultaneously
triggering clips with different meters and/or loop lengths.

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The Clip Time Signature Fields.

8.1.7 Clip Groove Chooser

The Clip Groove chooser selects the groove used for the clip from the grooves available in the Groove
Pool.

The Clip Groove Chooser.

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You can use the Hot-Swap Groove button to preview available grooves in Live’s browser while the
clip plays. Hit the Enter key to add a selected groove to the Groove Pool.

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 in order to convert the groove’s velocity information into audio volume changes.
Note that this will overwrite any volume Clip Envelope that was already in the clip.

8.1.8 Saving Default Audio Clip Settings with the Sample

The Save Default Clip Button.

In audio clips, the Save Default Clip button is shown in the Clip View title bar. 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 Warp Markers that 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.

Note that storing default clip settings with the sample is different from saving the clip as a Live Clip,
which also saves devices and device settings.

8.1.9 MIDI Clip Scales

In MIDI clips, Clip View offers some additional controls. The Scale button enables or disables Scale
Mode, which, thanks to its helpful highlighting of notes, is useful for writing melodies within a certain

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scale. You can set a clip’s scale using the Root Note and Scale Name choosers. These controls are
described in further detail in the Folding and Scales section of the Editing MIDI chapter.

The Scale Controls.

8.1.10 MIDI Clip Bank and Program Change

In MIDI clips, the settings that allow Live to send MIDI bank/program change messages to external
devices and plug-ins that support MIDI program change messages are found in the relevant clip tab/
panel.

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The Bank and Program Controls.

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, simply set the bank/program choosers to “—.“

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8.2 The Audio Tab/Panel

8.2.1 Warp Controls

The 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.

To verify this, note that a warped sample’s speed follows the tempo as you change the Control Bar’s
Tempo control.

The Control Bar’s Tempo Field.

Live offers a number of controls to adjust the time-warping engine for optimal stretching quality. 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.

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8.2.2 Clip Start and End Fades

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 milliseconds.

This switch is only available for clips in Session View. In Arrangement View, clip fades are adjusted via
envelopes.

The Clip Fade switch is on by default for all new clips when the Create Fades on Clip Edges option is
enabled in the Record, Warp & Launch Settings.

Automatically Create Short Fades At Clip Edges.

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8.2.3 Clip RAM Mode

The RAM Mode Switch.

If the RAM Mode switch is on, Live loads the audio referenced by the clip into the computer’s memory
rather than reading it from disk in real time. RAM Mode can help with these problems:

• 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.
• You are experiencing audio dropouts when playing clips in Legato Mode.

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.“

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8.2.4 High Quality Interpolation

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.

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8.2.5 Clip Gain and Pitch

The Clip Gain and Pitch Controls.

The Gain slider, calibrated in dB, changes the clip gain.

When multiple audio clips with different Gain values are selected, the value range is shown with split
triangle handles on the Gain slider.

The Pitch knob control shifts the clip pitch in semitones. This amount can also be adjusted using the
value field on the left underneath the knob. To the right of the semitone value field is another value
field for fine-tine transposing in cents (100 cents = one semitone).

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8.2.6 Destructive Sample Editing

The Launch Sample Editor Button.

The Edit button opens the sample in an external sample editing application, which you can specify in
the File & Folder Settings. 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.

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8.2.7 Reversing Samples

The Reverse Button.

This function creates a new sample by reversing the sample referenced by the current 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, 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. Therefore, 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 actions in the program as
soon as Live begins to draw the new waveform into the Sample Editor. Once a sample is reversed, a
link to the reversed sample will be maintained until you quit the program, and reversing the same clip
again (or a copy) will be instantaneous.

In the Arrangement View, it is possible to reverse a selection of material, even if it contains multiple
clips. To do this, select the range of time you want to reverse, and choose the Reverse Clip(s)
command from the clip’s context menu, or press the R shortcut key.

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It is not recommended that you reverse clips in a live performance situation, as a slight audio glitch
can sometimes occur while Live reapplies the warp and loop settings.

8.2.8 Cropping Audio Clips

The Sample Editor’s context menu includes the Crop Sample command. This function creates, similarly
to the Reverse function, a new sample by copying the currently selected portion of a longer sample.
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.

8.2.9 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.

The Sample Editor’s context menu includes the Manage Sample File command. This opens the File
Manager for the current Set with the sample referenced by the clip selected. From there, you can
replace and destructively edit the sample, in 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 context menu to
reveal the file in the browser.

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8.3 The Pitch and Time Utilities Tab/Panel

The Pitch and Time Utilities Tab.

The Pitch and Time Utilities options allow for fast manipulation of a MIDI clip’s contents. These controls
affect the selected notes or time range. If nothing is selected, they affect the whole clip.

• The Transpose slider transposes the selection. Type a number to transpose by semitones or scale
degrees (if a clip scale is active).
• The Fit to Scale button adjusts pitches of the selection so that they match the clip’s scale. If a
scale is not active for the clip, this toggle will be inactive.
• Invert flips the selection “upside-down” so that the highest note is swapped with the lowest
note.
• Interval Size sets the number of semitones or scale degrees (if a clip scale is active) by which
the pitches of new notes will be shifted in relation to the pitches of the original note selection.
• The Add Interval button adds new notes at an interval specified by the Interval Size slider.
• Stretch compresses or stretches the duration of the selected notes.
• The ×2 and /2 buttons respectively stretch or compress the note duration, time selection, or
loop region by a factor of 2.
• The Duration drop-down menu allows you to set a note length value to be applied to the note
selection.
• Set Length applies the note length as specified with the options in the Duration menu.
• The Humanize Amount slider sets the amount of random variation to apply to note start times,
up to half a grid division.
• Humanize applies the random variation set with the Humanize Amount slider to the note
selection.
• Reverse reverses the selection so that the last note swaps places with the first note.

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 • Legato lengthens (or shortens) each selected note so that it is just long enough to reach the
beginning of the next note.

For a more detailed discussion of MIDI editing, see the Editing MIDI chapter.

8.4 The Transform and Generate Tabs/Panels

In audio clips, the Transform tab/panel contains the Quantize tool. You can use it to set either the
current grid size or a specific meter value for sample quantization. The Amount control allows setting
the percentage of the set quantization value by which Warp Markers will be moved.

Quantization Options in an Audio Clip.

Note that there is no Generate tab/panel in audio clips.

When working with MIDI Clips, Transform and Generate tabs/panels contain various MIDI Tools, a
set of utilities that can be used to enhance your musical composition process, allowing you to shape
MIDI material through transforming or generating notes.

Transformation tools affect either selected notes, notes in a time selection, or all notes in the clip. Once
a transformation tool is applied, original notes are transformed and replaced based on the settings in
the tool, then automatically become the new note selection and can be further transformed. When the
clip scale is on, changes to pitch in the transformed notes will be constrained within the selected scale.

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The Arpeggiate Transformation.

Generative tools make it possible to quickly create new material through filling MIDI clips with
patterns of notes. Notes will be generated within the time selection range or within the clip loop
range. When the clip scale is on, generated note pitches are constrained within the selected scale.

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The Rhythm Generator.

To learn more about the individual transformation and generative tools available in Live, please refer
to the MIDI Tools chapter.

8.5 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 Settings. 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 Settings.

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The Record Warp Launch Options in Live’s Settings.

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9. Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping
Audio in Live can be creatively manipulated and stretched in various ways. The process of adjusting
the timing and rhythm of audio clips is referred to as warping. Warping lets you treat audio as though
it were elastic, enabling seamless time-stretching and tempo synchronization.

Audio clips can be warped using various Warp Modes, allowing you to change the timing of a clip
without altering its pitch, or vice versa. Warping can also be used to mimic the behavior of analog
tape by adjusting both the pitch and timing simultaneously. Additionally, warping lets you easily mix
and match audio clips with varying BPMs.

9.1 Tempo

9.1.1 Setting the Tempo

The Control Bar’s Tempo Field.

The Control Bar’s tempo field lets you adjust the playback tempo of your Live Set. You can even
automate the tempo to create smooth or sudden tempo changes along the song timeline.

The tempo field displays values for both the coarse tempo in BPM and the fine tempo in hundredths of
a BPM. These values can be key or MIDI mapped individually, which is useful for precise tempo
changes during live performances.

Additionally, there are several ways to sync the tempo between Live and external sources: you can set
up hardware to follow along with Live’s tempo, or vice versa, using MIDI Clock or Link, or set up Live’s
tempo to sync with an external audio source using Tempo Follower. Please refer to the Synchronizing
with Link, Tempo Follower, and MIDI chapter for more details.

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9.1.2 Tapping the Tempo

The Tap Button.

Apart from setting a tempo using numeric values, you can also use the Tap Tempo button to set the
tempo with mouse clicks or computer key taps.

You can click the Tap Tempo button once every beat to have the tempo of the Live Set follow the
tempo of your clicking.

To use a computer key to set the tempo instead of clicks, you can map a key to the Tap Tempo button
using Key Map Mode:

1. Click the Key switch in the Control Bar to enable Key Map Mode.
2. Select the Tap Tempo button.
3. Press the key on your keyboard that you want to use for tapping.
4. Click the Key switch again to leave Key Map Mode.

You can now use the mapped key for tapping the tempo.

The Key Map Mode Switch.

Alternatively, you can assign the Tap Tempo button to a MIDI note or controller, such as a footswitch
pedal, using MIDI Map Mode.

Live will respond to tap tempo changes immediately; however, the more you tap, the more accurate
the detected tempo result will be.

If the Start Playback with Tap Tempo option is enabled in the Record, Warp & Launch Settings, you
can also use tapping to trigger playback. When using a 4/4 time signature, it takes four taps to start
song playback at the tapped tempo.

When using tapping to start transport, the playback position of any apps that are connected via Link
will be synced automatically. This ensures that those apps remain tempo-synced and correctly aligned
within the current musical phrase.

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9.1.3 Nudging the Tempo

The Phase Nudge Up/Down Buttons.

While Live can be easily synchronized via Link or to external MIDI devices, you may sometimes need
to align a Set with external sources that aren’t locked to a single tempo, such as live musicians or
turntables. As long as your Set’s tempo roughly matches the external source, you can use the Phase
Nudge Up/Down buttons to temporarily speed up or slow down Live’s playback to match any tempo
changes. As with the Tap Tempo button, the Phase Nudge buttons can be key or MIDI mapped for
hands-on control.

9.1.4 Clip Tempo Followers and Leaders

By default, warped clips follow the Set’s tempo; however, clips in the Arrangement View can be set as
tempo leaders via the Lead/Follow toggle in the Clip View’s Audio tab/panel.

Warped Clips Follow the Set’s Tempo by Default.

When a clip is set to Lead, the Set plays back at the tempo determined by the clip’s Warp Markers.
This lets you sync the Set to the tempo of leader clips, which will therefore be played as if they were
unwarped. Additionally, the tempo field in the Control Bar is deactivated.

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Switch the Lead/Follow Toggle to Lead to Play the Clip’s Original Tempo.

Any number of clips can be set as tempo leaders, but only one clip at a time can actually determine
the tempo. When multiple clips on different tracks are leaders, the tempo of the currently playing clip
on the bottom-most track will take precedence.

Tempo automation is automatically created to track the changes between the clips’ tempos and the
Set’s tempo. This automation is visible in the Main track but is not editable. When leader clips are
rearranged in the Arrangement, the resulting automation is also moved. To keep and edit the
automation changes, you can use the Unfollow Tempo Automation option in the tempo field’s context
menu. This will switch all leader clips to followers, and the automation in the Main track will become
editable.

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Unfollow the Tempo Automation to Make It Editable.

Automation from clip tempo leaders will override the tempo from any audio input being synced via
Tempo Follower.

Note that when Live’s EXT switch is enabled, the Lead/Follow toggle is deactivated.

9.2 Warping
Live’s ability to play any sample in sync with a chosen tempo is an important and useful feature.
Warping allows for seamless beat matching, rhythmic experimentation, and sound design, as well as
track synchronization during playback and live performances.

The warping properties for audio clips are located in the Clip View’s Audio tab/panel. You can
double-click on an audio clip in the Session or Arrangement View to open the Clip View.

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The Audio Tab’s Warping Controls.

The Warp switch toggles warping on or off for an audio clip.

When the Warp switch is off, the sample plays at its original tempo, unaffected by the Set’s current
tempo. This is useful for non-rhythmic samples, such as percussion one shots, textures, sound effects,
and spoken word, for example.

You can turn the Warp switch on to synchronize rhythmically structured samples, such as loops or
entire songs, with the Set’s tempo.

9.2.1 Warping Options in Settings

In addition to using the Warp switch to enable warping in individual clips, you can also configure the
warping behavior for samples when they are loaded via the Record, Warp & Launch Settings. When
a sample is first imported, Live will decide whether it is short or long, and will then apply one of the
options described below.

The Loop/Warp Short Samples option lets you choose the default warping state for short samples:

• Unwarped One Shot - Samples will not be warped when loaded.

• Warped One Shot - Samples will be warped based on the default Warp Mode but not looped.
• Warped Loop - Samples will be warped and looped.
• Auto - Live will automatically apply one of the above options based on what would work best
for the specific sample. This option is selected by default.

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The Auto-Warp Long Samples option you choose whether long samples are automatically warped
when loaded or not. This option is enabled by default. A Warp Marker will be added to the first beat
for each bar once the sample is auto-warped. If this option is switched off, long samples will be
unwarped when they are added to tracks.

The Default Warp Mode option lets you set which Warp Mode is automatically applied to samples
when they are warped. The Warp Mode defines the algorithm used for time-stretching the audio,
which affects the clip’s sound. Beats mode is initially set as the default Warp Mode.

9.2.2 Importing Samples

You can drag samples into a Set from folders on your computer, or you can use the Import Audio
File… command in the Create menu when an audio track is selected to import MP3, AAC, Ogg
Vorbis, Ogg FLAC, or FLAC files. When using this command, files are added at the insert marker in the
Arrangement View or inserted into the selected clip slot in the Session View.

When a file is imported into Live for the first time, it is analyzed and cannot be played or edited until
the analysis process is complete. Once analyzed, the sample will be accessible in the Sample Editor,
and in most cases, synced with the Set’s tempo.

Note that some of the mentioned file formats are not supported in the Lite or Intro Editions.

9.2.3 Warp Markers

Warp Markers let you lock a specific point in a sample, such as a transient, to a particular place in the
timeline. You can use markers to create a realistic map of the audio’s timing or to alter its rhythm.
When a sample is first imported, some initial Warp Markers are populated; however, you can
manually add any number of markers as needed.

Double-click anywhere in the upper half of the Sample Editor to add a Warp Marker at that location.
You can also use the shortcut Ctrl I (Win) / Cmd I (Mac), which will place a Warp Marker at
the insert marker. Markers can be moved with the arrow keys or dragged to different points in time as
needed.

Warp Markers in the Sample Editor.

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When a Warp Marker is selected, you can hold Shift to drag and move the waveform; this lets you
finely adjust the starting point of the audio under the marker.

To delete Warp Markers you can double-click them, or select the corresponding time in the Sample
Editor and press the Backspace (Win) or Delete (Mac) key.

If you want the Sample Editor to scroll during playback while you work with clips, you can enable the
Follow switch in the Control Bar. Note that Follow will pause if you make an edit in the Sample Editor.
You can launch playback or click in the Arrangement or clip scrub area to restart Follow.

The Follow Switch in the Control Bar.

9.2.3.1 Transients and Pseudo-Warp Markers

When you first load a sample into a track, Live automatically analyzes the audio and finds its
transients. These are amplitude peaks that indicate where notes or beats begin. Transients are usually
good places to put Warp Markers.

Transients are represented by small gray markers at the top of the Sample Editor.

Transient Markers in the Sample Editor.

You can manually create or delete transients via the corresponding commands in the Create menu, or
by using the shortcuts Ctrl Shift I (Win) / Cmd Shift I (Mac) and Ctrl Shift
Backspace (Win) / Cmd Shift Delete (Mac). To remove all manually created transients, use

the Reset Transients option in the Sample Editor’s context menu.

To create Warp Markers for all transients in a time selection, use the Insert Warp Markers command in
the Create menu or use the shortcut Ctrl I (Win) / Cmd I (Mac). If there are no transients
within the selected area, Warp Markers will be created at the start and end of the selection.

Pseudo-Warp Markers appear when you hover over transient markers. They look like regular Warp
Markers but are gray instead of yellow. Double-clicking or dragging a pseudo-marker turns it into an
actual Warp Marker. If there are no Warp Markers after the newly created marker, the clip’s tempo
will also change. Holding the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier while creating a Warp Marker
from a pseudo-marker also creates Warp Markers at the adjacent transients. You can hold Shift and
drag a pseudo-marker to move the transient to a new location in the Sample Editor.

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9.2.3.2 Saving Warp Markers with a Sample File

Warp Markers are automatically saved with the Live Set; however, you can also save them with the
sample file itself, so that they appear in the Sample Editor anytime you drag the file into a track. To do
so, click the Save button in the clip’s title bar. Note that it is only possible to save default clip settings
for your own samples, and not for any of Live’s Core Library or Pack content.

When a sample is saved with Warp Markers, Auto-Warp will have no effect. However, you can still
manually initiate auto-warping using any of the Warp From… context menu options.

9.2.4 Warping Short Samples

The following sections illustrate how warping can be used to sync different kinds of short samples with
a Set’s tempo. These scenarios assume that the Loop/Warp Short Samples option in the Record,
Warp & Launch Settings is enabled so that newly added samples are automatically warped when
added to a Set, which is the default behavior.

9.2.4.1 Even-Length Loops

When you import a sample, Live assumes that it contains a well-cut musical loop of 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16
bars in length, and sets the tempo accordingly. Additionally, two Warp Markers are created: one at
the start of the sample and one at the end.

A Four-Bar Loop in the Sample Editor.

The sample’s estimated tempo is shown in the BPM field of the Audio Utilities panel. If you know the
exact BPM, you can type it into the field. If you’re not sure of the precise tempo, you can hold Shift
while dragging in the slider to adjust the BPM in fine increments. You can also hold Shift and drag
from the clip’s edge in Arrangement View to stretch or compress the clip’s tempo.

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The BPM Field in the Audio Utilities Panel.

Sometimes the estimation of the original tempo is incorrect, and the BPM field may show a tempo that
is either twice as fast or half as slow. You can correct this by using the ×2 and ÷2 buttons to double or
halve the tempo, respectively.

9.2.4.2 Odd-Length Loops

Samples that have an odd number of bars will play out of sync as Live will initially assume that the
loop contains an even number of bars due to the default 4/4 time signature setting.

For synced playback, a Warp Marker at the end of the sample needs to be placed at the beginning
of an even bar, for example, bar eight in a nine-bar loop. To fix this, simply add a marker to the
correct bar.

Additionally, Live may assume that some loops with odd bars are longer or shorter than they actually
are, e.g., a nine-bar loop may be mistaken for an eight-bar loop. In this case, the last bar may not be
visible initially. To fix this, you can drag a Warp Marker at the end of the sample toward the right until
the eighth bar becomes visible.

9.2.4.3 Uneven-Length Loops

Samples that have not been edited for seamless looping or have no distinct beat pattern will also play
out of sync.

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You can correct this by moving the insert marker to the first downbeat in the sample and then using the
Set 1.1.1 Here context menu option to place a Warp Marker there.

Use the Set 1.1.1 Here Command to Place the First Warp Marker.

Once the first Warp Marker is set, you can then use the Warp From Here context menu option. To
eliminate extra silence at the end of the loop, you can place a Warp Marker before the silent portion
of the sample.

9.2.4.4 Multi-Clip Warping

When you select multiple clips that are of the same length and then add or adjust Warp Markers to
one of them, those changes will automatically apply to all the selected clips. This feature is particularly
useful when you have several clips with the same rhythm and want to alter the timing uniformly. For
example, if you have a recorded multitrack performance and want to correct any timing issues across
all tracks.

9.2.5 Auto-Warping Long Samples

The following section illustrates how auto-warping can be used to sync longer samples or entire songs
with a Set’s tempo. These scenarios assume that the Auto-Warp Long Samples option in the Record,

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Warp & Launch Settings is enabled so that newly added samples are automatically warped when
added to a Set, which is the default behavior.

Auto-Warp Results in the Sample Editor.

9.2.5.1 Adjusting Auto-Warp Results

The Auto-Warp algorithm usually estimates the audio clip’s tempo correctly, ensuring that it syncs
perfectly with the Set’s tempo. However, you can adjust the auto-warped results manually if they are
not what you expected.

When adjusting Warp Markers for longer samples, we suggest activating the metronome in the
Control Bar, which can provide a steady tempo reference.

The Metronome Switch.

In some cases Auto-Warp guesses the tempo correctly but gets the downbeat wrong. To fix this, you
can use one of the following methods:

• Hold Shift while dragging from a Warp Marker to adjust the position of the waveform under
the marker.
• Move the insert marker to the downbeat and use the context menu’s Set 1.1.1 Here command to
move the start marker to that location.
• Zoom in and create a Warp Marker on the downbeat, then drag the marker to the beginning of
the first bar in the timeline.

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Dragging a Warp Marker to Set the Start Position.

If you have a sample that has been edited for seamless looping, you can easily adjust the Auto-Warp
results using the Warp Sample as… command in the Sample Editor’s context menu. The command will
display a suggested loop length that fits the Set’s tempo.

The Warp Sample As… Context Menu Option.

You can also use Auto-Warp for a specific section of a sample. For example, you can select and warp
a breakbeat from a longer song. To do so, select time in the Sample Editor by dragging over the
portion of the sample you want to isolate. Then use the Warp Selection as… command in the context
menu. Auto-Warp sets what it assumes is the most fitting loop length, adds start and end loop markers
to match, and then warps the selection so that it fills the loop.

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Warping a Selected Portion of a Sample.

For certain samples, you may want more precise control of the Auto-Warp results. The best way to go
about this is to warp the audio in sections, working from left to right. You can set Warp Markers at the
start and end of each correctly warped section to pin them into place. Various shortcuts for the
Sample Editor can help make this process a bit faster. For example, you can hold down the Ctrl
(Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier to select multiple Warp Markers and then move them together.

In the Sample Editor’s context menu, there are several Warp From Here… commands that provide
multiple ways of resetting Warp Markers to the right of a grid division or Warp Marker, leaving any
markers to the left unchanged. These commands can be used at any point in the timeline, including at
the start marker.

• Warp From Here runs the Auto-Warp algorithm for the audio to the right of the selected marker.
If no marker is selected, one will be added at the specified point on the grid.
• Warp From Here (Start At …) uses the tempo of the Set as a baseline for auto-warping. If you
want to first update the Set’s tempo to match the clip’s BPM, deactivate warping for the clip so
that it plays back at its original speed. Then use the Tap Tempo button in the Control Bar to
match the tempo of the clip to the Set. After setting the tempo, re-enable warping for the clip
and use the Warp From Here (Start At …) command to use your tapped tempo as a reference.
• Warp From Here (Straight) works best for samples that have no tempo variations. A single
Warp Marker will be set at the starting point based on the estimated original BPM of the
sample.
• Warp … BPM From Here will also set a single Warp Marker at the starting point, but in this
case, the clip is assumed to have the same tempo as the Set. This command is useful if you

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 already know the precise BPM of the sample and can type it into the Control Bar’s tempo field
before warping.

9.2.6 Manipulating Grooves

While Warp Markers can be used to accurately sync the musical timing in a sample, they can also be
used to deliberately alter the rhythm for creative effects.

For example, if you notice that a transient in a percussive sample comes late, simply pin a Warp
Marker to it and then drag the marker to align it with the correct beat. You may want to pin the
adjacent transients as well, to avoid affecting neighboring regions in the sample.

Using Warp Markers to Manipulate the Groove.

Altering a sample’s natural rhythm using Warp Markers is an interesting creative technique,
particularly when used together with grooves.

9.2.7 Quantizing Audio

In addition to using Warp Markers to time-stretch a sample, you can also automatically snap a
waveform to the grid using quantization. Quantization aligns the audio by moving the nearest
transient to the closest grid line.

To quantize audio, click anywhere in the Sample Editor to bring it into focus, and then use the
Quantize command from the Edit menu or the shortcut Ctrl U (Win) / Cmd U (Mac). These
options align the audio based on the current quantization settings, which can be adjusted via the
Quantize panel.

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The Quantize Panel.

Audio can be quantized to match the current grid size or a specific grid division, including triplets. To
achieve a more subtle result, use the Amount control to adjust the level of applied quantization. This
control shifts the Warp Markers by a percentage of the chosen quantization value.

9.3 Warp Modes

Live’s Warp Modes use different granular synthesis techniques to manipulate time by repeating or
omitting segments of the audio; these segments are referred to as grains. Each Warp Mode has a
specific way of selecting, overlapping, and crossfading grains, which affects how the audio is
stretched or compressed. Because of this, some Warp Modes are best suited for certain kinds of audio
material, depending on the original tonal characteristics.

While warping can be used for precise time-stretching, there are also many creative ways to alter a
sample’s rhythm for more experimental results.

9.3.1 Beats Mode

Beats mode works best for audio that has a dominant rhythm, such as drum loops and most electronic
dance music. In this mode, the granulation process is optimized to preserve the transients in the audio.

The Preserve control lets you preserve divisions in the sample; these divisions define the boundaries
between portions of audio. When warping percussive samples, choose Transients for the most
accurate results. This setting uses the positions of the audio’s transients to determine the warping
behavior. To preserve specific beat divisions regardless of where the transients are located, choose

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one of the grid division options. For some interesting rhythmic artifacts, try using large grid divisions in
conjunction with pitch transposition.

The Transient Loop Mode chooser sets the looping properties for the audio’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, then playback jumps
to a zero-crossing near the middle of the segment and continues looping until the next transient
occurs.

Loop Back-and-Forth — Each segment of audio between transients plays to its end, then playback
reverses until it reaches a zero-crossing near the middle of the segment, and proceeds again towards
the end of the segment. This pattern continues until the next transient occurs. When combined with
preserved transients, this mode can often result in a high-quality sound, especially at slower tempos.

The Transient Envelope control determines the volume fade between each audio segment. When set to
100, no fade is applied, while at 0, longer fades are added, causing each segment to decay very
quickly. Higher envelope times can help to smooth out any clicks between segments; lower envelope
times can be used to create rhythmic gating effects.

9.3.2 Tones Mode

Tones mode is useful for stretching audio that has a distinct pitch, such as vocals, monophonic
instruments, and basslines.

Grain Size lets you roughly adjust the average size of the grains used. The actual grain size is
determined by the clarity of pitch changes in the audio. Small grain sizes work best for audio that has
distinct pitch variations. Using larger grain sizes can help prevent unwanted noise but may also cause
audible artifacts.

9.3.3 Texture Mode

Texture mode works well for sounds that don’t have a clear melody or pitch, such as polyphonic
orchestral music, atmospheric pads, noise, or drones. It’s also great for sound design and
experimental audio manipulation.

The Grain Size control determines the grain size used, but unlike in Tones mode, the audio’s tonal
characteristics are not taken into consideration when the grain size is adjusted.

Fluctuation introduces randomness into how the sample is processed. Higher values result in more
random variation.

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9.3.4 Re-Pitch Mode

Re-Pitch mode can be used to adjust the sample’s playback rate. This lets you change the pitch of the
sample while modifying its tempo, similar to how DJs change the playback speed on turntables, or
how old samplers change the pitch of samples when sped up or slowed down. For example, if you
double the speed, the pitch goes up by an octave.

In this mode, the sample’s transposition controls are deactivated because changing the playback
speed directly affects the pitch.

9.3.5 Complex and Complex Pro Mode

Complex mode is useful for warping audio that contains a combination of beats, melodies, and
textures, such as entire songs.

Complex Pro mode uses a variation of the algorithm found in Complex mode, and may offer higher
quality results. Like Complex mode, Complex Pro works especially well with polyphonic textures or full
songs.

The Formants control determines how the sample’s formants (the resonance frequencies of the tone)
are affected when the pitch is transposed. At 100%, the original formants will be preserved, even if
the pitch is changed significantly. This helps maintain the original tonal quality. Note that this control
has no effect if the sample’s transposition is not changed.

The Envelope control also influences the overall tonal quality. The default setting is 128, which should
work well for most samples. For high-pitched samples, lower Envelope values may provide better
results, while low-pitched samples may sound better with higher values.

Depending on your setup, the Complex and Complex Pro modes may be more CPU-intensive than the
other Warp Modes. To save CPU resources you can freeze or resample tracks that use these modes.

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10. Editing MIDI
A MIDI clip in Live contains notes and controller data for playing a MIDI instrument. This instrument
can be a virtual instrument in a MIDI track’s device chain or an external synth fed via the track’s output
routing. The MIDI clip provides the device with a musical score to play, specifying note pitch, length,
position and dynamics (referred to as velocity in the MIDI lexicon). MIDI clips are composed in Live’s
Clip Content Editor and edited using various utilities available in Clip View’s tabs/panels, the MIDI
Note Editor, and the Velocity and Chance Editors.

10.1 The Clip Content Editor Layout for MIDI

Clips
When working with MIDI clips, the Clip Content Editor allows you to add, move and adjust MIDI
notes to make your musical ideas come to life.

The Clip Content Editor Layout in a MIDI Clip.

1. To view the Clip Content Editor, first open the Clip View by double-clicking on a clip or by
using the Ctrl Alt 3 (Win) / Cmd Option 3 (Mac) keyboard shortcut. There are
three editor view modes available; make sure that the Notes tab is selected to view the MIDI
Note Editor where you can add and manipulate MIDI notes. The other two editor view modes,
i.e., the Envelopes Editor and the MPE Editor, are detailed in separate chapters.

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 2. The MIDI Note Editor is where MIDI notes can be added.

3. The MIDI Note 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, which displays octaves C-2–C8, the subset of pitches used by a loaded tuning
system, or a list of drum pads if a Drum Rack is loaded. The vertical axis also includes a
representation of a piano keyboard (the piano ruler).

Note Scale Position Is Shown Vertically and Beat-Time Horizontally.

1. If the Preview switch above the piano ruler is activated, you will hear the sound of the related
pitch/drum pad when you press a piano ruler’s key or when you add or move a MIDI note in a
key track.

2. On the left in the Clip Content Editor Settings, you will find options for folding key tracks and
scale highlighting (if a scale is enabled in the MIDI clip), whereas the right side contains a
button that displays the current grid setting and allows you to adjust the grid properties.

3. Below the MIDI Note Editor you will find Velocity and Chance Editor lanes and controls which
can be used to edit note velocities and probabilities. While only the Velocity Editor is shown by
default, you can toggle its visibility, as well as the Chance Editor’s visibility using the triangular
Lane Selector drop-down menu. The Show/Hide All Expression Editors toggle to the left of the
button allows showing or hiding all enabled lanes at once.

Show/Hide All Expression Editors Toggle.

It is also possible to choose whether Velocity or Chance Editor is shown in the visible lane using
the Swap Lane option available in the lane header’s context menu.

You can also drag the divider between the MIDI Note Editor and the Velocity and/or Chance
Editor lanes to resize or show/hide the lanes and controls. The lanes can be also resized
individually via their split lines. It is also possible to resize the lanes using the mousewheel/
pinch gesture while holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key.

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10.2 Zooming and Navigating in the MIDI Note
Editor
There are different ways of interacting with the MIDI Note Editor and its contents:

MIDI Note Editor Navigation.

1. To smoothly adjust the time zoom level, click and drag vertically in the time ruler. Drag
horizontally in the time ruler to scroll from left to right. While scrolling up and down inside the
MIDI Note Editor, you can also hold the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier to change the
time zoom level.
2. Scroll up and down in the note ruler to change which octaves are shown. Click and drag
horizontally in the note ruler to change the zoom level for key tracks, the MIDI notes they
contain and the piano ruler keys. While scrolling up and down inside the MIDI Note Editor, you
can also hold the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier to change the key tracks zoom level.
3. Click and drag over one or more notes to select them, or over an area in the MIDI Note Editor
to select a range of time. Then, double-click on the note ruler or time ruler to automatically
zoom in on your selection. Double-clicking on the note ruler will zoom in on the key tracks,
while double-clicking on the time ruler will zoom in on the selected time range. 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. Note that if you zoom in to the point when the time selection is no longer
displayed on the screen, double-clicking in the note ruler or time ruler will zoom out the MIDI
Note Editor so that the entire selection is in view.
4. The clip overview in the Clip View Selector in the bottom right corner of the Live window can
also be used for navigation. It always shows the complete contents of the selected MIDI clip.
The black rectangular outline represents the part of the clip that is currently displayed in the
MIDI Note Editor. To scroll, click within the outline and drag left or right; to zoom in and out,

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 drag up and down. You can also adjust the size of the outline by dragging its left or right
edges.

You can also use the computer keyboard to quickly navigate within the current selection MIDI Note
Editor. Use Page Up/Down keys to scroll vertically one octave up/down. Add the Shift modifier to
scroll vertically by just one key track up/down. To zoom in and out around the current time selection,
use the + and - keys. Zoom in fully into the current selection with the Z key. Zoom out to view
the full clip with the X key. Use Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and + or - key to zoom in to or
out of the MIDI Note Editor.

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
increase the height of the Clip View and with it, also the size of the MIDI Note Editor.

Enlarge the MIDI Note Editor by Dragging the Window Split Between Session and Clip Views.

Clip View can be toggled to its maximum height using the Ctrl Alt E (Win) / Cmd Option
E (Mac) keyboard shortcuts or the Expand Clip View entry in the View menu.

10.2.1 Grid Snapping

Most functions in the MIDI Note Editor are subject to grid snapping. This means that when you adjust
note positions, the grid acts as if it is magnetic: when you first move a note, it will move freely up to the
first grid line you encounter and afterwards, if you continue to drag the note, it will snap to grid lines
rather than move freely. You can bypass grid snapping by turning off the grid using the Grid Settings
button, by deactivating the Snap to Grid option in the Options menu, or by pressing the Ctrl 4
(Win) / Cmd 4 (Mac) key combination. Grid snapping can also be bypassed temporarily by
pressing the Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier while performing editing operations. The opposite is
also true: if grid is disabled, it is possible to temporarily enable it using the same modifier.

Notes 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
sound too “quantized.”

10.2.2 Playback Options

The MIDI Note Editor can be set to scroll with playback using the Follow switch in the Control Bar.
Follow will pause if you make an edit in the MIDI Note Editor, and will start again when you press the

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Follow switch again, when you stop and restart playback, or when you stop playback and click in the
scrub area in the clip or the Arrangement View.

The Control Bar’s Follow Switch.

When Permanent Scrub Areas is enabled in Live’s Display & Input Settings, clicking in the scrub area
below the beat-time ruler starts playback from that point, rounded by the global quantization setting.
Activating the Options menu’s Chase MIDI Notes command allows MIDI notes to play back even if
playback begins after the MIDI note’s start time.

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 and associated
shortcuts can also be helpful in getting around in the MIDI Note Editor and playing selections quickly
and easily.

10.3 Creating a MIDI Clip

MIDI clips are created: - by recording on a MIDI track; - or by capturing MIDI; - or by double-
clicking an empty Session slot in a MIDI track; - or by selecting an empty Session slot in a MIDI track
and choosing the Create menu’s Insert Empty MIDI Clip(s) command, also accessible through the
Ctrl Shift M (Win) / Cmd Shift M (Mac) keyboard shortcut; - or by double-clicking on

the track display of a MIDI track in the Arrangement View; - or, in the Arrangement View, by selecting
a timespan in a MIDI track and choosing the Create menu’s Insert Empty MIDI Clip(s) command, also
accessible through the Ctrl Shift M (Win) / Cmd Shift M (Mac) keyboard shortcut.

10.4 Adding MIDI Notes

Notes are added to MIDI clips as you record yourself playing an instrument on an armed track, or
when you retrieve the material you played using the Capture MIDI option. You can also manually add
notes in the MIDI Note Editor by double-clicking in a chosen location or by drawing notes with the
mouse when Draw Mode is active.

The Control Bar’s Draw Mode Toggle.

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10.4.1 Draw Mode

You can switch to Draw Mode by toggling the Control Bar’s Draw Mode button or by pressing the
B key. Once enabled, you click and drag inside the MIDI Note Editor to add notes. When Draw

Mode is active, clicking on an existing note will delete that note.

Adding New Notes Using Draw Mode.

There are two different ways of using Draw Mode: the “Draw Mode with Pitch Lock” option in the
Display & Input Settings lets you draw MIDI notes constrained to one single key track (or pitch) at a
time, while holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key allows freehand melodic drawing. When
disabled, Draw Mode defaults to freehand melodic drawing, and holding the Alt (Win) / Option
(Mac) key enables pitch-locked drawing. In the melodic Draw Mode, when you draw on top of an
existing note that note will be erased. In the pitch-locked Draw Mode, drawn notes will be erased
when you move the cursor back towards the first added note. When the MIDI Note Editor is focused,
the “Draw Mode” entry in the Options and context menus displays the currently selected state of the
“Draw Mode with Pitch Lock” preference, as “Draw Mode (Pitch Lock On/Off)”.

Draw Mode is useful for quickly adding in notes or patterns. When Draw Mode is switched off, you
can move notes around with the arrow keys or by clicking and dragging, either vertically to transpose
them, or horizontally to change their position in time. When Draw Mode is inactive, MIDI notes can
be deleted by double-clicking on them.

10.4.2 Previewing Notes

As long as your MIDI track’s device chain contains an instrument, activating the Preview switch in the
MIDI Editor allows you to hear notes as you add them or select and move existing notes. If the MIDI
track is armed, activating Preview also allows you to step record new notes into the clip. Note that the
Preview switch’s on/off state applies to all MIDI tracks in the Live Set.

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Previewing MIDI Notes.

10.5 Editing MIDI Notes

Editing in the MIDI Note Editor is similar to editing in the Arrangement. In both cases, your actions are
selection-based: you select something using the mouse or computer keyboard, then execute a
command (e.g., Cut, Copy, Paste, Duplicate) on the selection.

10.5.1 Non-Destructive Editing

You can always return your MIDI clip to its previous state by using the Edit menu’s Undo command.
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.

10.5.2 Selecting Notes and Timespan

Clicking in the MIDI Note Editor selects a point in time, represented by a flashing insert marker. You
can also move the insert marker to a specific location with the left and right arrow keys, according to
the grid settings. Holding the Ctrl (Win) / Option (Mac) key while pressing the left or right arrow
key moves the insert marker to the previous or next note boundary. The insert marker can be moved to
the beginning or end of a MIDI clip by pressing the Home or End key, respectively.

Clicking and dragging in the MIDI Note Editor selects a timespan. If the dashed line of the selected
timespan enclosed any notes, they will automatically also become selected. Press Enter to toggle
the selection between the timespan and any notes that are contained within it. Collapse the time or

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note selection by clicking in the MIDI Note Editor outside of the selection or by pressing the Esc key.
You can also collapse time selection by using the arrow keys, which will move the insert marker. Note
that if you use the arrow keys with a note selection, the selected notes will be moved on the timeline
(when using left and right arrow keys) or transposed (when using up and down arrow keys).

You can also select a timespan using the computer keyboard. Hold down Shift while pressing the
arrow keys to select a timespan starting from the insert marker, according to the grid settings. Using
this combination with an existing time selection will extend or narrow the selection. Adding the Alt
(Win) / Cmd (Mac) key to the combination will extend or narrow the selection irrespective of the
grid settings. Holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) with Shift while pressing the arrow keys extends
or narrows the timespan to the next or previous note boundary.

You can select an individual note by clicking on it. You can also use the keyboard: place the insert
marker next to the note you want to select, then press Ctrl (Win) / Option (Mac) together with the
up or down arrow key to select a note nearest to the insert marker. Using the combination again will
change the selection to the next or previous note in time. To change the selection to the next note in the
same key track, hold Ctrl (Win) / Option (Mac) while pressing the left or right arrow keys.

Multiple notes can be selected by clicking and dragging in the MIDI Note Editor. You can add the
Shift modifier to add more notes 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
ruler adds all notes in a single key track to the current selection, or removes them if they were already
selected. Click away from the selection in the MIDI Note Editor or press Esc to deselect the notes.

You can also select multiple notes with the keyboard by selecting a note, then pressing Ctrl Shift
(Win) / Option Shift (Mac) in combination with the up or down arrow key. Use the shortcut
several times or hold it to continue adding to your existing note selection. The Ctrl A (Win) /
Cmd A (Mac) keyboard shortcut selects all notes, while the Esc key deselects all selected notes.

If selecting multiple notes, but not all of the notes in the clip, it is possible to swap between the
currently selected notes and the unselected notes by using the Invert Selection command available
from the Edit menu or the MIDI Note Editor’s context menu. Alternatively, Ctrl Shift A (Win) /
Cmd Shift A (Mac) keyboard shortcut can also be used.

10.5.3 Moving Notes

Notes in the MIDI Note Editor can be moved both horizontally (changing their position 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 will react to grid snapping unless the grid is off. To
nudge notes without snapping to the grid, hold Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) and press the left or right
arrow keys.

When notes are selected, you can use the Edit menu to perform editing actions on the notes, such as
Copy and Paste. Notes in the clipboard will be pasted starting at the location of the insert marker. You
can also use the Ctrl (Win) / Option (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 Ctrl (Win) / Option (Mac) even after you start dragging.

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When editing or drawing, you may sometimes place a new note on top of one that already exists. If
the new note overlaps with the beginning of the original note, the original note will be overwritten. If
the new note overlaps with the end of the original, the original note will be shortened.

10.5.4 Changing Note Length

You can click on a note’s left or right edge and drag it to adjust the note’s 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 (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier is held down.

You can also change note length using the computer keyboard. Shift plus the left or right arrow keys
extends or shortens the duration of selected notes, according to the grid settings. To extend or retract
notes without snapping to the grid, also hold Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac).

Changing Note Length.

You can extend the duration of all selected notes so that their start and end times match the current
time or note selection using the Fit to Time Range option or the Ctrl Alt J (Win) / Cmd
Option J (Mac) keyboard shortcut. The option is available as a command in the Edit menu or the

MIDI Note Editor’s context menu. You can also select the option from the Duration drop-down menu
in the Clip View’s Pitch and Time Utilities tab/panel and apply it with the Set Length button.

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Fitting Notes into Time Range.

10.5.5 MIDI Note Stretch

MIDI Note Stretch Markers.

When multiple notes or a range of time are selected, Note Stretch markers will appear below the
scrub area, allowing notes to be scaled proportionally in time. The markers are a pair of downward-
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 be stretched in
proportion to their original lengths. Note Stretch markers can be freely moved until reaching the
previous or next grid or offset point, after which they will snap to the MIDI Note Editor’s grid lines
unless the grid is not shown or the Alt (Win) / 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.

One Note Stretch marker can be dragged beyond the boundary of another, which will mirror the
order of the stretched notes in relation to their initial sequence.

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Adjusting the Note Stretch markers will also adjust the timing of any of the clip’s linked clip envelopes.
Unlinked clip envelopes are not affected.

It is also possible to stretch notes using dedicated Stretch controls in the Clip View’s Pitch and Time
Utilities tab/panel.

10.5.6 Deactivating Notes

To deactivate, or mute, a note (or notes), select it and press 0 , or use the Deactivate Note(s)
command in the Edit menu or in the piano ruler’s or the MIDI Note Editor’s context menu. When a
note is deactivated it is grayed out and will not be played. Press 0 again to reactivate notes.

10.5.7 Note Operations

There are several additional ways in which you can edit notes in the MIDI Note Editor: dividing notes
into two or more parts with the Split and Chop operations respectively, and combining separate notes
of the same pitch using the Join operation.

10.5.7.1 Split

The Split operation divides notes into two parts. To use Split, hold the E key, then draw a line across
notes to split them. You can also hold E and click and drag horizontally inside a note to
simultaneously split and adjust the split position.

Add the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier to snap the split position to the current grid.

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Splitting Notes with a Mouse.

When no notes are selected you can also use the Ctrl E (Win) / Cmd E (Mac) keyboard
shortcut to split all notes intersecting with the insert marker or spanning beyond the time selection. You
can also use the Split Note(s) command from the Edit menu or the MIDI Note Editor’s context menu.
Note that the command is only available when at least one note intersects with the insert marker or
spans beyond the time selection.

10.5.7.2 Chop

The Chop operation can be used to divide notes into several parts based on the grid settings.

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Chopping Notes.

There are different ways of chopping notes depending on whether you use a computer keyboard or a
mouse.

Chop notes using the keyboard: - Select notes and press the Ctrl E (Win) / Cmd E (Mac) key
combination to chop the selected notes into parts based on the current grid settings. You can also use
the Chop Note(s) on Grid command from the Edit menu or the MIDI Note Editor’s context menu. -
Select notes, press the Chop shortcut, then continue holding the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier
and use the up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the number of parts into which the notes
are chopped. Add the Shift modifier to increase or decrease the number of parts by a power of
two.

Chop notes using the mouse: - Select notes, then press the E Ctrl (Win) / E Option (Mac) key
combination, hover over one of the selected notes and drag up or down to increase or decrease the
number of parts into which the notes are chopped. Add the Shift modifier to increase or decrease
the number of parts by a power of two.

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Increasing the Number of Parts Into Which Notes Are Chopped.

10.5.7.3 Join

The Join operation creates one note from all selected notes of the same pitch, preserving MPE contents
and joining the MPE envelopes along with the MIDI notes.

To join notes, select notes in the same key track, then press the Ctrl J (Win) / Cmd J (Mac)
keyboard shortcut or use the Join Notes command from the Edit menu or the MIDI Note Editor’s
context menu.

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The Join Notes Context Menu Command.

10.5.8 Pitch and Time Utilities

The Pitch and Time Utilities tab/panel contains tools that offer a number of ways to quickly manipulate
the notes within a MIDI clip. These utilities affect the selected notes or a time range. If nothing is
selected, they affect the whole clip.

10.5.8.1 Transpose

The Transpose slider displays the note pitch range. It can also be used to transpose a note or notes in
a time selection. Drag up or down in the slider or type a number into the slider to transpose notes by a
chosen number semitones or scale degrees (if a clip scale is active).

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The Transpose Slider.

You can also transpose the selected notes directly in the MIDI Note Editor with the up and down
arrow keys. To transpose by octaves, hold down Shift while pressing the up or down arrow keys.

10.5.8.2 Fit to Scale

The Fit to Scale button adjusts pitches of the notes within the clip or the selection so that they fall within
the scale set for the clip. Notes are adjusted to the closest scale degree of a given scale or, in case of
an equal distance, to the lower scale degree. If a scale is not active for the clip, the button will be
greyed out.

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The Fit to Scale Button.

10.5.8.3 Invert

Invert is a pitch operation where the position of the highest note is swapped with the position of the
lowest note, with other notes being flipped vertically, resulting in the note selection being turned
“upside-down”.

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The Invert Button.

If a scale is active in the clip, Invert will calculate the inverse position of notes relative to the current
scale degrees.

Note: Invert is not to be confused with the Invert Selection option described in the Selecting Notes
and Timespan section earlier in this chapter: the former is a pitch change performed on a note
selection, whereas the latter changes what is selected.

10.5.8.4 Intervals

You can use the Interval Size slider and the Add Interval button to set the number of semitones or
scale degrees (if a clip scale is active) by which the pitches of new notes will be shifted in relation to
the pitches of the original note selection. This is useful for quickly creating chords.

If there is an existing note selection, adjusting the value in the Interval Size slider will result in new
notes being immediately added and selected in the MIDI Note Editor. When no notes are selected,
the slider merely sets the interval size which then needs to be applied with the Add Interval button. If
the button is then used with no note selection, new notes will be added at the specified interval for all
of the existing notes in the clip.

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The Interval Size Slider and the Add Interval Button.

10.5.8.5 Stretch

It is possible to quickly adjust the note length of selected notes with the three note stretching options in
the Pitch and Time Utilities tab/panel: the Stretch Factor control and the Double (×2) and Halve (/2)
buttons.

Stretch sets the factor by which the note length is changed. The ×2 and /2 buttons to the right of the
Stretch control respectively extend or shorten the note duration, time selection, or loop region by a
factor of 2.

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Note Stretching Options.

Note that the Stretch control has no effect on the length of the loop region.

10.5.8.6 Note Duration

You can set the same note duration, or length, for all selected notes. It is possible to fit note lengths
within time range, use the current grid setting as the basis for note duration, or select a specific length
from the options available in the Duration drop-down menu.

Once you select the desired note length, apply it to the selected notes with the Set Length button. If no
notes are selected, pressing the button will apply the specified note length to all notes in the clip.

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Note Duration Options.

10.5.8.7 Humanize

Humanize adds a variation to note starts times, removing any potential mechanical feel from the
composition. The variation percentage is set using the Humanize Amount slider, up to a quarter of a
grid division before or after the original note position, and can be applied with the Humanize button.

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Humanize Options.

10.5.8.8 Reverse

The Reverse button rearranges the selection so that the position of the last note is swapped with the
position of the first note and the positions of the notes in between are flipped horizontally. When no
notes are selected, the entire clip is reversed.

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The Reverse Button.

10.5.8.9 Legato

Pressing the Legato button results in the duration of each selected note being extended (or shortened),
so that it reaches the start of the next note. The last note gets extended to the end of the loop.

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The Legato Button.

You can also use the Span MIDI Tool to apply legato note lengths.

10.5.9 MIDI Tools

The MIDI Tools contained in the Transform and Generate tabs/panels offer additional ways of editing
MIDI notes. Existing notes can be altered through, amongst others, articulation, interpolation, or
ornamentation, or completely new note patterns can be instantly generated according to specified
parameters.

You can find out more about all the available options for transforming and generating notes in a
dedicated MIDI Tools chapter.

10.5.10 Quantizing Notes

There are four ways of quantizing MIDI notes in Live:

1. Quantizing notes as you record them.

2. Quantizing notes by moving them so that they snap to the visible grid lines.
3. Quantizing notes by using the Quantize MIDI Tool in Clip View’s Transform tab/panel for more
granular control of note quantization. The transformation allows you to set a specific value at
which notes will be quantized (including the possibility of note starts and ends being

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 quantized). 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.

The Quantize MIDI Tool.

1. Quantizing by selecting a note or notes and choosing the Quantize command from the Edit
menu, or using the Ctrl U (Win) / Cmd U (Mac) keyboard shortcut. This option will use
the quantization settings as specified in the Quantize MIDI Tool described above. These settings
can also be opened using the Ctrl Shift U (Win) / Cmd Shift U (Mac) keyboard
shortcut.

10.5.11 Editing Velocities

Note velocity data is recorded when a MIDI note is played as a result of pressing a key or a pad on a
controller and can be understood as a note’s loudness. In the MIDI Note Editor, note velocity is
visually indicated by the amount of saturation in the note’s color — less saturated notes play softly,
while more saturated notes play louder. You can use the Velocity Editor to adjust the velocity values
for the notes in a clip.

To change velocity for a MIDI note, click and drag on the associated marker in the Velocity Editor.
Velocity values will be shown numerically in the Velocity Editor’s lane header. To help you locate the
velocity marker belonging to a MIDI note that may be stacked vertically with others, Live highlights the
velocity marker for whichever note your mouse is hovering over.

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Note Velocity Marker.

You can select multiple velocity markers to change by clicking with the Shift modifier held down. 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.

To change the velocity of notes without opening the Velocity Editor, click any selected note and drag
vertically while pressing the Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier.

Velocity values can also be entered manually by first selecting the velocity marker, then typing the
numerical value on the computer keyboard and hitting the Enter key.

You can use the up or down arrow keys with Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) held down to increment the
values of selected velocity markers by +/-10. Holding the Shift key at the same time allows fine-
tuning the values of selected velocity markers.

Apart from manually adjusting velocity values for notes, you can also set a velocity range or
randomize the note velocity values using Velocity Controls available below the Editor lanes when the
Velocity Editor is selected.

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Velocity Controls.

Velocity values for selected notes (or notes with selected markers) can be randomized by clicking on
the Randomize button. If no notes or markers are selected, values for all notes will be randomized.

The Randomize Button.

The Randomization Amount slider to the right of the Randomize button allows specifying a range of
randomized velocity values. Velocities will be randomly increased or decreased by a value between
zero and the number shown in the slider. The slider’s value can also be typed as a number with the
keyboard, and randomization is then triggered when the new value is validated using the Enter key.

The Randomization Amount Slider.

The Ramp sliders can be used to create a velocity ramp for multiple notes. The Ramp Start Value slider
is used to set the velocity value for the first note in the selection, whereas the Ramp End Value slider
sets the value for the last note. The other notes in the selection are distributed evenly within the range
set by the Ramp sliders.

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The Ramp Sliders.

The Velocity Deviation slider can be used to set a range for each note’s velocity. Velocity values are
then chosen randomly from within the specified range each time a note is played. Positive and
negative values can be set, which increase or decrease velocity, respectively. For example, if a
velocity range of +20 is set for a selected note with a velocity value of 60, a random value between
60 and 80 will be chosen each time the note is played.

The Velocity Deviation Slider.

The velocity range is indicated by the shaded area that appears above or below the velocity markers
and with a dot inside of the velocity markers. Double-clicking the velocity marker which has a velocity
range set will reset the range to 0.

Velocity Markers with Deviation Set.

If multiple notes are selected, the range in the Velocity Deviation slider will be adjusted accordingly to
the existing velocity values. For example, when increasing the velocity range, if one note’s velocity
value is set to 50 and another note’s to 25, the velocity range of the first note can be +77 at most,
whereas the range of the second note can be +102. Both values will then be displayed in the slider to
reflect this.

The Velocity Deviation Slider with Varied Ranges of Deviation.

You can also set the velocity range by holding Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) and dragging up or down
from a velocity marker. This applies both to individual notes and a note selection.

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10.5.11.1 Drawing Velocities

Draw Mode allows drawing inside the Velocity Editor as a way of setting velocity values instead of
adjusting them manually. You can enable Draw Mode by toggling the Control Bar’s Draw Mode
button or by pressing the B key.

Drawing velocity affects notes located within a given grid division will be affected. If the notes are
selected, only those notes will be affected, even if there are other notes within the grid division. If no
notes are selected, all notes will be affected. The exact notes that will be affected are highlighted in
blue when hovering over the Velocity Editor.

To draw markers individually (as you would want to with a crescendo, for instance) deactivate grid
snapping with the Ctrl 4 (Win) / Cmd 4 (Mac) shortcut, or simply hold down the Alt (Win)
/ Cmd (Mac) modifier. To draw markers along a straight line hold down the Alt (Win) / Cmd
(Mac) and drag the cursor. Add Shift to make the line horizontal.

Drawing Identical Velocities (Left) and a Crescendo (Right).

To draw a velocity ramp with notes that are all in the same key track, click a key in the piano ruler to
select all notes within the desired key track and draw the ramp into the Velocity Editor.

10.5.11.2 Note Off Velocity

By default, the Velocity Editor allows you to adjust Note On velocities. But you can also set the Editor
to show Note Off velocities via a context menu option.

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The Velocity Editor Showing Note Off Velocities.

Note Off (or “release”) velocity is a somewhat esoteric parameter. If you think of velocity as the
speed of pressing a key, you can look at release velocity as the speed at which the pressed-down key
is released. Release velocity is only supported by certain devices. Live’s Sampler instrument, for
example, provides Note Off velocity as a controller for a variety of parameters.

10.5.12 Editing Probabilities

Note probability determines the likelihood of a MIDI note being triggered during clip playback. You
can set probability for notes using the Chance Editor.

The Chance Editor.

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Note that the Chance Editor lane is hidden by default and can be shown by clicking on the triangular
Lane Selector drop-down menu to the right of the Show/Hide All Expression Editors toggle on the left
of the Clip Content Toolbar.

To change a MIDI note’s probability value between 0-100%, click and drag on the note’s probability
marker in the Chance Editor. To help you locate the probability marker belonging to a MIDI note that
may be stacked vertically with others, Live highlights the probability marker for whichever note your
mouse is hovering over. As you drag the marker, the current probability value will be displayed in the
Chance Editor’s lane as well as the Status Bar. If multiple notes with different probability values are
selected, a range of probability values will be shown.

Note probability values can also be entered manually with a computer keyboard by first selecting a
probability marker, then typing the numerical value on the keyboard and pressing the Enter key.
Using the up or down arrow keys on the keyboard changes the values of selected probability markers
by +/-10%. Holding the Shift key while using the arrow keys allows fine-tuning the values of the
selected probability markers.

A small triangle is displayed in the upper-left corner of notes with probability values less than 100%.
The triangle is only visible if the key track height is expanded enough; otherwise, it will be hidden. To
increase the key track height, click and drag right in the note ruler and the MIDI Note Editor will zoom
in.

It is possible to randomize note probability values within a specified range, relative to the initial note
probability value. This range is set using the Randomization Amount slider in Clip Content Toolbar and
can help in creating variations on each loop for added interest or in humanizing the piece.

The Randomize Amount Slider.

Note probability will be randomly changed from the original value, with the new value falling on
either side of the initial probability, within the range set in the Randomization Amount slider. For
example, if the original probability value was 50% and the Randomization Amount was set to 25%,
the randomized probability values will range from 25-75%. When notes are selected, adjusting the
percentage in the slider will immediately randomize probability values for those notes. You can also
type in a value to set the randomization range using the keyboard, and apply the new range using the
Enter key. If no notes are selected, changing the value in the slider will have no effect until the
Enter key is pressed or the Randomize button is used, at which point the randomization will be

applied to all note probabilities.

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The Randomize Button.

10.5.12.1 Probability Groups

In addition to setting a probability value for individual notes, you can also assign a single probability
value to a group of notes, so that either all notes in the group play according to the assigned value or
just one note out of the group plays at a time. These two probability group types are available:

Play All — all notes are played with the probability value set with a probability marker. Play One —
only one note in the group is played at a time, according to the set probability. The note which plays is
selected at random.

To create a note probability group, select the notes you would like to be a part of the group and press
either the Play All or Play One button in the Clip Content Toolbar, depending on the type of
probability group you wish to create.

Play All and Play One Buttons.

Once grouped, a single probability marker will be displayed for the notes in the Chance Editor: the
marker will have a diamond handle for the Play All group type or a triangle handle for the Play One
type. Right-clicking on a group probability marker allows you to change the probability group type.
You can also change the group type using the Play All or Play One buttons in the Clip Content
Toolbar.

Apart from the dedicated buttons, you can create note probability groups in a few other ways: - Use
the context menu options Group Notes (Play All) or Group Notes (Play One) in the MIDI Note Editor.
- Use the Edit menu command Group Notes (Play All) or Group Notes (Play One). - Use the
keyboard shortcut Ctrl G (Win) / Cmd G (Mac). The shortcut will create a group of the same
type as the group last created through either the dedicated buttons or the context menu.

Hovering over a note that belongs to a group highlights all the notes within the group. When selected
notes belong to a probability group, the group’s type will be displayed in the Status Bar. If all notes
belong to the same group, the type is listed explicitly, otherwise it is marked with an asterisk.

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The small triangle displayed in the upper-left corner of notes with probability values less than 100% is
always displayed when a note belongs to a probability group, even if the probability of the group is
set to 100%.

To remove a note from a probability group, select it, then use the Ungroup button in the Clip Content
Toolbar. Alternatively, adding a note to a different group will automatically remove it from its original
group. In order to remove a probability group altogether, select all the notes in the group, then press
Ungroup.

The Ungroup Button.

You can also use the Edit menu command Ungroup Notes, the shortcut Ctrl Shift G (Win) /
Cmd Shift G (Mac), or right-click on a grouped note marker and select the Ungroup Notes

option. After notes are ungrouped, individual probability markers will be displayed for each note in
the Chance Editor once again.

10.6 Folding and Scales

The Clip Content Editor includes folding options, which can be used to hide selected rows, or key
tracks, in the MIDI Note Editor. These options apply to all MIDI clips in the Set, meaning that the
available rows in each clip in your Set will differ, depending on which notes exist in that clip.

The first folding option is Fold to Notes, which can be used to immediately hide all key tracks that do
not contain MIDI notes. 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). When editing 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.

The Fold to Notes option can be activated by pressing the Fold button located on the left of Clip
Content Editor Settings, by pressing the F shortcut key while the MIDI Note Editor is in focus, or via
the View menu entry.

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The Fold Button Extracts Key Tracks Containing Notes.

If Fold to Notes is activated on a track containing a Drum Rack, only rows containing MIDI notes are
displayed. If the option is inactive, the key tracks for drum pads that contain devices are shown in the
MIDI Note Editor.

If Scale Mode is enabled for a clip, notes belonging to the selected scale are highlighted in the piano
ruler. This is useful for seeing at a glance which notes belong to that scale, allowing you to easily write
melodies within the chosen scale. Scale Mode can be toggled with a dedicated button in the Clip
tab/panel in the Clip View or in the Control Bar. To the right of the Scale Mode button, Root Note
and Scale Name choosers allow setting a root note and scale for the selected clip(s).

A MIDI Clip’s Scale Mode Settings.

By default, key tracks belonging to the selected scale are indicated through a highlight on the piano
ruler’s keys. If you want an even more noticeable indicator of which key tracks belong to the current
scale, you can use the Highlight Scales option. When active, key tracks within the selected scale are
highlighted in the MIDI Note Editor alongside the highlighted piano ruler’s keys, while the root note is
indicated by a prominent highlight in the piano ruler. Scale highlighting can be toggled by pressing
the Highlight Scale button in the Clip Content Editor Settings, by pressing the K shortcut key while
the MIDI Note Editor is in focus, or via the Highlight Scales context menu and Options menu entry.
Scale highlighting is applied globally.

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Key Tracks Belonging to the Selected Scale Are Highlighted.

When multiple clips with different scale settings are selected, any foreground clip will influence the
scale settings for newly created clips. If Scale Mode is disabled, newly-created MIDI clips will inherit
the most recently selected clip’s scale setting, but the scale will remain inactive.

You can set a preference for spelling a clip’s notes with flats, sharps, or both, via the piano ruler’s
context menu. When Scale Mode is not enabled, this setting applies to all notes, but when Scale
Mode is enabled, this preference only applies to notes which are outside of the chosen scale; notes
within the scale will maintain their proper accidentals. An additional “Auto” option automatically
selects flats or sharps based on the position of the root note in the circle of fifths. Note that it is also
possible to display the notes as MIDI note numbers instead of pitches.

Setting a Preference for Spelling a Clip’s Notes.

When a scale is active in a clip, another folding option becomes available: Fold to Scale, toggled by
pressing the Scale button in the Clip Content Editor Settings, by pressing the G shortcut key while the
MIDI Note Editor is in focus, or via the View menu entry. Activating the Fold to Scale option will
immediately hide all key tracks that do not belong to the scale specified for the clip. Note that if you
have already added notes on the key tracks that don’t belong to the active scale, those key tracks will
still be displayed, even when the Fold to Scale option is active.

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This option is useful as a melodic composition reference for selecting complimentary notes. It can be
especially helpful if you are not confident in your knowledge of music theory and want to compose
melodies without constantly adjusting note placement until the sound “feels right.”

Key Tracks Belonging to the Current Scale Displayed After Pressing the Scale Button.

10.7 Editing MIDI Clips

Apart from editing individual notes in a clip, there are also operations that apply to the entire MIDI
clip. Many of these are covered in the Clip View chapter, but there are additional ways of working
with MIDI clips described below.

10.7.1 Cropping MIDI Clips

MIDI data that is outside of the loop brace can be deleted using the Crop Clip command. If there is a
time selection, the MIDI data outside of the selection can be deleted with the Crop to Time Selection
command instead. Simply right-click on a MIDI clip in the Session or Arrangement View and select the
relevant option, or use the Ctrl Shift J (Win) / Cmd Shift J (Mac) keyboard shortcut.

Note that unlike cropping audio clips, cropping a MIDI clip does not create a new file on disk.

10.7.2 The …Time Commands in the MIDI Note 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, there are “… Time” commands
that 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.

• Duplicate Time places a copy of the selected timespan into the clip, along with any contained
notes.
• 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.
• Insert Time inserts as much empty time as is currently selected into the clip, before the selection.

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10.7.3 Looping

When editing MIDI, you might find that you want to loop a specific portion of a clip in order to make
fine adjustments while listening to the section repeatedly. You can use the loop markers for this.

You can select a region for looping by moving the position of the loop start and end markers. Note
that it is possible to adjust the looping region during playback.

Use the Loop/Region Markers to Select a Specific Region of the Clip to Play.

Selecting the loop brace in a MIDI clip and pressing Ctrl D (Win) / Cmd D (Mac) doubles
the length of the loop brace, duplicates the notes contained within the original loop brace, and zooms
out 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.

MIDI clips are looped by default. You can turn off looping for an individual clip using the Loop Switch
in the Clip View’s Clip tab/panel. When looping is switched off, the loop brace is grayed out.

Looping Switched Off for a Clip.

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10.8 Multi-Clip Editing
In the MIDI Note Editor, you can view and access notes in multiple MIDI clips at the same time. This
helps you to see melodic and rhythmic relationships between different clips when creating and
refining musical ideas, and allows you to edit material across separate tracks and scenes more
quickly. In addition to editing notes across multiple clips, you can also modify various parameters for
the selected clips.

While multi-clip editing is useful for looking at clips across different tracks, it can also come in handy
when you need to compare and edit multiple clips within the same track. For example, you can create
evolving pattern progressions by adding notes to a clip, then making a variation to the clip in the
following scene and so on, while maintaining an overview of the other clips in the track.

When multiple MIDI clips are selected:

• The notes from these clips will be shown together in the MIDI Note Editor. You can select and
edit notes from multiple selected clips at the same time, or use Focus Mode to edit notes in a
single clip while notes from other clips are still in view.
• Loop bars will appear above the MIDI Note Editor. Each loop bar represents a different clip in
the current selection, and the colors of the loop bars match the color of the clip. Clicking on a
clip’s note or loop bar switches to that clip for editing.

Multi-Clip Loop Bars in the MIDI Note Editor.

• You can adjust the loop length for any single clip by clicking and dragging its loop bar marker.
You can also select and edit loop bars from any of the selected clips simultaneously, by clicking
or dragging their loop markers while pressing the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) key. Using the
Shift key allows you to select contiguous loop bars. Note: With Focus Mode enabled, it is not

possible to select more than one loop bar at a time, and any existing multi-selection is ignored.
• You can duplicate selected loop bars using the context menu option or the Ctrl D (Win) /
Cmd D (Mac) keyboard shortcut.

• The title bar will show the name of the clip selected for editing. This can be particularly useful for
identifying different clips with the same color. Note: If a clip has no name, the title bar will
display the name of the track containing the clip instead.
• Certain controls in the Clip View tabs/panels are editable for all selected clips. These controls
include loop, time signature, groove, and scale settings.
• Fold to Notes and Fold to Scale can be used for all selected clips.

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 • Actions in Velocity or Chance Editor are only ever applied to a single clip at a time. The
velocity and probability markers are displayed for the foreground clip, not for all clips. It is not
possible to make changes to velocity or probability for all notes in all selected clips.
• You can resize the height of the loop bars by clicking and dragging vertically directly above the
multi-clip title bar’s scrub area.

Note that multi-clip editing works differently depending on whether you are working in the Session
View or in the Arrangement View.

10.8.1 Focus Mode

Focus Mode allows you to select a single clip to edit while viewing multiple clips. Focus Mode can be
toggled via the Focus button or the N keyboard shortcut. Holding N while editing with the mouse
toggles Focus Mode momentarily. Multi-clip editing functions differently depending on whether Focus
Mode is enabled or not.

The Focus Button Toggles Focus Mode.

When Focus Mode is enabled:

• The active clip’s notes will be shown in that clip’s color, while the inactive clips’ notes will be
shown in gray.
• The active clip’s loop bar will be shown in the clip color, while the inactive ones will be shown
in gray. Whenever clicked, the active clip’s loop bar will be shown in black. You can click away
from the loop bar anyway on the active clip’s timeline to return the clip’s loop bar to the clip
color while maintaining the clip in focus.
• The name of the active clip is displayed below the loop bars.
• Hovering the mouse over an inactive clip’s loop bar will reveal that clip’s color and notes,
helping you to choose a different clip in the current selection to edit. Clicking on a clip’s note or
loop bar switches to that clip for editing.

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 • Any clip and note editing operations available in the Clip View in the MIDI Note Editor are
only available for editing the active clip.
• The scale displayed in the Clip View is the scale of the currently selected clip. This scale affects
the Fold to Scale option.
• Enabling Fold to Notes will fold all key tracks outside all the selected clips.

When Focus Mode is disabled:

• All notes are displayed with their clip’s color, as all notes are active.
• A clip’s loop bar will turn black when clicking on it, which then allows you to randomize
Velocity or Chance for notes within that clip by first-clicking. The non-selected loop brace will
display the color of its clip.
• The root note and scale name for the currently selected clips are only displayed in the Clip View
if they are the same across all clips. Otherwise, an asterisk is shown where different root notes
or scale names are chosen.
• Any clip and note editing operations available in the Clip View in the MIDI Note Editor are
available for all selected clips.
• Notes can be cut or copied from multiple clips and inserted into the same set of clips, as long
as the clip selection/foreground clip has not changed, or into a different clip once that new clip
has been selected.
• Note editing functions (e.g. copy, cut, paste, delete) can be used when working with note
selections across clips and loop boundaries.
• Time in the MIDI Note Editor can be selected across loop and clip boundaries.

10.8.2 Multi-Clip Editing in the Session View

In the Session View, you can select and view up to eight MIDI clips at the same time, all of which must
be looped. In the MIDI Note Editor, loop bars are ordered vertically (first by track, and then by
scene).

If multiple clips of different lengths are selected, the MIDI Note Editor will show as many loop
iterations as necessary for the clips to realign. The part of the timeline that falls outside of a clip’s loop
area will be marked in a darker version of the clip color. When you hover over a clip, loop start and
end will be represented by black vertical lines in the MIDI Note Editor. If a clip’s start marker is set
before the loop start, the loop markers for the clip will be shifted accordingly to represent this.

10.8.3 Multi-Clip Editing in the Arrangement View

In the Arrangement View, it is possible to select and view MIDI clips from up to eight tracks, across a
selection of time. In the MIDI Note Editor, loop bars are ordered vertically by track and horizontally
by time.

Notes can be drawn continually across clip boundaries, except in Focus Mode.

The MIDI Note Editor will not show silence before or after the selection of clips – instead, it will fit its
display range to show the beginning of the first clip up to the end of the last clip in the selection. If the

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selection contains looped and unlooped clips, the Loop button in the Clip View will appear half
colored.

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11. MIDI Tools
MIDI Tools open further possibilities when it comes to working with MIDI content. These scale-aware
utilities can be accessed via the Transform and Generate tabs/panels of the Clip View. While
Transformations are aimed at performing targeted operations on existing MIDI notes, Generators offer
more exploratory tools, resulting in the creation of new material.

In order to transform or generate notes using a MIDI Tool, open the Transform or Generate tab/panel,
select a tool from the Transformation/Generator Selector drop-down menu and tweak the settings in
the chosen MIDI Tool’s interface. By default, the Auto Apply button labeled as “Transform” for
Transformations and as “Generate” for Generators, is active for all MIDI Tools. This means that MIDI
notes will be transformed or generated immediately when adjusting a MIDI Tool’s settings.

The Auto Apply Button in a Generative Tool’s Interface.

Any subsequent changes to a MIDI Tool’s parameters will be visible in the MIDI Note Editor straight
away. If you do not wish for the Transformations and Generators to have an immediate effect, toggle
off the Auto Apply button. Note that toggling the button off will restore notes to their original state.

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With the Auto Apply button inactive, you can fine-tune a MIDI Tool’s parameters and, once you’re
happy with the settings, press the Apply button for the adjustments to take effect.

The Apply Button in a Transformation Tool’s Interface.

Transformations and Generators will be applied to the time selection, note selection, or the clip loop (if
there is no time selection). When using Transformations, the existing notes will be replaced with
transformed notes, which will be automatically selected. They can then be transformed further by
changing the settings in the currently selected MIDI Tool (or by using another Transformation).

Since generators create new notes, they don’t require any MIDI content to be present in the MIDI
Note Editor. That said, when a generator is applied to a selection of existing notes, those notes are
replaced with ones produced by the generator. These generated notes are automatically selected.

Since MIDI Tools are scale-aware, if a scale was enabled for a clip, any MIDI Tools’ parameters
related to pitch will be using scale degrees instead of semitones.

Transformation or generation of notes can be undone/redone with the Undo and Redo commands in
the Edit menu, however, these commands only affect the notes themselves and not the parameters in
the MIDI Tool’s panel. To restore the parameters to their default state, use the Reset button. Once the
MIDI Tool is reset (or if no changes were made to the tool’s defaults), the button will be grayed out.

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An Active Reset Button.

Note that the Reset button has no effect on the MIDI notes.

11.1 Transformation Tools

Below you will find a list of all MIDI Transformations included in Live.

11.1.1 Arpeggiate

The Arpeggiate Transformation splits up the note selection into arpeggiated notes based on the
chosen pattern settings. It uses the core functionalities found in the Arpeggiator MIDI effect.

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The Arpeggiate MIDI Tool.

The Style drop-down menu allows you to select an arpeggiated sequence which will be applied to
the selected notes. The Arpeggiate Transformation offers the same 18 style patterns known from
Arpeggiator.

The Distance control determines the transposition of steps in the pattern using scale degrees or
semitones depending on whether a scale is set for the clip.

The Steps slider allows you to select the number of transposed steps in the pattern.

The Rate and Gate controls determine how notes are distributed on a timeline: the former sets the rate
of the pattern (which also affects note length), while the latter affects note duration. When Gate is set
to values below 100%, notes will be shortened, whereas at values above 100% notes will be
lengthened.

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Notes Before and After Applying the Arpeggiate Transformation.

11.1.2 Connect

The Connect Transformation generates new notes that fill the gaps between existing notes. The
placement of the interpolated notes is randomized, but some particulars of the pattern can be
determined using Connect’s parameters.

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The Connect MIDI Tool.

The Spread control sets the maximum random pitch shift of the connecting notes based on the original
note pitches, in scale degrees or semitones.

Density allows you to specify the percentage of the time interval between original notes to be filled
with interpolated notes. At 100%, all the gaps between existing notes will be filled.

Use the Rate control to set the length of the interpolated notes and the Tie control to determine the
probability that the length of a generated note will be extended to the next original note.

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Notes Before and After Applying the Connect Transformation.

11.1.3 Ornament

The Ornament Transformation contains Flam and Grace Notes options which allow for ornamental
notes to be added to the beginning of selected notes. Reapplying the Transformation to the same
selection results in additional flam or grace notes being inserted.

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The Ornament MIDI Tool.

Select which type of ornamental notes will be added by switching on either the Flam or Grace Notes
toggle.

When using Flam, a single note is added to the beginning of each selected note.

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Notes Before and After Adding Flam.

The Flam Position parameter controls the placement of the flam note: at positive values, the flam note
will replace the beginning of the original note, while at negative values, the flam note is prepended to
the start of the selected note. The parameter’s value represents the percentage of the current grid
setting, so the length of the flam note will be determined by the grid size rather than the length of the
original note. This means that at 100% / -100% the flam note’s length will be equal to one grid
division, placed respectively at the start of the original note or before it, and will become
proportionally shorter as Flam Position’s value approaches 0%.

The Flam Velocity parameter sets the velocity of the flam notes relative to the velocity of the original
notes.

In the Grace Notes mode, multiple notes of equal length are added to the beginning of each original
note.

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Note Selection Before and After Adding Grace Notes.

The Grace Notes Pitch buttons allow you to determine the pitch of the added grace notes relative to
the original note. When High is selected, every other grace note is placed one semitone (or scale
degree, if a scale is active) higher than the original notes, while when Low is selected, the pitch of
every other grace note is one semitone or scale degree lower than the existing notes. If Same is
selected, the grace notes are added at the same pitch as the original notes.

The Grace Notes Position parameter controls whether the added grace notes replace the beginning of
the selected notes (when the parameter is set to positive values) or are prepended to the original notes
(at negative values). The value represents the percentage of the current grid size: at 100% / -100%
the inserted graces notes will fill one grid division, placed respectively at the start of the original note
or before it.

The Grace Notes Velocity parameter determines the velocity of grace notes relative to the velocity of
the original notes.

The Grace Notes Chance control determines the probability that each grace note will be played
relative to the original notes’ Chance values.

The Grace Notes Amount parameter allows you to specify the number of grace notes to be applied to
each selected note. The individual grace notes are always equivalent in size.

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11.1.4 Quantize

The Quantize MIDI Tool adjusts the timing of selected notes by moving or stretching them according to
the specified quantization settings. Note that an equivalent Quantize tool exists for audio clips.

The Quantize Transformation.

You can transform notes according to the current grid size or set a specific meter value for
quantization (including triplets). Either the note start or end (or both) can 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” sound using the Amount control, which will move notes
only by a percentage of the set quantization value.

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Notes Before and After Applying Quantization.

Aside from navigating to the Transformation using Clip View’s tabs/panels, you can also open the
Quantize MIDI Tool to change its parameters by using the Quantize Settings… command in the Edit
menu, or use the Ctrl Shift U (Win) / Cmd Shift U (Mac) shortcut to apply quantization
to selected notes without opening the Transform tab/panel.

11.1.5 Recombine

The Recombine MIDI Tool rearranges the order of pitch, length and velocity of the selected notes, so
that the parameter values set for one note in the selection will apply to a different note.

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The Recombine Transformation.

Note parameters can be permuted individually or in various combinations. In order to select which
parameters are affected, toggle their respective buttons on or off.

The Note Parameters Buttons.

Recombine uses three different ways of rearranging note parameters: 1. Rotate, where note
parameters are permuted in a circular way. 2. Mirror, where note parameters are permuted to be in
reverse order to the note selection. 3. Shuffle, where note parameters are permuted randomly.

In order to take effect, Rotate requires setting a number of permutation steps other than 0. The number
of available steps depends on the number of selected notes (always one step fewer than the number
of selected notes). The positive numbers represent clockwise rotation, while the negative numbers
rotate the parameters anti-clockwise. The Mirror and Shuffle permutation types are activated using
their respective buttons.

Each permutation type can be used individually or in conjunction with the other ones. When
combined, they will affect the same note. The permutation types are applied in the following order:

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Shuffle, then Mirror, and finally Rotate. Note that when Shuffle is active, a new parameter permutation
will be created each time the Apply button is pressed.

Note Velocities Before and After Applying the Shuffle Transformation Mode.

11.1.6 Span

The Span MIDI Tool transforms the durations of selected notes using three articulation types: legato,
tenuto and staccato.

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The Span Transformation.

It is also possible to introduce some variety to how notes are transformed with additional parameters:

• Offset adjusts note end times up to a grid step. At positive values, note length is extended; at
negative values, note length is shortened.
• Variation adds random variation to note lengths. At positive values, note length is shortened; at
negative values, note length is extended. If set to values other than 0%, new note length
variation will be produced whenever the Transformation is reapplied.

Legato extends the length of selected notes to the start time of the next note in the sequence. The last of
the selected notes will be extended to the end of the time selection or, if there is no time selection, to
the end of the loop.

Tenuto preserves the original note length unless the Offset and Variation parameters are adjusted.

In Staccato, note length is determined by the distance between start times of the selected notes. The
smallest distance between start times is halved and this duration is used as the new note length for the
transformed notes. Staccato can also be used with the Offset and Variation parameters like the other
two articulation types.

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Notes Before and After Applying Staccato.

11.1.7 Strum

The Strum MIDI Tool adjusts the start times of notes in a chord following a shape set by the Strum Low,
Strum High and Tension parameters.

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The Strum Transformation.

The Strum Low parameter determines the offset of the successive notes, starting with the lowest note. At
positive values, the note start times are moved forward, whereas at negative values the start times are
moved back. The start time of the lowest note is offset up to one grid step at 100% / -100%. The other
notes are proportionally distributed at an equal distance between each other (as long as Tension is set
to 0.0%), matching the shape in the Strum Position display.

The Strum High parameter determines the offset of the original chord starting with the highest note.
When set to positive values, the note start times are moved forward, whereas at negative values the
start times are moved back. The highest note is offset up to a grid step at 100% / -100%. The other
notes are distributed at an equal distance between each other (as long as Tension is set to 0.0%),
proportionally to match the shape in the display.

In order for the Transformation to have effect, the Strum Low and/or Strum High parameters must be
set to a value other than 0.0%. You can make changes to both parameters by adjusting their
respective breakpoints in the Strum Position display, or by entering a value for each using your
computer keyboard.

The Tension parameter changes the offset of note start times so that they are no longer placed at an
equal distance between each other, but instead alongside a curve, with distances between notes
being larger or smaller, depending on the settings. At positive Tension values, the distance between
the notes will be greater at the start of the note sequence and decrease exponentially. At negative
values, the distance between notes at the start of the sequence will be shorter and increase
exponentially.

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Notes Before and After Applying the Strum Transformation.

11.1.8 Time Warp

Time Warp is a time-stretching MIDI Tool that transforms selected notes according to a speed curve.
This allows creating tempo variations such as accelerando or ritardando.

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The Time Warp Transformation.

You can create the speed curve in the Breakpoints display. The time range of the curve is mapped to
the time selection. It is possible to enable between one and three breakpoints in the speed curve using
their respective toggles. You can either drag a breakpoint in the display or select it and use the
Breakpoint Time and Breakpoint Speed sliders to set the breakpoint’s timeline position and speed,
respectively. The sliders’ values always reflect the values of the currently selected breakpoint.

The toggles below the Breakpoints display allow you to make further adjustments to the time-warping
applied. When Quantize is on, the warped notes will be quantized according to the grid settings.
When the Preserve Time Range switch is enabled, the results of the Transformation will fit within the
same range as the original note selection. When the Include Note End switch is toggled on, the end
positions of the original notes are taken into account when applying the speed curve, which will have
an effect on the duration of the original notes.

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Notes Before and After Applying Time Warp.

11.2 Generative Tools

Below you will find a list of all MIDI Generators in Live.

11.2.1 Rhythm

The Rhythm MIDI Tool generates a note pattern according to the set parameters, repeated to fill a
given time selection.

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The Rhythm Generator.

The notes can be generated for a particular pitch or for an individual drum pad when working with
Drum Racks. You can choose a pitch or a drum pad using the Pitch control, or by holding the Alt
(Win) / Option (Mac) key and clicking on the piano ruler.

Use the Steps control to set the number of steps in the pattern, up to 16 steps.

The Pattern knob is used to determine the placement of the generated notes (the shape of the pattern).
The number of available patterns depends on the values set for the Steps and Density parameters.

The Density knob controls the number of notes in a pattern. Note that the maximum value is
determined by the number set in the Steps control.

The Step Duration slider can be used to adjust the number of times a pattern is repeated in the time
selection. For example, for a time selection of one bar, if Step Duration is set to 1/8 and Steps is set to
8, the pattern will be repeated only once. When Step Duration is changed to 1/16 in the same
scenario, the pattern is repeated twice. Note that Step Duration will affect the maximum number of
steps to be set using the Steps control.

The Split control allows you to set a probability for a step in a pattern to be divided in half.

Shift moves the generated notes by a specified number of steps to the right when set to positive values
and to the left when set to negative values.

You can set the note velocity for the generated notes and specify a different velocity for accented
notes using the Velocity and Accent sliders. The number of accented notes that occur in the pattern is

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determined by the Accent Frequency parameter, which sets the number of notes between accented
notes. This value ranges from 0 to the number of notes specified by the Density parameter. Note that
an accented note is counted as a note occurrence — if the Accent Frequency is set to 1, every note
will be accented. You can use the Accent Offset arrows to shift the placement of accented notes in the
pattern.

A Rhythmic Pattern Generated in a Drum Track.

11.2.2 Seed

The Seed MIDI Tool randomly generates notes within specified pitch, length and velocity ranges.
Additional parameters allow specifying the number of simultaneous and overall generated notes.

The Seed Generator.

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Drag the Minimum and Maximum Pitch or Key Track sliders or the triangular handles in the Pitch
Range slider to select the range of pitches within which new notes will be generated. If you bring the
handles together, they will be merged and notes will be generated in one pitch only. To go back to
two handles, click anywhere in the Pitch Range slider or set different values in the Minimum and
Maximum Pitch or Key Track sliders. You can also hold the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key and click
in the piano ruler to select a single pitch for notes to be generated in or click and drag to select a
range of pitches. Note that if the clip has an active scale, the slider will be displayed in purple;
otherwise, it will be displayed in the same blue color as the other two sliders.

The Duration and Velocity Range sliders use the same mechanics as the Pitch Range slider. The
minimum note length you can select is 1/128 note and the maximum is one note. Velocity can range
from 1 to 127.

You can also control the number of notes added using the Voices and Density controls, which allow
setting the maximum number of simultaneous notes to be generated, as well as the number of all
generated notes, represented as a percentage of the pitch range to be populated.

Notes Added Using Seed.

11.2.3 Shape

Shape is a MIDI Tool that generates a sequence of notes of specific length, following a defined shape
within a range of pitches.

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The Shape Generator.

In order to determine the shape that will be used for note generation you can use the Shape Presets
drop-down menu or draw your own shape in the display. Use the Minimum and Maximum Pitch
sliders to set a range in which the notes will be added. You can also hold the Alt (Win) / Option
(Mac) key and click and drag to select a range. If a clip scale is active, the shape will be displayed in
purple; otherwise, it will be displayed in blue.

Use the Rate control to set the minimum length of the generated notes. Note duration can also be
affected by the Tie parameter, which sets the probability that the generated notes will be extended to
the next note.

The Density knob allows you to set the number of notes to be added, represented as a percentage of
the shape to be populated.

If you want to randomize the pitches of the generated notes, use the Jitter parameter. At 0%, the notes
will follow the shape set out in the Shape Levels display exactly and will move progressively further
away from the shape as you increase the Jitter value. Note that the randomized pitches will always
stay within the range specified by the Minimum and Maximum Pitch sliders.

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Notes Generated with Shape.

11.2.4 Stacks

Stacks is a MIDI Tool that allows adding individual chords or creating chord progressions within a
selected scale. The generated chords fill time selection or the length of the loop if there is no time
selection.

The Stacks Generator.

You can select a chord pattern by clicking and dragging the Chord Selector Pad or using Ctrl (Win)
/ Cmd (Mac) and the up and down arrow keys. The chord pattern diagrams are simple illustrations
of the relationship between the intervals in a chord; they are based on the Tonnetz system. When
hovering over a Chord Selector Pad, additional information about the chord is displayed in the Status
Bar.

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If you want to create a chord progression, use the Add Chord plus button to the right of the Chord
Selector Pad/s and select a pattern for the additional chords. Reduce the number of chords using the
Delete Chord minus button.

Use the Chord Root control to set the root note for the chord. You can also hold the Alt (Win) /
Option (Mac) key and click in the piano ruler to make the selection. If there is a scale set for the clip,

the Chord Root will automatically be adjusted to the root note of that scale. You can still choose a
different root note for the chord, but whenever a clip scale is active, the root note options for the chord
will be limited to within the clip scale.

The Chord Inversion knob allows you to rearrange a chord using one of the available inversions.
Chord Duration and Offset can be used to set the length and position of a chord. Both can be
adjusted in eighths of the original chord length.

Note that all of the parameters visible in the Stacks Generator’s display at a given moment are
specific for the currently selected chord. This means that whenever another chord is selected, the
display will be updated to show that chord’s parameters.

Chord Progression Generated with Stacks.

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12. Editing MPE
MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) is an extension to the MIDI specification that enables attaching
parameter control information to individual notes, instead of globally per MIDI channel. This way of
using MIDI allows MPE-capable devices to control multiple parameters of every note in real time for
more expressive instrumental performances.

To enable Live to receive per-note expression from an MPE-capable MIDI controller, first enable MPE
Mode in the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings for that controller.

Enabling MPE Mode for a MIDI Controller.

Note that when selecting a MIDI controller that has MPE enabled as an input device on a track, the
channel input routing is fixed to “All Channels’’ and no individual channels can be selected.

For more information about working with MIDI controllers, please refer to the MIDI and Key Remote
Control chapter. Once your controller is set up, you can use it to record new MIDI clips containing
MPE data.

The Clip View’s Note Expression tab allows viewing and editing five dimensions of MPE for each note
in a clip: Pitch (per-note pitch bend), Slide (per-note Y-Axis), Pressure (Poly Aftertouch/MPE

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Pressure), Velocity and Release Velocity (Note Off Velocity). This makes it possible to refine the
expression of recorded material, or to automate polyphonic sound variations for MPE-capable
instruments.

Note that you can view and edit MPE data for notes in all MIDI clips, regardless of whether those
clips were created using an MPE-capable device or using other methods. We will look at viewing and
editing MPE data in the following sections.

12.1 Viewing MPE Data

A MIDI Clip with MPE Data in the Clip View.

To view MPE data in a MIDI clip, first enter Clip View by double-clicking on a clip, then click on the
Note Expression Tab or use the key command Alt 3 (Win) / Option 3 (Mac) to open the
Expression Editors at the bottom of Clip View. Four of the five MPE parameters are contained in their
own expression lane: Slide, Pressure, Velocity, and Release Velocity. By default, only Slide and
Pressure are shown. Envelopes for the fifth parameter, Pitch, are displayed on top of their
corresponding notes in the MIDI Note Editor.

Each expression lane can be shown or hidden via the lane selector toggle buttons at the left.
Underneath the lane selector toggle buttons, a triangular toggle button allows showing/hiding all
enabled lanes at once.

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These Buttons Toggle Visibility of Expression Lanes.

When all expression lane selectors are hidden/disabled, pressing the triangular toggle button will
show all expression lanes at once. Each expression lane can be resized individually via their split
lines. All expression lanes can be resized simultaneously by dragging the split line between the lanes
and the MIDI Note Editor.

Pressing Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and clicking the triangular toggle button displays all
expression lanes. When hiding the expression lanes using the triangular toggle button, or by dragging
the Expression Editor View split line, the lane visibility toggles are hidden as well.

MIDI track meters will display MPE per-note controller changes. The lowest dot in a meter lights up in
a blue color if per-note controller changes pass that meter.

12.2 Editing MPE Data

When clicking a note (or any of its expression dimensions) in the MIDI Note Editor while the Note
Expression tab is open, the note will appear in a transparent overlay. Envelopes appear, along with
any existing breakpoints, to allow editing the note’s Pitch, Slide, and Pressure envelopes, while
markers can be used to edit the note’s Velocity and Release Velocity values. Unselected notes will
appear grayed out, and their expression envelopes will be dimmed.

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Select a Note to View Its Expression Envelopes.

After clicking on the note or envelope you wish to edit, all expression breakpoints for the chosen
envelope and the line segments connecting them become draggable objects. Clicking and dragging
in the envelope’s background defines a selection. Here’s how editing MPE data works:

• Click at a position on a line segment to create a new breakpoint there.

• Click on a breakpoint to delete it.
• To help you edit breakpoints more quickly, expression values are shown when you create,
hover over, or drag a breakpoint. Note that when hovering over or dragging a selected line
segment, the expression value shown will correspond to the breakpoint value at the cursor’s
current position.

A Breakpoint’s Expression Value.

• Click and drag a breakpoint to move it to the desired location. If the breakpoint you are
dragging is in the current selection, all other breakpoints in the selection will follow the
movement.
• Right-click on a breakpoint and choose Edit Value from the context menu. This allows you to set
an exact value in the editable field using your computer keyboard. If multiple breakpoints are
selected, they will all be moved relatively. Similarly, you can also create new breakpoints at an
exact value by right-clicking on a preview breakpoint and choosing the Add Value command.
• Click near (but not on) a line segment or hold Shift and click directly on a line segment to
select it. With the left mouse button held down, drag to move the line segment to the desired

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 location. If the line segment you are dragging is in the current time selection, Live will insert
breakpoints at the selection’s edges and the entire segment will move together.

To Move all Breakpoints Within the Selection, Drag Any One of Them.

• In the Note Expression tab, the grid is disabled by default for easier editing at a finer resolution.
Note that the grid’s settings are separate from the grid in the other tabs, and they are saved
with the clip.
• If needed, you can enable the grid using the Snap to Grid options menu entry or the Ctrl 4
(Win) / Cmd 4 (Mac) shortcut. When the grid is enabled, breakpoints and line segments
will snap to time positions where neighboring breakpoints exist. Breakpoints created close to a
grid line will automatically snap to that line.
• When moving a line segment or breakpoint, hold Shift while dragging to restrict movement to
either the horizontal or vertical axis.
• Holding down the Shift modifier while dragging vertically allows you to adjust the breakpoint
or line segment value at a finer resolution.
• You can remove a neighboring breakpoint by continuing to drag a breakpoint or line segment
“over” it horizontally.
• Hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and drag a line segment to curve the segment. Double-
click while holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to return the segment to a straight line.

A Curved Envelope Segment.

• Except for the Pitch expression envelope, you can scale Slide, Pressure, Velocity and Release
Velocity envelopes proportionally across a note’s entire duration, similar to that of velocities for

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 multiple selected notes. To so do, first click outside of the note’s area, then hover the mouse
above the desired envelope. When the envelope turns blue, click and drag up or down, and
the envelope will be scaled accordingly. This is also the behavior when editing expression
envelopes for multiple selected notes at once.
• You can also adjust all selected breakpoints equally, rather than scaling them. To do so, first
click on the envelope you wish to edit, then use Ctrl A (Win) / Cmd A (Mac) to select
all of the breakpoints, then drag up or down with the mouse as desired to increase or decrease
their value; dragging left or right will move all breakpoints horizontally as a group.
• When a note is moved, its expression envelopes will move along with it.
• Stretching a MIDI note using the MIDI stretch markers in the MIDI Editor or the ÷2 and x2
buttons in the Notes tab will cause any per-note expression belonging to that note to be
stretched as well.
• Pitch breakpoints snap to the nearest semitone when pressing Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while
the grid is off. This also works for Pitch values in Draw Mode. This behavior can be bypassed
using the same shortcuts when the grid is on.
• Pitch envelopes are hidden when Fold Mode is enabled in the Note Expression tab.
• When the Note Expression tab is open, using the Zoom to Clip Selection command or Z key
shortcut adjusts the zoom level according to pitch bend values contained in the time selection.
• When the Note Expression tab is open, the Clear All Envelopes entry in the context menu of the
MIDI Note Editor and per-note expression lanes clears all expression envelopes of one or
multiple selected notes.

12.3 Drawing Envelopes

With Draw Mode enabled, you can click and drag to free-handedly “draw“ an envelope in the Pitch,
Slide and Pressure expression lanes.

To toggle Draw Mode for MPE data, select the Draw Mode Option from the Option menu, click on
the Control Bar’s Draw Mode switch, or press B , then click on the envelope you wish to edit.
Holding B while editing with the mouse temporarily toggles Draw Mode.

Drawing an Envelope.

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Holding down the Shift modifier while dragging vertically allows you to adjust the expression value
of a step at a finer resolution.

When the grid is enabled using the Snap to Grid options menu entry or the Ctrl 4 (Win) / Cmd
4 (Mac) shortcut, drawing creates steps as wide as the visible grid, which you can modify using a

number of handy shortcuts. To temporarily enable drawing in the grid while it is disabled, hold down
Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while drawing.

12.4 MPE in Live’s Devices and on Push 2

Many Live devices support MPE and include MPE presets that bring new dimensions of interaction
and playability to your sound. The expressive possibilities within these devices also enable you to take
advantage of polyphonic aftertouch on Push 2.

12.5 MPE in External Plug-ins

MPE data for MPE-enabled plug-ins can also be accessed and modulated in Live.

The enabled/disabled state of a plug-in device’s MPE Mode will be saved with that device’s default
configuration.

Plug-ins that have MIDI outs and that have MPE enabled can also output MPE.

12.6 MPE/Multi-channel Settings

To set up a specific MPE configuration, you can access a MPE/Multi-channel Settings dialog box
from:

• The Ext. Instrument device.

• The I/O section of Live’s mixer.
• The context menu of an MPE-enabled plug-in.

These settings can be used for hardware synths that require a specific MPE configuration, or plug-ins
that do not officially support MPE but can be used with MPE controllers due to their multi-timbral
support.

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12.6.1 Accessing the MPE/Multi-channel Settings Dialog

In the Ext. Instrument device, you can choose your Routing Target in the MIDI To drop-down menu.
Then select MPE from the second drop-down, open the menu again, and select MPE Settings…

The MPE Settings in Ext. Instrument.

To access these settings in the I/O section of the mixer, make sure you have the device you want to
control selected in the MIDI To section of the MIDI track’s output and choose MPE from the MIDI To
drop-down menu in the Session or Arrangement Mixer, then open the drop-down menu again and
choose MPE Settings…

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The MPE Settings in the I/O Section.

For MPE-enabled plug-ins, you can find these settings in the context menu of the respective device’s
title bar.

The MPE Settings in a Plug-in Context Menu.

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12.6.2 The MPE/Multi-Channel Settings Dialog

The MPE/Multi-channel Settings.

You can use the settings to:

• Configure the MPE zone and range of note channels used by Live when sending MPE to an
external MIDI device or plug-in.
• Select the upper or lower zone and number of note channels.
• Select multi-channel mode, which sets an arbitrary range of note channels.

There are settings available for the lower zone and upper zone. A track can only output to a single
zone, so to use both zones, set up two tracks.

Each zone needs a global channel (for non-polyphonic controls). The global channel for the lower
zone is Channel 1, and Channel 16 is for the upper zone. You can also assign a range of the other
MIDI channels to each zone (in general the number of channels you assign to a zone is linked to the
amount of polyphony you want in that zone). An example zone configuration might be to use
channels 1-11 for the lower zone and channels 12-16 for the upper zone.

Note: Live only supports zones for MPE output, which is particularly useful for hardware synths that
require a particular zone configuration.

These settings can also be used, for example, to connect two MPE synths to the same MIDI interface
(again, one connected through the MIDI thru of the other), or setting up a synth that knows how to
control two different sounds by assigning them to different zones. You can set up two MIDI tracks in
Live, routed to the same MIDI output device, but configuring one track for the lower zone and the
other for the upper zone.

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13. 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
context menu for the clip.

Context Menu Commands For Converting Audio To MIDI.

13.1 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 portions of time, regardless of the content. The
Drum Rack provides an ideal environment for working with sliced files, and most of the setup happens
automatically after you make a few choices:

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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.

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.

With “Preserve warped timing” enabled, the clip will be sliced in such a way that timing alterations as
a result of warping are preserved. With this option disabled, any changes that result from warping will
not be reflected in the sliced clip; the sliced version will instead sound like the original, “raw” audio.

Once you’ve made your slicing choices and clicked OK, a number of things will happen:

1. A new MIDI track will be created, containing a MIDI clip. The clip will contain one note for
each 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 Simplers, 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 the Macro Controls will adjust the mapped parameter in each
Simpler simultaneously.

Note: Live will take a few moments to process all of this information.

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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 editing
possibilities, including:

13.1.1 Resequencing Slices

Rearranging the Sliced MIDI Data.

By default, your sliced MIDI data will form a chromatically-ascending “staircase“ pattern in order to
trigger the correct chains in their original order. But you can create new patterns by simply editing the
MIDI notes. You can achieve a similar effect by dragging the Drum Rack’s pads onto each other to
swap their note mappings.

13.1.2 Using Effects on Slices

Because each slice lives 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 (Win) / 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 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.

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13.2 Convert Harmony to New MIDI Track
This command identifies the pitches in a polyphonic audio recording and places them into a clip on a
new MIDI track. The track comes preloaded with an Instrument Rack 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 from 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.

13.3 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 Control, 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.

The Melody to MIDI Instrument Rack.

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.

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13.4 Convert Drums to New MIDI Track
This command extracts the rhythms from unpitched, percussive audio and places them into a clip on a
new 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.

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.

13.5 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:

• Use music that has clear attacks. Notes that fade in or “swell” may not be detected by the
conversion process.
• 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.
• 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.

Live uses the transient markers in the original audio clip to determine the divisions between notes in the
converted MIDI clip. This means that you can “tune” the results of the conversion 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 recording) will
often generate notes that weren’t present in the original audio. This can be a great way to spark your
creativity.

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14. 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.

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 button above a clip’s Clip
Groove chooser and then step through the grooves in the browser while the clip plays.

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The Hot-Swap Groove Button.

Grooves can be applied to both audio and MIDI clips. In audio clips, grooves work by adjusting the
clip’s warping behavior, and thus only work on clips with Warp enabled.

14.1 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 drop-down menu entry in the browser view control
or by using the shortcut Ctrl Alt 6 (Win) / Cmd Option 6 (Mac).

The Groove Pool View Control.

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You can also double-click grooves in the browser to load them directly to the Groove Pool before
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 grayed out.

The Groove Pool.

14.1.1 Adjusting Groove Parameters

Grooves in the Groove Pool appear in a list, and offer a variety of parameters that can be modified 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:

• 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 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 highly
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.
• Velocity — adjusts how much the velocity of the notes in clips will be affected by the velocity
information stored in the groove file. Note that this slider goes from -100 to +100. At negative

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 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 Velocity for
all of the available groove files. At 100%, the parameters will be applied at their assigned
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.

The Global Groove Amount Slider in the Control Bar

14.1.2 Committing Grooves

The Commit Groove Button.

Pressing the Commit button above 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.

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14.2 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. You can then convert the edited clip back into a groove, via the process below.

14.2.1 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 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.

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14.3 Groove Tips
This section presents some tips for getting the most out of grooves.

14.3.1 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 containing the voice that you want to
independently groove. In this example, we’d extract the snare chain, creating a new clip and track
that contained only the snare notes. Then we could apply a different groove to this new clip.

14.3.2 Non-Destructive 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.

14.3.3 Creating Texture With Randomization

You can use a groove’s Random parameter to create realistic doublings. This can be particularly 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.

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15. Using Tuning Systems
By default Live uses 12TET tuning, this means note pitches are divided equally into twelve parts per
octave. However, there are numerous ways that pitches can be distributed across an octave or
pseudo-octave (where notes are repeated at a different interval than an octave), and tuning systems
can be used to specify these variations.

Live 12 supports Scala files, which you can load into a Live Set to use a custom tuning for notes.

The Core Library also comes with a set of tuning systems, which can be found in the Tunings label of
the browser. Tuning files from the Core Library use an Ableton-specific extension to the SCL (Scala)
file format called ASCL.

The Tunings Label in the Browser.

When hovering over or selecting tuning systems in the browser, a short description of the tuning,
including the number of notes per octave, is shown in the Info View. This description is also shown
when hovering over the name of a loaded tuning system.

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A Tuning System Description in the Info View.

You can add your own .scl or .ascl files to any folder in Live’s Places so that they show up in the
Tunings label of the browser under the User tag.

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User-saved Tunings in the Browser.

All of Live’s built-in instruments are supported for use with tuning systems, as well as MPE-enabled
plug-ins or external Max for Live instruments, provided that their pitch bend range is set to 48
semitones.

Note that instruments that are not MPE-enabled or use different pitch bend ranges are likely to play
out of tune.

15.1 Loading a Tuning System

To load a tuning system into a Set, you can double-click on a tuning file in the browser, or select the
file and press Enter . These methods will automatically open the Tuning section of the browser, which
is hidden by default.

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The Tuning section in the Browser.

You can also open the Tuning section using the browser’s view control menu.

The Browser View Control Menu.

External ASCL or SCL files on your computer can be dragged and dropped into the Tuning section as
well. As long as the file is loaded in the Tuning section, the tuning will be saved with the Live Set.

When a tuning system is added to a Live Set, the notes in the piano roll no longer represent standard
MIDI notes, but instead show the corresponding notes of the tuning.

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Updated Notes in the MIDI Note Editor.

You can hover over a note in the piano roll to see useful information, such as the note’s pitch and
frequency, in the Status Bar. The specified pitch is produced when a note is played in the piano roll or
via a keyboard.

Hover Over a Note in the Piano Roll for Pitch Information.

By default, if a tuning system is removed or changed to a different tuning, the position of existing notes
in the piano roll is not changed, but the pitches shown in the note ruler are updated to match the new
tuning. This means the original notes may not produce the same pitch.

The “Retune Set On Loading Tuning Systems” entry in the Options menu can be enabled so that when
a tuning system is loaded or changed, the notes will closely match the pitches of the original notes,
ensuring that a melody sounds as close to the original as possible. You will see a dialog appear to
confirm this process when loading a tuning system.

Existing MIDI Clips May Be Modified when Loading a Tuning System.

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When automatic note retuning is enabled, removing or switching between tuning systems can cause
original notes to be changed or lost. This can happen when two notes which overlap in time and
originally had different pitches both get mapped to the same pitch in the new tuning system, as that
new pitch is closest to both original pitches. In that case, one of the notes may be deleted or
shortened.

Note that the Scale Mode choosers in Clip View and the Control Bar are no longer visible when a
tuning system is loaded.

15.2 The Tuning Section

Various pitch settings for a tuning system are accessible via the Tuning section.

The Tuning Section Expanded.

You can toggle the triangle next to the name of the tuning file to expand the section and access
additional settings for the lowest and highest notes for the reference pitch.

• Tuning displays the name of the tuning system.

• Octave sets the octave of the note used for the reference pitch.
• Note sets the note in the octave used for the reference pitch.
• Ref. Pitch/Freq sets the frequency of the reference pitch. The pitch of all notes in the Set can be
raised or lowered by changing the frequency.
• Lowest Note sets what the lowest note plays by assigning it to an octave and pitch class.
Changing the lowest note also affects the highest note, preserving the number of notes in
between.
• Highest Note sets what the highest note plays; changing the highest note will also update the
lowest note.

Note that the reference pitch is only audibly affected by the Ref. Pitch/Freq value. Changing the
Octave or Note values will update the frequency displayed in the Ref. Pitch/Freq slider to match the
newly specified notes, however, no audible change is produced until the reference pitch frequency
value itself is adjusted. This is to prevent any sudden pitch changes when setting the Octave or Note
values.

The floppy disk button to the right of the reference pitch frequency can be used to save the currently
loaded tuning as an .ascl file to the Tunings label in the browser.

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Pressing the arrow button next to the Save Tuning System button opens a link to Ableton’s Tuning
website that contains more information about the loaded tuning system, as well as an interactive editor
for trying out variations of the associated pitches. You can also export any custom tuning systems you
create there. Note that not all tuning systems have external webpages, and the arrow button will be
greyed out if no relevant link is available.

You can select a file in the Tuning section and press the Delete key to remove it and return to 12TET
tuning.

15.3 MIDI Track Options for Tuning Systems

You will see a few tuning-specific options appear in the I/O section of MIDI tracks when a tuning
system is loaded that let you customize your track and controller setups.

15.3.1 Bypass Tuning

The Bypass Tuning toggle can be used to ignore a tuning system for a specific MIDI track.

The Bypass Tuning Toggle.

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When enabled, the MIDI Note Editor will display 12TET tuning notes in the piano roll for any clips in
that track.

Note that MIDI tracks containing Drum Racks automatically bypass any loaded tuning file.

15.3.2 MIDI Controller Layouts

As notes in a tuning system can differ from 12TET layouts, the Track Tuning MIDI Controller Layout
settings allow you to specify which notes a controller can be mapped to, as well as create a custom
layout if needed. This is useful for re-aligning the layout of an external keyboard to match the piano
roll, if the layout differs when using certain tunings.

The Track Tuning MIDI Controller Layout Options.

• All Keys maps notes in the tuning system to all keys on the controller.
• Black Keys Only maps notes to the black keys only. This layout is centered around C#3.
• White Keys Only maps notes to the white keys only. This layout is centered around C3.
• Closest in Pitch to Keyboard maps notes to the closest pitch on the keys.
• Custom Controller Layout lets you define a specific layout for the controller.

When Custom Controller Layout is selected in the chooser, you can press the … button to the right to
access the Configure MIDI Layout dialog and adjust the layout settings.

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The Configure MIDI Layout Dialog.

Custom controller layouts will be saved and recalled with the Live Set.

15.4 Learn More About Tuning Systems

You can visit Ableton’s Tuning website to read more about Live’s built-in tuning systems, as well as
create and export your own custom tunings using interactive widgets.

Using the ASCL format, you can also create and import your own tuning systems for Live by following
the designated specifications.

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16. Launching Clips
The Live Session View is set apart by the fact that it gives you, the musician, a spontaneous
environment 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.“

16.1 The Launch Controls

Remember that clips in the Session View are launched by their Clip Launch buttons or remote control.
Clip launch settings can be found in the corresponding clip tab/panel. The clip launch settings only
apply to Session View clips, as Arrangement View clips are not launched but played according to
their positions in the Arrangement.

To view the clip launch settings, open the Clip View of a Session View clip by double-clicking the clip,
then click on the clip tab/panel with the Clip Launch button icon.

The Clip Launch Settings in a Clip Tab.

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Note that you can edit the launch settings of more than one clip at the same time by first selecting the
clips and then opening the Clip View.

16.2 Launch Modes

The Clip Launch 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:

• Trigger: down starts the clip; up is ignored.

• Gate: down starts the clip; up stops the clip.
• Toggle: down starts the clip; up is ignored. The clip will stop on the next down.
• Repeat: As long as the mouse switch/key is held, the clip is triggered repeatedly at the clip
quantization rate.

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16.3 Legato Mode

The Legato Mode Switch.

Suppose you have gathered, in one track, a number of looping clips, and you now want to toggle
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 settings only), you might hear
dropouts when launching clips in Legato Mode. This happens because you are unexpectedly jumping
to a point in the sample that Live has had no chance to preload from disk in advance. You can remedy
this situation by engaging Clip RAM Mode for the clips in question.

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16.4 Clip Launch 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 “Global.“ Global quantization can be
quickly changed using the Ctrl 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and 0 (Win) / Cmd 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , and
0 (Mac) shortcuts.

Note that any setting other than “None“ will quantize the clip’s launch when it is triggered by Follow
Actions.

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16.5 Velocity

The Velocity Amount Field.

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, check out the MIDI and Key Remote Control chapter.

16.6 Clip Offset and Nudging

To jump within a playing clip in increments the size of the global quantization period, you can use the
Nudge Backward/Forward buttons.

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Using the Nudge Backward/Forward Buttons to Jump Through a Clip.

These buttons can also be mapped to keys or MIDI controllers. In MIDI Map Mode, a scrub control
will appear between the Nudge Backward/Forward buttons and can be assigned to a rotary
encoder wheel for continuous scrubbing.

The Scrub Control in MIDI Map Mode.

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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 Backward/Forward buttons or scrubbing within the clip.

16.7 Follow Actions

Follow Actions can trigger clips in an orderly or random way (or both). A clip’s Follow Action defines
what happens to other clips in the same group after 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.

You can also apply Follow Actions to scenes using controls in the Scene View.

The Follow Action Controls.

1. The Follow Action button activates or deactivates Follow Actions for the selected clip or scene.
This button is disabled by default, and can be toggled using the Shift Enter keyboard
shortcut.
2. The Follow Action choosers allow selecting two different Follow Actions, A and B. The available
Follow Actions are described in more detail below.
3. The Chance A and Chance B controls set the probability (in a percentage) that each Follow
Action will be triggered. If a clip or scene has Chance A set to 100% and Chance B set to 0%,
Follow Action A will occur every time the clip or scene is launched. As we can see from this
example, a Chance setting of 0% means that an action will never happen. Changing Chance B
to 90% in this scenario makes Follow Action A occur much less often — approximately once out
of every ten clip or scene launches. Note that in addition to the Chance A and Chance B
controls, you can drag the slider located between them to adjust the Chance values.
4. The Linked/Unlinked switch is only available for clips, and has two different modes. This switch
is set to Linked by default. In Linked mode, the Follow Action is triggered at the end of the clip,
or after the number of loops set in the Follow Action Multiplier field. In Unlinked mode, the
Follow Action is triggered after the clip has played for the duration of the Follow Action Time.
The Follow Action Time control, which is available for both clips and scenes, defines when the
Follow Action takes place in bars-beats-sixteenths from the point in the clip or scene where play
starts. The default for this setting is one bar. In the Sample/MIDI Notes Editor, a marker

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 visualizes the Follow Action Time of a clip, and dragging this marker adjusts the clip’s Follow
Action Time.

There are ten Follow Actions available:

means that no Follow Action will occur. Once a clip has been triggered with No
Action, any other selected Follow Action in the clip will no longer have a chance of occurring, even if
its Follow Action Chance is set to 100%.

simply stops the clip after it has played for the chosen Follow Action Time. Note that
this overrides clip loop/region settings.

restarts the clip.

triggers the previous clip (the one above the current one).

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.

launches the first (top) clip in a group.

launches the last (bottom) clip in a group.

plays any clip in the group.

is similar to “Any,“ but as long as the current clip is not alone in the group, no clip will
play consecutively.

lets you select a target clip slot or scene for the Follow Action to jump to. When Jump
is selected, a Jump Target slider appears next to the Follow Action chooser. To adjust target clip slot or
scene value, drag the Jump Target slider up or down, or click and type in a number.

Clips and scenes with assigned Follow Actions are indicated by a striped Clip/Scene Launch button,
to help you identify them more easily.

Assigning a Follow Action to a Clip Changes Its Clip Launch Button.

Note that a clip Follow Action happens exactly after the duration that is specified by the Follow Action
Time controls unless clip quantization is set to a value other than “None“ or “Global.“ Follow Actions
circumvent global quantization but not clip quantization.

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Next to the Back to Arrangement button, an Enable Follow Actions Globally button lets you enable or
disable all clip and scene Follow Actions in the Live Set. By disabling the Enable Follow Actions
Globally button, you can edit running clips without being interrupted by playback jumping to other
clips. Note that when a Live Set does not contain any clip or scene Follow Actions, the Enable Follow
Actions Globally button will appear grayed out.

The Enable Follow Actions Globally button.

Note that Follow Actions in clips will continue to run when a scene Follow Action is created or
scheduled, however Follow Actions in scenes always take precedence once they are triggered.

So why do you need Follow Actions? 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 structures that
will repeat but can also be surprising. Remember that you can always record 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.

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16.7.1 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 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 Follow Action
group.

Creating a Group With the Two Clips.

1. 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 100%, and
set Follow Action B to “No Action“. Now this clip is set up to advance to the looping clip after it
plays.
2. 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.

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16.7.2 Creating 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 or scenes as a group and use the “Next“ Follow Action
with each clip or scene, 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.

You can also set up Follow Actions so that all selected clips play in a loop, by choosing the Create
Follow Action Chain command from a clip’s context menu. Note that the clip selection does not have
to be contiguous.

16.7.3 Temporarily Looping Clips

There are some interesting applications of Follow Actions when it comes to creating temporary musical
loops.

Imagine a group consisting of one single clip. Follow Action A is set to “Play Again,“ with a Chance of
80%. Follow Action B is set to “No Action,“ with a Chance of 20%. The clip uses a long sample, and
Follow 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 clip in the group, but this one can be set to loop. This second 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.

16.7.4 Adding Variations in Sync

Paired with clip envelopes and warping, 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 changing 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.

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16.7.5 Mixing up Melodies and Beats

You can let Follow Actions perform unpredictable remixes and solos for you. Copy a clip containing a
beat or melody so that there are several instances of it. Alternatively, you can use several different
beats or melodies that you want to mix together. The start and end for each clip can be set differently,
as can clip envelopes 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.

16.7.6 Creating Nonrepetitive Structures

Follow Actions are great when it comes to sound installations, as they allow you to create structures
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!

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17. 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 Live’s
“patchbay.“

The Mixer’s In/Out Section.

You can show or hide the I/O section of the mixer in either Session or Arrangement View using the
In/Out entry in the mixer’s view control menu in the bottom right corner of Live’s window, or via the
View menu’s In/Out option in the Mixer Controls submenu, or using the shortcut Ctrl Alt I (Win)
/ Ctrl Option I (Mac).

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The Mixer View Control’s Options Menu.

For every track that can play clips, the In/Out section has the same layout:

• 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.
• The Monitor radio button selects the monitor mode: the conditions under which the track’s input
is heard through the track.
• 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.

Within a chooser pair, the upper chooser selects the signal category (“Ext.,“ for instance, for external
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.

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17.1 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 “Main,“ 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:

• The default Auto-monitoring setting does the right thing for most straightforward recording
applications: Monitoring is on when the track is armed, but monitoring is inhibited as long as
the track is playing clips.

• To permanently monitor the track’s input, regardless of whether the track is armed or clips are
playing, choose In. This setting effectively 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 elsewhere. 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 blue 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 external
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 Settings’ Overall Latency adjustment, which is described in the built-in program
tutorial on setting up the Audio Settings.

When monitoring is set to “In” or “Auto,” the “Keep Monitoring Latency in Recorded Audio” option
will be enabled by default. This adjusts the timing of the recording to match what is heard through
Live’s monitoring. Generally speaking it is recommended to leave this option enabled when recording
software instruments or effects, and to switch it off when recording acoustic instruments or relying on
external monitoring. You can right-click on the “In” or “Auto” monitor buttons to manually switch
“Keep Monitoring Latency in Record Audio” on or off.

If multiple tracks are selected, pressing one of the Monitor buttons applies this selection to all of the
selected tracks.

The Monitor buttons can also be restored to their default state. When the In/Out section is expanded,
you can press the Delete key to reset the Monitor buttons to the default (“Off” for audio tracks and
“Auto” for MIDI tracks), or you can select the Edit menu option “Return to Default.”

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17.2 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 this 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 Settings, which can be reached via the
Input and Output Channel choosers’ “Configure…“ option. Note that the Audio Settings 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.

You can rename any input and output channels that appear in the Channel Configuration dialogs. If
changed, the new name(s) will be displayed in the corresponding Input / Output Channel chooser
drop-down. You can rename channels more quickly by using the Tab key to move between them.
Note that changed names are always associated with their respective audio device.

17.2.1 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.

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 attenuated by 6
dB to avoid clipping.

17.3 External MIDI In/Out

MIDI from the outside world 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 input 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.

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17.3.1 MIDI Port Inputs and Outputs

You can configure which MIDI ports are made available to Live using the Inputs and Outputs options
in the MIDI section of the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings. All available input and output ports are listed
here. 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.

The MIDI Port Inputs and Outputs List in the Settings.

17.3.1.1 Track

Enabling Track allows Live to send or receive note and CC (Control Change) messages, for example,
when using a MIDI keyboard to play or enter pitches.

Activate Track for a MIDI port’s input when: - Playing instruments in Live with a MIDI keyboard. -
Recording notes into MIDI clips. - Recording MIDI CC messages into MIDI clips, for example to
capture parameter changes from an external hardware synthesizer.

Activate Track for a MIDI port’s output when: - Triggering an external hardware device (like a
synthesizer, drum machine, etc). - Sending MIDI notes to another application (using a virtual MIDI
bus). - Sending MIDI CC automation to an external device or application.

Note: You only need to activate Track on the output port for a MIDI controller if it has a built-in sound
generator.

17.3.1.2 Sync

Sync allows Live to send or receive MIDI Clock, or receive MIDI Timecode. Note: Unless it has a built-
in sequencer or arpeggiator, you won’t ever need to activate Sync on the input or output ports of a
MIDI controller.

Activate Sync for a MIDI port’s input when: - Synchronizing Live to an external sequencer, drum
machine or groove box. - Synchronizing Live to another DAW using MIDI.

Activate Sync for a MIDI port’s output when: - Synchronizing an external sequencer, drum machine or
groove box to Live using MIDI Clock. - Synchronizing another DAW to Live using MIDI Clock. -
Synchronizing the LFO and arpeggiator of an external synthesizer or MIDI controller to Live.

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When Sync is enabled for a port’s output, you can access a set of additional options by pressing the
triangle next to the port’s name.

Sync Output Options.

You can adjust the MIDI Clock Sync Delay amount to add a delay to outgoing MIDI sync signals in
milliseconds. This can help correct any timing issues that occur between Live and the external
hardware.

MIDI Clock Type can be set to either Song to Pattern. In Song Mode, Live will send out MIDI Song
Position Pointer (SPP) and Continue messages each time the play position changes. In Pattern Mode,
Live will only use Start messages, sent out at the start of the following bar. Use Pattern Mode if your
MIDI device does not recognize SPP messages.

The Hardware Resync drop-down lets you choose how a resync message is sent when the Resync
External Hardware option is enabled.

Resync External Hardware Option.

When enabled, the Resync External Hardware button appears in Live’s Control bar, and can be used
to send resync messages out to external gear. This is useful when synced hardware drifts out of time
with the Live Set during playback.

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The Resync External Hardware Button in the Control Bar.

The default behavior is Stop and Start, which sends a resync message consisting of a MIDI Clock Stop
event followed by a MIDI Clock Start event; this works best with most MIDI devices. If set to Start
Only, just the MIDI Clock Start event resync message is sent; this might work better for some devices.
If set to Don’t Resync, no resync messages are sent.

17.3.1.3 Remote

The Remote switch allows you to create mappings from a MIDI controller to parameters in Live or to
send feedback to a MIDI controller.

Activate Remote for a MIDI port’s input when: - Creating custom MIDI mappings to be able to control
parameters in Live. - Using a MIDI keyboard to trigger MIDI Clips.

Activate Remote for a MIDI port’s output when: - Using MIDI controllers with LEDs that reflect the
status of mapped Live parameters. - Using MIDI controllers with motorized faders that reflect the status
of mapped Live parameters.

17.3.2 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, activate the Control Bar’s Computer MIDI Keyboard button, or
enable the “Computer MIDI Keyboard” entry in the Options menu, or use the M shortcut.

Activating the Computer MIDI Keyboard.

The center row of letter keys on the keyboard will play notes corresponding to the white keys on a
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 on a U.S.-
English keyboard) are used to transpose the note range and to set velocity, as follows:

• The leftmost keys (Z and X) adjust the keyboard’s octave range.

• The next two keys (C and V) adjust incoming note velocity by intervals of twenty (20, 40, 60,
and so on).

When the computer keyboard is set to send notes between C3 and C4, the keys are mapped to MIDI
notes in such a way that the center row of the keyboard (ASDF…), corresponds to the Impulse

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percussion sampler’s sample slots. This means that you can play and record drum patterns directly
from the computer keyboard.

Note that when the computer MIDI keyboard is activated, it will “steal“ keys that may have otherwise
been assigned to remote-control elements of the Live interface. To prevent this, you can turn the
computer MIDI keyboard off when it is not needed. Additionally, shortcuts that use single letters, such
as S for soloing tracks, can be accessed when the Computer MIDI Keyboard is enabled by adding
Shift , e.g., Shift S .

17.3.3 Connecting External Synthesizers

Routing MIDI to an external synthesizer is straightforward: The Output Type chooser is set to whatever
MIDI port 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. In this case, you can send MIDI out to the
external synthesizer and return its audio — all within a single track.

Important: If you are using a keyboard synthesizer both as a keyboard to play into Live and as a
sound generator, then please make sure to check the synthesizer’s “Local Off“ function. Every
synthesizer has this function, which effectively separates the keyboard from the sound 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 dispatches the incoming
MIDI, as well as the MIDI from the clips, as appropriate.

17.3.4 MIDI In/Out Indicators

Live’s Control Bar contains three pairs of indicator LEDs that tell you about incoming and outgoing
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.

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 sequencers.
Note that this set of indicators is only visible when an external sync source has been enabled
for a MIDI port in the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings;
2. MIDI messages that are used for remote-controlling Live’s user-interface elements;
3. MIDI messages coming from and going to Live’s MIDI tracks.

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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.

17.4 Resampling
Live’s Main 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
happening 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.

The “Resampling“ option in any audio track’s Input Type chooser will route the Main output to that
track. You can then decide on what exactly you will be resampling and mute, solo or otherwise adjust
the tracks that are feeding the Main output. You will probably want to use the Main 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. Note that the recording track’s own
output will be suppressed while 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, under Samples/
Recorded. Until the Set is saved, they remain at the location specified by the Temporary Folder.

17.5 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 Output 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.

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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 can, at any time, add more tracks that feed their output into Track B. This is the
method of choice for “many-to-one“ routings such as submixes or several MIDI tracks playing the
same instrument. In this scenario, soloing Track B will still allow you to hear the 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. Technically, 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.

17.5.1 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 previous
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.

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Tap Points for Track Routing.

• 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 mixer. 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 another track
Pre FX will allow you to hear the tapped track.
• 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 another track
Post FX will allow you to hear the tapped track.
• Post Mixer taps the final output of a track, after it has passed through its device chains and
mixer. Soloing a track that taps another track Post Mixer will not allow you to hear the tapped
track.

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17.5.1.1 Routing Points in Racks

Tap Points for Every Chain in a Track.

If a track has one or more Instrument or Effect Racks in its device chain, internal routing points (Pre FX,
Post FX and Post Mixer) will also be available for every chain within the Rack. If a track contains one
or more Drum Racks, 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:

• (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.
• (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.
• (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.

17.5.2 Making Use of Internal Routing

This section presents several internal routing examples in more detail.

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17.5.2.1 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 different
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.

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 panning 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.

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17.5.2.2 Recording MIDI as Audio

When working with MIDI and complex software instruments, it is sometimes more useful to record the
resulting audio than the incoming MIDI. A single MIDI note can prompt, for example, 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 in a MIDI clip,
particularly when comparing the editing options.

Recording the Output of a Complex Instrument in Audio Tracks.

A setup similar to the one described above accomplishes the task. We have one MIDI track hosting
the virtual instrument, and we use an additional audio track to record the audio result as the instrument
is played.

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17.5.2.3 Creating Submixes

Submixing the Individual Drums of a Drum Kit.

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 the submix track,
which outputs to the Main track. 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 for even more flexibility.
This automatically creates the necessary output routings and also allows you to hide or show the
component tracks.

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Submixing by Setting a Track’s Output Type to Sends Only.

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 corresponding return
track will then act as a submixer channel.

17.5.2.4 Several MIDI Tracks Playing the Same Instrument

Consider a MIDI track containing a virtual instrument — a Simpler playing a pad sound, for example.
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.

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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 the pad track. 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 recorded), which is not
what we want. We instead select “Warm Bubbly Pad“ 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.

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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 precise, the other track keeps playing, but its MIDI is 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.

17.5.2.5 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 internally 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 Impulse offers its sample slots as
audio sources to other tracks.

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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 Impulse. 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 instruments, however. Soloing a track that
taps one of Impulse’s sample slots will still allow you to hear the output of that slot.

17.5.2.6 Using Multi-Timbral Plug-In Instruments

Many plug-in instruments support multi-timbral operation. A multi-timbral instrument is like several
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 individual outputs so that
the parts can be separately routed into the mixer. Or, the instrument might offer a submixer of its own.

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Tracks Feeding MIDI to and Tapping Audio From the Parts of a Multi-Timbral Instrument.

Sending MIDI from the mixer to a multi-timbral instrument is a variation of a case described above.
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 referencing the target MIDI channel.
Additional audio tracks can then be used to tap the instrument’s individual outputs, as described
earlier.

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 additional
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.
4. Select the MIDI channel to route to in the second chooser on the External Instrument device.
5. From the External Instrument’s Audio From chooser, select a secondary output on the instrument
to which you are sending 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.

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17.5.2.7 Feeding Sidechain Inputs

Some effects have so-called “sidechain inputs.“ A vocoder, for instance, imposes spectral
characteristics 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.

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 is dragged into a MIDI track.
Feeding the sidechain audio input works as described above.

A number of Live’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.

17.5.2.8 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.

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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.

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18. Mixing

18.1 The Live Mixer

Live includes a mixer section that is accessible from both Session and Arrangement View:

The Arrangement View Mixer.

It is also possible to access mixer features in an individual track in Arrangement View using the Track
Controls section.

The Arrangement View Track Controls.

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In Session View, the mixer section appears below the track’s scenes.

The Session View Mixer.

You can use the mixer view control at the bottom right corner of Live’s window to show or hide the
mixer.

The Mixer View Control.

The drop-down menu toggle next to the mixer view control can be used to show or hide mixer
components.

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The Mixer View Control’s Options Menu.

Let’s look at the mixer controls:

The Mixer Controls.

1. The Meter shows both peak and RMS output levels for the track. While monitoring, however, it
shows peak and RMS input levels. Peak meters show sudden changes in level, while RMS
meters give a better impression of perceived loudness.
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.

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 3. The Pan control has two different modes: the default Stereo Pan Mode, and Split Stereo Pan
Mode. In Stereo Pan Mode, the Pan control positions the track’s output in the stereo field. To
reset the Pan control to center, click on its associated triangle. In Split Stereo Pan Mode, the
sliders let you adjust the position of the track’s left and right input channels separately. Double-
click on the sliders to reset them. You can switch between the two pan modes via the Pan
control’s context menu. 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. Clicking the Solo switch (or pressing the S shortcut key) solos the track by muting all other
tracks, but can also be used for cueing. With multiple tracks selected, pressing any of their Solo
switches will solo all of them. Otherwise, tracks can only be soloed one at a time unless the
Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier is held down or the Exclusive Solo option in the Record,

Warp & Launch Settings is deactivated.

6. If the Arm Recording button is on, the track is record-enabled. 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 (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier is held down or the Exclusive
Arm option in the Record, Warp & Launch Settings is deactivated. With Exclusive Arm enabled,
inserting an instrument into a new or empty MIDI track will automatically arm the track.

18.1.1 Additional Mixer Features

Additional Mixer Possibilities.

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The Mixer section 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 audio and
MIDI tracks can be driven far “into the red“ without causing the signals to clip. The only time that
signals over 0 dB will be problematic is when audio leaves Live and goes into the outside world.
Examples include:

• When routing to or from physical inputs and outputs, like those of your sound card.
• Audio on the Main track (which is almost always connected to a physical output).
• When saving or exporting audio to a file.

Nevertheless, Live provides this optional visual feedback for signals that travel beyond 0 dB in any
track.

18.2 Audio and MIDI Tracks

Audio and MIDI tracks in Live are for hosting and playing clips, as explained in the Live Concepts
chapter.

You can add new audio and MIDI tracks to your Live Set by using the corresponding Create menu
commands, or you can use the shortcuts Ctrl T (Win) / Cmd T (Mac) to create an audio
track and Ctrl Shift T (Win) / Cmd Shift T (Mac) to create a MIDI track.

Tracks can also be created by double-clicking or pressing Enter on files in the browser to load
them, or by dragging contents 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 create tracks of
the appropriate type (e.g., a MIDI track will be created if a MIDI file or effect is dragged in).

Dragging one or multiple clips from an existing track into the space to the right of Session View tracks
or below Arrangement View tracks creates a new track with those clips and the original track’s
devices.

A track is represented by its track title bar.

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Tracks are Represented by Track Title Bars.

You can click on a track title bar to select the track and then execute an Edit menu command on the
track to edit it. One such available command is Rename. One can quickly rename a series of tracks
by executing this command, or the Rename shortcut Ctrl R (Win) / 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 for a track via the Edit Info Text command in the Edit menu or in the
track’s context menu.

You can drag tracks by their title bars to rearrange them, or click and drag on their edges to change
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 together 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 control 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 a folder in the Places section of the browser it will be saved as a new
Set. If a track contains audio clips, Live will manage the copying of the referenced samples into this
new location based on the selection in the Collect Files on Export chooser. You can then type in a
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.

18.3 Group Tracks

You can combine any number of individual 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 execute the
Edit menu’s Group Tracks command. You also use this command to nest an existing Group Track(s)
within a new Group Track.

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Group Tracks themselves cannot contain clips, but they are similar to audio tracks in that they have
mixer controls and can host audio effects.

Group Tracks also provide a quick way to create submixes. When tracks are placed into a group,
their Audio To routing choosers are automatically assigned to their Group Track unless they already
had a custom routing, i.e. to a destination other than Main. You can also use a Group Track purely as
a “folder“ track by rerouting the outputs of the contained tracks to some other destination.

The tracks in a group can be shown or hidden via the Unfold Group button in the title bar. This can
help you to organize large Sets by hiding away tracks that you don’t need to see.

An Unfolded Group Track in Session View.

Once a Group Track has been created, tracks can be dragged into or out of the group. Deleting a
Group Track deletes all of its contents, but a group can be reverted 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.

A Folded Group Track in Arrangement View

In Session View, slots in Group Tracks have launch and stop buttons 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.

To apply a Group Track’s color to all of its contained tracks and clips, you can use the Assign Track
Color to Grouped Tracks and Clips command in the respective Group Track header’s context menu.

Note that when using the Assign Track Color to Grouped Tracks and Clips command in Session View,
the color change will only affect Session clips. Likewise, using either command in Arrangement View
will only change the color of Arrangement clips.

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If a Group Track contains a soloed track or nested Group Track, its Solo button will appear half
colored.

Solo Button of a Group Track Containing a Soloed Nested Group Track.

18.4 Return Tracks and the Main track

In addition to Group Tracks and tracks that play clips, a Live Set has a Main track and return tracks;
these cannot play clips, but allow for more flexible signal processing and routing.

The return tracks and the Main 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 Return Tracks entry in the Mixer Controls
submenu within the View menu.

Like regular clip tracks, return tracks 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.

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For example, suppose you want to create rhythmic echoes with a delay effect. If you drag the effect
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.

The Send Controls and Pre/Post Toggles.

A clip or group track’s Send control determines how much of the track’s output feeds the associated
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
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.

The Main 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 Main output. Effects in the Main 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 Main track.

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18.5 Using Live’s Crossfader
Live includes a crossfader that can create smooth transitions between clips playing on different tracks.
Live’s crossfader works like a typical DJ-mixer crossfader, except that it allows crossfading not only
two, but any number of tracks — including the returns.

The Crossfader.

The crossfader can be accessed via the Mixer Controls submenu in the View menu or the menu
options in the mixer view control at the bottom right of Live’s window. Seven different crossfade curves
are available so that you can choose the one that fits your style the best. To change the curve, right-
click on the crossfader, then select an entry from the context menu.

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Choose from Seven Crossfader Curves.

The chart below details the power level and response of each crossfader curve.

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Crossfader Curve Properties.

The crossfader can be mapped to any continuous MIDI controller (absolute or incremental). In
addition to the crossfader’s central slider, its absolute left and right positions are separately available
for MIDI or keyboard mapping. There are two special scenarios for remote control with respect to the
crossfader:

• A key mapped to any one of the three assignable crossfader positions (left, center or right) will
toggle the crossfader’s absolute left and right positions.
• 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.

Crossfade Assign Buttons.

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Each track has two Crossfade Assign buttons, A and B. The track can have three states with respect to
the crossfader:

• If neither Assign button is on, the crossfader does not affect the track at all.
• 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.
• 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 Arrangement
for later in-depth editing. To edit each track’s crossfade assignment, please choose “Mixer“ from the
Envelope Device chooser and “X-Fade Assign“ from the Control chooser. The crossfader’s automation
curve is accessible when “Mixer“ is chosen from the Main track’s Device chooser and “Crossfade“ is
selected from its Control chooser.

18.6 Soloing and Cueing

By default, soloing a track simply mutes all other tracks (except in some cases where tracks are
feeding other tracks). 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 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 dedicated
outputs (or two dedicated stereo outputs). The respective settings are accessible in the Main track.
Make sure you have the mixer section and In/Out controls visible.

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The Cueing-Related Session Mixer Controls.

1. The Main 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 Main. If the desired outputs don’t show up
in these choosers, please check the Audio Settings.
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 Main 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.

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18.7 Track Delays
A Track Delay control is available for every track in Live. The control allows delaying or pre-delaying
the output of tracks in milliseconds in order to compensate for human, acoustic, hardware and other
real-world delays.

You can access Track Delays using the Track Options entry in the Mixer Controls submenu within the
View menu, or the menu options in the mixer view control at the bottom right of Live’s window.

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 Backward/
Forward buttons in the Clip View, however track delays can be used in the Arrangement View for such
offsets.

Note that delay compensation for plug-ins and Live devices is a separate feature, 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 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. Note that the Track Delay controls are unavailable when device delay compensation is
deactivated.

18.8 Keep Monitoring Latency in Recording Track

Toggles
When monitoring is set to “In” or “Auto,” the “Keep Monitoring Latency in Recording” option will be
enabled by default.

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The Keep Latency in Recording Track Toggles.

This adjusts the timing of the recording to match what is heard through Live’s monitoring. Generally
speaking it is recommended to leave this option enabled when recording software instruments or
effects, and to switch it off when recording acoustic instruments or relying on external monitoring.

You can use the toggles or right-click on the In or Auto track monitor buttons to manually switch “Keep
Monitoring Latency in Recorded Audio” on or off.

18.9 Performance Impact Track Indicators

In the mixer section, it is possible to see each track’s impact on the CPU load using the Performance
Impact indicators. You can show or hide the indicators using the Mixer Controls submenu in the View
menu or the menu options in the mixer view control at the bottom right of Live’s window.

The Performance Impact Indicators.

Each track has its own CPU meter with six rectangles that light up to indicate the relative impact of that
track on the CPU level of the current Set. Freezing the track with the largest impact or removing
devices from that track will usually reduce the CPU load.

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19. 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.

For successful audio recording, please make sure the audio settings are set up properly. For more on
this, please see the built-in program lesson on setting up Audio Settings. 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.

On MIDI tracks, it is possible to “capture” played material after you’ve played it, without the need to
press the Record button beforehand. This allows for more freedom and flexibility when you want to
improvise or experiment. For more information, please refer to the Capturing MIDI section.

19.1 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.

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. The computer keyboard
can be activated as a pseudo-MIDI input device, allowing you to record MIDI even if no MIDI
controller hardware is currently available.

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For every track, you can choose an input source other than the default: any mono or stereo external
input, a specific MIDI channel from a specific MIDI-in device or a signal coming from another track.
The Routing and I/O chapter describes these options in detail.

19.2 Arming (Record-Enabling) Tracks

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.

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.

Clicking one track’s Arm button unarms all other tracks unless the Ctrl (Win) / 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.

19.3 Recording
Recording can be done in both the Session and the Arrangement Views. If you want to record onto
more 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.

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19.3.1 Recording Into the Arrangement

Recording Into the Arrangement.

1. Pressing the Control Bar’s Arrangement Record button starts recording. The specific behavior
depends on the state of the “Start Playback with Record” button in the Record, Warp & Launch
Settings. 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. Regardless
of the state of this preference, holding Shift while pressing Arrangement 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 Loop’s 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, Live retains the audio recorded during
each pass.

You can later “unroll“ a loop recording, either by repeatedly using the Edit menu’s Undo command or
graphically in the Clip View: After loop recording, double-click on the new clip. In the Clip View’s
Sample Editor, 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.

19.3.2 Recording Into Session Slots

You can record new clips, on the fly, into any Session slots.

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Recording Into the Session View.

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 currently recording.
To go from 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.

It is possible to stop playback and prepare for a new “take” with the New button. The New button
stops clips in all armed tracks and selects a scene where new clips can be recorded, creating a new
scene if necessary. Note that the New button is only available in Key Map Mode and MIDI Map
Mode. Detailed steps for creating keyboard assignments are available in the Computer Keyboard
Remote Control section. Please refer to the MIDI and Key Remote Control chapter for more
information about MIDI assignments.

The New Button Appears in the Control Bar When Key Map Mode Is Active.

Note that, by default, launching a Session View scene will not activate recording in empty record-
enabled slots belonging to that scene. However, you can use the Start Recording on Scene Launch

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option from the Record, Warp & Launch Settings to tell Live that you do want empty scene slots to
record under these circumstances.

19.3.3 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 listening 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.
3. Double-click 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 and changing
its loop properties.
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 overdubbing 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 (Win) / Option (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 MIDI Note Editor.

19.3.4 MIDI Step Recording

The MIDI Editor allows you to record notes with the transport stopped by holding down keys on your
controller or computer 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.

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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.

19.4 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 even during

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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 everything will later play in sync.

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. Further metronome settings
can be adjusted via the pull-down menu next to the metronome switch.

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 all.

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19.4.1 Metronome Settings

You can access the Metronome Settings menu via the pull-down switch next to the metronome, or by
opening the context menu for the metronome itself.

The menu lets you set the count-in length for recording. You can also change the sound of the
metronome’s tick.

The Rhythm settings allow you to set the beat division at which the metronome ticks. With the default
“Auto” setting, the tick interval follows the time signature’s denominator. Beat divisions that do not fit
into one bar of the current time signature will appear disabled.

If the currently selected beat division no longer fits in a bar due to a time signature change, the
metronome’s tick will revert to the “Auto” setting. However, if the time signature is changed in a way
that makes the beat division fit in a bar again, the tick will revert to following the selected beat
division.

When Enable Only While Recording is checked and the metronome is activated, the metronome will
be highlighted while transport is running, but will only be audible while recording. If you are recording
into the Arrangement while the Punch-In switch is active, the metronome will only be audible after the
punch-in point.

19.5 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 subdivisions
with which your recorded notes will align. When recording into the Arrangement, record quantization
is an independent step in Live’s Undo history. This means that 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 quantization and leave your recording otherwise
intact.

For Session and Arrangement recording, the Record Quantization setting cannot be changed mid-
recording.

When overdub recording with the Clip View Loop activated, changes to the Record Quantization take
effect immediately, and they cannot be separately undone with the Edit menu command.

Recorded MIDI notes can also be quantized post-recording with the Edit menu’s Quantize command,
as described in the chapter on editing MIDI.

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19.6 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 blue 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.

19.7 Setting up File Types

The following Settings from the Record, Warp & Launch tab are relevant to the sample files that are
created by recording:

• The sample file type you would like Live to create can be chosen from the File Type chooser in
the Record, Warp & Launch Settings.
• The bit depth of the sample file you will create by recording can be chosen from the Bit Depth
chooser in the Record, Warp & Launch Settings.

You can save time by setting up reasonable defaults for the clips you are recording in the Record,
Warp & Launch Settings 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, usually without further
adjustment.

19.8 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 Settings’ 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.

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19.9 Using Remote Control for Recording
Using Key Map Mode and MIDI Map Mode, 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 buttons, the
individual slots, and the relative navigation controls to initiate recording remotely; for instance:

The Scene Up/Down Buttons.

One key is used to jump to the next scene…

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A Track Launch Button.

… and another key to start and end recording in the respective track.

You can also map the step recording navigators.

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.

19.10 Capturing MIDI

Live is always listening to MIDI input on armed or input-monitored tracks, and Capture MIDI lets you
retrieve the material you’ve just played on those tracks. This is particularly useful if you forgot to press

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the Record button before playing, or if you prefer to improvise or experiment freely without the stress
of recording.

The Capture MIDI Button in the Control Bar.

To capture the MIDI notes you just played, press the Capture MIDI button.

On Push 1 or Push 2, you can trigger Capture MIDI by holding the Record button and pressing the
New button. On Push 3, you can use the dedicated Capture button.

Capture MIDI behaves differently depending on the state of the Live Set. We will look at these
different behaviors below.

19.10.1 Starting a New Live Set

If the Live Set contains no other clips and the transport is stopped:

• A new clip containing the phrase you played will be created on every monitored MIDI track.
Note that Capture MIDI will only add clips to the Session or Arrangement View, depending on
which View is currently in focus.
• Capture MIDI will detect and adjust the song tempo, set appropriate loop boundaries and
place the played notes on the grid. Note that Capture MIDI’s tempo detection will set the
tempo in the 80-160 BPM range. If you consider the played material to be at a tempo outside
this range, you can adjust the song tempo to your liking. To help Capture MIDI detect a phrase
correctly, it is recommended to end playing on the first beat (or “downbeat”) of the next bar.
• Live’s transport will immediately begin to run, and play back the captured loop. This allows you
to create overdubs if you wish (for more information about overdubbing with Capture MIDI,
refer to the section Adding Material to an Existing Live Set below).
• All of your played material will be saved in the clip, and any notes that you played before the
detected phrase will appear prior to the clip start marker. This enables you to adjust the start/
end or loop markers to set a different loop. To discard unwanted material outside the set loop,
simply right-click on the clip and select the Crop Clip command.

Note: If only one note is played in the first captured MIDI clip, the loop boundaries are set to the note
start and end, and the tempo is accordingly calculated, resulting in a one, two, four, or eight bar loop.
This is particularly useful when playing a rhythmical sample with a single MIDI note.

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19.10.2 Adding Material to an Existing Live Set

If Live’s transport is running, there are already other clips in the Live Set, or the tempo is automated:

• Capture MIDI will not detect or adjust the song tempo. Instead, Capture MIDI will use the
existing tempo to detect a meaningful musical phrase from your played material and create a
loop.
• While the transport is running, you can “play along” with other clips. You can also use Capture
MIDI to “overdub” a playing clip, by playing over it on the same track. Pressing the Capture
MIDI button will add the material you just played on top of the existing clip’s content, allowing
you to build your pattern layer by layer.
• All of your played material will be saved in the clip, and any notes that you played before the
detected phrase will appear prior to the clip start marker. This allows you to adjust the start/
end or loop markers to set a different loop.

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20. Comping
Comping makes it possible to pick the best moments of each recorded performance, and combine
them into a composite track (also known as a “comp”). Live can create and organize individual takes
from your recorded material, allowing you to piece your favorite parts together. You can store
alternative versions of a clip arrangement on multiple take lanes. You can also drag samples from
your library onto take lanes and use comping as a creative sample-chopping tool.

(Note: Comping is not available in the Lite Edition.)

20.1 Take Lanes

Every audio or MIDI track in the Arrangement View may consist of multiple parallel lanes. The first
lane of a track is the main lane, which is always available and is audible by default. A track can also
contain an arbitrary number of take lanes, which serve as a container for clips that were recorded or
manually added to them. Take lanes are never audible, unless Audition Mode is enabled.

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A Track’s Main Lane (Above) and Its Take Lanes (Below).

Take lanes are automatically created when recording new clips in the Arrangement, and they can also
be inserted manually. You can toggle the visibility of take lanes by choosing Show Take Lanes from a
track header’s context menu, or using the Ctrl Alt U (Win) / Cmd Option U (Mac)
keyboard shortcut. Note that this only toggles the visibility of existing take lanes. Take lanes are not
visible when Automation Mode is enabled. You can use the left arrow key to navigate from a take
lane to the main track, this will fold all take lanes as well.

20.2 Inserting and Managing Take Lanes

You can manually insert a take lane into one or multiple selected tracks, via the Insert Take Lane entry
in the Create menu or a track/take lane header’s context menu, or using the Shift Alt T (Win)
/ Shift Option T (Mac) keyboard shortcut. Inserting a take lane will also immediately show all
take lanes, if they were not already visible.

Selected take lanes can be duplicated using the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl D (Win) / Cmd D
(Mac), or by right-clicking on the take lane header and selecting “Duplicate.” You can delete selected
take lanes using the Backspace or Delete key, or via the Delete command in the Edit menu.

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Selected take lanes can be resized vertically by pressing Alt + (Win) / Option + (Mac) or
Alt - (Win) / Option - (Mac), or by pressing Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) while using the

mousewheel. Multiple selected take lanes can be resized by dragging the resize handles with the
mouse. When holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier, all selected take lanes are resized
simultaneously, similar to tracks.

You can reorder selected take lanes within their track by dragging and dropping them. You can also
move take lanes using the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier with the up or down arrow key.

Take lanes can be renamed in the same way as tracks, using the Rename command in the Edit menu
or a take lane header’s context menu, or using the Ctrl R (Win) / Cmd R (Mac) keyboard
shortcut. Multiple selected take lanes can also be renamed simultaneously. Using the Tab and
Shift Tab keyboard shortcuts lets you quickly move between lanes and tracks while renaming

them.

20.3 Recording Takes

While recording new clips in the Arrangement View, take lanes are automatically added to armed
audio and MIDI tracks, and clips are created within those take lanes.

Recording over existing clips, either by recording individual passes or by recording in a loop, will add
a new take lane for each pass. Existing take lanes will be automatically reused when no other clip
exists after the punch-in point.

The last recorded clip in a track is always copied to that track’s main lane, so that it becomes
immediately audible when playing back the Set.

Note that recorded clips inherit their track’s color by default. You can configure Live to automatically
assign a different color to each take, by setting the Clip Color toggle to Random in the Theme &
Colors Settings.

20.4 Inserting Samples

You can drag samples and MIDI files to take lanes from the browser or Finder/File Explorer. When
multiple samples are selected, pressing the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier key and dragging
will insert each sample into sequential tracks and/or take lanes.

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20.5 Auditioning Take Lanes
You can audition a take lane by clicking the Audition Take Lane button (displayed as a speaker icon)
in that take lane’s header, or using the T keyboard shortcut.

The Audition Take Lane Button.

Note that while you can audition take lanes from different tracks at the same time, you can only
audition one take lane per track. If the time selection or lane header selection stretches across multiple
lanes on the same track, the last selected lane will be auditioned.

20.6 Creating a Comp

Selected material in take lanes can be copied to the main lane by pressing the Enter key or via a
take lane’s Copy Selection to Main Lane context menu command.

It is possible to replace clips in a track’s main lane with the next or previous take lane clip by selecting
a clip header, or by making a time selection on a track’s main lane or take lane, and then pressing
Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) with the up or down arrow key. If the time selection is on a take lane, it

switches to the next or previous take. Note that empty take lanes are ignored.

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Replacing Part of a Clip with Content from a Different Take Lane.

In Draw Mode, selected take lane material can be copied to a track’s main lane in one single gesture
by clicking, dragging and then releasing the mouse. It is also possible to quickly cycle between takes
within a time selection by single-clicking on a take lane and immediately releasing the mouse.

Note that clips copied to a track’s main lane are independent copies of take lane clips. This means
that you can freely edit clips in a track’s main lane without modifying or fragmenting the original take
lane clips, and vice versa. Also note that clips in take lanes can be edited the same way as other clips
in the Arrangement View, e.g., they can be moved, copied/pasted, dragged/dropped, consolidated,
cropped, or duplicated. They can also be copied to Session View clip slots by either copying and
pasting or dragging and dropping.

You can prevent clicks between adjacent clips by enabling the Create Fades on Clip Edges option in
the Record, Warp & Launch Settings. Live will automatically create four-millisecond crossfades
between adjacent clips. You can also manually create these crossfades by selecting multiple clips and
pressing Ctrl Alt F (Win) / Cmd Option F (Mac).

20.7 Source Highlights

For every Arrangement clip, Live will highlight its source material in a take lane by displaying it in full
color, while dimming all unused take lane material. This makes it easier to track the recorded material
that the clip originally came from. Note that source highlights will only be shown when the clips have
matching positions and properties.

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A Clip’s Source Material Highlighted in a Take Lane.

Source highlights on take lanes can be resized to adjust the split point between two adjacent parts of
a comp by dragging the edge of the highlight.

Drag to Adjust the Split Point Between Two Adjacent Parts of a Comp.

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21. Working with Instruments and
Effects
Every track in Live can host a number of devices. These devices can be of three different sorts:

• MIDI effects act upon MIDI signals and can only be placed in MIDI tracks.
• 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.
• 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 Device View
appears in the bottom area of the Live screen.

Devices in the Device View.

To save space in the Device View, a device can be collapsed by double-clicking on its title bar or by
choosing Fold from the title bar’s context menu.

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Devices Can Be Folded.

To learn about a particular device and how to operate it, consult the Live Audio Effect Reference, Live
MIDI Effect Reference, or Live Instrument Reference chapters.

To learn about creating and using custom groupings of instruments and effects, check out the
Instrument, Drum and Effect Racks chapter.

Get “hands-on“ with devices by assigning their parameters to MIDI or key remote control.

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21.1 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 Simpler 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 devices in your
track’s device chain. On MIDI tracks, this is normally activated automatically when inserting an
instrument.

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MIDI and Audio Track Arm Buttons.

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. If you have alternative monitoring preferences, please see
the Monitoring section to learn how to make these settings.

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)
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 device 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 by clicking in
the space after the last device, or by using the right arrow key to move the selection there. Generally,
devices can be placed, reordered and deleted without interrupting the audio stream.

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Device Activator Switches.

Devices are turned on and off using their Activator switches. Turning a device off is like temporarily
deleting it: The signal remains unprocessed, and the device does not consume CPU cycles. Live
devices generally do not load down the CPU unless they are active. For more information, please
refer to the CPU load section. 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.

The Level Meters Between Devices in a Chain.

Note that no clipping can occur between devices because there is practically unlimited headroom.
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 I/O chapter, including
information on using return tracks to distribute the effect of a single device amongst several tracks.
After reading about using devices in Live, it might also be interesting to look into clip envelopes, which
can automate or modulate individual device parameters on a per-clip basis.

21.1.1 Live Device Presets

Every Live device can store and retrieve their parameter settings as presets. Each device appears in
the content pane of the browser as a folder that can be opened to reveal its presets.

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Presets in the Browser.

You can browse and load presets quickly with the computer keyboard:

• Scroll up and down using the up and down arrow keys.

• Close and open device folders using the left and right arrow keys.
• 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
automatically 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.

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 be enabled from the first audio effect (on audio tracks) or
the instrument (on MIDI tracks).

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.

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Note that although importing via the browser is the recommended method, presets can also be
dropped directly into Live from the Explorer (Win) / Finder (Mac).

21.1.1.1 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 browser location of your
choice.

For detailed information on what can be done with the browser, please see the Managing Files and
Sets chapter. For more on how to store project-specific presets, see the Projects and Presets section.

21.1.1.2 Default Presets

Presets saved to the Defaults folders in your User Library will load in place of the generic device
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.
• Cause newly-created MIDI and audio tracks to load with certain devices already in place,
complete with custom parameter settings.
• Load VST and Audio Units plug-ins with a specific collection of parameters already configured
in Live’s panel.

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The Default Presets folders in the User Library.

To save the current settings of a Live device as a default preset, open the 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). If you have already saved a default preset for a
particular device, Live will ask you before overwriting it.

To create a default configuration preset for a VST or Audio Unit plug-in:

• Load the selected plug-in to a track.

• From the plug-in’s Configure Mode, set up your desired collection of parameters.
• Open the context menu on the track header and select “Save as Default Configuration.”

If you have both VST and Audio Units versions of a particular plug-in installed, you can create
separate default configuration presets for each type. Note that default presets for plug-ins do not save
the settings of the configured parameters; only the parameter configuration within Live’s panel is
saved.

To create default presets for MIDI and audio tracks:

• 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).
• Adjust the device parameters as you like.
• Open the context menu on the track header and select “Save as Default Audio/MIDI Track.”

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To specify how Live behaves when dragging a sample to a Drum Rack or the Device View of a MIDI
track:

• Create an empty Simpler or Sampler.

• Adjust the parameters as you like.
• 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 defaults
can also be saved via a context menu option on a Drum Rack’s pad.

To adjust how Live behaves when slicing an audio file:

• Create an empty Drum Rack.

• Add an empty Simpler or Sampler to the Drum Rack to create a single chain.
• Add any additional MIDI or Audio Effects to this chain.
• Adjust parameters in any of the devices.
• Assign Macro Controls to any of the controls in the chain’s devices.
• 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:

• 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.
• Add any additional MIDI or Audio Effects to the track.
• Adjust parameters in any of the devices.
• If you’re using multiple devices, group them to a Rack.
• Drag the entire Rack to the appropriate folder in Defaults/Audio to MIDI in your User Library.

In addition to these program-wide default presets, you can also create default presets that are specific
to only one Project. This can be useful if, for example, you’re using specialized device or track
configurations for a particular Set, and would like to create variations of the Set which will also have
access to these presets, but without overwriting the more generalized default presets you use for your
other types of work. To create Project-specific default presets:

• Recreate the Defaults folder and any desired subfolders within the Project folder.
• Depending on which types of Project-specific defaults you’d like to work with, adjust the
corresponding device parameters, track settings, etc.
• Save the device or track to the appropriate folder in your Project-specific Defaults folder.

Now, whenever you’ve loaded a Set from this Project, any default presets that you’ve saved into these
Project folders will be used instead of those found in the User Library. Note that the context menu
options for saving default presets will save them to your main User Library, and so cannot be used to
save Project-specific defaults.

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21.2 Using Plug-Ins
The collection of devices that you can use in Live can be extended with plug-ins. Live supports
Steinberg Media’s VST plug-in format, as well as the Audio Units (AU) plug-in format (macOS only),
specifically:

• VST2
• VST3
• Audio Units 2
• Audio Units 3 (Live 11.2 and later)

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 following
instruments. Please see the previous section, Using the Live Devices, for details.

To skip plug-in scanning when Live is launched, hold the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier when
opening the program until the splash screen closes. This can be helpful when troubleshooting crashes
to see if any plug-ins are causing the problem.

Plug-Ins in the Browser.

Audio Units and VST plug-ins are browsed and imported using the browser’s Plug-Ins 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,
factory 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.

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Note: The first time you start Live, no plug-ins will appear in the Plug-Ins 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 deactivating) plug-
in sources can be found later in this chapter, in the sections on the VST Plug-In folder and Audio Units
Plug-Ins.

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/uninstall 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 button in the
Plug-Ins Settings 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 (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier while pressing Rescan will delete your plug-
in database altogether and run a clean scan of your plug-ins.

21.2.1 Plug-Ins in the Device View

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 up to 64 modifiable parameters, a Live panel will represent all of the parameters as horizontal
sliders. Plug-ins that contain more than 64 parameters will open with an empty 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.

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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.

21.2.1.1 Showing Plug-In Panels in Separate Windows

The Show/Hide Plug-In Window Button.

The Show/Hide Plug-In Window button opens a floating window that 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-Ins Settings for working with plug-in windows:

• If activated, the Auto-Open Plug-In Window Preference assures that plug-in windows open
automatically when plug-ins are loaded into tracks from the browser.
• If the Multiple Plug-In Windows option in the Plug-In Settings is activated, you can open any
number of plug-in windows at once. Even with this option off, you can hold down the Ctrl
(Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier when opening a new plug-in window to keep the previous
window(s) from closing.
• Using the Auto-Hide Plug-In Windows preference, you can choose to have Live display only
those plug-in windows belonging to the track that is currently selected.

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You can use the View menu’s Show/Hide Plug-In Windows command or the Ctrl Alt P (Win) /
Cmd Option 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 window.

21.2.1.2 Plug-In Configure Mode

The Configure Button.

Configure Mode allows you to customize Live’s panel to show only the plug-in parameters that you
need to access. To do this:

• Enter Configure Mode by pressing the “Configure“ button in the device’s header.
• Click on a parameter in the plug-in 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 parameters, you
can create a Rack containing the configured plug-in. Racks can then be saved to your User Library
and loaded into other Sets. You can also save a particular parameter configuration as a default
preset.

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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 parameters to Live’s panel without entering Configure Mode:

• 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.
• When a parameter is changed on a plug-in’s floating 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.
• 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:

• You can map MIDI controller messages to all of the parameters in Live’s panel.
• 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.
• You can automate or modulate its continuous parameters with clip envelopes.
• 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 I/O chapter for details.
• You can create custom info text for the plug-in.

21.2.2 Sidechain Parameters

Normally, the signal being processed and the input source that triggers the plug-in device are the
same signal. But by using sidechaining, it is possible to apply processing to a signal based on the
level of another signal. In plug-in devices that support sidechaining, you can access the sidechain
parameters on the left side of the device.

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Plug-In Sidechain Parameters.

The choosers allow you to select any of Live’s internal routing points. This causes the selected source to
act as the device’s trigger, instead of the signal that is actually being processed.

The Gain knob adjusts the level of the external sidechain’s input, while the Mix knob allows you to use
a combination of sidechain and original signal as the trigger. With Mix 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 Mute button allows you to listen to only the plug-in device’s output, bypassing the sidechain
source’s input.

21.3 VST Plug-Ins

21.3.1 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-Ins panel, or open the Plug-Ins
Settings by pressing Ctrl , (Win) / Cmd , (Mac). There you will find the Plug-In Sources
section.

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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
appropriate 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.
3. Make sure that the Use VST Plug-In Custom Folder option is set to “On,“ so that your selected
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.

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Setting up VST Plug-In Sources for macOS.

Set up your VST plug-ins under macOS 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 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 locating 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-Ins Settings, the browser will display all plug-ins it finds in the
selected VST plug-in folder(s) as well as any sub-folders.

It is also possible to use VST plug-ins stored in different folders on your computer. To do this, create a
macOS 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 macOS) selected in
Live’s Plug-Ins Settings. 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.

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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
about 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 problematic 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.

21.3.2 VST Presets and Banks

Every VST plug-in instance “owns“ a bank of presets. A preset is meant to contain one complete set of
values for the plug-in’s controls.

To select a preset from the plug-in’s bank, use the chooser below the title bar. The number of presets
per bank is fixed. You are always working “in“ the currently selected preset, that is, all changes to the
plug-in’s controls become part of the selected preset.

The VST Plug-In Preset Chooser.

Note that VST presets are different from Live device presets: Whereas the presets for a Live device are
shared amongst all instances and Live Sets, the VST presets “belong“ to this specific instance of the
VST plug-in.

To rename the current preset, select the VST’s Device Title Bar and execute the Edit menu’s Rename
Plug-In Preset command. Then type in a new preset name and confirm by pressing Enter .

Renaming a VST Plug-In Preset.

VST presets and banks can be imported from files. Clicking a VST’s Load Preset or Bank button brings
up a standard file-open dialog for locating the desired file.

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The VST Load Preset or Bank Button (Left) and Save Preset or Bank Button (Right).

Windows only: Please select from the File Type filter in the Windows dialog whether you want to
locate VST Presets (VST Program Files) or VST Banks (VST Bank Files).

To save the currently selected preset as a file, click the VST Save Preset or Bank button to bring up a
standard file-save dialog; select “VST Preset“ from the Format menu (Mac)/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.

21.4 Audio Units Plug-Ins

Audio Units plug-ins are only available in macOS. In most respects, they operate just like VST plug-
ins.

An Audio Units Plug-In.

The first time you open Live, Audio Units plug-ins will not appear in the browser. In order to activate
your Audio Units as a plug-in source, please press the Activate button in the browser’s Plug-Ins label,
or go to the Plug-Ins Settings by pressing Ctrl , (Win) / Cmd , (Mac). There 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.

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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 original plug-in
panel, which is opened using the Show/Hide Plug-In Window button.

Opening an Audio Units Plug-In Window.

Audio Units have presets that function just like those for the Live effects. However, some AU presets
cannot be dragged to different locations in the browser, as they are read-only.

Audio Units presets have an .au preset extension and are stored in the following directory according
to their manufacturer’s name:

(Home)/Library/Audio/Presets/(Manufacturer Name)/(Plug-in Name)

21.5 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 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.

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Device delay compensation is on by default and does not normally have to be adjusted in any way.
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 input
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.

Note that 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.

Unusually high individual track delays 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.

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22. 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.

22.1 An Overview of Racks

22.1.1 Signal Flow and Parallel Device Chains

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.

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Drum Racks also allow multiple parallel chains to be used simultaneously, but their chains process
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 device chain,
the Rack’s output is passed on to them, as usual.

22.1.2 Macro Controls

The Macro Controls.

One unique property of Racks are their Macro Controls.

The Macro Controls are a bank of 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 convenience, 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 for a detailed explanation of how to do this.

For the greatest degree of expression, try MIDI-mapping the Macro Controls to an external control
surface.

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22.2 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:

• MIDI Effect Racks contain only MIDI effects, and can only be placed in MIDI tracks.
• 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 Racks contain instruments, 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.
• Drum Racks 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 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. Doing 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 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.

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22.3 Looking at Racks

Components of an Effect Rack.

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 actual 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 - 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 context 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 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 on the Device View selector, and a
hierarchical list of all devices in the track’s device chain will appear. Simply select an entry from the
list, and Live will select that device and move it into view for you.

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Navigate Racks Quickly Via a Context Menu.

22.4 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.

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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 or Arrangement
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 Instrument,
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 context menu. The context menu also contains
a color palette where you can choose a custom chain color.

22.4.1 Auto Select

Auto Select in an Audio Effect Rack.

When the Auto Select switch is activated, every chain that is currently processing signals becomes
selected in the Chain List. In Drum Racks, this feature will select a chain if it receives its assigned MIDI

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input note. In Instrument and Effect Racks, Auto Select works in conjunction with zones, which are
discussed next, and is quite helpful when troubleshooting complex configurations.

22.5 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 reconfigured, 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 narrow
upper section that defines fade ranges. Resizing of either section is done by clicking and dragging on
its right or left edges, while moving is accomplished by clicking and dragging a zone from anywhere
except its edges.

22.5.1 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.
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 chain.
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 device chain, it
would now receive the Rack’s output for processing.

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22.5.2 Key Zones

The Key Zone Editor.

When the Key button is selected, the Key Zone Editor appears to the right of the Chain List, illustrating
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.

22.5.3 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.

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22.5.4 Chain Select Zones

The Chain Select Editor.

Activating the Chain button in an Instrument or 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.

The chain select zone is a data filter just like the other zones; although all chains in a Rack receive
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 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 volume
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 volume 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:

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22.5.4.1 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 0.
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.

Let’s move the chain select zones of the second and third chains so that each of our zones is
occupying its own adjacent value: The first chain’s zone has a value of 0, 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 can now flip effortlessly between instrument or
effect setups.

22.5.4.2 Crossfading Preset Banks Using Fade Ranges

Crossfading Between Effects Presets Using Chain Select Zones.

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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.

22.6 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.

The Chain List in 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 Section - 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.

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 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 chain’s output to either
the main output of the Rack or directly to the return tracks of the Set.

22.6.1 Pad View

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 selector to a new area
or by using your computer keyboard’s up and down arrow keys. Use the Alt (Win) / 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

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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-Swap. 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 (Win) /
Cmd (Mac)-dragging a multi-selection layers all of the samples to a single pad, by creating a

nested Instrument Rack.

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 (Win) / 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 Receive
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. More specifically, it
represents 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:

• 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.
• 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.
• A pad that triggers multiple chains shows “Multi“ as its name, and its mute, solo and preview
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 performance
interface, particularly when triggered by a hardware control surface with pads. If your pad controller
is one of Live’s natively supported control surfaces, simply select it as a control surface in the Link,
Tempo & MIDI tab of Live’s Settings. 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 visible on your screen. If you scroll
the pad overview to show a different set of pads, your controller will update automatically.

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22.7 Using the Macro Controls
It is possible to use up to 16 Macro Controls in a Rack. When creating a new Rack, eight Macro
Control knobs are shown by default. You can use the and view selector buttons to increase or
decrease the number of visible Macro Controls. Note that the state of shown and hidden Macro
Controls is saved in the Live Set.

These Selector Buttons Set the Number of Visible Macro Controls.

22.7.1 Map Mode

Making Macro Control Assignments in Map Mode.

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With the potential for developing complex device chains, Macro Controls keep things manageable
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:

• All mappable parameters from a Rack’s devices will appear with a colored overlay;
• Map buttons will appear beneath each Macro Control dial;
• The Mapping Browser (see ‘The Mapping Browser’) 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 Control 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. Inverted
mappings can be created by setting the Min slider’s value greater than the Max slider’s value.
The current values can also be inverted by right-clicking on the entry in the Mapping Browser
and selecting Invert Range.
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.

You can edit or delete your assignments at any time using the Mapping Browser (which only appears
when Map Mode is enabled).

If more than one parameter is assigned to a single Macro Control, the name of the control will revert
to its generic name (e.g., Macro 3). The Marco Control’s units will also change to a 0 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.

22.7.2 Randomizing Macro Controls

If you want to add an element of surprise or find some inspiration in your Set, randomizing Macro
Controls can be a useful tool. You can randomize the values of all mapped Macro Controls in a Rack
by pressing the Rand button in that Rack’s title bar.

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This Button Randomizes Macro Controls.

Depending on your material, you might only want to randomize some parameters, while leaving other
controls unchanged. To exclude a mapped Macro Control from randomization, enable the Exclude
Macro from Randomization option in the context menu. Note that Macro Controls assigned to Volume
parameters in Instrument Rack presets are excluded from randomization by default.

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22.7.3 Macro Control Variations

Macro Control Variations.

You can store different states of Macro Controls as individual presets (or “variations”). This is useful
when, for example, you want to capture the state of a Rack as a “snapshot” during a sound design
session, or audition different settings of a mapped Macro Control in an Audio Effect Rack made for
mixing. You can also use these variations or create builds and drops, or make instant jumps between
different Macro Control settings while recording or performing.

Clicking the Show/Hide Macro Variations view selector button opens a view where you can store,
manage and launch Macro Control variations.

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This Selector Button Opens the Macro Control Variations View.

Pressing the New button stores the current state of a Rack’s Macro Controls as a new variation. By
default, each stored variation will be named sequentially as “Variation 1”, “Variation 2”, etc.
Selected Macro Control variations can be renamed, duplicated, or deleted via commands in the Edit
menu or the context menu.

A Macro Control variation can be launched in its stored state via the Launch Macro Variation button
to the right, or overwritten via the “Overwrite Macro Variation” button to the left. Note that you can
exclude a Macro Control from changing when a different Macro Control variation is launched, by
using the Exclude Macro From Variations command in the context menu. Disabling the context menu
entry will re-enable changes to that control.

22.8 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. This makes it easy to get an overview of your Rack’s hierarchy — or hide it when you
just want to work on your mix.

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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 mixer 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 parameter
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 adjusting the same
parameters in the Rack’s chain list.

22.8.1 Extracting Chains

All chains can be dragged from their parent Racks and placed into other tracks or Racks, either 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 additional 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 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.

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Extracting Drum Chains in the Mixer Extracts MIDI Data.

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23. 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.

23.1 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 Arrangement.
2. By recording a Session View performance into the Arrangement, if the Session 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 determines
whether or not manual parameter changes will be recorded.

The Automation Arm Button.

When Automation Arm is on, all changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar’s Arrangement
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 automation for track panning and
the Track Activator switch as well; their automation LEDs appear in their upper left corners.

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Volume, Pan and the Track Activator Switch Have Been Automated.

23.2 Recording Automation in Session View

Automation can also be recorded to Session View clips. Here is how it works:

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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.

It is 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 Automation Recording switch in the Record, Warp &
Launch Settings.

The Session Automation Recording Preference.

This allows you to, for example, overdub Session automation into an existing MIDI clip without also
recording notes into the clip.

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Any automation in Session View becomes track-based automation when clips are recorded or copied
into Arrangement View.

23.2.1 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 parameters 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.

23.3 Deleting Automation

To delete all automation data, right-click on an automated control to open its context menu and select
Delete Automation, or press the Ctrl Backspace (Win) / Cmd Delete (Mac) shortcut keys. 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.

23.4 Overriding Automation

In practice, you will often want to try out new control moves without overwriting existing automation
data in the Arrangement. Well, nothing is forever in the world of infinite Undo, 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 current 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.

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.“

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You can also re-enable automation for only one parameter via the Re-Enable Automation option in
the context menu for that parameter. And in the Session View, you can re-enable overridden
automation by simply relaunching a clip that contains automation.

23.5 Drawing and Editing Automation

In the Arrangement View and in Session View clips, automation can be viewed and edited as
breakpoint envelopes.

Here is how automation editing works in the Arrangement:

Automation Envelopes in the Arrangement View.

1. To show automation envelopes, enable Automation Mode by clicking the toggle button
above the track headers, or using the A shortcut to the View menu item. Note that you can
disable Automation Mode by pressing the toggle button or A shortcut key again.
2. Clicking on a track’s mixer or device controls will display this control’s envelope on the clip
track.
3. Envelopes appear in the track’s main automation lane, “on top of“ the audio waveform or MIDI
display. This is useful for lining up breakpoints with the track’s audio or MIDI content. An
envelope’s vertical axis represents the control value and the horizontal axis represents time. For
switches and radio buttons, the value axis is “discrete”, meaning that it operates with non-
continuous values (e.g., on/off).
4. The Device chooser either selects 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

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 by showing an LED next to their labels. 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 Device chooser.
The labels of automated controls have an LED.

Once an envelope has been selected on the track, several new buttons appear:

1. 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. Holding Alt
(Win) / Cmd (Mac) while pressing the button moves the selected envelope, as well as all
automated envelopes, into their own automation lane(s) below the clip. If the Device chooser is
set to “None“, this button will be hidden.
2. The button hides its respective automation lane. Note that hiding a lane from view does not
deactivate its envelope. Holding Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while clicking the button
removes the selected automation lane, as well as any subsequent automation lanes in that
track.
3. The toggle appears when an envelope is moved into its own automation lane. This toggle
lets you show or hide all additional automation lanes.

Right-clicking on an 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.

You can use the left arrow key to navigate from an automation lane to the main track, this will fold all
automation lanes as well. Using the left and right arrow keys on a main track will fold/unfold its
automation lanes.

Automation editing for Session View clips is covered in detail in the Clip Envelopes chapter.

23.5.1 Drawing Envelopes

With Draw Mode enabled, you can click and drag to “draw“ an envelope curve.

The Draw Mode Switch.

To toggle Draw Mode, select the Draw Mode option from the Options menu, click on the Control
Bar’s Draw Mode switch, or press B . Holding B while editing with the mouse temporarily toggles
Draw Mode.

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Drawing an Envelope.

Drawing creates steps as wide as the visible grid, which you can modify using a number of handy
shortcuts. Holding down the Shift modifier while dragging vertically allows you to adjust the
automation value of a step at a finer resolution.

For freehand drawing, you can hide the grid using the Snap to Grid Options menu entry or the Ctrl
4 (Win) / Cmd 4 (Mac) shortcut. To temporarily enable freehand drawing while the grid is

shown, hold down Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while drawing.

23.5.2 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 envelope’s
background defines a selection. Here’s how editing breakpoints works:

• Click at a position on a line segment to create a new breakpoint there.

• Double-click anywhere in the envelope display that is not on a line segment, to create a new
breakpoint there.
• Click on a breakpoint to delete it.
• To help you edit breakpoints more quickly, automation values are shown when you create,
hover over, or drag a breakpoint. Note that when hovering over or dragging a selected line
segment, the automation value shown will correspond to the breakpoint closest to the cursor.

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A Breakpoint’s Automation Value.

• Click and drag a breakpoint to move it to the desired location. If the breakpoint you are
dragging is in the current selection, all other breakpoints in the selection will follow the
movement. When dragging a breakpoint, a thin black vertical line will appear to help you see
where your breakpoint is positioned in relation to the grid lines.
• Right-click on a breakpoint and choose Edit Value from the context menu. This allows you to set
an exact value in the editable field using your computer keyboard. If multiple breakpoints are
selected, they will all be moved relatively. Similarly, you can also create new breakpoints at an
exact value by right-clicking on a preview breakpoint and choosing the Add Value command.
• Click near (but not on) a line segment or hold Shift and click directly on a line segment to
select it. With the left mouse button held down, drag to move the line segment to the desired
location. If the line segment you are dragging is in the current time selection, Live will insert
breakpoints at the selection’s edges and the entire segment will move together.

To Move all Breakpoints Within the Selection, Drag Any One of Them.

• Breakpoints created close to a grid line will automatically snap to that line. Hold down the Alt
(Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier while dragging horizontally to bypass grid snapping.
• Breakpoints and line segments will snap to time positions where neighboring breakpoints exist.
You can remove a neighboring breakpoint by continuing to drag a breakpoint or line segment
“over” it horizontally.
• When moving a line segment or breakpoint, hold Shift while dragging to restrict movement to
either the horizontal or vertical axis.

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 • Holding down the Shift modifier while dragging vertically allows you to adjust the breakpoint
or line segment value at a finer resolution.
• Hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and drag a line segment to curve the segment. Double-
click while holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to return the segment to a straight line.

A Curved Envelope Segment.

23.5.3 Stretching and Skewing Envelopes

The Handles Allow You to Stretch or Skew Envelopes.

When hovering over a time selection, handles appear around the outer edges of the selection.
Clicking and dragging these handles allows you to transform the selected automation in the following
ways:

• Dragging the top and bottom center handles lets you stretch the automation along the vertical
axis. While dragging, a rectangle indicates the amount of stretching. The rectangle will snap to
upper and lower boundaries and when its corners intersect. Holding Shift allows you to finely
adjust the amount of stretching. Dragging beyond the boundaries will clip the envelope.

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While Dragging a Handle, A Rectangle Indicates the Amount of Stretching or Skewing.

• Dragging the left and right center handles lets you stretch the automation along the horizontal
axis. Dragging over existing breakpoints outside the time selection will remove them. If you hold
Shift while stretching, these breakpoints will be moved in proportion to the movement of the

handle. Hold down the Alt (Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier while dragging horizontally to
bypass grid snapping.
• Dragging any of the corner handles lets you skew the automation. While dragging, a rectangle
indicates the degree of skewing. The rectangle will snap to upper and lower boundaries and
when its corners intersect. Holding Shift allows you to finely adjust the amount of skewing.
• Dragging a handle while holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) will mirror the movement in the
opposite handle, as if you were dragging them both simultaneously in opposite directions.

23.5.4 Simplifying Envelopes

If your automation envelope has a lot of breakpoints, e.g., after recording automation, the Simplify
Envelope command can be quite useful. Simplify Envelope calculates the optimal number of
breakpoints needed to represent the selected automation envelope, and removes any unnecessary
breakpoints, replacing them with straight lines or curved segments where appropriate.

The Simplify Envelope Command Removes Unnecessary Breakpoints.

Make a time selection on the automation you wish to simplify, and choose Simplify Envelope from the
context menu.

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23.5.5 Inserting Automation Shapes

Automation Shapes Inserted into an Envelope.

Automation shapes can help you quickly create complex rhythmic automation patterns, as well as
more subtle, slow-paced movements like swells, builds and drops.

There are several predefined automation shapes that you can apply to a time selection. To insert an
automation shape, right-click on a time selection and choose a shape from the context menu.

The Two Rows Contain Different Types of Automation Shapes.

There are two types of automation shapes. In the top row of available shapes, you’ll find several
common waveforms: sine, triangle, sawtooth, inverse sawtooth and square. When inserted, these
shapes will be scaled horizontally to the time selection and vertically to the automated parameter
range. If there is no time selection, the shapes will be scaled horizontally to the current grid size.

In the bottom row of available shapes are two sets of ramps, and an ADSR shape. These shapes
behave slightly differently than those on the top row. When inserted, they will link up to the value of
the automation before or after the selection, as indicated by their dotted line.

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23.5.6 Locking Envelopes

When moving Arrangement View clips, Live normally moves all automation with the clip. Sometimes,
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.

The Lock Envelopes Switch.

23.5.7 Edit Menu Commands

When working with automation data in the Arrangement View, several Edit menu commands behave
differently depending on whether or not your selection is within the clip track or its automation lanes.

Cut, Copy, Duplicate or Delete commands applied to an envelope selection within a single lane will
only apply to this envelope. The clip itself and other automation that occurs in that time selection will
be unaffected. You can also work with envelopes in multiple lanes simultaneously.

If you want your edits to apply to both the clip and all of its associated envelopes, ensure the Lock
Envelopes switch is disabled and 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.

23.5.8 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 Main track in Arrangement View, choose “Mixer“ from
the top envelope chooser and “Song Tempo“ from the bottom one.

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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 assigned to the
tempo.

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24. 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.

24.1 The Clip Envelope Editor

To work with clip envelopes, open up the Clip View’s Envelopes tab by clicking the tab header with
the icon in the Clip View. The Envelopes tab contains two choosers for selecting an envelope to
view and edit.

The Clip View’s Envelopes Tab.

The left-hand side 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:

• Audio clips have entries for “Clip” (the clip’s sample controls), every effect in the track’s device
chain, and the mixer.
• MIDI clips have entries for “MIDI Ctrl“ (MIDI controller data), every device in the track’s device
chain, and the mixer.

The right-hand side menu, the Control chooser, selects among the controls of the item chosen in the
Device chooser menu. In both choosers, parameters with altered clip envelopes appear with LEDs

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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. Please see Recording Automation in Session View for information
on recording Session View automation.

To delete a clip envelope (i.e., to set it back to its default value), right-click in the Clip View’s Envelope
Editor or press the Ctrl Backspace (Win) / Cmd Delete (Mac) shortcut keys to open its context
menu and select Clear Envelope.

To automatically reset certain MIDI control messages at the start of a new clip, select the “MIDI
Envelope Auto-Reset” entry from the Options menu or the context menu in the Sample Editor.

Let us now look at some uses of clip envelopes.

24.2 Audio Clip Envelopes

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.

24.2.1 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 Live Set that all sound different, but use the same sample.

You can, of course, export a newly created sound by rendering, or by resampling. In the Arrangement
View, you can use the Consolidate command to create new samples.

24.2.2 Changing Pitch and Tuning per Note

Drop a sample loop from the browser into Live, make sure the Warp switch is enabled, and then play
the clip. Select “Clip” in the Device chooser and “Transposition” 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 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.

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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 Shift modifier while drawing
or moving breakpoints to obtain a finer resolution.

To scroll the display, hold down the Ctrl Alt (Win) / Cmd Option (Mac) modifier while
dragging.

Pitch is modulated in an additive way. The 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).

24.2.3 Muting or Attenuating Notes in a Sample

Select “Clip” in the Device chooser and “Gain” in the Control chooser. By drawing steps in Draw
Mode or creating shapes with breakpoints, you can impose an arbitrary volume shape onto the
sample.

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Imposing a Volume Envelope on a Sample.

The volume envelope’s output is interpreted as a relative percentage of the Clip Gain slider’s current
value. The result of the clip envelope’s modulation can therefore never exceed the absolute volume
setting, but the clip envelope can drag the audible volume down to silence.

24.2.4 Scrambling Beats

One very creative use of clip envelopes is to modulate the sample offset. Sample offset modulation
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 tab, 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?

Imagine the audio is read out by a tape head, the position of which is modulated by the envelope. 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.

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.

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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.

24.2.5 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. 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.

24.3 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, this is a potential source of confusion. However,
modulation envelopes differ from automation envelopes in one important way: Whereas automation
envelopes define the absolute 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. To help you distinguish between these, automation
envelopes are colored in red, whereas modulation envelopes are colored in blue. Additionally, in
parameters with knob controls, automation moves the absolute position (or the “needle”), whereas
modulation is indicated by the blue segment on the ring.

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 crescendo,
as the modulation envelope gradually increases the volume within the range allowed by the
automation envelope. 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.

Both automation and modulation clip envelopes are available for clips in the Session View. A toggle
beneath the envelope choosers allows you to switch between editing automation and modulation clip
envelopes for the selected parameter. In the Arrangement, clips only have modulation envelopes,
while the automation envelopes reside on the track’s automation lane.

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Toggle Between Editing Automation and Modulation Envelopes.

In a clip, parameters that have an automation envelope are indicated by a red LED in the Control
chooser. Similarly, parameters that have a modulation envelope are indicated by a blue LED. Some
parameters may have both red and blue LEDs, indicating that they are being automated and
modulated by the clip.

LEDs Indicate Existing Automation and Modulation Envelopes for the Selected Parameter.

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24.3.1 Modulating Mixer Volumes and Sends

Notice that there are actually two modulation envelopes that affect volume: Clip Gain and Track
Volume. 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 volume slider thumb indicates the actual,
modulated volume setting.

Modulating the Mixer Volume. The Little Dot Below the Volume Slider Thumb Represents the
Modulated Volume Setting.

As you raise and lower the Volume slider, you can observe the dot following your movement in a
relative fashion.

Modulating the track’s Send controls is just as easy. Again, the modulation is a relative percentage:
The clip envelope cannot open the send further than the Send knob, but it can reduce the actual send
value to minus infinite dB.

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Modulating a Send. The Blue Segment of the Send Knob’s Position Ring Indicates the
Modulated Value.

24.3.2 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.

24.3.3 Modulating Device Controls

All devices in a clip’s track are listed in the Device chooser. Modulating device 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, the clip
envelope cannot define the values for the devices’ controls, it can only change them relative to their
current setting.

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24.4 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 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 Control chooser next to it to select
a specific MIDI controller. You can create new clip envelopes for any 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 adjacent LED in the 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.

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.

24.5 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.

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24.5.1 Programming 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.

Using a Clip Envelope to Create a Fade-Out Over Several Repetitions of a Loop.

1. Choose the Clip Gain or Mixer Track Volume envelope, and unlink it from the sample.
2. 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 tab “come to life.“ If you
toggle the envelope’s Loop switch, you’ll notice the Clip tab/panel’s Loop switch is not
affected. The sample will keep looping although the envelope is now playing as a “one-shot.”
3. Type “8“ into the leftmost envelope loop-length value box.
4. Zoom the envelope display out all the way by clicking on the Envelope’s time ruler and
dragging upwards.
5. 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.

24.5.2 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.

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 repeating. 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.

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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 envelopes 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-adaptive
grid, as is envelope drawing.

24.5.3 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 played by a clip with a one-bar volume envelope 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.

24.5.4 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 independently of a meter grid.

The Stretch/Skew Envelope handles and automation shapes provide possibilities for designing
creative LFO shapes.

24.5.5 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. Additionally, Warp
Markers can be adjusted from within the envelope editor.

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Clip Envelopes and Warp Markers Can Be Adjusted Together.

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25. 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 your edited video file along with your audio.

Before diving in, you will want to be familiar with the concepts presented in the Audio Clips, Tempo,
and Warping chapter.

If you are interested in syncing Live with external video equipment, you’ll also want to read the
chapter on synchronization.

(Note: Video support is not available in the Lite Edition.)

25.1 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.

25.2 The Appearance of Video in Live

25.2.1 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.

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A Video Clip in the Arrangement View.

For the most part, video clips in the Arrangement View are treated just like audio clips. They can be
trimmed, for example, by dragging their right or left edges. However, there are some editing
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.

25.2.2 The Video Window

The Video Window in the Arrangement View.

The Video Window is a separate, floating window that always remains above Live’s main window. 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. Hold Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and
double-click in the Video Window to restore it to original size of the video.

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25.2.2.1 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. During gaps in video, Live’s Video Window will display a
black screen; gaps in audio will play silence.

25.2.3 Clip View

Soundtrack composers will want to note the Tempo Leader option in Live’s Clip View. When scoring to
video, video clips are usually set as tempo leaders, while audio clips are left as tempo followers.
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 leader.

Setting a Video Clip as Tempo Leader.

Remember from the Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping chapter that, although any number of warped
Arrangement clips can have the Tempo Leader option activated, only the bottom-most, currently
playing clip is the actual tempo leader.

This also means that it is possible for video clips that are not the current tempo leader to become
warped, resulting in warped video output in the Video Window.

25.2.3.1 Warp Markers

While dragging a Warp Marker belonging to a video clip, you will notice that the Video Window
updates to show the corresponding video frame, so that any point in the music can be easily 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.

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25.3 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. If you’re using Live on a single monitor, your
computer keyboard’s Tab key will toggle between the Session View and Arrangement View.
2. Drag a QuickTime movie from Live’s browser and drop it into an audio track in the Arrangement
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 Audio tab/panel,
make sure that the Warp button is enabled. Warped clips in the Arrangement View can be set
as tempo leader or follower. We want the Leader/Follower switch set to Leader, which will
force 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 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.

25.4 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 accommodated by trimming video
clips, as follows.

1. First, we drop a movie file at the start of the Arrangement (1.1.1).

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A Video Clip at the Start of the Arrangement.

1. Next, we double-click on the video 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.

1. 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:
2. In the Arrangement View, we select all materials (Edit menu/Select All), then drag the entire
composition a few seconds to the right:

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The Video Clip and the Final Clip of Music.

1. 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.

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26. Live Audio Effect Reference
Live comes with a selection of custom-designed, built-in audio effects. The Working with Instruments
and Effects chapter explains the basics of using effects in Live.

26.1 Amp

The Amp Effect.

(Note: The Amp effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Amp is an effect that emulates the sound and character of seven classic guitar amplifiers. Developed
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.

There are seven amp models to choose from:

• 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.
• Boost is based on the ”Tremolo” channel of the same amp, and is great for edgy rock riffs.

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 • Blues is based on a ’70s-era guitar amp with a bright character. This classic amp is popular
with country, rock and blues guitarists.
• Rock is modeled after a classic 45 watt amp from the ’60s. This is perhaps the best known rock
amp of all time.
• Lead is based on the ”Modern” channel of a high-gain amp popular with metal guitarists.
• Heavy is based on the ”Vintage” channel of the same amp and is also ideal for metal and
grunge sounds.
• Bass is modeled after a rare PA from the ’70s which has become popular with bass players due
to its strong low end and ”fuzz” at high volumes.

Although the real-world versions of these amplifiers all have unique parameters, Live’s Amp effect 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 adjusts 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 distorted 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 on a 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 the processed and dry signals.

26.1.1 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:

26.1.1.1 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 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.

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26.1.1.2 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 available 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.

26.1.1.3 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 or Analog
to add analog grit to your digital sounds.

26.2 Auto Filter

The Auto Filter Effect.

The Auto Filter effect provides classic analog filter emulation. It can be modulated by an envelope
follower and/or an LFO to create moving filter effects. The envelope follower can track either the
filtered signal or an external sidechain source.

Auto Filter offers a variety of filter types including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, and a
special Morph filter. Each filter can be switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes as well as a selection
of analog-modeled circuit behaviors developed in conjunction with Cytomic that emulate hardware
filters found on some classic analog synthesizers.

The Clean circuit option is a high-quality, CPU-efficient design that is the same as the filters used in EQ
Eight. This is available for all of the filter types.

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The OSR circuit option is a state-variable type with resonance limited by a unique hard-clipping
diode. This is modeled on the filters used in a somewhat rare British monosynth, and is available for all
filter types.

The MS2 circuit option uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit resonance. It is modeled on
the filters used in a famous semi-modular Japanese monosynth and is available for the low-pass and
high-pass filters.

The SMP circuit is a custom design not based on any particular hardware. It shares characteristics of
both the MS2 and PRD circuits and is available for the low-pass and high-pass filters.

The PRD circuit uses a ladder design and has no explicit resonance limiting. It is modeled on the filters
used in a legacy dual-oscillator monosynth from the United States and is available for the low-pass
and high-pass filters.

The most important filter 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.

When using the low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass filter with any circuit type besides Clean, there is
an additional Drive control that can be used to add gain or distortion to the signal before it enters the
filter.

The Morph filter has an additional Morph control which sweeps the filter type continuously from low-
pass to band-pass to high-pass to notch and back to low-pass.

You can quickly snap the Morph control to a low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, or notch setting via
dedicated options in the context menu of the Morph knob.

You can adjust Frequency and Resonance by clicking and dragging in the X-Y controller or via the
knobs. You can also click on the Freq and Res numeric displays and type in exact values.

When using the non-Clean circuit types, the Resonance control allows for self-oscillation. At
Resonance values above 100%, the filter will continue to ring indefinitely even after the input signal
has been stopped. The pitch of the self-oscillation depends on both the Frequency and Resonance
values.

The Envelope section controls how the envelope modulation 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.

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 toggling the
button in its title bar.

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Enabling this section with the Sidechain button allows you to select another track from the choosers
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. 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 periodic
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 random
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 relationship
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 degrees 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.

For sample and hold (“S&H”), the Phase and Spin controls 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).

The Quantize Beat control applies quantized modulation to the filter frequency. With Quantize Beat
off, frequency modulation follows the control source, e.g., the Envelope, LFO, or manually-adjusted
cutoff. Turning this feature on updates the filter modulation rhythmically with stepped changes that
track the tempo. The numbered buttons represent 16th notes, so, for example, selecting “4” as a beat
value produces a modulation change once per quarter note.

26.2.0.1 Legacy Filters

If you open a Set that was created in a version of Live older than version 9.5, any instance of Auto
Filter in the Set will open with legacy filters in place of the filters discussed previously. These consist of
12 dB or 24 dB low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filters, as well as a notch filter, and do not feature
a Drive control. Each Auto Filter loaded with the legacy filters shows an Upgrade button in the title

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bar. Pressing this button will permanently switch the filter selection to the newer models for that
instance of Auto Filter. Note that this change may make your Set sound different.

26.3 Auto Pan

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 panning,
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 movement by
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. Phase is
particularly effective for creating vibrato effects.

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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.

26.4 Beat Repeat

The Beat Repeat Effect.

Beat Repeat allows for the creation of controlled or randomized repetitions of an incoming signal.

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
repetitions will occur over the period of one beat, starting at the position defined by Interval and
Offset.

Activating the Repeat button bypasses all of the above controls, immediately capturing material and
repeating it until deactivated.

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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 variations 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 that 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 low-pass and high-pass 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.

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26.5 Cabinet

The Cabinet Effect.

(Note: The Cabinet effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Cabinet is an effect that emulates the sound of five classic guitar cabinets. Developed in collaboration
with Softube, Cabinet uses physical modelling technology to provide a range of authentic sounds,
with optimized mics and mic positioning.

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 speaker
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.”

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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 CPU.

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals.

26.5.1 Cabinet Tips

Here are some tips for using Cabinet:

26.5.1.1 Amps and Cabinets

Guitar cabinets are normally fed by guitar amps. For this reason, Cabinet is paired with Amp, and the
two are normally used together. But you can also achieve interesting and exotic sounds by using Amp
and Cabinet separately.

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26.5.1.2 Multiple mics

A common studio technique is to use multiple mics on a single cabinet, and then adjust the balance
during mixing. This is easy to do by using Live’s Audio Effect Racks. Try this:

1. Configure one instance of Cabinet as you like.

2. Put the Cabinet into an Audio Effect Rack.
3. Duplicate the Rack chain that contains the original Cabinet as many times as you like.
4. In the additional chains, choose a different Microphone setting and/or mic type.
5. Adjust the relative volumes of the Rack’s chains in the Rack’s mixer.

26.6 Channel EQ

The Channel EQ Effect.

Inspired by EQs found on classic mixing desks, Channel EQ is a simple, yet flexible three-band EQ,
fine-tuned to provide musical results for a variety of audio material.

Activating the HP 80 Hz switch will toggle a high-pass filter, which is useful for removing the rumble
from a signal.

The Low parameter controls the gain of a low shelf filter, tuned to 100 Hz. This filter can boost or
attenuate low frequencies by a range of +/- 15 dB. The filter curve is adaptive and will change
dynamically relative to the amount of gain applied.

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The Mid parameter controls the gain of a sweepable bell filter. Unlike the Low and High parameters,
Mid has a range of +/- 12 dB. The frequency slider located above the Mid control allows you to set
the center frequency of this filter from 120 Hz to 7.5 kHz.

When boosting, the High parameter controls the gain of a high shelf filter, up to 15 dB. When
attenuating, the shelving filter is combined with a low-pass filter. Turning the parameter from 0 dB
towards -15 dB will simultaneously reduce the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter from 20 kHz to 8
kHz.

A spectrum visualization provides real-time visual feedback of the resulting filter curves and processed
signal.

The Output control sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal, and can be used to
compensate for any changed signal amplitude resulting from the EQ settings.

26.6.1 Channel EQ Tips

You can use Channel EQ to further shape the output of a reverb effect in a device chain.

You can also shape the sound of a single drum or an entire drum kit, by placing an instance of
Channel EQ onto one or multiple Drum Rack pads.

Adding an instance of Saturator after Channel EQ in a device chain allows you to simulate the
analog nonlinearities of a mixer channel strip. In such cases, boosting the low end considerably
would also lead to increased distortion, similar to the behavior of analog mixing desks.

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26.7 Chorus

The Chorus Effect.

In 11.0 and later, the Chorus-Ensemble effect is an expanded version of Chorus that offers a larger
feature set. Chorus is no longer part of the Core Library as of 11.0 but can still be found in the User
Library. Live Sets that were made in earlier versions that contain Chorus will still open with that specific
device in 11.0 and later.

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 high-pass filter
that can remove low frequencies from the delayed signal. Greater high-pass values let only very high
frequencies pass through to Delay 1.

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 receive the same
modulation as Delay 1.

To set both delay lines to Delay 1’s delay time, turn on the link button (”=”). This is especially useful 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 modulation, 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.

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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 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 device title bar’s 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.

26.8 Chorus-Ensemble

The Chorus-Ensemble Effect.

Chorus-Ensemble offers a classic two-delay line chorus with an optional third delay line mode. With a
wide variety of tools for thickening sounds, creating flanging and vibrato effects, this device also
allows you to easily recreate string ensemble chorus sounds.

Three different modes are provided, which can be chosen in the display: Classic, Ensemble, and
Vibrato.

Classic mode creates a thickened sound by adding two time-modulated delayed signals to the input.
Use it for a classic chorus sound, adding light motion to your audio signal.

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Ensemble mode is inspired by a thick three-delay line chorus pedal used in the ’70s. Ensemble mode
is based on and shares controls with Classic mode, but creates richer, smoother, and more intense
chorus sound by using three delayed signals with evenly split modulation phase offsets.

Vibrato mode applies stronger modulation than a chorus to create pitch variation. The shape of the
modulation waveform can morph seamlessly from a sine to a triangle, and be used to create well-
known “police siren” sounds.

In addition to the mode selector buttons, the display also provides access to a high-pass filter and the
Width parameter. Width is active in Classic and Ensemble modes, but while in Vibrato mode, this
parameter is replaced by Offset and Shape controls.

When enabled, the high-pass filter reduces the chorus effect on signal components below the
frequency set by the High-Pass Frequency slider, ranging from 20 Hz to 2000 Hz.

Width sets the stereo width of the wet signal, which in turn adjusts the chorus level balance between
the mid and side channels. At 0% the signal will be mono, at 100% the balance is equal, and at
200% the chorus level is twice as loud in the sides as in the middle. This is used for maintaining the
level of the effect across the stereo field, which can be helpful during mixing.

When using Vibrato mode, Offset adjusts the amount of phase offset between the waveforms for the
left and right channel. At 180°, the channels will be perfectly out of phase. Shape enables you to
change the shape of the modulation waveform between a sine and a triangle.

Global parameters available include Rate, Amount, Feedback, Output, Warmth and Dry/Wet.

Rate sets the modulation rate in Hertz, and can be adjusted either with the dial or by dragging up or
down in the display. Turn up Rate for a more drastic chorus sound, or keep it low for more gentle
phasing.

Amount adjusts the amplitude of the modulation signals that affects delay times. Higher values result in
a stronger time deviation from the unmodulated time setting.

Feedback sets the amount of each channel’s output that is fed back to its input. Increasing this sounds
more extreme and tends to increase upper harmonic material, and will also create audible delays if
playback is stopped. The feedback signal can be inverted using the Ø button, which results in a
“hollow” sound when combined with high feedback values.

Output sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal.

Warmth adds slight distortion and filtering for a warmer sound. Turn it up for more crunch!

Dry/Wet adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to 100% when using
Chorus-Ensemble in a return track. Note that this is disabled in Vibrato mode.

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26.8.1 Chorus-Ensemble Tips

Here are some tips for using Chorus-Ensemble:

• Use Ensemble mode at a rate between 1 Hz and 1.8 Hz and 100% Amount on dry guitars to
create a typical surf-rock sound.
• Automate the Feedback Invert toggle at Feedback levels > 90% to create massive bursts of
decaying oscillations.

26.9 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 output 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 increases 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 moment.
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 and is easily capable of destroying its dynamic

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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 Main track.
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 compensates the
output level if the threshold and ratio settings change.

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
approached. With a setting of 0 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 compressor 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 switched between several modes via switches in the bottom corners of
the display:

• The Collapsed view shows only the essential controls.

Compressor’s Collapsed View.

• 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.

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Compressor’s Transfer Curve.

• The Activity view shows the level of the input signal in light gray. 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 gray. 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. If these peaks cause overloads,

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you can try shortening the attack time, but extremely short times take the ”life” out of 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 generally 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 attack/
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 Compressor 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 musical. Expand mode lets you set
the ratio of expansion between the input and output level. For example, a ratio of 1 to 2 means that
for every 1 dB of input above the threshold level, the output level will increase by 2 dB. A ratio of 1 to
1 results in no expansion. For more information about the various types of dynamics processing, see
the Multiband Dynamics section.

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 compression than Lin mode.
Note that the Lin/Log switch is not visible in Compressor’s collapsed view.

26.9.1 Sidechain Parameters

The Compressor Device With Sidechain Section.

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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
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 from the
choosers below. This causes the selected source to act as the 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 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 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 compressor’s output. Since the sidechain audio isn’t fed to the 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.

26.9.2 Compressor Tips

This section presents some tips for using Compressor effectively, particularly with the sidechain
options.

26.9.2.1 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.

26.9.2.2 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 compressor on

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the bass (or Main) 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 with 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 low-pass filter. By carefully adjusting 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 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.

26.10 Corpus

The Corpus Effect.

(Note: The Corpus effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

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 modeling
technology to provide a wide range of parameters and modulation options.

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26.10.1 Resonator Parameters

Corpus’s Resonator Parameters.

The Resonance 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.
• 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.
• Membrane is a model of a rectangular membrane (such as a drum head) with a variable size
and construction.
• Plate simulates sound production by a rectangular plate (a flat surface) of different materials
and sizes.
• 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).
• Tube simulates a cylindrical tube that is fully open at both ends.

The Resonator Quality chooser controls the trade-off between the sound quality of the resonators and
performance by reducing the number of overtones that are calculated. Eco uses minimal CPU
resources, while High creates more sophisticated resonances. This parameter is not used with the Pipe
or Tube resonators.

The Decay slider adjusts the amount of internal damping in the resonator, and thus 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 slider is only available for the Pipe and Tube resonators, and appears in place of the
Material parameter mentioned above. Radius 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 also be controlled with the X-Y controller.

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The Bright knob 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, frequencies
are compressed, increasing the number of lower partials. At positive values, frequencies are stretched,
increasing the number 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.

Ratio, which is only available for the Membrane and Plate resonators, adjusts the ratio of the
membrane/plate along its x and y axes.

The Hit knob adjusts the location on the resonator at which the object is struck or otherwise activated.
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 Width slider adjusts the stereo mix between the left and right resonators. At 0%, both resonators
are fed equally to each side, resulting in mono output. At 100%, each resonator is sent exclusively to
one channel.

The Pos. L and Pos. R controls adjust the location on the left and right resonator where the vibrations
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 Tune knob adjusts the frequency of the resonator in Hertz. When MIDI Frequency is enabled in
Corpus’s Sidechain section, the knob can be used to adjust the coarse tuning of the MIDI modulation.

The Fine knob allows for fine tuning MIDI modulation in cents when sidechain MIDI Frequency is
enabled.

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.

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26.10.2 LFO Section

Corpus’s LFO Section.

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 relationship 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. When 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 0 the two
LFOs run in sync.

When the LFOs are synced to song tempo, an additional Offset knob is available, which shifts the start
point of the LFO along its waveform.

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.

Phase or Spin can be chosen when the LFOs are in Hertz mode using the LFO Stereo mode icons.

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The LFO Stereo Mode Icons.

For the noise waveforms, the Phase and Spin controls are not relevant and do not affect the sound.

26.10.3 Filter Section

Corpus’s Filter Section.

The processed signal can be fed through a band-pass filter that can be toggled on or off with the Filter
switch.

The Freq knob adjusts the center frequency of the filter while Bdwidth adjusts the bandwidth of the
filter.

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26.10.4 Global Parameters

Corpus’s Global Parameters.

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 often be damped
when the tuning or quality are set to low values. This parameter is deactivated with the Pipe or Tube
resonators.

Gain boosts or attenuates the level of the processed signal. Corpus contains a built-in limiter that
automatically activates when the audio level is too high. This is indicated by the LED next to the Gain
knob.

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.

26.10.5 Sidechain Parameters

Corpus’s Sidechain Parameters.

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. This button will light up if the sidechain is active.

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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 lowest
note will have priority. The Transpose and Fine knobs in the Resonator section allow for coarse and
fine offset of the MIDI-modulated tuning. PB Range sets the range in semitones of pitch bend
modulation.

With Frequency deactivated, the Tune control in the Resonator section 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 can be
adjusted using the X-Y controller or Decay slider. This is similar to how real-world mallet instruments
such as marimbas and glockenspiels behave. At 100%, the resonance is muted immediately at Note
Off, regardless of the Decay time.

26.11 Delay

The Delay Effect.

The Delay provides two independent delay lines, one for each channel (left and right).

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.

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If the Sync switch is off, the delay time reverts to milliseconds. In this case, to edit the delay time, click
and drag up the Delay Time knob.

With Stereo Link engaged, the left channel’s settings are applied to the right channel, and changing
either channel’s Sync switch or Delay Time settings will apply the changes to both sides.

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 button 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.

The delay is preceded by a band-pass filter that can be toggled on and off with a switch, and
controlled with an X-Y controller. 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.

Filter frequency and delay time can be modulated by an LFO, making it possible to achieve a range
of sounds from light chorus-like effects through to heavy contorted noise. The Rate slider sets the
frequency of the modulation oscillator in Hertz. The Filter slider adjusts the amount of modulation that
is applied to the filter, and the Time slider adjusts the amount of modulation that is applied to the delay
time.

Changing the delay time while Delay is processing audio can cause abrupt changes in the sound of
the delayed signal. You can choose between three delay transition modes:

• Repitch causes a pitch variation when changing the delay time, similar to the behavior of old
tape delay units. Repitch mode is the default option.
• Fade creates a crossfade between the old and new delay times. This sounds a bit similar to time
stretching if the delay time is gradually changed.
• 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.

Tip: Try using the Time slider to explore the effect of time modulation on the different transition modes.

When the Ping Pong switch is activated, the signal jumps from the left to the right output.

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to 100
percent when using Delay in a return track. The Dry/Wet parameter’s context menu lets you toggle
Equal-Loudness. When enabled, a 50/50 mix will sound equally loud for most signals.

Sets saved in versions of Live older than Live 10.1 that used Simple Delay or Ping Pong Delay devices
will show an Upgrade button in the title bar of each instance of Delay when loading the Set.
Upgrading the device will preserve the previously used device’s free delay time range, and will only
affect the sound of the Set or preset if the free delay time parameter was either mapped to a Macro
Control or to a Max for Live device.

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26.11.1 Delay Tips

26.11.1.1 Glitch Effect

Enable the Stereo Link switch and set the delay time to around 400-500ms. Dial the Feedback to
80% or above. Disable the band-pass filter, adjust the Filter slider to 0%, and set the Time slider to
100%. Select the Fade transition mode and make sure Ping Pong is disabled. Set the Dry/Wet control
to 80% or above.

26.11.1.2 Chorus Effect

Disable the Stereo Link switch, set the left channel’s delay time to 12ms, and adjust the right channel’s
delay time to 17ms. Dial the Feedback to 60%. Enable the band-pass filter, set the Filter Frequency to
750 Hz, and adjust the Width slider to 6.5. Set the Rate slider to 5 Hz, bring the Filter slider to 10%,
and dial the Time slider to 12%. Select the Repitch transition mode and enable the Ping Pong switch.

26.12 Drum Buss

The Drum Buss Effect.

(Note: The Drum Buss effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)

Drum Buss is an analog-style drum processor that was designed to add body and character to a
group of drums, while gluing them together in a tight mix.

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The Trim slider lets you reduce the input level before any processing is applied to the signal.

The Comp toggle applies a fixed compressor to the input signal before it is processed by the
distortion. The compressor is optimized for balancing out groups of drums, with fast attack, medium
release and moderate ratio settings, as well as ample makeup gain.

There are three types of distortion which can be applied to the input signal. Each distortion type adds
an increasing degree of distortion, while lending its own character to the overall sound:

• Soft: waveshaping distortion

• Medium: limiting distortion
• Hard: clipping distortion with bass boost

For more intensity, it is possible to drive the input prior to distorting it. The Drive control lets you
determine how much drive is applied to the input signal.

Drum Buss combines commonly-used drum processing tools for shaping the mid-high range and filling
out the low end, which we will look at in the following sections.

26.12.0.1 Mid-High Frequency Shaping

The mid-high frequency shaping tools are designed to add clarity and presence to drums such as
snares and hi-hats.

Crunch adjusts the amount of sine-shaped distortion applied to mid-high frequencies.

The Damp control is a low-pass filter, which removes unwanted high frequencies that can occur after
adding distortion.

The Transients knob emphasizes or de-emphasizes the transients of frequencies above 100 Hz.
Positive values add attack and increase sustain, resulting in a full, “punchy” sound. Negative values
also add attack, but decrease sustain. This tightens up the drums, giving them a sharper, more crisp
sound with less room and rattle.

Low-End Enhancement

Drum Buss’s low-end enhancement is made up of two tools: a resonant filter, which dramatically
boosts bass frequencies, as well as a Decay control, which allows you to adjust the decay rate of both
the incoming audio and the signal processed by the resonant filter. These tools help you to fill out the
low-end of your drums.

The Boom knob adjusts the amount of low-end enhancement that the resonant filter produces. The
Bass Meter lets you see the Boom’s effect on the signal, which can be particularly useful if you can’t
hear it.

The Freq knob adjusts the frequency of the low-end enhancer. Force To Note lets you tune the low-end
enhancer by setting its frequency to the value of the nearest MIDI note.

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The Decay control adjusts the decay rate of the low frequencies. When the Boom amount is set to 0%,
the decay affects the incoming (post-drive and distortion) signal only. When the “Boom Level” is
adjusted above 0%, the decay affects both the incoming and processed signals.

To solo the result of the low-frequency enhancer, enable Boom Audition via the headphone icon.

26.12.0.2 Output

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals.

The Output Gain slider sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal.

26.13 Dynamic Tube

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.

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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 modulated 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 expansion 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 device title
bar’s context menu. This improves the sound quality, particularly with high frequency signals, but there
is a slight increase in CPU usage.

26.14 Echo

The Echo Effect.

(Note: The Echo effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Echo is a modulation delay effect that lets you set the delay time on two independent delay lines,
while giving you control over envelope and filter modulation.

The Channel Mode buttons let you choose between three different modes: Stereo, Ping Pong and
Mid/Side.

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The Left and Right delay line controls let you choose the delay time, which can be set in beat divisions
or milliseconds, depending on the state of the Sync switch. Note that when the Mid/Side channel
mode is selected, the Left and Right delay line controls are replaced with Mid and Side knobs.

You can use the Sync Mode choosers to select one of the following beat-synced modes: Notes,
Triplet, Dotted and 16th. Note that when switching between Sync Modes, the resulting changes are
only audible while the Sync switch is set to Sync.

When Stereo Link is engaged, changing either channel’s delay line control, Sync switch or Sync
Mode settings will apply the changes to both sides.

Changing the Delay Offset sliders shortens or extends the delay time by fractional amounts, thus
producing the ”swing” type of timing effect found in drum machines. Note that when Stereo Link is
enabled, the Delay Offset can still be adjusted individually for the two delay lines.

The Input knob sets the amount of gain applied to the dry signal. To apply distortion to the dry signal,
press the “D” button.

The Feedback parameter defines how much of each channel’s output signal feeds back into the delay
lines’ inputs. The “Ø“ button inverts each channel’s output signal before adding it back to their inputs.

26.14.1 Echo Tab

The Echo tab provides a visualization and control of the delay lines and filter parameters.

Echo’s Tunnel Visualization.

The Echo Tunnel’s circular lines represent the individual repeats, progressing from the outside of the
tunnel to its center. The distance between the lines indicates the time between the repeats, and the
white dots in the middle form a fixed 1/8th note grid for reference. You can adjust the delay times for
each delay line by clicking and dragging in the display.

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Echo’s Filter.

The Filter toggle enables a high-pass and low-pass filter. The HP slider adjusts the cutoff frequency of
the high-pass filter and the adjacent Res slider adjusts the high-pass filter’s resonance. The LP slider
adjusts the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter, and you can use the Res slider on the right side to
adjust the low-pass filter’s resonance.

The Filter Display makes it possible to visualize the filter curves. To show or hide the Filter Display, use
the triangular toggle button. You can also adjust the filter parameters by clicking and dragging either
of the filter dots in the Filter Display.

26.14.2 Modulation Tab

Echo’s Modulation tab contains an LFO that modulates filter frequency and delay time, and an
envelope follower that can be blended with the LFO.

Echo’s Modulation Tab.

You can choose from one of six different modulation waveforms including sine, triangle, sawtooth up,
sawtooth down, square, and noise. The selected waveform will appear in the display, which you can
drag to adjust the modulation frequency.

When Sync is enabled, modulation is synchronized to the song tempo. You can use the Rate slider to
set the frequency of the modulation oscillator in beat divisions. When Sync is disabled, you can use
the Freq slider to adjust frequency of the modulation oscillator in Hertz.

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Phase adjusts the amount of offset between the waveforms for the left and right channel. At 180°, the
channels will be perfectly out of phase.

Mod Delay adjusts the amount of modulation that is applied to the delay time. Modulation x4 scales
the delay time modulation depth by a factor of four. With short delay times, this produces deep
flanging sounds.

Mod Filter adjusts the amount of modulation that is applied to the filter.

Env Mix blends between the modulation oscillator and an envelope follower. At 100%, only the
envelope’s modulation will be heard. At 0%, only the LFO’s modulation will be heard.

26.14.3 Character Tab

Echo’s Character tab contains parameters that control dynamics and add imperfections to your sound.

Echo’s Character Tab.

Gate enables a gate at Echo’s input. It mutes the signal components below its threshold. Threshold sets
the threshold level that incoming audio signals must exceed in order to open the gate. Release sets
how long it takes for the gate to close after the signal has dropped below the threshold.

When Ducking is enabled, the wet signal is proportionally reduced as long as there is an input signal.
Ducking begins to affect the output signal when the input level exceeds the set Threshold. Release sets
how long it takes for ducking to stop after the input signal drops below the threshold.

When enabled, Noise introduces noise to simulate the character of vintage equipment. You can adjust
the Amount of noise added to the signal, and Morph between different types of noise.

When enabled, Wobble adds an irregular modulation of the delay time to simulate tape delays. You
can adjust the Amount of wobble added to the signal, and Morph between different types of wobble
modulation.

Repitch causes a pitch variation when changing the delay time, similar to the behavior of hardware
delay units. When Repitch is disabled, changing the delay time creates a crossfade between the old
and new delay times.

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Note that in order to save CPU, the Echo device turns itself off at least eight seconds after its input
stops producing sound. However, Echo will not switch off if both the Noise and Gate parameters are
enabled.

26.14.4 Global Controls

The Reverb knob sets the amount of reverb added, and you use the Reverb Location chooser to set
where the reverb is added in the processing chain: pre delay, post delay, or within the feedback loop.
Use the Decay slider to lengthen or shorten the reverb tail.

The Stereo control sets the stereo width of the wet signal. 0% yields a mono signal whereas values
above 100% create a widened stereo panorama.

The Output sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal. The Dry/Wet control adjusts the
balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to 100 percent when using Echo in a return
track. The Dry/Wet parameter’s context menu lets you toggle Equal-Loudness. When enabled, a
50/50 mix will sound equally loud for most signals.

26.15 EQ Eight

The EQ Eight Effect.

(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, useful 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 curve 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 encoding. In all

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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:

• 48 or 12 dB/octave Low cut (cuts frequencies below the specified frequency);

• Low shelf (boosts or cuts frequencies lower than the specified frequency);
• Bell curve (boosts or cuts over a range of frequencies);
• Notch (sharply cuts frequencies within a narrow range);
• High shelf (boosts or cuts frequencies higher than the specified frequency);
• 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 with the mouse or with your computer keyboard’s arrow 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 (Win) /
Option (Mac) modifier while dragging the mouse. Note that the gain cannot be 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 expanded view,
all eight filters can be edited simultaneously in the Device View.

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 entirely “by
ear,” you can turn off the Analyze button to disable the spectrum view.

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With Adaptive Q enabled, the Q amount increases as the amount of boost or cut increases. This
results in a more 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 values 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).

26.15.0.1 Context Menu Options

Several of EQ Eight’s controls are only available via the device title bar’s context menu. These include:

• 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 frequencies. There is
a slight increase in CPU usage with Oversampling enabled.

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26.16 EQ Three

The EQ Three Effect.

If you have ever used a good DJ mixer you will know what this is: An EQ that allows you to adjust the
level of low, mid and high frequencies independently.

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 internal 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, then the low band goes from 0 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.

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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.

26.17 Erosion

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 (Win) / Option
(Mac) modifier key while clicking in the X-Y field, the Y-axis controls the bandwidth. Note that
bandwidth is not adjustable 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.

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26.18 External Audio Effect

The External Audio Effect.

(Note: The External Audio Effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

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 depends on
the Audio Settings, which can be reached 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 levels
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.

Since hardware effects 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

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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 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 possible latency. In this case, be sure to switch back to
milliseconds before changing your sample rate.

Note: If the Delay Compensation option 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 in Live’s Help View.

26.19 Filter Delay

The Filter Delay Effect.

(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 low-pass and high-
pass filters. This allows applying delay to only certain input signal frequencies, as determined 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 assigns
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 can override the delay channels’ outputs; otherwise 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 controller. The
X-Y controllers adjust the low-pass and high-pass filters simultaneously for each delay. To edit filter

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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 shortens 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 be turned up to +6 dB to compensate 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.

26.20 Flanger

The Flanger Effect.

(Note: The Flanger effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

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In 11.0 and later, the Phaser-Flanger effect is an expanded version of Flanger that offers a larger
feature set. Flanger is no longer part of the Core Library as of 11.0 but can still be found in the User
Library. Live Sets that were made in earlier versions that contain Flanger will still open with that
specific device in 11.0 and later.

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 controller.

Periodic control of delay time 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.

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. 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 frequency,
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 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 the context menu entry in the device’s title bar. Enabling
Hi-Quality results in a brighter sound, but there is a very slight increase in CPU usage.

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26.21 Frequency Shifter

The Frequency Shifter Effect.

(Note: The Frequency Shifter effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)

In 11.1 and later, the Shifter effect is an expanded version of Frequency Shifter that offers a larger
feature set. Frequency Shifter is no longer part of the Core Library as of 11.1 but can still be found in
the User Library. Live Sets that were made in earlier versions that contain Frequency Shifter will still
open with that specific device in 11.1 and later.

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
shifts 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.

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 subtracted 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.

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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 0.

Frequency Shifter contains two LFOs to modulate the 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 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 frequency,
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 affect 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 incoming
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 incoming audio signal
consisting of sine waves an octave apart at 440 Hz and 880 Hz. To pitch shift this up an octave, we
multiply these frequencies by two, resulting in new frequencies at 880 Hz and 1760 Hz.

26.21.1 Frequency Shifter Tips

Frequency shifting and ring modulation can produce some very interesting sounds. Here are some tips
for using the Frequency Shifter device.

26.21.1.1 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” samples. 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 frequency
no more than about 100 Hz up or down. This should change the apparent size and tuning of the drum
while retaining the quality of the original sample.

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26.21.1.2 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%.

26.21.1.3 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.

26.21.1.4 Learning more…

Try putting a Spectrum device after the Frequency Shifter to watch how the signal changes as you
change parameters. To get a good overview of what’s happening, try using a simple, continuous sine
wave as your input.

26.22 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.

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Gate’s display area shows the level of the input signal in light gray and the level of the output signal in
a darker gray 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 blue line, which can also be dragged.

Return (also known as “hysteresis”) sets 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 represented in the display
as an additional horizontal orange line.

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 clicking 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 the 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 choosers
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.

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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 the 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. 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.

26.23 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 original
Compressor, the Glue Compressor can be used for basic dynamics control of individual tracks, but is

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mainly designed for use on the Main track or a Group Track to “glue” multiple sources together into a
cohesive sounding mix.

The Threshold knob 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 output 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 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 automatically 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 signal. 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 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 the Dry/Wet control. At 0 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 0 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 0 dB. If Soft clipping is enabled, this LED turns yellow to
indicate that peaks are being clipped.

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26.23.1 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 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 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 Compressor 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 for the Glue Compressor, this temporary listening option can make it
much easier to set sidechain parameters and hear what’s actually making the Glue Compressor work.

26.23.1.1 Context Menu Options

Oversampling can be toggled on or off via the device title bar’s context menu. Enabling this option
causes the Glue Compressor to internally process at two times the current sampling rate, which may

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reduce aliasing and transient harshness. There is a slight increase in CPU usage with Oversampling
enabled. Note that with Oversampling enabled, the level may exceed 0 dB even with Soft clip
enabled.

26.24 Grain Delay

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 vertical axis. To assign a parameter
to the X-axis, choose it from the parameter row below the controller. To assign a parameter 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 note) of delay.
With Sync Mode active, changing the Delay Time field percentage value shortens 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.

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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 setting 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 transpose 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
unintelligible. This parameter can interact with the main Pitch control, thus allowing degrees of stability
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 controller.

26.25 Hybrid Reverb

The Hybrid Reverb Effect.

(Note: The Hybrid Reverb effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Hybrid Reverb combines two different approaches to reverberation in one device, blending
convolution reverb with a number of digital reverb algorithms. Using multiple routing options and
parameters, you can create unique reverb sounds, or use Hybrid Reverb to generate drone-like
soundscapes or completely transform any source material.

In addition to providing a selection of impulse responses, Hybrid Reverb allows you to import any
audio file to use as an impulse response (also known as an IR), greatly increasing your sound design
opportunities. Dedicated controls can be employed to shape any chosen impulse response.

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The algorithmic engine contains several reverb modes, each providing a different set of parameters
and sonic properties, ranging from clean and creamy to metallic and gong-like.

The convolution and algorithmic engines can be used independently, or combined together in series
or parallel, with their volume relationship being continuously adjustable. An EQ section further shapes
the reverb’s sound and can be selectively applied to the two reverb engines. An additional control
introduces degradation of the signal, emulating the behavior of older digital reverb units.

26.25.1 Signal Flow

You can imagine signals being processed by Hybrid Reverb as flowing from the left side of the device
towards the right side, passing first through the input section, then into the reverb engines. The
relationship between the two reverb engines is affected by the routing section, after which the signal
passes through the EQ section, and then finally to the output.

The convolution reverb engine’s controls are yellow in color, while the algorithmic engine’s controls
are displayed in blue.

26.25.2 Input Section

Using the Send knob, you can choose the amount of gain applied to the signal that feeds the reverb.
Note that the dry signal is not affected and will still pass through the device.

Predelay controls the delay time 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 1ms to 25ms. You can choose either a
time-based or beat-synced predelay time using the Predelay Sync buttons.

Feedback sets the amount of the predelay’s output that is fed back to its input. Note that both time-
based and beat-based predelay times have independent feedback settings.

The main window of Hybrid Reverb has two tabs: Reverb and EQ. The Reverb tab contains all controls
related to both the convolution and algorithmic reverb engines. Starting with the Routing chooser in
the center, you’ll find four options:

• Serial routes the output of the convolution engine into the algorithmic engine. While the
convolution reverb is always active in this mode, Blend controls the amount of convolution
reverb fed into the algorithmic reverb. A setting of 100/0 produces pure convolution reverb,
while 0/100 generates pure algorithmic reverb which has been fed by the convolution reverb’s
output.
• Parallel uses both convolution and algorithmic reverb engines, but separates them from each
other. The Blend knob adjusts the level balance between the two different reverb engines, with
a setting of 100/0 generating pure convolution reverb and 0/100 producing pure algorithmic
reverb.
• Algorithm uses only the algorithmic reverb engine.
• Convolution uses only the convolution reverb engine.

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Hybrid Reverb’s user interface changes dynamically, so that when a reverb engine is not in use, its
controls will appear grayed out.

The Blend knob blends between the output of the convolution and algorithm sections when Routing is
set to Serial or Parallel. Note that when either Algorithm or Convolution is selected in the Routing
chooser, the Blend knob will not have an effect.

26.25.3 Convolution Reverb Engine

Hybrid Reverb’s Convolution Reverb Section.

A convolution reverb uses recordings of actual spaces (called impulse responses) to create its effect.
This allows you to place your sounds in practically any space for which you have a recording. For a
more typical reverb sound, this can include some of the most famous halls and studios throughout the
world. With a more creative approach, you can use recordings of anything, from snare drums to
garbage cans, or even instrumental and vocal recordings!

Impulse responses can be chosen in the Convolution IR menu. The upper drop-down menu chooses
the category of impulse response, while the lower drop-down menu chooses a specific impulse
response from within that category. Backward and forward arrow buttons are provided for easy
browsing through impulse responses. These arrow buttons will automatically switch to the next
category when you reach the end of the current one, so you can continuously move through the
impulse responses using the arrows alone. The chosen impulse response’s waveform is then shown in
the main display, which changes based on the Attack, Decay, and Size settings (described below).

The various impulse response categories are: Early Reflections, Real Places, Chambers and Large
Rooms, Made for Drums, Halls, Plates, Springs, Bigger Spaces, Textures, and User.

To add your own impulse responses to the User category, drag and drop the IR audio file into Hybrid
Reverb’s convolution waveform display. If you add a file from a folder that contains other audio files,
all files will be added as impulse responses. Note: if you remove Hybrid Reverb from a track and add
it again, the previously added User samples will no longer be available in the User category.
However, you can drag and drop the samples into the waveform display again to repopulate the list.

The Attack, Decay, and Size parameters control the impulse response’s amplitude envelope. The
Attack parameter controls the attack time of the envelope, while the Decay parameter controls the
decay time of the envelope. The Size parameter adjusts the relative size of the impulse response.

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26.25.4 Algorithmic Reverb Engine

Hybrid Reverb’s Algorithmic Reverb Section.

In comparison to the convolution engine, the algorithmic engine is based purely on digital delay lines,
and no samples are used.

To the right of the Blend knob you will find the controls for the algorithmic reverb engine. Different
parameters will be displayed depending on what you choose in the Algorithm chooser.

Five different algorithms are available: Dark Hall, Quartz, Shimmer, Tides and Prism. For all
algorithms, the Decay, Size, Delay and Freeze parameters are available.

Decay adjusts the approximate time required for the algorithm’s reverb tail to drop to 1/1000th (-60
dB) of its initial amplitude. Size controls the size of the virtual room. Delay sets an additional predelay
time in milliseconds for the algorithm section.

The Freeze controls consist of two buttons, Freeze and Freeze In. Freeze disables any input to the
reverb engine and sets the algorithm’s decay time to infinite, so that reverb output will sustain
endlessly. When enabled, Freeze In adds the input signal to the frozen reverberation, leading to a
build-up of reverberated sound.

Each algorithm and their unique parameters are described in further detail below.

26.25.4.1 Dark Hall

The Dark Hall algorithm is a smooth and classic sounding algorithm suitable for most medium to long
sounding halls.

In addition to the shared parameters listed above, Dark Hall also provides the following:

• Damping controls the amount of high-frequency filtering within the reverb algorithms. Higher
values result in darker reverberation sounds.
• Mod controls the amount of movement within the algorithm’s reverb tail. Less modulation
produces less movement, and more modulation creates more movement with a chorusing effect,
while diminishing the effect of resonances.
• Shape transforms the artificial space’s sonic characteristics from small and resonant to large
and diffused.

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 • Bass X controls the crossover frequency of the low-end part of the reverb tail, which is scaled
using the Bass Mult control.
• Bass Mult scales the decay time of the low-end of the reverb tail.

In Dark Hall mode, long decay times combined with extremely small Size values create metallic
gong-like resonances.

26.25.4.2 Quartz

The Quartz algorithm is a hall-like reverb with some audible echoes in the reverb’s tail. This reverb has
a very clear replication of the input in the early reflections and is well suited for voices, drums and
signals with clear transients, as well as making echoes.

In addition to the shared parameters listed above, Quartz also provides the following:

• Damping controls the amount of high-frequency filtering within the reverb algorithms. Higher
values result in darker reverberation sounds.
• Lo Damp controls the amount of low frequency filtering within the reverb algorithms. Higher
values result in brighter reverberation sounds.
• Mod controls the amount of movement within the algorithm’s reverb tail. Less modulation
produces less movement, and more modulation creates more movement with a chorusing effect,
while diminishing the effect of resonances.
• Diffusion controls the density of the algorithm’s reverb tail. Low values produce sparser tails,
while higher values produce denser tails.
• Distance controls the virtual distance of reflections. Lower values put them closer to the listener
and increase their density while higher values place them farther away and increase the time
between echoes.

26.25.4.3 Shimmer

The Shimmer reverb algorithm is made from densely stacked diffuse delays with a pitch shifter in the
feedback. Low diffusion values result in a pure delay, while high diffusion values result in a dense and
lush artificial reverb. The Shimmer effect crossfades the pitch-shifted signal into the feedback, resulting
in tails that climb or descend in frequency.

In addition to the shared parameters listed above, Shimmer also provides the following:

• Damping controls the amount of high-frequency filtering within the reverb algorithms. Higher
values result in darker reverberation sounds.
• Mod controls the amount of movement within the algorithm’s reverb tail. Less modulation
produces less movement, and more modulation creates more movement with a chorusing effect,
while diminishing the effect of resonances.
• Pitch adjusts the degree of pitch-shifting applied to the feedback signal in semitones.
• Diffusion controls the density of the algorithm’s reverb tail. Low values produce sparser tails,
while higher values produce denser tails. Turn this below 10% for dub-like delay effects. This is
very fun to use on drums!

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 • Shimmer adjusts the intensity of the Shimmer effect. When set to 0%, no pitch shifting is applied;
the level of the pitched signal is progressively more present as the percentage is increased.
When used on melodic material, setting Shimmer to 100% produces interesting pitch
harmonizations.

In Shimmer mode, the Size knob adjusts the distance between individual echoes on percussive
material.

26.25.4.4 Tides

The Tides algorithm uses a smooth reverb while modulating the output’s spectrum with a multiband
filter, creating rippling frequency band effects.

In addition to the shared parameters listed above, Tides also provides the following:

• Damping controls the amount of high-frequency filtering within the reverb algorithms. Higher
values result in darker reverberation sounds.
• Wave morphs the filter modulation waveform from noise (0%) to sine (50%) to square (100%).
• Tide adjusts the intensity of texture created by the modulation of the reverb tail.
• Phase adjusts the amount of offset between the modulation waveforms for the left and right
channel. At 180°, the channels will be perfectly out of phase.
• Rate sets the rate of the modulation oscillator in beat divisions with Triplet, 16th, and Dotted
note value variations.

26.25.4.5 Prism

The Prism algorithm is a bright, unique and artificial-sounding diffuse reverb based on velvet
(spectrally flat) noise. This algorithm can easily be used as a “ghost” reverb, adding depth without
interfering with the source material. It is well suited for non-linear short decays on drums and transient
material but can be also used on more sustained sounds with longer decays to achieve a clean yet
digital sound.

In addition to the shared parameters listed above, Prism also provides the following:

• Low Mult scales the decay time of the low-end of the reverb tail.
• High Mult scales the decay time of the high-end of the reverb tail.
• X over controls the crossover frequency between the low-frequency and high-frequency
portions of the reverb tail, which in turn adjusts the frequency content affected by the Low Mult
and High Mult parameters.

Tip: For a classic ’80s-style gated snare reverb, use smaller Decay and Size values.

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26.25.5 EQ Section

Hybrid Reverb’s EQ Section.

The EQ section of Hybrid Reverb is found in the second tab of the device’s display. You can quickly
activate or deactivate it by clicking on its toggle button in the tab.

By default, the EQ is placed after both reverb engines in the signal chain; however, by toggling the
Pre Algo button, you can place the EQ before the algorithmic reverb, regardless of which reverb
routing you have chosen.

Four bands of control are provided to further shape the reverb signal. The low and high bands can be
toggled between pass filters and shelving EQs. While in low-pass or high-pass mode, the filters
provide a range of slopes, from a gentle 6 dB/octave to a steep 96 dB/octave. The two middle peak
EQs can cover the entire frequency range and can be used for anything from wide-band boosting to
semi-narrow cuts.

26.25.6 Output Section

Hybrid Reverb’s output section contains a final set of parameters to shape the device’s overall sound.

Stereo sets the stereo width of the wet signal. 0% yields a mono signal whereas values above 100%
create a widened stereo panorama.

The Vintage slider increasingly degrades Hybrid Reverb’s sounds by emulating lower sample rates
and bit-depths, as is common in vintage digital reverberation devices. Four presets can be used to
radically alter the overall sound: Subtle, Old, Older, and Extreme.

Bass Mono converts frequencies lower than 180 Hz of Hybrid Reverb’s output signal to mono, which
helps to make bass frequencies sound tighter.

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to 100%
when using Hybrid Reverb in a return track.

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26.26 Limiter

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 Main track, to prevent clipping. A limiter is
essentially a compressor with an infinite ratio. For more information about compression theory, refer to
the Compressor section.

The Gain knob allows you to boost or attenuate the incoming level before applying limiting.

Ceiling sets the absolute maximum level that the 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 compression.
Shorter Lookahead times allow for more compression, but with an increase in distortion — particularly
in the bass.

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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.

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 Main track’s device chain and keep
the Main track’s volume below 0 dB.

26.27 Looper

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 specified 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 currently stored in
Looper. Overdub continues to add additional layers of incoming audio that are the length of the

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originally recorded material. 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 quantization
as determined by the Quantization chooser. 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. Pressing
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 preserved. 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 playback, 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.

Diagram of Looper’s Multi-Purpose Transport Button Behavior.

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Looper’s Multi-Purpose Transport Button is optimized for use with a MIDI footswitch. To assign a
footswitch, enter MIDI Map Mode, 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:

• None: Looper’s internal tempo is independent of Live’s global tempo.

• Follow song tempo: The speed of Looper’s playback will be adjusted so that the recorded
material plays back at Live’s global tempo.
• Set & Follow song tempo: Live’s global tempo will be adjusted to match the tempo of material
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 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:

• Song running: If Looper’s Record Length chooser is set to the default ”x bars,” Looper will
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.
• 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 recording fits into this
time.

The Song Control chooser determines how Looper’s transport controls will affect Live’s global
transport:

• None means that Looper’s transport controls have no effect on Live’s global transport.
• 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.
• Start & Stop Song locks Live’s global transport to Looper’s transport controls. Entering Play or
Overdub mode will start Live’s transport, while pressing Looper’s Stop button will stop Live’s
transport.

Starting playback of Live’s transport via Looper will automatically adjust the playback position of any
apps that are connected via Ableton Link. This ensures that those apps remain tempo synced, and also
at the correct position in the musical phrase.

The ”×2” button doubles the length of Looper’s recording buffer. Any material that you’ve already
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.

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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. 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 buttons 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.

Enabling the Reverse button plays the previously recorded material backwards. Any material 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
overdubbing. 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 -> Output chooser provides four options for monitoring Looper’s input:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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 feeding audio to
multiple tracks, each containing its own 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.
• Rec/OVR/Stop allows the input signal to be heard except when Looper is in play mode. This is
similar to Beat Repeat’s Insert mode, and can be used to record material that can suddenly
interrupt your live playing.

26.27.1 Feedback Routing

Looper can be used as both a source and a target for internal routing 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.

2. Record at least one pass of material into Looper.
3. Create another audio track.

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 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.

26.28 Multiband Dynamics

The Multiband Dynamics Effect.

(Note: The Multiband Dynamics effect is not available 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 both an upper and lower
threshold, allowing for two types of dynamics processing to be used simultaneously per band.

26.28.1 Dynamics Processing Theory

To understand how to use the Multiband Dynamics device, it helps to understand the four different
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 works, and is more accurately 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.

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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 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 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.

Downward and Upward Expansion.

To summarize:

• Downward compression (common): make loud signals quieter

• Upward compression (uncommon): make quiet signals louder
• Downward expansion (common): make quiet signals quieter
• Upward expansion (uncommon): make loud signals louder

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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.

26.28.2 Interface and Controls

The High and Low buttons toggle the high and low bands on or off. With both bands off, the device
functions 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 frequency is set to 2000 Hz,
then the low band goes from 0 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 processing, 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 processing 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 to its input.

As you move your mouse over the display, 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 Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while dragging a threshold will
adjust the same threshold for all bands. Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to simultaneously
adjust the Above and Below thresholds for a single band. Holding down Shift while dragging left or
right allows you to adjust the threshold of a single band at a finer resolution.

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 Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac) while dragging up or down will adjust the volume of the same
block for all bands. Hold down Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) to simultaneously adjust the Above and
Below volumes for a single band. Holding down Shift while dragging up or down allows you to
adjust the volume of a single band at a finer resolution. 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 downward
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 upward
compression. In all cases, you are adjusting the ratio of the compressor or expander.

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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 the 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.

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 device 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 approached.

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 intensity 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.

26.28.3 Sidechain Parameters

The Multiband Dynamics Device With Sidechain Section.

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 parameters, unfold
the Multiband Dynamics window by toggling the button in its title bar.

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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 signal that
is actually being processed.

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 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 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.

26.28.4 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.

26.28.4.1 Basic Multiband Compression

By using only the upper thresholds, Multiband Dynamics can be used as a traditional ”downward”
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.)

26.28.4.2 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 easily hear the
results of your adjustments. Generally, de-essing works best with fairly fast attack and release times.

26.28.4.3 Uncompression

Mastering engineers are often asked to perform miracles, like adding punch and energy to a mix that
has already been heavily compressed, 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.

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 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.

26.29 Overdrive

The Overdrive Effect.

(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 band-pass 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 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 0% does not mean zero distortion!

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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.

26.30 Pedal

The Pedal Effect.

(Note: The Pedal effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions).

Pedal is a guitar distortion effect. In combination with Live’s Tuner, Amp and Cabinet effects, Pedal is
great for processing guitar sounds. Pedal can also be used in less conventional settings, such as a
standalone effect on vocals, synths or drums.

The Gain control adjusts the amount of distortion applied to the dry signal. Note that 0% does not
mean zero distortion. It is recommended to dial the Gain back to 0% and slowly increase it until you
get the desired output level. When placed in front of Pedal in a device chain, Utility’s Gain parameter
can be used to lower the signal even further.

The global Output knob adjusts the overall output gain of the device.

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You can choose between three different Pedal Types, each inspired by distortion pedals with their own
distinct sonic characteristics:

• Overdrive: warm and smooth

• Distortion: tight and aggressive
• Fuzz: unstable, with a “broken amp” sound

Pedal has a three-band EQ that adjusts the timbre of the sound after the distortion is applied. The EQ
is adaptive, which means that the amount of resonance (or “Q”) increases as the amount of EQ boost
increases.

The Bass control is a peak EQ, with a center frequency of 100 Hz. This is useful for boosting the
“punch” in bass or drum sounds, or attenuating low frequencies of guitars.

The Mid control is a three-way switchable boosting EQ. The Mid Frequency switch sets the center
frequency and range of the Mid control. The center frequency is the middle of the frequency range
that the Mid control operates upon. The frequency range around this center value is narrower in the
lowest switch setting and wider in the higher setting. This is common in guitar pedals where it is normal
to make tight cuts and boosts at low frequencies, and wider cuts and boosts at high frequencies.

The center frequencies for the switch settings are:

• Lowest setting, positioned on the left side: 500 Hz

• Middle setting, positioned in the center: 1 kHz
• Highest setting, positioned on the right side: 2 kHz

The Treble control is a shelving EQ, with a cutoff frequency of 3.3 kHz. This is useful for removing
harsh high frequencies (or boosting them, if that’s your cup of tea!).

Tip: For a more fine-grained EQ post-distortion, simply leave these controls in their neutral position
and instead use another EQ, such as EQ Eight.

The Sub switch toggles a low shelf filter that boosts frequencies below 250 Hz. You can use this in
conjunction with the Bass control by turning Sub on and setting the Bass to -100%, or turning Sub off
and setting the Bass to 100%.

The Dry/Wet slider adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals.

Aliasing can be reduced by enabling Hi-Quality mode, which can be accessed via the device title
bar’s context menu. This improves the sound quality, particularly with high frequency signals, but there
is a slight increase in CPU usage.

26.30.1 Pedal Tips

26.30.1.1 Positioning Pedal in the Device Chain

The incoming signal will have an impact on how the distortion will respond. For example, adding a
Compressor before Pedal in the device chain will give a more balanced end result. On the other

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hand, adding an EQ or filter with high gain and resonance settings before Pedal can yield a
screaming distortion effect.

26.30.1.2 Techno Kick

Choose a suitable kick with a long decay (e.g., Kit-Core 909, with decay turned up). Then, choose the
Distort pedal, activate the Sub switch, and dial in the Gain to your taste.

For added “whack”, move the Mid Frequency switch to the right-most position and increase the Mid
control. For more “thump”, you can increase the Bass control.

To reduce the “air”, decrease the Treble control.

26.30.1.3 Drum Group Fizzle

To add “fizzle” to a drum group, choose the Fuzz pedal, increase the Gain to 50% and make sure the
Sub switch is disabled.

Reduce the Bass and Mid controls to -100%, and adjust the Mid Frequency Switch to taste. Increase
the Treble to 100%.

Set the Output to -20dB. Then, turn the Dry/Wet slider down to 0% and slowly increase it until the
drums are fizzling to your taste.

26.30.1.4 Broken Speaker

Select the Fuzz pedal, and make sure the Sub switch is disabled. Turn down the Bass control
completely, and set the Treble to 25%.

Set the Mid control 100% and move the Mid Frequency switch to right-most position. Finally, set the
Gain control to 100%.

26.30.1.5 Sub Warmer

To add upper harmonics and warmth to a simple sub bass, choose the OD pedal, turn on the Sub
switch and turn up the Bass control. Then, slowly increase the Gain until the desired effect is reached.
You can then cut or boost the mid frequencies using the Mid control.

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26.31 Phaser

The Phaser Effect.

(Note: The Phaser effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

In 11.0 and later, the Phaser-Flanger effect is an expanded version of Phaser that offers a larger
feature set. Phaser is no longer part of the Core Library as of 11.0 but can still be found in the User
Library. Live Sets that were made in earlier versions that contain Phaser will still open with that specific
device in 11.0 and later.

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 frequency is changed
with 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).

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The Phase control lends the sound stereo movement by setting the LFOs to run at the same frequency,
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 by 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.

26.32 Phaser-Flanger

The Phaser-Flanger Effect.

Phaser-Flanger combines the functionalities of flanger and phaser effects into one device with
separate modes, and offers an additional Doubler mode. All modes can be used to create lush,
expressive sounds with a wide variety of tools and detailed options. Two LFOs and an envelope
follower provide plenty of modulation possibilities.

You can choose between the three modes in the display:

• Phaser, with its wide range of frequency and modulation ranges, creates wandering notch
filters by feeding a phase-shifted version of the input signal back into the input. The phase
shifting is achieved using modulated all-pass filters and has a lush sound.
• Flanger creates a continuously changing comb filter effect by adding a time-modulated
delayed signal with feedback to the input.

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 • Doubler creates the effect of doubled tracks (multiple stacked versions of similar recording
takes) by adding time-modulated delayed signals to the input.

The display contains a visualization and the mode selector buttons. The visualization presents different
information depending on the mode you choose and the LFO Stereo Mode’s settings (described in
more detail below).

In Phaser mode, the visualization shows the number of notches and their spectral positions.

Phaser’s parameters can be adjusted in the lower portion of the display.

Notches increases or decreases the number of all-pass filters being used. Center chooses the center
frequency of the notches. Spread increases or decreases the distance between the notches by
adjusting the Q factor of the all-pass filters. Blend mixes the modulation routing between Center
Frequency and Spread, with Center Frequency at 0.0 and Spread at 1.0.

In Flanger mode, the visualization shows how the modulation signal is affecting the delay time, with
the left-most position equaling the value chosen in the Time parameter. As the visualization moves to
the right, the delay time decreases; as it moves to the left, it increases. Time adjusts the delay time of
the Flanger delay lines.

In Doubler mode, the visualization acts differently than in Flanger mode. Modulation in Doubler mode
is bipolar, meaning that, as the visualization moves to the right, the delay time increases; as it moves to
the left, it decreases. Time adjusts the delay time of the Doubler delay lines.

For finer control over the sound, you can unfold the device by toggling the button in Phaser-
Flanger’s title bar to reveal further options for the main LFO, as well as a second LFO, an envelope
follower and a Safe Bass high-pass filter. Also shown is a visualization for the main LFO, in which its
rate, waveform and the phase relationships of the stereo channels are shown.

The Phaser-Flanger Effect’s Unfolded View.

The main LFO’s speed is controlled by the Freq/Rate parameter, and can be either tempo-synced or
free-running. Use the Modulation Sync buttons to the left of the dial to switch between Frequency and
Sync Rate. When set to Hz, the corresponding Freq dial controls the LFO rate in Hertz; otherwise, the
Rate dial will sync the LFO with the song tempo.

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Multiple waveforms for the main LFO are available and can be found in the LFO Waveform chooser.
These include Sine, Triangle (default), Saw Up, Saw Down, Rectangle, Random, and Random S&H
(Sample and Hold). Also included are Triangle Analog, Triangle 8, Triangle 16, which are described
below:

• Triangle Analog is a low-pass filtered rectangular waveform which changes shape and
amplitude drastically for different LFO rates.
• Triangle 8 divides a period of a normal triangular wave into eight discrete steps.
• Triangle 16 divides a period of a normal triangular wave into 16 discrete steps.

The LFO Stereo Mode button switches between Phase and Spin modes, both of which allow
modulation of each stereo channel independently.

When Phase is chosen, adjusting the Phase value will change the phase relationship between the left
and right channels. At 180°, the phase of the left and right channels are completely inverted. This can
be seen in the LFOs visualization.

When Spin is chosen, adjusting the Spin value detunes the two LFO rates relative to each other. This
can be seen in the main display’s visualization.

Duty Cycle will change the time scale of the waveform’s period, compressing it towards either the front
of the cycle (100%) or the back of the cycle (-100%). At 0%, the time scale of the period is spread
equally across the entire cycle, leaving the waveform unaffected. This is similar to how Pulse Width
affects rectangular waveforms, and its effects can be seen in the waveform view of the main LFO. This
parameter doesn’t affect the noise-based Random and Random S&H modulation waveforms.

The second LFO always has a triangular waveform, and can be controlled using the LFO2 Mix and
LFO2 Freq/Rate parameters.

LFO2 Mix sets the amount of the LFO2 that is mixed with the main LFO. At 0%, only the main LFO is
active; at 100% only LFO2 is active.

The second LFO’s speed can be set as either free-running or tempo-synced by using the Modulation
Sync 2 toggle buttons. When free-running, the sync frequencies are shown in Hertz and can be
adjusted using the LFO2 Freq parameter. When tempo-synced, beat divisions are shown instead and
can be set using the LFO2 Rate parameter.

Global parameters available include Amount, Feedback, Output, Warmth and Dry/Wet. The
additional envelope follower and Safe Bass high-pass filter are accessible when the device is
unfolded.

Amount adjusts the amount of delay modulation that is applied to incoming signals and affects both
the main LFO and LFO2.

Feedback sets the amount of each channel’s output that is fed back to its input. Increasing this sounds
more extreme and tends to create a strong comb filtering effect, amplifying some frequencies and
attenuating others. In Doubler Mode, it will also create audible delays if playback is stopped. The
feedback signal can be inverted using the Ø button, which results in a “hollow” sound when
combined with high feedback values.

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Caution: high feedback values in combination with certain settings can cause quick increases in
volume levels. Be sure to protect your ears and equipment!

Below the main LFO you will find an envelope follower. An envelope follower uses the amplitude from
an incoming audio signal and translates it to a modulation source.

To use the envelope follower, activate the Env Fol button and set the Envelope Amount value to a
value other than zero. Envelope Amount adjusts the intensity of the modulation caused by the
envelope follower. Negative values invert the phase of the envelope.

Attack and Release adjust the attack and release portions of the envelope follower’s envelope.
Shorter Attack times cause the envelope follower to act more quickly, while longer times delay its
onset. Shorter Release times cause the envelope follower to stop its effect faster than longer Release
times.

Safe Bass is a high-pass filter, effectively reducing the effect on signal components below the
specified frequency. The applicable range is from 5 Hz to 3000 Hz. This can make mixing certain
bass-heavy material easier.

Output sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal. The Warmth control adds slight
distortion and filtering for a warmer sound. The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the
processed and dry signals. Set it to 100% when using Phaser-Flanger in a return track.

26.33 Redux

The Redux Effect.

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The Redux effect has a variety of parameters for creating a wide range of jagged and edgy sounds.
You can radically mangle any source material, with effects ranging from harsh distortion and digital
aliasing artifacts to warm, fat 8-bit grit. Extra noise and stereo width can be added to the
downsampling process, while filtering further transforms the sound. The quantizer’s amplitude curve
can also be changed to allow both subtle and drastic bitcrushing.

Redux makes use of two different digital signal manipulation techniques: downsampling and bit
reduction.

26.33.1 Downsampling

The downsampling controls are available on the left side of the device. Using Redux’s downsampler
without any filters engaged introduces inharmonic frequency content into the spectrum. The frequency
range of the added content is dependent upon the relationship between the frequency content of the
material and the sample rate chosen in the device.

Rate sets the sample rate to which the signal is degraded. Lower values result in increased imaging
and more inharmonic tones.

Jitter adds noise to the downsampler’s clock signal, which introduces randomness to the
downsampling process. This results in a noisier sound, as well as increased stereo width.

The Filter section has both a Pre and a Post setting. Enabling the Pre button engages a filter before
downsampling, which reduces the bandwidth of the signal processed by downsampling. When Jitter
is in use, it also reduces the stereo width of the signal.

The Post button engages a low-pass filter after the downsampling process, which reduces imaging.
The Post filter frequency can be adjusted using the Post-Filter Octave slider. The number shown
represents the number of octaves above or below half of the frequency shown in the Rate parameter.

26.33.2 Bit Reduction

The bit reduction controls are available on the right side of the device. Bit reduction decreases the
number of bits used to represent the digital signal, reducing dynamic range while adding distortion
and noise. At extreme settings, all original dynamics are lost and sounds are reduced to jagged
square waves.

The Bits control reduces the number of bits being used. The value shown represents the number of bits
used to encode the output signal. Reducing this value increases noise and distortion while reducing
dynamic range.

Shape varies the shape of the quantizer’s characteristic curve. Higher values produce a finer
resolution for smaller amplitudes, meaning that subtle signal components will be less affected than
louder ones. The total amount of distortion produced with different Shape settings will depend upon
the dynamic range of the input signal.

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Enabling the DC Shift button applies an amplitude offset before the quantization process. This
significantly changes the sound of the quantization distortion, especially when Bits is set to lower
values, increasing volume and adding crunch!

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to 100%
when using Redux in a return track.

26.34 Redux Legacy

The Redux Legacy Effect.

Nostalgic for the famed low-resolution sound quality of the Ensoniq Mirage, Fairlight CMI or
Commodore-64 computer? Redux Legacy 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.

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 ”deconstructed” 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).

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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 0dB as 16 bit. Signals above 0dB are clipped, and the red
overload LED will light up.

Turning off Bit Reduction results in modest CPU savings.

26.35 Resonators

The Resonators Effect.

(Note: The Resonators effect is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)

This device consists of five parallel resonators that superimpose a tonal character on the input source.
It 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 resonator 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: low-pass, band-pass, high-pass 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.

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The Note parameter defines the root pitch of all the resonators ranging from 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 I’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 I, 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.

26.36 Reverb

The Reverb Effect.

Reverb is an audio effect that simulates the acoustic properties of audio as it echoes throughout a
physical space.

In the real world, reverberation exists as a product of sound waves that reflect off of rigid surfaces in
an environment and the subsequent tonal shaping of these waves by absorbent materials within their
trajectory. In a digital context, however, this phenomenon is approximated with a combination of
filters and modulated delay lines.

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The Reverb device provides granular control of all of these factors in order to create unique spaces for
audio to travel through that range from intimate recording rooms to massive canyons, and everything
in between.

26.36.1 Input Filter

Reverb’s Input Filter Section.

The input signal passes first through low and high cut filters, whose X-Y controller allows changing the
band’s center frequency (X-axis) and bandwidth (Y-axis). The filters can also be controlled using the
sliders located below the X-Y controller. Either filter may be switched off when not needed to save
CPU power.

26.36.2 Early Reflections

Reverb’s Early Reflections Section.

These are the earliest echoes that you hear after they bounce off a room’s walls, before the onset of
the diffused reverberation tail. Their amplitude and distribution give an impression of the room’s
character.

Spin applies modulation to the early reflections. The Amount and Rate sliders control the amount and
rate of these modulations respectively. A higher Amount setting tends to provide a less-colored (more
spectrally neutral) late diffusion response. If the modulation rate is too high, doppler frequency shifting

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of the source sound will occur, along with surreal panning effects. Spin may be turned off, using the
associated switch, for modest CPU savings.

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 components. With large values, the reflections
decay more rapidly and the diffused onset occurs later. A higher value can sometimes improve the
source’s intelligibility, while a lower value may give a smoother decay.

26.36.3 Diffusion Network

Reverb’s Diffusion Network Section.

The Diffusion Network creates the reverberant tail that follows the early reflections.

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 Diffusion 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 coloration
contributed by the diffusion.

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26.36.4 Chorus

Reverb’s Chorus Section.

The Chorus section adds a little modulation and motion to the diffusion. You can control the
modulation Amount and Rate, or deactivate it altogether.

26.36.5 Global Settings

Reverb’s Global Settings.

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 1 ms to 25 ms.

The Smooth chooser specifies the behavior of the Size parameter when its value is adjusted. If set to
None, the Diffusion Network’s delay times are changed immediately, which can cause artifacts when
changing the Size value. If set to Slow or Fast, new delay times are updated over a specific time
period, which results in a smoother sound when transitioning between values.

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.

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The Decay control adjusts the time required for this reverb tail to drop to 1/1000th (-60 dB) of its
initial amplitude.

The Freeze control freezes the diffuse response of the input sound. When on, the reverberation will
sustain almost endlessly. 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. 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.

The Stereo 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.

The Density chooser controls the tradeoff between reverb quality and performance. Sparse uses
minimal CPU resources, while High delivers the richest reverberation.

26.36.6 Output

Reverb’s Output Section.

At the reverb output, you can vary the amplitude of reflections and diffusion with the Reflect and
Diffuse controls and adjust the effect’s overall Dry/Wet mix.

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26.37 Roar

The Roar Effect.

(Note: The Roar effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Roar is a saturation and coloration device with up to three processing stages and a range of flexible
routing configurations. Its selection of non-linear shaper curves and filters can be combined to
produce a wide variety of saturation types, from targeted warmth to sweeping harmonic motion or
glitchy blasts of noise. Roar’s feedback controls and built-in compressor add a further layer of
distinctive possibility to the device, which can produce sounds unlike any other instrument or effect
currently available in Live.

26.37.1 Input Section

Roar’s Input Section.

The Drive knob sets the level of the signal being input into Roar before the gain stages. It can be used
to quickly add or remove distortion without having to adjust individual Shaper Amount controls across
multiple gain stages, for example, or to modify an input signal to ensure a preset behaves as
expected.

The Tone Amount knob changes the input signal’s balance of high and low frequencies. When set to
positive values, high frequencies are boosted and low frequencies are attenuated. When set to
negative values, low frequencies are boosted and high frequencies are attenuated.

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The Tone Frequency slider sets the frequency of the low shelving filter used by the Tone Amount
control.

Adjusting Roar’s Tone parameters has noticeable effects on the timbre of its gain stages, as these
follow the Input section in Roar’s processing chain. Dialing in positive values with the Tone Amount
knob can help attenuate low-frequency content in guitars or basses, for example, to avoid muddy
sounds when using large amounts of distortion.

The Color Compensation toggle next to the Tone Amount control applies a mirrored version of the
Tone filter to the output of Roar’s distortion stages. When active, Tone values are attenuated before the
shaper and boosted after it, giving you more control over the gain stage processing. Activating the
Color Compensation toggle with negative Tone values is a helpful trick for saturating drums without
affecting low end frequency impact, for example.

The Routing Mode panel lets you choose from six routing types: Single, Serial, Parallel, Multi Band,
Mid Side, and Feedback. Apart from Single and Multi Band modes, each routing mode has a Blend
control that allows you to control the blend between its two gain stages.

Serial mode processes the input signal using two concatenated shapers. The Blend control blends
between the sound of Stage 1 and the sound of Stages 1 and 2 combined.

Parallel mode processes the input signal using two independent shapers. The Blend control blends
between the sound of Stage 1 and the sound of Stage 2. To experiment with this mode, try selecting
two noticeably different Shaper Curves (like Half Wave Rectifier and Fractal) and modulating the
Blend control so that Roar’s sound shifts continuously from one to the other.

Multi Band mode splits the frequency spectrum into three bands (Low, Mid and High) that can each
be processed independently. Two Crossover Filters (Low and High) let you define the crossover
frequency between the three bands. This mode serves a variety of applications, including drum
processing and adding saturation to entire mixes.

Mid Side mode processes the input signal’s mono and stereo signals independently. This mode is
useful for enhancing a signal’s stereo image without compromising the sound of the signal at the
center of the stereo field.

Feedback mode processes the input signal and its feedback independently, which can create unusual
tones or transform Roar into a distinctive delay. Try modulating Roar’s Shaper Amount with an
envelope to produce saturation that has a shuffled delay effect, for example, or subtly offsetting
Shaper Bias to create delays that degrade over time.

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26.37.2 Gain Stage Section

Roar’s Gain Stage Section.

Each routing mode has its own set of gain stages, which can be turned on or off independently using
the Stage toggles in the Gain Stage tabs.

Gain Stage tabs all have the same three controls: Shaper Amount, Shaper Bias, and Filter Frequency.
Shaper and Filter Types can be selected from their corresponding drop-down menus at the bottom of
each Gain Stage tab.

The Shaper Amount control sets the amount of saturation applied to the input signal. You can also click
and drag the shaper waveform in the Shaper Visualization display to modify this parameter. Distortion
occurs when the input signal reaches non-linear portions of the visualized curve.

The Shaper Bias control offsets the signal and creates asymmetrical distortion. At higher settings, it can
emulate the sound of a broken circuit. At more extreme settings, it will cause the signal to go
completely quiet.

The Shaper Type drop-down menu under the Shaper Visualization display has twelve curves to
choose from:

Soft Sine uses a sinusoidal curve to add smooth, warm saturation to the input signal. This shaper curve
tends to produce pleasant, analog-style distortion even when pushed to extreme levels.

Digital Clip applies a hard clipping curve to the input signal. It produces harsh, higher-order
harmonics when the input signal reaches the curve’s extremities.

Bit Crusher produces the characteristic distortion that occurs when quantized amplitudes are applied
to an input signal, similar to Live’s Redux device. Increasing the Shaper Amount reduces the number of
bits used for quantization and intensifies the effects of the bit crusher’s built-in compander. This curve
works well with bias modulation and produces very obvious changes in quieter signals.

Diode Clipper this type is a virtual analog clipping circuit emulation. It sounds smooth and warm like
the Soft Sine curve, but with attenuated high-end frequencies.

Tube Preamp models the soft, analog saturation of a tube preamp. It preserves a signal’s transients
and dynamics even when the Shaper Amount is set to higher levels.

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Half Wave Rectifier and Full Wave Rectifier produce distinctive, waveshaper-style effects. Half Wave
Rectifier applies completely asymmetrical distortion to the input signal, which works well for adding
crunch to drum sounds. Full Wave Rectifier shifts the signal up by an octave, which works well for
adding harmonic depth to certain synth sounds.

Polynomial shifts between a sinusoidal curve and more complex waveforms. This shaper curve lends
itself well to modulation and to producing metallic sounds.

Fractal introduces a large of amount of high-end harmonics to the input signal.

Tri Fold this type is a triangular wavefolder. Like Fractal, it adds a large amount of high-end harmonics
to the input but achieves even harsher, more distorted results.

Noise Injection applies stereo noise followed by smooth distortion to the input signal. This curve works
well for producing smooth saturation that also has some dirt and grit.

Shards continuously changes the slope of its stereo curve segments to rhythmically break apart the
input signal.

Shapers can also be turned on or off via the toggle at the bottom of the Shaper Visualization display.

The Shaper Level control can be used to compensate for changes in output level produced as the
shaper curve is modified.

Filter Frequency adjusts the filter’s cutoff frequency. If the Pre toggle has been activated, the filter is
applied before the Shaper stage. When the Filter Frequency is changed with Pre activated, the filter
doesn’t affect the harmonics produced by the shaper.

There are eight filter types to choose from: low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, notch, peak, morph,
comb, and resampling. The Comb filter creates a series of notches across the frequency spectrum.
When its cutoff is modulated, this filter type can produce flanger-like effects. The Resampling filter
produces sample-rate reduction artifacts, similar to Live’s Redux device.

Apart from the Resampling filter, each filter has a dedicated Resonance control. The Peak filter has a
Filter Peak Gain control for boosting or attenuating a specific frequency range. The Morph filter has a
Morph control for setting its filter shape.

26.37.3 Modulation Section

Roar’s Modulation Section.

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To display Roar’s modulation parameters, click on the toggle in the Modulation panel. This will bring
up the Mod Sources and Matrix tabs.

Roar’s Modulation Toggle.

The Mod Sources tab has four modulation sources to choose from: LFO 1, LFO 2, Env, and Noise.

Each LFO has five waveforms: three bipolar waveforms (sine, triangle, square) and two unipolar ramp
waveforms (up or down).

LFOs can be set to Free, Synced, Triplet, Dotted, or Sixteenth rates using the Mode drop-down menu.
Rate speed can be set in Hertz or tempo-synced and can be modified by clicking and dragging a
given rate up or down. Morph and Smooth controls can be changed in real time or modulated to
further sculpt LFO shapes.

The Env tab’s envelope follower generates a modulation signal based on Roar’s input signal. Attack,
Release, Threshold, Gain, Frequency, and Width controls let you hone in on the element you’d like to
isolate, even in busy sound sources. When activated, the Envelope Input Listen toggle plays back the
input signal only. Note that the Envelope Follower’s filter only affects what the envelope reacts to, not
Roar’s output signal.

The Envelope Follower is particularly useful as a modulation source in Roar’s Modulation Matrix. Try
setting it to follow a snare sound in a drum loop, for example, and have it modulate Roar’s Dry/Wet
balance or its Shaper Amount each time the snare hits.

The Noise modulation source includes four different noise types: Simplex, Wander, S & H, and Brown.
Noise curves can be set in Hertz or tempo-synced and can be smoothed like Roar’s LFO curves.

Simplex and Wander both generate smoothed random signals, with different random value
interpolation algorithms used to produce different signal dynamics. Simplex uses interrate modulation,
which produces a more irregular value interval than Wander. These types of noise are useful for
introducing small, random, organic-style changes in Roar’s output signal, especially when set to low
rates.

S & H (Sample and Hold) generates a random constant value that changes to a new random value at
an interval determined by the Noise Rate. This is useful for creating stepped random modulation
patterns in Roar’s output signal.

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Brown produces low-pass filtered white noise, which is useful for producing a constant noise floor or
for adding crackles and hissing to Roar’s output signal.

The Matrix tab lets you assign modulation sources to modulation targets within the device. Clicking a
parameter while the Matrix tab is open will set it as a modulation target. Modulation sources are
listed horizontally and modulation targets are listed vertically. Click and drag a cell up or down to
apply modulation between parameters.

The Global Modulation Amount slider can be dragged up or down to increase or decrease the
modulation being applied globally. Clicking the X button will erase all modulation applied by the
Modulation Matrix.

The Modulation Matrix can also be expanded using the toggle in the device header. When
expanded, the device’s gain stages are all visible at once, as are all of the modulation sources and
targets in the Modulation Matrix.

Roar’s Expanded Matrix and Toggle.

26.37.4 Feedback Section

Roar’s Feedback Section.

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The Feedback section is one of Roar’s most distinctive features. Feeding Roar’s signal back into itself
can add a new layer of ringing, otherworldly tones and textures to your sound.

The Feedback Mode drop-down lets you choose between five feedback modes: Time, Synced, Triplet,
Dotted, and Note. Synced and Time modes let you use Roar’s Feedback as a delay. Note mode lets
you set the feedback’s ring to a specific pitch.

The Feedback Amount knob sets the amount of signal being fed back into Roar’s input. Because a
compressor is present in Roar’s feedback loop, loud signals will temporarily attenuate the amount of
feedback being generated as gain reduction is applied by the compressor.

When the Feedback Invert toggle is turned on, the phase of Roar’s feedback signal is inverted. The
phase cancelation effect that occurs when this inverted signal is fed back into the original creates
another layer to experiment with in Roar’s processing chain.

When the Feedback Gate toggle is turned on, Roar’s feedback automatically fades out when an input
signal is no longer being sent into the device. When turned off, Roar’s feedback continues indefinitely.

The Feedback Filter Frequency slider sets the center frequency of the band-pass filter used to process
Roar’s feedback. The Feedback Filter Width slider adjusts the filter’s bandwidth.

26.37.5 Global Section

Roar’s Global Section.

The Compression Amount knob sets the amount of compression being applied to the output signal,
and thereby to the signal being fed back into Roar.

When the Compressor Sidechain HP Filter toggle is turned on, a high-pass filter is applied to the
analysis signal used by the compressor’s sidechain. This is useful for lowering the amount of gain
reduction generated by the compressor’s response to low frequency signals.

The Output Gain knob sets the level of the wet signal being output, which is followed by a hard
clipping stage and then fed into the Dry/Wet stage. This parameter is useful for compensating level
changes produced by the Drive or Shaper Amount knobs.

The Dry/Wet slider adjusts the balance between the dry and wet signal being output by Roar.

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26.38 Saturator

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 distortion.

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 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. 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.

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The Waveshaper mode’s six additional parameters are: Drive, Lin, Curve, Damp, Depth and Period.

• Drive determines how much the input signal will be influenced by the Waveshaper parameters.
Setting Drive to zero will negate the effect entirely.
• Lin works together with the Curve and Depth parameters to alter the linear portion of the
shaping curve.
• Curve adds mostly third-order harmonics to the input signal.
• Damp flattens any signal near the grid’s origin. It behaves like an ultra-fast noise gate.
• Depth controls the amplitude of a sine wave that is superimposed onto the shaper curve.
• 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, controlled with the Base control,
dictates how much the effect will be reduced or increased for very low frequencies. The second 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 activated,
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 device title
bar’s context menu. This improves the sound quality, particularly with high frequency signals, but there
is a slight increase in CPU usage.

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26.39 Shifter

The Shifter Effect.

(Note: The Shifter effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Shifter is a multi-purpose pitch and frequency-shifting audio effect that can be used to add ring
modulation to incoming audio or to shift the pitch or frequency of audio in real time.

26.39.1 Tuning and Delay Section

Shifter’s Tuning and Delay Section.

The Coarse and Fine knobs adjust the pitch or frequency in the given value, depending on which shift
mode (explained in the Shifter Mode section) is selected.

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Enabling the Wide button inverts the polarity of the Spread value for the right channel, creating a
stereo effect. 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 0.

In Pitch mode, the Window slider adjusts the window size used by the algorithm. Low frequency
signals often sound best with longer window sizes, while high frequencies often sound best with
shorter window sizes. Tone cuts the high frequencies of the delay’s feedback path.

Enabling the Delay button adds delay time that can be set using the slider control in Hertz or beat-
synced divisions, depending on which Delay Mode button you select. The Delay Feedback knob sets
the amount of the output that is fed back to the input of the delay.

26.39.2 LFO Section

Shifter’s LFO Section.

You can modulate the left and right stereo channels using Shifter’s LFO.

In the LFO waveform display, you can set the Duty Cycle and Phase/Spin/Width controls. Duty
Cycle sets the duty cycle of the LFO waveform. Phase adjusts the offset between the waveforms for the
left and right channel. At 180° the LFOs will be perfectly out of phase. Depending on the LFO
waveform or the Rate parameter, Phase may be replaced by a Spin or Width control, as explained
below.

When the Rate parameter (as described in further detail below) is set to beat-synced time divisions,
you will see the Offset parameter next to the Phase parameter, which shifts the starting point of each
LFO along its waveform.

There are several different LFO waveforms to choose from the LFO drop-down menu: Sine, Triangle,
Triangle Analog, Triangle 8, Triangle 16, Saw Up, Saw Down, Rectangle, Random, and Random
S&H.

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The LFO waveforms Sine, Triangle, Triangle Analog, Triangle 8, Triangle 16, Saw Up, Saw Down, and
Rectangle can also be set to Spin instead of Phase. Spin detunes the two LFO speeds relative to one
another.

The LFO waveforms Random and Random S&H can only be set to Phase and Width, respectively.
Width adjusts the Stereo width of the random LFO waveform. At 0%, the waveform is identical for the
left and right channels. At 100%, the waveform is fully stereo, peaks on the left will correspond to
valleys on the right and vice versa.

LFO modulation is controlled with the Rate parameter, which can be set in Hertz or synced to the song
tempo and set in meter subdivisions (e.g. sixteenth notes). The Amount parameter sets the amount of
LFO modulation that is applied to incoming signals.

26.39.3 Envelope Follower Section

Shifter’s Envelope Follower.

Shifter’s envelope follower uses the amplitude from an incoming audio signal and translates it to a
modulation source.

The Envelope Attack sets how quickly the envelope follower responds to rising input levels and the
Envelope Release sets how quickly the envelope follower responds to falling input levels.

The Env Fol button switches on Shifter’s envelope follower. The Amount adjusts the intensity of the
envelope follower’s modulation. The Amount value can be set in semitones in Pitch mode or in Hertz in
the Freq and Ring modes.

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26.39.4 Shifter Mode Section

The Shifter Mode Section.

Three different Shifter Mode button switches are available: Pitch, Freq, and Ring.

Pitch mode adjusts the pitch of incoming audio up or down by a user-specified amount in semitones
(Coarse tuning) and cents (Fine tuning).

Freq mode 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 shifts can create
dissonant, metallic sounds.

In Ring mode, the user-specified frequency amount in Hertz is added to and subtracted from the input.

Drive enables a distortion effect, and the slider below it controls the level of the distortion. Note: Drive
is only available in Ring mode.

The Dry/Wet knob sets the balance between the dry and processed signals at Shifter’s output.

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26.39.5 Sidechain Parameters

Shifter’s Sidechain Parameters.

To access the Sidechain parameters, unfold the Shifter window by toggling the triangle button on the
left of the title bar. There are two Pitch Modes available that determine how the pitch or frequency is
set: Internal and MIDI. In Internal mode, the pitch or frequency is set by Shifter’s Coarse and Fine
knobs. In MIDI mode, the pitch or frequency is set by an incoming MIDI note.

In MIDI mode, you will see a drop-down menu where you can select an external MIDI source. There
is also a Glide parameter that adjusts the time in milliseconds over which it takes notes to slide their
pitch to the next incoming pitch. You can set a pitch bend range between 0-24 semitones to define the
effect of MIDI pitch bend messages using the PB slider.

26.39.6 Shifter Tips

26.39.6.1 Pitch-shifted Drum Layers

To add glitchy, metallic echoes to a drum loop, duplicate your drum track and add Shifter after the
Drum Rack. In Pitch mode, try adjusting or automating the Coarse knob and enable the Delay button.
Higher pitch shifts will create a metallic and crisp echoed delay. Lower pitch shifts will create a
drawn-out delay effect. You can lower the volume of the pitch-shifted track so that it sits in the
background, adding some movement to the main drum track.

26.39.6.2 Phasing Effects

To create lush phasing effects, minimally adjust (no more than 2 Hz or so) the Fine knob in Freq mode.
Phasing is caused by the interaction of the processed and dry signals; you can adjust the Mix balance
so that both are audible. The strongest phasing will be heard when MIx is at 50%.

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26.39.6.3 Tremolo Effects

In Ring mode, frequencies below the audible range (about 20 Hz or slightly lower) 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.

26.40 Spectral Resonator

The Spectral Resonator Effect.

(Note: The Spectral Resonator effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Based on spectral processing, Spectral Resonator uses spectral resonances and pitched overtones to
add tonal character to any audio source. You can highlight chosen frequencies of the resonating
partials and alter their decay, creating either short percussive reverberations or long washed-out
tones. Choose which frequencies are affected through an internal resonator or via an external MIDI
sidechain. Similar to a vocoder, you can use the MIDI input to place the resonances in key with its
surrounding musical elements, playing the effect polyphonically with up to 16 voices. Spectral
Resonator also offers several spectral processing types on the input signal, including spectral filtering,
spectral chorus, and granularization.

Spectral Resonator uses a spectrogram to display how frequencies in the dry and wet signals behave
over time. Dry signals are represented in yellow, while wet signals are shown in blue. You can hide the
visualization by clicking on its toggle button.

On the left side of the device, you will find the Pitch Mode section. Different controls are available
depending on whether Internal mode or MIDI mode is selected.

When Internal mode is enabled, Spectral Resonator will be tuned to the frequency set by the Freq dial.
The frequency can be set either in Hertz or to a specific pitch; to toggle between the two options, use
the Frequency Dial Mode buttons. Note that the MIDI mode controls are disabled in Internal mode.

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When MIDI mode is enabled, Spectral Resonator can be tuned to the frequencies of incoming MIDI
notes. When MIDI mode is enabled, the MIDI router, Mono/Poly switch, Polyphony control, MIDI
Gate, Glide and Pitch Bend range controls are also enabled.

The MIDI router allows you to choose any MIDI track as a source. To use an external MIDI controller,
use the “MIDI From” chooser on any MIDI track to select your MIDI controller. Then, in Spectral
Resonator, choose the track with the selected MIDI controller in the “MIDI From” drop-down chooser.

The MIDI input can be transposed using the Transpose dial (displayed as “Transp. “) with a range of
+/- 48 semitones.

The Mono/Poly switch enables polyphony for incoming MIDI, enabling you to send polyphonic
material such as chords to Spectral Resonator. You can choose between 2, 4, 8, or 16 voices in the
Polyphony chooser. The number of harmonics set by the Harmonics control are evenly distributed
between the voices, resulting in fewer harmonics per voice when high voice counts are used. The
combination of high Polyphony and Unison values will create a darker sound.

When the MIDI Gate button is deactivated, audio input will still excite the resonator, even when no
MIDI notes are playing. When activated, the device behaves more like an instrument, and will only
resonate while MIDI notes are being played. In Polyphonic mode, MIDI Gate is always active, so you
will need to play MIDI notes to produce sound.

The Glide parameter adjusts the time in milliseconds over which it takes notes to slide their pitch to the
next incoming pitch. Note that this is only active in Mono mode. The PB parameter defines the effect of
MIDI pitch bend messages, allowing a range of 0-24 semitones. Note that Spectral Resonator is also
able to receive MPE.

The Harmonics parameter (in the upper right corner of the spectrogram) changes the number of
harmonics. More harmonics will lead to a brighter sound and fewer to a darker sound. Note also that
a higher number of harmonics increases the CPU usage.

Stretch increases or decreases the spacing between the harmonics. Values below 0 will compress the
distance, while values above 0 will stretch it. At 100%, only odd harmonics are created, which leads
to a square-wave type sound.

Shift transposes the input signal’s spectrum up or down within a range of +/- 48 semitones. Note that
this does not shift the spectrum of the actual effect, but rather the spectrum of the signal which is fed to
the effect.

Decay adjusts the decay time in milliseconds. A higher value leads to sustained tones. HF Damp sets
the amount of damping applied to high frequency partials. LF Damp sets the amount of damping
applied to low frequency partials.

For both HF Damp and LF Damp, the frequencies affected by the control shift with the pitch of the Freq
knob (when in Internal mode), or with any incoming MIDI notes (when in MIDI mode).

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Using the available switches, you can choose between four Modulations Modes: None, Chorus,
Wander, and Granular. These modes determine how each individual harmonic’s pitch and amplitude
are modulated:

• None applies no modulation.

• Chorus applies triangle wave modulation for every partial. When Mod Rate is set to 0, this
mode only modulates the amplitudes of the partials.
• Wander uses random sawtooth waveforms as the modulation source for each partial.
• Granular modulates the amplitude of all partials randomly, using exponential decay envelopes.
The partials are generated at random and, in this mode, the Mod Rate parameter affects the
density of the partials.

Both Wander and Granular modes will affect each individual Unison voice, creating very warbly,
dense and indistinct sounds.

All Modulation Modes are also affected by the Mod Rate and Pch. Mod (pitch modulation)
parameters. Mod Rate sets the modulation rate, while Pch. Mod adjusts the range of pitch modulation
in semitones. Though Pch. Mod displays only a positive value, pitch modulation is applied in both a
positive and negative direction (except in Granular mode, where the grain envelopes are only
applied in a positive direction).

The Input Send dial sets the amount of gain applied to the processed signal. There is also a built-in
limiter, to ensure that no signal gets too loud. The LED next to the Input Send dial will light up if the
limiter is in use.

The Unison parameter allows you to choose 1, 2, 4, or 8 voices, while Unison Amount (displayed as
“Uni. Amt”) adjusts the intensity of the unison effect. A higher Unison value increases the number of
voices, and increasing the Unison Amount causes the voices to become further detuned from each
other.

The Dry/Wet adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals and modifies the visibility of
the two signals in the spectrogram. Set Dry/Wet to 100% when using Spectral Resonator in a return
track.

26.40.1 Spectral Resonator Tips

Here are some tips for using Spectral Resonator:

• Create tonal drum loops by placing Spectral Resonator on a drum track and using the MIDI
sidechain input to feed specific pitches to Spectral Resonator. This can be used to add rhythm to
your track with the same pitches as your bass, for example.
• In order to have Spectral Resonator follow the pitches of melodic material, first use the Convert
Harmony to New MIDI Track or the Convert Melody to New MIDI Track command, then send
the generated MIDI track to Spectral Resonator.
• Create reverb-type sounds by setting Frequency to a low value, setting Unison and Unison
Amount to a high value, and use the Wander modulation mode in combination with low Mod

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 Rate and Pch. Mod values. Adjust the Decay parameter to make the “reverb” decay longer or
shorter.
• Vocal processing - Spectral Resonator can be used like a vocoder by simply using your voice
as the audio to be processed in combination with the MIDI sidechain input.
• Use two Spectral Resonators in series to create overlapping harmonics by sending different
MIDI signals to each of the Spectral Resonators.

26.41 Spectral Time

The Spectral Time Effect.

(Note: The Spectral Time effect is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Spectral Time combines time freezing and spectral delay effects in a single inspiring device. You can
resynthesize your sounds by applying various spectral filters, delays and frequency-shifting techniques
to incoming material, creating highly varied and unique copies. The freeze and delay effects can be
used together or independently, allowing for a wide range of possibilities, such as sustaining any
sound infinitely, or combining delays with time-synced fade transitions. You can easily transform
sounds by smearing frequencies over time, or add metallic echoes and space to any sound source.

Spectral Time has two main sections, Freezer and Delay, which can be used individually or serially,
with the freezer feeding the delay. You can toggle the individual sections using the Freezer On and
Delay On buttons.

Spectral Time uses a spectrogram to display how frequencies in the dry and wet signals behave over
time. Dry signals are represented in yellow, while wet signals are shown in blue. You can hide the
visualization by clicking on its toggle button.

From Spectral Time’s context menu, you can switch Zero Dry Signal Latency on or off. Enabling it
reduces the latency of the dry signal to zero instead of syncing it with the output of the effect. This
option is useful when playing a live instrument through Spectral Time and monitoring the output.

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26.41.1 Freezer Section

Spectral Time’s Freezer Section.

Depending on which of the Manual/Retrigger Mode buttons are activated, the Freezer section
controls how the freeze function is triggered and how certain temporal characteristics of the frozen
audio are affected. Note that for both modes, the Freeze button also has to be toggled in order for the
effect to occur.

In Manual mode, audio can be frozen by clicking on the Freeze button. You can also control the Fade
In and Fade Out time of the frozen signal in milliseconds.

In Retrigger mode, you have more controls to fine-tune the rhythm of the frozen audio, which can be
frozen automatically at every transient (onset), or at regular intervals.

Onsets mode will freeze the audio after a transient is detected in the input. Use the Sensitivity knob to
adjust the sensitivity of onset detection. Sensitivity is highest at 100% and lowest at 0%.

Sync mode will freeze the audio at regular intervals, determined by the Interval control. By toggling
the Freezer Time Unit buttons, the Interval control can be set to either milliseconds or beat-time values.

In both Onsets and Sync modes, the Freezer Fade Shape buttons toggle between two available fade
shapes: Crossfade and Envelope. Both fade shapes have different controls to determine how a new
freeze will fade in and out.

When the Crossfade shape is selected, the new freeze will fade in and the old freeze (or dry signal)
will fade out. The crossfade duration is set by the X-Fade control, which specifically determines the
time in milliseconds over which a new freeze will fade in as a percentage of the sync interval set by
the Interval control.

When the Envelope shape is selected, a new freeze will fade in and out according to the millisecond
time values chosen in the Fade In and Fade Out parameters. In this mode, up to eight simultaneous
freezes can be stacked on top of one another.

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26.41.2 Delay Section

Spectral Time’s Delay Section.

The Delay section of Spectral Time can be activated or deactivated with the Delay toggle button and
allows you to create delayed copies of spectral information. If the Freezer section is enabled, the
Delay section will be fed by the Freezer’s output.

The Time parameter controls the delay time for the spectral delay lines. The type of value shown here
is dependent on the unit type chosen in the “Mode” drop-down chooser:

• Time mode adjusts the delay time in milliseconds.

• Notes adjusts delay time in beat divisions.
• 16th, 16th Triplet, and 16th Dotted set the delay time to the number of the chosen type of 16th
notes.

Feedback sets the amount of output that is fed back to the delay input. Turning this up increases the
audible echoes of the signal.

Shift shifts the frequency of the delayed signals. Each successive delay will be shifted up or down by
the specified frequency amount.

Stereo adjusts the width of the Tilt and Spray controls.

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the delayed and dry signals. Note that this only
affects the Delay section of the device.

Tilt skews the delay times for different frequencies. A positive value will delay high frequencies more
than low frequencies, while a negative value delays low frequencies more than high frequencies.

Spray distributes the delay times for different frequencies randomly within the given time range.

Mask limits the effects of the Tilt and Spray controls to either high or low frequencies. Positive values
limit the effects to high frequencies, while negative values limit the effects to low frequencies.

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26.41.3 Resolution Section

Spectral Time’s Resolution Control.

In the upper right corner of the spectrogram display, you will find the Resolution control, which sets the
resolution used to process the incoming signal. Lower values reduce the overall latency at the cost of
accuracy and fidelity. Note that since higher values affect overall latency, you may wish to reduce the
Resolution while tracking.

26.41.4 Global Controls

Spectral Time’s Global Controls.

Input Send adjusts the gain of the input signal.

The two radio buttons Frz > Dly and Dly > Frz reverse the effect order.

The global Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals. Set it to
100% when using Spectral Time in a return track.

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26.42 Spectrum

The Spectrum Device.

(Note: The Spectrum device is not available in the Intro and Lite Editions.)

Spectrum performs real-time frequency analysis of incoming audio signals. The results are represented
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 update
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 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

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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 horizontally 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.

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 Spectrum’s title bar or by double-clicking in the
display.

26.43 Tuner

The Tuner Device.

Tuner analyzes and displays the incoming monophonic pitch as well as its distance from the nearest
semitone. Based on classic guitar tuners, Tuner’s large display is designed for easy visibility on stage,
and is perfect for tuning external instruments or synthesizers.

It is important to note that Tuner is not an audio effect, but rather a measurement tool – it does not
alter the incoming signal in any way. Tuner is designed to analyze monophonic pitches, and works

545
best with a clean, clear signal. Polyphonic, noisy, or harmonically rich signals may yield inaccurate
results.

26.43.1 View Switches

The two buttons in the lower-left switch between Tuner’s two main views. Classic View resembles
conventional analog tuners while Histogram View shows pitch over time. In both views, the display
uses color to help indicate tuning accuracy. Green means in tune, while red means out of tune.

Tuner’s View Switches.

26.43.2 Classic View

In Classic View, the incoming pitch is represented as a colored ball along a curve, and the nearest
detected note name is shown in the center of the display. The arrows on either side of the note name
light up to indicate whether the signal needs to be tuned higher or lower in order to reach the desired
pitch.

In Target Mode, a circular outline in the center of the curve shows the desired pitch, and your signal is
in tune if the colored ball is exactly within this outline. If the incoming signal is sharp, the ball will
appear to the right of the target, while flat signals will appear to the left.

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Tuner in Target Mode.

In Strobe Mode, the curve becomes a rotating band of lights. The direction of rotation indicates
whether the signal is sharp or flat. If the band rotates to the right, the incoming pitch is sharp, while flat
signals cause the band to rotate to the left. The further your signal is out of tune, the faster the band will
move.

Tuner in Strobe Mode.

The Hertz/Cents Switch toggles between showing the absolute frequency of the incoming signal in
Hertz or the distance from the target pitch in cents. This switch is also visible in the Histogram View.

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26.43.3 Histogram View

In Histogram View, pitch is shown over time. The scale on the right of the display shows the possible
note names, and the horizontal gray bars represent the perfectly in-tune “center” of the associated
note. Sharp notes will appear above their corresponding gray line, while flat notes will appear below
it.

Tuner in Histogram View.

Drag up or down in the display to scroll to different pitches, or drag horizontally to zoom in or out.
With Auto enabled, the display will automatically adjust so that the incoming pitch is in the center of
the display.

The Hertz/Cents Switch toggles between showing the absolute frequency of the incoming signal in
Hertz or the distance from the target pitch in cents. This switch is also visible in the Classic View.

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26.43.4 Note Spellings

Tuner’s Note Spellings.

The Tuner device includes three options for note spellings. You can access a menu with these options
when you right-click anywhere within Tuner’s view display:

• Sharps (C#)
• Flats (D♭)
• Sharps and Flats (C#/D♭)

26.43.5 Reference Slider

Tuner’s Reference Slider.

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The Reference slider allows you to change the tuning reference that Tuner uses when analyzing
incoming signals. By default this is set to 440 Hz, which is “standard” concert tuning, but it can be
changed to any value between 410-480 Hz.

26.44 Utility

The Utility Effect.

Utility can perform some very useful tasks, especially in combination with other devices.

There are two separate Phase controls, one for each input channel (Left and Right). As their names
imply, they invert the phase of each channel.

The Channel Mode chooser allows selective processing of the left and right channels of a sample. 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 Width control sets the stereo width of the wet signal. 0% yields a mono signal whereas values
above 100% create a widened stereo panorama.

Choosing Mid/Side Mode from the Width control’s context menu allows you to you toggle between
the Width and Mid/Side controls. The Mid/Side control acts as a continuous mono to stereo
controller when set from 0 to 100M. Setting the parameter to 100M will sum the audio to mono.
Values between 0 and 100S emphasize the stereo or “out of phase” components of a signal. At

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100S, only the side signal will be heard. The left and right channels will be 180 degrees out of phase
with each other.

Note that if either Left or Right have been chosen in the Channel Mode chooser, the Width and Mid/
Side controls have no function, and are therefore disabled.

When the Mono switch is enabled, the stereo input signal is converted to mono.

The Bass Mono switch converts the low frequencies of the input signal to mono. This is useful for
avoiding coloration of low frequencies when they are replayed in mono. You can use the Bass Mono
Frequency slider to adjust the cutoff frequency between 50-500 Hz.

When Bass Mono Audition is enabled, only the low frequencies can be heard. This can be useful for
tuning the Bass Mono Frequency.

The Gain control adjusts the level of the input signal from -infinite dB to +35 dB. This can be
particularly useful for automating volume fades on a track, while freeing up that track’s Volume control
for mix balancing. When adjusting the Gain parameter between -18 and +35 dB using the up and
down arrow keys, the value increases or decreases in 1 dB increments. However, between -18 dB
and -inf dB, the value smoothly accelerates.

The Balance control pans the signal anywhere in the stereo field.

The Mute button simply silences the incoming signal when enabled. The active/mute controls 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.

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26.45 Vinyl Distortion

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 the Freq
field and type in a value. Holding the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) modifier while dragging vertically
in the X-Y display changes the frequency band’s Q (bandwidth).

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 Tracing
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.

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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.

26.46 Vocoder

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 modulator 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.

Vocoders work by running both the carrier and modulator signals through banks of band-pass 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:

• 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, but allows you to use Vocoder’s sound-shaping controls to
adjust the sound.

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 • Pitch Tracking enables a monophonic oscillator, which tunes itself to the pitch of the modulator.
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 oscillator 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
Vocoder’s track, for example) can cause unexpected 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 resynthesize
portions of the modulator signal that are pitchless, such as ”f” and ”s” sounds.

Sens. sets the sensitivity of the unvoiced detection algorithm. At 100%, the unvoiced noise generator 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 band-pass 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 band-pass 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, all filters 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 envelope 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 distortion
artifacts.

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The Mono/Stereo switches determine how many channels are used for the carrier and modulator. 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 modulator 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.

The Dry/Wet control adjusts the balance between the processed and dry signals.

26.46.1 Vocoder Tips

This section explains how to set up the most common Vocoder applications.

26.46.1.1 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 for the track.
2. Insert a synthesizer such as Analog 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 button 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 vocoded 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 harmonics. Try
sawtooth-based patches to improve the intelligibility of the voice. For even more brightness and
clarity, try adjusting the Unvoiced control and/or enabling Enhance.

26.46.1.2 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:

1. Set the Carrier chooser to Modulator.

2. Set the Depth to 100%.
3. Enable Enhance.

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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 various filterbank parameters as well.

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27. Live MIDI Effect Reference
Live comes with a selection of custom-designed, built-in MIDI effects. The Working with Instruments
and Effects chapter explains the basics of using effects in Live.

27.1 Arpeggiator

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.

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27.1.1 Style and Rate Sections

Arpeggiator’s Style chooser determines the sequence of notes in the rhythmical pattern.

“Up“ and “Down“.

“UpDown“ and “DownUp“.

“Down & Up“ and “Up & Down“.

“Converge“ and “Diverge“.

“Con & Diverge“.

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“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:

• Choosing Random will produce a continuously randomized sequence of the incoming MIDI
notes.
• Random Other creates random patterns from incoming MIDI notes, but will not repeat a given
note until all other incoming notes have been used.
• 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 control just beneath the Mode 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.

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 with
the control. This is best illustrated with an example: A setting of “1“ makes the second note in the

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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 it is
retriggered. A setting of “inf“ will repeat the pattern indefinitely. 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 generated 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 indicates when the pattern
has been retriggered.

27.1.2 Transposition and Velocity Sections

The pattern generated by Arpeggiator can be transposed; the device’s transposition controls allow
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 intervals (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 transposed. When Distance
is set to a positive value, a setting of 8 Steps will transpose the sequence a total of eight times, 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 0, for example, the sequence will gradually fade out, eventually reaching 0 velocity. The
Decay control sets the amount of time Arpeggiator takes to reach the Target velocity. With Retrigger
activated, retriggering of the sequence will also retrigger the velocity slope.

The velocity section’s Retrigger option can be used in conjunction with Beat retriggering to add rhythm
to the dynamic slope.

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27.2 CC Control

The CC Control Effect.

CC Control is a MIDI effect that lets you send MIDI CC messages to hardware devices. It has three
hard-coded control knobs (Mod Wheel, Pitch Bend, Pressure), one customizable button for sending
on/off or minimum/maximum values (Custom A), and twelve customizable control dials (Custom B -
M).

The device’s hard-coded control knobs function as follows:

Mod Wheel – Sets the amount of modulation being applied by the receiving device.

Pitch Bend – Sends out pitch bend data to the receiving device. Negative values adjust the range
downward and positive values adjust the range upward.

Pressure – Sets the amount of channel pressure/aftertouch being applied by the receiving device.

The Custom A button sends out on/off or minimum/maximum values, which can be toggled between
by turning the button on or off. While intended for sending sustain/hold pedal messages (CC 64), this
button can be assigned to any other MIDI parameter via its CC Type Chooser drop-down menu.

The Custom B - M controls can be renamed and assigned to any MIDI parameter via each control’s
CC Type Chooser drop-down menu. Custom names and assignments for these controls are shown on
Push and are saveable as presets, allowing for easy navigation and reuse. Parameter values can be
set using automation lanes or modulated in real time via the device’s control dials, which can be useful
both for structuring and improvising with performances.

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In the device’s title bar there are two toggles for switching between controls 1 - 8 and controls 9 - 16,
as well as a Resend button which sends out all current MIDI CC values when clicked.

Note that if CC automation already exists for any CC message being sent from CC Control to a
receiving device, MIDI data between the two is merged.

27.3 Chord

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 semitones 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 playing 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.

The order in which pitches are added to the chord is inconsequential: The effect of a +12 semitone shift
added with the Shift 1 control, for example, is equal in effect to a +12 semitone shift added with the
Shift 6 control.

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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.

27.4 Note Length

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 available. 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 percent, 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 determine the
duration of the newly triggered note.

Three other parameters are available when the device is triggering from Note Off messages:

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Release Velocity — This determines the velocity of the output note. It is a balance between the
incoming 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.

27.5 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 define 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
transposition stage of the effect.

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27.6 Random

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 buttons 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-robin“). 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 0 percent, the next output note will always be the incoming note.

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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 alternating right- and left-hand drum
samples.

Try using the Scale effect after Random to constrain the output values to a specific harmonic range.
Using Random’s Alt mode with the Scale device allows you to create a simple step-sequencer.

27.7 Scale

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 blue 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.

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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 Fold will map C3 to A2 instead.

The Range and Lowest controls work together to define the note range within which scale mapping
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.

27.8 Velocity

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 represented 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.

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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 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 actually 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.

• 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.
• In Fixed Mode, the Out Hi velocity defines all outgoing note velocities, regardless of incoming
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.

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28. Live Instrument Reference
Live comes with a selection of custom-designed, built-in instruments. The Working with Instruments and
Effects chapter explains the basics of using instruments in Live.

28.1 Analog

The Analog Instrument.

(Note: The Analog instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

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 physical 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 calculated 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.

28.1.1 Architecture and Interface

Analog’s signal flow is shown in the figure below:

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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 connected 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 section selected in the shell. In addition to the synthesis
modules, there is a Global section that contains general performance parameters such as instrument
volume, vibrato and polyphony, as well as an MPE section that includes controls for three MPE
sources: pressure, slide and per-note pitch bend, which make it possible to shape Analog’s sound
using an MPE-enabled controller.

28.1.2 Oscillators

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.

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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, rectangular 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 corresponding LFO is enabled.

The Octave, Semi and Detune 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
parameters 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 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 setting 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 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
synchronization 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 oscillator
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.

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28.1.3 Noise Generator

Analog’s Noise Generator.

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 respectively.

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.

28.1.4 Filters

Display and Shell Parameters for the two Filters.

Analog’s two multi-mode filters come equipped with a flexible routing architecture, multiple saturation
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.

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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.

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 Follow
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 Follow is enabled.

In addition to the envelope controls, the displays for the filters contain various modulation parameters
and the Drive chooser. Cutoff frequency and resonance can be independently 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 affect incoming signals.

28.1.5 Amplifiers

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 amplitude
envelope and panning. All parameters can be set independently for each amplifier.

The 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 output in the
stereo field.

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.

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28.1.6 Envelopes

Analog’s Envelope Parameters.

In addition to the pitch envelopes in the oscillator sections, Analog is equipped with independent
envelopes for each filter and amplifier. All four of these envelopes have identical controls, which are
housed entirely within the display. Each envelope is 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 <
Vel slider. As you increase the Att < Vel value, the attack time will become increasingly 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
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 < Vel slider.

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 note 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.

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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 released, 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 instruments with
audible dampers.

28.1.7 LFOs

Display and Shell Parameters 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, triangle,
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 triggered.
The Offset slider adjusts the phase of the LFO’s waveform.

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28.1.8 Global Parameters

Display and Shell Parameters for the Global Options.

The Global shell and display parameters allow you to adjust Analog’s response to MIDI data and
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
overall 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 hardwired to
the pitch of both oscillators. The Rate slider sets the speed of the vibrato.

Turning on the vibrato effect activates 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, Delay and Attack parameters for the vibrato applied to each
polyphonic voice. The Amt < MW slider adjusts how much the modulation wheel will affect the vibrato
intensity. This control is relative to the value set in the vibrato 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 activates 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.

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 activates 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 four Quick Routing buttons on the 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 similar, but the

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oscillators each split their output evenly between the two filters. The bottom left option feeds both
oscillators into Filter 1 and Amp 1, bypassing 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.

Note that the Quick Routing options do not affect any changes you may have made to the oscillator
level, tuning or waveform parameters — they only adjust the routing of the oscillators to the filters and
subsequent amplifiers.

The Keyboard section in the display contains all of Analog’s tuning and polyphony parameters. The
Octave, Semi and Detune controls function as coarse and fine tuners. Octave transposes the entire
instrument by octaves, while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments. The Detune slider
adjusts tuning in increments of one cent (up to a maximum of 50 cents up or down).

PB Range sets the range of pitch bend modulation in semitones.

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 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.

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 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.

28.1.9 MPE Sources

Display Parameters for the MPE Sources.

Toggling the MPE switch in the Global section of the display reveals three MPE sources: Pressure,
Slide, and NotePB (per-note pitch bend), which can be used to further transform Analog’s sound.

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You can specify up to two different destinations where MPE pressure data will be routed using the two
Pressure Destination choosers. You can set how much the MPE pressure data will modulate the
selected destinations using the MPE Pressure Amount sliders to the right.

Slide also includes two Destination choosers, each with its own MPE Slide Amount slider to control
how much the MPE slide data affects the target.

The Pressure and Slide Activity LEDs light up when Analog receives MPE pressure and slide data
respectively.

The Note PB slider sets the range of per-note pitch bend in semitones.

28.2 Collision

The Collision Instrument.

(Note: The Collision instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Collision is a synthesizer that simulates the characteristics of mallet percussion instruments. Created in
collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems, Collision uses physical modeling technology to model
the various sound generating and resonant components of real (or imagined) objects.

28.2.1 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 character.

Note that if both the Mallet and Noise sections are turned off, Collision will not produce any sound.

Collision’s interface is divided into sections and tabs. The Mallet and Noise sections contain controls
for the corresponding Mallet and Noise oscillators. The Resonator 1 and Resonator 2 tabs contain
parameters for both individual resonators.

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The LFO tab contains two independent low-frequency oscillators (LFOs), which can each modulate
multiple parameters. Similarly, the MIDI/MPE tab allows for MIDI pitch bend, modulation wheel and
aftertouch messages and their MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) equivalents to be routed to multiple
destinations.

To the right of the MIDI/MPE tab is a section of global parameters, including voice polyphony, note
retrigger, resonator structure, and overall output volume.

Note: Deactivating unused sections and tabs can help to save CPU resources.

28.2.2 Mallet Section

Collision’s Mallet Section.

The Mallet section simulates the impact of a mallet against a surface. The parameters adjust the
physical properties of the mallet itself.

You can toggle the Mallet button to switch the section on or off.

Volume controls the overall output level of the mallet. The Volume parameter can be modulated using
pitch and velocity by adjusting the Key and Vel sliders in the MIDI tab.

Stiffness 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 in the MIDI tab.

Noise 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 Noise parameter can be modulated using pitch
and velocity by adjusting the Key and Vel sliders in the MIDI tab.

Color 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 0.

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28.2.3 Noise Section

Collision’s Noise Section.

Like the Mallet, the Noise section produces Collision’s initial impulse sound. The Noise oscillator
produces white noise, which is then fed into a multimode filter with a dedicated envelope generator.
This section can be used instead of, or in addition to, the Mallet section.

You can toggle the Noise button to switch the section on or off.

Next to the Noise button is a drop-down menu for the available noise filter types. You can choose
between LP, HP, BP, and LP+HP. Filter cutoff and resonance can be adjusted by using the Freq knob
and Res slider.

In BP mode, the Res 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 Key and
Vel sliders in the MIDI tab or the Env Amt knob control.

Volume sets the overall output level of the Noise section, and can be modulated by pitch and velocity
by adjusting the Key and Vel sliders in the MIDI tab.

The Env Amt knob controls an envelope generator with standard ADSR (attack, decay, sustain,
release) options.

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 0, 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 Freq knob defines the center or cut-off frequency of the filter. The Res slider sets the resonance of
the filter frequency in LP, HP, and BP filters, and the width of the LP+HP filter.

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28.2.4 Resonator Tabs

Collision’s Resonators.

The majority of Collision’s character is determined by the parameters in the two Resonator tabs. Each
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.

At the top of the Resonator tab, you will see a Resonance Type drop-down menu of resonant objects:

• Beam simulates the resonance properties of beams of different materials and sizes.
• 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.
• Membrane is a model of a rectangular membrane (such as a drum head) with a variable size
and construction.
• Plate simulates sound production by a rectangular plate (a flat surface) of different materials
and sizes.
• 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.)
• Tube simulates a cylindrical tube that is closed at both ends.

Selecting an object adds a visualization of it to the X-Y Controller display.

Next to the Resonance Type drop-down is a Quality menu with options ranging from Eco to High.
Quality controls the trade-off between the sound quality of the resonators and CPU performance by
reducing the number of overtones that are calculated. Eco uses minimal CPU resources, while High
creates more sophisticated resonances. Note that the Pipe or Tube resonators do not offer a Quality
menu.

Each resonator contains a copy button (1 → 2 in Resonator 1 and 2 → 1 in Resonator 2) that you can
use to copy all the settings from one resonator to the other.

Using the X-Y Controller, you can click and drag the mouse horizontally to change the resonant
object’s decay time, or vertically to change the value of the Material/Radius parameter.

The decay time adjusts the amount of the internal damping in the resonator and can also be adjusted
using the Decay slider.

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The Material slider adjusts the variation of damping at different frequencies. At lower values, low
frequency components decay slower than high frequency components (which simulates objects made
of wood, rubber, or nylon). At higher values, high frequency components decay slower (which
simulates objects made of glass or metal).

In the Pipe and Tube resonators, a Radius parameter is available in place of the Material parameter.
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 be modulated by note pitch and velocity via the Key
and Vel sliders in the MIDI tab.

An additional Ratio parameter is available for the Membrane and Plate resonators, which adjusts the
ratio of the object’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 Inharm knob adjusts the pitch of the resonator’s harmonics. At negative values, frequencies are
compressed, increasing the number of lower partials. At positive values, frequencies are stretched,
increasing the number of upper partials. Inharm can also be modulated by velocity via the slider in
the MIDI tab. Note that 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. This parameter
can also be modulated by velocity in the MIDI tab.

The Hit slider adjusts the location on the resonator at which the object is struck or otherwise activated.
At 0%, the object is hit at its center. Higher values move the activation point closer to the edge. The Hit
position can also be randomized by increasing the value of the Rnd slider. Note that this parameter is
not used with the Pipe or Tube resonators.

Note Off 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. This is
similar to how real-world mallet instruments behave, such as marimbas and glockenspiels. At 100%,
the resonance is muted immediately at Note Off, regardless of the Decay time.

The Pos. L and Pos. R sliders adjust the location on the left and right resonator where the vibrations 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.

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28.2.4.1 Tuning Section

Resonator Tuning Parameters.

The Tune knob and Fine slider 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 quarter
tone (50 cents) up or down).

The Tune knob can also be modulated via the Key slider in the MIDI tab. The Key slider sets 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 (Pitch Env and Time) apply a ramp that modulates the resonator’s pitch
over time. Pitch Env sets the starting pitch while Time adjusts how long it will take the pitch to glide to
its final value. The starting pitch can be modulated by velocity via the corresponding Vel slider in the
MIDI tab.

28.2.4.2 Mixer Section

Resonator Mixer.

Each resonator has its own Gain and Pan controls. Pan can also be modulated by note pitch via the
Key slider in the MIDI tab.

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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.

Gain adjusts the output level of the selected resonator.

28.2.5 LFO Tab

Collision’s LFOs.

Collision’s two independent LFOs can be used as modulation sources for a variety of mallet, noise,
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 chooser
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.

The Offs. slider sets the phase offset of the LFO. When Retrigger is enabled, triggering a note restarts
the LFO with the waveform phase set by the Offset parameter.

Each LFO can modulate two targets, which are set via the Destination choosers. The intensity of the
modulations is adjusted with the LFO Destination Amount sliders. Note that these modulation amounts
are relative to the LFO’s Amount value.

Rate adjusts the speed of the LFO and can be set in Hertz or tempo-synced beat divisions. The Amount
knob determines the overall intensity of the LFO. Rate can be modulated by note pitch and Amount by
velocity in the MIDI tab.

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28.2.6 MIDI/MPE Tab

Collision’s MIDI/MPE Tab.

The MIDI/MPE tab allows for a wide variety of internal MIDI mappings, both for standard and MPE-
enabled MIDI controllers. A MIDI controller’s pitch bend (including per-note pitch bend), modulation
wheel, pressure and slide signals can be mapped to two destinations each, with independent
modulation intensities set via the Amount sliders.

Additional mallet, noise, resonator, and LFO parameters can be modulated using pitch or velocity
using the Key and Vel sliders.

28.2.6.1 The Global Section

Collision’s Global Section.

The global section contains the parameters that relate to the overall behavior and performance of
Collision.

The Voices drop-down menu lets you set the maximum number of notes that can sound simultaneously.

When Retrig. is on, notes which are already playing will be retriggered, rather than generating an
additional voice. This can help to save CPU resources.

Structure determines the signal flow through the resonators.

In serial mode 1 > 2 both resonators output to Resonator 1. Resonator 1 is then mixed down to mono
and routed to Resonator 2, as well as its own mixer (in stereo).

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Resonators in 1 > 2 (Serial) Configuration.

In parallel mode 1 + 2 the output from the Mallet and Noise sections is mixed and then sent directly to
both resonators.

Resonators in 1 + 2 (Parallel) Configuration.

Volume sets the overall volume output.

28.2.7 Sound Design Tips

Although Collision has been designed to model the behavior of objects that exist in the physical
world, it is important to remember that these models allow for much more flexibility than their physical
counterparts. While Collision can produce extremely realistic simulations of conventional 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 produces a
sound on a mallet instrument (a marimba, for example), and then visualize those events as sections
within Collision:

• A beater (Mallet) strikes a tuned bar (Resonator 1).

• The tuned bar’s resonance is amplified by means of a resonating tube (Resonator 2).

Thus the conventional model consists of the Mallet Exciter and the two resonators in a serial (1 > 2)
configuration.

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Of course, to program unrealistic sounds, anything goes:

• Try using the Noise Exciter, 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.
• Experiment with the resonators in parallel (1 + 2) configuration.
• Use the LFOs and MIDI controllers (including MPE-enabled ones) to modulate Collision’s
parameters.

A word of caution: in many ways, Collision’s models are idealized versions of real-world objects.
Consequently, it 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.

28.3 Drift

The Drift Instrument.

Drift is a versatile synthesizer with intuitive controls and a simple interface that is fully MPE-capable.
Based on subtractive synthesis, Drift has been carefully built for quick and easy sound design while
using minimal CPU resources.

Drift’s interface is divided into six main sections: an oscillator section, a dynamic filter section, an
envelopes section, two modulation sections (LFO and Mod), and a section of global controls.

28.3.1 Subtractive Synthesis

Subtractive synthesis is a technique that generally starts with a waveform that is then shaped using
filters to sculpt the original timbres into new forms. In addition to this process, Drift offers many
modulation options for tweaking and customizing the sound even more, allowing you to easily create
a wide variety of sounds. The signature Drift control lets you add pitch and frequency variation to
each voice, resulting in a slightly detuned, fluctuating pulse throughout the tone.

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28.3.2 Oscillator Section

Drift’s Oscillator Section.

Drift’s Oscillator section features two separate oscillators, pitch modulation controls, a waveform
display, an oscillator mixer, and a noise generator.

28.3.2.1 Oscillator 1

You can select from several curated waveforms using the Osc 1 drop-down menu: Sine, Triangle,
Shark Tooth, Saturated, Saw, Pulse, and Rectangle. The Shark Tooth and Saturated waveforms are
unique to Drift; Shark Tooth is based on a classic Moog analog shape with the same name, while
Saturated works well for bass sounds.

The Oct knob transposes Oscillator 1 in octaves. You can use the Shape knob to change the harmonic
content of the waveform into something slightly different, resulting in an effect similar to pulse-width
modulation. As the timbre varies between each waveform, they all respond differently to the Shape
control. When you make adjustments to the control, you can view the result in the Waveform Display
located at the bottom of the Oscillator section. You’ll notice how the waveform changes as you tweak
the Shape value.

To the right of the Shape knob, the Oscillator 1 Shape Mod Source drop-down lets you select a
modulation source that will affect the Shape control, allowing you to further morph the waveform:

• Env 1
• Env 2/Cyc - Envelope 2 or the Cycling Envelope can be used for modulation, depending on
which is activated.
• LFO

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 • Key - When the Shape Mod Amount is set to a positive value, higher note pitches will produce
more modulation and lower pitches less, and vice versa when the amount is set to a negative
value.
• Velocity - Incoming velocity data will be used for modulation; higher note velocities will
produce more modulation and lower note velocities less.
• Modwheel
• Pressure
• Slide

You can set the amount of modulation anywhere between -100% to 100% using the Oscillator 1
Shape Mod Amount slider. Note that Shape Mod can also introduce modulation to the waveform
when set between values of 1% - 100%, even if the Shape control value itself is set to 0%.

28.3.2.2 Oscillator 2

Using the Osc 2 drop-down menu, you can select a waveform for the second oscillator: Sine,
Triangle, Saturated, Saw, and Rectangle.

The Oct knob transposes Oscillator 2 in octaves, while the Detune control offers transposition in
semitones.

28.3.2.3 Pitch Mod

The Pitch Mod section contains two modulation source options, which will affect the pitch of both
oscillators. You can choose Env 1, Env 2 / Cyc, LFO, Key, Velocity, Modwheel, Pressure, or Slide as a
modulation source using the Oscillator Pitch Mod Source drop-down menus. The Oscillator Mod
Amount sliders determine how much each source modulates the pitch within a range from -100% to
100%.

When applying pitch modulation using an LFO that uses the Ratio time mode, it is possible to generate
FM tones.

28.3.2.4 Waveform Display

Drift’s Waveform Display.

The waveform display shows the result of the combined output of Osc 1, Osc 2 and the noise
generator, if enabled. As you make adjustments to the oscillators, you will see how the waveform
changes in the display.

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28.3.2.5 Oscillator Mixer

Drift’s Oscillator Mixer.

In Drift’s Oscillator Mixer, you can enable Oscillator 1 and 2, as well as a noise generator that adds
white noise to the overall waveform shape, by using the respective switches.

You can also set the gain for each oscillator and the noise generator with the Osc 1, Osc 2, and
Noise controls. When filter processing is on, high oscillator gain values can reach the maximum
“headroom” of the filters, at which point they stop functioning linearly, resulting in a complex distortion
similarly found in analog hardware.

There are two saturation points in the filter circuits that cause this distortion, one before the filter and
one after. As the oscillator gain values are increased from the default -6.0 dB, the first saturation point
will become activated, and the second will be triggered when gain values are above 0.0 dB.

Enabling the arrow toggles to the right of the gain controls switches on filter processing for the
oscillators and noise generator. If filter processing is switched off, the oscillator and noise generator
output bypasses the filter completely.

The R toggle switches Retrigger for the oscillators on or off. If Retrigger is on, the phase of both
oscillators is reset to the same position each time a note is played; if switched off, the oscillators are
free-running.

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28.3.3 Filter Section

Drift’s Filter Section.

Filtering plays an important role in shaping the timbres produced by the oscillators.

Drift’s Filter section has a low-pass filter that can be switched between two filter types, filter key
tracking, a resonance control, a high-pass filter, and two frequency modulation controls.

The Freq knob sets the cutoff frequency of the low-pass filter. You can use the Type toggle to switch
between two distinct low–pass filters: Type I (12 dB/octave) and Type II (24 dB/octave).

Type I uses a DFM-1 filter which feeds back more of its distortion internally, resulting in a broad range
of tones from subtle filter sweeps to warm drive.

Type II has the Cytomic MS2 filter which uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit
resonance.

The Key slider determines how the pitch of incoming MIDI notes influences the low-pass filter’s
frequency. If set to 0.00, MIDI notes have no effect on filter frequency. If set to 1.00, the filter
frequency will be lower for low notes and higher for high notes.

The Res knob adjusts the resonance of the low-pass filter, while the HP knob sets the cutoff frequency
for the high-pass filter.

You can also click anywhere in the Filter section to access and adjust the envelope using the display in
the Envelopes section with an X-Y controller. You can drag the left filter dot horizontally to set the high-
pass frequency. The right filter dot adjusts the low-pass frequency when dragged horizontally or the
resonance amount when dragged vertically.

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You can select up to two modulation sources for the low-pass filter cutoff frequency using the Low-
pass Modulation Source drop-down menus in the Freq Mod section. The Low-pass Modulation
Amount sliders let you determine how much each source modulates the frequency within a range from
-100% to 100%.

28.3.4 Envelopes Section

Drift’s Envelopes Section.

Envelopes generally determine how the amplitude of the sound changes from the moment a note is
played to when it is released.

Drift’s Envelopes section contains two separate envelopes: one which controls how the amplitude
changes and another that can be used specifically for modulation.

28.3.4.1 Envelope 1

Envelope 1 determines how the amplitude of the Oscillator section’s output (including both oscillators,
as well as the Noise generator if enabled) begins and changes when a note is played and then
released.

You can set the Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release controls using the respective knobs or by
adjusting the envelope itself in the display.

Attack sets the time needed to travel from the initial value to the peak value.

Decay sets the time needed to travel from the peak value to the Sustain level.

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Sustain sets the level reached at the end of the Decay stage; the envelope will remain at this level until
the note ends.

Release sets the time needed to travel back to zero after the note is released.

You can toggle between Envelope 1 and Envelope 2 by clicking the respective section in the UI, or by
using the 1 and 2 toggles in the display. The selected envelope will be shown in the display for
editing.

28.3.4.2 Envelope 2

Envelope 2 also has Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release controls however, unlike Envelope 1,
Envelope 2 is not mapped to amplitude by default, and can be used as a source for all modulation
source options within Drift.

Envelope 2 can be changed from an ADSR envelope to a Cycling Envelope by toggling the switch to
the left of the Attack control.

Cycling Envelope.

The Cycling Envelope functions similarly to an LFO modulation that restarts with each incoming MIDI
note.

The Tilt knob moves the midpoint of the envelope, at very low or high amounts this can also affect the
envelope’s slopes. The Hold control defines how long the envelope stays at its maximum level.

By default, the Cycling Envelope displays the Rate control, which is one of four possible time modes,
also including Ratio, Time, or Sync. You can select the other modes by clicking the switches to the right
of the control. Depending on the time mode, the repetition rate can be set in Hz, ratio, milliseconds, or
tempo-synced beat divisions.

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28.3.5 LFO Section

Drift’s LFO Section.

Like the Cycling Envelope, Drift’s LFO can be set in one of four different time modes: Rate, Ratio, Time,
or Sync. The time mode determines the repetition rate of the LFO in Hz, ratio, milliseconds, or tempo-
synced beat divisions.

In the LFO display, you can select from nine different waveforms using the drop-down menu:

• Sine
• Triangle
• Saw Up
• Saw Down
• Square
• Sample & Hold
• Wander is a sample and hold with an S-shape which interpolates between two values at the
rate of the LFO.
• Linear Envelope is a one-shot decay envelope with a linear decay.
• Exponential Envelope is a one-shot decay envelope with an exponential decay.

You can use the R switch to turn Retrigger on or off. If on, the LFO resets to the same position in its
phase each time a note is triggered. If off, the LFO is free-running.

The LFO Amount knob sets the overall intensity of the LFO. The LFO Modulation Source drop-down
menu lets you select a modulation source for the LFO, while the LFO Modulation Amount slider
determines how much that modulation is applied to the LFO.

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28.3.6 Mod Section

Drift’s Mod Section.

Most of Drift’s parameters can be modulated; you can select up to three modulation sources and
destinations in the Mod section.

You can choose from the following sources using the Modulation Source choosers: Env 1, Env 2 /
Cyc, LFO, Key, Velocity, Modwheel, Pressure, or Slide.

The following destinations are available in the Modulation Destination choosers: Osc 1 Gain, Osc 1
Shape, Osc 2 Gain, Osc 2 Detune, Noise Gain, LP Frequency, LP Resonance, HP Frequency, LFO
Rate, Cyc Env Rate, and Main Volume.

You can use the Modulation Amount sliders to set how much the modulation destination is affected by
the modulation source within a range of -100% to 100%.

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28.3.7 Global Section

Drift’s Global Section.

Drift’s global controls affect the overall behavior and performance of the instrument.

The Mode chooser lets you select from Drift’s four different Voice Modes:

Poly uses one voice per note and offers up to 32 voices of polyphony.

Mono plays one note at a time, but the note is rendered using four voices to produce a unison effect
depending on the Mono Thickness value. The Mono Thickness slider lets you adjust the relative volume
of the four voices associated with each note. When Thickness is set to 0, only one voice will be played
for a note. As Mono Thickness is set to higher values, the volume of the other three voices increases so
that they become audible with each note. A new note will choke the previously played note, if it is still
being held.

Stereo uses two voices per note and pans them to the left and right. The Stereo Spread slider sets how
much panning variation is applied across the individual voices. At higher amounts, the voices are
further apart, producing a widening effect.

Unison slightly detunes the four voices for each note independently from one another. The Unison
Strength slider determines how much pitch variation is applied across individual voices. When set to
higher values, more variation is added to each voice.

You can select the maximum number of voices that can play simultaneously using the Voices drop-
down menu. Certain Voice Modes can utilize more voices than notes played, meaning that
depending on which Voice Mode is selected, the polyphony will be different. For example, when the
Voices amount is set to 32 voices:

• Poly mode can play up to 32 notes.

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 • Stereo mode can play up to 16 notes.
• Unison/Mono mode can play up to 8 notes.

The Drift slider adds slight variation to each voice, affecting different aspects of the voice’s sound, such
as pitch and filter cutoff. Every voice in Drift has a different randomization for the oscillators and filter
frequency; adjusting the Drift control increases or decreases this unique randomization. At higher
amounts, the gaps between the oscillators and the filter widens, making the sound more out of tune.

When the Voice Mode is set to Mono, you can enable the Legato switch so that triggering a new
voice will change its pitch without resetting its envelopes. The Glide slider lets you adjust the time
overlapping notes take to slide their pitch to the next incoming pitch when notes are played legato.

The Volume knob sets the overall volume for the instrument, while the Vel > Vol slider determines how
much the volume will be modulated by incoming MIDI note velocity.

The Transpose slider lets you adjust the global pitch in semitones within a range of -48 to 48 st. You
can switch on the Note PB toggle to enable per-note pitch bend. Switching Note PB off lets you use
an MPE controller without having the pitch change based on finger position. The PB Range slider sets
the global pitch bend range in semitones.

28.4 Electric

The Electric Instrument.

(Note: The Electric instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Electric is a software electric piano developed in collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems. It is
based on the classic instruments of the seventies; each component has been modeled using cutting
edge physical modeling technology to provide realistic and lively sounds.

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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 calculated 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.

28.4.1 Architecture and Interface

The mechanism of the electric piano is actually quite simple. A note played on the keyboard activates
a hammer 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 hammer 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 four main sections: Hammer, Fork, Damper/Pickup, which contain
parameters pertaining to the instrument’s tone and sound; and the Global section which contains
parameters that affect overall behavior and performance, such as pitch bend and polyphony.

You can click on the individual sections to reveal all of their associated parameters, or you can click
on the Hammer, Fork, or Damper/Pickup icons to toggle between those respective sections.

Electric’s Hammer, Fork, and Damper/Pickup Icons.

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28.4.2 Hammer Section

Electric’s Hammer Section.

The Hammer section contains the parameters related to the physical properties of the hammer itself, as
well as how it’s affected by your playing.

The Stiffness knob adjusts the hardness of the hammer’s striking area. Higher values simulate a harder
surface, which results in a brighter sound. Lower values mean a softer surface and a more mellow
sound. Stiffness can also be modified by velocity and note pitch via the Vel and Key sliders in the
bottom half of the display.

The Noise knob adjusts the amount of impact noise caused by the hammer striking the fork. In the
Noise section in the bottom half of the display, the Pitch slider sets the center frequency of the noise
pitch, while the Decay slider adjusts how long it takes for the noise to fade to silence. The Key slider
controls how much the noise volume is determined by note pitch.

The Force section adjusts the intensity of the hammer’s impact on the fork. Low Amount values simulate
a soft impact while high values result in a hard impact. Force can also be modified by velocity and
note pitch, via the Vel and Key sliders.

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28.4.3 Fork Section

Electric’s Fork Section.

The Fork section contains knobs for both Tine and Tone parameters, which are the heart of Electric’s
sound generating mechanism.

Tine controls the portion of the fork that is directly struck by the hammer.

The Color slider controls the relative amplitude of high and low partials in the tine’s spectrum. Low
values result in lower harmonics, while higher values result in higher harmonics.

The Decay knob adjusts how long it takes the tine’s sound to fade out while a note is held. The volume
level of the tine can be modulated by note pitch via the Key slider.

Tone controls the secondary resonance of the fork.

The Release slider applies to both Tine and Tone, and controls the decay time of the fork’s sound after
a key is released. The Decay parameter works in the same way as in the Tine subsection.

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28.4.4 Damper/Pickup Section

Electric’s Damper/Pickup Section.

28.4.4.1 Pickup Parameters

In Electric, the Pickup simulates the behavior of the magnetic coil pickup that amplifies the sound of the
resonating fork.

The Symmetry knob and Distance slider adjust the physical location of the pickup in relation to the
tine. Symmetry simulates the vertical position of the pickup. At 50%, the pickup is directly in front of the
tine, which results in a brighter sound. Lower amounts move the pickup below the tine, while higher
amounts move it above the tine. Distance controls how far the pickup is from the tine. Higher amounts
increase the distance, while lower amounts move the pickup closer. Note that the sound becomes
more overdriven as the pickup approaches the tine.

The Type R and W buttons switch between two different types of pickups. In the R position, Electric
simulates electro-dynamic pickups, while W is based on an electro-static model.

The Input slider 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 slider controls the amount of
signal output by the pickup section. Different combinations of these two parameters 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 slider.

28.4.4.2 Damper Parameters

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

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it from vibrating. But the dampers themselves make a small amount of sound, both when they are
applied and when they are released. The Damper parameters simulate this characteristic noise.

The Tone slider adjusts the stiffness of the dampers. Lower values simulate soft dampers, which
produces a mellower sound. Higher values increase the hardness of the dampers, producing a
brighter sound. The overall amount of damper noise is adjusted with the Level slider.

The Att/Rel slider adjusts whether or not damper noise is present when the dampers are applied to the
fork or when they are released. At -100, damper noise will only be heard during the note’s attack
phase. At 100, the noise is present only during the release phase. In the center, an equal amount of
noise will be present during both attack and release.

28.4.5 Global Section

Electric’s Global Section.

The Global section 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 additional
CPU, you may need to experiment with this setting to find a good balance between playability and
performance.

The Semi and Detune sliders function as coarse and fine tuners. Semi transposes the entire instrument
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%, 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 resonance behavior of a

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vibrating tine or string differs from the theoretical model, equal temperament 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.

Pitch Bend sets the range in semitones of global pitch bend modulation, while Note PB sets the MPE
per-note pitch bend range in semitones.

28.5 External Instrument

(Note: The External Instrument device is not available in the Lite Edition.)

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 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, 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 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.

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The Audio From chooser provides options for returning the audio from the hardware synth or plug-in
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 Settings.

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 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 possible 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.

Note: If the Delay Compensation option 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.

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28.6 Impulse

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.

28.6.1 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-swapping
samples. Loaded samples can be deleted using the Backspace (Win) or Delete (Mac) 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 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, or it can be
rearranged by applying a Scale device.

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. Adjustments to sample settings are only captured once
you hit a new note — they do not affect currently playing notes. Note that this behavior 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 instrument.

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.

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Each slot can be played, soloed, muted or hot-swapped using controls that appear when the mouse
hovers over it.

28.6.2 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 random value, as
set in the appropriate fields.

The Stretch control has values from -100 to 100 percent. Negative values will shorten the sample, and
positive values will stretch it. Two different stretching algorithms are available: Mode A is ideal for low
sounds, such as toms or bass, while Mode B is better for high sounds, such as cymbals. The Stretch
value can also be modulated by MIDI note velocity.

28.6.3 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.

28.6.4 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 decay. This
mode is useful in situations where you need variable decay lengths, as is the case with hi-hat cymbal
sounds.

28.6.5 Pan and Volume

Each sample has Volume and Pan controls that adjust amplitude and stereo positioning, respectively.
Both controls can be modulated: Pan by velocity and a random value, and Volume by velocity only.

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28.6.6 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.

28.6.7 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 and I/O chapter to learn how to accomplish this for Impulse’s overall signal or
for Impulse’s individual sample slots.

28.7 Meld

The Meld Instrument.

(Note: The Meld instrument is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Meld is a versatile synthesizer that combines two independent macro oscillator engines into one
device. While it can quickly dial in classic analog-style patches, Meld’s character shines through in
the array of synthesis and filtering techniques it lets you layer and experiment with. Each of the
device’s engines has a dedicated filter, envelopes, LFOs, and a MIDI and MPE-enabled Modulation
Matrix, as well as two oscillator-dependent macro knobs that control parameters ranging from simple
overtone modulation to more unusual features like noise loop fragmentation, chiptone pulsewidth, and
raindrop generation density. Meld is designed to produce expressive, unfamiliar sounds guided by
musical intention rather than technical detail.

28.7.1 General Overview

Meld’s dual-layer architecture can use up to two polyphonic synth engines at once. Its interface is
divided into four main sections: the engines, the modulation section, the filters, and the global mix
controls. This modular-inspired configuration makes it easy to add texture and movement to your

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sounds, but also to produce and capture musical surprises. To get familiar with some of Meld’s
possibilities, try combining different waveform types and playing with each engine’s modulation
macros. For more control, try mapping an engine’s parameters to its Modulation Matrix, or
automating the device’s macro knobs using an LFO device. The more you experiment with the
interaction between Meld’s two layers, the more you’ll make the device your own.

Meld can be expanded using the Toggle Expanded View button in the device header. When in
expanded view, all possible modulation targets and sources will be shown. The A and B toggles can
be used to switch between each engine. Parameter modulation values can be copied from one
engine to another using the Copy to A and Copy to B buttons. Clicking the X button will erase all
active modulation values.

Meld in Expanded View.

28.7.2 Oscillators

Meld’s Oscillators.

Meld’s two engines can be turned on or off independently via switches in the Engines section.
Deactivating one of Meld’s engines will deactivate its associated filter in the device’s Filters section. A
filter can be turned on or off without affecting the activation of the engine it’s linked to.

Each of Meld’s engines has three pitch controls (Octaves, Semitones, and Cents). When the Use
Current Scale toggle is activated, the semitone indicator (st) switches to scale degrees (sd). You can
use these pitch controls to add harmonic depth to your sound, for example by transposing an engine
up an octave or a fifth, or by subtly detuning it in cents.

Engines A and B each have a selection of twenty-four oscillator types to choose from, including six
scale aware oscillators marked with a (♭♯). These range from simple sine wave generation oscillators
to layered wave swarms, complex frequency modulation, noise looping, and ambient sound

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generation algorithms. Oscillator Types can be selected from an engine’s drop-down menu or cycled
through using the arrows in the Oscillator Types displays.

28.7.3 Oscillator Macros

Meld’s Oscillator Macros.

Engines A and B each have two dedicated macro knobs, which change along with the oscillator type
selected. All four of the oscillator macro knobs can be assigned to a MIDI controller for live
performance or to the LFO device for automated modulation. They can also be modulated internally,
using the Modulation Matrix.

The Basic Shapes oscillator has two macro knobs, Shape and Tone. Shape morphs the oscillator’s
waveform between a sine, triangle, saw, and square wave. Tone changes the pulse width of the
source wave.

The Dual Basic Shapes oscillator has two macro knobs, Shape and Detune. Shape morphs the
oscillator’s waveform through sine, triangle, saw, and square wave shapes. Detune adds a copy of
this initial wave and detunes it.

The Noisy Shapes oscillator has two macro knobs, Shape and Rough. Shape morphs the oscillator’s
waveform through sine, triangle, saw, and square wave shapes. Rough adds noise distortion to this
source wave.

The Square Sync oscillator has two macro knobs, Freq 1 and Freq 2. These two controls change the
frequencies of the oscillator’s two synced square waves.

The Square 5th oscillator has two macro knobs, 5th Amt and P Width. 5th Amt morphs the oscillator’s
initial square wave to a second square wave that is a perfect fifth above it. P Width changes the pulse
width of the square wave being generated.

The Sub oscillator has two macro knobs, Tone and Aux. Tone morphs the oscillator’s initial sine wave
into a square wave. Aux adds a lower subharmonic sine wave to the initial sine wave being
generated.

The Swarm Sine, Swarm Triangle, Swarm Saw, and Swarm Square oscillators have two macro knobs,
Motion and Spacing. Motion adds modulation to the wave swarm being produced. Spacing fades
between increasingly complex chords as the amount applied is increased.

The Harmonic Fm oscillator has two macro knobs, Amount and Ratio, which change the modulation
amount and ratio in the frequency modulation algorithm.

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The Fold Fm oscillator has two macro knobs, Amount and Shape. Amount changes the modulation
amount in the frequency modulation algorithm and Shape changes the shape of its carrier wave.

The Squelch oscillator has two macro knobs, Amount and Feedback. Amount changes the modulation
depth of the frequency modulation algorithm, and Feedback changes the amount of signal being fed
back into the device.

The Simple Fm oscillator has two macro knobs, Amount and Ratio, which change the modulation
amount and the depth in the frequency modulation algorithm, respectively.

The Chip oscillator has two macro knobs, Tone and Rate. Tone changes the oscillator’s pitch and pulse
width. Rate changes the speed of the chip interval being used.

The Shepard’s Pi oscillator has two macro knobs, Rate and Width. Rate changes the speed and
direction of the oscillator. Values 0.0 through 49.9 produce falling movements, and values 50.1
through 100.0 produce ascending movements. At 50.0, no movement is produced. Width changes
the number of octaves being used by the oscillator.

The Tarp oscillator has two macro knobs, Decay and Tone, which change the algorithm’s decay
amount and tonality.

The Extratone oscillator has two macro knobs, Pitch and Env Amount, which change the oscillator’s
pitch and envelope behavior.

The Noise Loop oscillator has two macro knobs, Rate and Fade. Rate sets the rate at which fragments
of different noise loops occur. At higher values, the oscillator produces noise. Fade dials in the grain
or roughness of the noise.

The Filtered Noise oscillator has two macro knobs, Freq and Width, which change the oscillator’s filter
frequency and width.

The Bitgrunge oscillator has two macro knobs, Freq and Mult. Freq adjusts the frequency of the square
wave being produced. Mult adjusts the number of sub-octaves being generated in relation to this
initial square wave. At its maximum setting, no sub-octaves are generated. At its minimum, a large
number of sub-octaves is generated.

The Crackle oscillator has two macro knobs, Density and Intensity. Density sets the average rate of
crackles being produced. Intensity adjusts the distribution of loudness and brightness within the
crackles.

The Rain oscillator has two macro knobs, Tone and Rate. Tone sets the resonance of the raindrop and
wind sounds being generated. This makes the oscillator tonal and dependent on the notes you play.
Rate sets the density of raindrop sounds being generated.

The Bubble oscillator has two macro knobs, Density and Spread. Density sets the rate of bubble
generation and Spread sets the randomness of the size of the bubbles being produced.

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28.7.4 Envelopes Tab

Engine A’s Amplitude Envelope.

Each of Meld’s envelopes has Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release controls. These can be adjusted by
sliding the numerical values at the bottom of the Envelope section up or down, entering a value using
your computer keyboard, or clicking and dragging the breakpoints on the envelope’s graphical
display.

Attack, Decay, and Release Slope controls are marked in red, and can be adjusted by sliding the
numerical values at the bottom of the section, entering a value using your computer keyboard, or
clicking and dragging the diamonds between the breakpoints in the Envelope section’s graphical
displays.

Amplitude and Modulation envelopes have three Envelope Loop Modes. In Trigger mode, all
segments of the envelope play once a note is received, while the selected Sustain level is ignored. In
Loop mode, the entire envelope is looped without holding the selected Sustain level. In AD Loop
mode, only the Attack and Decay portions of the envelope are looped.

The Modulation envelope has one additional set of parameters: the Initial, Peak, and Final levels.
These parameters set the position of the envelope when it is triggered and released, which offers more
flexibility for modulation.

Initial and Final Parameters in Engine B’s Modulation Envelope.

Activating the Link Envelopes button links each engine’s Amplitude and Modulation envelopes. This is
useful for having Meld’s two engines function as a single instrument.

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28.7.5 LFOs Tab

Engine A’s LFOs.

Each of Meld’s engines has two dedicated LFOs. The rates of LFO 1 and LFO 2 can be set in Hertz or
tempo-synced, and a Phase Offset slider offsets each LFO’s phase. When Retrigger is enabled, the
LFO restarts at the position set by the Phase Offset slider.

LFO 1’s waveform can be selected from the LFO 1 Type drop-down menu, which provides six
waveform types to choose from: Basic Shapes, Ramp, Wander, Alternate, Euclid, and Pulsate. These
waveforms can be further shaped using the LFO’s Rate knob and the two macro knobs adjacent to it,
which change depending on the waveform type selected.

LFO 1 can also be modulated in the LFO 1 FX panel. The FX1 and FX2 drop-down menus each have
seventeen effect types that can be serially applied to LFO 1. The degree of the effect applied can be
changed via its corresponding macro knob. Note that LFO 1 and LFO1 FX can be used as
independent modulation sources in Meld’s Modulation Matrix.

LFO 2 provides six classic waveform types to choose from: Sine, Tri, Saw Up, Saw Down, Rectangle,
Random S&H. LFO 2 can be used as a third independent modulation source in Meld’s Modulation
Matrix.

28.7.6 Matrix Tab

Engine B’s Modulation Matrix.

Meld’s Modulation Matrix lets you assign modulation sources to modulation targets within the device.
For example, Engine A’s LFO 1 could be used to modulate its Volume, or Engine B’s Modulation
Envelope could be used to modulate its Filter Frequency.

Modulation sources are listed horizontally and modulation targets are listed vertically. Click and drag
a cell up or down to apply modulation between parameters. Negative values will make envelopes
and LFOs faster and positive values will make them slower. Note that some parameters have additive
modulation applied to them, while others have multiplicative modulation applied to them.

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Click on a parameter to add it to the Modulation Matrix. Parameters are added to the Modulation
Matrix of the engine currently selected with the Display Selector Tab. If a parameter isn’t being
modulated, it will disappear from the Modulation Matrix when another parameter is clicked.

28.7.7 MIDI and MPE Tabs

Engine A’s MIDI Tab.

Meld’s MIDI and MPE tabs let you use MIDI and MPE functionality as modulation sources, which can
transform Meld into a dynamic performance tool.

When Velocity is set as a modulation source, Meld will use an incoming MIDI note’s velocity value to
modulate its modulation target for the duration of that note.

When Pitch is set as a modulation source, Meld will use an incoming MIDI note’s pitch value to
modulate its modulation target for the duration of that note.

When Random is set as a modulation source, Meld will modulate its modulation target by a random
value, which is calculated each time a note is triggered.

Pitch Bend, Press, and Modulation Wheel are hardware controls found on many MIDI controller
devices. Note Pitch Bend, Slide, and Press are hardware controls found on many MPE controller
devices. If you don’t have a MIDI or MPE controller, you can still modulate these parameters using
clip envelopes.

28.7.8 Settings Tab

Meld’s Engine Settings.

Meld’s Settings tab has three global settings that can be applied per engine: Osc Key Tracking, Scale
Awareness, and Glide.

The Osc Key Tracking switch activates or deactivates oscillator key tracking. When activated, an
oscillator will play the pitch of whatever incoming MIDI note it receives. When deactivated, an

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oscillator will play a constant pitch of C3 for all incoming MIDI notes, or the root of a scale in the C3
octave if Scale Mode has been activated. This is useful for performing drones or percussive sounds,
for example.

Two switches can be activated in the Scale Awareness section: Oscillator Scale Awareness and Filter
Scale Awareness.

When Oscillator Scale Awareness is activated, pitches controlled by scale-aware oscillator types will
also be in scale. The following oscillator types, marked with a (♭♯), are scale aware: Dual Basic
Shapes, Swarm Sine, Swarm Triangle, Swarm Saw, Swarm Square, and Chip.

When Filter Scale Awareness is enabled, the resonating frequencies of scale-aware filter types will
also be in scale. The following filter types, marked with a (♭♯), are scale aware: Plate Resonator and
Membrane Resonator.

The Glide section has two glide modes, Portamento (Porta) and Glissando (Gliss), as well as a Glide
Time control.

The Glide Time control sets the time that overlapping notes take to slide into the next incoming pitch.
Glide is active in both Mono and Poly modes.

When Portamento is activated and a note is played while another is held down, the first note’s pitch
will slide progressively into the second note’s pitch. When Glissando is activated and a note is played
while another is held down, the first note’s pitch will ascend or descend into the second note’s pitch in
discrete steps. Glissando produces these steps in scale degrees if scale awareness is enabled. Note
that portamento and glissando effects are only audible when Glide Time is set to a value above zero.

28.7.9 Filters

Meld’s Filters Section.

Meld’s two engines each have a dedicated filter, A and B, which can be turned on or off
independently via switches in the Filters section.

The Filter Frequency knob sets the center of the filter’s cutoff frequency.

The Filter Type drop-down menu lets you choose from seventeen different filter types. Each filter has
two macro knobs, which change with the filter type selected.

The most common filter macro knobs in Meld are Q and Drive. Q adjusts the emphasis of the
frequencies around a filter’s cutoff frequency. Drive applies saturation to the input signal before it
passes through the filter, which is useful for producing distortion.

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The SVF 12dB and 24dB filters are state variable filters. The L-B-H-N macro control morphs through
this filter type’s four possible configurations: low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, and notch.

The MS2 filters are modeled on a Sallen-Key design from a famous semi-modular Japanese
monosynth, which applies soft clipping to limit resonance. They are available in low-pass and high-
pass configurations in Meld.

The OSR filter is modeled on a state variable filter from a rare British monosynth whose resonance is
limited by a unique hard-clipping diode. It is available in a band-pass configuration in Meld.

LP Crunch 12dB is a dual-mode low-pass filter that feeds the distortion it produces back into itself.

The LP Switched Res filter is modeled on low-pass filters whose resistors are replaced with fast switches
to produce downsampling artifacts. The Lofi macro knob changes the frequency of the filter’s resistors.
If set to a high value, the filter produces a more crushed sound. If set to a low value, it produces a
smoother sound.

Filther is modeled on a low-pass filter that applies distortion to a signal’s input and output. It uses a
hard diode clipper on the input signal and soft saturation on the output signal.

The Eq Peak and Eq Notch filters are peak and notch filters that apply gain and width to an input
signal. The Eq Peak filter’s Boost macro knob boosts frequencies around the filter’s cutoff point. The Eq
Notch filter’s Cut macro knob cuts frequencies around the filter’s cutoff point.

The Phaser filter is a six-stage delayless inverted feedback phaser with variable feedback and notch
spacing. The Phaser filter’s Feedback macro knob sets the amount of output being fed back into the
filter’s input. The Spread macro knob adjusts the spacing between the filter’s notches in the frequency
spectrum.

The Redux filter is a resampler and bitcrusher with a variable sample rate, quantization, and knob
over the amount of resampling artifacts it produces. The Crush macro knob sets the bit depth of the
filter’s output. The Lofi macro knob adjusts the mix between a filtered, sample rate-reduced version of
the signal and the unfiltered, downsampled artifacts Redux has produced.

The Vowel filter is a formant filter that mimics the characteristics of vowels being pronounced, with
various configurations that can be morphed through using the filter’s Morph macro knob.

The Comb + and Comb - filters are feedforward and feedback filters. The Feedback macro knob
adjusts the amount of feedforward or feedback being sent from the filter’s delayed output back into its
input. The Damp knob applies a low-pass filter to the filter’s output, to damp high frequencies.

The Plate Resonator filter applies a set of modal resonators tuned to the first 32 modes of a
rectangular plate to the input signal. The plate’s size, resonance, and dimension ratio can be modified
using its macro knobs. When Filter Scale Awareness is enabled, this filter’s resonating frequencies will
be in scale.

The Membrane Resonator filter applies a set of modal resonators tuned to the first 32 modes of a
circular membrane to the input signal. The membrane’s size, resonance, and high frequency damping
can be modified using its macro knobs. When Filter Scale Awareness is enabled, this filter’s resonating
frequencies will be in scale.

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28.7.10 Mix Section

Mix Controls for Each Engine.

Each of Meld’s engines has Volume and Pan controls, as well as a dedicated Tone Filter that can be
found in Meld’s Mix section. The Volume control adjusts the overall output of an engine, and the Pan
control adjusts its position in the stereo field.

Meld’s Tone Filter control functions like a combined high and low-pass filter. When set to positive
values, it reduces an engine’s low frequencies. When set to negative values, it reduces an engine’s
high frequencies.

Meld’s built-in limiter can be activated by clicking the Limit button. When activated, the limiter is
applied per voice, after both engines have been mixed and the global Drive setting has been
applied. This is helpful for controlling Meld’s overall output level when both engines are in use.

28.7.11 Global Controls

Meld’s Global Parameters.

Meld’s global controls affect the overall sound and behavior of the instrument.

Meld’s Mono/Poly switch toggles between a monophonic and polyphonic output.

When Mono is activated, the Legato switch can be toggled on or off. When Legato is activated, if a
new note is played while another is held, the new note will use the original note’s envelope from its
current position. When Legato is deactivated, each new note played will trigger its own envelope
from the beginning.

When Poly is activated, a drop-down menu lets you set the number of voices usable by Meld, from 2
to 12.

The Spread control adjusts the range of the Spread modulation source in Meld’s Modulation Matrix.
When a voice number is set in the Stacked Voices control, Spread produces an offset between each
stacked voice. When Stacked Voices is set to Off, Spread produces a range of different values for

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each note in a held chord. Note that Spread will have no effect if not applied to a modulation target
in the Modulation Matrix.

The Stacked Voices drop-down menu adjusts the number of stacked voices for a single note. Stacked
voices duplicate both engines for each note (including filters, modulation, and mixer settings), and
can create a heavy CPU load.

The Mixer Drive control sets the amount of saturation applied to Meld’s output. Drive is applied per
voice, after mixer settings, and before the limiter.

The Volume control adjusts Meld’s output volume.

The Use Current Scale button makes Meld follow Live’s Scale Mode. When activated, Meld’s
oscillators follow Live’s current scale, with all transpositions (including the Pitch Quant modulation
target in the Modulation Matrix) occurring in scale degrees rather than semitones.

28.8 Operator

The Operator Instrument.

(Note: The Operator instrument is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Operator is an advanced and flexible synthesizer that combines the concept of “frequency
modulation“ (FM) with classic subtractive and additive synthesis. It uses four multi-waveform
oscillators that can modulate each other’s frequencies, creating very complex timbres from a limited
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.

28.8.1 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 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 parameters,
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

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once via the shell, and then adjust each individual oscillator’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.

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 oscillators 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 like any other parameter.

Operator’s Global Display and Shell Parameters.

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 complete with an
LFO, a pitch envelope and a filter section. Note that lots of “classic“ FM synthesizers 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 or track automation.

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28.8.2 Oscillator Section

Oscillator A’s Display and Shell Parameters.

28.8.2.1 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 displays.
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 especially good for digital
bass sounds. The square, triangle and sawtooth waveforms are resynthesized 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 random noise, choose “Noise White.“

28.8.2.2 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 real-time overview of your
waveform.

When your mouse is over the Oscillator display area, the cursor will change to a pencil. Drawing 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 context menu in 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.

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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 in your User Library
via an option in the 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.

Both the built-in and user waveforms can be copied and pasted from one oscillator to another using
the Osc Preview’s context menu.

28.8.2.3 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 oscillator 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 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 oscillator is controlled in the shell
with the Frequency (Freq) and Multiplier (Multi) controls.

Operator includes a special Osc < 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 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.

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28.8.2.4 Aliasing

Aliasing 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 low-pass 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.

28.8.3 LFO Section

Operator’s LFO Display and Shell 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&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 band-pass 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

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fixed or be set to something in between. This is defined by the Rate < 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.

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 < Vel control.
The LFO’s intensity is also affected by its envelope.

28.8.4 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 clicking, allowing them to be adjusted with the keyboard’s cursor keys, if
desired.

Envelope shapes can be copied and pasted from one oscillator to another in Operator using the
Envelope Display’s 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. Negative 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 doing this
is looping 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 after 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 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 otherwise it will behave like Beat
Mode.

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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 influenced by the
global Time parameter. Envelope rates can be further modified by note pitch, as dictated by the Time
< Key parameter in the global section’s display. The rate of an individual envelope can also be
modified by velocity using the Time < Vel parameter. These modulations in conjunction with the loop
feature can be used to create very, very complex things…

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!

28.8.5 Filter Section

Operator’s Filter Display and Shell Parameters.

Operator’s filters can be very useful for modifying the sonically rich timbres created by the oscillators.
And, since the oscillators also provide you with the classic waveforms of analog synthesizers, you can
very easily build a subtractive synthesizer with them.

Operator offers a variety of filter types including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, and a
special Morph filter. Each filter can be switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes as well as a selection

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of analog-modeled circuit behaviors developed in conjunction with Cytomic that emulate hardware
filters found on some classic analog synthesizers.

The Clean circuit option is a high-quality, CPU-efficient design that is the same as the filters used in EQ
Eight. This is available for all of the filter types.

The OSR circuit option is a state-variable type with resonance limited by a unique hard-clipping
diode. This is modeled on the filters used in a somewhat rare British monosynth, and is available for all
filter types.

The MS2 circuit option uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit resonance. It is modeled on
the filters used in a famous semi-modular Japanese monosynth and is available for the low-pass and
high-pass filters.

The SMP circuit is a custom design not based on any particular hardware. It shares characteristics of
both the MS2 and PRD circuits and is available for the low-pass and high-pass filters.

The PRD circuit uses a ladder design and has no explicit resonance limiting. It is modeled on the filters
used in a legacy dual-oscillator monosynth from the United States and is available for the low-pass
and high-pass filters.

The most important filter 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.

When using the low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass filter with any circuit type besides Clean, there is
an additional Drive control that can be used to add gain or distortion to the signal before it enters the
filter.

The Morph filter has an additional Morph control which sweeps the filter type continuously from low-
pass to band-pass to high-pass to notch and back to low-pass.

You can quickly snap the Morph control to a low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, or notch setting via
dedicated options in the context menu of the Morph slider.

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 adjusted in the
shell or by dragging the filter response curve in the display area. Filter frequency can also be
modulated by the following:

• Note velocity, via the Freq < Vel control in the filter’s display.
• Note pitch, via the Freq < Key control in the filter’s display.
• Filter envelope, via the Envelope control in the filter’s display.
• LFO, done either by enabling the Dest. A “FIL“ switch in the LFO’s display, or by setting Dest. B
to Filter Freq.

The context menu for the Frequency knob contains an entry called “Play by Key.“ This automatically
configures the filter for optimal key tracking by setting Freq < Key to 100% and setting the cutoff to
466 Hz.

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The filter’s signal can be routed through a waveshaper, whose curve type can be selected via the
Shaper chooser. The Shaper Drive (Shp. Drive) slider boosts or attenuates the signal level being sent
to the waveshaper, 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 shaper drive parameters are bypassed.

28.8.5.1 Legacy Filters

If you open a Set that was created in a version of Live older than version 9.5, any instance of
Operator in the Set will open with legacy filters in place of the filters discussed previously. These
consist of 12 dB or 24 dB low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filters, as well as a notch filter, and do
not feature a Drive control. Each Operator loaded with the legacy filters shows an Upgrade button in
the title bar. Pressing this button will permanently switch the filter selection to the newer models for that
instance of Operator. Note that this change may make your Set sound different.

28.8.6 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 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 < Key and Pan < 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 destinations
each, with independent modulation intensities set via the Amount sliders. Note that Time < 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 options, see the complete
parameter list.

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28.8.7 Glide and Spread

Operator’s Pitch Display and Shell Parameters.

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 pitch. 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.

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 0 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 that Spread is a CPU-intensive parameter.

The pitch section also contains a global Transpose knob.

28.8.8 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.

Note that turning off the oscillators will not save CPU power.

28.8.9 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
II. 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.

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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!

28.8.10 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 Operator) 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.

28.8.10.1 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 sometimes
lead to aliasing artifacts. The Tone setting controls the high frequency content of sounds. Higher
settings are typically brighter but also more likely 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 significant impact
on the sound that is created.

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 generating 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 < Key — The rates of all envelopes can be controlled by note pitch. If the global Time < 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.

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Pan < Key (Key) — If Pan < Key is set 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 < Random (Rnd) — This defines the extent to which notes are randomly distributed between the
left and right channels.

28.8.10.2 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.

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 (Legacy) — Modulates the resonance of the filter when using the legacy filter types.

Filter Res — Modulates the resonance of the filter when using the updated filter types.

Filter Morph — Modulates the position in the filter’s morph cycle (only has an effect for the Morph
filter type.)

Filter Drive — Modulates the amount of the Drive (not available when the Morph filter is selected.)

Filter Envelope Amount — Modulates the filter’s envelope intensity.

Shaper Drive — Modulates the amount 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.

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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.

28.8.10.3 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.

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 < Velocity (Time < Vel) — This parameter exists for filter, pitch, LFO and volume
envelopes. It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes.

Glide (G) — With Glide on, notes will slide from 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 respective
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 oscillators
and LFO.

Pitch Envelope Destination B — This sets the second modulation destination for the pitch envelope.

Pitch Envelope Amount B — This sets the intensity of the pitch envelope’s modulation of the secondary
target.

28.8.10.4 Filter Shell and Display

Filter On — This turns the filter on and off. Turning it off when it is unused saves CPU power.

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Filter Type — This chooser selects from low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, and Morph filters.

Circuit Type — This chooser selects from a variety of circuit types that emulate the character of classic
analog synthesizers.

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 low-pass and
high-pass filters, and the width of the band-pass and notch filters.

Envelope / Filter Switches — These switches toggle the display between the filter’s envelope and its
frequency response.

Filter Frequency < Velocity (Freq < Vel) — Filter frequency is modulated by note velocity according to
this setting.

Filter Frequency < Key (Freq < 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 < Velocity (Time < Vel) — This parameter exists for filter, pitch, LFO and volume
envelopes. It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes.

Filter Frequency < 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 frequency
shift of approximately 9 octaves.

Filter Drive (Flt. Drive) — Applies additional input gain to the signal before it enters the filter.

Morph — Controls the position of the Morph filter in its morph cycle.

Shaper — This chooser selects the curve for the filter’s waveshaper.

Shaper Drive (Shp. Drive) — This boosts or attenuates the signal level being sent to the waveshaper.

Dry/Wet — This adjusts the balance between the dry signal and the signal processed by the
waveshaper.

28.8.10.5 LFO Shell and Display

LFO On — This turns the LFO (low-frequency oscillator) on and off. Turning it off when it is unused
saves some CPU power.

LFO Waveform — Select from among several typical LFO waveforms. Sample and Hold (S&H)
creates random steps, and Noise supplies band-pass filtered noise. All waveforms are band-limited to
avoid unwanted clicks.

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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 < 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 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 < Velocity (Time < Vel) — This parameter exists for filter, pitch, LFO and volume
envelopes. It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes.

LFO Rate < Key (Rate < 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 < Velocity (Amt < Vel) — This setting adjusts modulation of the LFO intensity by note
velocity.

28.8.10.6 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 play a fixed frequency.

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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 modulating
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.

Retrigger (R) — When enabled, the oscillator restarts at the same position in its phase 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 < Velocity (Osc < 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 < Vel Quantized (Q) — This allows quantizing the effect of the Frequency < Velocity
parameter. If activated, the sonic result is the same as manually changing the Coarse parameter for
each note.

Volume Envelope Rates < Velocity (Time < Vel) — This parameter exists for filter, pitch, LFO and
volume envelopes. It is therefore listed in the section on envelopes.

Osc Output Level < 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 < Key (Key) — This defines how much the oscillator’s level depends upon note pitch.
The center point for this function is C3.

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28.8.10.7 Envelope Display

Envelope Attack Time (Attack) — This sets the time it takes for a note to reach the peak level, starting
from the initial level. For the oscillator envelopes, the shape of this segment of the envelope 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 determined by the
End Level parameter and the shape of the segment can be adjusted. This envelope 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 envelope
will stay at this level until note release unless it is in Loop, Sync or Beat Mode.

Envelope End Level (End) — (LFO, Filter and 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 < Velocity (Time < 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 slower.
Negative 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.

Attack Slope (A.Slope) — Adjusts the shape of the Attack envelope segment.

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Decay Slope (D.Slope) — Adjusts the shape of the Decay envelope segment.

Release Slope (R.Slope) — Adjusts the shape of the Release envelope segment.

28.8.10.8 Context Menu Parameters

Certain operations and parameters in Operator are only available via the context menu. These
include:

Copy commands for Oscillators — The context menu of the oscillator’s shell and envelope display
provide options for copying parameters between oscillators.

Envelope commands — The context menu for all envelope displays provide options to quickly set all
envelope levels to maximum, minimum, or middle values.

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 context menu for the filter’s Freq control, optimizes the filter for
key tracking by setting the cutoff to 466 Hz and setting the Freq < Key to 100%.

28.9 Sampler

The Sampler Instrument.

(Note: The Sampler instrument is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions. Sampler users
who want to share projects with all Live users can convert Sampler presets to Simpler presets. To do
this, right-click on Sampler‘s title bar and choose the Sampler -> Simpler command.)

Sampler is a sleek yet formidable multisampling instrument that takes full advantage of Live‘s agile
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.

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28.9.1 Getting Started with Sampler

Getting started with Sampler is as easy as choosing a preset 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!

28.9.2 Multisampling

Before going on, let’s introduce the concept of multisampling. This technique is used to accurately
capture the complexity of instruments that produce dynamic timbral changes. Rather than rely 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 different 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 expressive 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, 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 however you like.

28.9.3 Title Bar Options

Before delving into Sampler’s deep modulation features, let’s look at Sampler’s title bar context menu.

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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.

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-clicking 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 Control Surface — Locks Sampler to a natively supported control surface defined in the Link,
Tempo & MIDI Settings, 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 -> Simpler — Converts Sampler presets to Simpler presets.

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28.9.4 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 organizational 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.

Sampler’s Tabs in the Title Bar.

28.9.5 The Zone Tab

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.

The Key Zone Editor.

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.

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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, the Velocity Zone Editor and the Sample Select Editor. These editors can be horizontally
zoomed by right-clicking 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 to play
an incoming note will become selected in the sample layer list for the duration of that note.

Zone Fade Mode (Lin/Pow) — This button toggles the fade mode of all zones between linear and
constant-power (exponential) slopes.

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.

Key Zone, Velocity Zone and Sample Select Editors.

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28.9.5.1 The Sample Layer List

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! Fortunately, layers
can be descriptively named (according to their root key, for example). Mousing 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.

The Sample Layer List’s Context Menu

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Right-clicking 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 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.

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 selected
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 descending
pattern.

Sort by Selector (Ascending and Descending) — Sorts sample select zones in an ascending or
descending pattern.

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28.9.5.2 Key Zones

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 represented 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 in a linear or exponential manner.

28.9.5.3 Velocity Zones

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. Therefore, 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.

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28.9.5.4 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 particular
kind of MIDI input. Sample Select zones are very similar to the Chain Select Zones found in Racks, in
that only samples with sample select values that overlap the current value of the sample selector will
be triggered.

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 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.

28.9.6 The Sample Tab

The Sample Tab.

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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.

To zoom in the current sample, scroll with the mousewheel or trackpad while holding the Ctrl (Win)
/ Cmd (Mac) modifier.

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
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 amplitude is
zero) to avoid clicks. You 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-clicking on a loop brace and selecting “Snap
marker.”

Sample — Displays the name of the current sample layer, and can be used to quickly select different
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.

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28.9.6.1 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.

Envelope Decay Time (Decay) — This sets the time it takes for an envelope to reach the sustain level
from the peak level. The shape 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 < Velocity (Time < 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 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 faster at the
end. A slope of zero is linear; the envelope will move at the same rate throughout the segment.

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All time-based values in this tab are displayed in either samples or minutes:seconds:milliseconds,
which can be toggled using the 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 parameter
is set to a high value (slow attack), the audible result may begin some time later than 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 recalled
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 Mode — Whenever the Sustain Loop is active, Release Mode can also be enabled.

— 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,

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then proceeds again towards Sample End. This pattern continues until the volume envelope has
completed its release stage.

Sustain and Release Loops.

Release Loop — sets the start position of the Release Loop. The end of the Release Loop is the Sample
End.

The Release Loop Slider.

Sustain- and Release-Loop Crossfade (Crossfade) — Loop crossfades help remove clicks from loop
transitions. By default, Sampler uses constant-power fades at loop boundaries. But by turning off “Use
Constant Power Fade for Loops“ in the context menu, you can enable linear crossfades.

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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.

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.

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-clicking to access the context menu provides a
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. Additionally, you
can zoom in or out of playing or looping regions, depending on which Sustain and Loop Modes are
selected.

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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.

The Sample Tab’s Vertical Zoom slider, and Channel Buttons.

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28.9.7 The Pitch/Osc Tab

The Pitch/Osc Tab.

28.9.7.1 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.

The modulation oscillator is controlled via Initial, Peak, Sustain, End, Loop, Attack and Time <
Velocities parameters. For detailed information on how these work, see the Sample Playback section.
Additionally, the right side of the modulation oscillator section features the following controls:

Type — Choose the modulation oscillator’s waveform here.

Volume — This determines the intensity of the modulation oscillator’s sample modulation.

Vol < 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 determined
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 modulation
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.

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Coarse — Coarse tuning of the modulation oscillator’s frequency (0.125-48). This is only available
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.

28.9.7.2 The Pitch Envelope

The pitch envelope modulates the pitch of the sample over time, as well as of the Modulation
Oscillator, if it is enabled. This is a multi-stage envelope with ADSR, Initial, Peak, and End levels, as
described in the Sample Playback section. The values of the envelope parameters can be adjusted via
the sliders, or by dragging the breakpoints in the envelope’s display.

On the lower-left of the Pitch Envelope 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.

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:

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 different
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 transition
between pitches. ’Glide’ is a standard monophonic glide, while ’Portamento’ works polyphonically.

Time — Enabling a Glide mode produces a smooth transition between the pitch of played notes. This
parameter determines the length of the transition.

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28.9.8 The Filter/Global Tab

The Filter/Global Tab.

28.9.8.1 The Filter

Sampler features a polyphonic filter with an optional integrated waveshaper. The filter section offers a
variety of filter types including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, and a special Morph filter.
Each filter can be switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes as well as a selection of analog-modeled
circuit behaviors developed in conjunction with Cytomic that emulate hardware filters found on some
classic analog synthesizers.

The Clean circuit option is a high-quality, CPU-efficient design that is the same as the filters used in EQ
Eight. This is available for all of the filter types.

The OSR circuit option is a state-variable type with resonance limited by a unique hard-clipping
diode. This is modeled on the filters used in a somewhat rare British monosynth, and is available for all
filter types.

The MS2 circuit option uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit resonance. It is modeled on
the filters used in a famous semi-modular Japanese monosynth and is available for the low-pass and
high-pass filters.

The SMP circuit is a custom design not based on any particular hardware. It shares characteristics of
both the MS2 and PRD circuits and is available for the low-pass and high-pass filters.

The PRD circuit uses a ladder design and has no explicit resonance limiting. It is modeled on the filters
used in a legacy dual-oscillator monosynth from the United States and is available for the low-pass
and high-pass filters.

The most important filter 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.

When using the low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass filter with any circuit type besides Clean, there is
an additional Drive control that can be used to add gain or distortion to the signal before it enters the
filter.

The Morph filter has an additional Morph control which sweeps the filter type continuously from low-
pass to band-pass to high-pass to notch and back to low-pass.

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You can quickly snap the Morph control to a low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, or notch setting via
dedicated options in the context menu of the Morph slider.

To the right, the filter’s cutoff frequency can be modulated over time by a dedicated filter envelope.
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 different curves
can be chosen for the waveshaper in the Type selector: Soft, Hard, Sine and 4bit. Shaper’s overall
intensity can be controlled with the Amount slider. In addition, 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.

28.9.8.2 Legacy Filters

If you open a Set that was created in a version of Live older than version 9.5, any instance of Sampler
in the Set will open with legacy filters in place of the filters discussed previously. These consist of 12 dB
or 24 dB low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filters, as well as a notch filter, and do not feature a
Drive control. Each Sampler loaded with the legacy filters shows an Upgrade button in the title bar.
Pressing this button will permanently switch the filter selection to the newer models for that instance of
Sampler. Note that this change may make your Set sound different.

28.9.8.3 The Volume Envelope

The Global Volume Envelope.

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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 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 all samples), while Pan < 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 < Key (Global Envelope Time < Key) will
proportionally shrink or expand the length of all envelopes in Sampler relative to the pitch of incoming
MIDI notes.

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 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.

28.9.9 The Modulation Tab

The Modulation Tab.

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The Modulation tab offers an additional loopable envelope, plus three LFOs, all capable of
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.

28.9.9.1 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.

28.9.9.2 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) to a 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, Sawtooth
Down, Sawtooth Up, and Sample and Hold.

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 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 retriggered
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 < 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.

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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 modulation
on a 0-100 scale.

LFO 1.

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 parameter 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.

LFOs 2 and 3.

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28.9.10 The MIDI Tab

The MIDI Tab.

The MIDI tab’s parameters turn Sampler into a dynamic performance instrument. The MIDI controllers
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 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 (0 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!

28.9.11 Importing Third-Party Multisamples

Sampler can use the following third-party sample formats:

• REX files (supported in Live Standard and Suite only)

• ACID Loops
• Soundtrack Loops

Note that the tags in ACID Loops or Soundtrack Loops are not accessible in Live.

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 Library/
Sampler/Imports.

Note that some multisample files will be converted to Instrument Rack presets that contain several
Sampler instances used to emulate the original more accurately.

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28.10 Simpler

The Simpler Instrument.

Simpler is an instrument that integrates the basic elements of a sampler with a set of classic synthesizer
parameters. A Simpler voice plays a user-defined region of a sample, which is in turn processed by
envelope, filter, LFO, volume and pitch components. But unlike a conventional sampler, Simpler
includes some unique functionality inherited from Live’s clips. Specifically, Simpler can play back
samples using Live’s warping. Warped samples will play back at the tempo of your Set, regardless of
which note you play. Warping in Simpler works in much the same way as it does in audio clips, and
bringing a warped clip into Simpler from an audio track, the browser, or your desktop preserves your
manual warp settings. For more information about warping, see the Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping
chapter.

Simpler’s interface is divided into two sections: the Sample and Controls tabs. To get an even better
view, you can toggle the location of the Sample controls between the device chain and Live’s main
window by clicking the button in Simpler’s title bar. When using this expanded view, the
parameters in the Controls tab fill Simpler in the Device View.

The Sample Tab 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.
Any adjustments that have been made to a clip’s Warp Markers and other warping properties will be
retained when dragging a clip into Simpler. Samples can be replaced by dragging in a new sample,
or by activating the Hot-Swap button in the lower-right corner of the waveform display.

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Hot-Swapping a Sample.

To zoom in the sample waveform, scroll with the mousewheel or trackpad while holding the Ctrl

(Win) / Cmd (Mac) modifier.

28.10.1 Playback Modes

The most important parameter that determines how Simpler will treat samples is the mode switch,
which is used to choose one of Simpler’s three playback modes. This switch is found on the left side of
the Sample tab or along the bottom of the expanded sample view.

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Mode Switch in the Sample Tab.

Mode Switch in the Expanded View.

• Classic Playback Mode is the default mode when using Simpler, and is optimized for creating
“conventional” melodic and harmonic instruments using pitched samples. It features a complete
ADSR envelope and supports looping, allowing for samples to sustain as long as a note is held
down. Classic Mode is polyphonic by default.
• One-Shot Playback Mode is exclusively for monophonic playback, and is optimized for use
with one-shot drum hits or short sampled phrases. This mode has simplified envelope controls
and does not support looping. By default, the entire sample will play back when a note is
triggered, regardless of how long the note is held.

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 • Slicing Playback Mode non-destructively slices the sample so that the individual slices can be
played back chromatically. You can create and move slices manually, or choose from a number
of different options for how Simpler will automatically create slices. This mode is ideal for
working with rhythmic drum breaks.

28.10.1.1 Classic Playback Mode

The Sample Tab in Classic Playback Mode.

In Classic Playback Mode, the various sample position controls change which region of the sample
you play back. These controls include the Start and Length parameters as well as the two “flags” that
appear in the waveform display. The left flag sets the absolute position in the sample from which
playback can start, while the End control sets where playback can end. Start and Length are then
represented in percentages of the total sample length enabled by the flags. For example, a Length
value of 50% will play exactly half of the region between the flags. The Loop slider determines how
much of the available sample will loop. This parameter is only active if the Loop switch is enabled.

It’s possible to create sustaining loops that are so short they take on a glitchy or granular character, or
even take on a pitch as a result of looping at audio rates. While this might be exactly the effect you
want, it can cause very high CPU loads, particularly when working with the Complex or Complex Pro
Warp Modes.

Quite often, you’ll start with a longer region of a sample and end up using only a small part of it.
Simpler’s waveform display can be zoomed and panned just as in other parts of Live — drag
vertically or scroll with the mousewheel or trackpad while holding the Ctrl (Win) / Cmd (Mac)
modifier to zoom, and drag horizontally to pan different areas of the sample into view. Zooming
works the same in all three playback modes.

Pressing the Loop On/Off button determines whether or not the sample will loop when a note is held
down. 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 and region markers to snap to zero-crossing points in the
sample (points where the amplitude is zero). 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 crossfades the
two points. This method is especially useful when working with long, textural samples.

The Gain slider allows you to boost or cut the level of the sample. Note that this is a separate gain
stage from Simpler’s Volume knob, which determines the final output level of the entire instrument
(after processing through Simpler’s filter). This parameter is available in all three playback modes.

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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 example, 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 stealing as subtle as possible.)

With Retrig enabled, a note that is already sustaining will be cut off if the same note is played again. If
Retrig is disabled, multiple copies of the same note can overlap. Note that Retrig only has an audible
effect if the sample has a long release time and the number of Voices is set to more than one.

The various warp parameters are the same in all three playback modes and are discussed below.

28.10.1.2 One-Shot Playback Mode

The Sample Tab in One-Shot Playback Mode.

In One-Shot Playback Mode, the left and right flags set the available playback region, as they do in
Classic Mode, but there are no Loop or Length controls. There is also no Voices control; One-Shot
Mode is strictly monophonic.

With Trigger enabled, the sample will continue playing even after the note is released; the amount of
time you hold the pad has no effect when Trigger is on.

You can shape the volume of the sample using the Fade In and Fade Out controls. Fade In determines
how long it takes the sample to reach its maximum volume after a note is played, while Fade Out
begins a fade out the specified amount of time before the end of the sample region.

Fade In and Fade Out Controls.

With Gate enabled, the sample will begin fading out as soon as you release the note. The Fade Out
time determines how long it will take to fade to silence after release.

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Snap works similarly to its function in Classic Mode, but only affects the start and end flags (because
there are no loop options.)

28.10.1.3 Slicing Playback Mode

The Sample Tab in Slicing Playback Mode.

In Slicing Playback Mode (as in One-Shot Playback Mode), the left and right flags set the available
playback region.

The Slice By chooser determines the specific way in which slices will be created:

• Transient - Slices are placed on the sample’s transients automatically. The Sensitivity slider
determines how sensitive Simpler is to transient levels within the sample, and thus how many
slices will be automatically created. Higher numbers result in more slices, up to a maximum of
64 slices.
• Beat - Slices are placed at musical beat divisions. The Division chooser selects the beat division
at which Simpler will slice the sample region.
• Region - Slices are placed at equal time divisions. The Regions chooser selects the number of
evenly-spaced slices that will be created.
• Manual - Slices are created manually, by double-clicking within the sample region. When
Manual is selected, no slices are placed automatically.

The Playback chooser determines how many slices can be triggered simultaneously. Mono is
monophonic; only one slice can be played at a time. When set to Poly, multiple slices can be
triggered together. The Voices and Retrig controls are available with Poly enabled, and work as they
do in Classic Playback Mode. When set to Thru, playback is monophonic, but triggering one slice will
continue playback through the rest of the sample region.

The Trigger/Gate switch works the same as it does in One-Shot Playback Mode. The Fade In and Out
controls behave slightly differently, depending on the setting of the Playback chooser. With Mono or
Poly selected, the Fade times are measured from the beginning to the end of each individual slice,
while with Thru selected, they are measured from the triggered slice to the end of the region. This
means that the fade times may sound different depending on where in the region you trigger.

Automatically created slices appear as vertical blue lines on the waveform display. Double-clicking a
slice deletes it. If you’re not satisfied with Simpler’s automatic slice placement, you can click and drag
a slice to move it to a new position. Double-clicking on the waveform between slices will create
manual slices, which appear white. In Transients mode, holding Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) and
clicking on a slice will toggle it between a manual and automatic slice. Manually created slices in
Transients mode are preserved regardless of the Sensitivity amount.

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28.10.2 Warp Controls

Simpler’s Warp Controls.

When the Warp switch is off, Simpler behaves like a “conventional” sampler; as you play back the
sample at different pitches, the sample plays back at different speeds. In some cases, this is exactly the
effect that you want. But when working with samples that have their own inherent rhythm, you may
want to enable Warp. This will cause Simpler to play back the sample in sync with your current song
tempo, regardless of which notes you play.

If you’re familiar with how warping works in audio clips, you’ll find that Simpler’s Warp Modes and
settings behave in the same way. For more information, see the section called Warp Modes.

The Warp as… button adjusts the warping of the sample so that it will play back precisely within the
specified number of bars or beats. Live makes its best guess about what this value should be based on
the length of the sample, but if it gets it wrong, you can use the ÷2 or ×2 buttons to double or halve the
playback speed, respectively.

28.10.3 Filter

Simpler’s Filter Controls.

Simpler’s filter section offers a variety of filter types including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch,
and a special Morph filter. Each filter can be switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes as well as a
selection of analog-modeled circuit behaviors developed in conjunction with Cytomic that emulate
hardware filters found on some classic analog synthesizers.

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The Clean circuit option is a high-quality, CPU-efficient design that is the same as the filters used in EQ
Eight. This is available for all of the filter types.

The OSR circuit option is a state-variable type with resonance limited by a unique hard-clipping
diode. This is modeled on the filters used in a somewhat rare British monosynth, and is available for all
filter types.

The MS2 circuit option uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit resonance. It is modeled on
the filters used in a famous semi-modular Japanese monosynth and is available for the low-pass and
high-pass filters.

The SMP circuit is a custom design not based on any particular hardware. It shares characteristics of
both the MS2 and PRD circuits and is available for the low-pass and high-pass filters.

The PRD circuit uses a ladder design and has no explicit resonance limiting. It is modeled on the filters
used in a legacy dual-oscillator monosynth from the United States and is available for the low-pass
and high-pass filters.

The most important filter 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.

When using the low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass filter with any circuit type besides Clean, there is
an additional Drive control that can be used to add gain or distortion to the signal before it enters the
filter.

The Morph filter has an additional Morph control which sweeps the filter type continuously from low-
pass to band-pass to high-pass to notch and back to low-pass.

You can quickly snap the Morph control to a low-pass, band-pass, high-pass, or notch setting via
dedicated options in the context menu of the Morph knob.

The Frequency and Envelope buttons in the filter section’s display area toggle between showing the
filter’s frequency response and its envelope. Filter cutoff frequency and resonance can be adjusted via
the knobs or by dragging the filter response curve in the display area. Filter frequency can also be
modulated by the following:

• Note velocity, via the Vel control in the filter’s display.

• Note pitch, via the Key control in the filter’s display.
• Filter envelope, via the Envelope control in the filter’s display.
• LFO, via the Filter slider in the LFO section.

28.10.3.1 Legacy Filters

If you open a Set that was created in a version of Live older than version 9.5, any instance of Simpler
in the Set will open with legacy filters in place of the filters discussed previously. These consist of 12 dB
or 24 dB low-pass, band-pass and high-pass filters, as well as a notch filter, and do not feature a
Drive control. Each Simpler loaded with the legacy filters shows an Upgrade button in the title bar.

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Simpler’s Filter Upgrade Button.

Pressing this button will permanently switch the filter selection to the newer models for that instance of
Simpler. Note that this change may make your Set sound different.

28.10.4 Envelopes

Simpler’s Filter and Amplitude Envelope Controls.

Simpler contains three classic ADSR envelopes, as seen in most synthesizers, for shaping the dynamic
response of the sample. Amplitude, filter frequency, and pitch modulation are all modifiable 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. These parameters can be adjusted via their dedicated controls or
graphically, by dragging the handles within the envelope visualizations.

The influence of envelopes on pitch and filter cutoff can be set using the envelope amount (Amount)
controls in the top right of each of these sections.

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Pitch Envelope Amount Control.

The Amplitude Envelope can be looped via the Loop chooser. 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 Rate slider, the envelope will restart from its
initial value.

Simpler’s Amplitude Envelope Loop Chooser and Time Control.

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28.10.5 LFO

Simpler’s LFO Section.

The LFO (low-frequency oscillator) section offers sine, square, triangle, sawtooth down, sawtooth up
and random waveforms. The LFO runs freely at frequencies between 0.01 and 30 Hz, or synced to
divisions of the Set’s tempo. LFOs are applied individually to each voice, or played note, in Simpler.

The time required for the LFO to reach full intensity is determined by the Attack control. The R switch
toggles Retrigger. When enabled, the LFO’s phase is reset to the Offset value for each new note. Note
that Offset has no effect when Retrigger is disabled.

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 Volume, Pitch, Pan, and Filter sliders determine how much the LFO will modulate the volume, pitch,
pan, and filter, respectively.

28.10.6 Global Parameters

Simpler’s Global Parameters.

Panorama is defined by the Pan control, but can be further swayed by randomness (via the Random >
Pan slider) or modulated by the LFO.

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 two voices are detuned, and the amount
of detuning can be adjusted with the Spread control.

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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.

The output volume of Simpler is controlled by the Volume control, which can also be dependent upon
note velocity, as adjusted by the Velocity > Volume control. Tremolo effects can be achieved by
allowing the LFO to modulate the Volume parameter.

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 the
LFO or pitch envelope. The pitch envelope is especially helpful in creating percussive sounds. Simpler
reacts to MIDI Pitch Bend messages with a sensitivity of +/- 5 semitones. You can also modulate the
Transpose parameter with clip envelopes and external controllers. For fine tuning of the pitch, use the
Detune control, which can be adjusted +/- 50 cents.

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. The speed of the
glide is set with the Time control.

28.10.7 Context Menu Options

A number of Simpler’s features are only accessible by opening the context menu via the sample
display or Simpler’s title bar.

By default, Simpler uses constant-power fades. But by turning off “Use Constant Power Fade for
Loops“ in the context menu of Simpler’s title bar, you can enable linear crossfades. Note that the Fade
parameter is not available when warp is enabled.

Presets created in Simpler can be converted for use in Sampler, and vice-versa. To do this, right-click
on Simpler’s title bar and choose the Simpler -> Sampler command. In this way, presets created in
Simpler can be in a multisample context in Sampler. Note, however, that Simpler’s warping and
slicing functionality is not available in Sampler, and presets that use any of these functions will sound
and behave very differently in Sampler.

Manage Sample reveals the loaded sample in Live’s File Manager, while the Show in Browser option
reveals the sample in Live’s browser. Show in Finder/Explorer reveals the sample within its folder in
your computer’s operating system. Note that this command is not available when working with
samples that have been loaded from official Ableton Packs.

Normalize Volumes adjusts the volume of the loaded sample so that its highest peak uses all of the
available headroom.

Crop removes the portions of the sample that are outside of the Start and End points, while Reverse
plays the entire sample backwards. Note that both Crop and Reverse are non-destructive; they create
a copy of the sample and apply the process to the copy, so your original sample is not changed.

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When working in Slicing Playback Mode, two additional context menu options are available: Slice to
Drum Rack replaces the Simpler with a Drum Rack in which each of the current slices is split onto its
own pad. Slice to New MIDI Track is similar, but this creates an additional track containing a Drum
Rack rather than replacing the current Simpler. Additionally, when slicing to a new track, a clip is
created that plays back the slices in order. For more about slicing, see the dedicated section for this
topic.

28.10.8 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:

• When using warping, be aware that the Complex and Complex Pro modes use significantly
more CPU power than the other Warp Modes.
• Turn off the Filter if it is not needed.
• A filter’s CPU cost correlates with the steepness of its slope — the 24 dB slope is more
expensive than the 12 dB slope.
• Turn off the LFO for a slightly positive influence on CPU.
• Stereo samples need significantly more CPU than mono samples, as they require twice the
processing.
• Decrease the number of simultaneously allowed voices with the Voices control.
• Turn Spread to 0% if it is not needed.

28.11 Tension

The Tension Instrument.

(Note: The Tension instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Tension is a synthesizer dedicated to the emulation of string instruments, and developed in

collaboration with Applied Acoustics Systems. The synthesizer is entirely based on physical modeling
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

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elaborate synthesis engine responds dynamically to the control signals it receives while you play
thereby reproducing the richness and responsiveness of real string instruments.

Tension features four types of exciters (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, envelope parameters, and MPE
support, which extend the sound sculpting possibilities beyond what would be possible with “real-
world“ instruments. Finally, Tension offers a wide range of performance features, including keyboard
modes, portamento, vibrato, and legato functions.

28.11.1 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 exciter 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 example, 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 components related to the string itself: Exciter,
Damper, String, Vibrato, Termination, Pickup, and Body. The Filter/Global tab contains the Filter
section and the MPE section, as well as controls for global performance parameters. Each section
(with the exception of String and the global Keyboard section) can be enabled or disabled
independently. Turning off a section reduces CPU usage.

28.11.2 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.

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28.11.2.1 The Exciter Section

Tension’s Exciter Section.

28.11.2.2 Exciter Types

The modeled string can be played using different types of exciters in order to reproduce different
types of instruments and playing techniques.

The Exciter 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 Exciter and Damper sections are
deactivated, 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.

The Exciter Type chooser offers four choices - Bow, Hammer, Hammer (bouncing) and Plectrum.

Bow — this exciter 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 friction, causing
the string to alternate between sticking to the hair and breaking free. The frequency of this alternation
between sticking and slipping determines the fundamental pitch. Note that the Damping knob is
unavailable when the Bow exciter is selected.

Hammer — this exciter type simulates the behavior of soft hammers 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 (bouncing) - this exciter type is similar to Hammer, except that it 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 dulcimer, for example.

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.

28.11.2.3 Exciter Parameters

Next to the Exciter Type chooser are five parameter knobs. The first two parameters vary depending
on the chosen Exciter Type, whereas the last three parameters are universal.

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Bow Parameters:

• 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 knob adjusts the amount of friction between the bow and the string. Higher values
usually result in a faster attack.

Hammer / Hammer (bouncing) Parameters:

• The Mass knob adjusts the mass of the hammer.

• The Stiffness knob adjusts the stiffness of the hammer’s surface area.

Plectrum Parameters:

• The Protrusion knob adjusts how much of the plectrum’s surface area is placed under the string.
Lower values result in a “thinner,“ smaller sound, as there is less mass setting the string into
motion.
• The Stiffness knob adjusts the stiffness of the plectrum.

Universal Exciter Parameters:

• The Velocity knob adjusts the speed at which the exciter activates the string.
• The Position knob specifies the point on the string where the exciter makes contact. At 0%, the
exciter contacts the string at its termination point, while at 50% it activates the string at its
midpoint. When the Fix. Pos switch (described in more detail below) is enabled, however, the
position is not dependent on the length of the string.
• The Damping knob adjusts how much of the exciter’s impact force is absorbed back into the
exciter. Note: For the Hammer (bouncing) exciter, this 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 hammer and string will become shorter,
generally resulting in a louder, brighter sound.

The Fix. Pos switch fixes the contact point to a single location, rather than changing as the length of the
string changes. This behavior is similar to that of a guitar, where the picking position is always
basically the same regardless of the notes being played. On a piano, the exciter position is relative —
the hammers normally strike the string at about 1/7th of their length — and so is best modeled with
Fix. Pos turned off.

Finally, the Vel and Key sliders below these three controls allow you to modulate their behavior based
on note velocity or pitch, respectively.

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Tension’s Exciter Velocity and Key Modulation.

Please note that the Exciter 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.

28.11.2.4 The Damper Section

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 their 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. The Damper section can be toggled on or off via the
switch next to its name.

Although 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 increase
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 depressed. 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

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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.

The Position knob serves an analogous function to the control in the Exciter 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 Mass, Stiffness and Velocity, and Position parameters can be further modulated by note pitch
using the Key sliders below them.

Tension’s Damper Velocity and Key Modulation.

The stiffness 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 (longer 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 increase 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 String Section

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 Decay slider determines how long it takes for the resonating string to decay to silence. Higher
values increase the decay time. The < Key slider next to Decay allows decay time to be modulated by
note pitch.

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The Ratio slider sets the ratio of the decay time of the string’s oscillation during note onset and release.
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 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 behavior, 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 < Key slider to its right.

The Vibrato Section

Tension’s Vibrato Section.

The Vibrato section uses an LFO to modulate the string’s pitch. As with all of Tension’s parameters, 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 Vibrato section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name.

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 (as set by the Amount knob).

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 < Mod slider adjusts how much the modulation wheel will affect 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.

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28.11.2.5 The Termination Section

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 Termination section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name.

The Finger Mass parameter can additionally be modulated by velocity or note pitch, via the Vel and
Key sliders.

The physical parameters of the finger are adjusted with the Finger Mass and Finger Stiff knobs, which
set the force the finger applies to the string and the finger’s stiffness, respectively. The stiffness of the
fret is modeled with the Fret Stiff parameter.

28.11.2.6 The Pickup Section

Tension’s Pickup Section.

The Pickup Section models the effect of an electromagnetic pickup, similar to the type found in an
electric guitar or electric piano. It can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name. The only
control here is the Position slider, which functions similarly to this parameter in the Exciter 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 result in a brighter, thinner sound, while higher values
have more fullness and depth.

The Body Section

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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 instruments, such as
guitars, the body also includes an air cavity which boosts low frequencies.

The Body section can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name.

The Body Type chooser allows you to select from different body types modeled 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 become lower.

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.

You can further modify the body’s frequency response with the Low Cut and High Cut knobs.

Tension’s Volume Knob.

The lonely Volume knob to the right of this section sets the overall output of the instrument. This knob is
replicated on the Filter/Global tab.

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28.11.3 Filter/Global Tab

Tension’s Filter/Global Tab.

Tension’s Filter/Global tab features a polyphonic filter with envelope, LFO, and MIDI modulation
options, keyboard and portamento options, and an integrated Unison audio effect.

Tension’s Filter Section.

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 generator and low-
frequency oscillator (LFO).

Note that the entire Filter section can be toggled on or off via the switch in the Filter subsection, while
the Filter Envelope and Filter LFO sections each have their own individual toggles.

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 resonance is
adjusted with the Res control. When a formant filter is selected, 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 effect unless the Envelope and LFO
subsections are enabled.

The Filter Envelope subsection can be toggled on or off via the switch next to its name. It is a standard
ADSR (attack, decay, sustain, release) with a few twists:

• While the attack time is set with the Attack knob, this time can also be modulated by MIDI note
velocity via the Vel slider below the knob. As you increase the Vel value, the attack time will
become increasingly shorter at higher velocities.

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 • 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 remains at the end of the decay phase
until the key is released. 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 note velocity via the Vel slider below the knob. Higher values result
in an increased sustain level as the velocity increases.
• 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 Filter 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 LFO 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 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.

Lastly, the Attack knob controls how long it takes for the oscillator to reach its full amplitude while the
Delay knob controls how long it will take for the LFO to start after the note begins.

Tension’s MPE Section.

The MPE section includes mapping options for MPE pressure and slide data, as well as the option to
set Tension’s global and per-note pitch bend ranges. All three MPE sources include Activity LEDs,
which light up whenever Tension receives MPE signals.

For both the Pressure and Slide sources, you can choose two destinations where MPE data is routed,
and adjust the level of modulation using the Amount sliders.

Pitch Bend controls allow you to adjust the modulation range for global pitch bend, as well as the
MPE per-note pitch bend (Note PB) in semitones.

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Tension’s Keyboard Section.

The Keyboard section contains all of Tension’s polyphony, tuning, MIDI parameters.

The Octave, Semi and Detune controls function as coarse and fine tuners. Octave transposes the entire
instrument by octaves, while Semi transposes up or down in semitone increments. The Detune slider
adjusts in increments of one cent (up to a maximum of 50 cents up or down).

The Voices chooser sets the available polyphony.

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. Increasing 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.

Lastly, 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 Priority is the opposite. The Last setting
gives priority to the most recently played notes, cutting off the oldest notes as necessary.

Tension’s Portamento Section.

The Portamento section is used to make the pitch slide between notes rather than changing
immediately. The effect can be toggled on and off via the switch next to its name.

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The Time slider sets the overall speed of the slide.

With Legato enabled, the sliding will only occur if the second note is played before the first note is
released.

Prop. (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.

Tension’s Unison Section.

The Unison section allows you to stack multiple voices for each note played. 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 effect, while
high values provide another good way to approximate a youth orchestra.

Increasing the Delay amount adds lag before each stacked voice is activated.

Tension’s Volume Knob.

The lonely Volume knob in the corner sets the overall output of the instrument. This knob is replicated
on the String tab.

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28.11.4 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 parameter somewhere
else. Because of this, it’s very easy to find parameter combinations that produce no sound at all. It’s
also very easy to create extremely loud sounds, so be careful when setting levels!

When using 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 perhaps 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.

28.12 Wavetable

The Wavetable Instrument.

(Note: The Wavetable instrument is not available in the Intro, Lite and Standard Editions.)

Wavetable is a synthesizer that combines two wavetable-based oscillators, two analog-modelled

filters, and a powerful but intuitive modulation system. It’s designed to be usable by musicians and
sound designers with any amount of synthesis experience; it’s simple enough to yield great results with
a minimum of effort but offers a nearly limitless range of possibilities as you go deeper.

Wavetable’s interface is divided into three main sections: the oscillators (which each have their own
tab), the two filters, and the modulation section (which is divided between three tabs). To see more
parameters in a single view, click the button in Wavetable’s title bar. Parameters will move between
the main Device View and the expanded view depending on the dimensions of your screen layout.

28.12.1 Wavetable Synthesis

Wavetable’s oscillators produce sound using a technique called wavetable synthesis. A wavetable is
simply an arbitrary collection of short, looping samples that are arranged together. Playing a note

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with the oscillator fixed to just one of these samples will produce a steady tone with a consistent
timbre. But the real power of wavetable synthesis comes by moving between the various samples in
the table as the note plays, which results in a shifting timbre. Wavetable synthesis is extremely well-
suited for producing dynamic sounds that change over time.

28.12.2 Oscillators

Wavetable’s oscillators have been optimized for maximum sound quality. As long as no modulation is
applied, the raw output of the oscillators is perfectly band-limited and will not produce aliasing
artifacts at any pitch.

Wavetable’s Oscillators.

Each oscillator can be turned on or off independently via a switch in the oscillator’s tab. Clicking a tab
will select that oscillator, revealing its parameters for editing.

The overall output level of each oscillator is adjusted with its Gain slider, while its position in the stereo
field can be adjusted with the Pan control. The coarse and fine tuning of each oscillator can be set
with the Semi and Detune controls. Note that this tuning is in relation to the global Transposition slider.

Select a wavetable using the choosers or the arrow buttons. The first chooser selects a category of
wavetable, while the second chooser selects a specific wavetable from within that category. The
arrow buttons will automatically switch to the next category when you reach the end of the current
one, so you can continuously move through the wavetables using the arrows alone.

You can extend the sonic capabilities of Wavetable’s oscillator section by loading any WAV or AIFF
file as a wavetable. To do this, drag and drop a sample from the browser directly onto the wavetable
visualization. The choosers and arrow buttons will now reference the folder containing the imported
sample, allowing you to quickly audition any other samples in that folder.

Wavetable will automatically process imported samples to reduce unwanted artefacts. Note that you
can bypass this processing by activating the Raw mode switch. Raw mode is especially useful when
loading files that have been prepared specifically for use as a wavetable. However, it can also be
“misused” to create unpredictable, noisy or glitchy sounds.

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Wavetable’s Raw Mode Switch.

The oscillator’s wavetable is visualized in the center of the oscillator tab. Clicking and dragging within
the visualization will move to a different position within the wavetable. You can also change the
wavetable position via the Wave Position slider.

There are two types of wavetable visualizations available, and these can be switched via the
wavetable visualization switch. Both views represent the same information, but visualized in different
ways. The linear view arranges the waveforms from bottom to top, with time running from left to right.
The polar view displays the waveforms as loops from inside to outside, with time running clockwise.

Although there is a huge range of available wavetables, it’s also possible to transform the sound of
each wavetable itself through the use of oscillator effects. Select from three effects in the chooser and
then adjust the parameters for those effects via the sliders to the right. The oscillator effects include:

• FM — Applies frequency modulation to the oscillator. The Amt slider adjusts the intensity of the
frequency modulation, while the Tune slider determines the frequency of the modulation
oscillator. With a tuning of 50% (and -50%), the modulation oscillator is one octave higher (or
lower) than the main oscillator. At 100% (and -100%), the modulation oscillator is two octaves
higher (or lower). In between these values, the modulation oscillator is at inharmonic ratios,
which is ideal for creating noisy overtones.
• Classic — Provides two modulation types that are common from classic analog synthesizers.
PW adjusts the pulse width of the waveform. Note that in hardware synthesizers, it is normally
only possible to adjust the pulse width of square waves. In Wavetable, the pulse width can be
adjusted for all wavetables. Sync applies a “hidden” oscillator that resets the phase of the
audible oscillator, altering its timbre.
• Modern — Provides two additional options for distorting the shape of the waveform. Warp is
similar to pulse width, while Fold applies wavefolding distortion.

Note that the values of the two effects parameters don’t change when the effect type changes. This
makes it possible to move between the effects to experiment with how the different processes affect
the timbre with the same values.

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28.12.3 Sub Oscillator

Wavetable’s Sub Oscillator.

In addition to the two main oscillators, Wavetable includes a sub oscillator. This can be toggled on or
off using the Sub toggle, and its output level is adjusted with the Gain knob.

The Tone control alters the timbre of the sub oscillator. At 0%, the oscillator produces a pure sine wave.
Turning Tone up increases the harmonic content of the waveform.

The tuning of the sub is determined by the played note and the global Transpose value, but you can
shift the sub down by one or two octaves using the Octave switches.

28.12.4 Filters

Wavetable’s filters can be very useful for shaping the sonically rich timbres created by the oscillators
and their effects. And, since the oscillators also provide you with the classic waveforms of analog
synthesizers, you can very easily build a subtractive-style synthesizer with them.

Wavetable’s Filters.

Wavetable offers a variety of filter types including low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch, and a
special Morph filter. Each filter can be switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes as well as a selection
of analog-modeled circuit behaviors developed in conjunction with Cytomic that emulate hardware
filters found on some classic analog synthesizers.

The Clean circuit option is a high-quality, CPU-efficient design that is the same as the filters used in EQ
Eight. This is available for all of the filter types.

The OSR circuit option is a state-variable type with resonance limited by a unique hard-clipping
diode. This is modeled on the filters used in a somewhat rare British monosynth, and is available for all
filter types.

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The MS2 circuit option uses a Sallen-Key design and soft clipping to limit resonance. It is modeled on
the filters used in a famous semi-modular Japanese monosynth and is available for the low-pass and
high-pass filters.

The SMP circuit is a custom design not based on any particular hardware. It shares characteristics of
both the MS2 and PRD circuits and is available for the low-pass and high-pass filters.

The PRD circuit uses a ladder design and has no explicit resonance limiting. It is modeled on the filters
used in a legacy dual-oscillator monosynth from the United States and is available for the low-pass
and high-pass filters.

The most important filter 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. Note that you can adjust the Frequency and Resonance parameters by
clicking and dragging either of the filter dots in the filter display.

When using the low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass filter with any circuit type besides Clean, there is
an additional Drive control that can be used to add gain or distortion to the signal before it enters the
filter.

The Morph filter has an additional Morph control which sweeps the filter type continuously from low-
pass to band-pass to high-pass to notch and back to low-pass.

Filter routing allows you to arrange the filters in various configurations for drastically different sculpting
techniques. You can choose from one of three different routings:

• Serial — Routes all oscillators into Filter 1, and routes Filter 1 into Filter 2. Sub is routed to both
filters.
• Parallel — Routes the two main oscillators into Filter 1 and Filter 2. Sub is routed to both filters.
• Split — Routes Oscillator 1 to Filter 1, and Oscillator 2 to Filter 2. Sub is split in half and sent to
both filters. If either filter is off, the corresponding oscillator’s signal is still audible. Split can be
used to treat each filter separately, and is useful for cases where you want to create layered
synth sounds. If the main oscillators are disabled while both filters are engaged, Split can also
be used to add extra treatment to the Sub oscillator.

28.12.5 Matrix Tab

The Modulation Matrix enables assigning modulation from Envelopes and LFOs (also known as
“internal modulation sources”) to parameters within the instrument (or “modulation targets”).

Wavetable’s Matrix Tab.

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The modulation sources run horizontally, while the modulation targets run vertically. Click and drag
within the grid to change the amount of modulation that the selected source applies to the selected
parameter.

Note that certain parameters are additive modulation targets, while others are multiplicative
modulation targets.

Additive modulation is applied to a parameter using the following formula:

1. The outputs of a parameter’s modulation sources are summed together.

2. The summed modulation value is added to the current parameter value.

Modulation values for additive modulation are centered around 0, with 0 being the “neutral” value.
Additive modulation values can be negative or positive. Modulation sources that output negative and
positive values are “bipolar” sources. Modulation sources that only output positive values are
“unipolar” sources.

Multiplicative modulation is applied to a parameter using the following formula:

1. The outputs of a parameter’s modulation sources are multiplied together.

2. The multiplied modulation value is multiplied with the current parameter value.

The neutral value for multiplicative modulation is 1, and the minimum value is 0. Parameters with
multiplicative modulation are noted throughout the Wavetable manual.

Click on a parameter in the instrument to make it appear temporarily in the matrix. If you apply
modulation to this parameter, it will remain in the matrix. If no modulation is applied, the parameter
will disappear from the matrix when you click another parameter. Note that the Matrix tab and MIDI
tab share the same rows.

Click on any of the modulation source headers located above the matrix to quickly jump to its
respective panel within the Mod Sources tab.

The Time slider will scale the times of all the modulators. Negative values will make envelopes and
LFOs faster, while positive values will make them slower. Modulating this value with an envelope or
LFO will not affect the assigned modulator, but that modulator will still scale to other destinations.

The Amount slider sets the overall amount of modulation for all sources in the modulation matrix. Note
that this is a multiplicative modulation destination.

28.12.6 Mod Sources Tab

The Mod Sources tab allows you to adjust Envelope and LFO settings, which are described in more
detail below.

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Wavetable’s Mod Sources Tab.

Envelopes

Wavetable’s envelopes (Amp, Env 2 and Env 3) can be modified using Time and Slope parameters,
while Env 2 and Env 3 include additional Value controls. Note that you can adjust the Time, Slope
and Value parameters by clicking and dragging the envelope display.

Attack sets the time needed to travel from the initial value to the Peak value. The shape of this stage of
the envelope is determined by the Attack Slope value.

Decay sets the time needed to travel from the Peak value to the Sustain level. The shape of this stage of
the envelope is determined by the Decay Slope value.

Sustain sets the level reached at the end of the Decay stage. The envelope will remain at this level until
a Note Off occurs, unless the Loop mode is set to Trigger or Loop, in which case it will continue to the
Release stage as soon as it is reached. Note that this is a multiplicative modulation destination.

Release sets the time needed to travel to the Final value after a Note Off occurs. The shape of this
stage of the envelope is determined by the Release Slope value.

As mentioned above, Wavetable’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 faster at the
end. A slope of zero is linear; the envelope will move at the same rate throughout the segment.

The Initial slider sets the starting value of the envelope when it is triggered. Note that this is a
multiplicative modulation destination. This control is not available for the amp envelope.

The Peak slider sets the value which marks the end of the Attack stage and the beginning of the Decay
stage. This control is not available for the amp envelope.

The Final slider sets the value at the end of the Release stage. This control is not available for the amp
envelope.

The Loop Modes drop-down lets you choose from one of three modes:

• None will hold the Sustain portion until a Note Off, and will not loop.
• Trigger will play all segments once a Note On is received.
• Loop will loop the entire envelope without holding the Sustain, until the voice ends.

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28.12.6.1 LFOs

Wavetable includes two LFOs, which can be adjusted individually via the parameters described in this
section.

Wavetable’s LFOs.

You can choose from one of five LFO waveforms, and use the Shape slider to modify the selected
waveform’s shape:

• Sine and Saw: Applies an increasing or decreasing slope.

• Triangle: Morphs the symmetry from Ramp to Saw, with Triangle in the middle.
• Square: Changes the pulse width.
• Random: Changes the distribution of extreme values.

The Sync switch sets the LFO Rate in Hertz or synced to the song tempo, while the Rate slider sets the
LFO frequency in Hertz or beat divisions. Note that you can also adjust the LFO frequency by
dragging the waveform display.

Amount adjusts the amount of LFO modulation that is applied to incoming signals. Note that this is a
multiplicative modulation destination.

The Offset slider offsets the phase of the LFO so that it starts at a different value. Note that Offset
cannot be modulated.

You can use the LFO Attack slider to adjust the time the LFO takes to fade in, when it has been
triggered by a Note On.

When enabled, the LFO Retrigger switch will cause the LFO to reset to its starting point, or initial
phase, on each new MIDI note. This can create hybrid LFO shapes if the LFO is retriggered before
completing a cycle.

28.12.7 MIDI Tab

Assigning MIDI to parameters can turn Wavetable into a dynamic performance instrument. Within the
MIDI Modulation Matrix, MIDI modulation sources can be assigned to multiple parameters within the
instrument (or “modulation targets”).

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Wavetable’s MIDI Tab.

When Velocity is assigned, Wavetable will use the incoming MIDI note’s velocity value to modulate
target parameters for the duration of that note.

When Note is assigned, Wavetable will use the incoming MIDI note’s pitch to modulate target
parameters for the duration of that note. The pitch modulation range is centered around C3. This
means when it is assigned to Filter Frequency with the modulation amount set to 100%, the filter will
precisely track the played note.

Pitch Bend, Aftertouch and Modulation Wheel: these are hardware controls found on many MIDI
controller devices. If you do not have such a device, you can still modulate the parameters with clip
envelopes.

When Random is assigned, Wavetable will modulate target parameters by a random value, which is
calculated each time a note is triggered.

Click on a parameter in the instrument to make it appear temporarily in the matrix. If you apply
modulation to this parameter, it will remain in the matrix. If no modulation is applied, the parameter
will disappear from the matrix when you click another parameter. Note that the Matrix tab and MIDI
tab share the same rows.

28.12.8 Global and Unison Controls

Wavetable’s global controls affect the overall behavior and performance of the instrument.

Wavetable’s Global Controls.

Transpose adjusts the relative pitch of the Wavetable instrument in semitones.

Volume adjusts the overall level of the instrument. Note that is a multiplicative modulation destination.

The Poly/Mono toggle switches the instrument between a single voice with legato envelopes (Mono)
and a polyphonic instrument (Poly).

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The Poly Voices drop-down menu lets you set the maximum number of notes that can sound
simultaneously. Note that Poly Voices is only active when the Poly/Mono switch is set to Poly.

Glide adjusts the time overlapping notes take to slide their pitch to the next incoming pitch. Note that
Glide is only active when the Poly/Mono switch is set to Mono.

The Unison drop-down menu lets you choose from one of six unison modes (or none). Unison modes
use multiple oscillators with different phases, stereo locations, or wavetable positions to provide a
fuller sound.

• Classic: The oscillators are detuned with equal spacing and panned to alternating stereo
channels.
• Shimmer: The oscillator pitches are jittered at random intervals, giving a shimmering reverb-like
effect. A small amount of wavetable offset is also applied for extra fullness.
• Noise: Pitches are jittered as in the Shimmer unison mode, but at a much faster rate, resulting in
noisy breathy textures. A small amount of wavetable offset is applied for extra fullness.
• Phase Sync: The oscillators are detuned as in Classic unison mode, but the phases are synced
when a note is started giving a strong sweeping phaser-style effect.
• Position spread: The wavetable positions for each oscillator are evenly spread out by an
amount. A small amount of detune is additionally applied for extra width.
• Random note: The wavetable positions and detune amount for each oscillator are randomised
each time a note is started.

The Voices slider sets the number of simultaneously running oscillators per wavetable oscillator. More
voices will result in a thicker sound, whereas less voices will sound clearer.

The Amount slider adjusts the intensity of the unison effect, and has different behavior in each unison
mode. Note that this is a multiplicative modulation destination.

28.12.9 Hi-Quality Mode

Wavetable’s Hi-Quality Option.

You can toggle on Hi-Quality mode on or off from Wavetable’s context menu.

When Hi-Quality is off, Wavetable modulation is calculated every 32 samples. Low-power versions
of the Cytomic filters are also used to further reduce CPU.

Using Wavetable with Hi-Quality mode off can save up to 25% CPU compared to having it enabled,
which is ideal for working with large sets or maintaining low latencies.

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As of Live 11.1, Hi-Quality mode will be off by default when loading a new instance of Wavetable or
any of its Core Library presets. However, any user presets or Live Sets created previously will still load
Wavetable in Hi-Quality mode to ensure sound consistency with earlier Live versions.

Note: Subtle sound differences may occur when Hi-Quality mode is enabled.

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29. 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 and MIDI effects, as well as MIDI Tools. Max for Live
can also be used to extend the functionality of hardware controllers and even modify clips and
parameters 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, MIDI Tools 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.

(Note: Max for Live is not available in the Lite and Intro Editions. It can be used with the Standard
Edition when purchased as an add-on.)

29.1 Setting Up Max for Live

Max for Live comes pre-installed with Live, and does not require any additional setup.

However, if you prefer to use an external Max installation, you will first need to point to it in Live’s File
& Folder Settings:

The Path to the Max Installation.

Once Live has found the external Max application, Max for Live should be ready for use. At this point,
the Max content will begin to install into your Live Library.

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29.2 Using Max for Live Devices
Max for Live comes with a collection of instruments, effects and MIDI Tools which are ready for use. A
selection of Max for Live devices from Live’s Core Library can be found in the Instruments, Audio
Effects and MIDI Effects labels within the browser. Additional Max for Live devices as well as Max for
Live MIDI Tools appear 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 presets but
with one important difference: because a Max device can be stored outside of Live’s known locations,
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, Live will try to maintain the necessary file references by
copying the Max device into your User 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 to fix the problem.

To avoid these issues, we recommend always storing Max devices and their presets in your User
Library. Note that this is the default location that is suggested when pressing the Save Preset button in
the title bar of the Max device.

29.3 Editing Max for Live Devices

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.

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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.

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
“patcher“), and can be accessed by pressing the Edit button in the Max device’s title bar.

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.

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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 originally 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 that corresponds to the type
of device being saved. We recommend always saving Max devices to this default location.

Unlike Live’s native devices, Max devices are not saved inside Live Sets, but rather as separate files.

29.4 Building Max for Live MIDI Tools

You can create your own Max for Live MIDI Tools in two ways:

1. By using the Max MIDI Transformation or Generator template included in the Transformation
and Generative Tools tabs/panels respectively.
2. By editing an existing Max for Live MIDI Tool.

Building a Max for Live MIDI Tool follows the same principles as building other Max for Live devices:
with a Max MIDI Transformation/Generator template or an existing Max for Live MIDI Tool selected,
click on the Edit button to launch the Max editor (“patcher”).

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The Edit Button in a Max MIDI Transformation.

When you are done editing, use the Save or Save As commands in the patcher’s File menu to save the
Max for Live MIDI Tool.

By default, Max for Live MIDI Tools are saved to these folders on your computer:

• Transformations: ~/Music/Ableton/User Library/MIDI Tools/Max Transformations

• Generators: ~/Music/Ableton/User Library/MIDI Tools/Max Generators

Alternatively, any folder within Places in Live’s browser can be used to store the MIDI Tools’ AMXD
files. For example, you could create a new folder called “My Favorite MIDI Tools” and save the Max
for Live MIDI Tools you have built within this folder. Then when you add the folder to Places in Live,
these MIDI Tools will appear in the drop-down menus in the Transformation/Generative Tools tabs/
panels.

Note that if Max for Live MIDI Tools are not saved to the default location or within Live’s Places, they
will not be found by Live’s Indexer, and therefore will not appear in the Clip View’s Transformation/
Generative Tools tabs/panels.

For more information on the Max objects used for creating Max for Live MIDI Tools, as well as a
walkthrough of patching a Max for Live Transformation or Generator, please refer to the Max for Live
MIDI Tools guide, accessible via the Max documentation. In a Max window, select Reference from
the Help Menu, navigate to the Max for Live category and then Guides.

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29.5 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. Max for Live helps to deal with
external dependencies 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.

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.

29.6 Learning Max Programming

To help you learn more about building and editing Max devices, Cycling ’74 provides comprehensive
documentation and tutorials built into the Max environment. To access this documentation, select
“Reference“ from the Help menu in any Max window. There is also a Max for Live section within the
documentation contents.

You can also read the Max for Live Production Guidelines documentation on GitHub.

For hands-on learning, we suggest downloading the Building Max Devices Pack, which contains in-
depth lessons that cover all the steps you need to build your own Max tools.

Additionally, you can check out the Learn Max page from Cycling ’74 for a comprehensive collection
of learning resources.

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30. Max for Live Devices
Live comes with a selection of custom-designed, built-in Max for Live devices. The Working with
Instruments and Effects chapter explains the basics of using devices in Live.

Max for Live devices have additional functionalities and editing possibilities, which are described in
the Max for Live chapter.

30.1 Max for Live Instruments

30.1.1 DS Clang

The DS Clang Instrument.

(Note: The DS Clang instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Clang consists of two separate tones, white noise and a filter, allowing you to create a variety of
cowbell, clave and noise percussion sounds.

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The Tone A/B sliders let you set the volume for each cowbell tone independently.

The Filter control sets the high-pass and band-pass filter cutoff, allowing you to change the color of
the sound. At higher values, the signal has more high-frequency content.

The Noise slider allows you to set the amount of white noise applied to the signal.

When the Clave switch is activated, you can add repeats to the clave sound using the Repeat slider.

You can use the Pitch parameter to change the pitch of the instrument. The Decay knob sets the length
of the sound, while the Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

30.1.2 DS Clap

The DS Clap Instrument.

(Note: The DS Clap instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Clap is a mix of filtered noise and an impulse running through panned delay lines, that allows you
to create a range of sounds from a tight electronic clap to a more organic, humanized handclap.

The Sloppy control adjusts the delay time between the two delay lines, so you can set how tightly or
loose the panned claps play together. Tail adds filtered noise to the impulse of the clap.

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The Spread slider sets the stereo width of the clap. 0% yields a mono signal while 100% creates a
widened stereo image. The Tone slider adjusts the color of the clap. At higher values, the signal has
more high-frequency content.

You can use the Tune parameter to change the pitch of the clap. The Decay knob sets the length of the
clap, while the Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

30.1.3 DS Cymbal

The DS Cymbal Instrument.

(Note: The DS Cymbal instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Cymbal combines sine and pulse waveforms with high-passed noise, making it possible to
recreate a variety of timbres, from a thin ride cymbal to a heavy crash.

The Tone slider in the display sets the high-pass filter cutoff, allowing you to change the color of the
cymbal. At higher values, the signal has more high-frequency content.

You can use the Pitch parameter to change the pitch of the cymbal. The Decay knob sets the length of
the cymbal, while the Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.1.4 DS FM

The DS FM Instrument.

(Note: The DS FM instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Inspired by a classic Japanese FM synthesizer, DS FM lets you create a variety of effects, from static
bursts to metallic lasers.

The Tone slider in the display sets the low-pass filter cutoff, allowing you to change the color of the
drum. At higher values, the signal has more high-frequency content.

Feedb. adjusts the amount of feedback applied to the FM algorithm. Greater values yield more noise.

Amnt sets the amount of FM modulation, while the Mod slider blends between different modulation
types.

The Pitch parameter provides global pitch control. The Decay knob sets the length of the drum, while
the Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.1.5 DS HH

The DS HH Instrument.

(Note: The DS HH instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS HH is a blend of noise and sine waveforms, with which you can produce any number of sounds,
from sharp closed hats to sizzling open hats.

The Noise toggle lets you choose between two noise types: white or pink.

The Tone slider in the display sets the high-pass filter cutoff, allowing you to change the color of the
hat. At higher values, the signal has more high-frequency content.

The pitched portion of the sound is filtered through a resonant high-pass filter. The filter can be
switched between 12 and 24 dB slopes, and the attack time can be set via the Attack slider.

You can use the Pitch parameter for global pitch control. The Decay knob sets the length of the hat,
while the Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.1.6 DS Kick

The DS Kick Instrument.

(Note: The DS Kick instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Kick is a kick drum synth with a modulated sine wave.

The Pitch slider lets you tune the kick in Hz. You can shape the kick sound by adding distortion via the
Drive slider, or adding harmonics using the OT slider.

The Attack parameter smooths the sound of the sine wave. The Click switch adds a click sound to the
kick, creating a sharper transient.

The Decay knob sets the length of the kick. Env can be used to set the pitch modulation. The Volume
control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.1.7 DS Sampler

The DS Sampler Instrument.

(Note: The DS Sampler instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Sampler makes use of your own samples to create a drum synth module.

You can load a sample by dragging and dropping it onto the upper half of the display. The Start
control adjusts the position of the sample start, while the Length slider sets the sample playback length.

You can use the Tune slider to tune your sample by +/- 48 semitones. The Loop switch toggles the
sample loop on and off.

The Decay knob sets the decay time of the sample’s amplitude. The Shaper parameter adds distortion
to produce a punchy and gritty sound. The Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

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30.1.8 DS Snare

The DS Snare Instrument.

(Note: The DS Snare instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Snare consists of a pitched oscillator and noise, providing a snare palette ranging from a
traditional acoustic snare sound, to the gated noise snare often heard in electronic dance music.

The Color parameter controls the tone of the pitched signal, while the Tone parameter controls the
presence of the noise signal.

You can apply one of three different filter types to the noise signal: low-pass, high-pass, or band-pass.

The Decay knob sets the length of the snare, while the Tune parameter provides global pitch control.
The Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.1.9 DS Tom

The DS Tom Instrument.

(Note: The DS Tom instrument is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

DS Tom combines an impulse with various pitched oscillator waveforms, allowing you to synthesize
toms with various timbral qualities, from deep and thunderous to sharp and tappy.

You can use the Pitch slider to tune the tom in Hz. The Color parameter controls the filter gain and
cutoff, while the Tone slider controls the level of resonant band-pass filters to mimic the tuning of the
drum membrane.

The Bend parameter adjusts the pitch envelope. The Decay knob sets the length of the tom, while the
Volume control adjusts the overall level of the instrument.

To preview the sound of the instrument with its current settings, click anywhere in the upper half of the
display.

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30.2 Max for Live Audio Effects

30.2.1 Align Delay

The Align Delay Effect

(Note: The Align Delay effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Align Delay is a utility delay for incoming signals that can be set in samples, milliseconds, or meters/
feet.

Using the Delay Mode drop-down menu, you can choose between three delay modes: Time,
Samples, and Distance.

Time mode sets the delay in milliseconds and can be used to adjust time between lasers and AV work,
or as a subtle stereo maker.

Samples mode sets the delay in samples and can be used to compensate for latency introduced by
other devices.

Distance mode sets the delay in meters or feet, either option can be toggled by using the m/ft button
next to the left and right delay sliders. Distance mode can be used to adjust PA system alignment or
monitor to main PA alignment.

You will also see a Celsius/Fahrenheit Temperature option in Distance mode. Matching the
temperature setting to the current temperature in the room you are using Align Delay in allows for
more precise delay adjustment as the sound will travel differently in warm and cold environments.

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With Stereo Link engaged, the left channel’s settings are applied to the right channel and the right
channel will appear greyed out. Changing the settings for the left channel will apply the changes to
both sides.

30.2.2 Envelope Follower

The Envelope Follower Effect.

(Note: The Envelope Follower effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Envelope Follower uses a well-known technique which involves capturing a signal, smoothing and
reshaping its amplitude course in order to obtain a more or less continuous curve, and finally mapping
the curve to one or more control parameters. The “auto-wah” effect is perhaps the most well-known
application of the envelope following technique.

Activate the Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping
target. To assign an additional mapping target, click on the button at the top-right of the display, click
any of the unassigned Map switches and click on another parameter in Live. A total of eight
parameters can be assigned. To unassign a parameter, click on the button to the right of its Map
switch. For each modulated parameter, the Min and Max sliders let you scale the resulting output
range after the modulation is applied.

You can use the Gain knob to set the gain applied to the incoming signal.

The Rise parameter smooths the attack of the envelope, while the Fall control smooths the release of
the envelope.

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The Delay control sets the delay time of the envelope. The switches to the right of the Delay control
toggle the delay mode between time-based and tempo-synced beat divisions.

30.2.3 LFO

The LFO Effect.

(Note: The LFO effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

LFO is a parameter modulation LFO for Live-specific parameters and third party plug-in parameters.

Activate the Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping
target. To assign an additional mapping target, click on the button at the top-right of the display, click
any of the unassigned Map switches and click on another parameter in Live. A total of eight
parameters can be assigned. To unassign a parameter, click on the button to the right of its Map
switch. For each modulated parameter, the Min and Max sliders let you scale the resulting output
range after the modulation is applied.

You can choose from one of seven different waveforms: sine, sawtooth up, sawtooth down, triangle,
rectangle, random and binary noise.

The Jitter slider adds randomness to the waveform, while the Smooth control smooths value changes.

The Rate control specifies the LFO speed. The switches to the right of the Rate control toggle between
frequency in Hertz and tempo-synced beat divisions.

Depth sets the overall intensity of the LFO. Offset changes the starting point, or initial phase of an LFO,
so that it begins at a different point in its cycle.

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The phase of the oscillator can be shifted using the Phase control.

To hold the current output value, activate the Hold switch.

You can click the R (Retrigger) button to re-trigger the phase of the LFO.

30.2.4 Shaper

The Shaper Effect.

(Note: The Shaper effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Shaper is a multi-breakpoint envelope which generates modulation data for musical expression.

Activate the Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping
target. To assign an additional mapping target, click on the button at the top-right of the display, click
any of the unassigned Map switches and click on another parameter in Live. A total of eight
parameters can be assigned. To unassign a parameter, click on the button to the right of its Map
switch. For each modulated parameter, the Min and Max sliders let you scale the resulting output
range after the modulation is applied.

You can create a breakpoint by clicking anywhere in the display. You can also delete a breakpoint by
Shift -clicking on it. Hold down the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key while dragging to create

curved segments.

To clear the display, press the Clear button in the bottom left corner. To the right of the Clear button,
you can choose from one of six breakpoint presets.

You can adjust the size of the grid via the Grid slider. When Snap is enabled, all breakpoints that you
create or reposition will snap to grid lines.

The smaller display on the top right provides an oscilloscope-style view of the output signal. The Jitter
slider adds randomness to the waveform, while the Smooth control smooths value changes.

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The Rate control specifies the LFO speed. The switches to the right of the Rate control toggle between
frequency in Hertz and tempo-synced beat divisions.

Depth sets the overall intensity of the LFO. The phase of the oscillator can be shifted using the Phase
control.

You can click the R (Retrigger) button to re-trigger the phase of the LFO. Note that re-trigger is not
available if the Rate control is set to Sync mode.

Offset changes the starting point, or initial phase of an LFO, so that it begins at a different point in its
cycle.

30.3 Max for Live MIDI Effects

30.3.1 Envelope MIDI

The Envelope MIDI Effect.

(Note: The Envelope MIDI effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Envelope MIDI is an ADSR device that you can control any Live parameter with.

Activate the Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping
target. To assign an additional mapping target, click on the button at the top-right of the display, click
any of the unassigned Map switches and click on another parameter in Live. A total of eight

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parameters can be assigned. To unassign a parameter, click on the button to the right of its Map
switch. For each modulated parameter, the Min and Max sliders let you scale the resulting output
range after the modulation is applied.

The Loop Mode drop-down lets you choose from one of four loop modes:

• Free: The trigger rate is unaffected.

• Sync: The trigger rate is defined by the song tempo. When Sync mode is active, you can set the
trigger rate via the Sync Rate drop-down.
• Loop: The trigger rate is defined by the envelope time.
• Echo: This creates repetitions of the original envelope. When Echo is active, you can adjust the
Envelope Echo Time and amount of Envelope Echo Feedback.

The Time slider sets the global envelope time.

When the Velocity switch is enabled, the envelope is modulated by note velocity. The Amount control
determines the intensity of the modulation.

The Attack control sets the attack time of the envelope. The Attack Slope slider adjusts the shape of the
Attack envelope segment.

The Decay control sets the decay time of the envelope. The Decay Slope slider adjusts the shape of the
Decay envelope segment.

The Sustain control sets the level reached at the end of the Decay stage. The Sustain Mode switch
toggles the Sustain function on or off.

The Release control sets the release time of the envelope. The Release Slope slider adjusts the shape of
the Release envelope segment.

You can adjust the Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release parameters by clicking and dragging the
envelope display.

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30.3.2 Expression Control

The Expression Control Effect.

(Note: The Expression Control effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

Expression Control is a MIDI effect that lets you control, transform, and map MIDI and MPE
expression data. This version of Expression Control is a new take on the Max for Live device of the
same name, with expanded functionality and a redesigned user interface centered around a visual
display of the device’s modulation curves.

The previous version of this device is still available and has been renamed Expression Control Legacy.
Live Sets made in Live 11 that contain Expression Control will load the Expression Control Legacy
device automatically.

Expression Control has five Mod Source Tabs that can be used to set a MIDI or MPE expression
parameter as a modulation source. A MIDI Input Source drop-down menu in each tab lets you
choose between ten expression parameters: Velocity, Modwheel, Pitchbend, Pressure, Keytrack,
Expression, Random, Increment, Slide, and Sustain.

Clicking on the Map to Target button links the selected modulation source to whichever parameter in
Live that’s clicked on next.

The controls in the Output Range section depend on the Modulation toggle at the top right of the
device. This toggle sets how Expression Control’s modulation values are generated, and has two
modes: Modulate or Remote Control.

When Modulate is selected, base values of a mapped parameter can be adjusted using your cursor.
In this mode, the value set or automated by Expression Control will be merged with the value being set
as you tweak the parameter in question. When Remote Control is selected, modulated parameter
values are set by Expression Control and interaction with base parameter values is no longer possible.

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The Modulation toggle also affects Expression Control’s polarity modes. When Modulate is selected,
a Modulation Polarity toggle in the Output Range section lets you choose between bipolar and
unipolar modes. In Bipolar mode, modulation is centered around the base parameter value being
modulated. In Unipolar mode, modulation is added to the base parameter value being modulated.
The Output Range Max slider sets the output modulation value generated when the input signal is at
its maximum amplitude. When Remote Control is selected, the Output Range section lets you set
minimum and maximum output modulation values using the Output Range Min and Output Range
Max sliders.

The Curve Type buttons below the Curve Display can be used to select a linear or S-shaped curve.
The type of curve selected determines which controls are available in the Curve section.

When a linear curve (with two breakpoints) is selected, the Curve A dial adjusts the modulation
curve’s entire shape. When an S-shaped curve (with three breakpoints) is selected, the Curve A dial
adjusts the curve’s upper segment shape and the Curve B dial adjusts its lower segment shape. When
the Curve Link button is enabled, the curve’s upper and lower segments can be inversely adjusted
using only the Curve A dial.

The Curve Display provides a visualization of the modulation curve being generated by the device.
Minimum and maximum values for the curve can be set via the Min/Max sliders. When an S-shaped
curve is selected, the middle breakpoint’s horizontal and vertical positions can be set via the X-Y
sliders. Breakpoints and curve shape can also be adjusted by clicking and dragging the visualized
curve directly in the display.

When Increment is selected as a modulation source in any MIDI Input Source drop-down menu, the
Increment Steps slider is activated. This value defines how many note triggers are necessary to cycle
through the device’s entire modulation range, and can be set to a value from 1 to 32 steps. Stopping
transport will reset the count, so that the first note played when transport restarts will output the
minimum modulation value that has been set.

When Random is selected as a modulation source in any MIDI Input Source drop-down menu, the
Random Amount slider is activated. This slider sets how much random deviation is applied to the target
modulation value with each note trigger.

The Smoothing Type toggle lets you choose between linear or logarithmic smoothing between
modulation values.

The Smoothing Rise and Fall sliders set the amount of time it takes for increasing and decreasing
modulation values to reach the most recent value, from 0 to 1000 milliseconds.

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30.3.3 Expression Control Legacy

The Expression Control Legacy Effect.

(Note: The Expression Control Legacy effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

Expression Control Legacy is a parameter modulation device that allows for a wide variety of internal
MIDI mappings. The MIDI controller’s Velocity, Modulation Wheel, Pitch Bend, Aftertouch and
Keytrack can each be mapped to one destination.

Activate a Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping target.

You can set independent modulation intensities for each mapping via the Min and Max sliders.

The Log and Lin switches toggle between logarithmic and linear shapes.

The Rise slider smooths the attack of the envelope, while the Fall slider smooths the release of the
envelope.

The Output displays show the output level for each mapping.

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30.3.4 MIDI Monitor

The MIDI Monitor Effect.

(Note: The MIDI Monitor effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

MIDI Monitor is a utility MIDI device that displays incoming MIDI and MPE data.

MIDI data can be viewed in either the Note display or Flow diagram.

In the Note display, incoming MIDI notes are shown along with their root note and related chords (if
played) on a keyboard layout. Note velocity is also shown.

The Flow diagram populates a list of incoming MIDI notes and data (such as pitch bend and
aftertouch messages) in a continuous stream as notes are played. The Freeze toggle can be used to
freeze or unfreeze the display, while the Clear button clears the entire display.

The Flow Diagram.

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MPE data can be viewed in the MPE display. Incoming note, velocity, slide, pressure and per-note
pitch data are shown in a continuous stream as notes are played.

The MPE Display.

30.3.5 MPE Control

The MPE Control Effect.

(Note: The MPE Control effect is not available in the Lite Edition.)

MPE Control is a Max for Live MIDI effect that allows shaping and transforming incoming MPE (MIDI
Polyphonic Expression) signals, and offers distinctive adjustment options for each MPE data source. It

718
is typically used in conjunction with another device to fine-tune the effect MPE data has on mapped
parameters. MPE Control also allows converting MPE signals to global MIDI, making it possible to
use an MPE controller with non-MPE enabled instruments.

Before we get into the details of how you can use the MPE Control effect to shape the incoming MPE
data, let’s have a look at the difference between MPE and standard MIDI messages. MPE enables
MIDI Control Change (or MIDI CC) messages to be sent on a per-note basis, thus allowing you to
articulate each note individually. Without MPE, those messages are sent globally, meaning that all
notes are affected by the MIDI CC being used. For more detailed information on MPE check out the
Editing MPE chapter.

While MPE already allows a lot more musical expression than standard MIDI data, MPE Control
gives you the ability to shape the MPE signals to a greater extent using curves, making it possible to
play even more expressively. Let’s say you are using the Expression Control device and mapped its
Slide MIDI input to the Filter Freq knob in Operator. Any incoming MPE slide data will affect the filter
frequency. You can then use MPE Control to fine-tune the signal further, so that only very high slide
values will reach a high frequency cutoff.

In MPE Control, the incoming MPE signals can be transformed via two types of curves that can be
smoothed for consistent rise and fall times. There are three signal sources available: Press (pressure),
Slide, as well as NotePB (per-note pitch bend), and each can be adjusted individually.

The curve of the selected MPE source is shown in the foreground of the display, making that curve and
its respective controls available for editing. By default, all MPE sources are switched on, but they can
be deactivated separately by clicking on the toggles next to their names.

For each MPE source, you can choose between two types of curve settings in the bottom left corner of
the display: linear or S-shaped. The linear curve has two breakpoints, while the S-shaped curve has
three breakpoints.

Choosing the linear setting lets you adjust the curve in two ways. You can use either the Curve control
knob or click and drag the curve directly in the display. In addition to adjusting the curve, you can
also modify the minimum and maximum values using the Min and Max sliders, or by dragging the
breakpoints at the ends of the curve.

The linear setting provides one curve, creating a smooth ramp for the chosen modulation source,
either “compressing” the data, making it easier to stay in the lower range of values, or “expanding” it,
making it easier to reach higher values with less input.

When choosing the S-shaped curve, a third breakpoint is added to the middle of the curve’s line,
separating the curve into two distinct segments. This breakpoint is movable, allowing complete control
over the crossover point between the two segments, giving you the possibility to create much more
radical curves. The two segments are linked together by default. Toggling the Curve Link button
separates the segments from each other, so that they can be individually compressed or expanded
using the two independent Curve dials.

Note that the position of the breakpoint separating the two segments can be adjusted either by
directly clicking and dragging the breakpoint, or by using the X-Y controls at the bottom of the display.
The X-Y controls are only active when using the S-shaped curve.

719
Clicking on the triangular button in the bottom right of the visualization will unfold the advanced
settings panel.

MPE Control’s Expanded View.

All of the three modulation sources include the Smooth toggle which enables smoothing for the
currently selected source. Specific Rise and Fall values for each of the curves can be set
independently via the respective controls, and additional controls are available depending on the
source you are editing.

30.3.5.1 Press

The Press source can be used to alter MPE pressure data, which, similarly to polyphonic aftertouch, is
sent on a per-note basis when pressure is applied to a controller’s key or pad after it was initially
struck.

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Press Advanced Settings.

Press includes a Default toggle, which gives you the option to set a default MPE value to use with
MIDI notes that do not contain MPE data. You can also choose to send the MPE pressure data to the
Slide instead of the Press source by using the Swap to Slide toggle. This is useful when, for example,
you want to adjust the modulation via the vertical axis, but are using a controller which only supports
polyphonic aftertouch.

The Press to AT setting converts the MPE pressure data to monophonic aftertouch, so that non-MPE
instruments can be modulated via an MPE controller.

30.3.5.2 Slide

The Slide source modifies MPE slide data (transmitted as MIDI CC 74), which corresponds to the
vertical position of the finger on the controller key or pad.

721
Slide Advanced Settings.

Slide also includes a Default toggle for use with non-MPE data, as well as a Centered switch which is
useful when playing pad-based MPE controllers. When Centered is switched on, MPE slide data is
transformed so that hitting the center of the pad generates a modulation value of zero, and the
modulation value increases progressively as the finger slides away from the center alongside the
vertical axis.

By default, Slide is set to Abs mode, which means that MPE slide values are interpreted as absolute.
Switching the mode to Rel (relative) will set the slide values to start in the middle of the range,
regardless of where the finger is on the key or pad. They can then only be modified by further
sweeping the finger up and down while holding a note. In the Ons (onset) mode, MPE slide values
will only be updated with a Note On. Note that onset mode will automatically deactivate smoothing.

The Slide to Mod option transforms MPE slide messages to Mod Wheel (CC1) messages, allowing to
modulate non-MPE enabled instruments with an MPE controller.

30.3.5.3 NotePB

The NotePB source modifies the MPE per-note pitch bend data, which is produced by horizontal
movement on the controller’s keys or pads. Pitch bend by definition only affects the pitch or pitches
being produced.

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NotePB Advanced Settings.

In the NotePB advanced settings, you can adjust the Pitch Range, which is useful in cases where the
hardware controller and the instrument’s pitch bend range do not match. For example, a setting of 2x
allows mapping an MPE controller with a +/- 48 semitone pitch bend range to an instrument whose
pitch bend range is +/- 24 semitones. If the Note Pitch Bend MIDI CC is mapped to anything other
than pitch, using higher values helps to cover a larger modulation range with a smaller movement.

When the NotePB to PB switch is switched on, MPE per-note pitch bend messages are translated to
standard MIDI messages, which makes it possible for MPE-enabled MIDI controllers to still send MIDI
information to instruments that do not receive MPE messages.

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30.3.6 Note Echo

The Note Echo Effect.

(Note: The Note Echo effect is not available in the Intro or Lite Editions.)

Note Echo is an echo delay effect that creates additional MIDI notes at specific time intervals with
decreasing velocity.

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.

Changing the Delay Time field percentage value shortens 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. To edit the delay time, click and drag the
Delay Time slider up or down, or click in the field and type in a value.

The Input switches lets you toggle between Thru/Mute playback modes. When Thru is active, both the
MIDI note and echo are played back. When Mute is active, the MIDI note is muted and only the echo
is audible.

Pitch sets the transposition amount applied to the note with each repeat of the echo.

Delay sets the amount of velocity applied to the echo. The Fback parameter defines how much of the
channel’s output signal feeds back into the delay line’s input.

Switching on the MPE toggle allows incoming MPE data to be echoed alongside MIDI notes and
velocity data. Otherwise, MPE data is filtered out.

724
With the MPE toggle switched on, the Press, Slide, and Note PB sliders become active and define the
feedback amount for the pressure, slide and per-note pitch bend data respectively. Setting the
feedback amount to lower than 100% will cause the echoed MPE data to progressively decay with
each repetition.

30.3.7 Shaper MIDI

The Shaper MIDI Effect.

(Note: The Shaper MIDI effect is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Like Shaper, Shaper MIDI uses multi-breakpoint envelopes to generate mappable modulation data.
Shaper MIDI can also be triggered dynamically using MIDI notes/velocity.

Activate the Map switch and click on a parameter in Live to assign that parameter as a mapping
target.

To assign an additional mapping target, click on the Multimap button at the top-right of the display.
You can select any of the unassigned Map switches and click on another parameter in Live to assign it
as a mapping target. A total of eight parameters can be assigned. To unassign a parameter, click on
the button to the right of its Map switch.

For each modulated parameter, the Min and Max sliders let you scale the resulting output range after
the modulation is applied.

You can create a breakpoint by clicking anywhere in the display. You can delete a breakpoint by
Shift -clicking on it. Hold down the Alt (Win) / Option (Mac) key while dragging to create

curved segments.

To clear the display, press the Clear button in the bottom left corner. To the right of the Clear button,
you can choose from one of six breakpoint presets and one random breakpoint generator.

You can adjust the size of the grid via the Grid slider. When Snap is enabled, all breakpoints that you
create or reposition will snap to grid lines.

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The smaller display on the top right provides an oscilloscope-style view of the output signal. The Jitter
slider adds randomness to the waveform, while the Smooth control smooths value changes.

The Rate control specifies the envelope modulation speed. The switches to the right of the Rate control
toggle between frequency in Hertz and tempo-synced beat divisions.

Depth sets the overall intensity of the envelope modulation. The velocity sensitivity of the modulation
depth can be adjusted using the Velocity control.

The Offset control takes over the value of the mapped parameter so that the envelope can modulate
that value.

Echo adjusts the amount of the envelope echo, while the Time control sets the echo time in
milliseconds.

Activating the Loop switch will loop the modulation envelope as long as a MIDI note is held.

30.4 Max for Live MIDI Tools

In addition to Live’s MIDI Tools, you can also access Max for Live MIDI Tools to transform and
generate notes in clips. Max for Live MIDI Tools are AMXD files that can be used in the Transform or
Generative Tools tab/panel in the Clip View. You can edit or create Max for Live MIDI Tools in a Max
patcher like any other Max device.

There are two built-in Max for Live MIDI Tools included with Live Standard and Suite: Velocity Shaper
and Euclidean. If you use the Suite edition or the Standard edition with the Max for Live add-on, you
can also edit and build your own Max for Live MIDI Tools or use Max for Live MIDI Tools from third-
party creators.

In order for third-party Max for Live MIDI Tools to show up in the Transform and Generative tabs/
panels in the Clip View, save them in these folders on your computer:

• Transformations: ~/Music/Ableton/User Library/MIDI Tools/Max Transformations

• Generators: ~/Music/Ableton/User Library/MIDI Tools/Max Generators

Alternatively, you can save the third-party MIDI Tools’ AMXD files in any folder within Places in Live’s
browser.

30.4.1 Velocity Shaper

(Note: The Velocity Shaper Transformation is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Velocity Shaper allows you to shape the velocities of selected notes using an adjustable envelope.

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The Velocity Shaper MIDI Tool.

The envelope shape in the display will influence how the velocities of the selected notes are
transformed. Click in the display to add more breakpoints to the envelope and drag them to adjust the
envelope shape.

You can use the Minimum and Maximum Velocity parameters on the right of the display to define the
velocity range for the transformed notes.

The Loop parameter below the display sets the number of times the envelope shape will be applied to
the note selection.

The Rotate control determines the number of steps the envelope shape is offset, relative to the start of
the note selection. The size of the step is determined by the Division parameter. For example, if Rotate
is set to 1 and Division is set to “Grid”, the envelope shape will be shifted to the right by one grid step.

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Notes Before and After Applying Velocity Shaper.

30.4.2 Euclidean

(Note: The Euclidean Generator is not available in the Lite or Intro Editions.)

Euclidean generates notes based on Euclidean rhythms for up to four voices at a time. New notes will
be generated within the time selection or, if there is no time selection, within the loop.

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The Euclidean MIDI Tool.

The Pattern tab contains a visual representation of how generated notes will be added to the clip. To
the right of the visualization, there are individual toggles that can be used for activating and
deactivating voices, as well as individual Rotation sliders for setting the offset of generated notes for
each voice, relative to the beginning of the time selection. In the middle of the pattern visualization,
there is a randomization button, which sets the Rotation sliders’ value for each voice at random.

You can click on Voices to select the Voices tab. Like in the Pattern tab, there are toggles to activate or
deactivate individual voices, as well as the option to set each voice to a specific pitch (when using
instrument devices) or drum pad (when using Drum Racks). Use the up and down arrows to the left of
the voice activation toggles to simultaneously change all the pitches or drum pads used to generate
notes. You can also set individual velocity values for the notes generated for each voice using the
Velocity sliders on the right.

Below the Pattern and Voices tabs, there are additional parameters that can be used to further define
the shape of the generated rhythmic pattern:

Steps — Determines the length of the generated pattern. If the pattern length is shorter than the length
of the time selection, the pattern will be repeated and potentially wrapped around the time selection.
Density — Determines the number of times the pattern is repeated within a time selection. If the pattern
doesn’t fit within the time selection, notes will be wrapped around the time selection. Division — Sets
the length of a step in the pattern.

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Notes Generated with the Euclidean MIDI Tool.

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31. 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 mapping 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.

31.1 MIDI Remote 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 1, Push 2, and Push 3.

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 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.

Before making any MIDI assignments, you will need to set up Live to recognize your control surfaces.
This is done in the Link, Tempo & MIDI tab of Live’s Settings, which can be opened with the Ctrl ,
(Win) / Cmd , (Mac) keyboard shortcut.

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31.1.1 Natively Supported Control Surfaces

Control Surfaces are defined via the menus in the Link, Tempo & MIDI tab. Up to six supported control
surfaces can be used simultaneously in Live.

Setting Up Control Surfaces.

Open the first chooser in the Control Surface column to see whether your control surface is supported
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.

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 Settings 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.

31.1.1.1 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.

Within Live’s built-in lessons, you will find a Control Surface Reference that lists all currently supported
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.

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 Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings 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.

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Control 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 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 Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings. By default, the instrument in a MIDI track will
automatically be locked to the control surface when the track is armed for recording.

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.

31.1.2 Manual Control Surface Setup

If your MIDI control surface is not listed in the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings’ Control Surface chooser, it
can still be enabled for manual mapping in the MIDI Ports section of this tab.

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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 corresponding switch in its Remote column is set to ”On.” 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 recommend
that you take the time to select a Takeover Mode before you leave the Settings 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.

31.1.3 Takeover Mode

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 moving a control for
the first time after switching the bank. Three takeover modes are available:

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None — As soon as the physical control is moved, its new value is sent immediately to its destination
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.

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.

31.2 The Mapping Browser

The Mapping Browser.

All manual MIDI, computer keyboard and Macro Control mappings 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 edited at any time, and can be quickly inverted with a context
menu command. Delete mappings using your computer’s Backspace (Win) or Delete (Mac) 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 option from the
Help menu and then opening the Control Surface Reference lesson.

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31.2.1 Assigning MIDI Remote Control

The MIDI Map Mode Switch.

Once your remote control setup has been defined in the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings, 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 (Win) / Cmd
Option 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.

31.2.2 Mapping to MIDI Notes

MIDI notes send simple Note On and Note Off messages to Live’s interface elements. These messages
can produce the following effects on controls in Live:

• Session View Slots — Note On and Note Off messages affect clips in the slot according to their
Launch Mode settings.
• Switches — A Note On message toggles the switch’s state.
• Radio Buttons — Note On messages toggle through the available options.
• Variable Parameters — When assigned to a single note, Note On messages toggle the
parameter 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.

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.

31.2.3 Mapping to Absolute MIDI Controllers

Absolute MIDI controllers send messages to Live in the form of absolute values ranging from 0 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

736
play a Session View clip. Specifically, MIDI controller messages from 0 to 127 can produce the
following effects on controls in Live:

• Session View Slots — Controller values 64 and above are treated like Note On messages.
Controller values 63 and below are treated like Note Off messages.
• 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 outside 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 available
options.
• Continuous Controls — The controller’s 0…127 value range is mapped onto the parameter’s
range of values.

Live also supports pitch bend messages and high-precision (”14-bit Absolute”) controller messages
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.

31.2.4 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 hardware 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, causing an abrupt jump in the track’s
panning. A pan knob sending relative messages would prevent this, since its incremental message to
Live would simply say, ”Pan slightly to the left of your current position.”

There are four types of relative controllers: Signed Bit, Signed Bit 2, Bin Offset and Twos Complement.

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:

• Session View Slots — Value increment messages are treated like Note On messages. Value
decrement messages are treated like Note Off messages.

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 • Switches — Increment messages turn the switch on. Decrement messages turn it off.
• Radio Buttons — Increment messages make the radio button jump forward to the next available
option. Decrement messages make it jump backward.
• 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 information
on relative MIDI controllers.

31.2.4.1 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, a strip of assignable controls appears below the
Session grid:

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 encoder — to
scroll through the scenes. For details, see the previous section on Relative Map Modes.
3. Assign this button to launch the highlighted scene. If the Record, Warp & Launch Settings’ Select
Next Scene on Launch option is checked, you can move successively (and hopefully
successfully!) through the scenes.
4. Assign this button to cancel the launch of a triggered scene.
5. 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
highlighted scene at the Session View’s center.

31.2.4.2 Mapping to Clip View Controls

The Clip View 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

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potentially affect any clip in the Live Set. For this reason, we recommend mapping Clip View controls
to relative MIDI controllers to prevent undesirable jumps in parameter values.

31.2.5 Computer Keyboard Remote Control

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. Remember that only the controls
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:

• Clips in Session View slots will be affected by mapped keys according to their Launch Mode
settings.
• Keys assigned to switches will toggle switch states.
• 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 computer
keyboard as a pseudo-MIDI keyboard that can generate MIDI notes from computer keystrokes for
use with instruments.

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32. Using Push 1
Ableton Push 1 is an instrument for song creation that provides hands-on control of melody and
harmony, beats, sounds, and song structure. In the studio, Push 1 allows you to quickly create clips
that populate Live’s Session View as you work entirely from the hardware. On stage, Push 1 serves as
a powerful instrument for clip launching.

Push 1’s controls are divided into a number of sections, as shown in the diagram below.

Overview of Push 1’s Controls.

Much of Push 1’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 1, this chapter will walk you through some of the
fundamental workflows, and then will provide a reference of all of Push 1’s controls.

There are also a number of videos that will help you get started with Push 1. These are available at
https://www.ableton.com/learn-push/

32.1 Setup
Setting up the Push 1 hardware is mostly automatic. As long as Live is running, Push 1 will be
automatically detected as soon as it is connected to a USB port on your computer. After connection,
Push 1 can be used immediately. It is not necessary to install drivers and Push 1 does not need to be
manually configured in Live’s Settings.

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32.2 Browsing and Loading Sounds
You can browse and load sounds directly from Push 1, without needing to use Live’s browser. This is
done in Push 1’s Browse Mode.

Press Push 1’s Browse button:

The Browse Button.

In Browse Mode, the display shows all of your available sounds and effects, as well as locations from
the Places section of Live’s browser. The display is divided into columns. The far left column shows
either the specific type of device being browsed or the Places label. Each column to the right shows
the next subfolder (if any exist). Use the In and Out buttons to shift the display to the right or left,
allowing you to browse deeper levels of subfolders or view a larger number of presets on the display.

In and Out Buttons.

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). Samples and presets from official Packs or Live’s Core Library will preview when selected in
the browser. To load a device preset, press the green button on the right. To load the default preset of
the selected device, press the green button on the left.

Loading Devices or Device Presets in Browse Mode.

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You can scroll quickly through folders and subfolders via the encoders. Holding Shift while pressing
the up or down buttons will move by a whole page.

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.
Pressing an amber load button will load the next entry in the list, allowing you to quickly try out
presets or devices.

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. When starting with an empty MIDI track, the display
shows all of your available sounds, instruments, drum kits, effects, and Max for Live device, as well as
VST and Audio Units plug-ins. Folders are only visible on Push 1 if they contain items that can be
loaded at any particular time. For example, the Samples label (as well as any of your own folders in
Places that only contain samples) won’t be visible unless you’re browsing from a single pad in a Drum
Rack.

32.3 Playing and Programming Beats

To create beats using Push 1, first make sure Note Mode is enabled.

The Note Mode Button.

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 1’s 8x8 pad grid can be configured in
a few different ways, depending on the state of the Note button. Pressing this button cycles between
three different modes.

32.3.1 Loop Selector

When the Loop Selector layout is enabled, the pads are divided into three sections, allowing you to
simultaneously play, step sequence and adjust the length of your clip.

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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, allowing
for real-time playing. The Drum Rack pad colors indicate the following:

• Bright yellow — this pad contains a sound.

• Dull yellow — this pad is empty.
• Green — this pad is currently-playing.
• Light Blue — this pad is selected.
• Dark blue — this pad is soloed.
• Orange— this pad is muted.

When working with Drum Racks that contain a larger number of pads, use Push 1’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.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the 16 Velocities layout. You can also lock
the alternate layout in place by holding Shift and pressing the Note button. To unlock the 16 Velocities
layout, press the Note button again.

Octave Up/Down Buttons.

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32.3.2 16 Velocities Mode

Press the Layout button to switch to the 16 Velocities layout. In this mode, the bottom right 16 pads
represent 16 different velocities for the selected Drum Rack pad. Tap one of the velocity pads to enter
steps at that velocity.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls. You can also lock
the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Note button. To unlock the loop
length pads, press the Note button again.

32.3.3 64-Pad Mode

In addition to the Loop Selector and 16 Velocities layouts, you can also use the entire 8x8 pad grid
for real-time drum playing. This is useful when working with very large drum kits, such as those created
by slicing. To toggle to 64-pad mode, press the Note Mode button a second time. Pressing Note
again will then toggle back to the Loop Selector layout, allowing you to quickly get back to step
sequencing. The pad colors in 64-pad mode are the same as those used in the three-section layout.

When moving back and forth between the three layouts, the 16 pads available for step sequencing
will not change automatically. You may still need to use the touch strip or Octave keys in order to see
the specific 16 pads you want.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls. You can also lock
the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Note button. To unlock the loop
length pads, press the Note button again.

32.3.4 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 individual
pad instead, tap that pad, then press the selection button below the pad’s name.

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Selecting an Individual Pad in a Drum Rack.

Now, entering Browse Mode again will allow you to load or replace the sound of only the selected
pad. Once in Browse Mode, tapping other pads will select them for browsing, allowing you to quickly
load or replace multiple sounds within the loaded Drum Rack.

32.3.4.1 Additional Pad Options

To copy a pad to a different location in your Drum Rack, hold the Duplicate button and press the pad
you’d like to copy. While continuing to hold Duplicate, press the pad where you’d like to paste the
copied pad. Note that this will replace the destination pad’s devices (and thus its sound) but will not
replace any existing notes already recorded for that pad.

32.3.5 Step Sequencing Beats

Tapping a pad also enables it for step sequencing. To select a pad without playing it, press and hold
the Select button while tapping a pad.

Select Button.

To record notes with the step sequencer, tap 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 tap 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.

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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. Tapping a step that already
has a note will delete that note. Press and hold the Mute button while tapping a step to deactivate it
without deleting it. Press and hold Solo button while tapping a pad to solo that sound.

Mute and Solo Buttons.

You can also adjust the velocity and micro-timing of individual notes, as described in the section on
step sequencing automation.

To delete all notes for a pad, press and hold Delete while tapping the pad. Note that this will only
delete notes that are within the current loop.

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Delete Button.

The pad colors in the step sequencer section indicate the following:

• Unlit — this step doesn’t contain a note.

• Blue — this step contains a note. Darker blues indicate higher velocities.
• Dull yellow — this step contains a note, but the note is muted.
• 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.

For detailed information about adjusting the loop length pads, see the section called Adjusting the
Loop Length.

32.3.6 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:

• If you want to record with a click track, press the Metronome button to enable Live’s built-in
click

747
Metronome Button.

• 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 overdub
mode, allowing you to record into the clip while it plays back. Subsequent presses continue to toggle
between playback and overdub.

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 other tracks to a new scene and continues
playing them back seamlessly. This behavior can be changed by changing the Workflow mode in
Push 1’s User Preferences.

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New Button.

32.3.7 Fixed Length Recording

Press the Fixed Length button to set the size of new clips to a predetermined length.

Fixed Length Button.

Press and hold Fixed Length to set the recording length.

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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.

Enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars of the clip,
depending on the Fixed Length setting.

32.4 Additional Recording Options

32.4.1 Recording with Repeat

With Push 1’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-hat patterns, for example.
Varying your finger pressure on the pad will change the volume of the repeated notes.

Repeat Button.

The repeat rate is set with the Scene/Grid buttons. Note that Push 1 “remembers” the Repeat button’s
state and setting for each track.

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.

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Swing Knob.

32.4.2 Quantizing

Pressing Push 1’s Quantize button will snap notes to the grid in the selected clip.

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.

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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 1.

When working with drums, press and hold Quantize and press a Drum Rack pad to quantize only that
drum’s notes in the current clip.

32.5 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.

Press and hold the Add Track button to select between Audio, MIDI and Return tracks.

Adding a track puts Push 1 into Browse mode, so you can immediately load an instrument. After
loading your instrument, make sure Note Mode is enabled.

Note that when pressing the Add Track button while a track within a Group Track is selected, any new
tracks will be inserted into that Group Track.

When working with a MIDI track containing an instrument, Push 1’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 bottom
left pad plays C1 (although you can change the octave with the Octave Up and Down buttons).
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:

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C Major Scale.

The pad colors help you to stay oriented as you play:

• Blue — this note is the root note of the key (e.g., C).
• 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).
• Red — the currently-playing note when recording.

To play triads, try out the following shape anywhere on the grid:

C Major Chord.

Holding the Note button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls, which appear in the
top row of pads. You can lock the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Note
button. To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

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32.5.1 Playing in Other Keys

Press Push 1’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:

By default, the pads and scale selection options indicate major scales. You can change to a variety of
other scale types using the first encoder, or the two buttons below the display on the far left. The
selected scale type is also marked with an arrow.

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.

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.

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Holding the Shift button while in Scales mode allows you to access a number of additional note
layout options.

Additional Note Layout Options.

The “4th” and “3rd “options refer to the note interval that the grid is based on, while the ^ and >
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 >” option is also built on 4ths, but
now moves to the right rather than upwards; each column is a 4th higher than the column 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.

The last settings that you chose in the Scale options (key, scale type, In Key/Chromatic, and Fixed Y/
N) are saved with the Set. Push 1 will return to these settings when the Set is reloaded again.

All of the real-time recording options available for drums are also available for melodies and
harmonies, including fixed length recording, recording with repeat, and quantizing. But for detailed
editing, you’ll work with the melodic step sequencer described in the next section.

One editing possibility is available in the real-time Note Mode: to quickly delete all notes of the same
pitch within the current loop, press and hold Delete and then tap the respective pad.

32.6 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies

In addition to playing and recording in real time, you can also step sequence your melodies and
harmonies. To toggle to the Melodic Sequencer, press the Note Mode button a second time. This will
set the 8x8 pad grid as follows:

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The Pad Grid When Step Sequencing Pitches.

When using the Melodic Sequencer, all eight rows of pads allow you to place notes in the clip. You
can adjust the loop length and access additional step sequencing pages via the loop length pads. The
loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the top row while holding the Note button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the Note button. Note
that Push 1 remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track. To unlock the loop length pads,
press the Note button again.

With In Key selected, each row corresponds to one of the available pitches in the currently selected
scale. With Chromatic selected, notes that are in the key are lit, while notes that are not in the key are
unlit. The light blue row (which is the bottom row by default) indicates the root of the selected key.
Each column of pads represents a step in the resolution set by the Scene/Grid buttons.

As with the real-time playing layout, pressing the Octave Up and Down button shifts the range of
available notes. You can also use the touch strip to change the range. Hold the Shift key while
adjusting the touch strip or pressing the Octave buttons to fine tune the pitch range. After adjusting the
pitch range or when switching between the real-time and step sequencing layouts, the display will
briefly show the available range.

The Display Shows the Range of Available Notes.

Additionally, brightly-lit touch strip lights indicate the currently available note range, while dimly-lit
touch strip lights indicate that the clip contains notes within the corresponding note range.

Pressing Note again will toggle to the Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes layout.

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In addition to adding and removing notes, you can also adjust the velocity and micro-timing of the
notes, as described in the section on step sequencing automation.

32.6.1 Adjusting the Loop Length

The loop length controls allow you to set the length of the clip’s loop and determine which part of it
you can see and edit in the melodic and drum step sequencers. Each loop length pad corresponds to
a page of steps, and the length of a page depends on the step resolution. When working with drums
at the default 16th note resolution, two pages of steps are available at a time, for a total of two bars.
In the Melodic Sequencer layout, one page of eight steps is available at a time, for a total of two
beats. To change the loop length, hold one pad and then tap another pad or, to set the loop length to
exactly one page, quickly double-tap the corresponding pad.

Each Loop Length Pad Corresponds to One Page.

Note that the page you see is not necessarily the page you hear. When you set the loop length, the
pages will update so that the current play position (as indicated by the moving green pad in the step
sequencer section) always remains visible. But in some cases, you may want to disable this auto-
follow behavior. For example, you may want to edit a single page of a longer loop, while still
allowing the loop to play for the length you set. To do this, single-tap the pad that corresponds to that
page. This will “lock” the view to that page without changing the loop length. To then turn auto-follow
back on, simply reselect the current loop. Note that single-tapping a page that is outside of the current
loop will immediately set the loop to that page.

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The pad colors in the loop length section indicate the following:

• Unlit — this page is outside of the loop.

• White — this page is within the loop, but is not currently visible in the step sequencer section.
• Dull yellow — this page is visible in the step sequencer section, but is not currently playing.
• Green — this is the currently playing page.

If you need to access the loop length pads frequently, you can lock them in place. To do this, hold
Shift and tap the Note button. Note that Push 1 remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track.
To unlock the loop length pads, press the Note button again.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length pad for the page
you want to duplicate, and press the loop length pad for the destination page. Note that this will not
remove existing notes in the destination page, but will add copied notes on top. To remove notes first,
hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

32.7 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes

The Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes layout combines both step sequencing and real-time playing
capabilities. Providing access to multiple octaves and steps on a single page, this layout is ideal for
figuring out chords and harmonies to sequence. It is also well suited to longer phrases.

32.7.1 32 Notes

The bottom half of the pad grid lets you play notes in real-time, and select them for step sequencing.
Each pad corresponds to one of the available pitches in the currently selected scale. Pressing a pad
will select and play the note. Selected notes are represented by a lighter version of the track’s color.

To select a pad without triggering it, press and hold the Select button while tapping a pad.

The pad colors indicate the following:

• Blue — this note is the root note of the scale.

• Blue-Green — this pad is selected.
• Green — this pad is currently playing.
• White — this note is in the scale, but is not the root.

Pressing the Octave Up or Down button shifts the range of available notes. Holding the Shift key while
adjusting the touch strip shifts the range by octaves. You can hold the Shift key while pressing the
Octave buttons to shift by one note in the scale. The display will briefly show the available range as
you adjust it.

As with the 64 Notes layout, the notes in the bottom half of the pad grid can be adjusted via the Scale
menu.

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32.7.2 Sequencer

Tapping a step in the top half of the pad grid adds all selected notes to that step. Steps containing
notes are displayed in a blue color.

Holding a step lets you view notes contained within the step, which are indicated in the bottom half of
the pad grid by a blue-green color. Tapping any of these selected notes will remove it from the step.

Holding multiple steps will add selected notes to all those steps. While holding Duplicate, you can
press a step to copy the notes in that step and then press another step to paste them to a new location
in the step sequencer. Note that this will not remove existing notes in the destination page, but will add
copied notes on top. To remove notes first, hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

The pad colors in the step sequencer indicate the following:

• Blue — this step contains a note.

• Green — this step is currently playing.
• White — this step is selected.
• Dull Yellow — this step contains a note, but the note is muted.
• Gray — this pad is empty.
• Light Red — the right two columns of pads will be unlit 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 working with the sequencer at the default 16th note resolution, two pages of steps are
available at a time, for a total of two bars. You can adjust the loop length and access additional step
sequencing pages via the loop length pads. The loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the
fifth row while holding the Note button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the Note button. Note
that Push 1 remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track. To unlock the loop length pads,
press the Note button again.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length pad for the page
you want to duplicate, and press the loop length pad for the destination page. Note that this will not
remove existing notes in the destination page, but will add copied notes on top. To remove notes first,
hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

32.8 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.

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Arrow Keys.

The Left/Right Arrows move between tracks. Note that selecting a MIDI track on Push 1 automatically
arms it, so it can be played immediately. In Live, track Arm buttons will appear pink to indicate that
they have been armed via selection.

Pink Track Arm Button.

The specific behavior of the Up/Down Arrows is determined by the Workflow mode, which is set in
Push 1’s User Preferences. In both modes, the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene.
In Scene Workflow, the selected 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.

32.9 Controlling Live’s Instruments and Effects

Pressing the Device button puts Push 1 in Device Mode, which allows Push 1’s encoders to control
parameters in Live’s devices.

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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.

Use these buttons to access:

• Additional banks of parameters (for effects that have more than one bank of parameters).
• Additional device chains within Racks that contain more than one chain.

32.10 Mixing with Push 1

To control volumes, pans, or sends with the encoders for up to eight tracks simultaneously, press the
corresponding button on Push 1. Hold Shift while adjusting the encoders for fine-tune control.

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Volume and Pan & Send Buttons.

In Volume Mode, the encoders control track volume.

Pressing the Pan & Send button repeatedly will cycle between controlling pans and however many
sends are available in your Live Set.

Press Push 1’s Track button to enable Track Mode.

Track Button.

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 Main track.

Press and hold a Group Track’s Selection Control button to unfold or fold the track.

Note that when Split Stereo Pan Mode is active while in Pan & Send Mode, the display will show the
current pan value, but the pan dial will be disabled. In Track Mode, the display will show either the
pan control or stereo pan sliders, depending on the active pan mode.

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32.11 Recording Automation
Changes that you make to device and mixer parameters can be recorded to your clips as automation,
so that the sound will change over time as the clip plays. To record automation, press Push 1’s
Automation button.

Automation Button.

This toggles Live’s Session Automation Arm button, allowing you to record changes you make to Push
1’s encoders as part of the clip. When you’re done recording parameter changes, 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. If automation
hasn’t been recorded for a parameter, holding Delete and touching an encoder will reset the
corresponding parameter to its default value.

Automated parameters are shown with a rectangle next to the parameter name in the display.
Parameters that you have overridden (by manually adjusting the parameter while not recording) will
show their value in brackets.

Automated and/or Overridden Parameters are Indicated in the Display.

To reenable all automation that you have manually overridden press and hold Shift and press the
Automation button.

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32.12 Step Sequencing Automation
In both the drum and melodic step sequencers, it’s possible to automate parameters for the selected
step.

The parameters that are available will change depending on the display mode you are currently in, as
explained in the following sections.

32.12.1 Note-Specific Parameters

When working in any sequencing layout in Clip Mode, you can adjust note settings for each step. To
access these settings, simply press and hold a step. The display will switch the controls to the step’s
note settings.

Hold a Step to Adjust Note and Automation Parameters.

You can then adjust the corresponding encoders in order to:

• Nudge notes backwards or forwards in time. The value represents the percentage that the note
is offset from the previous grid line. Negative values indicate that the note occurs before the
grid line.
• Adjust the coarse Length of the selected notes.
• Fine-tune the length adjustment of the selected notes
• Change the Velocity of the selected notes.

You can also adjust these note-specific parameters for multiple steps at the same time. To do this, press
and hold all of the pads you’d like to adjust, and then tweak the encoders. The display will show the
range of values for the selected steps.

With Multiple Steps Selected, the Display Shows the Range of Parameter Values.

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You can also create notes with your desired Nudge, Length, and Velocity values by holding an empty
step and then tweaking any of these encoders.

When working with drums, you can adjust nudge, length, and velocity for every note played by a
particular pad by pressing and holding the Select button, pressing the pad, and then adjusting the
encoders.

Hold Select and Press a Drum Pad to Tweak All Notes Played by that Pad.

In both the drum and melodic step sequencers, you can copy a step (including all of its note-specific
parameters) and paste it to another step. To do this, hold Duplicate and tap the step you’d like to
copy. Then tap the destination step and release Duplicate.

32.12.2 Per-Step Automation

When in Device Mode or Volume Mode, hold one or more steps in order to create and edit device or
mixer automation for only the selected step(s). While holding a step and tweaking an encoder, the
corresponding parameter’s automation value will be adjusted specifically for the time represented by
that step. Note that per-step automation can be created for any step, even if that step doesn’t contain
notes.

32.13 Controlling Live’s Session View

Press Push 1’s Session button to switch from Note Mode to Session Mode. You can 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.

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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:

• The color of all non-playing clips in your Live Set is reflected on the pads.
• Playing clips pulse green to white.
• 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 1 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 1’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.

• Pressing Up or Down moves you up or down one scene at a time. Hold the Shift button while
hitting Up or Down to move eight scenes up or down. You can also use the Octave Up and
Down buttons to move by eight scenes at a time.
• The Left and Right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time. Hold the Shift button
while hitting Left or Right to move eight tracks at a time.

32.13.1 Session Overview

Push 1’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 overview 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:

• Amber: indicates the currently selected block of clips, which will be surrounded by the colored
border in the software.
• Green: there are clips playing in that block of clips (though that may not be the block of clips
selected).

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 • Red: there are no clips playing in that range.
• No color: there are no tracks or scenes in that range.

32.14 Setting User Preferences

Press and hold the User button to adjust the sensitivity of Push 1’s velocity response, aftertouch, and
other settings.

User Button

User Settings

Pad Threshold sets the softest playing force that will trigger notes. More force is required at higher
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.

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Diagram of Push 1’s Velocity Curves.

The Workflow option determines how Push 1 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 navigated in
scenes. In Clip Workflow, you’re working with only the currently selected clip.

In Scene Workflow:

• 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.
• 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 track.
• 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:

• Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in the next clip slot, while continuing
playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks. Hold Shift while pressing Duplicate to
create a new scene containing all of the currently playing clips.
• New prepares an empty clip slot on the currently selected track. Clips in other tracks are not
affected.

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 • the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene. Playback of the currently selected
track’s clip in the new scene begins seamlessly. Clips in other tracks are not affected.

Aftertouch Threshold sets the lowest incoming aftertouch value (from 0-127) that Push will register.
Input values below this level will be ignored, while input values above this level will be scaled across
the entire aftertouch range. For example, if you set the Aftertouch Threshold to 120 and play with an
aftertouch value of 119, nothing will happen. But input values between 120 and 127 will be scaled to
output a value from 0 to 127, as follows:

120 -> 0
121 -> 18
122 -> 36
123 -> 54
124 -> 72
125 -> 90
126 -> 108
127 -> 127

32.15 Push 1 Control Reference

The function of each section and control is explained below.

32.15.0.1 Focus/Navigation Section

Focus/Navigation Section.

Note Mode — When selected, the Pad Section changes its functionality based on the type of track
that is currently selected:

• MIDI track containing an instrument — the pads plays notes. Pressing Note additional times
toggles between real-time playing and melodic step sequencing.

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 • 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 upper four
rows control the step sequencer. Press Note again to toggle to 64-pad mode, allowing you to
play drums across the entire 8x8 pad grid.

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 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.

32.15.0.2 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.
To add a MIDI Effect, first select the instrument in a track. Then hold Shift while pressing Add Effect.

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, i.e., Audio, MIDI, or Return. If the Add Track button is
pressed while a track within a Group Track is selected, any new tracks will be inserted into that Group
Track.

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32.15.0.3 Note Section

Note Section.

These buttons adjust how notes are played on Push 1.

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.

• 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.
• 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.
• Scale selection: Select the base scale with the up/down buttons on the lefthand side.

User — All of Push 1’s built-in functionality can be disabled via User Mode. This allows Push 1 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. Push 1’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.

Repeat — When Repeat 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 (whether step sequenced or played in real-
time) are played at full velocity. Press and hold Accent to temporarily enable it.

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.

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32.15.0.4 State Control Section

State Control Section.

When working with tracks, the leftmost eight buttons will either stop clips or mute or solo the
corresponding 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, e.g., scale selection.

To stop all clips, press and hold Shift, and then press Stop.

32.15.0.5 Selection Control Section

Selection Control 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 parameter banks for devices with more than eight
parameters. In Browse Mode, the In and Out buttons shift the display to the right or left, allowing you
to browse deeper levels of subfolders or view a larger number of presets on the display.

32.15.0.6 Display/Encoder Section

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 Main track, or the Pre-Cue volume if Shift is held. Holding
Shift while adjusting any of the first eight encoders allows you to fine-tune whichever parameter is
currently being controlled by that encoder. Note that you can temporarily toggle to a different editing
mode by pressing and holding the corresponding button. Releasing the button will then return to the
previous mode.

Volume Mode.

772
In Volume Mode, the encoders control volume of the eight selected tracks.

Pan & Send Mode.

In Pan & Send Mode, press once to control pans. Subsequent presses cycle through sends.

Track Mode.

In Track Mode, the encoders control track volume, pan and the first six sends of the selected track.
Select which clip track to control via the eight Selection Control buttons. Press the Master button to
select the Main track.

In Clip Mode, the encoders control various parameters for the selected clip. The parameters depend
on the type of clip selected:

Clip Mode With a MIDI Clip Selected.

• Loop Start (or Clip Start if Loop is off)

• Position
• Loop Length (or Clip End if Loop is off)
• Loop On/Off

Clip Mode With an Audio Clip Selected.

• Loop Start (or Clip Start if Loop is off)

• Position
• Loop Length (or Clip End if Loop is off)
• Loop On/Off
• Warp Mode
• Detune
• Transpose
• Gain

773
Device — The encoders control parameters for the selected device.

Browse — The encoders scroll through the available devices and presets.

32.15.0.7 Tempo Section

Tempo Section.

Tap Tempo — As you press once every beat, the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping. If the
“Start Playback with Tap Tempo” button is enabled in Live’s Record, Warp & Launch Settings, 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.

The right encoder sets the amount of swing applied when Quantizing, Record Quantizing or when
Repeat is pressed.

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32.15.0.8 Edit Section

Edit Section.

Undo — Undoes the last action. Press and hold Shift while pressing Undo to Redo. Note that Push 1’s
Undo button applies Live’s Undo functionality, so it will undo actions in your Live Set even if they were
done without using Push 1.

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 1’s Selection Control
buttons to delete. Hold Delete and touch an encoder to delete automation controlled by that encoder.
If automation has not been recorded for a particular parameter, holding Delete and touching the
corresponding encoder will reset that parameter to its default value.

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.

775
32.15.0.9 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.
Enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars 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 — In Scene Workflow, Duplicate creates a new scene containing all of the currently playing
clips. In Clip Workflow, Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in the next clip slot,
while continuing playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks. Hold Duplicate while pressing
a Drum Rack pad to copy the pad and paste it to a new location in the Drum Rack.

New — Pressing New stops the selected clip and prepares Live to record new material. This allows
you to practice before making a new recording. On armed MIDI tracks, holding Record while
pressing New triggers Capture MIDI.

776
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.

Play/Stop — Toggles the play button in Live’s transport bar. Hold Shift while pressing Play/Stop to
return Live’s transport to 1.1.1 without starting playback.

32.15.0.10 Touch Strip

Touch Strip.

When an instrument track is selected, the touch strip adjusts pitch bend or modulation wheel amount
when playing in real-time, or the available range of notes when step sequencing. When a Drum Rack
track is selected, the touch strip selects the Drum Rack bank.

Pitch bend is selected by default when an instrument track is selected. To change the functionality of
the touch strip, hold Select and tap the strip. This toggles between pitch bend and mod wheel
functionality each time you tap it. The display will briefly show the current mode each time you change
it. Note that pitch bend and modulation wheel functionality is only available when playing instruments
in real time, and not when using the melodic step sequencers.

777
32.15.0.11 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 on, the Pad Section changes its functionality based on the type of track that is currently selected:

• MIDI track containing an instrument — the pads plays notes. Pressing Note additional times
toggles between real-time playing and melodic step sequencing.
• 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 upper four
rows control the step sequencer. Press Note again to toggle to 64-pad mode, allowing you to
play drums across the entire 8x8 pad grid.

778
32.15.0.12 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. Hold the Select
button while pressing a Scene button to select the scene without launching it. When Note Mode is
selected, the Scene/Grid Section determines the rhythmic resolution of the step sequencer grid and
the rhythmic resolution of repeated notes when Repeat is enabled.

32.15.0.13 Footswitches

Two ports on the back of Push 1 allow you to connect momentary footswitches. Footswitch 1 acts as a
sustain pedal. Footswitch 2 gives you hands-free control of Push 1’s recording functionality. A single
tap of the footswitch will toggle the Record button, thus switching between recording/overdubbing
and playback of the current clip. Quickly double-tapping the footswitch is the same as pressing the
New button.

Note that certain footswitches may behave “backwards”; for example, notes may 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.

779
33. Using Push 2
Ableton Push 2 is an instrument for song creation that provides hands-on control of melody and
harmony, beats, samples, sounds, and song structure. In the studio, Push 2 allows you to quickly
create clips that populate Live’s Session View as you work entirely from the hardware. On stage, Push
2 serves as a powerful instrument for real-time playing, step sequencing, and clip launching.

Overview of Push 2’s Controls.

Much of Push 2’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 2, this chapter will walk you through some of the
fundamental workflows, and then will provide a reference of all of Push 2’s controls.

There are also a number of videos that will help you get started with Push 2. These are available at
https://www.ableton.com/learn-push/

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33.1 Setup
After plugging in the included power supply and connecting the USB cable to your computer, turn
Push 2 on via the power button in the back. From here, setting up the Push 2 hardware is mostly
automatic. As long as Live is running, Push 2 will be automatically detected as soon as it is connected
to a USB port on your computer. After connection, Push 2 can be used almost immediately. It is not
necessary to install drivers and Push 2 does not need to be manually configured in Live’s Settings.

From time to time, Ableton will release firmware updates for Push 2 that will be included in updates to
Live. When using Push 2 for the first time after installing a new version of Live, you may be prompted
to update the firmware. Push 2 will walk you through this process.

33.2 Browsing and Loading Sounds

You can browse and load sounds directly from Push 2, without needing to use Live’s browser. This is
done in Push 2’s Browse Mode.

Press Push 2’s Browse button:

The Browse Button.

The display is divided into columns. When you first enter Browse Mode, the far left column shows
either the specific category of device being browsed or the Collections label, which lets you access
tagged browser items quickly. Each column to the right shows the next subfolder (if any exist) or the
contents of the current folder. You can scroll through presets and folders using the eight encoders
above the display, or navigate through them one at a time via the arrow buttons.

781
Arrow Buttons.

The display will expand automatically as you navigate. You can load Live’s “default” devices from the
top level of the browser’s hierarchy, and can quickly move up or down in the hierarchy via the
rightmost two upper display buttons.

Navigate Up and Down in the Browser Hierarchy.

By default, samples and presets from official Packs or Live’s Core Library will preview when selected in
the browser. You can toggle preview on or off via the Preview button.

Preview Button.

To adjust the previewing volume, hold the Shift button while turning the Master volume encoder.

782
Shift Button.

Master Volume Encoder.

To load the selected item, press the Load button.

Loading Items in Browse Mode.

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. When starting with an empty MIDI track, the display
shows all of your available sounds, instruments, drum kits, effects, and Max for Live devices, as well as
VST and Audio Unit plug-ins.

783
33.3 Playing and Programming Beats
To create beats using Push 2, first make sure Note Mode is enabled

The Note Mode Button.

Then use Browse Mode to navigate to the Drums section of the browser and load one of the Drum
Rack presets from Live’s library.

When working with a MIDI track containing a Drum Rack, Push 2’s 8x8 pad grid can be configured in
a few different ways, depending on the state of the Layout button. Pressing this button cycles between
three different modes.

The Layout Button

33.3.1 Loop Selector

When the Loop Selector layout is enabled, the pads are divided into three sections, allowing you to
simultaneously play, step sequence and adjust the length of your clip.

784
The Pad Grid with the Loop Selector Layout

The 16 Drum Rack pads are laid out, like Live’s Drum Rack, in the classic 4x4 arrangement, allowing
for real-time playing. Controls in the display and the pads in the Drum Rack match the color of the
track, with subtle variations that help you understand what’s happening. The Drum Rack pad colors
indicate the following:

• The track’s color — this pad contains a sound.

• Lighter version of the track’s color — this pad is empty.
• Green — this pad is currently-playing.
• White — this pad is selected.
• Dark blue — this pad is soloed.
• Gray— this pad is muted.

When working with Drum Racks that contain a larger number of pads, use Push 2’s touch strip or the
Octave Up and Octave Down buttons to move up/down by 16 pads. Hold Shift while using the
touch strip or Octave buttons to move by single rows.

Octave Up/Down Buttons.

785
Holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to the 16 Velocities layout. You can also lock
the alternate layout in place by holding Shift and pressing the Layout button. To unlock the 16
Velocities layout, press the Layout button again.

33.3.2 16 Velocities Mode

Press the Layout button to switch to the 16 Velocities layout. In this mode, the bottom right 16 pads
represent 16 different velocities for the selected Drum Rack pad. Tap one of the velocity pads to enter
steps at that velocity.

The Pad Grid with the 16 Velocities Layout

Holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls. You can also lock
the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Layout button. To unlock the loop
length pads, press the Layout button again.

33.3.3 64-Pad Mode

You can also use the entire 8x8 pad grid for real-time drum playing. This is useful when working with
very large drum kits, such as those created by slicing. To switch to 64-pad mode, press the Layout
button again.

When moving between 64-pad mode and the Loop Selector or 16 Velocities layouts, the 16 pads
available for step sequencing will not change automatically. You may still need to use the touch strip
or Octave keys in order to see the specific 16 pads you want.

Holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls. You can also lock
the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Layout button. To unlock the loop
length pads, press the Layout button again.

786
33.3.4 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, make sure you’re in Device Mode by pressing
the Device button. This will show the devices on the track.

Device Button.

By default, the Drum Rack is selected. To select an individual pad instead, tap that pad, then press the
second upper display button. The square icon next to the name represents a pad.

Selecting an Individual Pad in a Drum Rack.

Now, entering Browse Mode again will allow you to load or replace the sound of only the selected
pad. The selected pad will flash. Once in Browse Mode, tapping other pads will select them for
browsing, allowing you to quickly load or replace multiple sounds within the loaded Drum Rack.

After loading the selected item, the Load button’s name will change to Load Next. Pressing this button
again will load the next entry in the list, allowing you to quickly try out presets or samples in the
context of your song. You can also load the previous entry in the list via the Load Previous button.

Particularly in a performance situation, you may want to select a pad without triggering it. To do this,
press and hold the Select button while tapping a drum pad or one of the 16 Velocity pads.

787
Select Button.

You can also select without triggering by pressing the lower display button for the Drum Rack’s track.
This will expand the Drum Rack and allow the individual pads to be selected via the other lower
display buttons. You can navigate to the previous or next pad via the left and right arrow keys.

Press the Drum Rack’s Lower Display Button to Access Individual Pads.

33.3.4.1 Additional Pad Options

To copy a pad to a different location in your Drum Rack, hold the Duplicate button and press the pad
you’d like to copy.

788
Duplicate Button.

While continuing to hold Duplicate, press the pad where you’d like to paste the copied pad. Note that
this will replace the destination pad’s devices (and thus its sound) but will not replace any existing
notes already recorded for that pad.

When a single pad is selected, you can adjust its choke group assignment via the first encoder or
transpose the pad via the second encoder.

Assign a Pad to a Choke Group or Transpose the Pad.

When working with drums, Push 2’s pads can be colored individually. To change a pad’s color, hold
Shift and tap the pad. Then tap one of the pads on the outer ring to choose that color for the selected
pad.

Your custom pad colors will be saved and reloaded with your Live Set, but will not be visible within
Live. They only appear on Push 2.

789
Choose a Color for a Drum Pad.

33.3.5 Step Sequencing Beats

Tapping a pad selects it and also enables it for step sequencing.

To record notes with the step sequencer, tap 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 tap a step. By default, each
step sequencer pad corresponds to a 16th note, but you can change the step size via the Scene/Grid
buttons.

790
Scene/Grid Buttons.

Adjust the tempo using the Tempo encoder. Each click of the encoder will adjust the tempo in
increments of one BPM. Holding Shift while adjusting will set the tempo in increments of .1 BPM.

Adjust the Tempo with the Tempo Encoder.

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. Tapping a step that already
has a note will delete that note. Press and hold the Mute button while tapping a step to deactivate it
without deleting it. Press and hold the Solo button while tapping a pad to solo that sound.

791
Mute and Solo Buttons.

You can also adjust the velocity and micro-timing of individual notes, as described in the section on
step sequencing automation.

To delete the entire pattern, press the Delete button. To delete all notes for a single pad, press and
hold Delete while tapping that pad. Holding Delete while pressing a pad that has no notes recorded
in the current pattern deletes all of the devices from that pad.

Delete Button.

The pad colors in the step sequencer section indicate the following:

• Gray — this step doesn’t contain a note.

• The clip’s color — this step contains a note. Higher velocities are indicated by brighter pads.
• Lighter version of the clip’s color — this step contains a note, but the note is muted.
• Unlit — the right two columns of pads will be unlit 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.

792
When Triplets are Selected, the Unlit Steps are Unavailable.

For detailed information about adjusting the loop length pads, see the section called Adjusting the
Loop Length.

33.3.6 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:

• If you want to record with a click track, press the Metronome button to enable Live’s built-in
click. You can adjust the metronome volume by holding the Shift button while adjusting the
Master volume encoder. As with all of the buttons on Push 2 that turn something on or off, when
the metronome is on, its button light will pulse.

Metronome Button.

• Then Press the Record button to begin recording.

793
Record Button.

If you’ve enabled a recording count-in in Live, you’ll see a countdown bar move across the top of
Push 2’s display and flash in tempo. This can serve as a helpful visual reference for when to begin
playing.

Count-In Bar in Push 2’s Display

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 overdub
mode, allowing you to record into the clip while it plays back. Subsequent presses continue to toggle
between playback and overdub. During playback, a small progress bar will appear in the display to
show the playback position of each playing clip.

The pads are velocity sensitive, but if you want to temporarily override the velocity sensitivity, press the
Accent button. When Accent is enabled, all played or step-sequenced notes will be at full velocity
(127), regardless of how hard you actually tap the pads.

Enable Accent to Play or Record at Full Velocity.

If you press and release Accent quickly, the button will stay on. If you press and hold, the button will
turn off when released, allowing for momentary control of accented notes.

794
In 16 Velocities mode, you can tap one of the 16 velocity pads to record the selected sound at that
velocity. Note that Accent overrides this behavior.

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 other tracks to a new scene and continues
playing them back seamlessly. This behavior can be changed by changing the Workflow mode in
Push 2’s Setup menu.

New Button.

33.3.7 Fixed Length Recording

Press the Fixed Length button to set the size of new clips to a predetermined length.

Fixed Length Button.

Press and hold Fixed Length to set the recording length.

Fixed Length Recording Options.

795
When Fixed Length is disabled, new clips will continue to record until you press the Record, New or
Play/Stop buttons.

By default, starting a recording with Fixed Length enabled will create an empty clip of the selected
length, and then begin recording from the beginning of the clip, in accordance with Live’s global
launch quantization. If Phrase Sync is enabled, Push 2 treats the chosen length as a musical phrase,
and will begin recording from the position in the clip that corresponds to that position within a phrase
of that length. For example, with a fixed length of 4 bars and Phrase Sync on, starting a recording
when Live’s global transport is at bar 7 will create an empty four bar clip and begin recording at the
third bar of that clip.

Enabling Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars of the clip,
depending on the Fixed Length setting.

33.4 Additional Recording Options

33.4.1 Recording with Repeat

With Push 2’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-hat patterns, for example.
Varying your finger pressure on the pad will change the volume of the repeated notes.

Repeat Button.

The repeat rate is set with the Scene/Grid buttons. Note that Push 2 “remembers” the Repeat button’s
state and setting for each track. 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.

796
Swing Knob.

33.4.2 Quantizing

Pressing Push 2’s Quantize button will snap notes to the grid in the selected clip.

Quantize Button.

Press and hold Quantize to change the quantization options:

Quantization Options.

797
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 by pressing the corresponding upper display button to automatically
quantize notes during recording. Adjust the record quantization value with Encoder 5. Note that if
Record Quantize is enabled and Swing is turned up, the automatically quantized notes will not have
swing applied.

When working with drums, press and hold Quantize and press a Drum Rack pad to quantize only that
drum’s notes in the current clip.

33.4.3 Arrangement Recording

When Live’s Arrangement View is in focus in the software, pressing Record will toggle Arrangement
Recording on and off. While Arrangement Recording is on, all of your actions on Push 2 are recorded
into the Arrangement View.

You can also trigger Arrangement Recording while Live’s Session View is in focus by holding Shift and
pressing Record. Note that this behavior is reversed when the Arrangement is in focus; holding Shift
and pressing Record will then toggle Session recording.

33.5 Playing Melodies and Harmonies

After working on a beat, you’ll want to create other elements such as a bassline, harmony parts, etc. If
you already have additional tracks in your Set, you can switch between them using the lower display
buttons or the left and right arrow keys.

Switch Between Tracks with the Lower Display Buttons.

Or you can add a new track by pressing the Add Track button.

798
Add Track Button.

Adding a track puts Push 2 into Browse mode, allowing you to select which type of track you’d like to
add (MIDI, Audio, or Return) and optionally load a device to the new track at the same time.

Choose a Track Type and Optionally Load A Device.

Note that when pressing the Add Track button while a track within a Group Track is selected, any new
tracks will be inserted into that Group Track.

After creating a track, you can change its color. To do this, hold Shift and press the lower display
button for the track. Then tap one of the pads on the outer ring to choose that color for the selected
track.

When working with a MIDI track containing an instrument, Push 2’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 bottom
left pad plays C1 (although you can change the octave with the Octave Up and Down buttons).
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:

799
C Major Scale.

The pad colors help you to stay oriented as you play:

• The track’s color — this note is the root note of the key (e.g., C).
• 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).
• Red — the currently-playing note when recording.

To play triads, try out the following shape anywhere on the grid:

C Major Chord.

Holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to the loop length controls. You can also lock
the loop length controls in place by holding Shift and pressing the Layout button. To unlock the loop
length pads, press the Layout button again.

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33.5.1 Playing in Other Keys

Press Push 2’s Scale button to change the selected key and/or scale.

Scale Button.

Using the upper and lower display buttons, you can change the key played by the pad grid. The
currently selected key appears in white, while the other key options appear in gray:

By default, the pads and scale selection options indicate major scales. You can change to a variety of
other scale types using encoders 2 through 7. The selected scale type is highlighted.

Key, Scale, and Layout Options.

In addition to changing the key, you can also change the arrangement of the grid in a number of
ways:

The Layout (Encoder 1) and Direction (Encoder 8) controls work together to determine the orientation
of the pad grid. The default settings are a Layout of “4ths” and a Direction of “Vert.” In this
configuration, each pad is a 4th higher than the pad directly below it. Changing the Layout to “3rds“
means that each pad is now a 3rd higher than the pad directly below it. The “Sequent” layout puts all
notes sequentially in order. This layout is useful if you need a very large range of notes available,
because it has no duplicated notes.

Changing the Direction control to “Horiz.” rotates the pad grid 90 degrees. For example, with a
Layout of “4ths,” each pad is a 4th higher than the pad to its left.

801
Fixed Off/On: The lower right display button toggles Fixed on or off. When Fixed 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.

In Key/Chromatic: The lower left display button toggles between In Key and 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.

Scale options are saved with the Set, and Push 2 will return to these settings when the Set is loaded
again. If you have particular key and scale settings that you like to use all the time, you can save them
in your Default Set. Any new Set created after this will have those settings in place when working with
Push 2.

All of the real-time recording options available for drums are also available for melodies and
harmonies, including the Accent button, fixed length recording, recording with repeat, and quantizing.
But for detailed editing, you’ll work with the Melodic Sequencer described in the next section.

One editing possibility is available in the real-time Note Mode: to quickly delete all notes of the same
pitch within the current loop, press and hold Delete and then tap the respective pad.

33.6 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies

In addition to playing and recording in real time, you can also step sequence your melodies and
harmonies. To toggle to the Melodic Sequencer, press the Layout button. This will set the 8x8 pad grid
as follows:

802
The Pad Grid When Step Sequencing Pitches.

When using the Melodic Sequencer, all eight rows of pads allow you to place notes in the clip. You
can adjust the loop length and access additional step sequencing pages via the loop length pads. The
loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the top row while holding the Layout button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the Layout button. Note
that Push remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track. To unlock the loop length pads, press
the Layout button again.

With In Key selected, each row corresponds to one of the available pitches in the currently selected
scale. With Chromatic selected, notes that are in the key are lit, while notes that are not in the key are
unlit. The white row (which is the bottom row by default) indicates the root of the selected key. Each
column of pads represents a step in the resolution set by the Scene/Grid buttons.

As with the real-time playing layout, pressing the Octave Up or Down button shifts the range of
available notes. You can also use the touch strip to change the range. Hold the Shift key while
adjusting the touch strip to shift the range by octaves. Hold the shift key while pressing the Octave
buttons to shift by one note in the scale. The display will briefly show the available range as you adjust
it.

Additionally, brightly-lit touch strip lights indicate the currently available note range, while dimly-lit
touch strip lights indicate that the clip contains notes within the corresponding note range.

Pressing Layout again will toggle to the Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes layout.

In addition to adding and removing notes, you can also adjust the velocity and micro-timing of the
notes, as described in the section on step sequencing automation.

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33.6.1 Adjusting the Loop Length

The loop length controls allow you to set the length of the clip’s loop and determine which part of it
you can see and edit in the melodic and drum step sequencers. Each loop length pad corresponds to
a page of steps, and the length of a page depends on the step resolution. When working with drums
at the default 16th note resolution, two pages of steps are available at a time, for a total of two bars.
In the Melodic Sequencer layout, one page of eight steps is available at a time, for a total of two
beats. To change the loop length, hold one pad and then tap another pad, or, to set the loop length to
exactly one page, quickly double-tap the corresponding pad.

Each Loop Length Pad Corresponds to One Page.

Note that the page you see is not necessarily the page you hear. When you set the loop length, the
pages will update so that the current play position (as indicated by the moving green pad in the step
sequencer section) always remains visible. But in some cases, you may want to disable this auto-
follow behavior. For example, you may want to edit a single page of a longer loop, while still
allowing the loop to play for the length you set. To do this, single-tap the pad that corresponds to that
page. This will “lock” the view to that page without changing the loop length. You can also navigate
to the previous or next page by pressing the Page Left/Right buttons.

The Page Left/Right Buttons.

804
To then turn auto-follow back on, simply reselect the current loop. Note that single-tapping a page
that is outside of the current loop will immediately set the loop to that page. You can also turn auto-
follow back on by holding either one of the Page Left/Right buttons.

The pad colors in the loop length section indicate the following:

• Unlit — this page is outside of the loop.

• Gray — this page is within the loop, but is not currently visible in the step sequencer section.
• White — this page is visible in the step sequencer section, but is not currently playing.
• Green — this is the currently playing page.
• Red — this is the currently recording page.

If you need to access the loop length pads frequently, you can lock them in place. To do this, hold
Shift and tap the Layout button. Note that Push remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track.
To unlock the loop length pads, press the Layout button again. You can also navigate to the previous
or next page by pressing the Page Left/Right buttons.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length pad for the page
you want to duplicate, and then press the loop length pad for the destination page. Note that this will
not remove existing notes in the destination page, but will add copied notes on top. To remove notes
first, hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

33.7 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes

The Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes layout combines both step sequencing and real-time playing
capabilities. Providing access to multiple octaves and steps on a single page, this layout is ideal for
figuring out chords and harmonies to sequence. It is also well suited to longer phrases.

The Pad Grid with the Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes Layout.

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33.7.1 32 Notes

The bottom half of the pad grid lets you play notes in real-time, and select them for step sequencing.
Each pad corresponds to one of the available pitches in the currently selected scale. Pressing a pad
will select and play the note. Selected notes are represented by a lighter version of the track’s color.

To select a pad without triggering it, press and hold the Select button while tapping a pad.

The pad colors indicate the following:

• The track’s color — this note is the root note of the scale.
• Lighter version of the track’s color — this pad is selected.
• Green — this pad is currently playing.
• White — this note is in the scale, but is not the root.

Pressing the Octave Up or Down button shifts the range of available notes. Holding the Shift key while
adjusting the touch strip shifts the range by octaves. You can hold the Shift key while pressing the
Octave buttons to shift by one note in the scale. The display will briefly show the available range as
you adjust it.

As with the 64 Notes layout, the notes in the bottom half of the pad grid can be adjusted via the Scale
menu.

33.7.2 Sequencer

Tapping a step in the top half of the pad grid adds all selected notes to that step. Steps containing
notes are lit in the color of the clip.

Holding a step lets you view notes contained within the step, which are indicated in the bottom half of
the pad grid by the lighter version of the track’s color. Tapping any of these selected notes will remove
it from the step.

Holding multiple steps will add selected notes to all those steps. While holding Duplicate, you can
press a step to copy the notes in that step and then press another step to paste them to a new location
in the step sequencer.

The pad colors in the step sequencer indicate the following:

• The clip’s color — this step contains a note.

• Green — this step is currently playing.
• White — this step is selected.
• Light gray — this step contains a note, but the note is muted.
• Gray — this pad is empty.
• Unlit — the right two columns of pads will be unlit 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.

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Loop Length Pads in the Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes Layout.

You can adjust the loop length and access additional step sequencing pages via the loop length
pads. The loop length pads can be momentarily accessed in the fifth row while holding the Layout
button.

The Layout Button.

You can also lock the loop length pads in place. To do this, hold Shift and tap the Layout button. Note
that Push remembers this locked/unlocked state for each track. To unlock the loop length pads, press
the Layout button again. You can also navigate to the previous or next page by pressing the Page
Left/Right buttons.

The Page Left/Right Buttons.

To duplicate the contents of a sequencer page, hold Duplicate, press the loop length pad for the page
you want to duplicate, and then press the loop length pad for the destination page. Note that this will

807
not remove existing notes in the destination page, but will add copied notes on top. To remove notes
first, hold Delete and tap the loop length pad for that page.

33.8 Working with Samples

Push 2 allows you to play samples from the pads in a variety of ways, with detailed but easy-to-use
control over sample parameters directly from the encoders and display. The instrument that powers
Push 2’s sample playback functionality is Simpler, and we recommend reading the detailed Simpler
chapter to learn more about its functionality.

To start working with a sample, you can either add a new MIDI track or press Browse to enter Browse
Mode on an existing MIDI track. Although you can load an empty Simpler to a track, it isn’t playable
until it contains a sample. Push 2’s display will inform you that your Simpler is empty and suggest
browsing for a sample:

Press Browse to Load a Sample in an Empty Simpler.

After loading a sample and switching to Device View, you will see the sample’s waveform in Push 2’s
display, along with a number of parameters that allow you to quickly adjust how the sample plays
back. This is the main bank of Simpler’s controls.

Simpler’s Main Parameter Bank in the Display.

By default, Simpler will automatically set certain parameters based on the length of the loaded
sample. For example, short samples will play once when triggered, while long samples will be set to
loop and warp. Warped samples will play back at the tempo of your Set, regardless of which note
you play. Bringing a warped clip into Simpler from an audio track, the browser, or your desktop
preserves any warp settings and markers that were in the original clip. For more information about
warping, see the Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping chapter.

The most important parameter that determines how Simpler will treat samples is the Mode control,
which is used to choose one of Simpler’s three playback modes.

808
Simpler’s Mode Parameter.

• Classic Playback Mode is the default mode when using Simpler, and is optimized for creating
“conventional” melodic and harmonic instruments using pitched samples. It features a complete
ADSR envelope and supports looping, allowing for samples to sustain as long as a note is held
down. Classic Mode is polyphonic by default, and the pad grid uses the same layout in this
mode as is used when playing other pitched instruments.
• One-Shot Playback Mode is exclusively for monophonic playback, and is optimized for use
with one-shot drum hits or short sampled phrases. This mode has simplified envelope controls
and does not support looping. By default, the entire sample will play back when a note is
triggered, regardless of how long the note is held. The pad grid in One-Shot Mode also uses
the melodic layout.
• Slicing Playback Mode non-destructively slices the sample so that the individual slices can be
played back from the pads. You can create and move slices manually, or choose from a
number of different options for how Simpler will automatically create slices. This mode is ideal
for working with rhythmic drum breaks.

33.8.1 Classic Playback Mode

Simpler’s Main Bank in Classic Mode.

In Classic Mode, the various sample position controls change which portion of the sample you play
back. For example, if you load a drum break that contains silence at the beginning, you can start
playback from after the silence. The Start control sets the absolute position in the sample from which
playback could start, while the End control sets where playback could end; these parameters define
the region of the sample that can be worked with. S Start and S Length are represented in
percentages of the total sample length enabled by Start and End. For example, hitting a pad after
setting an S Start value of 50% and S Length value of 25% will play back the third quarter (50-75%)
of the region between the Start and End values. S Loop Length determines how much of the available
sample (also determined by the Start and End values) will loop. Note that this parameter is only active
if Loop is enabled.

Adjust the Zoom encoder to zoom into a portion of the waveform. The display shows a representation
of the whole sample, as well as the currently active region. Turning the Zoom encoder clockwise
zooms in. The specific portion of the sample that you zoom to is determined by the last-touched
sample position control, e.g., Start, End, S Start, S Length.

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Pressing Simpler’s upper display button will enter Edit Mode. When in Edit Mode, the lower display
buttons select additional pages of parameters and the upper display buttons toggle certain settings on
or off. Pressing Simpler’s upper display button again will exit Edit Mode.

Additional Parameters Available in Edit Mode.

Pressing the Loop On/Off button determines whether or not the sample will loop when a pad is held
down. The Warp as… button adjusts the warping of the sample between the Start and End values so
that it will play back precisely within the specified number of bars. Live makes its best guess about
what this value should be based on the length of the sample, but if it gets it wrong, you can use the ÷2
or ×2 buttons to double or halve the playback speed, respectively.

Crop removes the portions of the sample that are outside of the Start and End points, while Reverse
plays the entire sample backwards. Note that both Crop and Reverse are non-destructive; they create
a copy of the sample and apply the process to the copy, so your original sample is not changed.

33.8.2 One-Shot Mode

Simpler’s Main Bank in One-Shot Mode With Additional Edit Mode Controls.

In One-Shot Mode, the Zoom, Start, and End controls function the same as in Classic Mode, as do the
Warp as…, ÷2, ×2, Crop, and Reverse buttons.

810
With Trigger enabled, the sample will continue playing even after the pad is released; the amount of
time you hold the pad has no effect when Trigger is on. You can shape the volume of the sample using
the Fade In and Fade Out encoders. Fade In determines how long it takes the sample to reach its
maximum volume after a pad is hit, while Fade Out begins a fade out the specified amount of time
before the end of the sample region. To stop a one-shot sample immediately, hold Shift while pressing
the Play/Stop button.

With Gate enabled, the sample will begin fading out as soon as you release the pad. The Fade Out
time determines how long it will take to fade to silence after release.

The Transpose encoder allows you to transpose the sample up or down by up to 48 semitones (four
octaves). Note that when transposing, the timbre of the sample may change dramatically depending
on which Warp Mode you’ve selected. The Gain encoder sets the overall volume of the Simpler
instrument.

33.8.2.1 Legato Playback

Classic and One-Shot Modes provide a unique way of repitching a sample on the fly, without
changing its playback position. This is essentially a playable version of Legato Mode in clips. To
enable this functionality:

1. In Edit Mode, press the second lower display button to view the Global parameter bank.
2. Set the Glide Mode parameter to Glide.
3. Set the Voices parameter to 1. Note that this parameter is only available in Classic Mode. In
One-Shot Mode, playback is always monophonic.

Now, as you play the pads legato, the sample will transpose without changing playback position. For
best results, make sure Warp is on (in the Warp parameter bank). The Complex Pro Warp Mode tends
to sound best when transposing, but experiment with the various Warp Modes to see which one works
best for your particular sample.

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33.8.3 Slicing Mode

Simpler’s Main Bank in Slicing Mode With Additional Edit Mode Controls.

In Slicing Mode, the Zoom, Start, and End controls function the same as in Classic and One-Shot
Modes, as do the Warp as…, ÷2, ×2, and Reverse buttons.

The Slice By chooser determines the specific way in which slices will be created:

• Transient - Slices are placed on the sample’s transients automatically. The Sensitivity encoder
determines how sensitive Simpler is to transient levels within the sample, and thus how many
slices will be automatically created. Higher numbers result in more slices, up to a maximum of
64 slices.
• Beat - Slices are placed at musical beat divisions. The Division encoder selects the beat division
at which Simpler will slice the sample region.
• Region - Slices are placed at equal time divisions. The Regions encoder selects the number of
evenly-spaced slices that will be created.
• Manual - When Manual is selected, no slices are placed automatically. Instead, slices are
created manually by enabling Pad Slicing and tapping empty pads as the sample plays back.
To create manual slices:

1. Tap a pad that contains a slice to begin playback from that slice.
2. When the sample reaches the point at which you would like to create an additional slice (a
drum hit, for example), tap any empty pad.
3. A slice will be placed at this point and it will be assigned to a pad. Any pads that were already
assigned after this point will be shifted “upward” on the pad grid.
4. Once the loop is sliced as you like it, turn Pad Slicing off.

In all slicing modes, slices are laid out from left to right in groups of four starting from the bottom left
pad. Each additional four slices are placed on the next four pads up. After the left half of the pad grid
is used, slices are placed along the bottom row on the right side of the pad grid, again moving
upwards in groups of four.

812
Up to 64 Slices Can Be Created.

By default, the pad grid uses the 64-pad drum layout when in Slicing Mode. Pressing the Layout
button cycles between 64-pad, Loop Selector, and 16 Velocities modes.

The Playback encoder determines how many slices can be triggered simultaneously. Mono is
monophonic; only one pad can be played or sequenced at a time. When set to Poly, multiple pads
can be triggered together. When set to Through, playback is monophonic, but triggering one slice will
continue playback through the rest of the sample region.

The Trigger/Gate switch is the same concept as in One-Shot Playback Mode, but what you actually
hear depends on which Playback mode is selected.

Nudge allows you to adjust the position of each slice marker. This is especially useful for fine-tuning
slices that you’ve created in Manual mode. For greater nudging accuracy, tap the pad you’d like to
adjust and use the Zoom encoder to get a closer look. Hold Shift while adjusting Nudge for extremely
small adjustments.

Split Slice creates a new slice in the middle of the currently selected slice. This is also useful in Manual
mode, in conjunction with Nudge, for fine-tuning slices created via Pad Slicing.

To delete a slice (either manually or automatically created), hold Delete and tap the corresponding
pad.

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33.9 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. You can move directly to a new track using the lower display buttons or move sequentially to
the previous or next track using the left and right arrow buttons.

Arrow Buttons.

Note that selecting a MIDI track on Push 2 automatically arms it, so it can be played immediately. In
Live, track Arm buttons will appear pink to indicate that they have been armed via selection.

Pink Track Arm Button.

You can also manually arm any track by holding the lower display button for that track, or by holding
the Record button and pressing the track’s lower display button.

This is useful if, for example, you want to use Push 2 to record audio clips. In Live, a manually armed
track’s track Arm button will appear red. On Push 2’s display, manually armed tracks appear with a
special icon.

814
Icon for a Manually Armed Track.

The specific behavior of the Up/Down Arrows is determined by the Workflow mode, which is set in
Push 2’s Setup menu. In both modes, the Up/Down Arrows move up or down by a single scene. In
Scene Workflow, the selected 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.

33.10 Working With Instruments and Effects

Pressing the Device button puts Push 2 in Device Mode, which allows you to use the encoders to
control parameters in Live’s devices and third-party plug-ins.

Device Button.

In Device Mode, the upper display buttons select devices in the currently selected track, enabling their
parameters for editing. The currently selected device is highlighted in the display.

815
Device Mode Settings.

Once a device is selected, pressing its upper display button again will enter Edit Mode. When in Edit
Mode, the lower display buttons select additional pages of parameters for the selected device.

Device Parameter Pages in Edit Mode.

When in Edit Mode, pressing the leftmost upper display button will take you back up to the Device
Mode’s top level.

Press the Leftmost Upper Display Button to Exit Edit Mode.

Certain devices, such as Live’s Operator instrument, have more than eight pages of parameters. When
working with these devices in Edit Mode, the rightmost lower display button will show an arrow. Press
this button to scroll to the additional pages and then press the leftmost lower display button to get
back.

816
Scroll to Additional Pages of Parameters.

33.10.1 Adding, Deleting, and Reordering Devices

To load additional devices such as MIDI or audio effects to a track, press the Add Device button. This
will open the Browser and display all device types that can be loaded to the current track.

Add Device Button.

You can also load an instrument via the Add Device button, but be aware that this works just like
Browse Mode: You will replace the instrument that’s already on the track.

As with Browse Mode, use the encoders or arrow keys to navigate between devices in the browser,
and the Load button to load the selected device or preset. Devices will load to the right of the
previously-selected device, although note that MIDI effects will always be placed before the
instrument in the track and audio effects will always be placed after it.

To delete a device, hold the Delete button and press the upper display button that corresponds to the
device.

Deleting a Device.

To disable a device (without deleting it), hold the Mute button and press the upper display button that
corresponds to the device. Disabled devices (and all of their parameters) appear gray in the display.

817
To re-enable a disabled device, hold Mute and again press the upper display button that corresponds
to the device.

Holding the Mute button for a few moments will lock it on. You can then release Mute and toggle
devices on and off just by pressing the corresponding upper display button. Press Mute again to
unlock it.

To move a MIDI or audio effect to a different position in the track’s chain of devices, press and hold
the upper display button that corresponds to the effect. Then use any of the eight encoders to scroll the
device to the new position and release the upper display button.

33.10.2 Working with Racks

Instrument, Drum, and Effect Racks allow for multiple chains of devices to be contained within a single
device. On Push 2’s display, Racks have special icons that distinguish them from regular devices.

A MIDI Effect Rack, an Instrument Rack, and an Audio Effect Rack.

A Drum Rack.

To open a Rack, select it using the corresponding upper display button. Then press this button again.
The Rack will unfold, revealing the devices in the currently selected chain. An unfolded Rack appears
in the display with an underline that extends to the end of the enclosed devices. Each press of a
selected Rack’s upper display button will toggle it open or closed. Note that Drum Racks cannot be
folded or unfolded directly from Push 2. They will appear in Push 2’s display as folded or unfolded
depending on how they were set within Live.

818
Expand a Rack to Access Its Devices.

When the Rack itself is selected, the eight encoders control the Rack’s Macro Controls. Once a Rack is
open, you can select one of its contained devices by pressing the relevant upper display button. After
selecting a different device, the encoders will then control its parameters instead.

The Encoders Adjust Parameters for the Selected Device.

To access the devices on additional chains within a multi-chain Rack, press and hold the Rack’s upper
display button. The Rack’s chains will be shown at the bottom of the display and can be selected via
the corresponding lower display buttons.

819
Selecting a Chain Within a Rack.

33.11 Track Control And Mixing

To control volumes, pans, or sends with the encoders, press the Mix button.

Mix Button.

Each press of the Mix button toggles between Track Mix Mode and Global Mix Mode. In Track Mix
Mode, the first two upper display buttons select between mix parameters for the selected track and
input and output routing options for that track. The lower display buttons are used to select the track.
With Mix selected, the encoders adjust volume, pan, and send levels for the currently selected track.

820
The Mix Controls in Track Mix Mode.

Hold Shift while adjusting the encoders for fine-tune control.

If your Set contains more than six return tracks, the two rightmost upper display buttons will change to
arrows, which allow you to shift the available parameters left or right.

Scroll to View Additional Sends.

With Input & Output selected, all of the track’s routing and monitoring options can be adjusted from
the encoders.

The Input and Output Settings in Track Mix Mode.

In Global Mix Mode, the encoders adjust either volumes, pans, or send levels for the eight visible
tracks. Select which parameter will be controlled via the upper display buttons.

821
Controlling the Pans for Eight Tracks.

If your Set contains more than six return tracks, the rightmost upper display button will change to an
arrow, which allows you to shift the available sends to the right. Volumes and Pans will always remain
visible.

If your Set contains more than eight tracks, the left and right arrow keys allow you to shift the visible
tracks left or right.

Press the Master button to select the Main track. Press Master again to return to the previously
selected track.

The Main Track Button.

Note that when Split Stereo Pan Mode is active while in Global Mix Mode, the display will show the
current pan value, but the pan dial will be disabled. In Track Mix Mode, the display will show either
the pan control or stereo pan sliders, depending on the active pan mode.

33.11.1 Rack and Group Track Mixing

On Push 2’s display, Group Tracks and tracks that contain Instrument or Drum Racks have special
icons that distinguish them.

822
A Group Track and Tracks Containing an Instrument Rack and a Drum Rack.

These types of tracks can be unfolded, allowing you to use the Mix Modes to control the tracks and
chains within them. To unfold one of these tracks, select it using the corresponding lower display
button. Then press this button again. The Group Track or Rack will unfold, revealing the enclosed
tracks or chains. An unfolded track appears in the display with an underline that extends to the end of
the enclosed tracks or chains. Each press of a selected track’s lower display button will toggle it open
or closed.

Expand a Group Track or Track Containing a Rack to Mix its Contents.

Use the left and right arrow keys to access additional chains or tracks that may have been pushed off
the display after unfolding. When working with an unfolded Drum Rack, hold Select and tap a pad to
jump to that pad in the mixer. This can make it easier to mix with a large Drum Rack.

33.12 Recording Automation

Changes that you make to device and mixer parameters can be recorded to your clips as automation,
so that the sound will change over time as the clip plays. To record automation, press Push 2’s
Automation button so that it turns red.

823
Automation Button.

This toggles Live’s Session Automation Arm button, allowing you to record changes you make to Push
2’s encoders as part of the clip. When you’re done recording parameter changes, 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. If automation
hasn’t been recorded for a parameter, holding Delete and touching an encoder will reset the
corresponding parameter to its default value.

Automated parameters are shown with a white dot next to the parameter in the display. Parameters
that you have overridden (by manually adjusting the parameter while not recording) will show a gray
dot.

Automated and/or Overridden Parameters are Indicated in the Display.

To re-enable all automation that you have manually overridden press and hold Shift and press the
Automation button.

33.13 Step Sequencing Automation

In both the drum and melodic step sequencers, it’s possible to automate parameters for the selected
step.

The parameters that are available will change depending on the display mode you are currently in.

When in Clip Mode, hold one or more steps to access note-specific parameters.

When in Device Mode or Mix Mode, hold one or more steps in order to create and edit device or
mixer automation for only the selected step(s). While holding a step and tweaking an encoder, the
corresponding parameter’s automation value will be adjusted specifically for the time represented by

824
that step. Note that per-step automation can be created for any step, even if that step doesn’t contain
notes.

33.14 Clip Mode

Press the Clip button to enter Clip Mode, where you can adjust various parameters for the selected
clip.

Clip Button.

When working with an audio track, if no clip is selected, Push will prompt you to load a sample.

Loading a Sample into an Empty Clip Slot in an Audio Track.

The display colors reflect the color of the clip, and the clip’s name is highlighted in the upper-left
corner. Some of the adjustable parameters change depending on the type of clip selected.

In MIDI tracks containing Drum Racks, notes are displayed in their respective pad color. In all MIDI
tracks, the velocity of each note is indicated by its opacity.

825
Clip Mode With a MIDI Clip Selected.

When a clip is playing on the selected track, the display follows the clip’s song position and scrolls
automatically.

For both MIDI and audio clips, the second upper display button toggles Loop on or off. With Loop on,
you can set the Loop Position, which is where within the clip the loop will begin. Loop Length sets how
many bars and/or beats long the loop is, as measured from the loop position. Start Offset allows you
to begin playback at a different point within the loop, rather than at the loop’s start position. If the
Loop Position and Start Offset are at the same position, moving the Loop Position will result in the Start
Offset moving along with it. With Loop off, you can control the Start and End position. This is the
region that will play (once) when the clip is launched.

Hold Shift while adjusting any of these controls to adjust by 16th-note subdivisions.

You can Zoom in or out of the sample with the first encoder. The position you’ll zoom to is centered
around the last position encoder you touched, e.g., Start, Length, Loop.

Clip Mode With an Audio Clip Selected.

When working with an audio clip, you can also set the clip’s Warp Mode, gain, and transposition.
Hold Shift while adjusting Transpose to adjust in cents rather than in whole semitones. Note that this
also adjusts the Detune parameter in Live’s Clip View.

826
33.14.1 Using MIDI Tracks in Clip Mode

When working with MIDI tracks in Clip Mode, you can view and refine played or sequenced MIDI
from Push 2.

The display will change depending on the currently selected pad layout.

In addition to the Zoom, Start, End, and Loop controls available in Clip Mode, all pad layouts provide
an additional Crop control, which lets you delete material that falls outside the selected loop.

33.14.2 Real-Time Playing Layouts

When recording your real-time playing using the 64 Notes, 64 Pads or 64 Slices layouts, Clip
Mode’s display lets you see the incoming MIDI notes, and the view adjusts so that all existing notes fit
on the display at the same time. Note that this “folded” display is also shown in Session Mode.

Clip Mode’s Folded Display.

33.14.3 Sequencing Layouts

In the melodic and drum step sequencer layouts, a semi-transparent white box on the display
indicates the sequenceable area. This represents the area on the pads where you can add, delete or
adjust notes.

Clip Mode’s Sequenceable Area.

Each sequenceable area corresponds to one page of steps. A box on the far left side of the display
indicates which pitch range the sequenceable area is in.

As notes are added, lines will appear on the far left side of the display. These lines indicate which
pitch ranges contain notes. You can use these indicator lines to find and edit notes quickly, without
looking at your computer screen.

Pitch ranges with a higher density of notes are represented by thicker lines.

827
Pitch Range and Note Indicators in Clip Mode.

33.14.3.1 Melodic Sequencer

The Melodic Sequencer layout has a range of eight notes on each page. The sequenceable area can
be moved horizontally via the loop length pads or Page Left/Right buttons, or vertically via the
Octave Up/Down buttons or touch strip.

33.14.3.2 Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes

In this layout, the display will adjust to fit all notes in the clip. When a note(s) that exist in the clip is
selected, their sequenceable area will be highlighted on the display. This makes it quicker to locate
and edit steps containing the selected note(s). The sequenceable area can be moved horizontally via
the Page Left/Right buttons or the loop length pads, which can be accessed momentarily in the fifth
row by holding the Layout button.

Loop Length Pads in the Melodic Sequencer + 32 Notes Layout.

Drums/Slicing Loop Selector and 16 Velocities

The Loop Selector and 16 Velocities layouts show the selected pad only. The sequenceable area can
be moved horizontally via the loop length pads or Page Left/Right buttons, or vertically by selecting a
different pad.

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33.14.4 Note-Specific Parameters

When working in any sequencing layout in Clip Mode, you can adjust note settings for each step. To
access these settings, simply press and hold a step. The display will zoom to the page containing that
step, and switch the controls to the step’s note settings. Notes contained within the selected step will
be highlighted.

Hold a Step to Zoom its Page and Access Clip Mode’s Note Parameters.

You can then adjust the corresponding encoders in order to:

• Nudge notes backwards or forwards in time. The value represents the percentage that the note
is offset from the previous grid line. Negative values indicate that the note occurs before the
grid line.
• Adjust the coarse Length of the selected notes.
• Fine tune the length adjustment of the selected notes.
• Change the Velocity of the selected notes.

You can also adjust these note-specific parameters for multiple steps at the same time. To do this, press
and hold all of the pads you’d like to adjust, and then tweak the encoders. The display will show the
range of values for the selected steps.

You can also create notes with your desired Nudge, Length, and Velocity values by holding an empty
step and then tweaking any of these encoders.

When working with drums, you can adjust nudge, length, and velocity for every note played by a
particular pad by pressing and holding the Select button, pressing the pad, and then adjusting the
encoders.

33.15 Controlling Live’s Session View

Press Push 2’s Session button to switch from Note Mode to Session Mode. You can 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.

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Session Button.

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:

• The color of all playing or stopped clips is reflected on the pads.

• Playing clips pulse in their color.
• Recording clips pulse between red and the clip’s color.

Clip colors can be changed when in Session Mode. To do this, hold Shift and press a pad that
contains a clip. Then tap one of the pads on the outer ring to choose that color for the selected clip.

Pressing the Mute or Solo buttons will mute or solo the currently selected track, respectively. Hold
Mute or Solo and press any track’s lower display button to mute or solo that track. Holding the Mute
or Solo button for a few moments will lock it on. You can then release the button and toggle tracks on
and off just by pressing the corresponding lower display buttons. Press Mute or Solo again to unlock
it.

Pressing the Stop Clip button will stop the playing clip in the currently selected track. Hold Stop Clip
and press any track’s lower display button to stop the playing clip in that track.

Mute, Solo, and Stop Clip Buttons.

Holding the Stop Clip button for a few moments will lock it on. You can then release Stop Clip and
stop clips just by pressing the lower display button for the track you would like to stop. While Stop
Clip is locked on, the lower display buttons will pulse for any tracks that contain a currently playing
clip. Press Stop Clip again to unlock it.

To stop all clips, press and hold Shift, and then press Stop Clip.

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Push 2 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 2’s pad grid are shown
in Live with a colored border.

Hold the Duplicate button and press a clip to copy it. Continue holding Duplicate and tap another clip
slot to paste the clip there.

The arrows and Shift button increase the scope of the eight-by-eight grid.

• Pressing the up or down arrows moves you up or down one scene at a time. Pressing the
Octave Up or Down buttons moves eight scenes up or down.
• The left and right arrow keys move you left or right one track at a time. The Page left and right
buttons move eight tracks at a time.

While working in Session Mode when the focus is on Clip Mode, the display is “folded”, which means
all notes within a clip will fit on the display at any given time. Being able to see all notes within a clip
allows you to quickly identify it before launching it. To select a clip without launching it, press and hold
the Select button while tapping the pad containing that clip.

While recording MIDI from an external source (such as a MIDI sequencer or MIDI keyboard), the
folded display lets you see all incoming notes.

When in Session Mode, holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to the Session
Overview, which is explained in more detail below.

33.15.1 Session Overview

Push 2’s Session Overview lets you navigate through large Live Sets quickly without looking at your
computer screen.

Holding the Layout button gives you momentary access to Session Overview, where the pad grid
zooms out to reveal an overview of your Session View. You can also lock the Session Overview in
place by holding Shift and pressing the Layout button. To unlock the Session Overview, press the
Layout button again.

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, pressing the pad in row three, column one will put the focus on scenes 17-24 and tracks
1-8. Furthermore, 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:

• White: indicates the currently selected block of clips, which will be surrounded by the colored
border in the software.
• Green: there are clips playing in that block of clips (though that may not be the block of clips
selected).
• No color: there are no tracks or scenes in that range.

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33.16 Setup Menu
Press the Setup button to adjust brightness, the sensitivity of Push 2’s velocity response, and other
settings.

Setup Button.

Setup Options.

When Pad Sensitivity is turned up, it takes less force to trigger a higher velocity. A Pad Sensitivity of 10
results in higher output levels at any given input velocity, while a setting of 0 results in lower output
levels at the same velocity. The default (and recommended) setting is 5.

Pad Gain boosts or cuts the overall velocity curve. Higher values shift the curve towards the top of the
velocity range, while lower values reduce it. This control has a stronger effect at medium velocities. The
default (and recommended) setting is 5.

Pad Dynamics adjusts the spread of velocities across the output range. At a setting of 10, most
velocities will result in high or low output, without much in the middle. At 0, most velocities will result in
medium output levels (assuming Pad Gain is set to 5). The default (and recommended) setting is 5.

The easiest way to understand the relationship of the three velocity controls is by observing the
changes in the graphical curve below them. The striking force (input) is shown on the horizontal axis,
while the output level is shown on the vertical axis.

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To use a linear velocity curve, set Pad Gain to 4 and Pad Dynamics to 7.

Display Light adjusts the brightness of Push 2’s display, while LED Brightness adjusts the brightness of
the pads and buttons. At very low LED Brightness settings, pads may appear to be the wrong color.
The default (and recommended) setting for both controls is 100%.

The Workflow option determines how Push 2 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 navigated in
scenes. In Clip Workflow, you’re working with only the currently selected clip.

In Scene Workflow:

• 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.
• 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 track.
• The up and down arrows move up or down by a single scene. Playback of the clips in the new
scene begins seamlessly.

In Clip Workflow:

• Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in the next clip slot, while continuing
playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks. Hold Shift while pressing Duplicate to
create a new scene containing all of the currently playing clips.
• New prepares an empty clip slot on the currently selected track. Clips in other tracks are not
affected.
• The up and down arrows move up or down by a single scene. Playback of the currently
selected track’s clip in the new scene begins seamlessly. Clips in other tracks are not affected.

33.17 Push 2 Control Reference

The function of each button and control is explained below.

Tap Tempo — As you press once every beat, the tempo of the Live Set will follow your tapping. If the
“Start Playback with Tap Tempo” button is enabled in Live’s Record, Warp & Launch Settings, 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. The encoder above the button adjusts Live’s tempo in increments of
one BPM. Holding Shift while adjusting will set the tempo in increments of .1 BPM.

Metronome — Toggles Live’s metronome on or off. The right encoder sets the amount of swing applied
when Quantizing, Record Quantizing or when Repeat is pressed.

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Delete — In Note Mode, this button deletes the selected clip. When working with a Drum Rack, hold
Delete and press a pad to delete that pad’s notes in the clip (or the pad itself if there are no recorded
notes). In Session Mode, hold Delete and then press a clip to delete that clip. Hold Delete and select
a device or track with the upper and lower display buttons to delete the device or track. Hold Delete
and touch an encoder to delete automation controlled by that encoder. If automation has not been
recorded for a particular parameter, holding Delete and touching the corresponding encoder will
reset that parameter to its default value. In Simpler’s Slicing Mode, hold Delete and tap a pad to
delete that slice. If the Arrangement View is in focus in Live, pressing Delete will delete the currently
selected clip in the Arrangement.

Undo — Undoes the last action. Press and hold Shift while pressing Undo to Redo. Note that Push 2’s
Undo button applies Live’s Undo functionality, so it will undo actions in your Live Set even if they were
done without using Push 2.

Mute — Mutes the currently selected track. Hold Mute while pressing another track’s lower display
button to mute that track. Hold Mute while pressing a Drum Rack pad to mute the pad. Hold Mute
while pressing a step sequencer step to deactivate the step. Hold Mute while pressing a device’s
upper display button to deactivate the device. Holding the Mute button for a few moments will lock it
on. You can then release Mute and toggle devices or tracks on and off just by pressing the
corresponding upper or lower display buttons. Press Mute again to unlock it.

Solo — Solos the currently selected track. Hold Solo while pressing another track’s lower display
button to solo that track. Hold Solo while pressing a Drum Rack pad to solo the pad. Holding the Solo
button for a few moments will lock it on. You can then release Solo and toggle a track’s solo on and
off just by pressing the corresponding lower display button. Press Solo again to unlock it.

Stop Clip — Stops the playing clip in the currently selected track. Hold Stop Clip and press any track’s
lower display button to stop the playing clip in that track. While Stop Clip is held down, the lower
display buttons will pulse for any tracks that contain a currently playing clip. Press Stop Clip again to
unlock it. Hold Shift and press Stop Clip to stop all clips.

Convert — Converts the current instrument or clip into a different format. The details of the conversion
depend on what is selected when you press Convert:

• While working with a Simpler in either Classic or One-Shot Mode, pressing Convert will create
a new MIDI track containing a Drum Rack, with a copy of the Simpler on the first pad. All other
devices that were in the original track will also be copied to the new track.
• While working with a Simpler in Slicing Mode, pressing Convert will replace the Simpler on the
same track with a Drum Rack that contains all of the slices mapped to individual pads.
• While working with a Drum Rack, pressing Convert will create a new MIDI track containing all
of the devices that were on the selected pad.
• While working with an audio clip, pressing Convert allows you to choose between:
◦ Creating a new MIDI track containing a Simpler or a new MIDI track containing a Drum
Rack, with the sample loaded to a Simpler on the first pad. Warp Markers and related
settings will be preserved in the new Simpler, as will all other devices that were in the
original track.
◦ Converting a Harmony, Melody, or Drums to a new MIDI track.

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Double Loop — Doubles the material within the loop, as well as the length of the loop.

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.

Duplicate — In Scene Workflow, Duplicate creates a new scene containing all of the currently playing
clips. In Clip Workflow, Duplicate creates a copy of the currently selected clip in the next clip slot,
while continuing playback of any currently playing clips in other tracks. Hold Duplicate while pressing
a Drum Rack pad to copy the pad and paste it to a new location in the Drum Rack. Hold Duplicate
while pressing a track selection button to duplicate that track. In Session Mode, hold Duplicate and
press a clip to copy it. Continue holding Duplicate and tap another clip slot to paste the clip there.

New — Pressing New stops the selected clip and prepares Live to record new material. This allows
you to practice before making a new recording.

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 lower display buttons to specify the fixed recording length. Enabling
Fixed Length while recording will switch recording off and loop the last few bars of the clip,
depending on the Fixed Length setting.

Automate — Toggles Live’s Automation Record button. When on, your parameter changes will be
recorded into playing Session View clips. Hold Shift and press Automate to re-enable any automation
that you have overridden. Hold Delete and press the Automation button to delete all automation in a
clip.

Record — With the Session View focused in Live, press the Record button to begin recording a Session
clip. 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. Hold
Record and press the lower display button for a track to manually arm it. With the Arrangement View
focused in Live, pressing Record will toggle Arrangement Recording on and off. You can also trigger
Arrangement Recording while Live’s Session View is in focus by holding Shift and pressing Record.
Note that this behavior is reversed when the Arrangement is in focus; holding Shift and pressing
Record will then toggle Session recording.

Play/Stop — Toggles the play button in Live’s transport bar. While already stopped, hold Shift and
press Play/Stop to return Live’s transport to 1.1.1 without starting playback.

Touch Strip — When an instrument track is selected, the touch strip adjusts pitch bend or modulation
wheel amount when playing in real-time, or the available range of notes when step sequencing. Pitch
bend is selected by default when an instrument track is selected. To change the functionality of the
touch strip, hold Select and tap the strip. This toggles between pitch bend and mod wheel functionality
each time you tap it. The display will briefly show the current mode each time you change it. Note that
pitch bend and modulation wheel functionality is only available when playing instruments in real time,
and not when using the Melodic Sequencer. When a Drum Rack track is selected, the touch strip
selects the Drum Rack bank.

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Encoders and display buttons — The encoders and the two banks of eight buttons above and below
the display change function depending on a variety of factors, including the selected track type, the
current mode, etc. In all modes, the far-right encoder controls the volume of the Main track or the Pre-
Cue volume if Shift is held. Holding Shift while adjusting any of the encoders allows you to fine-tune
whichever parameter is currently being controlled by that encoder.

Add Device — Opens Browse Mode to add a new device to the currently selected track. Devices will
load to the right of the previously-selected device, although note that MIDI effects will always be
placed before the instrument in the track and audio effects will always be placed after it.

Add Track — Puts Push 2 into Browse Mode, allowing you to select which type of track you’d like to
add (MIDI, Audio, or Return) and optionally load a device to the new track at the same time. If the
Add Track button is pressed while a track within a Group Track is selected, any new tracks will be
inserted into that Group Track.

Master — Press the Master button to select the Main track. Press Master again to return to the
previously selected track.

Scene/Grid buttons — These buttons change their functionality depending on whether Session Mode
or Note Mode is selected. When Session Mode is selected, these buttons launch Session View scenes.
Hold the Select button while pressing a Scene button to select the scene without launching it. When
Note Mode is selected, the Scene/Grid buttons determine the rhythmic resolution of the step
sequencer grid and the rhythmic resolution of repeated notes when Repeat is enabled.

Setup — Press to adjust brightness, the sensitivity of Push 2’s velocity response, and other settings.

User — All of Push 2’s built-in functionality can be disabled via User Mode. This allows Push 2 to be
reprogrammed to control alternate functions in Live or other software. Push 2’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.

Device — Press to enter Device Mode, which allows you to use the encoders and upper display
buttons to control parameters in Live’s devices and third-party plug-ins. While in another mode, press
and hold to temporarily toggle to Device Mode. Releasing the button will then return to the previous
mode.

Browse — Press to enter Browse Mode, where you can load instruments and effects to tracks.

Mix — Each press of the Mix button toggles between Track Mix Mode and Global Mix Mode. In
Track Mix Mode, the encoders adjust volume, pan, and send levels for the currently selected track.
The lower display buttons are used to select the track. While in another mode, press and hold to
temporarily toggle to Mix Mode. Releasing the button will then return to the previous mode.

Clip — Press to enter Clip Mode, where you can adjust parameters for the selected clip. While in
another mode, press and hold to temporarily toggle to Clip Mode. Releasing the button will then
return to the previous mode.

Arrow Keys — Navigate through your Live Set (in Session Mode) and between tracks or scenes/clips
(in Note Mode). In Browse Mode, use the arrows to move between columns of items in the browser.

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Repeat — When Repeat is enabled, holding down a pad will retrigger the note. The Scene/Grid
buttons change the rhythmic value of the repeated note. Press and hold Repeat to temporarily enable
it.

Accent — When Accent is enabled, all incoming notes (whether step sequenced or played in real-
time) are played at full velocity. Press and hold Accent to temporarily enable it.

Scale — 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.

• Fixed On/Off: 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.
• 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.
• Scale selection: Using the upper and lower display buttons, you can change the key played by
the pad grid. You can change to a variety of scale types using encoders 2 through 7.

Layout — Press to change the layout of the pad grid. When in Session Mode, Layout toggles the
Session Overview on or off. When in Note Mode, the layout options depend on the type of track that
is currently selected and the current mode.

• MIDI track containing an instrument — Toggles between enabling the pad grid for real-time
playing of notes and melodic step sequencing.
• MIDI track containing a Drum Rack (or a Simpler in Slicing Mode) — Toggles between the
three-section pad grid (real-time playing, step sequencing, and loop length), and the 64-pad
layout.

Note — Press to enter Note Mode. When enabled, the pads change functionality based on the type
of track that is currently selected. While in Session Mode, press and hold Note to temporarily toggle
to Note Mode. Releasing the button will then return to Session mode.

• MIDI track containing an instrument — The pads plays notes or slices of a sample when using
Simpler in Slicing Mode. Pressing Layout toggles between real-time playing and step
sequencing.
• MIDI track containing a Drum Rack — With the Loop Selector layout selected, the pad grid 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 upper four rows control the step sequencer. Press Layout to switch to
16 Velocities layout. Here, the bottom right 16 pads represent 16 different velocities for the
selected Drum Rack pad. Press Layout again to switch to the 64-pad layout, allowing you to
play drums across the entire 8x8 pad grid.

Session — Press to enter Session Mode. When enabled, the pad grid changes to launch clips in Live’s
Session View. While in Note Mode, press and hold Session to temporarily toggle to Session Mode.
Releasing the button will then return to Note Mode.

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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.

Page Left/Right — When working with the drum or melodic step sequencers, these buttons navigate to
the previous or next page of steps. In Session Mode, these buttons shift control of the Session View left
or right by eight tracks.

Shift — Press and hold Shift while pressing other buttons to access additional functionality. Hold Shift
while turning encoders for finer resolution.

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 it without triggering the pad.

33.17.0.1 Footswitches

Two ports on the back of Push 2 allow you to connect momentary footswitches. Footswitch 1 acts as a
sustain pedal. Footswitch 2 gives you hands-free control of Push 2’s recording functionality. A single
tap of the footswitch will toggle the Record button, thus switching between recording/overdubbing
and playback of the current clip. Quickly double-tapping the footswitch is the same as pressing the
New button.

Note that certain footswitches may behave “backwards”; for example, notes may 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.

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34. Synchronizing with Link, Tempo
Follower, and MIDI

34.1 Synchronizing via Link

Ableton Link is a technology that keeps devices in time over a wired or wireless network. Link is built
into Live as well as a growing number of iOS applications, and any Link-enabled software can play in
time with any other Link-enabled software simply by joining the same network.

When using Link, you can start and stop playback of each device or application independently of
every other connected device or application. Link-enabled software will remain in tempo as well as at
the correct position in relation to the global launch quantization of all participants.

34.1.1 Setting up Link

To configure Live to use Link, first make sure that your computer is connected to the same network as
any other devices that you will use Link with. This can either be a local network or an ad-hoc
(computer-to-computer) connection. Then open Live’s Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings and enable the
button next to “Show Link Toggle.”

Showing the Link Toggle in Live’s Settings.

It is possible to sync start and stop commands across all connected apps that have Start Stop Sync
enabled. To do this, click the button next to “Start Stop Sync”.

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The Start Stop Sync Toggle in Live’s Settings.

34.1.2 Using Link

The Link toggle in Live’s Control Bar will appear. Click to toggle Link on or off.

Link Toggle.

When on, the toggle will update to show the number of other Link-enabled apps or instances of Live
that are on the same network.

Link Indicator Showing Another Connection.

If at least one other Link-enabled app or instance of Live is connected, the Arrangement Position
display will show a moving “progress bar” whenever Live’s transport is not running. This bar is a
representation of the Live Set’s global launch quantization in relation to that of the other participants in
the Link session. After you trigger playback, Live will wait until this bar is filled before starting.

Arrangement Position Shows Relation to Link Timeline.

The first app or Live instance to join a Link session will set the initial tempo for the others. Any Link-
enabled apps or instances of Live can then change their tempo at any time and all others will follow. If
multiple participants try to change the tempo simultaneously, everyone else will try to follow, but the
last one who changes the tempo will “win.”

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Tempo changes made by any participant in a Link session will override tempo automation in your Live
Set.

Note that the metronome’s recording count-in cannot be used when Link is enabled.

In most cases, Link will work without issues as soon as it is enabled and will provide reliable
synchronization under all conditions. If you have further questions or run into issues, we recommend
checking out the Link FAQ in the Knowledge Base.

34.2 Synchronizing via Tempo Follower

You might encounter situations where a Link connection or MIDI Clock are not available. Or,
sometimes you might prefer not to use a rigid, computer-generated clock. For example, you might like
Live’s tempo to follow the natural push and pull of a drummer in your band, or you might be trying to
synchronize to a set of turntables during a DJ performance. This is where Tempo Follower comes in.
Tempo Follower analyzes an incoming audio signal in real-time and interprets its tempo, allowing Live
to follow along and keep in time.

34.2.1 Setting Up Tempo Follower

To set an external audio input as a source for Tempo Follower, first open Live’s Link, Tempo & MIDI
Settings. In the Tempo Follower section, set the Input Channel (Ext. In) to the input on your audio
interface that is connected to the source you wish to follow. For a drum kit, this might be a dedicated
overhead microphone. For turntables, you might choose to use a record output or effects loop from a
DJ mixer. Note that while Tempo Follower’s algorithm is optimized for use with audio signals that have
a clear rhythm, you can also be creative and experiment with different sources.

Tempo Follower Settings in Live’s Settings.

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When the “Show Tempo Follower Toggle” switch is set to “Show”, you will see a “Follow” button
appear in the Control Bar, alongside the other tempo-related parameters, at the left-hand side.

The Follow Button in the Control Bar.

Activating the “Follow” button will turn on Tempo Follower, and Live will begin listening to the
configured audio source and interpreting its tempo. Note that Tempo Follower does not run when the
Follow button is hidden.

When Tempo Follower cannot be connected to the audio input device channel specified in the
Settings, the feature is disabled and the Follow button will appear grayed out.

Note: Link, Tempo Follower, and External Sync are mutually exclusive; the Link and the External Sync
switches are disabled when Tempo Follower is enabled. Live can still send MIDI clock information to
external devices when Tempo Follower is enabled, but it cannot receive it.

34.3 Synchronizing via MIDI

If you’re working with devices that don’t support Link, you can synchronize 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 host, which delivers a sync signal that is tracked by the sync
device(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 host (e.g., a drum machine) will cause the device
to follow the change. The MIDI Clock protocol also provides messages that indicate the song position.
With respect to MIDI Clock, Live can act as both a MIDI sync host and device.

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-related
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 Settings are explained
later in this chapter. With respect to MIDI Timecode, Live can only act as a MIDI sync device, not a
host.

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34.3.1 Synchronizing External MIDI Devices to Live

Live can send MIDI Clock messages 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 Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings.

Choosing a MIDI Device 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.

34.3.2 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 Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings to tell Live about the connection.

Setting up Live as a MIDI Device.

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.

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 host jumps to a new
position within the song, Live will do the same. However, if the Control Bar’s Loop switch is activated,
playback will be looped, and song position pointers will simply be “wrapped“ into the length of the
loop.

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When Link is enabled, Live can send MIDI clock information to external devices, but cannot receive it;
the External Sync switch is disabled when Link is enabled.

34.3.2.1 MIDI Timecode Options

Timecode options can be set up per MIDI device. Select a MIDI device from the Link, Tempo & MIDI
Settings’ 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.

34.3.3 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 delays incurred
by the signal transmission. The Sync Delay for a specific MIDI device appears as you select the MIDI
device from the Link, Tempo & MIDI Settings’ 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.

Adjusting Sync Delay.

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35. Computer Audio Resources and
Strategies
Real-time audio processing can be a demanding task for general-purpose computers, which are
usually designed to run spreadsheets and surf the Internet. An application like Live requires a powerful
CPU and a fast SSD. This chapter will provide some insight on how you can avoid and solve computer
resource issues when using Live.

35.1 Managing the CPU Load

To output a continuous 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, temperature (in hot environments, modern CPUs will “thermal throttle” and slow down the
CPU processing rate), memory cache performance (how efficiently a processor can grab data from
memory), and system bus bandwidth — the computer’s “pipeline“ through which all data must pass.

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.

35.1.1 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 audio problems.

Note that the CPU meter takes into account only the load from processing audio, not other tasks the
computer performs (e.g., managing Live’s user interface).

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The CPU Load Meter.

The CPU meter can display the Average or Current CPU usage, or it can be switched off entirely.

The Average CPU meter displays the average percentage of the CPU currently processing audio,
rather than the overall CPU load. The Current CPU meter displays the total current CPU usage.

You can click on the CPU meter to display the various options.

The CPU Load Meter Options.

By default, Live will not display the Current level; it must be enabled from the drop-down menu.

In new installations of Live 11, the CPU Overload Indicator will also be switched off by default. This
option can be re-enabled from the drop-down menu as needed by selecting Warn on Current CPU
Overload.

To determine the CPU load, Live calculates the time it needs to process one audio buffer. This value is
then compared to the time it takes to actually play one audio buffer.

For example, a value of 50% on the CPU meter means that Live is processing one audio buffer twice
as fast as it takes to play the buffer.

Values over 100% are possible when the calculation takes more time than it does to play one audio
buffer.

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Live expects that the audio thread will have the highest priority, however the final prioritization of
threads is done by the operating system, meaning Live’s processing might get interrupted. This is why
other applications may cause CPU spikes in Live’s CPU meter.

35.1.2 CPU Load from Multichannel Audio

One source of constant CPU drain is the process of moving data to and from the audio hardware. 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 Settings to access the Input and Output Configuration dialogs, which
allow activating or deactivating individual ins and outs.

Live does not automatically disable unused channels, because the audio hardware drivers usually
produce an audible “hiccup“ when there is a request for an audio configuration change.

35.1.3 CPU Load from Tracks and Devices

Generally, every track and device being used in Live incurs some amount of CPU load. However, 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 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 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.

In the Session View, it is possible to see each track’s impact on the CPU load by clicking on the Show/
Hide Performance Impact selector in the Mixer Section.

The Show/Hide Performance Impact selector.

In the Performance Impact section, each track has its own CPU meter with six rectangles that light up
to indicate the relative impact of that track on the CPU level of the current Set. Freezing the track with
the largest impact or removing devices from that track will usually reduce the CPU load.

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The Session View’s Performance Impact Section.

35.1.4 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 context menu of tracks and clips. Be aware that it is not possible to freeze a Group Track; 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 or External Instrument 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 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 possibilities
include:

• Edit, cut, copy, paste, duplicate, and trim clips.

• Draw and edit mixer automation and mixer clip envelopes.
• Consolidate clips.
• Record Session View clip launches into the Arrangement View.
• Create, move, and duplicate Session View scenes.
• Drag frozen MIDI clips into audio tracks.

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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 track 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.

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 Arrangement 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 may play back differently after two loop cycles when frozen.

Dragging a frozen clip to the drop area in the Session View or Arrangement View will create a new
frozen track containing that clip. If a clip is partially selected in the Arrangement, the new frozen track
will contain the selected portion of the clip only.

The samples generated by the Freeze Track command are stored in the Current Project folder under /
Samples/Processed/Freeze. If the Set has not yet been saved, the folder location will be specified by
the Temporary Folder. Please note that freeze files for tracks that contain an External Instrument or
External Audio Effect will 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.

Besides providing an opportunity to conserve CPU resources on tracks containing a large number of
devices, the Track Freeze command simplifies sharing projects between computers. Computers 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.

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35.2 Managing the Disk Load
An SSD’s read/write speed can affect Live’s performance. The amount of disk traffic Live generates is
roughly proportional to the number of audio channels being read or written simultaneously. For
example, a track playing a stereo sample causes more disk traffic than a track playing a mono
sample.

The Disk Overload Indicator.

The Disk Overload indicator flashes when the disk was unable to read or write audio quickly enough.
When recording audio, this condition causes a gap in the recorded sample; when playing back, you
will hear dropouts.

Do the following to avoid disk overload:

• Reduce the number of audio channels being written by choosing mono inputs instead of stereo
inputs in the Audio Settings’ Channel Configuration dialog.
• Use RAM Mode for selected clips.
• 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 digital
audio editing program, which can be called up from within Live.

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36. Audio Fact Sheet
Much of Ableton‘s development effort has been focused on carefully and objectively testing Live‘s
fundamental audio performance. As a result of this testing, we have regularly implemented a number
of low-level improvements to the audio engine. We have written this fact sheet to help users
understand exactly how their audio is (or is not) being modified when using certain features in Live
that are often misunderstood, as well as tips for achieving the highest quality results.

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 cannot possibly predict the variables that make
up your listening environment, audio hardware, hearing sensitivity, etc. Furthermore, this research
makes no claims about how Live compares to other audio software. Rather, it is a summary of
measurable facts about what Live actually does under various conditions.

36.1 Testing and Methodology

As of this writing, every version of Live is subjected to a number of 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.

36.2 Neutral Operations

Procedures in Live that will cause absolutely no change in audio quality are referred to as neutral
operations. You can be sure that using these functions will never cause any signal degradation.
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 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 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

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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:

36.2.1 Undithered Rendering

The Export Audio/Video command renders Live’s audio output to a file on disk. Rendering is a neutral
operation under certain conditions:

• The sample rate of the rendered file is the same as that set for the audio hardware in Live‘s
Settings.
• 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:

• Rendering to a file with the same bit depth as the original results in complete phase
cancellation.
• Rendering to a file with a higher bit depth than the original results in complete phase
cancellation.
• 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.

36.2.2 Matching sample rate/no transposition

Playback of an unstretched audio file in Live is a neutral operation, provided that the file‘s sample rate
is the same as that set in Live‘s Settings and that the file is played back without transposition. 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.

36.2.3 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 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 changing 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

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tracks will play back neutrally again after returning the tempo to 120 BPM. Only the recording made
at the slower tempo will be stretched.

Recording tempo automation in the Arrangement can play back neutrally or not depending on the
Warp Mode. When using Beats mode with transient preservation on, artifacts may occur. These can
be eliminated by preserving 16ths instead of transients, or by using the Repitch Warp Mode.

Please note that grooves 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 performing cancellation tests on rendered
output.

36.2.4 Summing at Single Mix Points

Live uses double precision (64-bit) summing at all points where signals are mixed, including clip and
return track inputs, the Main 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 processing 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 summing within a 32-bit
architecture strikes an ideal balance between audio quality and CPU/memory consumption.

36.2.5 Recording external signals (bit depth >/= A/D converter)

Recording audio signals into Live is a neutral operation, provided that the bit depth set in Live‘s
Settings window is the same or higher than that of the A/D converters used for the recording. In this
context, “neutral“ means “identical to the audio as it was delivered to Live by the A/D converters.“

36.2.6 Recording internal sources 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 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 unprocessed
16 bit audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality.

The neutrality of internal recording is verified using cancellation tests.

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36.2.7 Freeze, Flatten

When tracks are frozen, 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 unfrozen
playback will be cut off after freezing.

Time-based effects like reverbs and delays are processed in real-time for unfrozen clips, so stopping
playback during a reverb or delay tail will allow the tail to continue. 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 Arrangement‘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 device 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.

36.2.8 Bypassed Effects

Bypassed effects in Live are removed from the signal flow. This is true for both Live‘s built-in effects
devices and third-party VST and AU plug-ins. Consequently, audio at the output of a bypassed effect
is identical to the audio at the input. Please note, however, that effects devices with parameters that
inherently require delay (e.g., the Lookahead 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.

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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.

36.2.9 Routing

The routing 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 flexible routing
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 different from the signal heard prior to
routing, because it has been tapped before reaching the end of its original signal chain.

36.2.10 Splitting Clips

Clips which are already neutral will remain neutral after splitting. Splitting only affects 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:

• Splitting unwarped clips with loop on and off.

• 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.

36.3 Non-Neutral Operations

Procedures in Live that will cause a change in audio quality are referred to as non-neutral operations.
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 exported from Live ensures
that what you hear during real-time playback will be different from what will end up in your new file.

Non-neutral operations are outlined below.

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36.3.1 Playback in Complex and Complex Pro Mode

The algorithms used in the Complex and Complex Pro Warp Modes use an entirely different
technology from the algorithms behind Beats, Tones, Texture, and Re-Pitch modes. Although the
Complex modes may sound better, particularly when used with mixed sound files containing 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.

36.3.2 Sample rate conversion/transposition

Sample rate conversion (during both real-time playback and rendering) is a non-neutral operation.
Playback of audio files at a sample rate that is different from the rate set in Live‘s Settings 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 during real-time playback, it is recommended to do sample rate
conversion as an offline process, rather than mixing files of different sample rates within a single Set.
Once the samples have been exported at the sample rate that you plan to use in Live, the files can be
imported without any loss of quality.

Rendering audio from Live with a sampling rate other than the one that was used while working on the
project is also a non-neutral operation. Sample rate conversion during export uses the extremely high-
quality SoX Resampler library, as licensed under the GNU LGPL v2.1, which results in downsampled
files with extremely low distortion.

36.3.3 Volume Automation

Automation of volume level results in a change in gain, which is necessarily a non-neutral operation.
But certain implementations of automation envelopes can result in audible artifacts, particularly if the
envelopes are not calculated at a fast enough rate. Volume automation curves are updated for each
audio sample, resulting in extremely low levels of distortion.

36.3.4 Dithering

Whenever rendering audio to a lower bit depth, it is a good idea to apply dithering in order to
minimize artifacts. Dithering (a kind of very low-level noise) is inherently a non-neutral procedure, 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 mastering and finalizing
in Live, it is best to always render at 32-bit and avoid dithering altogether.

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36.3.5 Recording external signals (bit depth < A/D converter)

Recording audio signals into Live is a non-neutral operation if the bit depth set in Live‘s Settings
window is lower than that of the A/D converters used for the recording. This is not recommended.

36.3.6 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 unprocessed 16 bit
audio file at 32 bits will not increase the sound quality.

36.3.7 Consolidate

Consolidating clips 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 normalized, with their clip
volumes adjusted to play back at the same volume as heard prior to consolidation. 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 Settings window, which may differ from those in the original audio files.

36.3.8 Clip fades

When Create Fades on Clip Edges is enabled in the Record, Warp & Launch Settings, a short (up to 4
ms) fade is applied to the clip start and end to avoid clicks at the clip edges. These “declicking“ fades
can also be applied to Session View clips via the Clip Fade button. Additionally, Arrangement View
clips have editable fades and crossfades. Applying any of these fade options is a non-neutral
operation.

36.3.9 Panning

Live uses constant power panning with sinusoidal gain curves. Output is 0 dB at the center position
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 panning. This can
be done via the Width control in the Utility device.

36.3.10 Grooves

Under most conditions, playback of a warped clip that is at the same tempo as the Set is a neutral
operation. However, if a groove is applied, playback will be non-neutral at any tempo.

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36.4 Tips for Achieving Optimal Sound Quality
in Live
For users looking to achieve optimal audio quality in Live, we have provided a list of recommended
practices and program settings.

• Decide which sample rate to use for a project prior to beginning work, rather than changing the
sample rate while working on the project.
• 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.
• 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.
• For all audio clips, disable both the Warp and Fade options in the Clip View.
• Do not adjust the Transpose and Detune controls for any clips.
• Always render at 32-bit.

Please note that these practices, while ensuring optimal audio quality, disable some of Live‘s
functionality — in particular, stretching and synchronization.

36.5 Conclusion
We hope this helps users to 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 operations presented here is
necessarily incomplete.

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37. 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.

The MIDI timing issues discussed in this chapter are generally not applicable to users with high-quality
audio and MIDI hardware. If you have already invested time and money into optimizing these factors
in your studio, and are not experiencing problems with MIDI timing, you probably do not need this
information.

37.1 Ideal MIDI Behavior

To understand how MIDI works within a digital audio workstation (DAW), it is helpful to introduce
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 sending
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.
3. Playthrough involves sending MIDI note and controller information from a hardware device
(such as a MIDI keyboard) into the DAW and then, in real-time, back out to a hardware
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.

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37.2 MIDI Timing Problems
The realities of computer-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 performance
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 particular
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 example. 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 system and driver architecture used.
Jitter, much more so than latency, creates the feeling that MIDI timing is “sloppy“ or “loose.“

37.3 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.
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 timing 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: should events be played at the moment they are received (which can result in

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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 communicate to
the MIDI interface drivers for scheduling of outgoing MIDI events. Windows MME drivers 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 incoming 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.

37.4 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 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 to a schedule.
Additionally, MIDI cables are serial, meaning they can only send one piece of information at a 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 additional
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 appropriately by
any external hardware. But both situations are impossible for Live to verify.

Tests and Results

Our procedure for testing the timing of incoming MIDI events is represented in the following diagram:

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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 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 manufacturers. We will
refer to these interfaces as A, B and C. All tests were performed with a CPU load of approximately
50% on both macOS and Windows machines, at both 44.1 and 96 kHz and at three different audio
buffer sizes, for a total of 36 discrete test configurations.

Windows:

• Interface A: The maximum jitter was +/- 4 ms, with the majority of the jitter occurring at +/- 1
ms.
• 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.
• 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.

macOS:

• Interface A: At 44.1 kHz and 1152 sample buffer, jitter was fairly evenly distributed between
+/- 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.
• 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.
• Interface C: In all tests, the maximum jitter was +/- 1 ms, with most events occurring with no
jitter.

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We also performed a similar procedure for testing the timing of outgoing MIDI events, as represented
in the following diagram:

MIDI Output Test Configuration.

In all cases, the output tests showed comparable results to the input tests.

37.5 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.

• 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 Settings, 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 hardware
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.

37.6 Summary and Conclusions

We hope this helps users understand a variety of related topics:

• The inherent problems in computer-based MIDI systems.

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 • Our approach to solving these problems in Live.
• 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 systems
should perform with no noticeable issues. For users with less-than-optimal hardware, however, Live
still offers an additional degree of accuracy by minimizing jitter, but at the expense of a small amount
of additional latency.

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38. Accessibility Options in Live
Live 12 features new accessibility options on both macOS and Windows, including support for screen
readers and other assistive technologies that use the accessibility communication protocols native to
those operating systems, new themes, a high-contrast option, streamlined keyboard navigation, and
improved organization of Live’s Settings menu.

While most of Live’s views, controls and devices work with screen readers, some device features have
not been optimized to do so, such as the Modulation Matrix in Wavetable and some advanced
parameters in Operator. Several other Live and third-party features are not yet supported for screen
reader use, including:

• Browser tagging and filters

• Editing automation
• Modulation and MPE in Clip View
• Max for Live
• Some third-party plug-ins

For answers to common questions about Live’s accessibility support, please refer to the Accessibility in
Ableton Live FAQ in the Knowledge Base.

38.1 Menu and Keyboard Navigation Settings

Various accessibility and keyboard navigation options can be found in Live’s Settings, as well as in the
Options and Navigate menus.

In addition to improved keyboard navigation, various keyboard shortcuts are available for common
actions and commands.

38.1.1 Using Tab for Navigation

When the Use Tab to Move Focus option is enabled via the Navigate menu or Live’s Display & Input
Settings, the Tab key can be used to navigate in the following ways:

• Tab moves to the next control

• Shift Tab moves to the previous control

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The Tab key can also be used to navigate between controls in the Session and Arrangement mixers
via these shortcuts:

• Ctrl Tab (Win) / Option Tab (Mac) moves to the next control in the same row
• Ctrl Shift Tab (Win) / Option Shift Tab (Mac) moves to the previous control in the

same row

When Use Tab to Move Focus is off, pressing the Tab key will switch between Session and
Arrangement View, as in previous Live versions.

In addition to using Tab to move focus, the following navigation options are also available:

• Wrap Tab Navigation - When this option is enabled, navigating with Tab will not stop at the
last control in a focused view, but will navigate back to the first control. If the first control is
selected, using Shift Tab will navigate to the last control. This option can be enabled via the
Navigate menu or the Display & Input Settings.
• Move Clips with Arrow Keys - This option is enabled by default, and lets you use the left and
right arrow keys to move selected clips and/or the time selection in Arrangement View. This
behavior can be switched off in the Display & Input Settings if needed. When off, pressing the
left arrow key collapses the time selection to the start point, while pressing the right arrow key
collapses the time selection to the end point.

38.1.2 Settings Menu

To open Live’s Settings, use the shortcut Ctrl , (Win) / Cmd , (Mac).

The Tab and Shift Tab keys can be used to navigate between options inside the Settings tabs.
These shortcuts work regardless of whether the Use Tab to Move Focus option is active or not.

When a command is focused in any of the Settings tabs, the up and down arrow keys can be used to
change the state of a toggle, make value adjustments, or cycle through the available options for a
given command. It is also possible to use the Enter key to switch between toggle states.

To navigate between the different tabs in the Settings Page Chooser, use Ctrl Tab (Win)/ Option
Tab (Mac) and Ctrl Shift Tab (Win) / Option Shift Tab (Mac) or the up and down

arrow keys when the chooser is focused. If the keyboard focus is on the first control of any given
Settings tab, use the Shift Tab shortcut to return the focus to the Settings Page Chooser.

You can close the Settings window by using the Esc key.

Note that if you chose a new preferred language for the UI in the Display & Input Settings, you will
have to restart Live in order to apply the change.

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38.1.3 Options Menu

You can find further accessibility settings in Live’s Options menu, which contains an Accessibility sub-
menu. To access this sub-menu with the keyboard, use Alt O (Win) / VO M then O with
VoiceOver (Mac).

The sub-menu contains several entries for enabling certain screen reader announcements, such as
Speak Menu Commands, Speak Minimum and Maximum Slider Values, and Speak Time in Seconds.

38.1.4 Speak Help Text

Most controls and areas in Live include descriptive text, accessible via the Info View. On Windows,
you can enable screen reader announcements for these descriptions by activating the Speak Help
Text option in your preferred screen reader. On macOS, you can do so by turning on help text in the
VoiceOver Utility’s verbosity settings. You can also access this option manually by pressing VO
Shift H .

38.2 Audio Setup

To configure your audio settings in Live, open the Settings menu using the shortcut Ctrl , (Win) /
Cmd , (Mac), then use the arrow keys to navigate to the Audio page.

You can use Tab to move between the options on the Audio page and start configuring your audio
device settings.

Audio setup varies between macOS and Windows. On macOS, Live’s input and output can be
connected to any CoreAudio device. You can also select other drivers from the Driver Type drop-
down menu if needed. On Windows, you can select your preferred driver, for example ASIO4ALL,
and manage connected devices via the driver’s own program.

38.3 Connecting MIDI Devices

Live automatically detects connected MIDI devices, many of which require no further configuration.

Some MIDI controllers also come with control surface scripts to help integrate them into Live’s
workflows. Note that screen reader support for control surfaces varies between third-party
manufacturers, so some controllers may not be optimized for use with screen readers.

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The MIDI section in the Link, Tempo & MIDI page has six Control Surface drop-down menus, where
you can select control surfaces using the dedicated keyboard navigation options. You can also
specify the input and output port settings for each selected control surface.

To learn more about MIDI configuration in Live, check out the MIDI and Key Remote Control chapter.

38.4 Navigating in Live

You can navigate through most of Live’s menus, views and controls using the computer keyboard.
Note that the Use Tab to Navigate Focus option in the Navigate menu or Display & Input Settings
must be enabled if you want to use any of the Tab -based shortcuts mentioned in this section.

38.4.1 Navigate Menu

You can use the Navigate menu to access all of Live’s main views and other navigation options. Most
of the menu’s entries also come with corresponding keyboard shortcuts. To open the Navigation
Menu, use Alt N (Win) / VO M then N with VoiceOver (Mac).

38.4.1.1 Control Bar - Alt 0 (Win) / Option 0 (Mac)

The Control Bar consists of various project settings, transport controls, mouse and keyboard tools, and
status views. The controls are organized into accessible groupings; you can use Tab and Shift
Tab to navigate between them with Speak Help Text activated to learn about each option.

The Control Bar remembers your last-focused control and focus returns to this control when you come
back to the Control Bar from another view.

38.4.1.2 Session View - Alt 1 (Win) / Option 1 (Mac)

The Session View is Live’s non-linear approach to music-making. There are four main sections in this
view:

Track Title Bars are displayed for all tracks in your Set. To navigate between track title bars, use the
left and right arrow keys. Right-clicking on a track title bar opens the context menu, which contains
useful track-related commands and their corresponding keyboard shortcuts.

Clip Slots are grouped by tracks (vertical from top to bottom) and scenes (horizontal from left to right).
Slots on audio tracks can contain audio clips, and slots on MIDI tracks can contain MIDI clips. When
focused on a clip slot in a MIDI track, you can insert an empty MIDI clip using Ctrl Shift M
(Win) / Cmd Shift M (Mac). You can launch a selected clip by pressing Enter . If Live’s
transport is running, the clip will begin playing based on the current setting in the Control Bar’s

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quantization menu. Note that while clips slots also appear in return tracks, these slots cannot contain
or launch any clips.

Scenes can be used to trigger adjacent clips in different tracks at the same time via the Main track
scene numbers, which can be navigated between using the up and down arrow keys. Scenes can be
launched with the Enter key.

The Mixer contains routing and mixer options for each track. You can customize which mixer elements
are shown using the Mixer Controls sub-menu in the View menu or using the drop-down menu next to
the Mixer view control in the bottom right corner of Live’s window. These elements include input/
output assignment, send levels, volume controls, track options, crossfader controls, and performance
impact monitoring. The last three options are hidden by default.

You can navigate between track title bars, clip slots, and scenes using the arrow keys.

To jump from tracks/slots to the mixer, use Tab and Shift Tab . You can also navigate between a
track’s mixer controls using Tab and Shift Tab .

To move focus to the same control on a different track, you can use the Next Neighbor and Previous
Neighbor commands in the Navigate menu or the shortcut Alt Tab (Win) / Option Tab (Mac).

Use the Esc key to bring focus to the corresponding track title bar of whichever element was
previously focused.

38.4.1.3 Arrangement View - Alt 2 (Win) / Option 2 (Mac)

The Arrangement View is a timeline-style view for arranging audio, MIDI, and automation in Live.

There are a few different ways to navigate through the Arrangement View:

Navigating through Tracks

• Move between tracks using the up and down arrow keys.

• Move between track mixers using Alt Tab (Win) / Option Tab (Mac) and navigate
through a track’s mixer controls using Tab and Shift Tab .

Navigating through the Timeline

• Move forward or backward in time following the current grid settings using the left and right
arrow keys.
• Widen or narrow the Arrangement View’s grid settings using the plus and minus keys.
• Move to the previous/next clip edge or locator in a content lane using Ctrl and the left and
right arrow keys (Win) / Option and the left and right arrow keys (Mac).

Using Locators

• Add a locator by first navigating to the desired location on the timeline using the arrow keys.
Next, use Tab to focus the Set Locator button, then press Enter .
• Navigate between locators using Shift Tab .

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 • Delete a locator by navigating to it and then press the Delete key.

Handling Content - Select content in the timeline by holding Shift and then using the arrow keys. -
Move selected content using the left and right arrow keys. - Cut selected content using Ctrl X
(Win) / Cmd X (Mac). - Copy selected content using Ctrl V (Win) / Cmd V (Mac). -
Duplicate selected content using Ctrl D (Win) / Cmd D (Mac). - Delete selected content
using the Delete key.

Adjusting Clip Edges

• Lengthen or shorten a clip by moving the insert marker to the clip’s edge, then pressing Enter
and using the left and right arrow keys to adjust the clip’s length. If needed, you can cancel any
changes using the Esc key.

Exporting Audio

• Select a region in the timeline and use the shortcut Ctrl R (Win) / Cmd R (Mac) to
open the audio export dialog. By default, the Main track will be rendered.

Note: Automation and audio clip edge fades are not currently supported for screen reader use.

38.4.1.4 Clip View - Alt 3 (Win) / Option 3 (Mac)

The Clip View is where clip properties can be set and adjusted. You can double-click on any clip in
the Arrangement or Session View to open Clip View, or use the shortcut Ctrl Alt 3 (Win) /
Cmd Option 3 (Mac).

Clip View has two main sections:

The Clip Panels contain various options for adjusting note properties. Use the shortcut Alt Shift P

(Win) / Option Shift P (Mac) to bring focus to the panels from another view.

The Clip Content Editor contains editors for audio waveforms and MIDI notes, as well as editors for
clip envelopes and MPE data. When a clip is opened in Clip View for the first time, the Sample Editor
is displayed for audio clips, while the MIDI Note Editor is displayed for MIDI clips. Use the shortcut
Alt 3 (Win) / Option 3 (Mac) to bring focus to the active editor from another view.

You can navigate in Clip View the following ways:

Working with the MIDI Note Editor

• Enable the MIDI Editor Note Preview entry in the Options menu to hear the corresponding
pitches when you add, select, or move notes in the editor.
• Place the insert marker anywhere in the MIDI Note Editor, then hold Shift and use the left and
right arrow keys to select time.
• Select any MIDI notes contained in a time selection using the Enter key.
• Move the insert marker to the previous or next note boundary using Ctrl and the left and right
arrow keys (Win) / Option and the left and right arrow keys (Mac).

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Navigating through MIDI Notes

• Jump to the previous or next note using Ctrl and the up and down arrow keys (Win) /
Option and the up and down arrow keys (Mac).

• Jump to the previous or next note of the same pitch using Ctrl and the left and right arrow
keys (Win) / Option and the left and right arrow keys (Mac).
• Add the Shift modifier to the above shortcuts to extend the note selection.

Editing MIDI Notes

• Transpose selected notes using the up and down arrow keys.

• Transpose selected notes by octaves using Shift and the up and down arrow keys.
• Shorten or lengthen selected notes based on the current grid settings using Shift and the left
and right arrow keys.
• Move selected notes in time based on the current grid settings using the left and right arrow
keys.
• Adjust the velocity of selected notes using Ctrl and the up and down arrow keys (Win) /
Cmd and the up and down arrow keys (Mac).

• Adjust the probability of selected notes using Ctrl Alt and the up and down arrow keys
(Win) / Cmd Option and the up and down arrow keys (Mac).

Working with Audio Clips

• Move the insert marker using Ctrl and the left and right arrow keys (Win) / Option and the
left and right arrow keys (Mac). Add the Shift modifier to extend the selection.
• Move a selected Warp Marker using the left and right arrow keys.
• Insert and select a Warp Marker at the current position using Ctrl I (Win) / Cmd I
(Mac).
• Insert a transient at the current position using Ctrl Shift I (Win) / Cmd Shift I
(Mac).

Note: Automation, modulation, and MPE editing are not currently supported for use with screen
readers.

38.4.1.5 Device View - Alt 4 (Win) / Option 4 (Mac)

The Device View displays the chain of devices loaded onto a track. MIDI tracks can contain MIDI
effects, instruments, and audio effects. Audio tracks, group tracks, return tracks, and the Main track
can contain audio effects.

Each device that is loaded onto a track is represented to screen readers as a group. You can move
between devices using the left and right arrow keys.

Devices can be cut, copied, pasted, duplicated, or deleted using the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Cut: Ctrl X (Win) / Cmd X (Mac)

• Copy: Ctrl V (Win) / Cmd V (Mac)
• Duplicate: Ctrl D (Win) / Cmd D (Mac)

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 • Delete: Delete or Backspace

Navigate through a selected device’s controls using Tab and Shift Tab .

Note: Most devices in Live offer basic accessibility support, however, more complex devices haven’t
yet been optimized for screen readers.

38.4.1.6 Browser - Alt 5 (Win) / Option 5 (Mac)

The browser contains your library of instruments, devices, and files, and is divided into four main
sections: the search bar, filters, sidebar, and content pane.

You can bring focus to the search bar from anywhere in Live using the shortcut Ctrl F (Win) /
Cmd F (Mac). This also automatically selects the All label in the browser’s sidebar, which contains

all browser content. Search results are displayed in the content pane.

Use the Tab key to jump from the search bar to the sidebar. Press the Tab key from the sidebar to
jump to the content pane. You can also press the down arrow key to jump from the search bar to the
content pane.

The sidebar contains various labels for different browser items, such as the included Core Library
content, Live Packs, Collections, and more. You can move between labels using the up and down
arrow keys. When a label is selected, its contents are displayed in the content pane. You can move
between the sidebar and content pane using the left and right arrow keys.

The content pane displays a list of devices and files based on selected browser label. You can multi-
select content using Shift and the up and down arrow keys. You can expand a selected folder using
the right arrow key, and collapse the folder using the left arrow key.

Some browser items, such as clips and instrument presets, include an audio preview. To hear the
preview when browsing, enable the Browser File Preview entry in the Options menu. Even if
previewing is switched off, you can still play the preview by pressing the right arrow key when a
browser item is selected.

Note: Filtering and tagging is not yet supported for use with screen readers.

38.4.1.7 Groove Pool - Alt 6 (Win) / Option 6 (Mac)

The timing and “feel“ of clips can be modified through the use of grooves. Live comes with a large
selection of grooves, which can be added to a Set via the Groove Pool.

You can use Tab and Shift Tab to navigate between groove parameters, as well as the up and
down arrow keys to adjust parameter values.

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38.4.1.8 Help View - Alt 7 (Win) / Option 7 (Mac)

The Help View contains a selection of lessons, which are short tutorials covering different aspects of
Live. Tab and Shift Tab can be used to navigate between the controls in this view.

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39. Live Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts are available for many common actions and commands in Live.

39.1 Showing and Hiding Views

Windows Mac
Toggle Full Screen Mode F11 Ctrl Cmd F

Toggle Second Window Ctrl Shift W Cmd Shift W

Toggle Session/Arrangement Tab Tab

View

Toggle Between Device/Clip Shift Tab or F12 Shift Tab or F12

View

Toggle Device and Clip View Alt click view toggle Option click view toggle

Toggle Hot-Swap Mode Q Q

Toggle Drum Rack/Last D D

Selected Pad

Hide/Show Info View Shift ? Shift ?

Hide/Show Video Window Ctrl Alt V Cmd Option V

Hide/Show Browser Ctrl Option B or Ctrl Cmd Option B or Cmd

Alt 5 Option 5

Hide/Show Overview Ctrl Alt O Cmd Option O

Hide/Show In/Out Ctrl Alt I Cmd Option I

Hide/Show Sends Ctrl Alt S Cmd Option S

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 Windows Mac
Hide/Show Mixer Ctrl Alt M Cmd Option M

Hide/Show Clip View Ctrl Alt 3 Cmd Option 3

Hide/Show Device View Ctrl Alt 4 Cmd Option 4

Hide/Show the Groove Pool Ctrl Alt 6 Cmd Option 6

Open the Settings Ctrl , Cmd ,

Close Window/Dialog Esc Esc

39.2 Keyboard Focus and Navigation

Windows Mac
Move Focus to the Control Bar Alt 0 Option 0

Move Focus to the Session Alt 1 Option 1

View

Move Focus to the Alt 2 Option 2

Arrangement View

Move Focus to the Clip View Alt 3 Option 3

Move Focus to the Device Alt 4 Option 4

View

Move Focus to the Browser Alt 5 Option 5

Move Focus to the Groove Alt 6 Option 6

Pool

Move Focus to the Help View Alt 7 Option 7

Move Focus to the Selected Alt 8 Option 8

Clip Panel

Move Focus to the Clip Panels Alt Shift P Option Shift P

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The following shortcuts are available when the Use Tab to Move Focus command is enabled via Live’s
Settings or the Navigate menu.

Windows Mac
Move to Next Focusable Tab Tab

Control

Move to Previous Focusable Shift Tab Shift Tab

Control

Move to Next Neighbor of Ctrl Tab Option Tab

Current Control

Move to Previous Neighbor of Ctrl Shift Tab Option Shift Tab

Current Control

39.3 Working with Sets and the Program

Windows Mac
New Live Set Ctrl N Cmd N

Open Live Set Ctrl O Cmd O

Save Live Set Ctrl S Cmd S

Save Live Set As… Ctrl Shift S Cmd Shift S

Quit Live Ctrl Q Cmd Q

Hide Live Cmd H

Export Audio/Video Ctrl Shift R Cmd Shift R

Export MIDI File Ctrl Shift E Cmd Shift E

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39.4 Working with Devices and Plug-Ins
Windows Mac
Group Devices Ctrl G Cmd G

Ungroup Devices Ctrl Shift G Cmd Shift G

Activate/Deactivate All Hold Alt and click on device Hold Option and click on
Devices in Group activator device activator

Add Device(s) to Selection Shift click Shift click

See List of Devices on a Track right-click on Device View right-click on Device View
selector selector

Reset Parameter Value Delete or double-click Delete or double-click

Load Selected Device from Enter Enter

Browser

Hot-Swap Selected Device Q Q

Show/Hide Plug-In Window Ctrl Alt P Cmd Option P

Open Multiple Windows with Ctrl Cmd

Show/Hide Plug-In Window

Button

39.5 Editing
Windows Mac
Cut Ctrl X Cmd X

Copy Ctrl C Cmd C

Paste Ctrl V Cmd V

Duplicate Ctrl D Cmd D

Delete Delete Delete

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 Windows Mac
Undo Ctrl Z Cmd Z

Redo Ctrl Y Cmd Shift Z

Rename Ctrl R Cmd R

Select All Ctrl A Cmd A

Select Multiple Items Ctrl click Cmd click

Select Multiple Items by First Shift click Shift click

and Last Item

Move to Next Track/Scene Tab Tab

When Renaming

Ignore Grid Quantization Alt Cmd

When Dragging

Some of the above editing shortcuts can also be applied to the following items by using the listed
modifier key:

Windows Mac
Clips and Slots Across All Shift Shift

Tracks

Time Across All Tracks Shift Shift

The Selected Part of the Alt Option

Envelope

39.6 Adjusting Values

Windows Mac
Decrement/Increment up and down arrow keys up and down arrow keys

Decrement/Increment in Shift up and down arrow Shift up and down arrow

Octaves or Fine Adjustments keys keys

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 Windows Mac
Finer Resolution When Shift Shift

Dragging

Return to Default Delete Delete

Type In Value 0 … 9 0 … 9

Go to Next Field (Bar/Beat/ . , . ,

16th)

Cancel Value Entry Esc Esc

Confirm Value Entry Enter Enter

39.7 Commands for Breakpoint Envelopes

Windows Mac
Toggle Automation Mode A A

Finer Resolution When Shift Shift

Dragging

Create Curved Automation Alt Option

Segment

Momentarily Toggle Fade F F

Controls

Delete Selected Breakpoint Ctrl Delete Cmd Delete

Envelope

Ignore Grid Quantization Alt Cmd

When Dragging

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39.8 Loop Brace and Start/End Markers
Windows Mac
Set Start Marker Ctrl F9 Cmd F9

Set Loop Brace Start Ctrl F10 Cmd F10

Set Loop Brace End Ctrl F11 Cmd F11

Set End Marker Ctrl F12 Cmd F12

The loop brace or start/end markers must first be selected before any of the following shortcuts can
be applied.

Windows Mac
Move Start Marker to Position Ctrl click Cmd click

Move End Marker to Position Ctrl Shift click Cmd Shift click

Nudge Loop Brace Left/Right right and left arrow keys right and left arrow keys

Move Loop by Loop Length up and down arrow keys up and down arrow keys

Halve/Double Loop Length Ctrl up and down arrow Cmd up and down arrow
keys keys

Shorten/Lengthen Loop Ctrl right and left arrow keys Cmd right and left arrow
keys

Select Material in Loop Ctrl Shift L Cmd Shift L

39.9 Zooming, Display and Selections

Windows Mac
Zoom In + +

Zoom Out - -

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 Windows Mac
Scroll Display to Follow Ctrl Shift F Option Shift F

Playback

Scroll Left/Right Shift scroll Shift scroll

Pan Left/Right of Selection Ctrl Alt Cmd Option

Add Items to a Selection Shift click or drag Shift click or drag

Add Adjacent Clips/Tracks/ Shift click Shift click

Scenes to Multi-Selection

Add Nonadjacent Clips/ Ctrl click Cmd click

Tracks/Scenes to a Multi-
Selection

39.10 Clip View Editor View Modes

Windows Mac
Switch Between Sample/ Alt Tab Option Tab

Envelopes Tabs

Switch Between Notes/ Alt Tab Option Tab

Envelopes/MPE Tabs

39.11 Clip View Sample Editor

Windows Mac
Quantize Ctrl U Cmd U

Quantize Settings… Ctrl Shift U Cmd Shift U

Move Selected Warp Marker right and left arrow keys right and left arrow keys

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 Windows Mac
Select Warp Marker Ctrl right and left arrow keys Cmd right and left arrow
keys

Scroll Display to Follow Ctrl Shift F Option Shift F

Playback

Move Clip Region with Start Shift right and left arrow Shift right and left arrow
Marker keys keys

Zoom to Clip Selection Z Z

Zoom Back from Clip X X

Selection

Insert Warp Marker Ctrl I Cmd I

Delete Warp Marker Delete Delete

Insert Transient Ctrl Shift I Cmd Shift I

Delete Transient Ctrl Shift Delete Cmd Shift Delete

Fit Content to View Width W W

Fit Content to View Height H H

39.12 Clip View MIDI Note Editor

Windows Mac
Select All Notes Ctrl A Cmd A

Copy Notes Ctrl drag Option drag

Chop Notes on Grid Ctrl E Cmd E

Split/Chop Notes E Ctrl drag E Option drag

Join Notes Ctrl J Cmd J

Fit Notes to Time Range Ctrl Alt J Cmd Option J

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 Windows Mac
Fit Content to View Width W W

Fit Content to View Height H H

Quantize Ctrl U Cmd U

Quantize Settings… Ctrl Shift U Cmd Shift U

Scroll Editor Vertically Page Up/Down keys Page Up/Down keys

Scroll Editor Horizontally Ctrl Page Up/Down keys Shift Page Up/Down keys

Change Velocity from MIDI Alt drag Cmd drag

Note Editor

Move Insert Marker to Home Home or Function left

Beginning arrow key

Move Insert Marker to End End End or Function right

arrow

Select Next/Previous Note Alt up and down arrow keys Option up and down arrow
keys

Select Next/Previous Note in Alt left and right arrow keys Option left and right arrow
Same Key Track keys

Scroll Display to Follow Ctrl Shift F Option Shift F

Playback

Move Clip Region with Start Shift right and left arrow Shift right and left arrow
Marker keys keys

Zoom to Clip Selection Z Z

Zoom Back from Clip X X

Selection

Zoom In/Out Horizontally + - + -

Set Note Selection Velocity Type a value between 0-127 Type a value between 0-127
and press Enter and press Enter

Adjust Note Selection Velocity Ctrl up and down arrow Cmd up and down arrow
keys keys

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 Windows Mac
Adjust Note Selection Velocity Ctrl Shift up and down Cmd Shift up and down
Deviation arrow keys arrow keys

Adjust Note Selection Chance Ctrl Alt up and down Cmd Option up and down
arrow keys arrow keys

Toggle Full-Size Clip View Ctrl Alt E Cmd Option E

Group Notes (Play All) Ctrl G Cmd G

Ungroup Notes Ctrl Shift G Cmd Shift G

Apply Current MIDI Tool Ctrl Enter Cmd Enter

Settings

Invert Note Selection Ctrl Shift A Cmd Shift A

Highlight Scale K K

39.13 Grid Snapping and Drawing

Windows Mac
Toggle Draw Mode (Pitch Lock B B

Off)

Narrow Grid Ctrl 1 Cmd 1

Widen Grid Ctrl 2 Cmd 2

Triplet Grid Ctrl 3 Cmd 3

Snap to Grid Ctrl 4 Cmd 4

Fixed/Zoom-Adaptive Grid Ctrl 5 Cmd 5

Bypass Snapping While Alt Cmd

Dragging

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39.14 Global Quantization
Windows Mac
Sixteenth-Note Quantization Ctrl 6 Cmd 6

Eighth-Note Quantization Ctrl 7 Cmd 7

Quarter-Note Quantization Ctrl 8 Cmd 8

1-Bar Quantization Ctrl 9 Cmd 9

Quantization Off Ctrl 0 Cmd 0

39.15 Session View

Windows Mac
Launch Selected Clip/Slot Enter Enter

Select Neighboring Clip/Slot arrow keys arrow keys

Select All Clips/Slots Ctrl A Cmd A

Copy Clips Ctrl drag Option drag

Add/Remove Stop Button Ctrl E Cmd E

Stop Clips in Track with Slot Ctrl Enter Cmd Enter

Selection

Insert MIDI clip Ctrl Shift M Cmd Shift M

Insert Scene Ctrl I Cmd I

Insert Captured Scene Ctrl Shift I Cmd Shift I

Move Up/Down Between up and down arrow keys up and down arrow keys
Scenes (One at a Time)

Move Up/Down Between Page Up/Down keys Page Up/Down keys

Scenes (Eight at a Time)

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 Windows Mac
Capture MIDI Ctrl Shift C Cmd Shift C

Record to Session View Ctrl Shift F9 Cmd Shift F9

Toggle Follow Actions for Shift Enter Shift Enter

Selected Clips

Create Follow Action Chain Ctrl Shift Enter Cmd Shift Enter

Move Selected Track Left/ Ctrl left and right arrow keys Cmd left and right arrow
Right keys

Move Nonadjacent Scenes Ctrl up and down arrow Cmd up and down arrow
Without Collapsing keys keys

Drop Browser Clips as a Ctrl Cmd

Scene

Deactivate Selected Clip 0 0

Jump to Highlighted Track Title Esc Esc

Bar

Jump to the First Track of the Home Home or Function left

Current Scene arrow key

Jump to the Last Track of the End End or Function right

Current Scene arrow key

Jump to the Current Scene End End or Function right

from the Last Track arrow key

39.16 Arrangement View

Windows Mac
Split Clip at Selection Ctrl E Cmd E

Consolidate Selection into Ctrl J Cmd J

Clip

Crop Selected Clips Ctrl Shift J Cmd Shift J

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 Windows Mac
Resize Clip When Insert Enter left and right arrow Enter left and right arrow
Marker is at Clip Edge keys keys

Slide Waveform Shift Alt drag Shift Option drag

Stretch Warped Clip Shift drag in clip title bar Shift drag in clip title bar

Select Time Within Clip Shift Alt drag in clip title Shift Option drag in clip
bar title bar

Create Fade/Crossfade Ctrl Alt F Cmd Option F

Delete Fades/Crossfades in Ctrl Alt Delete Cmd Option Delete

Selected Clip(s)

Momentarily Toggle Fade F F

Handles

Toggle Loop Brace Ctrl L Cmd L

Adjust Loop Brace Length Ctrl left and right arrow keys Cmd left and right arrow
keys

Select Loop Brace Contents Ctrl Shift L Cmd Shift L

Capture MIDI Ctrl Shift C Cmd Shift C

Insert Silence Ctrl I Cmd I

Cut Time Ctrl Shift X Cmd Shift X

Paste Time Ctrl Shift V Cmd Shift V

Duplicate Time Ctrl Shift D Cmd Shift D

Delete Time Ctrl Shift Delete Cmd Shift Delete

Fold/Unfold Selected Tracks U or left and right arrow U or left and right arrow
keys keys

Unfold All Tracks Alt U Option U

Adjust Height of Selected Alt + and Alt - Option + and Option -

Tracks/Clips

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 Windows Mac
Scroll Display to Follow Ctrl Shift F Option Shift F

Playback

Scroll Display Left/Right of Ctrl Alt drag Cmd Option drag

Selection

Optimize Arrangement Height H H

Optimize Arrangement Width W W

Deactivate Selection 0 0

Nudge Selection Left/Right right and left arrow keys right and left arrow keys

Reverse Audio Clip Selection R R

Zoom to Arrangement Time Z Z

Selection

Zoom Back from Arrangement X X

Time Selection

Play from Insert Marker in Ctrl Space Option Space

Selected Clip

Move Insert Marker to Ctrl Shift Space Cmd Shift Space

Playhead Position

Jump to Highlighted Track Title Esc Esc

Bar

Move Focus to Mixer Alt Shift M Option Shift M

39.17 Comping
Windows Mac
Show Take Lanes Ctrl Alt U Cmd Option U

Add Selected Take Lane Area Enter Enter

to Main Track Lane

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 Windows Mac
Audition Selected Take Lane T T

Add Take Lane Shift Alt T Shift Option T

Duplicate Selected Take Lane Ctrl D Cmd D

Replace Main Take Clip with Ctrl up and down arrow Cmd up and down arrow
Next/Previous Take keys keys

39.18 Commands for Tracks

Windows Mac
Insert Audio Track Ctrl T Cmd T

Insert MIDI Track Ctrl Shift T Cmd Shift T

Insert Return Track Ctrl Alt T Cmd Option T

Rename Selected Track Ctrl R Cmd R

Go to Next Track When Tab Tab

Renaming

Group Selected Tracks Ctrl G Cmd G

Ungroup Tracks Ctrl Shift G Cmd Shift G

Show Grouped Tracks + +

Hide Grouped Tracks - -

Move Nonadjacent Tracks Ctrl arrow keys Cmd arrow keys

Without Collapsing

Arm Selected Tracks C C

Solo Selected Tracks S S

Add Device from Browser Enter Enter

Deactivate Selected Track 0 0

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 Windows Mac
Freeze/Unfreeze Tracks Ctrl Alt Shift F Cmd Option Shift F

39.19 Transport
Windows Mac
Play from Start Marker/Stop Space Space

Continue Play from Stop Point Shift Space Shift Space

Stop Playback at End of Ctrl Space Option Space

Selection

Play Arrangement View Space Space

Selection

Move Insert Marker to Home Home or Function left

Beginning arrow key

Record F9 F9

Arm Recording in Shift F9 Shift F9

Arrangement View

Record to Session View Ctrl Shift F9 Cmd Shift F9

Back to Arrangement F10 F10

Activate/Deactivate Track 1… F1 … F8 F1 … F8

Toggle Metronome O O

890
39.20 Audio Engine
Windows Mac
Turn Audio Engine On/Off Ctrl Alt Shift E Cmd Option Shift E

39.21 Browser
Windows Mac
Scroll Down/Up up and down arrow keys up and down arrow keys

Hide/Show Browser Ctrl Alt B Cmd Option B

Close/Open Folders right and left arrow keys right and left arrow keys

Load Selected Item from Enter Enter

Browser

Preview Selected File Shift Enter or right arrow Shift Enter or right arrow
key key

Search in Browser Ctrl F Cmd F

Jump to Search Results down arrow key or Enter down arrow key or Enter

Assign Color(s) to Selected 1 … 7 1 … 7

Browser Item(s)

Reset Assigned Color(s) for 0 0

Selected Browser Item(s)

Show Similar Files Using Ctrl Shift F Cmd Shift F

Similarity Search

Browser History Back Ctrl [ Cmd [

Browser History Forward Ctrl ] Cmd ]

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39.22 Similar Sample Swapping
These shortcuts work for Drum Racks, Drum Rack pads, and Simpler.

Windows Mac
Swap to Next Similar Sample Ctrl right arrow Cmd right arrow

Swap to Previous Similar Ctrl left arrow Cmd left arrow

Sample

Save as Similarity Reference Ctrl up arrow Cmd up arrow

Return to Reference Ctrl down arrow Cmd down arrow

Temporarily Toggle Similar Alt Option

Sample Swap Controls in

Drum Racks

39.23 Key/MIDI Map Mode and the Computer

MIDI Keyboard
Windows Mac
Toggle MIDI Map Mode Ctrl M Cmd M

Toggle Key Map Mode Ctrl K Cmd K

Computer MIDI Keyboard M M

Adjust Computer MIDI X and Z keys X and Z keys

Keyboard Octave Range Up/
Down

Adjust Computer MIDI C and V keys C and V keys

Keyboard Incoming Note
Velocity Up/Down

When the Computer MIDI Keyboard is enabled, you can play notes and adjust the octave and
velocity ranges using the following keys:

892
The Computer MIDI Keyboard Layout.

Single letter shortcuts can still be used when the Computer MIDI Keyboard is active by adding Shift ,
e.g., Shift S to solo a track.

39.24 Momentary Latching Shortcuts

Some shortcuts can be momentarily latched. This means you can hold down the shortcut key and
briefly toggle the shortcut action. After releasing the key, Live’s UI will return to its previous state.
Momentary latching becomes available after holding down a shortcut key for about 500 ms. The
following shortcut keys can be momentarily latched:

• A toggles Arrangement automation mode

• B toggles Draw Mode
• S toggles soloing the selected track

• Z toggles zooming into the Arrangement selection

• F1 through F8 toggle the Track Activator switch on and off for the first eight tracks

• Tab toggles between Arrangement and Session View

If needed, momentary latching can be turned off using the Options.txt entry: -DisableHotKeyLatching

39.25 General Keyboard Navigation and

Workflow
You can navigate through most of Live’s menus, views and controls using the computer keyboard.

The Navigate menu in Live’s menu bar contains commands for moving keyboard focus to different
areas of the UI, as well as options for using Tab to navigate between controls. Additional navigation
commands can also be found in the Display & Input Settings.

893
39.25.1 Using Tab for Navigation

When the Use Tab to Move Focus option is enabled, the Tab key can be used to navigate in the
following ways:

• Tab moves to the next control

• Shift Tab moves to the previous control

The Tab key can also be used to navigate between controls in the Session and Arrangement mixers
via these shortcuts:

• Ctrl Tab (Win) / Option Tab (Mac) moves to the next control in the same row
• Ctrl Shift Tab (Win) / Option Shift Tab (Mac) moves to the previous control in the

same row

When Use Tab to Move Focus is off, pressing the Tab key will switch between Session and
Arrangement View, as in previous Live versions.

In addition to using Tab to move focus, the following navigation options are also available:

• Wrap Tab Navigation - When this option is enabled, navigating with Tab will not stop at the
last control in a focused view, but will navigate back to the first control. If the first control is
selected, using Shift Tab will navigate to the last control. This option can be enabled via the
Navigate menu or the Display & Input Settings.
• Move Clips with Arrow Keys - This option is enabled by default, and lets you use the left and
right arrow keys to move selected clips and/or the time selection in Arrangement View. This
behavior can be switched off in the Display & Input Settings if needed. When off, pressing the
left arrow key collapses the time selection to the start point, while pressing the right arrow key
collapses the time selection to the end point.

39.25.2 Navigating Between Controls in the Settings Menu

The Tab and Shift Tab keys can be used to navigate between options inside the Settings tabs.
These shortcuts work regardless of whether the Use Tab to Move Focus option is active or not.

When a command is focused in any of the Settings tabs, the up and down arrow keys can be used to
change the state of a toggle, make value adjustments, or cycle through the available options for a
given command. It is also possible to use the Enter key to switch between toggle states.

To navigate between the different tabs in the Settings Page Chooser, use Ctrl Tab (Win) /
Option Tab (Mac) and Ctrl Shift Tab (Win) / Option Shift Tab (Mac) or the up and

down arrow keys when the chooser is focused. If the keyboard focus is on the first control of any given
Settings tab, use the Shift Tab shortcut to return the focus to the Settings Page Chooser.

894
39.26 Accessing Menus
On 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:

• The up and down arrow keys to navigate the menu items.

• The right and left arrow keys to open the neighboring menu.
• Enter to choose a menu item.

On Mac, you can access individual menu entries by pressing Cmd ? . This opens a search field
that will suggest menu entries as you type. You can navigate the suggested options by pressing the up
and down arrow keys and then press Enter to choose one.

39.27 Using Live’s Context Menu

A context menu is available in different areas of Live for quick access to commonly used menu items
and actions. To access the context menu, right-click (Win) / Ctrl-click (Mac) on the part of the
interface where you would like to execute a particular command. The context menu can also be
opened using the shortcut Menu or Shift F10 on Windows or VO Shift M on Mac. It is
worth noting that the context menu may sometimes contain applicable options from Live’s Settings.
You should change these options with care, as they will affect not only the currently selected item but
also the general settings of the program.

Some commands only appear in the context menu. Among these are: various options for working with
the browser, special grid marker commands for directing Auto-Warp, detailed options for zoom-
adaptive and fixed grid line width, copying and pasting for Operator’s envelopes and oscillators, and
numerous device-specific commands.

895
40. Credits
Ableton Live 12 Manual

for Windows and Mac

Reference Manual by Michelle Hughes, Sara Riegel, Ania Kuźbik, Chandler Tipton, Timothy Beutler,
Dennis DeSantis, Ian Gallagher, Kevin Haywood, Rose Knudsen, Gerhard Behles, Jakob Rang,
Robert Henke, Torsten Slama.

Schönhauser Allee 6-7 | 10119 Berlin, Germany

Contact Support: https://www.ableton.com/help/contact-support/

Version 12.0

Copyright 2024 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 accordance 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 effort 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 permission of Ableton.

Ableton, the Ableton Logo, the Live logo are trademarks of Ableton AG. Apple, Finder, GarageBand,
Mac, Macintosh, macOS, OS X and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple Inc, registered in the U.S.
and other countries. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States
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. 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:

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896
 • SonArte
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Physical Modeling technology provided by:

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898