the single most life-changing tip i learned from one of your instagram videos was after selecting midi notes in a clip, Shift+CMD+Up/Down to increase/decrease all the notes by an octave
Absolutely. Try getting an Elgato Stream Deck and assign all those hot keys for really quick one button press editing and functionality. Consider adding a Contour Shuttle Pro, with the jog wheel to move your clips/notes etc around precisely with ease. No more dragging a clip or note: just select it and turn the wheel.
To get rid of the space between clips, you can use option + arrow left. Just highlight the clip(s) you want to move and option + arrow left and your highlighted selection jumps to the end of the clip before.
Adding on to your point about a single track maxing out the CPU. If you turn on 'Performance Impact' in the View menu, you can quickly see at a glance how much CPU each track is using. Makes it super quick to identify any track that is particularly heavy on the CPU, so you can just freeze that one track.
to add to this, if you're navigated to, say, the Packs section of the browser and you mouse click into the search bar, it will constrain the search to that category, but simply hit CMD + F and it will expand that search to everywhere.
Nice video. By the way: the CMD + Option + LIMBO can also be extended to SLIMBRO, where S= Toggle the visibility of the send dials and R= Toggle the visibility of the return tracks.
One note about the 'Reduced Latency While Monitoring' setting - there are some occasions you might not want this enabled. I found that when using the Splice plugin to preview sounds from Splice, this setting actually makes everything go out of time. Took me ages to figure out what was going on, but disabling it makes it perfectly in time again. I think what's going on is that the Splice plugin reports to Ableton that its source is a live audio source, which means the setting disables latency compensation for the track, but in this case you really want to keep the latency compensation so the sample plays in time with everything else.
I got so much from this. Thanks! My favorite tip is to setup track markers with the numeric keys. Hit the orange key button (top right) then click one of your markers then hit the corresponding numeric key 1-9. Now you can move the playback from any marker by hitting the numeric keys.
Another good one: in clip view, use Alt + Spacebar to start playback from the playhead in the clip view (as opposed to the playhead in the arrangement view). That's very useful when you're warping a clip and you don't want to start from the beginning every time. Also just hitting S to solo a track
Another one that I just found out today that I think is new to 11.1.1 is that, you can now switch between note, envelope and expression when you're in clip view with option+1, 2, and 3. Really handy when working with midi clips especially... Been using live since 8 and there were still a couple in here that I didn't know, specially the lose empty space one is something I've been missing ALOT! Now we just need the "strip silence" feature from logic and we're golden! :D
@Ya boi About what the name implies. It removes all quiet parts of an audio clip (region). It's basically a noise gate that works "in post" meaning that you get to dial in the threshold, lookahead/attack, hold, and release while having a visual of the clip so you can see what parts are gated/deleted or "stripped" if you will...
Fire shirt and I’m so thankful for this video. Just like hearing from you. I too am a father, husband and producer and I know it takes a lot. So thank you for the time.
Some important ones in this video! When I first discovered Shift + Tab, I let out an audible sigh. Here are a couple more shortcut greatest hits: Shift + Spacebar: runs playback from wherever the transport stopped during previous playback. Shift + Cmd + D: Duplicate entire timeline selection ie. no more using the loop brace copy and paste part of an arrangement Cmd + i: insert silence! Select an amount on timeline and this will insert that amount of silence before your selection. You can make your own shortcuts in your Apple/Windows prefs too. I’ve got shift layers programmed for Freezing, Flattening, and Collect All and Save. Saves a LOT of time!
cmd + shift + backspace deletes a whole section of the timeline (kind of reverse to shift + cmd + i). I use this either to shorten a track or to edit voices (when there's nothing else in other track above or below).
When working on a really long project with multiple movements (44 minutes, 4 movements) I used the length clip trick and also had multiple clips with different colours to signify where each movement begins and ends, making it really quick and easy to export specific movements for previewing as well.
You could also add a marker. Then set said marker to a specific number on you're keyboard (itll make sense to match the numbers) and once you press said number it'll go to that exact moment and play it. I did this for a long song.
That clip slip thing just changed my life. Phase-coherent editing was one of the last things I couldn’t find anywhere but protools. This lets you see the change to the waveform at the fade point in real time. Oh heck thank you
3rd tip didn't work for me... For some reason my ableton Extends all the clips to FULL length instead of closing the gaps cleanly. Any idea why this happens? Is it a hidden setting?
MIND BLOWN!!!! Been learning Ableton for the last two years after being “literate” in FL Studio. This speeds up my workflow immensely and maybe brings a new dimension to my producing and beat making. Thank you Andrew!!🙌🏾
@@LanceWillMakeIt What advice I can give tell is try both for a week. See which one you are more comfortable with. In the end, it’s gonna be which one helps with your workflow. As for my thoughts: Honestly I can switch back to FL Studio and still be productive. However, I gave Ableton a try as a sort of a challenge and it is growing on me. So, for me it’s not really FL vs Ableton, but I can use both and be productive. I have to anyway as most of my work is on FL Studio. I hope this helps and best of luck to you!
I don't even use Ableton but I'm a huge productivity nerd and absolutely live for these "things everybody should know about X program" videos, they are *immensely* useful for timesaving.
@@martinlieshow Yes, but I can _afford to_ waste my time because of how many time-saving tips I've learned from these types of videos, that's the trick.
That cmd+option drag one is super handy! I did similar stuff from within the clip section but knowing I can do it on the timeline is a huge time saver. Thanks Andrew!
Thanks for the video, Andrew! A tiny but very handy thing I've been using lately is pressing (on PC) Ctrl+Space to start playback immediately from where I last placed the transport marker on the timeline, as opposed to my old method of pressing space bar once to pause playback, and then once again to start playback from the beginning. You can also just loop a section if you're gonna be hearing it a lot, but sometimes you don't want to wait for the whole loop to finish, so Ctrl+ Space helps in those instances. Someone already mentioned this but Shift + Space will resume playback from where the transport marker was when you last stopped playback. Both of these shortcuts together have sped up my workflow in small but meaningful ways and I hope people are using them :)
Another tip: I really like Ableton's info view, which can be shown/hidden with the tiny triangle in the bottom left. It shows you info about whatever you're currently hovering over, including keyboard shortcuts related to it. It's especially useful for Ableton beginners, but I still use it all the time. I already knew about a lot of the keyboard shortcuts mentioned in this video thanks to info view.
Saaame, and the fact that it can be toggled on and off with ? makes so much sense! Whenever I have a question about somehting I just make a ? and it shows up to help me. Such a good feature.
cmd + 1~4 is so needed! shift+tab too! absolutely necessary! regarding searching the plugins that is definitely a good habit to get into! another thing to have a look is this addon called "live enhancement suite" which allows you to create some context menus and extra shortcuts on ableton! really handy if you take the time to setup it properly.
I knew about a lot of these tips but the one I didn't have a clue about was the "Shift->Tab" hot key, it might not seem like a big deal to some people but for me that will be speeding up my work flow so much!! Thank you, Andrew!!!
Also regarding thread per track: when you group multiple tracks and add input dependent time based effects such as compressors, the group track and all contained tracks go to ONE thread. Meaning 8 tracks with moderate cpu load spread across threads now all gets stuffed onto one, causing a cpu bottleneck, since the group track effect must wait for audio processing from child tracks before affecting it. This is also why some effects such as Shaperbox can fall out of synch, because it doesn't trigger this condition and therefore isn't compensated correctly.
@@matenorth well from what I understand, once an effect that uses input signal to modify it according to time (limiters, gates, compression) is on a track, all tracks that it depends on for that input will join the same thread, because it has to wait for the audio from other tracks to be processed by those track effects anyway. So using a whole thread on a sum bus (group, send, ect.) that is waiting idle while it's feeder tracks threads are working on their audio is less efficient according to how Ableton is structured. So even when you sidechain your kick to a different tracks compressor, it combines both onto the same thread. It causes negligible impact individually, but if you had a huge amount of processing on the kick and sidechain it to a bass with a huge amount of processing, then it's one thread with 2x huge processing. And then you stick a compressor on vox and aux the kick in... now the thread is also working all the vox fx too. Fun illustration of this is to take a complex project that runs right at the threshold of your computer and group the entire thing and stick a compressor on it and see how much that one stock fx chokes the system. Lol. So it's best to approach it critically. Say you're sending 5 drum tracks to a group and you want a compressor just to tame the snare transient. It's better to address the snare on its own track. Basically anything that you do on a summing channel for one specific tracks sound is best done on the track, and group effects being thought of as all influencing each other.
@@Tekmatic this is true so long as the frozen tracks don't need to sum to a track with such effects. However, I'd imagine having multiple audio tracks without effects on them running to a track that sits them on one thread shouldn't be of much cpu impact. I'm no programmer so I can't back that up with science
that clip slip was genuinely SO helpful, specifically for when you chop up a vocal then need to move all of it back or forward a little. had a vocal a little too late, then remembered this. thanks so much
01. you could use "command + l" to loop any clip (midi and audio) or selection. i use this "length idea" to name and create different sections of a song or project (easier to loop any part and select the whole thing to loop the entire song again). i also use midi clips to put reminders of what needs do be changed in the exact spot that i felt like changing. 04. another great tip regarding this topic th-cam.com/video/PT5mD2Zd7F8/w-d-xo.html
Length clip -> that one tip alone makes this a great video. I've been an Ableton user since version 4 or something, and I would not touch the loop braces for the same reason as Andrew - like, I had it set for the length of the song, and changing it for a loop section was such a hassle. No more. Thanks!
Some great tricks in there. Warp/Slip in the timeline is definitely something I'm going to use regularly now. Wish I'd known about the grid shortcuts earlier too! Instead of the "length" clip I've been using Ctrl + A (Windows) and then Shift + Left/Right if it's longer than needed. Will give that a try though. Using track markers has sped things up a lot me. Mapped Q/E to previous/next track marker. Makes skipping to different sections so much easier.
Regarding the One Thread per Track tip: swap into session view and toggle Show/Hide Performance Impact (it's a small 'c' icon, just like you can hide/show return tracks but only visible in session view) , press play, and see which tracks or groups are using the most CPU.
6:05 I actually use a progam language called autohotkey, so I can use my mouse side buttons to tab & shift tab, very nice to have it at my thumb instead of moving 2 fingers
Tons of great tips in this video. I'm a madman and dragged the clip view window all the way to the top of the window for a big display when working with midi notes, and it's really helpful for me. You gotta be real comfortable with shift+tab for it not to drive you crazy. Also, I haven't heard someone say "apple 1" instead of command 1 in many many years, and it really took me back. Thanks for an overall awesome video.
Mac: Cmd == Windows: Ctrl Mac: Shift == Windows: Shift Mac: Option == Windows: Alt Not always do the keyboard shortcuts directly translate over this way, but it's super common in my experience, especially with Ableton
MORE Immense timesavers for ableton users: - Set up a customized default template - Add sends you commonly use - Keymap shortcuts using Cmd + K (ex. Using the +/= key to record) - My fav things to hotkey: record button, midi monitoring (small headphone button in midi clip view), metronome, clip scene launch (using keyboard numbers 1-8)
This is a great vid! I’m a very new ableton user but I’ve found it to be incredibly useful for chopping up my samples. Before ableton, I recorded huge sessions that I made using VCV Rack, some of which were an hour in length. Now I can finally chop up these sessions into loops using ableton and start composing more focused tracks
Here’s another one: i think most people know CMD L to loop current selection. but you can also flip that CMD Shift L selects the currently looped region. it’s super useful for working with samples in the timeline while looping
yeah I honestly can't relate to that first tip because it's so easy to just highlight, Ctrl+L. I feel bad for Andrew if he was click+dragging his brace around all the time
For tip 3 - Losing Empty Space - there's an easier and quicker way to consolidate multiple audio segments (or MIDI) within the same track when there's empty space in between by selecting everything in that track (including the empty spaces) and hitting COMMAND + J
That's useful for an entirely different thing to Andrew's tip. His was more about organising the clips you've cut so that they're easier to access and take up less screen real estate. Actually consolidating audio would make that more difficult cuz you're making it one big clip and not actually reducing the amount of space on the screen that it takes up.
The 1 thread per track issue is common in my finding. I would do a lot of sound design with sound toys but when I would work on vocals and use waves, my computer would become a lot slower. So I’d swap out vsts or I’d flatten the 1 track. But if you’re always able to merge or re record using the built in resampling, it becomes a lot easier because you can glue your track again if neeeded.
Same. Ive started keeping a VST track just available for duplicating because the duped track will get flatten. Great for being able to save CPU and still get to create new melodies if needed, quickly.
1 thread per track? If I have an 18 thread CPU, am I limited to 18 tracks? No. I think Andrew's friend meant that some plugins that are not multicore will use one core or thread on that track, e.g. Serum. Which is super annoying. Diva is multicore and you can see it using more than one thread on one track of Ableton. Sidenote: Duda refuses to make Serum multicore, so you have to had a beast CPU with stupidly high clock speed (M1 Ultra? Useless) to use Serum at 96khz or 44.1khz with x4 oversampling on heavy patches with lots of polyphony. I have to split my big chords into sections over several tracks with many instances of Serum and group before adding effects on the group just because Duda won't add multicore to M1 (He's stated 'it's really hard').
@@RJ1J it means to render a chain from a track to the master it can only be done on the same thread. So you can max out the cpu meter in live by having just one track maxed out; and in your monitor you'll see that only one thread is working; the others are idle. other tracks will be dispatched on other threads according to available ressources. which means when your live CPU meter show 50% or more it doesn't necessarily means you're maxed out. (the live CPU meter is actually the percentage of the time of the buffer it takes to compute all the audio; it doesn't measure the actual CPU load at all)
For the "Length Clip" trick, if you have trouble selecting the section you want when you want to render, simply put a locator at the beginning of your song, one at the end. Then right-click the first one and choose "Select to Next Locator". That way, you can select your whole song in 2 clicks (provided you don't use locators for something else…).
Knocked it out of the park again Andrew. Though I've already known a few of these (from your TikToks!), I completely forgot about some of them so it was a nice reminder! With the empty clip that's the length of your session, I just put a track dedicated to that into my Ableton template, so every time I make a new project it's already there. Still gotta adjust the clip to the length of the project, but it does save a tiny amount of time
OMG. The Reduce latency option. WHY OH GOD did I not find that earlier!!! I've been forcing myself to record my analogue synths before adding any high latency plugins like linear EQ to my session because of the difficulty recording in time! THANK YOU!
I use a mouse for MMO games that has a lot of buttons (Razer Naga Pro). The software allows you to set custom keybindings to the buttons so I'm able to quickly record, undo, redo, save, isolate, loop, zoom in/out, switch between views, etc.
@tip #1, windows hotkey ctrl a, select all, ableton hotkey ctrl l to loop, ctrl shift r to bounce. cmd for mac in any case great video some stuff i didn't know, shift tab is crucial!
the single most life-changing tip i learned from one of your instagram videos was after selecting midi notes in a clip, Shift+CMD+Up/Down to increase/decrease all the notes by an octave
😲
Yes, I use it all the time !
That's a good one cheers 👍
Absolutely. Try getting an Elgato Stream Deck and assign all those hot keys for really quick one button press editing and functionality. Consider adding a Contour Shuttle Pro, with the jog wheel to move your clips/notes etc around precisely with ease. No more dragging a clip or note: just select it and turn the wheel.
I believe just the shift and up/down arrows does the same trick as well.
To get rid of the space between clips, you can use option + arrow left. Just highlight the clip(s) you want to move and option + arrow left and your highlighted selection jumps to the end of the clip before.
Adding on to your point about a single track maxing out the CPU.
If you turn on 'Performance Impact' in the View menu, you can quickly see at a glance how much CPU each track is using.
Makes it super quick to identify any track that is particularly heavy on the CPU, so you can just freeze that one track.
its greyed out on my abelton
@@parzival6419 It only works in Session View. If it's greyed out you are probably in arrangement view.
@@jmcframe thanks bro
Niiiice! Thank you!
Oh wow, that's huge.
To add to the search bar productivity; pressing cmnd+F quickly selects the search bar with without having to mouse over to the browser window!
to add to this, if you're navigated to, say, the Packs section of the browser and you mouse click into the search bar, it will constrain the search to that category, but simply hit CMD + F and it will expand that search to everywhere.
Nice video. By the way: the CMD + Option + LIMBO can also be extended to SLIMBRO, where S= Toggle the visibility of the send dials and R= Toggle the visibility of the return tracks.
Also, Cmd+Option+U toggles the take lane if you're using those!
@@VexillariusMusicEDM so CMD + Option + U SLIM BRO?
@@vemgutar U SLIM, BRO
@@vemgutar slim shaming
@@vemgutar And ? (shift + /) toggles the info view on the bottom left in Ableton so the ? in USLIMBRO? fits 😂
One note about the 'Reduced Latency While Monitoring' setting - there are some occasions you might not want this enabled. I found that when using the Splice plugin to preview sounds from Splice, this setting actually makes everything go out of time. Took me ages to figure out what was going on, but disabling it makes it perfectly in time again.
I think what's going on is that the Splice plugin reports to Ableton that its source is a live audio source, which means the setting disables latency compensation for the track, but in this case you really want to keep the latency compensation so the sample plays in time with everything else.
I got so much from this. Thanks! My favorite tip is to setup track markers with the numeric keys. Hit the orange key button (top right) then click one of your markers then hit the corresponding numeric key 1-9. Now you can move the playback from any marker by hitting the numeric keys.
Awesome tips in this video but honestly this one was MASSIVE for me and my workflow getting used to ableton. Thanks!
Thanks so much! Didn’t know how much I was looking for this!
Use cmd + k to get into that key map mode faster too!
you can key bind markers?! :0 Thank you!!
Another good one: in clip view, use Alt + Spacebar to start playback from the playhead in the clip view (as opposed to the playhead in the arrangement view). That's very useful when you're warping a clip and you don't want to start from the beginning every time. Also just hitting S to solo a track
It's Ctrl + Spacebar after trying but nice one I wondered how that was done bugged me for ages
@@SWIFTYRNORTH2009 Right, I suppose it's Ctrl + Spacebar on PC and Alt + Spacebar on Mac
This always annoyed the hell out of me, had no idea there was a way around it. Thank you 🙏
the best tip of all!! thanks!
on mac its shift + space
Another one that I just found out today that I think is new to 11.1.1 is that, you can now switch between note, envelope and expression when you're in clip view with option+1, 2, and 3. Really handy when working with midi clips especially... Been using live since 8 and there were still a couple in here that I didn't know, specially the lose empty space one is something I've been missing ALOT! Now we just need the "strip silence" feature from logic and we're golden! :D
discovered this one -- just this morning.
@Ya boi About what the name implies. It removes all quiet parts of an audio clip (region). It's basically a noise gate that works "in post" meaning that you get to dial in the threshold, lookahead/attack, hold, and release while having a visual of the clip so you can see what parts are gated/deleted or "stripped" if you will...
Great video man, these are the things we all need. No one needs another sound design/theory tutorial lol, we need workflow enhancement tips.
Fire shirt and I’m so thankful for this video. Just like hearing from you. I too am a father, husband and producer and I know it takes a lot. So thank you for the time.
Some important ones in this video! When I first discovered Shift + Tab, I let out an audible sigh. Here are a couple more shortcut greatest hits:
Shift + Spacebar: runs playback from wherever the transport stopped during previous playback.
Shift + Cmd + D: Duplicate entire timeline selection ie. no more using the loop brace copy and paste part of an arrangement
Cmd + i: insert silence! Select an amount on timeline and this will insert that amount of silence before your selection.
You can make your own shortcuts in your Apple/Windows prefs too. I’ve got shift layers programmed for Freezing, Flattening, and Collect All and Save. Saves a LOT of time!
SHIFT-SPACE! WOW. after all these years
cmd + shift + backspace deletes a whole section of the timeline (kind of reverse to shift + cmd + i). I use this either to shorten a track or to edit voices (when there's nothing else in other track above or below).
also ctrl + up or down when you have midi selected to add/remove one octave (very useful this one)
@@karlmarxstadt I know right?!
@@valdir7426 you know, I just tried this the other day to see and was pleasantly surprised.
When working on a really long project with multiple movements (44 minutes, 4 movements) I used the length clip trick and also had multiple clips with different colours to signify where each movement begins and ends, making it really quick and easy to export specific movements for previewing as well.
Thank you - great tip!
You could also add a marker. Then set said marker to a specific number on you're keyboard (itll make sense to match the numbers) and once you press said number it'll go to that exact moment and play it. I did this for a long song.
@@caliverrose8533 Whoa. I didn't know you could bounce around to the markers with the keypad. SICK.
@@caliverrose8533 This is the #1 tip I share with everyone I collab with, it is sooooo useful and until today I had never seen anyone else do it.
I use a midi clip as an arrangement map. Color the sections differently, intro, verse, bridge, hook etc
thats a great one, thanks :)
you can make notes on top of the timeline too.
That clip slip thing just changed my life. Phase-coherent editing was one of the last things I couldn’t find anywhere but protools. This lets you see the change to the waveform at the fade point in real time. Oh heck thank you
It "changed your life " ?? 🙄🤦♂️
@@RobBob555if you worked on it 50 hours a week, yes, it would change your life.
3rd tip didn't work for me... For some reason my ableton Extends all the clips to FULL length instead of closing the gaps cleanly. Any idea why this happens? Is it a hidden setting?
MIND BLOWN!!!! Been learning Ableton for the last two years after being “literate” in FL Studio. This speeds up my workflow immensely and maybe brings a new dimension to my producing and beat making. Thank you Andrew!!🙌🏾
as someone getting into beat making and not sure what DAW to start with, what are your thoughts on FL vs Ableton?
@@LanceWillMakeIt What advice I can give tell is try both for a week. See which one you are more comfortable with. In the end, it’s gonna be which one helps with your workflow.
As for my thoughts: Honestly I can switch back to FL Studio and still be productive. However, I gave Ableton a try as a sort of a challenge and it is growing on me. So, for me it’s not really FL vs Ableton, but I can use both and be productive. I have to anyway as most of my work is on FL Studio.
I hope this helps and best of luck to you!
@@AHarveySKB Thanks 👍
@dom anca Thank you 👍
@@LanceWillMakeIt FL is a cool funky software but also feels quite glitchy often.When changing plugins/tweaking ect.That fl20 on the mac tho.
I don't even use Ableton but I'm a huge productivity nerd and absolutely live for these "things everybody should know about X program" videos, they are *immensely* useful for timesaving.
lmao i do this kind of thing too, it's great to know the basics of a ton of stuff
So by watching this video you are actually wasting your time
@@martinlieshow Yes, but I can _afford to_ waste my time because of how many time-saving tips I've learned from these types of videos, that's the trick.
If people can follow along with what he’s talking about, they probably already know these “tips” its basically one tip and a bunch of shortcuts
Lose empty space is pure gold. Thank you. Great pace, great teaching, easy to follow.
Highlight an area and press command j
It’s difficult to express how helpful you and this channel has been to my workflow and writing. Thanks for everything you do man..
That cmd+option drag one is super handy! I did similar stuff from within the clip section but knowing I can do it on the timeline is a huge time saver. Thanks Andrew!
this will help a ton with adding variation, super useful
Those last three blew my mind. This will save literal years! Thanks Andrew.
Thanks for the video, Andrew!
A tiny but very handy thing I've been using lately is pressing (on PC) Ctrl+Space to start playback immediately from where I last placed the transport marker on the timeline, as opposed to my old method of pressing space bar once to pause playback, and then once again to start playback from the beginning. You can also just loop a section if you're gonna be hearing it a lot, but sometimes you don't want to wait for the whole loop to finish, so Ctrl+ Space helps in those instances.
Someone already mentioned this but Shift + Space will resume playback from where the transport marker was when you last stopped playback. Both of these shortcuts together have sped up my workflow in small but meaningful ways and I hope people are using them :)
Super helpful, thank you!
Ayyy! Wasn't expecting one of my tips to end up in here. Thanks for the shout out Andrew!
Another tip: I really like Ableton's info view, which can be shown/hidden with the tiny triangle in the bottom left. It shows you info about whatever you're currently hovering over, including keyboard shortcuts related to it. It's especially useful for Ableton beginners, but I still use it all the time. I already knew about a lot of the keyboard shortcuts mentioned in this video thanks to info view.
Saaame, and the fact that it can be toggled on and off with ? makes so much sense! Whenever I have a question about somehting I just make a ? and it shows up to help me. Such a good feature.
I just started using Ableton yesterday, I've always been on Logic and ProTools. These tips are exactly the pro beginner tips I need, thanks! ❤
cmd + 1~4 is so needed! shift+tab too! absolutely necessary! regarding searching the plugins that is definitely a good habit to get into! another thing to have a look is this addon called "live enhancement suite" which allows you to create some context menus and extra shortcuts on ableton! really handy if you take the time to setup it properly.
Hey Andrew! Bro you’re a big blessing to the music community. Thank You so much for all you do! And that shirt is epic
Thanks, Andrew! Appreciate this a ton. Been using Ableton for 15 years now and didn’t know about most of these. Please keep making videos like this!
Tip 4 and 6 completely blew my mind. THANK YOU ANDREW!!!!
andrew huang is the reason i love ableton
I knew about a lot of these tips but the one I didn't have a clue about was the "Shift->Tab" hot key, it might not seem like a big deal to some people but for me that will be speeding up my work flow so much!! Thank you, Andrew!!!
Self-taught musician and producer here!
Thanks for the tips A! I’m on my 6th year as a producer 🎚
The empty space Session view trick just changed my life!!! You, sir, are a shining beacon of Ableton enlightenment.
Also regarding thread per track: when you group multiple tracks and add input dependent time based effects such as compressors, the group track and all contained tracks go to ONE thread. Meaning 8 tracks with moderate cpu load spread across threads now all gets stuffed onto one, causing a cpu bottleneck, since the group track effect must wait for audio processing from child tracks before affecting it.
This is also why some effects such as Shaperbox can fall out of synch, because it doesn't trigger this condition and therefore isn't compensated correctly.
My grammar in the above comment is rubbish...
So instead of grouping tracks,it's best to send them to a new audio track, right?
@@matenorth well from what I understand, once an effect that uses input signal to modify it according to time (limiters, gates, compression) is on a track, all tracks that it depends on for that input will join the same thread, because it has to wait for the audio from other tracks to be processed by those track effects anyway. So using a whole thread on a sum bus (group, send, ect.) that is waiting idle while it's feeder tracks threads are working on their audio is less efficient according to how Ableton is structured. So even when you sidechain your kick to a different tracks compressor, it combines both onto the same thread.
It causes negligible impact individually, but if you had a huge amount of processing on the kick and sidechain it to a bass with a huge amount of processing, then it's one thread with 2x huge processing. And then you stick a compressor on vox and aux the kick in... now the thread is also working all the vox fx too.
Fun illustration of this is to take a complex project that runs right at the threshold of your computer and group the entire thing and stick a compressor on it and see how much that one stock fx chokes the system. Lol.
So it's best to approach it critically. Say you're sending 5 drum tracks to a group and you want a compressor just to tame the snare transient. It's better to address the snare on its own track. Basically anything that you do on a summing channel for one specific tracks sound is best done on the track, and group effects being thought of as all influencing each other.
@@nathanmorrow2584 And this is why 'freeze' and 'flatten' exist.
@@Tekmatic this is true so long as the frozen tracks don't need to sum to a track with such effects. However, I'd imagine having multiple audio tracks without effects on them running to a track that sits them on one thread shouldn't be of much cpu impact.
I'm no programmer so I can't back that up with science
that clip slip was genuinely SO helpful, specifically for when you chop up a vocal then need to move all of it back or forward a little. had a vocal a little too late, then remembered this. thanks so much
01. you could use "command + l" to loop any clip (midi and audio) or selection. i use this "length idea" to name and create different sections of a song or project (easier to loop any part and select the whole thing to loop the entire song again). i also use midi clips to put reminders of what needs do be changed in the exact spot that i felt like changing.
04. another great tip regarding this topic th-cam.com/video/PT5mD2Zd7F8/w-d-xo.html
Length clip -> that one tip alone makes this a great video. I've been an Ableton user since version 4 or something, and I would not touch the loop braces for the same reason as Andrew - like, I had it set for the length of the song, and changing it for a loop section was such a hassle. No more. Thanks!
Another trick for heavy threads is to create a second track, and farm some of the processing to the second track. Definitely some good tips.
Some great tricks in there. Warp/Slip in the timeline is definitely something I'm going to use regularly now. Wish I'd known about the grid shortcuts earlier too! Instead of the "length" clip I've been using Ctrl + A (Windows) and then Shift + Left/Right if it's longer than needed. Will give that a try though.
Using track markers has sped things up a lot me. Mapped Q/E to previous/next track marker. Makes skipping to different sections so much easier.
Regarding the One Thread per Track tip: swap into session view and toggle Show/Hide Performance Impact (it's a small 'c' icon, just like you can hide/show return tracks but only visible in session view) , press play, and see which tracks or groups are using the most CPU.
Thank you for this add-on!
some of the handiest tips on Ableton I've come across... thank you 🙂
7:40 - Cmd+5 turns Fixed Grid (8th, 16th, 32nd, etc) on/off. Without this it's in 'Adaptive Grid' mode which is dependent on zoom level.
Empty space tip is a total game changer - thanks!
6:05 I actually use a progam language called autohotkey, so I can use my mouse side buttons to tab & shift tab, very nice to have it at my thumb instead of moving 2 fingers
Bro great idea definitely
Tons of great tips in this video. I'm a madman and dragged the clip view window all the way to the top of the window for a big display when working with midi notes, and it's really helpful for me. You gotta be real comfortable with shift+tab for it not to drive you crazy. Also, I haven't heard someone say "apple 1" instead of command 1 in many many years, and it really took me back. Thanks for an overall awesome video.
Mac: Cmd == Windows: Ctrl
Mac: Shift == Windows: Shift
Mac: Option == Windows: Alt
Not always do the keyboard shortcuts directly translate over this way, but it's super common in my experience, especially with Ableton
I use a Logitech MX Keys, it's dual use for both MAC and PC and has both modifiers on the keyboard.
MORE Immense timesavers for ableton users:
- Set up a customized default template
- Add sends you commonly use
- Keymap shortcuts using Cmd + K (ex. Using the +/= key to record)
- My fav things to hotkey: record button, midi monitoring (small headphone button in midi clip view), metronome, clip scene launch (using keyboard numbers 1-8)
Is there one for lock automation?
"midi monitoring" - OMG I wish you could set that as 'on' by default!!!
This is a great vid! I’m a very new ableton user but I’ve found it to be incredibly useful for chopping up my samples. Before ableton, I recorded huge sessions that I made using VCV Rack, some of which were an hour in length. Now I can finally chop up these sessions into loops using ableton and start composing more focused tracks
If a video was the reason for you to gasp 3 times in 20 seconds of trying things out its a good video
Just laid out a very audible gasp at something in the vid right as this comment came up. Fuckin wild timing 😂
The timesaver grid shortcut has increased my productivity 10 fold. Thanks Andrew!
Here’s another one:
i think most people know CMD L to loop current selection. but you can also flip that
CMD Shift L selects the currently looped region. it’s super useful for working with samples in the timeline while looping
yeah I honestly can't relate to that first tip because it's so easy to just highlight, Ctrl+L. I feel bad for Andrew if he was click+dragging his brace around all the time
Ctrl+a, ctrl+l. Done.
Thanks for the video. I wasn't aware of the "All results" in the search bar. This will help a lot!
Bruh, clip slip literally made me freeze in amazement. Wtf.
Little nuggets of gold there, especially from Timeline Warp to the end of the video..
For tip 3 - Losing Empty Space - there's an easier and quicker way to consolidate multiple audio segments (or MIDI) within the same track when there's empty space in between by selecting everything in that track (including the empty spaces) and hitting COMMAND + J
This removes empty space but also comps it into one clip, I you wish to keep your individual cuts, Andrew's way is fastest.
That's useful for an entirely different thing to Andrew's tip. His was more about organising the clips you've cut so that they're easier to access and take up less screen real estate. Actually consolidating audio would make that more difficult cuz you're making it one big clip and not actually reducing the amount of space on the screen that it takes up.
I wish I could super like this. You saved my life with the latency tips
If you use the Length MIDI Clip you can even make the loop brace span your entire project by pressing "cmd + L".
Super useful in combination with the export audio/video. The default of this menu is actually to export the segment contained by the loop brace.
You can also “cmd+A” then “cmd+L” and it’s 20x quicker and you don’t have to create a floating midi track..
why are people using loop braces to render a project? cmd+a - shift+cmd+r - enter
@@rhubarb1073 because if you have reverb at the end of a track, it will be cut off
Dude, this is the only video that works. Thanks for posting!
The 1 thread per track issue is common in my finding. I would do a lot of sound design with sound toys but when I would work on vocals and use waves, my computer would become a lot slower.
So I’d swap out vsts or I’d flatten the 1 track. But if you’re always able to merge or re record using the built in resampling, it becomes a lot easier because you can glue your track again if neeeded.
Same. Ive started keeping a VST track just available for duplicating because the duped track will get flatten. Great for being able to save CPU and still get to create new melodies if needed, quickly.
1 thread per track? If I have an 18 thread CPU, am I limited to 18 tracks? No. I think Andrew's friend meant that some plugins that are not multicore will use one core or thread on that track, e.g. Serum. Which is super annoying. Diva is multicore and you can see it using more than one thread on one track of Ableton.
Sidenote: Duda refuses to make Serum multicore, so you have to had a beast CPU with stupidly high clock speed (M1 Ultra? Useless) to use Serum at 96khz or 44.1khz with x4 oversampling on heavy patches with lots of polyphony. I have to split my big chords into sections over several tracks with many instances of Serum and group before adding effects on the group just because Duda won't add multicore to M1 (He's stated 'it's really hard').
@@RJ1J it means to render a chain from a track to the master it can only be done on the same thread. So you can max out the cpu meter in live by having just one track maxed out; and in your monitor you'll see that only one thread is working; the others are idle. other tracks will be dispatched on other threads according to available ressources.
which means when your live CPU meter show 50% or more it doesn't necessarily means you're maxed out. (the live CPU meter is actually the percentage of the time of the buffer it takes to compute all the audio; it doesn't measure the actual CPU load at all)
That thread per track thing was SO HELPFUL! Thank you so much!
For the "Length Clip" trick, if you have trouble selecting the section you want when you want to render, simply put a locator at the beginning of your song, one at the end. Then right-click the first one and choose "Select to Next Locator". That way, you can select your whole song in 2 clicks (provided you don't use locators for something else…).
That’s cool, but a midi file the length of the track is only click to select everything
love info on latency, never noticed that hovering over shows that.
You can lose empty space in fewer steps. After selecting the separate clips in the track, just hit cmd/ctrl+J or right-click and select "consolidate"
That just turns empty space into silence. The process in the video instead moves all the clips together, different thing
@@MrKireko Why not just delete empty space as you go with cmd+shift+delete?
Because that will delete anything you have on other tracks as well
Thanks Andrew, I'll use these all the time
Amazing videos! I'm watching them all the time!
what a good video. just chill vibes, down to the point
Shift + Tab is the GOAT !!
8:42 clip slipping is amazing!!! thank you for this tip
Thank you! Just the shift tab is life changing
This video is extremely useful and communicated expertly
Thank you! As a begginer I learned a lot from this video.
I didn't know you could drag the audio/midi clip back and forth like that. Thats awesome. I am gonna use that all the time.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love you Andrew, you are a blessing to everyone
Shift Tab 🙏🙏🙏 life changer, thank you so much!
nice, reminds me to really study my production environment & shortcuts as much as every other instrument, tool & synth I use
the shift tab is so insane thank u so much
The Shift + Tab is a real game changer for me! Thank you!
Thank you for the thread tip! And working with warp in the time-line. Yes, you will save some human time here for sure.
Those last three tips !!! 🔥
You deserve more subscribers. Thank you for your help.
Knocked it out of the park again Andrew. Though I've already known a few of these (from your TikToks!), I completely forgot about some of them so it was a nice reminder! With the empty clip that's the length of your session, I just put a track dedicated to that into my Ableton template, so every time I make a new project it's already there. Still gotta adjust the clip to the length of the project, but it does save a tiny amount of time
Dude, these are some of the most useful Ableton tips I've seen on youtube.
The first one just changed my life!
Awesome video! I just got Ableton and am learning from scratch, though I've played guitar forever. Really appreciate the tips!
OMG. The Reduce latency option. WHY OH GOD did I not find that earlier!!! I've been forcing myself to record my analogue synths before adding any high latency plugins like linear EQ to my session because of the difficulty recording in time! THANK YOU!
OMG! Shift Tab was the best one I didn't already know! Oh and Shift Option drag! 😍
Very Informative, helpful and Educational video! Thx for the tutorial man!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm a newb and this video means a lot to me❤
i need an andrew huang set up looks so clean and classy
I love you, Andrew Huang. Lifesaver ❤
Wow I've been using Live for 10 years and pretty much everything in here was new to me! Awesome tips
I use a mouse for MMO games that has a lot of buttons (Razer Naga Pro). The software allows you to set custom keybindings to the buttons so I'm able to quickly record, undo, redo, save, isolate, loop, zoom in/out, switch between views, etc.
@tip #1, windows hotkey ctrl a, select all, ableton hotkey ctrl l to loop, ctrl shift r to bounce. cmd for mac
in any case great video some stuff i didn't know, shift tab is crucial!
don't know if you've heard it lately, but you're awesome. THX!
the shift + option + drag BLEW MY MIND!!!! WTTFFFF
Wtf why is this the best video you've ever made
seriously, ctrl+f has changed my life!!! and how amazing is this "lose empty space" tip?!🤯
Time line warp 🤯
That Shift + Tab jawn is GENIUS! Mos def appreciate ya bruh!