I just got Ableton Live 11 a couple days ago. I can see now why it’s always getting mentioned for looping artists.
I wanted to test it out with CS:M since I’ve received more questions about it than with any other software. I’m using the open-source E-RM multiclock plugin for sending the square waves. Everything went really smooth, I just had to figure out my way around bit. Another option for sample accurate clock out to hardware.
I think @aortan meant that when you drag some notes there’s no way to lock them vertically to their note values, even in fold/scale if you drag them up or down they will change pitch, but what could be useful is if for example you hold some modifier like SHIFT or something and they won’t change pitch no matter how high or low you move your mouse or trackpad
Exactly!
I’m near certain you can highlight the notes you want to move and use Shift+arrow keys to move notes horizontally. The notes will snap to the quantize division of the clip/arranger. If you want to fine adjust/nudge, hold Alt instead of Shift. If you want to shift notes up or down an octave, us Ctrl (I think. Just woke up and I’m not in front of my computer).
I’ve always either selected the notes and used left or right arrow keys or selected the notes, the used copy (ctrl+c / cmd+c), click the destination location and paste (ctrl+v / cmd+v) . I had never thought of looking for a drag modifier, I’m so much faster with the keyboard once the notes are selected.
The issue is that u have to select the notes w the mouse, then move w the keyboard; then back to mouse, then keyboard, etc. I get the (mild) frustration.
This modifier actually exists (as of recently) w the pencil tool—hold a key, then mouse click once and drag in order to draw a line of consecutive notes (probably hi hats) all at the same pitch/midi note, no matter how sloppy ur hand is in the vertical direction. But it doesn’t work the same with the selector tool.
Just getting used to Ableton.
I’ve figured out how to map midi controls by clicking on a dial and twisting a physical knob, but is there anyway to setup a midi controller to automatically control whatever instrument/effect is selected at the bottom of the screen?
This is supported by controller surface scripts, which Live supports lots by default (e.g AKAI APC or Ableton’s Push), or new scripts can be implemented with Python 3. Details about control scripts can be found here:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209774285
Live also supports a simple mapping for creating your own control surface scripts, which has limitations and cannot access Live’s internal API, but works in many cases:
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/206240184-Creating-your-own-Control-Surface-script
You might also find ones for your controller online, e.g. there is a nice one for DJ Tech Tools’ Midi Fighter controller.
I’ve ran a lot of tweaks in the meantime, ultimately I believe what’s going on neither 11 nor RME drivers but cpu core throttling on the MacBook M1 itself, only getting worse for my home studio having no AC to cool down the summer heat. It’s good in the mornings!
I installed TG Pro and see “Performance Cores Package” already at high degree and with Power Manager Die(s) occasionally spiking. I’m sure it will get worse as the day progresses.
I think the previous owner invalidated the warranty with a liquid in the keyboard, since it’s already OOW hopefully I can play stupid and just get the logic board/heat spreader reseated, surfaces wiped and replaced, and new thermal pads applied for a reasonable cost.
well that sucks. not much to do then ecxept perhaps trying factory reset, imo if you’re getting it serviced and it had any water damage you never know what they are going to replace, so they probably will do it anyway… worth a shot before sending it to service…
Point taken that i ought to back up first, however the OS and whatever cached logic board code are just responding to thermal events and they shouldn’t need to worry about anything else.
Any chance this is related to something thast just got fixed in the latest public beta?
this one has lots of free (or pay as you wish) m4l devices, very nice gui work and cool devices, synth, fx, utilities.
stuff like Sausage Fattener clone, Oxford Inflator clone, LA-2A style compressor, channel strips etc.
worth taking a look.
There’ll be latency in the whole set for playback etc but by recording with monitoring set to Off it’ll record perfectly on time.
I noticed FL Studio just added a feature: External Sync, which locks the DAW clock and transport to an external midi clock. To my surprise, it is really tight! When I change the tempo on the hardware, FL Studio follows pretty much immediately. It also shows the correct tempo (<0.1 bpm jitter) immediately, even after quick tempo changes. It is like magic!
In contrast: when I sync Ableton to an external midi clock, it needs a couple of beats to detect the tempo and/or catch up when the tempo is changed. It is really sluggish in comparison. I always thought this is just the best that’s possible due to technical limitations, but now FL Studio proved otherwise!
Also the midi clock from FL Studio is improved by a lot! The jitter is really neglectable. Much better than Ableton… I have no idea how they accomplished this.
Does anyone know how this is possible and if this has something to do with Midi 2.0? I jumped from Ableton to FL Studio because it has a way better workflow with external hardware, but now I feel like Ableton is lagging behind in this area… However, Ableton still beats FL Studio for external hardware in pretty much all other areas…
Hopefully this indeed has something to do with midi 2.0 and Ableton (and all other DAWs) will follow soon with improved midi clock. It feels so weird that in 2023 we still have to deal with major clock jitter coming from any DAW - except now FL Studio…
I dont get much jitter at all in Bitwig which seems to employ a similar external sync. I used it on a record a few years back - synced it to a Cirklon and recorded in. Didn’t need to do a thing, it recorded tightly.
Ah ok I didn’t know Bitwig has a similar external sync. So it probably doesn’t have anything to do with midi 2.0 then?
I just have a gut feeling that Ableton has to detect the Tempo from an external clock first, which is why it may not lock on immediately. And if that’s true, that this may have to do with a higher Internal Clock rate vs the MIDI Clock rate that’s coming in.
It’s not just MIDI. I also see this when using Ableton’s CV Clock In Utility. If I let Ableton detect the tempo by sending clock before hitting start, then it works fine. If I try to start the Transport at the same time I start sending clock, then it glitches at the beginning.
So many devices that accept external Clock don’t care what the tempo actually is, especially if they are running at the same rate of the clock that’s coming in. They can just start following the pulses using a 1-1 relationship. But certainly if they are unable to do that, you can expect that some code is more optimized for jump starting like that.
For outputting MIDI Clock, I don’t know all the intricacies of what happens when a DAW decides to send MIDI Clock from the code through the hardware layer, there has to be a point where the code of the DAW is better optimized to make sending MIDI Clock a priority, but there’s also a point where it’s out of the DAW’s hands as it hits the hardware layer and associated drivers on a multi-tasking system. The results may vary based on how much of a resource hog the DAW is (or how large the current project is … I’ve definitely had MIDI Clock output effected negatively the larger a project grows).
I wouldn’t surmise that it’s a MIDI 2.0 thing because from what I’ve read the jitter compensation in the MIDI 2.0 spec requires both the sender and the receiver to support 2.0 to take advantage of this.
Snipped changes unrelated to my interests, glad they’re fixing Auto-Warp fuckery, the algorithm is great when it works, but it’s a complete mess sometimes, sounds as if stretch marker placement will be much improved and less nonsensically applied. We’ll see!
Live - Bugfixes
I can’t remember if I already asked in this thread, apologies if so, but has anyone found a way to make Ableton default to 1/16 grid/snapping on new clips? Personally it’s all I use (basic I know haha) so the default adaptive is annoying