Today’s video shows an interesting Ableton technique that involves using follow actions on two or more clips to enable you to break up a loop on the fly. With Ableton, we normally don’t have the ability to easily move around within clips so much. This alternative technique adds a bit of freedom from that way of doing things. Twist an encoder until you get to the place in the song you want to hear, and then release. Your selection will break up the loop for a couple of bars before the follow actions take you back to the loop on their own.
Moving Around in Ableton Clips
Ableton gives you two ways to move around in the clip view without touching the mouse. The first is by mapping a control to the scrub control. Simply map the small square that appears between the nudge buttons in the clip window when you turn on MIDI map mode.
The second way is to map the loop start position to a MIDI controller. To do this click on the loop start position in the clip window and then move the control that you want to use.
I am using encoders for both of these settings in the video, but some other controls work as well. Make sure you set both of these controls to Absolute 14 bit mode to get the most resolution out of the controller that you are using.
Working in action
If you are not familiar with these controls, load up a clip and try it out. The Scrub control moves the playhead in increments of the global quantization amount depending on the midi settings and the resolution of the control.
Limitations with these controls
Moving the loop brace around is going to give you repetitive sounds unless you do something to add a bit of randomness. Another problem with the loop control is that it starts playing new material as you move the brace. If you want to skip to another part of the song, you will hear semi-random beats from in between the two positions. The scrub control is a bit easier to use for this purpose. It allows you to move around the song easily and it does not play until you have stopped moving the control. It’s a great idea to have this control as part of your arsenal, but be careful because one problem is that if you want to select a part of a song and then go back to what was playing before, you have to do it manually. There is, however, a way to fix this problem.
The Fix
What I am doing in the video takes advantage of follow actions to enable me to take samples from 4 different places in the song and make a loop using selections from two different places at once. To try for yourself simply duplicate a clip and set the follow actions so that play alternates between the two copies. I set the follow length to two bars. This means that there is a 4 bar loop made up of two bars of the first clip followed by two bars of the second clip.
The follow actions of your clips should look like this:
Try It Out!
Move the loop position on both clips until you find an interesting 4 bar loop. Now, move the scrub control for at least a bar and select a new section of the song before letting go. This will enable you to break out of the loop for 2 bars and play a sample from anywhere in the track. The great thing is, if you let go of the control and start working on something else, you know that in a couple of bars, it will end up back in the 4 bar loop that you selected.
How it works
In the video at the top, I alternate between clips, selecting each 2 bar segment while the other one is playing. This means that I can play sounds from different areas of the clip on the fly. I also move the loop on one clip while the other clip is playing. This means it’s possible to change the default loop on the clip without hearing random notes from other parts of the song or even using headphones to cue. It may sound complicated, but it is really pretty easy once you try it out.
The key thing to remember is that because follow actions will not force a clip to play if you are moving the scrub control, you can move both the loop brace and scrub control at the same time. This means that you can select the next two separate sections of the clip that will play at the same time while the other clip is playing.
So launch Ableton, set up a controller, and start practicing. This technique should be a lot of fun and help breathe some new life into your old Ableton sets.
Check out Luke’s last article on how to use multiple beat repeats in Ableton
Sorry if I’m being dumb here, but in my version of Ableton there’s no way to map a controller to the loop position or length parameters… What’s going on?
Bizarre. After trying to map this so many times, and failing, I finally discovered that I have to right click on the loop position setting to activate it for mapping input. Hope that helps someone else 🙂
4 oclock in the morning and I can’t stop reading your tips ! I like it baby
keep the ableton stuff coming.
keep the ableton stuff coming.
I have to say I agree with Dur -fair enough he could have put it a bit better, but the Information in these articles has taken a nosedive recently – The content and usefullness of the posts used to be a lot better.
Never posted here before – But I suppose with popularity quality looks like it is suffering somewhat. People are quick to jump on others comments – But re reading the posts in this article – a lot of people seem to be getting a bit emotional over stuff – which is bizarre, I never did get the whole internet argument thing – Its laughable.
info is info take it, leave it, find something better, whatever…one person’s un-insightful is another’s epiphany. Regardless, why be rude? Being critical is easy, doing as good or better takes real effort. most people i know that rant can’t really “do” much else hence the criticize others.
Thanks DJTT for your good stuff and your bad you helped learn so much all i have is gratitude.
info is info take it, leave it, find something better, whatever…one person’s un-insightful is another’s epiphany. Regardless, why be rude? Being critical is easy, doing as good or better takes real effort. most people i know that rant can’t really “do” much else hence the criticize others.
Thanks DJTT for your good stuff and your bad you helped learn so much all i have is gratitude.
I have to say I agree with Dur -fair enough he could have put it a bit better, but the Information in these articles has taken a nosedive recently – The content and usefullness of the posts used to be a lot better.
Never posted here before – But I suppose with popularity quality looks like it is suffering somewhat. People are quick to jump on others comments – But re reading the posts in this article – a lot of people seem to be getting a bit emotional over stuff – which is bizarre, I never did get the whole internet argument thing – Its laughable.
Boot Dur! What a joke!
Guys you realize that you can just google ableton tutorials you could go to the ableton forum RIGHT?
This is not negative. I’ve seen a few people post that they are new to ableton and find this very informative. Djtechtools is not the source for ableton stuff. It is a place to learn about traktor. I highly recommend going to the ableton forum and going through all the tutorial vids that are posts in the tips section.
Didn’t know there was a scrub control in ableton… that’s gonna be handy! 🙂 thanks for this
Didn’t know there was a scrub control in ableton… that’s gonna be handy! 🙂 thanks for this
Nice… just had a go of it, pretty handy little tip! Takes a bit of practice to make something that sounds good though
It does take practice. It is tempting to set up Ableton so that you can’t mess things up, but by taking away risk you take away some freedom as well. In addition, I have found that this technique works very well with certain genres and not at all with others.
It does take practice. It is tempting to set up Ableton so that you can’t mess things up, but by taking away risk you take away some freedom as well. In addition, I have found that this technique works very well with certain genres and not at all with others.
Ok, This is not new to me, I been doing this for quiet some time, the problem , or challenge I will said, is, if you track is not ” Warp appropriated,”….moving the position it really can make a whole mess….
my advise…. ” MAKE YOURE YOUR TRACKS ARE WARP IN THE RIGHT POSITIONS “….
and yeah I love both traktor and ableton, actually, I used both, but to make apoint, Ableton it take more time and organized skill to make a good performance tool, either as production software, live performance tool , or even as dj tool!!….as far there is more to read as how you can used Ableton, then traktor….
Sorry. Forgot to mention that this is a great video. I used live for a gig and got so confused with the fixed tempo , when I brought some random songs in , it was too slow and funny…..anyway…I am happy with traktor….but noted that someone mentioned that they could rewire traktor output to live…that would be interesting . I would be grateful if someone can post a video of that sort. Cheers,
I love Ean and this site. Great guy. Nice moderator too. Keep up the good work.
Anything Ableton related is always appreciated.
@Dur There is more than one way to skin a cat. Im sorry if this concept is way over your head. Human beings learn different ways.. This is a fact.
Some people learn by hearing an explanation. Others learn by Seeing and explanation. Others learn by doing. And of course you can learn by a mix of the above.
Dur suffers from the classic small penis syndrome, He believes the world can see his little arcade button that he presses all day. He also doesnt dj, thats a fact. And then he challenges to a battle. I cant believe my friends 11 year old brother is here making comments like this. so sad
” To see what crap content your really publishing” you really think your helping here?
As a traktor user I really liked that video, I need more ableton videos to know it better
i use both of ableton n traktor.. there s nothing ableton cant do, but juz more complicated
i use both of ableton n traktor.. there s nothing ableton cant do, but juz more complicated
The video itself kind of confused me, but Luke did a great job of expanding and clarifying. I think this is very creative and I’ve never thought to map the scrub control. Lose the negativity, this was a great post and I appreciated it. Thanks DJTT.
And thank you Ean to give us this amazing post/info/love as usual
So sad with all the negativity.. Give constructive feedback or continue your surfin’ guys 🙂
I liked the video.
love the ableton tutorials so far.
keep em comming!
Dear Mr. Dur, You have been plastering my site with negative comments for the past 24 hours. While I respect everyone’s opinion, slinging hate from behind a veiled curtain is just plain cowardly. I recommend 2 options:
1) Start contributing- if you don’t like the content, then write an article or go somewhere else
2) If you must be negative 100% of the time- Log in and stand behind your words
Cheers,
The Management
This is real simple its just like your T.V. If you dont like what you seeing then change the channel. No one is telling you to look at the article. If you dont like it then go some where else. Ean is correct, write and article on some thing you know that everyone will find useful. That is what this website has always been about. Now lets put it into practice.
No shit! really? there is actually other places on the net where you can get better information than some TechTools post! Thats mental, naughty Techtools and shame on you Ean!
Ean’s got a point about standing behind what you say, mr what ever it is you wanna call your self. No it wouldn’t change what your saying but it would make you look like you didn’t need to hide your i.d.
I’m sure when you critizise other people in real life you don’t put a bag over your head before you start?
“No ones scared of you or the sync and twirl your glowstick fanboy squad.”
Shame really, the guy seemed half coherent until that nice lump of ignorance stepped in. For me that end comment sums up why we have a problem with haters/trolls. These guys seem to get offended when posts don’t live up to there standards but get really really really offended when some of Ean’s huge fan base actually finds that same post helpful and interesting.
I’ve just brought Ableton mainly to warp old wonky loops and samples. One day I’d like to get a little more in to the software, this post showed me a few new things. Ok I might wanna check out other places for some more info or even better insight on the subject but this post has still put me in that direction.
With that in mind I guess I must be just another blind follower or part of the glowstick fanboy squad. Oh No!
Keep up the good work TechTool’s, your clearly a victim of your own success.
http://johns-jokes.com/afiles/images/arguing_on_the_internet.jpg
Ean, this is the first time ive commented on your site or any other site for that matter. im a fan of djtt and i love what you guys do. i even got a midi fighter from you guys.
that said, you are feeding a troll right now. dur is a troll if ive ever seen one. feeding a troll only makes it get bigger! i commend what your doing in this post trying to rid your site of negative comments. but please realize that you may only be throwing gas on the fire
what a cunt… fuck off you prick
and there you are… feeding the troll… WHY?!!!
First off ya can’t take this stuff to personal.
Second you have to agree that he does present a point that while YOU write good material some of the other stuff that is simply thrown together is sub par. Now if your are a traktor user and have never seen live then this might be useful. If you have used live for any period of time and are smart mixing or djing with live this might fall short of informative.
You guys should divide posts into beginner and advanced. This might help solve the issue that some of us are having with the marketing/basic posts.
It would be great if I could get an email when something on the advanced side of things pops up, and skip all this negative and beginner stuff
good luck with finding your sites purpose
I like the article, but it is just a little bit pointless.
Keep the Ableton posts coming! : )
High factor of negativity here. Mellow out, etc. or some hippie-stuff like that.
But seriously; So what if it’s not the greatest video of all time? Boo-freakin’-hoo. I use Live, it’s how I’m able to play my stuff (live, obviously), and I didn’t learn anything new from this, but it’s still fun to watch. And isn’t that the point? Fun. The learning, but firstly fun. And that’s what I get from DJTT, I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve had a lot of fun here.
Also: Who throws a cupcake? Honestly?
someone needs to cut their nails! lol
It’s not that hard to switch tracks in Ableton, just drop a new one in. I use a VCM-600 (which gives me 6 channels) so I always have a couple of sings on deck.
Honestly i want to be spontanious in a club and easily have chances to play some songs or samples so i think ableton live is not for me. Now i prefer Cds or traktor or an midi controller because i never know what song i’ll play in a club and when u play i a club just a 1 wrong song is enough to ruin a dj set and ableton is not the easy way to change a song when i choose a wrong track
This is very true, but do keep in mind that Live is a production tool that presents the ability for producers to quickly transform their studio into a live performance tool. In a sense, Live isn’t for playing just any tracks, but for playing your tracks.
I don’t get why some people use live to play other people’s songs, so in that sense I totally agree.
Yeah is because Live is a production tool that presents the ability for producers to quickly transform their studio into a live performance tool that i let him as my studio tool for some edits, mixes or remixes!
For Djing i’m still love Cds or Traktor or a dj midi controller
Wait, so your saying that you dont plan out your mixes? How can you not know what song your playing in traktor? The fact that your saying that ableton is harder to change a track makes no sense because it has the exact same abilities that all the methods you listed has, a crossfader and a different audio track. I really must say your post makes you look like a total idiot.
hmmm… Might not want to be too hasty calling someone an idiot. Traktor’s browser is much more efficient for finding a song on the fly. This is because live’s browser does not read id3 tags. Therefore you can’t search by bpm, genre, rating etc. It is not a matter of not knowing what songs you are playing in the moment, it is a matter of Live being too clunky to search for songs on the fly.
That.
This is one of the main reasons I don’t use only Ableton to Dj. The traktor browser (+trainspotter) just rocks. Traktor thinks like a Dj. If you have a preplanned set you’re not Djing, you’re doing a live mixsession or whatever but there is no interaction with the crowd.
I do use ableton to add extra perc loops, wooshes & one-shots. If i wasn’t too scared to crash, I would also route Traktor through the Ableton’s fantastic fx but that’s asking too much of my 4year mac.
this is a little bit of what i want say with my first post
If you read and understand my ideias and if you are Dj, maybe i don’t look like a total idiot for you.
Everyboby can say their opinion but because that u don’t have the right to offend!
I found this forum and i love the ideia that people that we don’t know lost their time to post usefull things for peoples that they don’t know. I respect that and i’ve to say thank you to Ean to give us this amazing site with amazing infos…
At the and i want let you know that english is not my first linguage. I’m from Cape Verde and the official linguage that we write since the firt day we go to school is portuguese.
Sometimes i can’t say what i think because i don’t know how say that and if i ever offend someone with my ideias, my apologies!
so you are saying you dont use any creativety at all…. its all planed out for you, that is kinda boring. normaly i have a general idea of what im gonna play in a night, but its really not planned out and most of the time i dont even play what i had in my mind…
so you are saying that changing a from song “a” to song “b” is faster on cds than on live?
i think you don’t know ableton live good enough…
so you are saying that changing a from song “a” to song “b” is faster on cds than on live?
i think you don’t know ableton live good enough…
oh wait… there it is…
I see no video…
yeah!!! the first one who says this article rocks!!!!