Ableton Forum

I've got a few clips in my set that I'd like to EQ destructively, i.e., I don't want to run plugins to cut the high frequencies I want to get rid of. I've got Digital Performer (which I can't stand) and Protools and tried to set these up as my external sample editor, but it doesn't seem to work. I get an "invalid session file" message in PT.

Should I have some other kind of external audio editor? I'd like to be able to run my audio suite plugs in PT every now and then if I want a little eq or verb or something permanently on the audio clip. Can someone walk me through the simplest workflow? Of course I could put the plugin on in live and buss it to a new track, but I'm looking for the most efficient method.

thanks!

Any external instrument with audio input is capable of doing this, or any external analog mixer which could route to other FX peddles or another input! Lots of fun, small learning curve.

But when you want to talk about the best workflow (which a work flow meaning, ease of usage, quick and fast, and not losing any quality), IMO you're talking about Ableton Push. You can do all the editing on the controller and not worry about all the routing and degradation of the audio quality passed through multiple devices. Plus you don't have to sit there on your mouse and keyboard to really do sample editing you can do it all on the controller.

But if you want more specific ProTools advice, I don't think the ableton forums would be home of a lot of experts in that department.

Regards,

KEAMO

that's not what he/she is talking about.

i use DSP-Quattro as my external sample editor. as long as DSP-Quattro is already running, clicking the edit button in the sample box of the clip info opens the sample in DSP-Quattro. process, save, return to Live and the edited clip is there...

you want to use an audio editor -- not a full-blown DAW -- as your external editor.

fishmonkey wrote:that's not what he/she is talking about.

i use DSP-Quattro as my external sample editor. as long as DSP-Quattro is already running, clicking the edit button in the sample box of the clip info opens the sample in DSP-Quattro. process, save, return to Live and the edited clip is there...

you want to use an audio editor -- not a full-blown DAW -- as your external editor.

Thanks, fishmonkey - that's what I'm talking about. I downloaded Audacity (free and has what I need) and am almost there. But where do you save the sample so that it'll populate in Ableton? Back into the ableton audio folder with the original sample?

But thanks for responding too, Keamo - I appreciate you trying to help! Probably didn't word my question very well either...

you save the sample in the original location and overwrite the old version (=destructive editing)
which means just hit "save" and not "save as"

Be careful, don t do it with samples which you use in other projects. A good strategy is to save your live set as self containing before you use the external editor.

I think I've figured out that this can't be done the way Live intended it within Audacity. Audacity doesn't allow for a simple saving of the edited file; your only options are to save it in in its proprietary format (not WAV) or export the sample, but then you're stuck putting it in the project folder and reimporting it back into Live. Kinda kills the advantage.

I downloaded a trial of Audiofile Engineering's Sample Manager and now the "edit" button function works as it should in Live.

zwolf wrote:But thanks for responding too, Keamo - I appreciate you trying to help! Probably didn't word my question very well either...

Hehe, yeah I was def thinking of the solution differently. Also i saw the word work flow and editing audio and I already felt like I had an answer.

KEAMO

fishmonkey wrote:that's not what he/she is talking about.

i use DSP-Quattro as my external sample editor. as long as DSP-Quattro is already running, clicking the edit button in the sample box of the clip info opens the sample in DSP-Quattro. process, save, return to Live and the edited clip is there...

you want to use an audio editor -- not a full-blown DAW -- as your external editor.

with Edison (standalone) u can use drag'n'drop instead of saving etc. http://www.image-line.com/plugins/Tools/Edison/ (so just press the edit, do the changes then drop it back....done)

I'm using Izotope RX3 as my sample editor. That's probably overkill, though. You can easily use Wavosaur, which is free and straightforward (doesn't even require installation). http://www.wavosaur.com/.

It really is a shame that Audacity doesn't allow you to save the file directly.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I hate wavasour, ocean audio, and audacity. I don't have edison. It's really frustrating because all I need is simple editing and they just don't work for me in live. It just creates a mess and a lot of wtf on my end.

I'll be watching this thread with anticipation of any and all info.

xbitz wrote:

fishmonkey wrote:that's not what he/she is talking about.

i use DSP-Quattro as my external sample editor. as long as DSP-Quattro is already running, clicking the edit button in the sample box of the clip info opens the sample in DSP-Quattro. process, save, return to Live and the edited clip is there...

you want to use an audio editor -- not a full-blown DAW -- as your external editor.

with Edison (standalone) u can use drag'n'drop instead of saving etc. http://www.image-line.com/plugins/Tools/Edison/ (so just press the edit, do the changes then drop it back....done)

Thanks for pointing this out. That looks like an elegant solution. I'd like to know more about how you use it with live. Do you have it as your "editor" and then once open, you drag the edited sample over on a new clip? Or do you just have edison open standalone and work that way?

eyeknow wrote: Thanks for pointing this out. That looks like an elegant solution. I'd like to know more about how you use it with live. Do you have it as your "editor" and then once open, you drag the edited sample over on a new clip? Or do you just have edison open standalone and work that way?

upped a video about the whole workflow (Edison has sound ofc. just forgot to set its audio back from ASIO>Camtasia wasn't able to record it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkR0w9iGkl4
so by default Edison uses its own data folder to store the dropped files, u have to collect them back to your own project folder at the end, fortunately Ableton Live has a one-click solution to do it by itself

xbitz wrote:

eyeknow wrote: Thanks for pointing this out. That looks like an elegant solution. I'd like to know more about how you use it with live. Do you have it as your "editor" and then once open, you drag the edited sample over on a new clip? Or do you just have edison open standalone and work that way?

upped a video about the whole workflow (Edison has sound ofc. just forgot to set its audio back from ASIO>Camtasia wasn't able to record it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkR0w9iGkl4
so by default Edison uses its own data folder to store the dropped files, u have to collect back them to your own project folder at the end, fortunately Ableton Live has a one-click solution do it by itself

Awesome! Looks like it integrates with live well. Will certainly be looking into this!