Ableton Forum

We all know holding Ctrl+Alt+LMB (Left Mouse Button) lets you grab the arrangement/session view and pan around. Shouldn't this function simply be mapped to the Middle Mouse Button? Seems pretty intuitive to me.

So I'm requesting this feature!

Also, I did a quick search and couldn't find a topic relating to this... don't hang me if this is already highly requested.

Mouse scroll wheels are not great many different clicks and variations, might not work so well.

I agree with OP, it is way more convenient to use middle click for pan and I never had any problems with it in Cubase or Bitwig (even better as it combines pan and zoom functionality) and after getting used to it, it's very hard to go back to Live's clunky way of doing it.
Thankfully there is mouse wheel zoom, at least in Live 10

oxygen23 wrote:I agree with OP, it is way more convenient to use middle click for pan and I never had any problems with it in Cubase or Bitwig (even better as it combines pan and zoom functionality) and after getting used to it, it's very hard to go back to Live's clunky way of doing it.
Thankfully there is mouse wheel zoom, at least in Live 10

Agreed. After using Bitwig middle mouse pan and zoom I find it very hard to operate Live. Live seems very clunky indeed now.

First post here. MMB panning is extremely convenient. FL Studio has had it for a long time. Many 3D modelling programs feature this as well. Autodesk Fusion 360 used to not support MMB pan and also required a modifier key to be held down, but finally MMB panning was added by overwhelming popular request.

Being new to Live, I'm finding the mouse buttons are often under-used—basically there are many UI contexts in Live where the MMB and the RMB don't do anything.

I can see why they completely ignored the MMB, because a lot of users use Live on a MacBook during live performances and trackpads don't have a dedicated MMB, but that's why we have Ctrl+Alt+LMB. However, in the studio, surely everyone uses a mouse with a dedicated middle-button, no? So it wouldn't hurt to have both.

LIke I said, I'm new here, I don't know how good Ableton are at listening to user feedback. The program seems very capable and has a huge user base but, when I search, all I'm getting is glowing stellar reviews, as if Live was perfect, and then when I test the demo I keep finding quirks and little things that could be improved to enhance the UX and workflow.

Yeah, I agree. I mainly use Ableton, but after trying Cubase for a couple of days I felt the lack of middle mouse pan was a real hindrance when coming back.

In my real life I'm a 3D animator and I think unleashing the power of middle click is invaluable, specially if you can get your hands on a mouse with a dedicated middle button rather than wheel click.

To fix this I started using X-Mouse Button Control portable to interrupt MMB and modify it in Ableton and seems to work. I don't know if there's any middle mouse click specific function in Ableton which would make this not a solution. In any case, this would be a great feature to implement.

The specific setup I use is "Simulated Keys (during)" {CTRL}{ALT}{LMB} - Mode 3 (press on down, release on up)

VictoriousG wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:41 am

I don't know if there's any middle mouse click specific function in Ableton which would make this not a solution.

Middle click in ableton does nothing.

Signed up for the forums only to request middle mouse button to pan.

I recently bought Live (Suite) because it seemed to fit my tracker like workflow of doing small clips to create bigger arrangements/songs.

I feel the general quality of UX is quite good, but there are a lot of small issues (which become big issues after a while of using), where a feature is not discoverable, or some common UX pattern found in other professional software is not done. This middle mouse button to pan is a universal feature in almost all professional software ranging from 3D to video and audio editors (Photoshop being the horrible notable exception). I change context from different programs to others all the time, and missing things like this really bother me as a user.

So, please Ableton, fix this issue by simply enabling middle mouse button to pan across all timelines. While you're at it, add mouse wheel to do zooming. That is standard as well. Command-key + mouse wheel is just redundant.
There is nothing blocking these changes, as the middle mouse is not used for anything in the software right now.

I am not a Live user and don't care if they implement this FR or not, but I have considered joining the Ableton Live club a couple of times this year and this and other niggles are definite dealbreakers. This particular feature should be a piece of cake to implement because Ctrl+Alt+LMB already can do what's being requested here AND the MMB is completely unused.

Maybe Ableton UX designers are reluctant to use the MMB because "MacBooks trackpads don't have a dedicated MMB and it would be awkward to use". If that's the reason, news flash: people who can afford a MacBook can most definitely afford a decent third-party mouse with a MMB. In any case, you can make it optional to keep everyone happy.

Any updates on this?

summer wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 22, 2020 4:15 pm

Any updates on this?

Latest update: Nothing's been done, and nothing will ever be done.

Chiming in here with a vote for this feature. I really don't think it would be hard to add an optional setting to enable this. I'm using Live Enhancement Suite right now, which enables this feature in Ableton. But it would be nice to have in native because it makes the user experience so much better.

Grand Wilsoni wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 16, 2021 5:33 am

Chiming in here with a vote for this feature. I really don't think it would be hard to add an optional setting to enable this. I'm using Live Enhancement Suite right now, which enables this feature in Ableton. But it would be nice to have in native because it makes the user experience so much better.

I can't deny v11 is a fine update, but it looks like the development effort always goes into flashy big new features like comping, etc. It would be welcome if they did a "workflow update" that focuses on little features like this.

Im new to Ableton and the first strange thing I noticed is the middle mouse button doing absolutely nothing in the whole software.
Who decided at Ableton that the middle mouse button was a useless invention ?
Meanwhile there are 2 place side by side where you can left-clic and drag to pan the arrangement view, one doing the inverse of the other.

frenchtuche wrote: ↑

Wed Dec 29, 2021 3:25 pm

Im new to Ableton and the first strange thing I noticed is the middle mouse button doing absolutely nothing in the whole software.
How decided at Ableton that the middle mouse button was a useless invention ?
Meanwhile there are 2 place side by side where you can left-clic and drag to pan the arrangement view, one doing the inverse of the other.

110% agree. Apparently at Ableton nobody uses the middle button. For the time being, check Live Enhancement Suite. Yes, that's how sad it is: a user actually went out of his/her way to do Ableton's work. Many of the features this app adds, including middle mouse button pan, have been requested for years and years, and Ableton doesn't seem to have any intention to implement them. It's sad because the software could be tons better and they seem to deliberately choose to keep it shitty.