More collection colors?

Share what you’d like to see added to Ableton Live.
hvg
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:34 pm

More collection colors?

Post by hvg » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:09 pm

Is there a technical reason we're limited to 7 collection colors? For me, the Live 10 collors have been a godsend as it's the only way for me to group everything (VST, Kontakt libraries, samples) in one place. But with such a limited number of colors I ran out fairly quickly and it's starting to get messy again...

pottering
Posts: 1802
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by pottering » Mon Oct 15, 2018 5:01 pm

I think it is because they are meant to be color tags, not simple favorite folders, and the 7 colors already use the primary and secondary colors that are easy to tell apart.

The tertiary colors start to get hard to tell apart from the primary and secondary colors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tertiary_ ... _wheel.svg

It is easy to tell apart Yellow from Green, but look how Chartreuse Green is hard to tell apart from Green, or how Violet is hard to tell part from Magenta.
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hvg
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:34 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by hvg » Mon Oct 15, 2018 9:08 pm

You are probably right, but at least black and white could be added without causing confusion. It's not enough to make me really happy but it would be something at least. Because yeah, I'm probably not using the colors the way they are meant to be used by the developers, but my VST plugin folder is a complete mess without them :( The only other way I can think of is to group every individual VST into a .adg file, and put that in my user library somewhere where I can find them. Yuck.

(so actually more colors might not be what I really want, but a smart built in way to structure my plugins folder in some hierarchical way)

pottering
Posts: 1802
Joined: Sat Dec 06, 2014 4:41 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by pottering » Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:59 am

The DLLs of most VSTs can be moved without breaking them. You can rename folders, etc. and organize them.

If you don't want to move anything, you can create another folder and use shortcuts to the original DLLs, Live recognizes those. Then you can organize the shortcuts in that folder, create sub-folders for categories, favorites, etc..
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hvg
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2018 7:34 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by hvg » Thu Oct 18, 2018 9:44 pm

That is true, I wasn't very specific here. The problem is they still live in their own separate space. What I really need is a way to bridge everything I want into different collections. Colors are the only way to do that (as far as I know). For example, I want ONE TRUE place called "Piano" where I have:

- All piano related samples
- All Kontakt piano libraries (wrapped in groups)
- All Piano VST plugins

Same with drums, guitar, soundscapes etc. Ultimately, which is also only possible with Colors, I want the same thing in two places at once. Like a DX7 plugin could be in "Synths" and "80s sound" at the same time. This is just gravy though, I can live without it. But as it is, I'm running out of colors fast and without them it's a mess :/

Joe Chapman
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:14 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by Joe Chapman » Fri Aug 30, 2019 1:13 pm

Same here. Even just one more colour (dark green, purple, or white/black as you suggest) would be huge for me.

I love the collection categories, and they help me with my 3rd party plugins and also stop me from forgetting the great ones in Live's own suite. Tagged, they come up when I'm looking for a suitable tool, and I'm now much more likely to use Ableton effects and instruments.

But my categories are:

1) Manglers and MultiFX
2) Reverb and Delay
3) EQ, Filter and Phase
4) Dynamics
5) Saturation and Distortion
6) Mixing and Mastering
7) MIDI Devices

I cannot fold any of these collections into another to free up a colour for other uses. I was a plugin fiend anyway, and then I went and got a PIA subscription, so if I absorbed any category into another I'd be forging a monstrous list that wrecks the concept of organisation.

With just one more colour, I could use, say, white as my "favourite" tag so that I could go into Manglers and see at a glance which are the cream of the crop. Alternatively, I could split one of the largest categories in two and give myself room to breathe.

malachiii
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:00 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by malachiii » Sat Sep 14, 2019 5:06 pm

I think that 11 more could effectively be added (8 and 9 and then 1-9+shift key) and that would be MORE than enough for me

JohnTylerMusic
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:07 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by JohnTylerMusic » Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:08 am

Another vote here for more category colors or at least the option to turn more category colors on - it would be extremely useful!

PrimeSeq
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:40 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by PrimeSeq » Sun Oct 13, 2019 4:55 pm

I agree with more colours but may I suggest more collections and maybe the ability to group / sub group collections - i.e Samples\Drums. You would not have to use them all as current scheme where you can edit and uncheck them. Perhaps raise the number to16 from 7

livingwell
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Aug 31, 2011 11:07 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by livingwell » Fri Nov 15, 2019 2:36 am

Yes to more collection colors. Please. This was a great addition to Ableton, btw. I already have my vst2s grouped into categorized folders, but I use the color categories for what I reach for the most, and extra categories would help me add genre specific collections of plugins. My current categories are: Synths, Drum machines, FX, Master/Mix/Enhance, retro, and vocals. I could think of many more categories I would like to add in the future. Perhaps there could be an option added in preferences for power users to add such features, since perhaps most users will be happy with the current number of categories. Or even an extra flag in the config file.

Scoox
Posts: 244
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2019 3:14 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by Scoox » Mon Nov 18, 2019 7:45 am

How about named+colored tags? I wouldn't mind having three green tags with a text caption to tell them apart.

JemGab
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 3:53 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by JemGab » Sun Dec 01, 2019 2:27 pm

Would also love a couple more colors to keep everything nice and organised!

music_theory
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:10 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by music_theory » Wed Jan 08, 2020 5:11 pm

+1 For adding Black / White. Even two more colors would be a big help.

trentemøller
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:14 pm

Re: More collection colors?

Post by trentemøller » Wed Jan 08, 2020 7:18 pm

I totally agree on this!!!! Please please let us have a bit more than only 7 in Collections

I use Collections a lot for all my synth, bass, strings , fx etc presets and plugin presets but 7 only is too little

12 would be nice ! (-:

MRKO_
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:25 am

Re: More collection colors?

Post by MRKO_ » Mon Jan 20, 2020 2:28 am

I use the collection colors ALL THE TIME and would lover there to be more so I could tag my favorite samples in every category (Kicks, claps, etc.)!

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