Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

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rdan76
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2021 1:07 am

Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

Post by rdan76 » Sun Mar 06, 2022 8:45 am

I'm on Ableton Live 10, on a Windows 10 machine. Perhaps someone here can answer a question for me.

I would like to know how to adjust the start-time, end-time and/or fades for multiple simultaneous clips simultaneously. In other words, in the Arrangement View, I would like to be able to highlight two or more clips which occupy the same time-range, and edit the start/end/fade of them all, simultaneously. This is something that I do regularly in other DAWs, and I "know" that it's possible within Live because it randomly just "sometimes" works -- but I can't figure out what conditions make it work.

The obvious answer would be: Select multiple clips which occupy the same time-range, and then edit the start/end/fade of any one of those clips, and all selected clips will be edited in the same way. This is the way it usually works in other DAWs. Very occasionally, like 2% of the time, it seems to work this way in Ableton. But most of the time, if I select multiple clips then try to edit one, all clips will automatically be de-selected except for the one I try to edit, and so only that one clip will be edited.

I thought, maybe I have to select all applicable TRACKS as well as the individual clips within those tracks? Because, you know, when you select multiple tracks in Ableton, they kind of act like they're grouped. For instance, if you select 3 tracks then enable Record for one of them, it will enable Record for all 3 tracks. But I don't get any more consistent results this way either. It very occasionally lets me edit multiple clips simultaneously, but usually doesn't.

The use-case here is pretty simple. I often record a single audio source using two or more mics. (Think multiple mics on an amp, or on an acoustic instrument.) Each mic has its own input on my audio interface, and thus each mic is recorded to a separate track in Ableton. I generally need to edit the resulting audio, either for comping or for some other reason. This entails editing every track for each mic simultaneously. The clips for all these tracks have to be edited as if they are one unit; they all have to stay in-sync with each other. It's easy to do this if I can highlight "a unit" of clips that go together, then simply edit the start-time or end-time or fade ONCE for the whole unit of clips. Most of the time, Ableton does not let me do this. Instead, Ableton usually makes me edit each clip for each track separately, which is a silly waste of time and a lot more strain on my mousing-hand.

Since Ableton DOES occasionally let me do this, I know that it's possible. Does anybody know the magic set of conditions?

NF2K
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:11 am

Re: Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

Post by NF2K » Sat May 14, 2022 8:38 pm

If you drag over the desired fade-in range over the relevant clips and hit ctrl-alt-f that will create the same standard fade on all highlighted clips, same can be done for the desired fade-out. Admittedly not as convenient as the method you describe for other DAWs

Tips:
* ctrl-space will play the selected area to check the area you just applied the fade(s) to
* the currently selected range can then be expanded or shortened by holding shift and click dragging (more towards the inner edge the currently selected area) to increase or decrease the desired fade range. Also hold alt while dragging if grid snapping is on if you don't want your selection to snap to grid. Then hit ctrl-alt-f again to set the new fade

rdan76
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2021 1:07 am

Re: Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

Post by rdan76 » Sun Feb 19, 2023 2:42 am

I was just revisiting my old posts, ran across this one, and wanted to add one bit of insight I've gleaned over the past several months:

Regarding the editing of start/end times for multiple clips at once: In order for this to work, the clips have to start or end at the EXACT SAME TIME. If you're trying to edit the start-time, they have to all start at the exact same time. If you're trying to edit the end, they all have to end at the exact same time.

This can fool you if you're not zoomed all the way in. Sometimes it might "look like" two clips start/end at the same time -- but when you select both and then drag one to edit it, the other de-selects. In that case, you need to zoom WAY in on the beginning of both clips. You'll find that, at the highest magnification-level, they're not "quite" aligned. The only way to make SURE they're perfectly-aligned is to turn the grid on, and to make sure they both snap to the same segment of the grid. If you do that, for two or more clips which refuse to be edited simultaneously, that will fix the issue, and you can edit them together again.

It would seem that "that" is the magic set of conditions I was describing earlier. Fades still don't work in that fashion, but colonthree's fix is probably good enough, so thanks colonthree for that info.

NF2K
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 2:11 am

Re: Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

Post by NF2K » Sun Feb 19, 2023 4:30 pm

Hi rdan76,

If you happen to be on Live 11 now you can adjust clip fade handles of simultaneous clips by linking the tracks. Note this also requires the clips' edges to be perfectly aligned

If the clips aren't perfectly aligned you can also just drag over a small selection that just covers the edges in question and hit delete

rdan76
Posts: 33
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2021 1:07 am

Re: Adjust start/end/fade of multiple clips at once?

Post by rdan76 » Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:09 am

Sweet! That is great to know. Although I have purchased the upgrade to Live 11, I have not really started using it, because it doesn’t run very well on my current PC. I already have a new PC to move into, which should run Live 11 like a dream, but I’m in the middle of a large album-project on my older PC, and perhaps you understand how messy it can be to try to move PCs while a current project is still in development.

At any rate, I will certainly look forward to this new functionality in Live 11.

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