Freehand drawing: When using the Pencil Tool to draw in automation envelopes it will snap to the grid values by default.
Holding down alt as you draw will disable the grid for freehand drawing.
Breakpoint overwriting: When dragging automation and hit a breakpoint, hold down shift to overwrite the point and carry on past it. However, you will need to undo the move to get the previous point back.
Loop for playback: Easily loop a section for playback by selecting the desired section and pressing ctrl/cmd+L. This will set the loop markers around the selection and engage the loop function.
Quick browsing: Make browsing devices and instruments easier by scrolling through them using the left and right arrow keys. You can get a better overview by by shrinking or expanding the rack devices using the + - keys
Auto-hide plug-ins: A common complaint is that when you change the active channel any open plug-in GUIs disappear. To prevent this go to Preferences > Look Feel > disable Auto-Hide Plug-In Windows
Naming: When naming tracks and scenes you don’t have to keep hitting ctrl/cmd+R. Instead press this shortcut for the first name then press tab to go to the next one and so one. If you want to go back to a previous track/clip hold shift and press tab.
Copying sections: You can create copies of a highlighted section in the Arrange view by pressing ctrl/cmd+D and if you want to include a space in them, for example a one bar clip followed by a one bar gap, highlight the clip and the space you want after it then copy both using the key command.
Track view: When switching between the different types of clip editing view (Envelopes, Notes) you can either click the little tabs in the bottom left of the track view or click on the word heading of the two controls.
Disable quantise grid: When editing the arrangement or an individual MIDI clip and you don't want it to snap to grid switch it off with ctrl/cmd+4
Monitor mode: To hear the notes/samples loaded in drum rack etc. switch the monitor mode button on (it will turn blue) which is positioned above the piano roll keyboard and is a tiny picture of headphones.
Adjusting channel width: If you want to adjust the width of a number of channels at once, highlight them all and adjust one and they will all change. If you want to adjust all the channels at once hold down alt while resizing one of them.
Multiple parameter selection: In Live 8 you can adjust multiple parameters at once. So if you want to, for example, lower the volume of every channel at once highlight all the channels and pull down the level on one. This works for most parameters.
Exclusive override: Live's default setting only lets you solo/mute on channel at a time. To override this go to Preferences > Record > and disable the Exclusive setting for Arm and Solo. Or ctrl/cmd+click to override the Preferences setting mode.
Fine control: If you want fine control over a parameter, for example the volume fader, hold down ctrl/cmd while dragging the parameter. This works for Pan and Sends.
Multiple track rendering: You can render multiple tracks at once. When you have selected Export Audio change the Master setting to All Tracks. You can also render individual channels.
CAPS lock: Live can recognise upper and lower letters so you can double the mapping of QWERTY keys to functions.
Plug-in list: If you are working with a large device rack and don’t want to keep scrolling through it to get to a particular device right-click on the Track View in the bottom left corner to see a list of the plug-ins in the rack and select the one to jump to it.
Full view: Double-click the Arrangement overview at the top of the display and the view will zoom out to display the entire arrangement.
Recall: When working in the Arrangement view and have to stop playback to make some edits you can make Live restart from the same place you stopped by holding down shift as you restart playback.
Cutting time: You can delete a whole section of time in the arrangement. Set up markers around the section to be deleted and press ctrl/cmd+shift+delete.
hope this is useful.
