Am I going mad? - Utility

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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panten
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Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by panten » Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:22 pm

I dropped a Utility plugin onto a track to automate the Gain for a fade in. The problem is, that even with the Gain at it's very lowest I can still hear the drums in the track. Mute of course turns the volume off but then you can't fade it in.

Is it a known issue? I'm working on a relatively sparse track right now and only just noticed this.

jestermgee
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by jestermgee » Tue Nov 19, 2013 10:37 pm

I think it is true. Haven't tested though.

Can you not do it the other way around and automate the track fader but use the utility to set the track volume? That is how I do it mainly because I have a mixing desk and it's easier to just automate the main volume.

aphasia
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by aphasia » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:03 pm

I've always just grouped 2 utilities together and mapped both Gain controls to the same Macro if I need automatable volume control. That should completely silence it and if not throw a gate after to catch anythin else?

fishmonkey
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by fishmonkey » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:23 pm

yup, the gain on the Utility device only goes down to -35 dB.

this doesn't mean you aren't going mad though...

yur2die4
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by yur2die4 » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:36 pm

Every time this topic comes up, someone mentions that Rack chains have volume automation also and can be used instead of a Utility.

Now that makes me wonder if there are any additional devices with volume control.

panten
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by panten » Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:54 pm

Cheers for the replies. I wasn't sure if this was a bug or not..

I did what aphasia suggested but almost blew my ears out so I created a device that won't go above a certain level.

Wonder why Ableton limited the Utility to only go to -35.

yur2die4
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by yur2die4 » Wed Nov 20, 2013 12:03 am

If the 'device' you created uses Macros from racks, the downside is that it only allows for 128 resolution. Which is fine for controllers but if you're getting really picky in Arrangement view, you'd probably want to either automate the two utility devices without macros, or use a chain of a rack's volume.

Oh yeah, maybe EQ 8 has volume also??

William
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by William » Wed Nov 20, 2013 4:18 am

I've run into this issue a few times myself. My guess is that Ableton made the range smaller so it would be easier to automate.
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alex808
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by alex808 » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:53 am

i've just told to ableton team of this problem some time ago....answer....use 2 gain,,,WTF,,,gain need to go to 0db!!!!!

use a filter or make an M4L volume device....(i make it but automation don't stay in the past,,,now i don't know)

pencilrocket
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by pencilrocket » Wed Nov 20, 2013 1:02 pm

Get Sonalksis FreeG. Problem solved.

Johnisfaster
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by Johnisfaster » Wed Nov 20, 2013 3:26 pm

It was as if someone shook up a 6 foot can of blood soda and suddenly popped the top.

panten
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by panten » Wed Nov 20, 2013 10:29 pm

Cheers fellas I'm going to give max4live a go for this I think it's the way to go.

andwutt
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by andwutt » Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:36 am

yur2die4 wrote:If the 'device' you created uses Macros from racks, the downside is that it only allows for 128 resolution. Which is fine for controllers but if you're getting really picky in Arrangement view, you'd probably want to either automate the two utility devices without macros, or use a chain of a rack's volume.

Oh yeah, maybe EQ 8 has volume also??
what do you mean macros from macs only allows for 128 resolution? can you explain this a but further?

yur2die4
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Re: Am I going mad? - Utility

Post by yur2die4 » Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:01 pm

Macros from racks.

Unless I'm mistaken, macro knobs have 128 resolution?? I don't know if I've tested it in a while. It is a standard midi resolution, but if you're doing a fadeout, depending on what level you start at, it can get sensitive towards the quieter part if you started from, let's say around 80% (so at about 102 of 128), that kind of leaves you with a resolution of 100 to work with for a fadeout.

I could be mistaken though......... Maybe it depends on what 'mode' the macro knob is in. Sometimes it displays info of the parameter it controls, other times, as it is controlling multiple parameters it simply shows an amount.

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