Sorry in advance, just a quick newbie question

[samu23]

Hi,
Am I right in thinking if a do a whole song in ableton just with audio tracks, I don't need delay compensation on, and that would also make it tighter aswell????

[Tarekith]

Are you going to be using any plug ins on those audio tracks?

[samu23]

Thanks for replying!! I wasn't planning on it but if I do I was going to convert them to an audio track. Although I've just thought I will need to use abletons effects and a Pro limiter at the end so probs not a good idear to do this. Basically Ive had real issues getting audio loops to sync up with midi. I'm recording 2/4 bar loops in with external instrument, so the tracks are already in time. The best way I think i'm doing this so far is just using one warp marker on the 1st beat (if its the 1st beat of the whole track) then sliding it in time and correcting the seg BPM if it needs it, then turning warp off and using the track delay if I need to. How ever its still not perfect, the tempo in the audio seems to slightly drift/fluctuate. I've ended up just binning tunes because of it as the over all song just ends up sluggish and just not tight enough. I've been trying to master this for ages and I seem to be getting no were, i've tried warping the audio with more than one warp marker some times just a few sometimes every note but that seems to open a can of worms and be a never ending task lol, perhaps I just suck at warping lol. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated

[Tarekith]

I think you should just turn delay compensation on and forget about it. You're mixing up a lot of different things when it comes ot the way Live works, and for most users, having delay comp is a good thing and does nothing to the sound quality.

[samu23]

I no it was just a thought its not something i've done I was just curious. In terms off syncing the audio track in with everything else can you suggest anything there. As I said the track is already in time so should just be a case of sliding it in time with everything else, as I said though the tempo in the audio track seems to fluctuate slightly when playing it back after doing that. When looking at the grid some of the notes are bang on but then others drifting off, this happens with the midi track going out to the external instrument 100% quantinized and without any swing/groove ect, surely everything should be bang on the grid when it comes back into live and on to the audio track once 1st beats lined up. This is why i'm now trying it with warp turned off but track lined up, still sounds slightly off though. Also I use the track delay on a lot of the tracks could this be messing up the overall tightness of the song?? Really stuck with it all lol

[yur2die4]

What 'external instrument' are you recording these loops from?

On a lot of things, audio drifts. Even with drum machines (especially old ones) audio can drift. You can fix drift either by cutting your clip at certain spots and moving it left or right, or you can use warp and just move the parts that are drifting in place on the clip view interface

When you turn warp on and set a tempo, that tempo is for when you have warp on. When you turn warp off, you're not using any of warp's functionality. So it is probably best to either use warp, or not to use warp, to reduce confusion. If you think it is helping you do something but you turn the button off after, then there ought to be a way to do what you're doing without turning warp on.

The beginning of a clip sometimes needs to be tidied up or moved in place. Eyes up to match the grid.

If your Live set's tempo (top of screen) is not set to the proper tempo of all your clips, it'll be hard to see whether or not the clips match up to the grid, and to see if any specific ones are falling out of sync, or being more troublesome.

I wouldn't play with track delay until after you're able to do what you need to without it first. Track delay can be a nice fix for specific offsets, but it moves the entire track. It can be used to make super small shifts. But if you don't know how to lay your tracks out yet, you should focus on that so you're not Adding a Layer of Confusion.

[yur2die4]

For warping:

If you don't have much experience successfully warping, I'd suggest this:
Try in Complex Pro mode (beats transients sometimes has weird unpredictable results)

Find a clear downbeat of the track, if it isn't in the beginning, go further into the track so you have something to work with.

Set 1.1.1 there. Delete All other warp markers.

Scroll slowly across the track and if you see a part that seems to be drifting off the grid, move it in place. It should only be something that seems like a gradually increasing amount of change, and when you shift it it should look like it is clearly in place.

When you move that part, do Not make a warp marker while moving it. Make that warp marker After you've moved the audio in place. If you move the audio before adding the market, all the stuff after also 'compensates' for what you're hinting to the computer about your clip's tempo. Once it's in place, it is a good idea to add that marker so you know it is not going to change if you edit something further down.

Work your way across a track and it should be warped. Try keeping track of counts of beats, like there should be sections in 1.1.1, 9.1.1, 17.1.1, etc (which is the same as 0, 8, and 16 bars). So if you have a tricky track, you can really get in and try to align 4 bars at a time. Just remember not to add any markers to the right or it will mess everything up.

If you have any markers on the far right, what happens is that Live thinks that what the marker is set at is the total number of beats up to that point.
If you add a marker in the Middle of that space and move the marker over by a whole beat, then that end marker is wrong, and all your beats will within that space will be way way off.

[samu23]

Thats absolutely brilliant thanks! a lot of tips and tricks there. I'll try again using what you've said. Just one thing though, as i'm moving left to right making sure its all lined up do I need to correct the seg BPM as i'm going?

[yur2die4]

Don't use that. It's better to let IT tell You what bpm you ended up warping at. But ignore it while you're warping, completely absolutely ignore it. Do not let it influence your decisions. If you're expecting one tempo and warp something properly, and it tells you another, either you warped wrong, or the clip really is a different tempo than you thought it was.

Either way, if you warp well, it is unnecessary to use that box at all. Cannot emphasize that enough

[samu23]

Ok thats great thanks, you've made it really clear for me now and I now know which direction to go in!! Cheers!!

[H20nly]

Nice explanation.

*bookmark*

@samu23 you should add key words to your subject, like WARPING. Or really something more inline with your question... That way lurkers, like myself, don't have to add key words in all caps to help us find it later.