Audio Editor / Editing

[alfiebuttons]

Hi there.

Any suggestions on the best way to edit waveforms / audio with Ableton.

I come from the world of Cubase and Logic which have deep editors built in as standard.

I believe you can target an external editor as an example.

Probably could do some basic edits in arrangement but it's not enough.

Any insight / help / examples of how you do it most appreciated.

Cheers,

Alf.

[wearemindflux]

Hi, what do you want to do exactly?

I would say having using Ableton, cubase and wavelab you can do the same in Ableton which you can do there.

[i3ullseye]

Just an assumption, but I think you will find a ton of people using Audacity. It is powerful. It is free.
Uses plug-ins. Cross Platform. It just gets the job done. I hope to have a new full spectrum editor in the future, but for now (and for years) Audacity seems to be just right.

[pottering]

Live is non-destructive, it doesn't do destructive editing.

Only editing with external editor, which you can specify in the File/Folder Preferences:

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/clip- ... le-editing


Personally I don't even get why people want destructive editing, I don't see any advantage in destroying the source and always save edits in new files (not only for audio, for gfx work, etc.), and Live does that automatically already.

[alfiebuttons]

Hi guys.

Thanks for the feedback.

But I am new to Live so really just finding my working methods still.

There are times previously when I wish to do some simple things to a waveform permanently with absolutely no reason to want to go back and it would be nice to have that option open to me should I choose it. Maybe I'll never use that method..??

I have heard of Audacity. I shall check that method out.

Many thanks for your input.

Alf.

[i3ullseye]

Worth noting..... there are some who really find the integration with some of these editors, and especially Audacity, kind of awkward. You have to know where the file you are editing is going to be saved, and map it to a specific location if you want to use it and drag it in or something. Or find the storage location for your current sample and do a direct over write, which has it's own issues. There are some editors where you click a button, edit the file, then have that automatically dropped right in place where you were working in Live. Some of them are very powerful. I don't think (m)any of them are free.

Everyone wants that sweet iZotope goodness I suppose.

[wearemindflux]

Hi guys.

Thanks for the feedback.

But I am new to Live so really just finding my working methods still.

There are times previously when I wish to do some simple things to a waveform permanently with absolutely no reason to want to go back and it would be nice to have that option open to me should I choose it. Maybe I'll never use that method..??

I have heard of Audacity. I shall check that method out.

Many thanks for your input.

Alf.

Hey, once you have done consolidate it. Cmd J

[alpertt]

Hey, once you have done consolidate it. Cmd J

Did you know when you consolidate audio, Ableton automaticaly normalizes it?
This is the only reason i hate to edit audio in Ableton.

[slatepipe]

i have ableton pointing to Reaper as an external wav editor, but tbh i never use it, all the wav editing i do just stays non destructive in ableton. audacity is really good as well but i don't use it as Reaper (for me ) does all that it does and more

[wearemindflux]

Hey, once you have done consolidate it. Cmd J

Did you know when you consolidate audio, Ableton automaticaly normalizes it?
This is the only reason i hate to edit audio in Ableton.

It still maintains the quality if not more. Or you can freeze and flatten

[alpertt]

Hey, once you have done consolidate it. Cmd J

Did you know when you consolidate audio, Ableton automaticaly normalizes it?
This is the only reason i hate to edit audio in Ableton.

It still maintains the quality if not more. Or you can freeze and flatten

I make sound design for films. Once i've recorded a roomtone, made some edits etc and consolidated & saved the audio in my sound library.
When i open it in Pro Tools some "FASSSSSSS" sound loud as 0db jumped me out of my chair.
I know it is not a big deal to volume down, but i expect to decide which volume level my audio file should be, not the DAW.

It still maintains the quality if not more.

I agree it maintains the quality but highly doubt it gets better when normalized.

[wearemindflux]

Yeah, I get ya. It doesn't get worse but I agree would be nicer if it did not. Maybe an option in the preferences that can switch it of.

But freeze and flatten doesn't from what I can see and know

[ErkatB]

I had been wondering the same with Ableton.

Here's what I found:

1. Go to preferences and select File Folder tab
2. In the top section of this tab there's a chooser for your default sample editor.
3. Click browse and find the exe file for your editor (or Mac equivalent)
4. Go to your waveform in Live and right-click in the waveform area and select Manage Sample File
5. This brings up the file manager on the right. Click Edit on the pre-selected file.
6. This will now open in your editor and switch to it as well.
7. Do your edits in your audio editor and save it and close it.
8. In Live deselect Edit in the file manager.
9. The sample waveform should lose its label saying Sample Offline and now show the edited sample.

[dna598]

If only Audacity allowed "save" instead of "export" file. It would end the only frustration with using it as an audio editor in Ableton.

[Fanu]

I had been wondering the same with Ableton.

Here's what I found:

1. Go to preferences and select File Folder tab
2. In the top section of this tab there's a chooser for your default sample editor.
3. Click browse and find the exe file for your editor (or Mac equivalent)
4. Go to your waveform in Live and right-click in the waveform area and select Manage Sample File
5. This brings up the file manager on the right. Click Edit on the pre-selected file.
6. This will now open in your editor and switch to it as well.
7. Do your edits in your audio editor and save it and close it.
8. In Live deselect Edit in the file manager.
9. The sample waveform should lose its label saying Sample Offline and now show the edited sample.

If only Audacity allowed "save" instead of "export" file. It would end the only frustration with using it as an audio editor in Ableton.

I do exactly this for some quick edits outside Live.
I sample things from vinyl, so every time I want to do a quick de-click, for example, I open the file this way.
I use an audio editor called Twistedwave; super light, fast, custom keys etc.
This is a tight workflow for editing samples.

I tried out Audacity many, many moons ago and that export thing exactly was the show-stopper.
That's simply offensive. One'd think they'd give you "save as" with CMD+s for a small fee or something.
Totally worth it investing in a decent audio editor if you do a lot of editing.