Newbie questions

[csharpminor]

Hi all,

Just started using Ableton Lite. After following some tutorials online, I find myself with these five rather basic questions I hope somebody could help me address:

1) This forum is quite impressive with what seems like a lot of experienced users with quite specific questions. Where should a newbie Ableton Lite 10 Intro user like myself go to have all his/her basic questions answered?

2) Initial thought after trying out Ableton Live 10 Intro for a few hours: The selection of pre-installed instruments seems quite limited. I was expecting a wider range of instruments - especially strings and bass instruments. Is there any way of unlocking/fetching more quality instruments - or do I need to buy this anywhere?

3) And while we're at it - what really is the difference between a VST, a plugin and a regular instrument?

4) Record quantizing when recording makes sense so that notes are perfectly in rhythm. But is there any way of "quantizing" MIDI controller input such that all signals coming in have same velocity and length?

5) I am playing around in Session View and has thus far had a cute little pie chart counting down the number of beats before the loop ends/restarts. These small pie charts are now replaced by a sort of horizontal line as if I was playing around Arrangement View. Any idea how I can get my pie charts back?

Thanks for taking the time ! Lots of love to you from Norway.

[jestermgee]

1) This forum is quite impressive with what seems like a lot of experienced users with quite specific questions. Where should a newbie Ableton Lite 10 Intro user like myself go to have all his/her basic questions answered?

Just ask exactly where you are standing, this is the place you want to be for questions. In fact any of the threads can be used, it's a mess so feel free to throw your hat anywhere you like.

2) Initial thought after trying out Ableton Live 10 Intro for a few hours: The selection of pre-installed instruments seems quite limited. I was expecting a wider range of instruments - especially strings and bass instruments. Is there any way of unlocking/fetching more quality instruments - or do I need to buy this anywhere?
Thanks for taking the time ! Lots of love to you from Norway.

Lite is.... lite.

Lite is for the user who has some content already and needs to only do the absolute basics. It does not come with instruments or content, you need to provide that.

If you really need a toolbox to get going, you want to look at Suite and yes, there is a cost difference, that is the cost of content.

There is also Standard Live if you want to free the limitations of lite but don't need a full library of instruments, just the basics and use maybe 3rd party VSTs instead.

3) And while we're at it - what really is the difference between a VST, a plugin and a regular instrument?

A VST is a plugin.

An "Instrument" within the context of Live is basically what Live refers to as it's own "plugin" devices. Live comes with "instruments" that you can load onto tracks, most are samplers with multiple samples recorded from real world instruments and some are synth based instruments. These are a device that loads onto a track.

A VST plugin is also an instrument and works in the same way, just provided by a 3rd party and can work in ANY DAW where the Ableton Live instruments only work in Live.

4) Record quantizing when recording makes sense so that notes are perfectly in rhythm. But is there any way of "quantizing" MIDI controller input such that all signals coming in have same velocity and length?

Not sure in Lite but in Standare Live + you have some midi effect tools that can modify the midi input and output things like constant velocity, note shift, chords etc. There is usually some way of doing what you need to, experimenting and diving into all the options and devices will help you learn.

5) I am playing around in Session View and has thus far had a cute little pie chart counting down the number of beats before the loop ends/restarts. These small pie charts are now replaced by a sort of horizontal line as if I was playing around Arrangement View. Any idea how I can get my pie charts back?

The "pie chart" is when you have a clip that loops and shows the position of the clip before it gets back tot he start.
A bar shows the position of a non-looping (linear) section of the clip so either you have the clip as non looping or your clips are playing from arrangement where they do not loop but play linearly.

As a new user who needs to get up to speed I would certainly suggest downloading the manual and spending some time reading and getting to know it a bit more as it will help to answer many questions you will undoubtedly have

[csharpminor]

Thanks a million - you taking the time to address my set of questions certainly motivates me to stay with Ableton Live and learn more. May only good things happen to you.

[doghouse]

Plugins can be MIDI or audio effects. It's not just instruments.

If you want more instruments for free, go to KVR Audio which has links to thousands of plugins of all kinds. There's a search engine, just set it to search for free and you'll find more plugins than you could ever possibly use.

If you live somewhere wher you can buy Computer Music magazine at a bookstore or newsstand, every issue comes with download codes for what they call CM Studio, a large number of plugins. The magazine costs about $15 per issue in the USA. You can also buy a digital copy online which also allows downloading the plugins.

[csharpminor]

Thanks for taking time to reply to my question - will def check out the resources you mentioned. All my best to you.