Some starting questions from a newbie

[ark]

But how do I get to use my PC keyboard as MIDI keyboard? Can I scroll through different MIDI sounds and test-play them on my PC keyboard before I start recording? (like GarageBand)

Live doesn't let you use your PC keyboard directly as a MIDI keyboard, but it does let you use your PC keyboard to play MIDI notes into Live's MIDI tracks.

Look at section 13.3.2 in the Live manual for details.

[minigoat]

If you have the monies, get a midi keyboard/controller with its own sound card/driver.

I have a novation xio http://us.novationmusic.com/products/xio?option=1 and it is fantastic for a compact laptop setup! It gives you audio in/outs, (two line ins and a condenser mic in,) its own synth engine, and midi control with x-y pad ...low latency driver...its excellent...and novation is a good company. there are other controller/audio interfaces out there too...so really i would suggest not getting suite at the moment and to get yourself a hardware controller/keyboard and upgrade later...or both if you got the cash now...way better than trying to use just your qwerty keys...

[Christian_R]

If you have the monies, get a midi keyboard/controller with its own sound card/driver.

I have a novation xio http://us.novationmusic.com/products/xio?option=1 and it is fantastic for a compact laptop setup! It gives you audio in/outs, (two line ins and a condenser mic in,) its own synth engine, and midi control with x-y pad ...low latency driver...its excellent...and novation is a good company. there are other controller/audio interfaces out there too...so really i would suggest not getting suite at the moment and to get yourself a hardware controller/keyboard and upgrade later...or both if you got the cash now...way better than trying to use just your qwerty keys...

That looks sweet! But I have already bought Ableton, so a have to use qwerty until my next paycheck comes. Do you know where I find the qwerty keyboard in the meny?

[ark]

That looks sweet! But I have already bought Ableton, so a have to use qwerty until my next paycheck comes. Do you know where I find the qwerty keyboard in the meny?

As I said before, please read section 13.3.2 of the Live manual.

[Christian_R]

I am now staring to create my first beat. There a tons of different drums here, but I'm having trouble findig a kick drum that has a big, fat electronic sound. Any tips on how to find it? Or make it?

Thanks!

[mcalldp]

I am running windows 7 64 bit and I did have an issue with windows 'auto-correcting volume levels" For instance,
The songs starts out with a quiet string then a hard loud drum comes in, windows would lower the volume of the entire song. I found several others having this same issue through google searches, my fix ended up being a driver update. Anyway, check that this is not an issue for you. Everything else on Win7 64 bit seems to be working fine but it's early days for me yet.

[willdahbe]

You can use your PC keyboard, or the mouse. However, you won't have any velocity sensitivity, and playing a PC keyboard is much harder than playing a real MIDI keyboard. That's what happens when you try to play music on a typewriter keyboard, and has nothing to do with Live.

sorry don't mean to be the nay sayer but i highly disagree with this. I think the qwerty keyboard is more than adequate for doing bottom chords then doing melody overdubs a couple octaves higher. i do play keyboards, i kinda suck at it, but i type way more and find the qwerty to be a much more natural surface than a keybed...

[ark]

sorry don't mean to be the nay sayer but i highly disagree with this. I think the qwerty keyboard is more than adequate for doing bottom chords then doing melody overdubs a couple octaves higher. i do play keyboards, i kinda suck at it, but i type way more and find the qwerty to be a much more natural surface than a keybed...

If it works for you, go for it. I tend to compose bass lines a note at a time, so I'm sure every note does what I want it to do, and then improvise melody lines over the bass--for which I like having pitch bend and velocity sensitivity available.

But there are as many different ways to do it as there are musicians; so you should certainly do what works for you.

[Christian_R]

Making a fat kick is a black art. It depends what you want. The easiest way is just to get some good samples, like off a record or a good sample collection. Some people layer them and do all sorts of stuff. Watch the Ian Carey video I mentioned in the drums thread. He goes into a fair bit of detail. You can also construct one

http://sonictransfer.com/kick-drum-desi ... rial.shtml

Thanks!

I also tried to sample a beat from another song and used a little bit EQ and pitch to change it up.

But now I have another question (as always): If a want to loop that kickdrum, how do I do it? Because if I try to press the loop button and drag out the clip (like MIDI) it will just play the rest of the hidden audio file and not repeat the kickdrum. I can always just copy the clip many times, to if I suddenly decide to change the pitch or something, I have to copy all the clips all over again. I'm sure there's an easy way to do this?

[willdahbe]

Making a fat kick is a black art. It depends what you want. The easiest way is just to get some good samples, like off a record or a good sample collection. Some people layer them and do all sorts of stuff. Watch the Ian Carey video I mentioned in the drums thread. He goes into a fair bit of detail. You can also construct one

http://sonictransfer.com/kick-drum-desi ... rial.shtml

Thanks!

I also tried to sample a beat from another song and used a little bit EQ and pitch to change it up.

But now I have another question (as always): If a want to loop that kickdrum, how do I do it? Because if I try to press the loop button and drag out the clip (like MIDI) it will just play the rest of the hidden audio file and not repeat the kickdrum. I can always just copy the clip many times, to if I suddenly decide to change the pitch or something, I have to copy all the clips all over again. I'm sure there's an easy way to do this?

not sure what your current version on live is but, you can just take the kick you have selected to use and drop it in a drumrack or impluse.. both of those are standard ableton live instruments you can put on a midi track..

[Christian_R]

The problem is that when I press the "Loop" button and try to stretch out the clip it will just reveal the rest of the song witch i took the kickdrum sample from (if you understand )

I kind of want to make a new clip that contains the kickdrum sound, and then a pause (so that the beat gets right). Then I can loop that clip through the song, and if I decide to change the EQ or add an effect etc I just have to make one adjustion, and then all the kickdrums will update.

I hope someone here understands what I'm trying to explain, I don't think it's hard to to, I just don't know how yet

[supamonsta]

select the kick out of the tune
then "crop sample" (right click, then "crop sample")
it wipes out all of the sample, except the selected part

then insert this sample in an impulse slot
then create a midi clip that will trigger your kick

you won't find your way with looping for creating a kick sequence, or you'll heve to sample not a single kick, but a kick loop itself.

you need to learn lots of basic things, and live is a really open minded software, with more than 100 different ways of using it...

so:

read your manual
use the ableton live LESSONS, provided in the software (please don't ask where are these lessons )
watch some TUTORIALS on youtube or elsewhere
and experiment a lot

then, come back here, use the "search engine" for each specific question you got. Browse the "tips and tricks" section. browse again. search again. experiment again.

then you can ask some questions for which there seem to be no answer anywhere


you'll need TIME, LOTS OF TIME, so be patient.

I'm going to make electronic music like Deadmau5, Crookers, Dudty Kid, Justice etc.

Be patient. And good luck


Welcome to the ableton community mate

cheers

[Christian_R]

select the kick out of the tune
then "crop sample" (right click, then "crop sample")
it wipes out all of the sample, except the selected part

then insert this sample in an impulse slot
then create a midi clip that will trigger your kick

you won't find your way with looping for creating a kick sequence, or you'll heve to sample not a single kick, but a kick loop itself.

you need to learn lots of basic things, and live is a really open minded software, with more than 100 different ways of using it...

so:

read your manual
use the ableton live LESSONS, provided in the software (please don't ask where are these lessons )
watch some TUTORIALS on youtube or elsewhere
and experiment a lot

then, come back here, use the "search engine" for each specific question you got. Browse the "tips and tricks" section. browse again. search again. experiment again.

then you can ask some questions for which there seem to be no answer anywhere


you'll need TIME, LOTS OF TIME, so be patient.

I'm going to make electronic music like Deadmau5, Crookers, Dudty Kid, Justice etc.

Be patient. And good luck


Welcome to the ableton community mate

cheers

All right, I'll try that!

Thanks!