Ableton Forum

I work on 2 to 4 tracks at the time. I can switch between tracks every 30 minutes or so Get some ideas for other track while making an other -> ctrl + s -> open recent set. Works for me. If i get an idea, i have to work on it right away or i will lose it.

Only thing that slows me down is synth presets on hardware. Sysex clips to live pleeeees

Jesus, 5?

I have 37 tracks I'm working on of solo stuff, 5 old beats I'm repurposing, 19 songs for my album I'm finishing up, 6 for the project I'm collaborating with a friend on, and 33 that are mostly trash that have one or two good elements that I'm holding on to if I ever get my solo album and my and collaborating project done.

Given that probably some of those are doubles, I still have just under 100 tracks I'm working on.

So no theres nothing wrong with you guys, but there obviously is with me.

rosti wrote:I work on 2 to 4 tracks at the time. I can switch between tracks every 30 minutes or so Get some ideas for other track while making an other -> ctrl + s -> open recent set. Works for me. If i get an idea, i have to work on it right away or i will lose it.

Only thing that slows me down is synth presets on hardware. Sysex clips to live pleeeees

you mean setting up the clips to activate the deisred preset on the synth via midi?> I hate that too, the number never line up and it's hit or miss.

one track at a time.
in my pants.

Trypset wrote:

rosti wrote:I work on 2 to 4 tracks at the time. I can switch between tracks every 30 minutes or so Get some ideas for other track while making an other -> ctrl + s -> open recent set. Works for me. If i get an idea, i have to work on it right away or i will lose it.

Only thing that slows me down is synth presets on hardware. Sysex clips to live pleeeees

you mean setting up the clips to activate the deisred preset on the synth via midi?> I hate that too, the number never line up and it's hit or miss.

I would like to dump the full patch to a clip. So i could have sounds stored in my projects even if i accidentaly write on some important patch on my synth.

The number thing works somewhat ok as long as you remember how the numbers line up on your syths, but somehow i still dont like to store my sounds to synth presets..

Now i just record midi stuff to audio as fast as i can. It has its limits but on the other hand it keeps stuff going forwards.

i stay in session view completely when starting a new song, it's fantastic the way you can make a bunch of variations on melodies then mix and match so freakin easily (compared to other DAWs). then i move onto arrangement view and slowly build up my beast.

I try to not be working on more than a couple of tracks at a time to stay focused - this comes from engineering in the studio and seeing ADHD clients spend a fortune and finish nothing and then run out of money and either have a delayed release, no release at all, or a half baked release with regrets.

Even though there's no pressure at home, I push myself to finish tracks and only if I really hit the brick wall hard move onto other tracks and come back to the track later.

Regarding the workflow. I come from a Cubase style of working. So Session view for me is never seen. I just drag samples and clips into the arrangement view and go from there. Is there anything wrong with that?

Session view seems so cookie cutter to me unless you are just doing loops or dance?

+1

However, no, Session is useful for many styles, I even use it to build up alternative rock group tracks etc.

Once you get used to it, it is a really quick way of building up tracks, much better than Cubase's non linear Arranger Tracks. It is especially suited for electronic music, but not exclusively so. Although I usually track at least one or two parts in the arrangement view to give it a little less of a pasteurised cut and paste feel, but things such as dummy clips, and clip order can bring a less robotic feel.

I use Cubase still and have used it since Atari ST so I get where you're coming from, but as you get more familiar with Live you will see the benefits of Session View with experience.

funken wrote:I work on loads at once, rarely finish anything, and usually forget about half of what Ive done. If Im starting from scratch I get as much done as possible in Session as that the easiest place to knock stuff up and try ideas out. Then I do a live recording of me adding clips, scenes, and tweaking knobs. Then I tidy it up in Arrange and add the finishing touches. My worst habit from the point of view of working this way, is going into Arrange too early. I should stay in Session longer and build up loads of scenes first.

Sometimes when Im making a tune I think of a new bit but it doesnt really fit in, so I save it under a new name for development into something different.

Ive not been doing it that long, so this is just where Im up to at the mo.

this is kind of what i do except somewhere along the line i pass out and wake up a few hours later on the lounge floor, then i decide to go to bed. and when i listen to what i've been doing the next day it usually sounds like shite

I'm usually actively working on 3-4 tracks with at least 8 on backburner.
I would rather write a song with only one part than write a break or chorus I only half liked.
I definitely have had it happen that I'm trying to write a break for Song A and decide that the part would be better off in a different song, then start on the new song B finishing it,
leaving song A still with a break or chorus etc. There are a lot of carcasses of dead songs laying around on my hard drives, but that was true when I wrote from the perspective of guitar.

AFA Session View, it's what keeps me in Live, Logic and DP have far more complicated and advanced linear composing pages. Not that the MIDI editing isn't useful in Live, just that it's not fleshed out. I think of Session View as a really wonderful phrase sampler, it's kept me from using real samplers for anything other than full keyboard type patches for years.

funken wrote:

drchoc wrote:

This sounds interesting and I just tried it, but Im not sure exactly how you do it. Dont you lose the automation? Or do you just automate the individual midi clips rather than the track as a whole? Can you explain how exactly you move it back to session. I just highlighted a song and dragged it to Session, but it came out as scenes with just one track in each, so then I had to copy stuff to build up the scenes correctly.

Well actually I just erase my automation, or resample the part if its especially creative. Its not a very rational process. But I do work on a 14 inch screen and use an APC-40 so I like to bring it back session for jamming really. Usually if I'm running low on ideas. Its not really necessary to delete what was already there but it I prefer a clean slate.

For actually transferring it I just choose which parts I still like and drag them individually with the aim to create a scene for each section of the arrangement.

Be careful you dont end up remixing your own (unfinished) track though!

funken wrote:By the way, in case any noobs dont realise, you can automate in session as well as arrange, just on a smaller scale usually like over an 8 bar loop or summat within the clip. Gives you a taste of what will come later in arrange maybe. You can even have both going on.

I like to "unlink" the envelopes from the loop and make them longer than the actual loop.. So a short 4 bar bass riff but it'll have a 16 bar envelope going on the LFO rate or something, helps keep variation.

funken wrote:Of course if you do go into Arrange too early and you wanna try out some new voices, you can play the arrangement, and with the red light on, play an extra track or two in Session at the same time.

Also works if you put the loop braces around something in arrangement while you loop stuff in session, this is where I would record that LFO rate envelope I was talking about, using the APC40's device control, and then copy that envelope over to the session view clip - which means I have to turn the LFOrate to 100% for my automations to work correctly..

Imagine if you could have Session and Arrange open at the same time and be able to swipe samples back and forth.

That's what MW and I do with DP and LIVE together.

Supersweet on two monitors, (DP on 1 and LIVE on the other).

ChiDJ wrote:Imagine if you could have Session and Arrange open at the same time and be able to swipe samples back and forth.

That's what MW and I do with DP and LIVE together.

Supersweet on two monitors, (DP on 1 and LIVE on the other).

and a 3rd for bukkake?