Ableton as a DAW+MIDI: recording notes is a PITA!!!!

[forge]

I agree there shouldn't have to be workarounds for this and it is a major pain for those migrating that do a lot of midi in 'traditional' sequencers - yes one gets used to a different workflow eventually but that should only be necessary if the the Live way was better but I can't see what the usefulness of the way it works now over other sequencers, I think there is a good reason they all work the same way - its a good method, Ableton chose to make it different, why?
Live is a great sequencer but this is not a good part of it and I don't think it hurts to criticize it where it is warranted.

I'm not entirely sure why you needed Live then

[contakt321]

Nothing wrong with criticizing at all, however, your "problem" has to do with you not understanding how Live works and it isn't a problem at all.

Check out what Forge and Davidewan suggested.

[jamester]

Forge nailed it. That's how I work too.

I am lazy as hell also and I option drag the clip into another clip, delete a few bits and overdub more in to create variations.

Word, same here. I thought we all did this...it's the Ableton way!

[longjohns]

the big confusion is that in Live, "overdubbing" in arrange is not putting new notes in an old clip (which makes perfect sense, obv)

"overdubbing" in arrange makes a new clip but bounces the old clip's info into it..



The scariest thing I've seen with overdubbing is that by punching in and out, without even playing any new notes, the original clip content can be altered in strange ways.

[eddu]

Nothing wrong with criticizing at all, however, your "problem" has to do with you not understanding how Live works and it isn't a problem at all.

Check out what Forge and Davidewan suggested.

True both methods work, but count the times you click before you can simply put two notes there in a clip. Live is about being intuitive and this time the overdub button is not so straightforward..

But they way i used to use Live for loop based music, its awesome, but i had to change to do a bit of every musical style so now i see its weakness in this sense. I am still in love with it, but for certain music i dont know if its better to switch back to another classic sequencer.

[forge]

but count the times you click before you can simply put two notes there in a clip. Live is about being intuitive and this time the overdub button is not so straightforward..

1. double click = create clip
2. click = trigger clip
3. practice notes on MIDI keyboard
4. press / to enable overdub
5. play notes on MIDI keyboard


which bit are you wanting to leave out?

[eddu]

creaitng a clip, setting the length, dragin back to the arrange..dunno..its anti operative, i just want to add some notes in the arrangement. I´ll give it a try though.

[andydes]

What was wrong with this method? It's certainly easier than what you were doing before.

You are in arrange, not session view right? Then what you are trying to do is simple. You want to punch in and out on a specific section of the clip. DO NOT CROP THE CLIP. Press the punch in and out buttons on the control bar, and set the loop brace to cover only the part of the track you want to overdub on. Turn the overdub button OFF as with overdub ON it adds newly recorded notes to ones already there. Press play and record will come on automatically at the start of the loop brace, and off at the end. That should over-write all the notes you don't want with the new ones. Check the manual at page 81 for the full skinny.

[kenporter]

Hello,

Is it me or is sooooo time consuming to record MIDI on the arrange view?

Considering i am no good at playing keyboard i use to record phrases in several takes so, lets imagine, i make a 8 bar loop, hit record and input some notes.

Ok imangine i just played well the first 5 notes, so i crop the midi clip until that 5 notes. Well, i play the recording then...hear the first 5 correct notes, then hit record and conitnue the recording. I stop again and..surprise! A new clip has been created instead of continuing the previous one. Moreover, the notes are not quantize (even if i have set auto quantize in recording). Or should i say they are quantize but relative to the beginning of the clip which was not quantized (cause i hit record somewhere after the 5th note).

then i have to select both clips, join, select the last recorded notes and quantize manually.

How do you deal with this? Its making me lose so many time! Why cant we overdub on the same clip that was previously recroded? Isnt this overdubbing on a normal environment?

thanks in advance!


Ops i forgot...i have delayed notes when setting auto on monitoring and recording on a track with a VSTi on Live7, which basically means you cant hear your playing while recording. Has this already been fixed?

You could create your 8 bar loop in arrange as well, then press overdub and re-record without creating a new loop. I for one record something, most of the time press command (ctrl) + L to put a loop brace around it, turn on overdub and record more midi notes in the same clip without creating a new one. Or like the others said you could record in session view as well. I use both all the time without problems. I actually think recording midi in Live is a lot faster than other programs.

Ken

[forge]

creaitng a clip, setting the length, dragin back to the arrange..dunno..its anti operative, i just want to add some notes in the arrangement. I´ll give it a try though.

you dont have to pre=set the length - it will record for as long as you want it to, that was just a suggestion

and I don't usually drag to arrange, I usually just get to the right place then hit record