Ableton Forum

This is me.

http://christophersonexperience.bandcamp.com/

I have been on Live for 4 years, and still am mystified by "time" edit features.

I AM ON A MAC.... and I have tried

Control + Apple + X to cut

and it WORKS.

But Control + Apple + V does not paste.

Also, Apple + Control + V does not paste.

So how do I paste ?

And how do I copy "time" so that I can take it to a totally different part of song.

I can do all of this with my eyes closed in Pro Tools, but not on Live... yet

Thanks.

I don't know offhand, but why don't you go to the edit menu and read what the shortcut key is? or read the manual?

Its in the edit dropdown menu on a PC.

Probly in a similar place on the MAC.

HAVE FUN

CMD + C = Copy
CMD + V = Paste

Looking at Mac keyboard. No key is labeled "command" or "CMD."

Am I supposed to assume that "CMD" is the on with the apple? Is the "CMD" key that has the apple icon? Tried that for cut and paste as above. Doesn't work. How is that logical? Please indicate keystrokes including whatever symbol or word is on actual keyboard key. Thanks. Yes, I am a right-brained artist.

In the Live edit menu, cut time and paste time are listed.

Why is copy considered not important enough to have a "copy time" function?!!!

That's obviously not the same as Duplicate time.

Yes, found this section in LIVE POWER book and in the Ableton .pdf manual. It is STILL not clear.

sorry my freind, can you ellaborate to me what you mean by copying "time"?
if simply a copying task then you are correct in assuming command = CMD or "apple" key

and paste is CMD + V
also you may want to explore
CMD + D
which duplicates any highlighted region

on a Mac -

Shift-Apple(or command)-C = copy time
Shift-Apple(or command)-V = paste time
Shift-Apple(or command-delete = delete time

Also, in arrangement view, Right Click up above all the tracks, above the numbers marking the bars (below the arrangement overview pane). You will get the option to "paste time" here. For copying, remember that your Right-Click menus will have different content depending on if you right click the waveform/midi area, or the colored rectangle above that (the first providing envelope options, the second providing the cut/paste options).

Ableton Live seems to have a lot of location-dependent right-click context menus, and they aren't exactly intuitive to find.

-M

Right this "Time" business is the nuts.... looked into it

this is what you want sunshine

you have 3 options effected by "Time"

Cut = shift+CMD+X
Paste = shift+CMD+V
Duplicate = shift+CMD+D

Copy = CMD+D (Note that this command is unaffected by time and copy is copy whatever the scenario)

you obviously have to highlight the region first but then you are good to go

4 years

Thanks to everyone for pitching in.

This does not work. --- " Shift-Apple(or command)-C = copy time"

"Time" as used in the "delete time" function, implies that whatever segent of the song that is highlighted, even if only on ONE TRACK, affects ALL tracks.

Delete time is a perfect example. If you highlight only one bar of one track, then do "delete-time," the highlighted bar will be eliminated from the entire song, for ALL TRACKS.

I use songs that contain up to 40 tracks. The live arrangement window will not even show me all of those tracks at one time, so being required to HIGHLIGHT every single track that I want to "copy" would be extremely cumbersome. (if I want to copy all tracks at a certain part of song)

Why not have a function for "copy" that is similar to the "delete-time" function?

This would mean that when I select a single bar of a single track, and do keystrokes for "Copy-time," I would then be copying one bar of EVERY track in the song.

I just tried it AGAIN, as I have when I have reviewed Live .pdf manual and also the Live Power book... and I have not been able to do a "copy time" function successfully.

For example, if delete time is acheived by using a slightly different keystroke command from the traditional "cut" function, (control + apple + X), then why not make it possible to do control + apple + C to copy ALL tracks according to highlighted area on any track?

I just tried control + apple + C in this way, and then control + apple + V with no results.

Furthermore, after control + apple + C, if I go to the "edit" drop-down, I see that "paste-time" option is grayed-out.

I hope Live users helping out here are understanding the whole thing about ALL TRACKS... affected as a result of highlighting on only one track.

This has been the coolest forum I have ever particpated in, but this is making me feel stupid and frustrated. Why would there be specific mention in Live's "edit" drop-down of all "time" edits (global edits - all tracks) such as cut time, paste time, duplicate time... but no indication of "copy time"?

Ableton feels that "copy" is important enough to mentioned in the drop-down, but not copy-time.

As I review the edit drop-down menu, I see that Live has indicated symbols not found on my Apple keyboard. Example: the shortcut for "cut-time" is indicated as:

arrow upward, apple key and X.

There is one arrow on my Apple keyboard. On the right side. Tried it. Doesn't do anything except move the highlighted area upward. I have a feeling this upward arrow symbol is supposed to be the "control" key, but if that is the case, why is the Live user shown an arrow? Or, why not write "control" or "cntrl" in the shortcut of the drop-down?

"Delete time" (as included in the drop-down menu), shows two arrow symbols. Neither of which are on my Apple keyboard, purchased with my Mac G5.

One of the arrows is same as mentioned above, and the other arrow is a rectangle with an "x" inside it, with the arrow pointing leftward. There is no such symbol on my keyboard. Not helpful to right-brainers like me.

I see that often "command" is coupled with "apple key." OK, lets have two names for a single key, I can live with that. But what is the square with the looped four-corners? So a single key has three identifiers, depending on keyboards, printed material and web tutorials: "Command," apple symbol and also the symbol of a square with looped corners. And users are being taught to use this key simultaneously with other keys also indicated by multiple symbols and names. Cool that anyone could do a standard Google search for the meaning or name of a square with looped corners. Piece of cake.

Maybe someone could do a Youtube video about "time" edits that even morons can understand.

Thanks for your patience. Yes, I know this will end up being some dump thing I don't understand. Oh well. I want to be able to EDIT MY SONG ARRANGEMENTS QUICKLY!! And I love Ableton LIVE.



PS If there is really no "copy-time" function, then I need to know how to EASILY highlight 2 bars of all tracks in the middle of 50-track song. Maybe this is part of the solution I am not understanding. I am assuming that taking the time to group all tracks is not the answer... well, maybe it is the best way!

i have found to easily highlight a track in the middle of many is to expand a track then highlight from there, also i think the reason delete/copy/cut time doesn't apply to all is so to give you flexibility of what track is edited. il try to do a video at some point

your caps lock key seems to be broken. please fix.

to copy, i normally

duplicate time, cut time, move to new place, paste time.

it's one additional key combination to 'copy time, move to new place, paste time'.

The up arrow = 'shift'

a Copy Time function doesn't exist, but i can see where it could be in handy - like you said, for ALL tracks. but as there's no Copy Time, you can either:

select the top clip, hold shift, and select the bottom clip, and all clips in between will be selected. now 'copy'.

or,

use the loop brace as your 'select all'. then 'copy'.