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I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 7:03 pm
by cofane
When I "select" a track using my APC 40 can I have it automatically record arm the track as well?
Also, what I'd REALLY like to do is launch a clip and have the track that clips is on automatically record arm. Is that possible?
Thanks for any advice!
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:42 pm
by evon
Have you tried changing the clip properties in the Preferences Tab..under Options I think..dont remember.
Why not RTFM?
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 8:19 pm
by glitchrock-buddha
Ha, that was my first question on this forum when I first moved over from Logic about 5 or 6 years ago!
And no, you can't by normal settings. It's something you'd be able to script perhaps, or with Max for Live, but nothing straight forward.
evon wrote:Have you tried changing the clip properties in the Preferences Tab..under Options I think..dont remember.
Why not RTFM?
WTF are you talking about? Where exactly in the manual does it say how to have a track automatically armed upon track selection or clip triggering? Or are you saying he should read the manual to determine whether something isn't possible? 'Cause manuals list all the things you can't do of course...
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 6:27 am
by wiffbi
I did some MIDI Remote-Scripting for Live with my SelectedTrackControl (
http://stc.wiffbi.com/) and can confirm, what glitchrock-buddha said: it should be possible to script that through a custom MIDI Remote Script. I published the sources to SelectedTrackControl on github, this might get you started. It shouldn't be to complicated…
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 12:47 pm
by evon
OK..but have you tried automation, dummy clips, racks...It may not be straightforward, but I still believe there is a work around..other than scripting.
My setup is dismantled at the moment as I am intransit, but I have never had the need for doing this, however I will check it out sometime later on.
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 1:28 pm
by glitchrock-buddha
evon wrote:OK..but have you tried automation, dummy clips, racks... .
Sorry bud, but I think you're misunderstanding completely. Things like racks, automation and dummy clips have nothing at all to do with arming a track for recording when you select it. They don't interact with mouse selection at all.
Just letting you so you don't waste a bunch of time looking for something that isn't there.
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:04 pm
by 3dot...
m4l
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:22 pm
by chapelier fou
I still don't understand why not just hit the record-arm button. Sorry.
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:27 pm
by glitchrock-buddha
chapelier fou wrote:I still don't understand why not just hit the record-arm button. Sorry.
That pretty much became my philosophy as well. It's funny though, moving from one DAW to another, the smallest, seemingly insignificant things can really through you off. Like in Logic, when you select a track, it's automatically receiving your midi input and is armed. To this day I still catch myself once in a while looking at an instrument on a track in Live and then playing it and accidentally playing another track because it was still armed on that other track. But I've come to prefer them being separate generally anyways.
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:48 pm
by zeropoint
glitchrock-buddha wrote:evon wrote:OK..but have you tried automation, dummy clips, racks... .
Sorry bud, but I think you're misunderstanding completely. Things like racks, automation and dummy clips have nothing at all to do with arming a track for recording when you select it. They don't interact with mouse selection at all.
Just letting you so you don't waste a bunch of time looking for something that isn't there.
I think he may mean something like this:
You could use a launch group, a virtual midi bus and a dummy midi clip to achieve this. Rather than mapping the clips you want to launch direct, create a group including them and a set of record- arming dummy clips going out over midi yoke or the iac bus. Then map the group launch clips to your controller, pedalboard or whatever.......
So you map your record arm for that channel to a midi note say C3 and then program that note into the dummy clip. Now when you launch your group clip it will launch the audio/midi clip and the dummy clip which in turn record arms your channel.
Although I too don't quite understand why the op doesn't just arm the track at the outset and be done......
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 3:18 pm
by glitchrock-buddha
zeropoint wrote:glitchrock-buddha wrote:evon wrote:OK..but have you tried automation, dummy clips, racks... .
Sorry bud, but I think you're misunderstanding completely. Things like racks, automation and dummy clips have nothing at all to do with arming a track for recording when you select it. They don't interact with mouse selection at all.
Just letting you so you don't waste a bunch of time looking for something that isn't there.
I think he may mean something like this:
You could use a launch group, a virtual midi bus and a dummy midi clip to achieve this. Rather than mapping the clips you want to launch direct, create a group including them and a set of record- arming dummy clips going out over midi yoke or the iac bus. Then map the group launch clips to your controller, pedalboard or whatever.......
So you map your record arm for that channel to a midi note say C3 and then program that note into the dummy clip. Now when you launch your group clip it will launch the audio/midi clip and the dummy clip which in turn record arms your channel.
True, you could set up a virtual midi bus, but in order to make this possible for all your tracks you are getting into an even more complicated set up than scripting potentially.
Also, I have to admit that I was focusing mainly on the ability to arm a track by selection, which is certainly not possible by any regular means. So to Evon, to clarify, that's the thing I was trying to save you time from researching. I hope I didn't add to any confusion (and to be honest, he seems to want the arming from clip triggering more, which I should have read more carefully!). But for the second point about arming tracks upon clip triggering, using a dummy clip setup along with an external midi routing and group tracks could work, but I suspect this is even getting to be a more complicated set up than the OP was hoping for. But I shouldn't assume that. Also it raises many potential problems when dealing with multiple group tracks where you want the same functionality (to avoid record enabling all the tracks that are playing etc.)
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:27 pm
by AceLuby
The arm track and track focus buttons are literally right next to each other on the APC40. Also, if you just arm the track the APC will pick up the track you just armed in the control section, though you will need to focus on the track if you want to 'see' what you are controlling.
As for the problem regarding arming multiple tracks, there is an option in preferences to allow only one track to be armed at a time.
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 5:35 pm
by glitchrock-buddha
AceLuby wrote:
As for the problem regarding arming multiple tracks, there is an option in preferences to allow only one track to be armed at a time.
I think I've seen this get overridden with custom mappings and control scripts though.
But I agree that since record enabling also selects the track, it's never been an issue if you're using some instant mapping hardware (for that reason I assumed he was using the mouse).
Re: I want to automatically record arm tracks when I select them
Posted: Sat May 27, 2023 9:54 am
by Aqueum
Add the line:
to Options.txt (or a new file named Options.txt) in:
Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/[whatever your latest Ableton version folder is on mac]
or
Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\[whatever your latest Ableton version folder is on windows]\Preferences
Thanks to
The Neon Syndicate for
this tutorial.
For those who agreed the answer to the OP's question was to:
chapelier fou wrote: ↑Wed Sep 08, 2010 2:22 pm
just hit the record-arm button:
he points out that -EnableArmOnSelection means you can arm the next track with the arrow keys rather than needing to reach for the mouse. Gabriele also links to
a tonne of other options here.