Ableton Forum

Hi,

I usually have no problem creating several nice sounding scenes in session view, but I am struggling with making the transition to arrangement view. Basically I can do everything I need via mouse and keyboard, but this is too slow for me to maintain a creative state of mind.

If I just trigger the scenes one after another the arrangement sounds static and boring because there are many transitions from one part to another which lack any kind of interesting sounds or effects right before or after the transition happens.

I've seen lots of videos on youtube where this looks easy - People just wiggle some controls on their keyboard and a cool effect ensues. But how can I *quickly* make the right mappings to my controller to trigger matching effects before my creativity dies in the process?

My second problem is that even if I put some one-shot samples on my launchpad to trigger them while recording the track, I have a hard time remembering which launchpad button triggers which clip. Especially if I have to move around clip area a lot. So I end up making lots of mistakes while recording and then I either have to go back and do everything from scratch or move a lot of things around with the mouse, again killing my creativity if it takes too long.

I have a Remote SL II, Launchpad and Kore controller at my disposal. But it seems I still need to find the right way of using them

How do you get around these problems?

Thanks,

Adrian

What I tend to do is play the scenes into the arrangement and then switch to the arrangement view to work on the transitions.

crumhorn wrote:What I tend to do is play the scenes into the arrangement and then switch to the arrangement view to work on the transitions.

I suppose you meant playing the scenes in session view and then moving on to arrangement for the transitions. I am doing this too, but right now I am not really using any of my controller hardware for this. Usually I press record then then I am am just triggering the scenes one after another, but not really "performing" anything.

I feel that if I could learn how to perform the track instead I gain a lot of additional ideas and stay in a creative state of mind. But I am not sure how to set this up first.

My guess is some of those people on youtube know exactly what they want to change because they've already done it before.

Why not go step by step in arrangement view? Load up say a lead and twiddle around with settings, seeing what you like to do to it and jot down the ideas. So once you've gone through everything for a song, you know what you want to arrange while it plays out.

Then, look over your notes and compare it to the timeline. You'd have quite a bit of trouble if you're trying to do everything manually I'd think, so pick out parts that you want the most control over. Everything else that needs to be changed at that same time you could automate it.

And for the things you want to automate, set them up as numbered knobs perhaps? Or just remember where you need to go to edit what you want on the fly.

What you're talking about is performing, which involves preperation, give it a shot!

(PS: I've never done this myself, I'm not to that part yet <_<. But hopefully my idea helps!)

At some point you have to partition making a finished piece of music into creative flow and technically focused work. like rottentothegore says, youtube clips of people performing are masking all the preparation that's gone into making performance effortless... the instrument design, midi mapping etc. I spend ages making clips, designing instruments that can be controlled using the 8 macrodials, setting up my controllers and session view so that they work well together. All stuff that definitely doesn't take place within a creative flow state. I then perform/record the track in one take. This will then be really sprawling and a bit rough, so I then go back into my details headspace to edit and finesse the arrangement.

in order for the performance/flow stage to work everything has to be really organised, everything has to be clearly labelled, macro one on a device should always do roughly the same thing, clips should be colour coded etc etc. my guideline is that i need to be able to use the session live in front of 100 people after drinking 2 pints of strong lager. Once you've got that level of discipline in the set design, there's no reason to step out of creative flow whilst you're in performance mode.

Thanks a lot guys, that definitely helps me. One other thing I learned since I wrote this article: Kapture Pad ( http://liine.net/en/products/kapturepad/ ) is really useful for finding the right settings to tweak because it allows me to mess around with settings without having to be afraid about permanently messing up my entire set.

Yes, I find doing a performance rather then cutting and pasting accross gives much better results

It would be awesome if you could just press record and play your session, then render the results from arrangement and have an awesome track. The reality is there is no be all end all solution to anything. Unless you map every effect parameter to a controller and know exactly what you want it to do and when to do it then you have to edit in the arrangement.

It is fun to just rock out in session and record it but you'll almost never end up w/ a perfect performance. The Arrangement is where you, well, arrange the song. It's where you fine tune it. Drawing Automation, Layering bass and synth etc.

Honestly, Session View is a trap. I was stuck there for awhile and know others who are still stuck there. In my case, until I started using Arrangement, I had a ton of super awesome 16 bar loops. And that's it!
Sesiion, for me, is just where I start ideas. Arrangement is where it becomes a song

[quote="oddstep"]At some point you have to partition making a finished piece of music into creative flow and technically focused work. like rottentothegore says, youtube clips of people performing are masking all the preparation that's gone into making performance effortless... the instrument design, midi mapping etc. I spend ages making clips, designing instruments that can be controlled using the 8 macrodials, setting up my controllers and session view so that they work well together. quote]


Thanks for this man - I needed it that!
I spend a lot of time fiddling with instruments- I haven't completed one project yet

pluggy wrote:Thanks a lot guys, that definitely helps me. One other thing I learned since I wrote this article: Kapture Pad ( http://liine.net/en/products/kapturepad/ ) is really useful for finding the right settings to tweak because it allows me to mess around with settings without having to be afraid about permanently messing up my entire set.

SHIFT + COMMAND + SAVE (different name, same project folder) then have it, you earned it playa!!

SHIFT + COMMAND + SAVE (different name, same project folder) then have it, you earned it playa!!

Obviously that is another way to do this, but I don't enjoy reloading my set if this takes about a minute or so to complete (mostly due to several Kontakt instances). Kapture Pad works instantly, so you can also easily A/B test settings.

pluggy wrote:

SHIFT + COMMAND + SAVE (different name, same project folder) then have it, you earned it playa!!

Obviously that is another way to do this, but I don't enjoy reloading my set if this takes about a minute or so to complete (mostly due to several Kontakt instances). Kapture Pad works instantly, so you can also easily A/B test settings.

Is this only in regards to Kontakt? Or is it for ableton instruments as well?
Thanks1

i3igTripplets wrote:

pluggy wrote:

SHIFT + COMMAND + SAVE (different name, same project folder) then have it, you earned it playa!!

Obviously that is another way to do this, but I don't enjoy reloading my set if this takes about a minute or so to complete (mostly due to several Kontakt instances). Kapture Pad works instantly, so you can also easily A/B test settings.

Is this only in regards to Kontakt? Or is it for ableton instruments as well?
Thanks1

It's for almost all settings in your entire Live set.