Ableton Forum

I got Ableton Live Lite Akai Professional Edition with my Akai MPD26 and I wanted to make a full beat with them. I went through the manual fast, learned some new things, but I still struggle to learn some basic techniques. I've also checked some videos on youtube, but most of them work with Ableton Live 8, which has more features and I'm kinda lost there. Here are my questions:

1) How do I convert a stereo sample into mono?

2) How can I chop a breakbeat into small pieces (kick, snare, hat etc.)?

3) How can I chop a loop into 1 or 2 bars and time stretch it, so it will fit the tempo?

4) Which instrument should I use for triggering sounds with my Akai MP26? I have discovered Impulse, but it has only 8 pads.

Shurik'n wrote:1) How do I convert a stereo sample into mono?

(I'm not 100% sure this works exactly like this but it seems to work for me) Try using a Utility device with the stereo spread set to 0%. Resample as necessary. I'm sure there's a better way to do this (for specific sample files you might use a separate editor like Audacity before you even bring the sample into Live).

Shurik'n wrote:2) How can I chop a breakbeat into small pieces (kick, snare, hat etc.)?

Load up your break as a clip by dragging it somewhere on the Arrangment or Session views. Double click its title to open the Clip View editor at the bottom. Start putting warp markers everywhere that you want to make slices - you can also warp the waveform around if you want to mess with the timing. When you've got it where you want it, right-click and use Slice to New MIDI track. You'll get new MIDI track with a drum rack in it, and every 'slice' is now loaded up as a sample in a Simpler device in each Drum Rack pad. Use MIDI notes to trigger slices as you please.

Shurik'n wrote:3) How can I chop a loop into 1 or 2 bars and time stretch it, so it will fit the tempo?

Load the sample as a clip as described above. Use warp markers to stretch the sample around to fit the tempo however you want. Check the manual again for the specifics....I found it confusing at first. Don't forget to set the warp mode to whatever you think sounds the best! Usually this is Complex Pro if you've got the CPU power to spare, but sometimes one of other modes can sound better for specific kinds of samples.

Shurik'n wrote:4) Which instrument should I use for triggering sounds with my Akai MP26? I have discovered Impulse, but it has only 8 pads.

Try Drum Racks. Not really an "instrument" per se (it's a tool for arranging them) but you can think of and use it like one. Each MIDI note corresponds to a pad, and when that pad is triggered it sends a MIDI note to whatever instrument is loaded in it. Great for loading samples and triggering them with grid-style pads like that.

Hope this helps!

(I'm not 100% sure this works exactly like this but it seems to work for me) Try using a Utility device with the stereo spread set to 0%. Resample as necessary. I'm sure there's a better way to do this (for specific sample files you might use a separate editor like Audacity before you even bring the sample into Live).

Utility does the job pretty well. I'm using Audacity as well, so it's a good suggestion to run the sample there first.

Load up your break as a clip by dragging it somewhere on the Arrangment or Session views. Double click its title to open the Clip View editor at the bottom. Start putting warp markers everywhere that you want to make slices - you can also warp the waveform around if you want to mess with the timing. When you've got it where you want it, right-click and use Slice to New MIDI track. You'll get new MIDI track with a drum rack in it, and every 'slice' is now loaded up as a sample in a Simpler device in each Drum Rack pad. Use MIDI notes to trigger slices as you please.

I don't know if it's my Lite version of Ableton or I'm missing something, but I followed those steps and I can't put warp markers wherever I want. The only way I can add markers is by pressing left click over the numbers in the clip view, which indicate the numbers of the bars.

Load the sample as a clip as described above. Use warp markers to stretch the sample around to fit the tempo however you want. Check the manual again for the specifics....I found it confusing at first. Don't forget to set the warp mode to whatever you think sounds the best! Usually this is Complex Pro if you've got the CPU power to spare, but sometimes one of other modes can sound better for specific kinds of samples.

My Lite version of Ableton came with just four modes: Beats, Tones, Texture and Re-Pitch. Ableton Live 8 users have that privilege to use the other modes. But I'm fully satisfied with those four.

Try Drum Racks. Not really an "instrument" per se (it's a tool for arranging them) but you can think of and use it like one. Each MIDI note corresponds to a pad, and when that pad is triggered it sends a MIDI note to whatever instrument is loaded in it. Great for loading samples and triggering them with grid-style pads like that.

I can't find Drum Racks. I've searched under Live Devices>Instruments and there was a folder named Drum Rack with pre-setted sounds. There was no ''clean'' Drum Rack.

I would like to thank you for your help. You wrote that pretty clear, but I don't know if my version of Ableton supports all these features.

Oh, I suspect it doesn't. There's a comparison chart on the Ableton site that lists the differences. Among them is that you can't edit drum racks apparently, which I suppose would prevent you from making your own. In that case, Impulse devices are probably the best bet. If you could use Instrument racks you could stack them. Maybe there's a VST or something you might be able to use?

Which version of Live Lite do you have? I think the way warp markers are put in was changed in version 8. If I remember right, in 7 and below, you put the warp markers on the timeline and stretched the timeline to match the audio. In 8, you stretch the audio to match a fixed timeline. Same concept, just different interface.

You're quite welcome BTW! Always happy to help.

Warrior Bob wrote:Oh, I suspect it doesn't. There's a comparison chart on the Ableton site that lists the differences. Among them is that you can't edit drum racks apparently, which I suppose would prevent you from making your own. In that case, Impulse devices are probably the best bet. If you could use Instrument racks you could stack them.

I've checked the comparison chart. For Ableton Live Lite 8 it says "No" under "Instrument-, Drum-, Effect Rack editing" so, I guess I won't be able to load my sounds into Drum Rack. Anyway, I can live with 8 pads. Also I can load Impulse multiple times.

Warrior Bob wrote:Maybe there's a VST or something you might be able to use?

That's actually a good idea, if you refer to using 3rd party VST to trigger sounds.

Warrior Bob wrote:Which version of Live Lite do you have? I think the way warp markers are put in was changed in version 8. If I remember right, in 7 and below, you put the warp markers on the timeline and stretched the timeline to match the audio. In 8, you stretch the audio to match a fixed timeline. Same concept, just different interface.

You're quite welcome BTW! Always happy to help.

Today I've upgraded to Live Lite 8.2.6. (the latest version). You were right about the difference between warp markers placement in version 7 and 8, it was same concept, just different methods. Although I'm more comfortable with version 8 method.

Again, thanks for the help.

No problem! Hope it all works out for you and don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions

Not sure if this is the same solution, but I want to stretch or squash a single sound bite regardless of tempo. I have a sound that's too short for the space I want it to fill, so I want to drag it out a bit, or I have a sound that's a bit too long for the space I want it to fill, so I want to shorten it. Both without effecting the pitch and both not really tied to bpm.

Any ideas?

warp!

takes quite a lot of words to explain, best would be to youtube search 'Ableton Warp(ing)' and go from there