Ableton Forum

Ableton Live (version 8 ... probably some older versions, too)

After having spent one too many times trying to remember exactly how i had done this the last time i needed to, without making a mistake (which could lead to having to re-consolidate or other such time-consuming nonesense) i wrote this nerd-like detailed little step-by-step guide for myself and thought ....
... it just might help some of you, too.

If anyone can think of an improved, quicker method and would like to share it here, i’m all ears and eyes, and grateful, too! Same goes for any corrections to mistakes i might have made.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE

1. Preparation
1.1 (Temporarily) Place the clip, whose warp markers are to be copied (hereafter called “master-clip”), directly above the clip(s) to which you want to apply these warp markers. This may ease some of the following operations.

1.2 Make a duplicate of the master-clip (a good idea in any case) and unwarp it before proceeding.

1.3 Make sure the master-clip’s Start is at 0.0.0 (check in the Sample Box) and that it spans its complete length (i.e. the End Marker in the Sample Display is pulled all the way to the right), by pulling the master-clip’s edges accordingly.

2. Consolidate the clip(s) to make them the exact same length as the master-clip.
(NOTE! You can skip step 2. if the clip(s) is (are) already the exact same length as the master-clip.)

2.1 Select the master-clip (entirely!) in the Track View, and hit the keyboard’s DOWN ARROW once.

2.2 As you now have the exact same length of the master-clip selected on the clip to be consolidated, either hit “Consolidate” or hold down SHIFT and hit DOWN ARROW to multi-select and consolidate clips at once (e.g. from the Edit Menu).
(NOTE! Depending on your preference settings, you may wish to unwarp the newly consolidated clips prior to moving on to the next step.)

3. Duplicate the master-clip for the amount of copies you want.
(NOTE! In case you forgot to make a copy of the master-clip (as mentioned in step 1.2), you may hit “Warp” in Clip View’s Sample Box, and choose “No” at the upcoming dialogue, in order to revert to the previous marker settings.

3.1 Select the master-clip’s Track Name in Track View, hold down CMD and hit letter D, the necessary amount of times.

4. Copy warp markers
4.1 Right-Click (one of) the clip(s) which you wish to copy the warp markers to, and select “Show in Browser” (this can be done on the clip itself, in the Arrangement’s Track View as well as from Clip View’s Sample Display window. The Browser opens, reveals and selects the searched for file.)

4.2 Select (one of) the master-clip duplicate(s) from the Track View in the Arrangement View.
(Make sure you see it’s warped waveform displayed in the Clip View’s Sample Display.)

4.3 Drag the previously revealed clip from the Browser onto the Sample Display window of the master-clip duplicate.

That’s it! The Warp Markers are copied.

4.4 You may now reapply the appropriate name of the file to the clip to avoid confusion, repeat step 4.1 to 4.4 as necessary for the remainder of clips, and Save As a new set.

Thanks for the steps, so this is to make all tracks the same BPM so they play in time right?

I've been abit baffled about how to get the vocal samples i rip off youtube to play in exact sync with tracks. Alot of times they seem to automatically warp to some different bpm.

This just makes them play the same BPM not necessarily be 'in sync' right? For that dont you have to play around finding the first kick etc, then lining up with the other tracks?

cheers,
Jon

before i learned how to do warp on multiple clips at once, i usually just warped the 1st one, saved the als, duplicated the als and renamed it with the name of the other files
then i loaded the files that all took the original markers(and image) and reversed them, saved them and re opened them to get the real image

jonbongjovi wrote:Thanks for the steps, so this is to make all tracks the same BPM so they play in time right?

You're welcome. In regard to your question, this is one method (not the only one, as you can readily see by Muzik 4 Machines reply) to copy the existing Warp Markers of one clip to other clips, in order to have them all assume the same Segment BPMs (note that these may be different to the overall Tempo of your Liveset), as can be seen in Seg. BPM, in the Sample Box.

jonbongjovi wrote:Alot of times they seem to automatically warp to some different bpm.

A.Live will automatically try to guess the correct BPM of your imported samples (depending on your Preference settings, under the Record Warp Launch tab).
This often works well when the samples have a clearly defined first beat (e.g. a kick, guitar strum, piano hit, etc.), which you would set the first Warp Marker to, and then choose one of the warping methods available. But with material not so clearly defined, e.g. because of strong tempo changes or a different time signature to the one set in your Liveset, you might have to manually coax the Warp Markers, using your ears (and personal taste) as a reference to line up the tracks.

Hope this helps.

Muzik 4 Machines wrote:before i learned how to do warp on multiple clips at once, i usually just warped the 1st one, saved the als, duplicated the als and renamed it with the name of the other files
then i loaded the files that all took the original markers(and image) and reversed them, saved them and re opened them to get the real image

I remember having done it like this, too, some years back. But then, after not having to copy Warp Markers for some time, i tried the exact method to no avail. Looking for answers in this forum has helped in recalling, among the various available, a working method, but the fact that my many book mark-er-s resembled the out-of-sync Warp Markers of my Liveset, plus the recurring questions to the same issue, led me to write it out once and for all(? hopefully!).