Ableton Forum

Does this ever happen to anyone else?
You have automation on a track in arrangement view. We'll say, you have a volume envelope that slowly raises the volume over 8 bars. But then you touch the volume box and change it, suddenly the automation and volume control is greyed out and doesn't work.

What the deal w/ that?
Its super annoying

How do you want it to behave? Pretty much all the DAWs have a choice between either recording over your old automation or ignoring the MIDI controller completely. I think Ableton acts differently so that when you're performing live the controller you're using can override automation without deleting it. You can revert back to the recorded automation by clicking the "back to arrange" button (red button with three lines on it).

Oh wow thanks!!!! I didnt realize the back to arrangement button brought it back!!!! Thanx Bro!!

Sometimes the back to arrangement function isn't what you want, especially if you were lowering overall volume on a track to avoid overloading a physical output.

I mimic Logic's mixer setup where every physical output is assigned a blank audio track set to 'no input' and then monitor in. I then assign the outputs of the actual audio tracks to the blank audio tracks - basically using them as busses.

That let's me keep the track volume automation in place while still being able to raise and lower the overall track volume separately. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, but it's an absolute godsend when working with a lot of automation.

southsounder wrote:Sometimes the back to arrangement function isn't what you want, especially if you were lowering overall volume on a track to avoid overloading a physical output.

I mimic Logic's mixer setup where every physical output is assigned a blank audio track set to 'no input' and then monitor in. I then assign the outputs of the actual audio tracks to the blank audio tracks - basically using them as busses.

That let's me keep the track volume automation in place while still being able to raise and lower the overall track volume separately. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, but it's an absolute godsend when working with a lot of automation.

Sounds like a good idea! It is a little annoying and I always have a ridiculous amount of automation.

southsounder wrote:Sometimes the back to arrangement function isn't what you want, especially if you were lowering overall volume on a track to avoid overloading a physical output.

I mimic Logic's mixer setup where every physical output is assigned a blank audio track set to 'no input' and then monitor in. I then assign the outputs of the actual audio tracks to the blank audio tracks - basically using them as busses.

That let's me keep the track volume automation in place while still being able to raise and lower the overall track volume separately. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, but it's an absolute godsend when working with a lot of automation.

You could also group the tracks and use the group faders as buses.

Oh yeah - I never think about grouping tracks because I still do a fair bit of my writing on a Live 7/G4 machine. Can you group a single track though? I forget.

southsounder wrote:Oh yeah - I never think about grouping tracks because I still do a fair bit of my writing on a Live 7/G4 machine. Can you group a single track though? I forget.

Yes you can. You can't do nested groups though.

southsounder wrote:Sometimes the back to arrangement function isn't what you want, especially if you were lowering overall volume on a track to avoid overloading a physical output.

I mimic Logic's mixer setup where every physical output is assigned a blank audio track set to 'no input' and then monitor in. I then assign the outputs of the actual audio tracks to the blank audio tracks - basically using them as busses.

That let's me keep the track volume automation in place while still being able to raise and lower the overall track volume separately. Sounds more complicated than it actually is, but it's an absolute godsend when working with a lot of automation.

Isn't that what you use the Utility for, or am I misunderstanding?

I uae an empty effects rack. You can automate the volume in that. It's better than the utility because it goes down to zero.