Ableton Forum

I'm hoping some of my fellow Live peeps can help me out. I am really having trouble w/ PUSH's browsing capabilities. I don't use pre-sets all that much and I definitely don't use stock Ableton samples or packs.

I absolutely adore my PUSH but the limited browsing is really killing me. There seems to be little to no documentation, video's, tips out there. I was hoping some of you could point me in the right direction on how to use "places" to browse my own stuff. I understand I have to rack stuff up but I kinda need more details. I have a folder on my HDD called "ALL LIVE. It's filled w/ my own samples and a bunch of other stuff. Is it possible for me to browse that from a drum cell or from a clip. So far I can't figure out how.

I know PUSH is limited in browsing but ANY tips will help.

Thanx!!!!

I personally use the following method, which is not ideal, but I'm fine with it. Requires a bit of prep.

I store all my samples, instruments etc in the exact "mirror" folder in the User Library. Let's say I've made a synth lead rack. I would store it in user library - Presets - Instrument racks - synth leads. Note you have to create subfolders within Instrument Racks and name them exactly the same as the core library. I also add either a "1", or "2" etc, OR an underscore "_" in front of my rack's name, so that it shows up at the top the list. This means that when you press "browse" on your push, your rack will show up, well, in Instrument Rack - Synth Lead - _example001.

Alternatively you could skip placing your own racks in a subfolder within Instrument racks, and simply place it just in Instrument Racks, skipping any underscore or numeral prefix. They will then show up on Push at the bottom of the second list underneath all the sub categories. So you'd press BROWSE, hold down SHIFT+the amber button (or the encoder) underneath subcategories to scroll down and you should very quickly reach your own preset. Holding SHIFT scrolls much faster than not holding it. If you have many of your own racks you probably want to actually place them in subfolders.

A third but slowest method would be to press BROWSE, hold SHIFT+encoder/amber button, and scroll all the way down to Places - User Library - Presets - etc etc.

Anyway, any of these three methods are also used for Drum racks, and samples that I'd browse for drumhits in the drum sequencer. Which of course would also have to be organized following the same principles as above.

This is bu no means the only way to organize your browsing, but it works great for me.

Hope this helps.

Unfortunately you cannot yet load clips directly from push into session view. Perhaps in version 9.1

Thank you so much man. Great tips. Exactly what I was looking for.

I might be talking over my head here because, honestly, all I've been doing with Live 9 since I got it is play with push with whatever racks I've installed from Ableton or downloaded from the wonderful puremagnetik. I haven't even pointed to anything in my samples folder...yet.

But I have a question, and Ted you might be able to answer it...

What if you created symbolic links in the User Library that pointed to your own User data? This way you wouldn't have to move your stuff, you would just point to it within the folder structure? Or is what I'm asking an invalid question?

Sorry drez, I don't know. Sounds feasible though, you don't have anything to lose, so give it a try.

I'm lucky in that I've kinda restarted everything from scratch, and have adopted Ableton's way of organizing things, so I don't have anything to move.