Ableton Forum

[apologies in advance to anyone who already saw these questions; I had previously just asked these in a thread originally created last year]

I'm a new Live user (via demo) thats considering migrating over from Reason, and I've been messing around with the DAW for a few days, but I just cant completely grasp the whole Scene vs Track concept. In addition to having to unlearn what I thought I knew about DAWs (reason is my only point of reference), I was hoping to get the following questions answered.

some background info that might help answer my questions:
- 90% of the time I create hiphop beats (BOTH sample based and composition)
- I've worked with Reason for almost 7 years now, so most of my questions will be about parallels between Live and Reason
- while im nowhere near a Reason expert, I'm interested in learning a new DAW to see if a new way of thinking about composing music will open any new doors to the creative process.

[1] is it best to think of Live tracks as Reason channels? basically, should i have just 1 instrument (sample, bassline, keys, etc) per Live track?
- i read theres a way to chain several instruments onto 1 track; but thats a story/question for another day

[2] in regards to drums, if I load a drum rack onto a Live track... should i have the drum sequence ALL in 1 clip? or should i have each drum sound (kick, snare, hat) in its own clip as to better manage them?

[3] since all i know about sequencers is from Reason's (which i hear is pretty poor from ppl who use multiple DAWs), should I be dragging each Live track (or is it clip?) onto the sequencer view when im all done?
- Im trying to understand how i'd sequence the following scenario... i have a 16 bar 'verse', and an 8 bar 'hook', do i click/drag the 'verse' and 'hook' from the track/clip view to the sequencer view, then do all my copy/paste over there in order to have verse-hook-verse-hook ?

[4] track vs clip... are clips intended for live sets/performances, or is there any value to using them in a strictly production-minded environment?

[5] is there an instrument in Live that I can load a single bass sound (for example, in the C# key), and assign the sound as C#, then be able to use a midi piano to play that bass sound in scale? (in Reason, theres the NNXT that lets me accomplish this)

[6] Midi track vs Audio track, in the track/clip view. Aside from loading samples for chopping/slicing/editing, is it a safe assumption that I wont ever be using Audio tracks in a strictly production-based environment? are audio tracks mostly used for live sets/performances?

[7] in regards to samples- im loading mp3s into an Audio channel, adding chops (or warp markers), then exporting to a midi track to be played and sequenced. Is it just me, or do the warp markers not 'snap in' at logical points (or not exactly where i place them)? To add, I am magnifying the wavelength view, but placing warp markers dont seem precise.
- with Reason, I've been using Recycle to chop samples, and its night and day when compared to Live's sample editing from a performance standpoint- playing each chop, placing chop markers, setting start/end points, etc.
- i just learned that Live can load and interpret rex files, but I'm asking this question in the interest of 'doing everything in Live'

[8] while playing with one of the preset drum racks, I noticed that I couldn't manipulate the pitch of a single drum pad while in the device view. while i later found out i should be adjusting the 'transpose' control (above the 'detune' box), I'm unable to adjust the level of this control while a macro knob is associated to Pitch. Is there a way to keep the macro knob associated to pitch (which appears to be default for all drum racks), but override it for each individual drum pad?


apologies for all the detailed questions, I wanted to give the Live demo a fair tryout before committing to purchasing it (or moving on and trying other DAWs).

thanks in advance!

NTstateOFmind wrote: [1] is it best to think of Live tracks as Reason channels? basically, should i have just 1 instrument (sample, bassline, keys, etc) per Live track?
- i read theres a way to chain several instruments onto 1 track; but thats a story/question for another day

Yes, put one instrument per track. You can also put an "Instrument rack" onto the track, and then add multiple instruments... this can be used for layering synths or other things you probably don't need to worry about yet.

[2] in regards to drums, if I load a drum rack onto a Live track... should i have the drum sequence ALL in 1 clip? or should i have each drum sound (kick, snare, hat) in its own clip as to better manage them?

If you are going to edit the individual drum sounds a lot (adding effects, time-stretching, chopping, etc), you may find it easier to have each drum sound on it's own TRACK (ie Kick, Snare, Hihats). You can either use a MIDI track with a drum rack or just drag the audio file of the sample itself onto an audio track. Personally, I just have one track for drums, and put everything into one clip. This is good if you use a MIDI controller and want to tap out drum patterns instead of pencilling them in.

[3] since all i know about sequencers is from Reason's (which i hear is pretty poor from ppl who use multiple DAWs), should I be dragging each Live track (or is it clip?) onto the sequencer view when im all done?
- Im trying to understand how i'd sequence the following scenario... i have a 16 bar 'verse', and an 8 bar 'hook', do i click/drag the 'verse' and 'hook' from the track/clip view to the sequencer view, then do all my copy/paste over there in order to have verse-hook-verse-hook ?

OK, so let's take it back a step. In Live there are two views: Session Mode and Arrangement Mode. Session mode has the TRACKS (aka channel: the thing you put an instrument on) in columns with each track containing multiple CLIPS (aka the little colored boxes where the notes reside). Arrangement View (aka Sequencer View) has the tracks in rows, much like Reason has. The clips are arranged on a timeline from left to right on each track.

Coming from Reason and producing hip hop, I don't think there's much reason for you to use Session View at all. Just throw everything on the timeline in Arrangement view and leave it there!

[4] track vs clip... are clips intended for live sets/performances, or is there any value to using them in a strictly production-minded environment?

Clips are just the things that hold MIDI notes. They are in both Session view and Arrangement View (and can be dragged between the two views with ease. Assuming you are asking if there is a reason to use Session view, it depends on your workflow. As a performance tool, it is great. You can use it to trigger preproduced loops and also to record looping parts live. But that's what it's for: Looped material. If you want a drum beat to play forever, trigger that drum clip and then jam over the top of it. As a production tool, it is also useful. Many people use session view to quickly hash out ideas before transferring over to arrangement view for the nitty gritty detailing. Some people produce entirely in session view. Just try it out.

[5] is there an instrument in Live that I can load a single bass sound (for example, in the C# key), and assign the sound as C#, then be able to use a midi piano to play that bass sound in scale? (in Reason, theres the NNXT that lets me accomplish this)

Simpler will do this. Drag the audio file into a Simpler instrument, set the root note, and you're good to go. Sampler is better if you have it... also you can make this work with a drum rack, but you have to do a lot of it by hand.

[6] Midi track vs Audio track, in the track/clip view. Aside from loading samples for chopping/slicing/editing, is it a safe assumption that I wont ever be using Audio tracks in a strictly production-based environment? are audio tracks mostly used for live sets/performances?

Audio tracks are necessary if you are using any audio inputs (eg microphones, guitars, etc). Also, as I said in [1], you can drag drum samples, a capellas, and whatever other mp3/wav files you have into an audio track and chop it up all you want (which is REALLY good for the styles you produce). For example, if you have your drum hits divided into individual audio tracks, you can sequence drums in audio tracks really easy with a lot of copying/pasting.

[7] in regards to samples- im loading mp3s into an Audio channel, adding chops (or warp markers), then exporting to a midi track to be played and sequenced. Is it just me, or do the warp markers not 'snap in' at logical points (or not exactly where i place them)? To add, I am magnifying the wavelength view, but placing warp markers dont seem precise.
- with Reason, I've been using Recycle to chop samples, and its night and day when compared to Live's sample editing from a performance standpoint- playing each chop, placing chop markers, setting start/end points, etc.
- i just learned that Live can load and interpret rex files, but I'm asking this question in the interest of 'doing everything in Live'

Yeah warping is still not perfect, but it's good enough for most applications. The more you zoom, the more precise you will be (obviously). I would check out Sampler if I were you (it comes with Suite, or you can buy it individually). Sampler let's you do a lot of crazy stuff, including setting better start/end points, pitch control, yadda yadda. I use it religiously.

[8] while playing with one of the preset drum racks, I noticed that I couldn't manipulate the pitch of a single drum pad while in the device view. while i later found out i should be adjusting the 'transpose' control (above the 'detune' box), I'm unable to adjust the level of this control while a macro knob is associated to Pitch. Is there a way to keep the macro knob associated to pitch (which appears to be default for all drum racks), but override it for each individual drum pad?

Assuming the samples in the drum rack are in Simplers, I don't think there's a way to override the macro. I would just unassign the macro... or make multiple macros in a way to make it do what you want.

apologies for all the detailed questions, I wanted to give the Live demo a fair tryout before committing to purchasing it (or moving on and trying other DAWs).

thanks in advance!

Live is worth pursuing, I switched after Reason 4 and haven't looked back. It's going to be annoying at first, but it's pretty easy to learn. Having a new set of tools will definitely influence your sound and your process, so changing it up can be great for inspiration! Have fun!

@infernal.machine- these responses help a great deal; appreciate you 'translating' Reason to Live for me. From a workflow perspective, Live is starting to make a lot more sense to me for what I want to accomplish.

As a question for you, and while I'm not at that point yet, do you have any recommendations on any VSTIs to get sometime down the line? Coming from Reason, the world of VSTI use is one I haven't the slightest clue on where to begin- instruments, effects, mixing tools, etc.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to help out. cheers!