Ableton Forum

I'm trying to figure out a system to store my own sound clips into ableton to make my own basic sound library. I am finding there are many nuances and it's not so straight forward.

If I record a long guitar take and want to break it up into clips to save into a sound catalog it appears to do different things in different situations. Say I have a folder called "guitar sounds" in my User Library and want to take a long recording and break individual clips out of it to store there. If I make a clip by splitting it out and dragging to the "guitar sounds" folder it will create an .alc file that references the raw recording file which it placed into the "recorded" folder under the "samples" folder within the User Library. However, if I consolidate that clip first before dragging it in, it also creates an .alc file but now references the shorter consolidated recording in the "consolidate" folder within the "processed" folder within the overall "samples" folder... Seems to use the same basic process of storing as an .alc file which contains info to reference a parent clip.

All I really want to accomplish is to open up a blank set to record, then chop up some clips, then name them and drop them into my sound catalog as a .wav or .aif file and be done. Instead I am stuck with these .alc files and references going everywhere. What if I want to delete the .alc file. Now I have to find and delete the referenced recording to finish the job? This requires me to drop the .alc file into arrangement and right click to reveal the recording in the browser to delete it. And how am i supposed to know that original recording isn't also referenced by other .alc files I might like and want to keep? Could be a disaster/headache if I ever want to organize and clean up my folder. I feel like there is something obvious I am missing.

It seems as if there should be a key I hold in as a drop the clip in the folder that automatically consolidates as a .wav or .aif file. This seems to be how all of my loop packs are configured as .wav files so why doesn't ableton do this for its users when they try to make their own? I suppose it would also have to create a .asd file to retain timing but I imagine this would be automatically done behind the scenes and hidden from browser view as it is in most loop packs.

Am I missing something obvious or just going about it all wrong and fighting how ableton works? Their method seems to create a lot of "junk" recording, I just want to keep what I like at the end of the session and go about it quickly and efficiently. Any help is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you.

I'm thinking maybe the reason Live might want to keep all of the samples in one place while the library folders only contains references is probably for efficiency reasons. I imagine that system is very efficient for a computer processor to simultaneously playback sound clips that way, as opposed to having them scattered throughout a computer. Just a guess?

I am wondering is there a way when I want to delete the ableton clip (.alc file) from my library can it delete the actual sound file too? It appears to just leave it there in the Recorded folder. Will it will stay there forever until I manually delete it out? I think in the long run this would not be efficient from a hard drive space perspective. Deleting these files would be a serious chore.

Ah as I am writing this I ran into this File Manager thing. It appears to show you the unused media files in your User Library. I think this is what I was looking for?

So there is a bit of a convoluted way to get where you want to be...

1) Record your guitar track
2) Chop the track into pieces
3) Place each piece on a separate track in arrangement view (this works best if all the pieces are the same length, but it's not essential)
4) Export the project as "All Individual Tracks" onto your desktop.
5) Cut and paste the collection of wav files you just created into your user library.

Old response, but for the sake of giving another option because I find this confusing too.

1) Take the recording you want at the length you want it.
2) Record to the new tracking using the input "resampling" mode. (I suggest using the punch in and punch out switches to get the audio to the exact length you want it)
3) Once the resampled audio looks how you want consolidate (CMD-J).
4) Now go into "Places" and "Current Project" , navigate to "Processed" and then "Consolidate" folder. Your aif file will be there time stamped and ready to go.

Option drag that guy into whatever folder you wish and rename it once it's in the new location. Don't rename in current project and don't forget to opt drag otherwise your current project will be impacted and lose the consolidate sample and give you errors.

Hope this helps - I love ALC files for a lot of things, but for kicks, or various one-shots that are straight forward they are slower to get into the project file at times. Good to have this option.

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