Ableton Forum

I have just switched over from pro Tools so my workflows are all around the arrangement window. There are two particular built in functions that drive me nuts. maybe there are settings I can change -
1. The playback curser always goes to the start of a selection. So if I select a track cause i want to access the effects on it. Even if I have previously started the cursor from the spot where i am working the next time it will go back to the beginning of the track. Nuts!!
2. If The hyper draw functions is on cause i want to set my levels for each track and then I alter a effect setting - why on earth does the hyper draw function( that previously I had set for track volume) change to the effect parameters?

Anybody got an opinion/fix for these

Cheers Tony

1)
Playback starts by default to the last set selection in your arrangement. You don't need to select a track via its header to select it, simply setting the time marker in the tracks timeline where you want to start playback will display the devices and start playback from here.

2)
What are you calling "hyper draw"? Automations?

Hyper draw???

1. Shift+space continues playback from the last playing location, even if you moved/selected/edited elsewhere.

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/arran ... -transport

2. If "hyper draw" is automation as others suggested, then that's because in Live user input has priority over recorded automation. When you tweak a fader or knob, it disables the previously recorded automation for that fader/knob.

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/autom ... automation

You can't change that, it is a hard rule of how Live works.

But maybe you can try using Modulation instead of Automation. Modulation is relative (Automation is absolute) and stays active even if you tweak a knob.

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/clip-envelopes/

https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/clip- ... -envelopes

Thanks for your replies. Yeah I mean automation. Sorry about poor explanation. I appreciate the program is not pro tools and there is a lot to like about it. But I don’t really see the point in the automation settings changing from the volume options to automating the effect parameters just because I have clicked on the effect plug in. And yes may be I have to go shift space every time to ensure the playback curser goes back to the same point but again why the default option to go back to the beginning of the selection??? Make it an option in preferences if you want. Cheers Tony

It's always going to be the way, when you switch from one solution to another there will be things you like and things you don't.

But I don’t really see the point in the automation settings changing from the volume options to automating the effect parameters just because I have clicked on the effect plug in.

It's actually a very useful feature. If you want to create an envelope for a parameter you simply need to click it then the automation envelope appears as the focus so you can now create an envelope using the mouse. That is why.

If you wish to keep an envelope always in view you can add it as an automation lane (little [+] on the track panel in arrangement) so it is always viewable under your patterns in its own lane. Read up on it in the manual.

And yes may be I have to go shift space every time to ensure the playback curser goes back to the same point but again why the default option to go back to the beginning of the selection???

Because that's how it is. Space is stop/replay where shift space is resume. It's simple enough to master and not really needed to make an option just because. Always best to learn the tools you use instead of suggesting they be made to fit your own perspective.

Hi, thanks for your reply I agree completely that I shouldn't expect things to be the same as Pro tools. Im not trying to be smart here: But I will say that while I appreciate that Live is a different type of program and was conceived in a different way Im absolutely sure there would be loads of people drawn to Ableton cause like me they absolutely hate the Avid business model - and the bugs that Avid does not seem to be able to fix - They prefer to be blaming plug in manufactures. I will add that these bugs do not appear in Ableton at all. So great. The arrange window therefore is the default window and workplace - and there're a lot of good things about it... I have two screens and have both windows open. But back to my 2 points - sorry to labor this..
1. yes i can see that the opening up an effect and tweaking a knob and seeing the automation parameter open up is useful - but only if you want to automate that knob. what you don't want tp automate that knob - and I would think that is the most of the time? I don't really want to have another lane open if I can help it - I have enough lanes as it is. But anyhow thanks for your reply there.
2. Shift space is resume - it doesn't take the cursor back to last point the curser started from. Space does and that is fine unless I select the lane cause i want the effects to be visible for that lane. So then it goes back to the beginning of the section. I am presuming that is the way ableton was conceived to be used - cause it was a clip based program and there would lots of clip samples. But using it as long clips of recorded audio - to see the curser go back maybe to the beginning of the song - is not much help. Yes that the way it is - I am just suggesting it would be an improvement to the program to allow the user to keep the play back curser going back to the same point no matter if the lane is selected or not.

Remember the key word here is “live”. If you think of what makes sense in terms of performing in front of an audience, the way things are done makes more sense. This cuts way down on your consternation level.