Ableton Forum

In the multiple clip editor, after selecting multiple (midi)clips
A simple button or hotkey, that can switch between:

- select notes per clip (with is currently the only option)
and/or:
- select notes of all clips together.

This way we can transpose parts or whole melodies with all clips. especially when using a lot of midi clips, without using clumsy work arounds. And everything is displayed as it is. It’s really simple. And I believe it will make this a better editor. just like the rest of the daws already implanted since the 16 years I’ve been working with music.

I switched to Ableton 2years ago, because I love the character of the whole structure.
It really lifts up my workflow but also decreases on the other hand, by such simple things that are just not present.

Also its really frustrating to read topic’s of people asking this, conversations en discussions that go back to 2014 till now. And still no response.

If there is a good reason for this, can someone of the team explain this to me?

Thnx alot in advance,

Sven

Yeah, I've always found it strange that you can easily transpose audio clips but not MIDI clips. I too would like to know the logic behind this. The ability to quickly transpose clips would seem to make sense in any use scenario, especially live performance.

Of course, you can always select all and use the arrow keys, or use a pitch FX on a track but that seems rather roundabout.

That's why I created TransposerRT back in 2015, and have been using it ever since. It lets you play MIDI pitch offsets from one track (the "Sender"), whereupon those offsets are received by other selected tracks (the "Receivers"), so that those receiving tracks raise or lower the pitch of whatever their clips are playing by the offset amount, essentially transposing the output of the clips before they reach the MIDI instruments that turn the notes into sounds.

I've found TransposerRT to be extremely useful for the following applications: (1) using the left hand (only takes one finger) to play MIDI transpositions to bass and pad tracks, while using the right hand to play lead, thus permitting the musician to change key during improvisation; (2) to quickly create accompaniment clips containing desired transpositions, as opposed to copying, pasting and manually transposing notes, thus vastly speeding up the process of composition; and (3) to provide free-form arpeggiation capabilities.

Nothing in this world is perfect, and TransposerRT is no exception. First, in order to use it, one must have Max for Live, as TransposerRT is implemented as two M4L MIDI effect devices (the devices are freely downloadable from www.maxforlive.com, but Max for Live itself costs money). Second, some users inform me that TransposerRT can interfere with UI scrolling, causing minor jumpiness rather than the normal smooth behavior when the user scrolls down to see more clips in the Session view; this behavior is more often seen in large projects with a lot going on.

If these caveats haven't scared you away, the following YouTube video describes and demonstrates the concept. Numerous people have downloaded and used TransposerRT, and I continue to receive positive feedback.