How to draw automation freehand

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
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SophiaK
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 9:37 pm

How to draw automation freehand

Post by SophiaK » Tue May 12, 2020 9:25 pm

Hello,

when I draw automation I can only make edges.

I know theres an option where I can draw it freehand. Is there anyone who can tell me how?

The next think is that I should press "alt" on mac to make a curve. But when I press it nothing happens. It neems automation doesnt work at my project. I have attached a screenshot, is there anybody who could tell me why it doesnt work?

https://imgur.com/qV9UWm5


Thank you

filtersweep
Posts: 59
Joined: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:28 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by filtersweep » Wed May 13, 2020 12:10 am

I think you might have to switch off the snapping?

ecuk
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:49 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by ecuk » Wed May 13, 2020 3:08 am

A good place to look for answers would be the documentation for drawing and editing automation:
https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/autom ... automation

In particular, section 19.5.1 is about drawing envelopes using ‘draw mode’, including how to (temporarily) disable the grid in order to draw freehand.
MacBook Pro, macOS Sequoia, 2.3GHz i7-1068NG7, 32GB – Live Suite 12.1, Max 8.6.5, Scarlett 4i4

SophiaK
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 9:37 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by SophiaK » Wed May 13, 2020 7:33 pm

Thank you both.

But unfortunately I tried all those shortcuts on mac and Ableton 9 but it doesnt work.

ecuk
Posts: 165
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:49 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by ecuk » Wed May 13, 2020 8:25 pm

Ah, you are using Live 9…. Many things related to automation changed between Live 9 and Live 10. Indeed, it looks from the manual that the ‘freehand’ toggle in Live 9 on a Mac was with the alt key, not the command key as it is in Live 10. (And the alt key is what you said didn’t work in your original post. Sigh.)

You might find something in the Live 9 manual in the same section I mentioned earlier, 19.5. In addition to being available in the help menu, downloadable PDFs of the Live manual for earlier versions, including Live 9, are available for download at:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... ive-Manual

The only other thing which I can think to suggest is to look at your keyboard shortcuts in system preferences. But I cannot imagine why that would affect a modifier such as the alt key when it is being used on its own like this.

Sorry that I cannot help much more than that. To be honest, it has been more than two and a half years since I last looked at Live 9…
MacBook Pro, macOS Sequoia, 2.3GHz i7-1068NG7, 32GB – Live Suite 12.1, Max 8.6.5, Scarlett 4i4

SophiaK
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 9:37 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by SophiaK » Sat May 16, 2020 7:12 pm

great thank you so much :)))

SophiaK
Posts: 28
Joined: Wed May 29, 2019 9:37 pm

Re: How to draw automation freehand

Post by SophiaK » Sat May 16, 2020 7:15 pm

It is the alt key, cool as easy as that ^^

Thank you so much

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