Noob questions

[NeoGee]

Hello everybody,

A long time guitar player, I have finally decided to "professionally" record some of my stuff. I got an Ableton live license for free from a fellow musician and decided to get a Focusrite Scarlet interface to give it a shot. Now I have done most of the tutorials to the point where I can record multiple lines of different sounding (clean rhythm, distorted solo) guitars and vocals in three tracks but man o man, what a pain this has proven to be.
To simplify my issues:
* In session view I have two audio tracks, Chords and Solo. I have added a clean Guitar amp and tweaked it a little to my liking. Then went ahead and recorded some chord progressions. The recorded clip does not show up in my arrangement view but is visible in my session view. So I went ahead and copied it to the first clip space of the first track in Arrangement view. I found this to be extremely strange so I must be doing something wrong here. When I finally got the chords looping I recorded a 4 minute solo over it. Same issue: Solo shows up in Session View, not in arrangement view. Why is this? Can I not record clips while I have another clip playing continuously? And why doesn't it save it to the clip slot on the track?

* The intro of the solo needs to be cut from the clip sample since I started playing after one loop of the chords. For the life of me...I cannot get that first part removed without redoing the entire clip. I tried changing the start beat of the clip to where I want it. Saved the files and rearranged the clips in the arrangement view. I try to loop the chord part with the loop button but the solo also loops which is not what I want. The properties of the clips are different; my chord clip has the loop button activated, the solo clip does not. So I am missing some setting of misunderstanding how ableton does this.

To be honest: I am losing faith and I am beginning to believe that Ableton is not meant for people like me. I just want to simply record some music and arrange it without too much hassle. Should I look elsewhere do you think?


Thanks music lovers!

[Fanu]

"And why doesn't it save it to the clip slot on the track?"
Notice there are two separate recording actions: recording into arrangement and recording into session.
To record on Arr, have the track armed and use the Arrangement record button (solid round thingy that turns red once youve clicked on it).
To record on Session, have the track armed and click the round icon on the clip slot.
Maybe you got these mixed up?

Audio clips can be freely edited on Arr, but they cant be copy-paste-cut on Session.
Edit it to your heart's content on Arr, and select the desired range there and Consolidate them (CMD+j / CTRL+j) into a new clip.

[Greenapples2019]

If you're used to programs like Logic or GarageBand then Ableton does take some getting used to, but it's worth it. If you're recording in session view then once you have a clip, click on it, press tab (to open up arrangement view) and drag it onto the corresponding track in arrangement. At this stage it will appear faded out so click on the orange rectangle at the top of the tracks with a play symbol in it. This will then allow you to edit your clip in arrangement view. You can do this for all the clips you recorded in session view. You can line them up, edit them, add automation, mix them etc. just like any DAW like LPX, GB etc. Once you've finished editing them you can drag them back into session view if you want.

You can record direct in arrangement view if you prefer, Ableton gives you the flexibility to choose, just as Logic has now started to do with its live loops (essentially a copy of session view).

I hope that helps?