Ableton Forum

Is there a way to quickly convert my song markers in arrangement view to scenes in session view?

I have a whole song of our band all played to click with markers for the different sections, would like to stuff it in session view scenes so I can jam the arrangement about and wondered if there’s a quick and easy way…

Try to select some beats in arrangement view and click Menu -> Create -> Capture and Insert Scene. It will create clips in session view. But you should split track clips (Ctrl+E) in arrangement view before this command.

The way I do it is:

1.In Arrangement View, right-click on a Locator (marker) and select "Loop to Next Locator" - this way the Arrangement Loop Brace will select the exact area between two locators (this locator and the next).
2. Left-click on the Arrangement Loop Brace - this selects the entire loop area (the area between the two locators) across all tracks
3. Right-click on the Arrangement Loop Brace and select "Consolidate Time to New Scene"

This will make a Scene in session view with a clip for each track, each clip being the duration of the loop brace in Arrangement View

Then go to next Locator and repeat.

Cool. Will try that too. I presume I don’t need to cmd-E (split) everything then, so it sounds like it should be easier.

I’m also not sure if adding the splits required by the first version may add additional slightly audible mini fades on the joins too. And I haven’t seen how parts that start part way through a section behave with the other method. Maybe fine but I presume since it says “consolidate” with the second method it’ll definitely deal with starts and stops if messy timed overdubs mean some bits have multiple parts and starting all over the place where parts have been punched in.

I was busy recording yesterday so I haven’t actually had time to try it properly yet. I had a very quick try of the first method and it did produce a few anomalous sections when I tried, but was in a rush and thought it might be me not splitting properly or something. Anyway, i’ll have a go again tonight.

Thank you both for the help.

Da hand wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 22, 2021 7:37 am

1.In Arrangement View, right-click on a Locator (marker) and select "Loop to Next Locator" - this way the Arrangement Loop Brace will select the exact area between two locators (this locator and the next).
2. Left-click on the Arrangement Loop Brace - this selects the entire loop area (the area between the two locators) across all tracks
3. Right-click on the Arrangement Loop Brace and select "Consolidate Time to New Scene"

This will make a Scene in session view with a clip for each track, each clip being the duration of the loop brace in Arrangement View

Then go to next Locator and repeat.

"Consolidate Time to New Scene" is a great function because it allows to quickly convert your detailed song arrangement with all the little nuances into a set of scenes for live performance.

But as a feature request I would really love to have a function "Consolidate Arrangement Markers to Scenes" that does all the steps described in the quote above with just one click.