Ableton Forum

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Live and I am struggling to integrate live into my workflow. I'm 100% sure this is a setting/preferences issue. I was hoping for some help.

Workflow

Generally I start out by using a Beatstep Pro to sequence various synths and drum machines via midi. When I have a skeleton of a track I then use Live, primarily as a audio processing and effects tool. i.e. I continue to use the sequences from Beatstep but run and process the audio through Live. I'll keep playing with the sequences to get to some sort of song structure, instrumentation and feel I like. To do this I use the Beatstep's internal clock and make all my midi instruments a slave to that.

To this point, Live has been an absolute revelation to me. It's intuitive and easy.

Next steps

At this point I would like to be able to record midi or audio to clips. That way I can layer more sequences and instrumentation with the Beatstep pro over the top until I'm ready to record them to midi or audio clips also. This allows me to work up a production quality track in Live but I also retain all the sequences on the Beatstep for stripped back live performance. But this is where my issues begin.

The issue

I can't seem to get my midi preference, clock, link and other associated settings right to record midi and audio to clips easily. This may very well be the wrong approach so I would be grateful for any and all feedback and suggestions. I'm pretty sure this is pretty simple for non-novices.

Put simply, I would like to cue up a clip to record to, hit play on the beatstep. Record midi signals or audio for a period of time and the hit stop on the beatstep. Simple right? At this stage of production I'm not really using the Beatstep as a performance tool so it's just in sequencer mode, not control mode. I use the internal beatstep clock for simplicity so that Live and all instruments are running off the same timing. I can get the sequence to play but depending on the midi and other settings in Live the following things happen -

- I cue record and hit play on the beatstep but Live starts to move from clip to clip in in the track without recording or getting to the last available clip on screen and records on that one.
- If I try to cue to record (using the record button in the clip) it starts automatically without me hitting play on the beatstep. Same happens with the master record button.
- I can't even get to the point that I could dial things in to deal with the lag between recorded audio playing from Live and sequenced midi audio.

I feel pretty silly but I have tried various combinations of setting for hours and cant get it to work right. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It seems strange that recording would cause it to jump clip to clip.

It sounds like you have some Remote and Control Surface things at play which are interfering with the midi functionality. I’m sure that in addition to the sequences, the best step might also be sending other midi data like timing and maybe even a metronome. To test to see if you can circumvent having these two factors affect your recording, maybe you could momentarily turn off Remote in preferences, and set the control surface type to None for your best step in midi preferences.

The other thing to point out is that you’re not obligated to record into session view. I love session view, and it is great for recording on the spot. But if you have already recorded the sequences, it might be easier to just record it all in Arrangement View, and then edit, split, loop, etc the clips, and then drag them into the Session View.

If you can get that stuff worked out, you’d be in a good position to tweak the audio / midi timing issues.

MIDI Transport does what you are asking, your beastep can send and Ableton will do what you tell it. The ability to select tracks on a remote device is part of the feature so your Beatstep maybe sending unintended midi commands to Ableton.
Be wary of USB, disconnect and reconnect occasionally and reboot occasionally in addition to yur2die4s trouble shooting tips