Ableton Forum

Ultimately I want to be able to launch a loop in one track, free improvise on some other track, and record both into arrangement view. (I'm doing MIDI only.)

If I launch a clip, that records just fine in arrangement view. But I'm not able to play free lines (free = 'not in a clip') and have them record in arrangement view. The 'free' track is definitely armed, monitor is set to AUTO. I hear the free track when I play. So I click arrangement record, and my free midi isn't recorded whether I record in Session or Arrangement view. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

Hmm, apparently I need to click the 'Back to Arrangement' button.

I don't understand what this button really does or why it is necessary...

Live has Arrangement View and Session View. You can play from either of them, even a mixture of some from Arrangement and Session, but any individual channel will only play back one or the other.

Arrangement is the ‘default’. If you do anything in session view it overrides the arrangement and the arrangement will not at all be the playback method until you press back to arrangement in that channel.

One thing that can take you out of arrangement playback is by triggering a session clip but also but hitting Stop on session view for that channel. That stop button results in silencing the arrangement And stopping session clips. So then you’d either need to trigger a clip for playback or hit back to arrangement.

If we didn’t have this button, you’d get stuck in one more or the other.