Ableton Forum

Envelope shape while recording:



VS.

The same envelope after recording:



...

This example shows recorded MIDI CC data during one 4/4 measure (four beats), so this really isn't about micro-fine details, it's about potentially ruining the feel of a good automation take. I have posted about this a couple of times before; doesn't this actually bother anyone else?

Try it yourself: zoom in, record some automation, and see how the envelope looks like during your take VS. after you stop recording. The data is being received fine, and the envelope corresponds to the knob/fader movements nicely -- but immediately after you hit stop, it's an oversimplified set of straight lines.

I'd like to preserve the automation data as it has been recorded. How can I turn off the aggressive simplifying which ends up ruining the take like shown in the second example?

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 39&start=0

Midi thinning

The options.txt settings for turning off MIDI event thinning haven't worked for me. Could you tell me, what specific settings do I need, and where do I have to place them? Thanks!

In my opinion, this should be made a visible option in the Live preferences for sure.

on xp

D:\Documents and Settings\"user"\Application Data\Ableton\Live 7.0.10\Preferences

the Opttions text file:

-MidiEventThinning=0

-ThinningAggressiveness=0

I salute you!

Turns out, I have never included the leading "-" characters when creating the options.txt file and adding the MidiEventThinning and ThinningAggressiveness keywords.

Now it works like it should, and it makes quite the difference. Thank you!

Ableton, please include a visible setting in the preferences to control MIDI thinning. Consider new users who might find their automation takes always sounding sloppy in Live, and instead of finding out about undocumented options.txt parameters, many can settle for a general conclusion: "well, I guess that's the way Live is..."

Event thinning is a good thing, did you listen with your ears? All these smooth looking curves are nonsense most of the time an approximation is fine for a controller envelope.

djsynchro wrote:Event thinning is a good thing, did you listen with your ears? All these smooth looking curves are nonsense most of the time an approximation is fine for a controller envelope.

Yep, my whole frustration was based on the way it can ruin the audible feel of a controller take. The default thinning aggressiveness is so strong I can most definitely hear it when automating a responsive filter parameter, for example.

Anyway, as the settings are user changeable through the options.txt file, there's no major drawback here. It would be nice to have them readily available as Live preferences though -- exactly because you only need to worry about it when you're dealing with the expressive stuff.

djsynchro wrote:Event thinning is a good thing, did you listen with your ears? All these smooth looking curves are nonsense most of the time an approximation is fine for a controller envelope.

Do we need approximation vu-meters ? approximation curves ?? Sorry I do precise music - not approximative music !

And now I feel better on live 6... maybe back to live 5...

options.txt doesnt work here and I am sick of installing / uninstalling betas..

will try fruity loops bye

Hi, please try Live version 3...

Bump!

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=108370

Again, it would be super nice to give the user control over this in the Live preferences, and maybe have a default setting which preserves more of the recorded performance, no?

Yearly BUMP!

http://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=132230