What am I missing about ableton? (Page 1 of 3)

It's tough to learn, I haven't gotten it yet, but it seems like it's one of those thing that, once you get it, it'll be great. kinda like LSDJ?

it's great to improvise live with. the name gives it away! what i like is to add loops on the fly and manipulate them - repitch, change loop points. record new audio while playing - be it external input or a channel in ableton. use the master-tempo-slow-down-thingee (like putting the finger on a vinyl playing) to sync manually with dodgy external hardware. the internal effects are hi-quality. the audio handling is good, even on windows. there is also some possibilities to generative things, which is probably out of this world these days when max/msp is supported. it also has a rudimentary support for video. i like that. you can do silly stuff like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_fisJYImDY

but it does take a while to get into the ableton way of thinking i suppose. it's a bit particular. it's like society! ableton is the new society. don't resist it, just pretend like you're doing something.

while we're on the topic of ableton and how great it is, did anyone use any video tutorials about how to use it or anything? something like that i know would be helpful to m, just in terms of how the things works.

tom cosm has some really goood ableton stuff.  tutorial videos and such.
http://www.cosm.co.nz/

I use it a lot, and have been a user since much before going into chipmusic. For me, it's the best music software ever made. For producing, performing and djing.

When I first heard about ableton, the artists I knew waxing on about it kept talking about 'transparency' like it was the second coming. I thought it was a pr buzzword (indeed, ableton mention it in their press release) but it's actually a very accurate description of how the software lets you view the creative process in totally different than other DAW's.

Use it as a sequencer, or a drum machine, use it as an audio/midi triggering device, or in the same manner to create a dj set, use it to create full tracks, use it for post producing those tracks, use it to record jam sessions on a real instrument and manipulate it in realtime and record it directly to a customizable section of your arrangement, use it's rudimentary video support to create video soundtracks...

The possibilities are vast. Personally, it's scope outweighs my vision and 5 years on from switching to it i've still barely scraped the surface. Plus they keep adding new toys....!

The way I learned how to use it is the same as with any software, trial and error - I was also lucky enough to live with a couple of people who used it for mastering & live performances (I remember at the time being impressed at how seamless it handled those two things in one package) - so I picked the general flow and tips/tricks from watching them.

I'd watch the tutorial videos (ableton's own) and youtube/vimeo's and if you get a chance (cough cough!) ask people who use it

Last edited by Sabrepulse (Feb 23, 2010 10:10 am)

in the drum rack just below the little "device on/off" icon there are three icons
the bottom one of those 3 opens up a little sample manager for the selected sample
it has a whole bunch of options
make sure loop is not highlighted and so long as it's not, the sample shouldn't loop.
switch the release time up and when you trigger the sample it should play through the whole sample.
do that for each of your samples and you should be all set.