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Move the insert marker to a defined point in the middle of a clip, and press Cmd + E (Mac) or Ctrl + E (Windows) – the clip will become two.Tip 9: Split ClipĪn underrated tool for chopping, mangling and arranging audio and MIDI in new and exciting ways. This alone will shave off lots of time in your production sessions. It will then automatically copy and paste the selection directly after the selected clip. Simply press Cmd + D (Mac) or Ctrl + D (Windows) with at least one clip selected. This is another one of those shortcuts which will make you think that Ableton is the best DAW. Recommended: Ableton Tutorials: The Best 21 YouTube Channels Tip 8: Duplicate Great for adding new sections into your tracks, or changing up the arrangement. This trick blew my mind, and admittedly I learned of it way too late in my music production journey, but pressing Cmd + I or Ctrl + I will allow you to insert a specified amount of bars, beats and 1/4 notes at the insert marker’s position. You’ll see two handles on the left and right you can drag, as well as two curve adjustors: Before After Tip 5: MIDI Editor Note Preview Simply make sure Automation Mode isn’t enabled by pressing A and hover over the clip. You can see the layout of the keyboard, and how it mimics a real keyboard.įades have always been one of Live’s strong points, allowing an easy way to clean up the start and end of audio clips. Press M on your computer keyboard and suddenly, A to L on your keyboard become playable, with the same layout of keys. If you don’t use an external MIDI keyboard controller, then you still have an option if you’re wanting to play notes in. Recommended: How To Use Ableton Live (for Beginners) Tip 3: Computer MIDI Keyboard On top of that, you can hold Option + Spacebar (Mac) or Alt + Spacebar (Windows) with a portion of the arrangement selected, allowing it to play only the highlighted area, stopping at the end. If you want to continue playback from the last stopped point, simply hold Shift + Spacebar instead. But you may also have noticed that it begins from the same spot every time you toggle between Play and Stop. You might have guessed that pressing Spacebar is the shortcut for Play and Stop. Here you can set the quantization size, the amount of quantization (having less than 100% can maintain a ‘human feel’) and whether you want the start and end of notes to snap or not. If you need to get specific, press Shift + Cmd + U or Shift + Ctrl + U to bring up the settings, pictured above. Simply press Cmd + U on Mac or Ctrl + U on Windows to quantize your notes. Whether you’re drawing or playing in notes, sometimes you need to tidy up the timing of certain notes, so that they play ‘on the grid.
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