Ableton arrangement and Session views

Ok ive been looking at the recreations of ‘big’ tracks @ http://www.timofey.be/tutorials.html as mentioned previously in several places on this forum.



Man its thrown a major spanner in my learning world.



I dont get how its been laid out at all… meaning …the track seems to be totally done in the arrangement view not in the session (& arranagement) like when I follow along in SA lessons (i know we end up arranging in the arrangement view eventually)



the session view has no clips in it like when we follow along with the SA tutorials.



Im probably just being a bit dumb…but I have to ask anyway:P



Im well confused now

You can work in either view, it really doesn’t matter, do what feels most comfortable to you. There is no right or wrong.

[quote]roben (01/06/2010)[hr]You can work in either view, it really doesn’t matter, do what feels most comfortable to you. There is no right or wrong.[/quote]



not 100% true imo dude. arrangement view is something you need to work in to finish a track.



working is session view is great for speed and creating loops without confusing the arrangement page, it helps to get ideas down while keeping things tidy.



arrangement view is essential imo for finishing tracks and getting into the more detailed automation.



both can be used to great advantage and should be

What I do is get all my ideas down in session view and when I get a bunch of loops and stuff down, I will play them and record them into arrangement. Then I will edit the crap out of it.

[quote]jon_fisher (01/06/2010)[hr][quote]roben (01/06/2010)[hr]You can work in either view, it really doesn’t matter, do what feels most comfortable to you. There is no right or wrong.[/quote]



not 100% true imo dude. arrangement view is something you need to work in to finish a track.







arrangement view is essential imo for finishing tracks and getting into the more detailed automation.



e[/quote]



of course, that’s an obvious given though, you can’t automate things in the session view lol.

[quote]howiegroove (01/06/2010)[hr]What I do is get all my ideas down in session view and when I get a bunch of loops and stuff down, I will play them and record them into arrangement. Then I will edit the crap out of it.[/quote]



Same. But some people like to skip session view altogether and just use arrangement.

We where talking about this today… for the prog tut im going in to the arrange view a lot earlier than i normally do as the style is based around everything evolving as opposed to just loops.



I actually dont like abletons arrange view… cant put my finger on it but i prefer cubases… think it because of the lack of decent inspector like standard daws have.

As Howie says, I put some ideas down in session view especially if I am starting from scratch them arrangement for editing and automation

[quote]phil johnston (01/06/2010)[hr]We where talking about this today… for the prog tut im going in to the arrange view a lot earlier than i normally do as the style is based around everything evolving as opposed to just loops.



I actually dont like abletons arrange view… cant put my finger on it but i prefer cubases… think it because of the lack of decent inspector like standard daws have.[/quote]



This is one of the major differences between Live and other traditional DAWs. The arrange view is different and many find other platforms better at arrangement.

Hey thanks for all the replies guys



Glad I asked now…interesting reading everyones perspective



dont feel quite so dumb now:)

[quote]hindsite (01/06/2010)[hr]dont feel quite so dumb now:)[/quote]



Why would you feel dumb?

[quote]roben (01/06/2010)[hr][quote]jon_fisher (01/06/2010)[hr][quote]roben (01/06/2010)[hr]You can work in either view, it really doesn’t matter, do what feels most comfortable to you. There is no right or wrong.[/quote]

not 100% true imo dude. arrangement view is something you need to work in to finish a track.



arrangement view is essential imo for finishing tracks and getting into the more detailed automation.

e[/quote]

of course, that’s an obvious given though, you can’t automate things in the session view lol.[/quote]

You can actually use automation in the session view - you can automate parameters within the clip. Its not ideal but to say you cant automate in session view in my opinion is incorrect

[quote]mejaques_uk@hotmail.com (02/06/2010)[hr]

You can actually use automation in the session view - you can automate parameters within the clip. Its not ideal but to say you cant automate in session view in my opinion is incorrect[/quote]



No, thats incorrect. What you are referring to is clip envelopes. If you manipulate the clip envelope, it will remain like that when you bring it into the arrangement view. If you do it in the arrangement view, the parameter isn’t dependent on the clip and can be modulated over a number of different loops in the channel.

[quote]howiegroove (02/06/2010)[hr][quote]mejaques_uk@hotmail.com (02/06/2010)[hr]

You can actually use automation in the session view - you can automate parameters within the clip. Its not ideal but to say you cant automate in session view in my opinion is incorrect[/quote]



No, thats incorrect. What you are referring to is clip envelopes. If you manipulate the clip envelope, it will remain like that when you bring it into the arrangement view. If you do it in the arrangement view, the parameter isn’t dependent on the clip and can be modulated over a number of different loops in the channel.[/quote]



Spot on.

I’m actually changing how I work in Ableton.



I usewd to kinda play around in session view till I got some parts together then record them into arrangement and then edit up.



Now though I am trying to hop into arrangement view as soon as possible, maybe even right away.



I went for a day in a studio with this Ableton tutor, and he encouraged me to try it that way to avoid loads of sessions just ending up as loops and never coming to anything.



It’s working for me quite well actually, you tend to hit the project with the goal of a tune in mind much more clearly. In session view I’d often end up jamming for ages not really getting anywhere, and not thinking about how things might work in a track.



Again though, whatever works for you. Just in my case the non linear approach in Session view allows me to get distracted, so I need the discipline of arrage!

you shouldn’t limit yourself to just the arrangement view. There are lots of impromptu things that could come about that you can NEVER create or ever THINK of creating if you are strictly in arrangement view. Thats the magic of Live!

Session view definitely has it’s place. For me though it can also be a hindrance.

[quote]howiegroove (01/06/2010)[hr][quote]phil johnston (01/06/2010)[hr]We where talking about this today… for the prog tut im going in to the arrange view a lot earlier than i normally do as the style is based around everything evolving as opposed to just loops.



I actually dont like abletons arrange view… cant put my finger on it but i prefer cubases… think it because of the lack of decent inspector like standard daws have.[/quote]



This is one of the major differences between Live and other traditional DAWs. The arrange view is different and many find other platforms better at arrangement.[/quote]



couldn’t agree more to be fair, i really struggle when it comes to arrangement in live