Hi!
I just watched the “Music Theory - Rhythm” tutorial here on Sonic Academy. In “tutorial 2” they describe how to “optimize the visual view of a beat”. Which I would REALLY need at this point. But what I noticed is that they don’t have any drum rack or impulse instrument loaded in the midi track. They only use midi notes directly in the “piano” in the clip overiew. How do I get different sounds to trigger on the notes just like they did in the tutorial? would be very handy to know!
Thanks alot for a great forum and great site in overall, love the tutorials, keep them coming!
I think I got it… he’s using the “Slice to New MIDI clip”, right?
But what if I got individual sounds and NOT a loop that I want to do this with, how do I do it then? for instance a kick from Vengeance?
I understand that if I click the Warp and then the Loop button, this is possible. But if I want them all in the same midi clip window, how do I do? I mean, it’s almost like the drum rack or Impulse then, but without it loaded, just like in the tutorial video from Sonic Academy in “Music Theory - Rhythm @ 2.13 in the video”.
In this way I can see how long the actual audiofiles are and not be fooled by the midi visuals…
My question is also, can you add bass and other sounds into this window?
Why do I want that? I want to see the visual midi so I can make a groove much easier, for me that is the way to go.
I really need this, please help.
Thanks.
+1. I was wondering the same thing actually. I think that this is a great way to visualize the beat, and really helps with syncopation.
Hi Guys.
Thanks for watching the videos! The clip that I used to visualize the beat was just an empty clip that wasn’t actually triggering any sounds or instruments. I was using it simply as a visual representation of the elements that created the beat, with lower-frequency items placed lower in the piano roll, and higher-frequency items above.
You certainly could use one drum rack and have the midi clip act as not only a visual reference, but as the actual sound trigger as well! You would just have to make sure that everything was labeled correctly so you weren’t confused by the arrangement in the piano roll, and that you loaded all of your sounds from low to high in the frequency spectrum.
With Ableton’s flexible routing scheme, you could certainly use individual tracks grouped together to record rhythm MIDI to a master track, essentially capturing grooves and patterns from individual percussion instruments onto one midi clip. Perhaps this is worth mentioning on a video if I get a chance… Of course, it is all about developing a method that works for you when it comes to arranging your rhythm section.
Jamie
hey Jamie, and thanks for the reply!
I figured this out with the drumrack. Thanks for the tip!
Although I’m wondering one quick thing. As I really love Ableton and it’s workflow, I would like to learn more about the DAW… but I’m really used to Logic. And in Logic you visualize the audiofiles instead of the midi when working with drums (I think this is the best way to create a nice groove, without any sampler). How can I get this effect in Ableton aswell?
Are you with me what I’m looking for? Instead of the MIDI I want the audio to be visualized instead, like in Logic. Although it might be the same as the midi that is from the sampler in Ableton, but I just tend to make grooves easier when I see the percussions this way.
Thanks.
Hey Jontah,
Yes, I understand what you are saying. As far as I am aware, I don’t know a way to layer all percussion audio in the session view in such a manner that would allow you to see all the waveforms at once. Now, you could always work in arrangement view with actual audio clips and simply group the tracks together. If you adjust the height of the tracks you should be able to see the waveforms on top of one another that way. I think this is most likely the reason why I estimated the length of each percussion sound using a MIDI clip and MIDI notes.
J
[quote]jontah (02/08/2011)[hr]hey Jamie, and thanks for the reply!
I figured this out with the drumrack. Thanks for the tip!
Although I’m wondering one quick thing. As I really love Ableton and it’s workflow, I would like to learn more about the DAW… but I’m really used to Logic. And in Logic you visualize the audiofiles instead of the midi when working with drums (I think this is the best way to create a nice groove, without any sampler). How can I get this effect in Ableton aswell?
Are you with me what I’m looking for? Instead of the MIDI I want the audio to be visualized instead, like in Logic. Although it might be the same as the midi that is from the sampler in Ableton, but I just tend to make grooves easier when I see the percussions this way.
Thanks.[/quote]
yeah, I noticed that. Thanks alot Jamie!
Do you have any other tip on how to work with beats/drums in a house or trance production inside of Ableton Live 8? I mean, how can I actually get the groove by midi? it seems abit harder for me… but I’d really like to start working with Ableton Live instead. It seems so much better than Logic on the aspects that:
- It doesn’t crash
- For my computer, it’s more CPU friendly
- It increases the workflow by 200%
- Shortkeys/commands which makes the workflow once again faster
- I love the interface
I still want to work with beats using midi (i.e. drumrack or Impulse) but I really find it hard to apply the groove using only midi. Any tips & tricks here? I’m trying all different things such as swing with quantization, manually dragging it “off beat” etc.
in Logic these gridlines are helping me to see where it’s not going “off beat”, so it doesn’t sound bad. I would like to get that easy going with the beats in Ableton Live as well.
Very much appreciated for the answers, I love this site and this forum! Gives alot of knowledge and tips.
Jontah,
There is the “groove pool” in Ableton, which allows you to drag a groove template into it from the grooves on your HD and assign a clip or series of clips to it in the session view. As far as actually working with the grid, I assume you are talking about the grid in Ultrabeat? The grid where you can see the placement of each hit, right?
Unfortunately, I don’t believe Ableton has that kind of setup, but the clips make it very easy to arrange several different patterns of snares, kicks, hats and one-shot sounds, which can then be activated or “launched” by assigning a controller to them. You could then go even further into assigning launch characteristics custom to your performance workflow. For example, assign your hat clips to legato launch, and you’ll be able to instantly switch from one clip pattern to the next, assuming you’ve already changed the quantization settings to the 8th or 16th. Makes for a more organic rhythm section. Try it out!
J
[quote]jontah (02/08/2011)[hr]yeah, I noticed that. Thanks alot Jamie!
Do you have any other tip on how to work with beats/drums in a house or trance production inside of Ableton Live 8? I mean, how can I actually get the groove by midi? it seems abit harder for me… but I’d really like to start working with Ableton Live instead. It seems so much better than Logic on the aspects that:
- It doesn’t crash
- For my computer, it’s more CPU friendly
- It increases the workflow by 200%
- Shortkeys/commands which makes the workflow once again faster
- I love the interface
I still want to work with beats using midi (i.e. drumrack or Impulse) but I really find it hard to apply the groove using only midi. Any tips & tricks here? I’m trying all different things such as swing with quantization, manually dragging it “off beat” etc.
in Logic these gridlines are helping me to see where it’s not going “off beat”, so it doesn’t sound bad. I would like to get that easy going with the beats in Ableton Live as well.
Very much appreciated for the answers, I love this site and this forum! Gives alot of knowledge and tips.[/quote]
Hey Jamie,
The Rhythm tutorial was very good!
But do you know how I can find a sample of the “Holllow Tone” sound you had? I downloaded the tutorial files, but I couldn’t get them to open in Ableton. So I didn’t know if that sample was in there. I’ve looked around other places and can’t seem to find that particular sound. Can you let me know where I may be able to get it? Thanks 
Double click the Live Pack and wait for Ableton to “install” it. Then open the live set as you normally would and you should have access to the samples. I definitely included them! Meanwhile I’ll check and see where I got it. I can’t quite remember.
J
[quote]JayD3 (03/08/2011)[hr]Hey Jamie,
The Rhythm tutorial was very good!
But do you know how I can find a sample of the “Holllow Tone” sound you had? I downloaded the tutorial files, but I couldn’t get them to open in Ableton. So I didn’t know if that sample was in there. I’ve looked around other places and can’t seem to find that particular sound. Can you let me know where I may be able to get it? Thanks :)[/quote]
I got the download to work and the sample was in there. Thanks!