Ambient With Stock Ableton

While I made this video for another thread to focus on the Novation controllers, I wanted to place it here as well because all the sounds are stock Ableton. The more I use third-party synths, the more I appreciate and return to stock Ableton synths, packs and effects. For my style of ambient, they’re just so good and I find I really don’t need anything else. As a composer and not a sound designer, I really appreciate the abundance of presets and then the ability to fiddle with the macros and let that be enough. There’s also a unique sonic character to the stock stuff that I find really inspiring.

Who else is using nothing but stock Ableton for their music?

Peace,
Heavens Spin Gray

I am testing a workflow to use a midi controller and Ableton to start doing a hybrid DJ / live performance. If there is enough interest I will explain my setup..

https://youtube.com/shorts/4_MnsS9ri60?si=QhTY-JWFNPXs1zeH

Took me way too much time to diagnose this problem so I'm sharing it here in case someone else encounters it:

I've been having speaker and headphone noise in my home studio for a while. I thought it was a grounding issue so I changed various cables, plugged everything into different (and also the same) power outlets and updated the drivers of my audio interface but still couldn't resolve the issue. I even thought there was something wrong with my electric wiring at home but the issue persisted even after moving to a new place. There was always this annoying high-pitched noise.

The thing that did solve it in the end was getting a new power adapter for my Ableton Push 2. I tried a generic adapter first but that didn't work. Got an original power adapter from Ableton in the end and when I plugged it in, the noise was gone.

The thing that got me on the right track was checking if I could run the Push 2 with bus power only. That worked, but the lights on it were rather dim.

Still don't really know what exactly caused this problem but I'm happy it's gone now.

Hello everyone,

Over the past few days, I've run countless tests, switching back and forth between three operating systems to make the version more and more stable.

Many hours have gone into the reverse-engineering process and testing on all platforms using the actual hardware.

I probably don’t need to mention that this was done with massive support from AI, but I still believe that writing posts involving human interaction should NOT be done by AI. That’s why I wrote this post myself typos included xD.

After extensive testing on macOS and Windows 11 using Ableton, I’m now confident enough to share the news, and I’m looking for people who own Access Virus TI hardware and might want to participate in the testing phase.

All features and bug fixes are listed on this page.

https://derpsn.github.io/access-virus-ti-revive/

If you'd like to really dig into it, there's also a link to GitHub available.

The plugin is free and will stay free.

Did anybody find a method to get the position of the playhead in the loop from Ableton Looper stock device, using python and the API?

I tried creating a workaround that "estimates" the position but it doesn't always get it right. If anybody found a way that would be amazing. Im writing a device script to control Loopers with a launchpad with visual feedback, for live performances.

Thanks a lot

(And is there a community somewhere for Ableton Script coders?)

Was planning to buy a laptop to get back into the groove. It would be exclusively for Ableton and need to be under $300. Any suggestions?

Hey I’m sampling a song which I have pitched up, and want to find the bpm of the pitched up sample. I set 1.1.1 on the down beat then go warp from here (straight) like a video by Abeltons YT tell me to do.

But the problem is that the bpm it gives me is incorrect and the whole song is warped to it and sounds bad. Is there a better way to find the bpm of the track? Thx

It's amazing what we can create with the right tools :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD8sKJdArGU

https://github.com/djnunocunhadev/rbox-to-live

Every night I sit down and make stuff with the computer. Eventually something good comes out.

But I can’t help but wonder, how to learn?

Is doing this routine going to improve my skills? Or could I be prioritizing other routines in order to make my music better?

How to learn?

How much time do you spend making stuff in Ableton playing around and how much watching tutorials or learning new skills?

Okay

Hi,
I'm thinking of buying a new laptop and was wondering, if there is anybody here who is using an ARM based windows laptop and it works well with Ableton?

Ableton runs fairly well for me but it will always randomly decide to stop playing mid way through me listening through a track. I won’t be able to restart it or click anything and the play button just stays green. It always does this and I’m not sure what’s the cause. Any ideas?

I often grab a drum rack preset, record some midi for, say, kick and snare, and then duplicate the track to record midi for hi hats or something separately. It would be nice to have to have a drum rack on one track with no midi clips, then 2 or more channels with midi clips feeding into it so that any changes I make to the rack apply to all children/midi sources. Is this possible? I see midi from, and audio to, but not midi to

I hope this is in lines with the sub rules.

I have virtually no experience with electric guitars. My dad bought me a Mexican fender strat and a line 6 amp back in the 00s and I just never took to it because he was really adamant about only trying to teach me HIS favorite rock songs.

For the past few years Ive been learning and playing a lot on acoustic. Im feeling good and getting better and want to start expanding the kind of music Im playing.

I have my old Mexican strat as well as an '88 strat my dad left me when he passed. Hardware on both work fine but with some feedback/humming.

I thought a focusrite Scarlett solo which came with ableton. Ive played around a little bit with trying to add things like reverb and everything but Im pretty clueless since I dont even really have any knowledge about guitar hardware and effects outside of the little knobs on my ancient line 6 spider.

Id love to be able to fairly closely replicate sounds/tones similar to some of my favorite bands but I could really use some beginner advice here. I love Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. I know they are all very different in sound and each bands guitar sound can change wildly from song to song or album to album but those are my main kinda focuses while I start to learn.

If anyone has any recommendations on either settings to help achieve those sounds or even guides or tutorials to teach me the basics so I can figure it out myself Id really appreciate it. The first song Im really looking at is Mayonnaise by the Smashing Pumpkins so that would be really cool to be able to dial in a... i dont know... rack? Rack to get close-ish to their sound from that song/album.

Im sorry, I feel like this is such a needy post but I really want to learn and feel a little lost at sea.

I've been making electronic music for more than 10 years always in the box, but I've rarely played live before. When I did, it was usually drone/noise stuff with noise boxes and very little conventional song structure.

Recently I've released a few very minimal, old-school dub techno tracks, and now I'm starting to get invited to play live. So I need to figure out a completely different kind of live setup.

The music is around 130 BPM, and I currently have about 5 tracks that I'd like to build the set around. The tracks are roughly 5–6 minutes each.

My current hardware is:

- 1010music Blackbox mk1

- Roland/TT-606

- potentially a MIDI controller for the Blackbox

The problem is that the Blackbox has a 512-bar limit in Clip Mode, and because I'm working at 130 BPM, a 5–6 minute track can get surprisingly close to that limit. So simply loading complete stems/arrangements and playing them back as long clips doesn't really seem like a good solution.

I'm also trying to avoid making the Blackbox do too much at once. Ideally I'd like the set to be reliable and not have the machine struggling or potentially freezing during a gig.

My current idea is to use something more like:

- manual sequence for the TT-606

- around 10 short loops for percussion, pads, stabs, textures, etc.

- keep individual sequences relatively short, perhaps 32–64 bars, instead of trying to recreate a whole 5–6 minute arrangement in one clip

Another option I'm considering is doing the actual composition in Ableton Live's Arrangement View first, but deliberately writing the material as a live set: essentially reducing each track to its main bass/melodic hooks, drums and textures, then turning the arrangement into a collection of shorter 64-bar sections/sequences that I can reconstruct and manipulate on the Blackbox.

So I'm wondering:

How would you approach designing this live set given these limitations?

Would you:

1. Prepare the tracks in Ableton and essentially turn them into stems/loops for the Blackbox?

2. Build everything from short loops and MIDI sequences, with 32–64 bar sections?

3. Treat the five tracks more like source material and create one continuous live performance from their elements, rather than trying to reproduce the original arrangements?

4. Or use some completely different approach?

The important thing for me is that I want it to feel like an actual live techno set, not like pressing play on five finished tracks. At the same time, I only have one week before the next gig, so I need something I can realistically prepare and rehearse without building an insanely complicated system.

I'd especially appreciate advice from people who have used the Blackbox mk1 for minimal/techno live sets and have dealt with its clip/sequence limitations.

I need your help. My setup consists of a standard laptop with Ableton and Rode NTH-100 headphones. I produce Boom Bap hip-hop. I am struggling to set the volume levels correctly and achieve a proper sound.
To be more precise: in my monitoring headphones, my beat sounds great and loud, but Youlean Loudness Meter shows only -16 LUFS and clipping at +0.9. Later, when I listen on AirPods Pro 2 or in my car, the beat sounds completely dull and lifeless; it lacks punch and fullness. It sounds flat and overloaded. If I try to increase the volume of the drums, it results in heavy clipping.
I am, of course, utilizing compressors, a limiter, and EQs in Ableton.
Could you recommend a reliable guide on mastering and gain staging? In addition to video tutorials, I would greatly appreciate any practical tips, techniques, or rules of thumb for achieving a rich, punchy sound. I would prefer to avoid overly complex, highly technical content. I simply want to understand the appropriate volume levels for different elements of a beat and how to ensure proper sound translation across various devices, rather than just in monitoring headphones.
Thank you in advance for your advice and comments.

I could find a way so that it only opens and not opens-the closes the filter..

Anyone happen to know why when I load corpus in ableton 12 it crashes my projects ?

I’m on a Mac and use suite

So, I prefer not to use pre-made templates since my current knowledge and hardware set me apart from many others who might be more experienced or own different/more hardware. I would like to ask anyone who has successfully built their own template for live performance, especially for dance music:

1. What is the most essential piece of equipment in your template and setup?

2. What approach did you take when building your template?

3. What limitations did you encounter, or what challenges are you still facing?

4. What is your setup/workflow today?

I’m familiar with MIDI mapping, but I have to admit I feel a bit overwhelmed. I don’t have a clear idea of what I want to achieve, possibly because I’m working with different gear or because my vision isn’t well-defined yet. It could be a combination of both!

I saw a video by the great Julian van Straten (Bound To Divide) a few months back where he uses a stock sound to do this - but I can't find it now

A "sustained House music string" is basically a well known technique where you have one long string playing as you build (usually) towards your last chorus section

Does anyone know which of the stock sounds (in Standard) does this best?

I'm hoping Julian was using a Standard stock string, and not a Suite one

Thanks

Playing some Vital sounds from the RetroPop soundbank. Such a cool, free synth. 😏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZgPiYW5688

Hey everyone, I’m Juan. I didn’t plan to make this for Ableton, but it turned out to be a very natural (and fun) fit.

Forever Machines is a collection of strange little sound machines that live on a website: a tree-ring synth, a speech chopper, a Euclidean drum ratchet, a planetary sequencer, a bubble wrap you pop into melodies… Every week a new one is born. An AI invents it from a single prompt and it’s tested automatically, and nobody (including me) chooses what it becomes. Nothing is ever removed, so the collection just keeps growing.

You can play them all in your browser, but the reason I’m posting here is the free Max for Live device. Drop it on a MIDI track and every machine runs inside Live:

• Follows Live’s tempo and transport, so steps land on your grid
• Play it from MIDI clips or your keyboard
• 8 macros you can automate
• Each device remembers its machine and settings in your set, so you can layer a few on different tracks
• New machines show up in the device every week, no re-download
• Build your own machine in the browser (or with an AI agent) and load it into Live with the + button

You need Live Suite, or Standard with Max for Live.

Forever Machines is free, with no account and no email. I’ve built several commercial audio plugins over the years (AUv3, VST), but this one is just about having fun and exploring what’s technically possible.

Feel free to share any feedback, I’d love to hear what you think.

I've been using Ableton for well over a decade. If you asked me, I'd say I'm an Ableton expert. For the longest time I knew for a fact there was no ripple editing. Ableton just isn't built for that type of audio editing. I used to delete clips, zoom out, grab everything to the right, manually drag it over, then adjust every single one of my locators (song section tags).

Finally today after being frustrated and thinking I should switch to another software for dialogue editing, I googled to see if someone figured out a hack. And... It's been built into the software this whole time: https://www.ableton.com/en/live-manual/12/arrangement-view/#using-the-time-commands

Just add Shift to your keystrokes for cut, copy, paste, and CTRL+Shift for delete.

You don't need to highlight entire sections, you can highlight just 1 audio/midi track's time length and it'll grab everything, including song locators. I've probably wasted a full day of time not knowing about this.

Unlike other audio editing software more geared towards non-musical editing, there's no way to lock tracks or clips from being affected by the ripple edits, but this is still huge.

Maybe I'm the only overly confident Ableton user who didn't know about this, but just in case, hopefully this can help someone.

Also a good reminder to never assume there's not a better workflow. Often times there really isn't lol, but sometimes there is. Like there's also track linking?? This is huge for multi tracking (I think I'm due for another manual re-read...)