In order to get faster, y'all need to slow down. It sounds like contradictory advice, simply no matter what you lot're trying to create or what you're trying to do, taking the time to slow down and focus on your workflow can improve your overall experience and allow y'all to piece of work faster and more than efficiently in the future.

Whether you lot're using Ableton Live primarily in the studio or on the phase, hither are a few tips that will help enhance your workflow. This will allow you to spend more time creating music and spend less time fiddling with your laptop onstage.

Employ Alive's browser

Figure 1

Using Live's browser will instantly improve your workflow. Add the folders y'all use to store samples, sounds, or other alive sets to the browser using the "Places" characteristic. You tin can quickly access those files directly from inside Live, without needing to dig around on your computer for them.

Figure 2

Find a congenital-in preset that y'all really like? Save it as a favorite so that you can admission it over again rapidly. With a preset selected in the browser, press a number (ane–7) on your keyboard to assign that sound as a favorite. Yous'll notice information technology now has a color adjacent to the proper name that corresponds with the color under the "Favorites" section of the browser (fig. two).

Figure 3

You can even rename the favorites (fig. three) and so you lot tin create categories of sounds or effects that you tin quickly reference the next time you're working in Live.

Add FX to tracks

Need to add together reverb to your runway? Don't lift your fingers off your keyboard to apply your mouse. Apply these steps to rapidly add together any effect to a track.

Figure iv
  1. Press Control F on Mac (Command F on PC) to open the search feature of the browser.
  2. Type "Reverb" or the name of any device/preset yous're looking for.
  3. Hit "Return." If the effect you want isn't the first particular in the list, use the pointer keys on your keyboard to navigate the list (fig. four).
  4. Hit "Return" again to add that effect to your track.

This is i of my favorite tricks to use when I'one thousand working in Live. You can speedily add sounds and furnishings to your set without really thinking about it.

Create a default runway type

Practice you find yourself adding the same effects to your tracks? Possibly you lot use the new Channel EQ outcome included in Live 10.i on almost all your tracks. Save yourself the time of adding the effects and create a default rail blazon. Here's how.

Figure 5

Create your dream channel strip by calculation the furnishings you want to a new audio or MIDI rails. In this case, I'yard going to add Utility and Channel EQ devices to a new audio rails (fig. five).

Figure half-dozen

Right-click on the rail championship bar and select "Save as Default Audio Track" (fig. 6).

Now when you create a new audio track, those furnishings will be preloaded on your track.

This volition save you precious fourth dimension and permit you get straight to recording and creating music.

Save your presets

Do yous often find yourself trying to remember how to re-create that great-sounding patch y'all made a few weeks ago? Yous can reopen the previous Live set up and effort to find that preset or attempt to create it from memory. Salvage yourself the endeavour, and save your preset as soon every bit you create it.

Select all the devices and effects used to create your sound with your mouse.

Effigy seven

Press Command Thousand on Mac (or Command K on PC) to grouping all your devices into an Instrument Rack (fig. 7).

Figure 8

Rename the Instrument Rack to a name that volition help you detect information technology later (fig. 8).

Effigy 9

Hit the Save icon on the Musical instrument Rack to relieve your audio into the User Library binder of Alive's Library (fig. 9).

Next fourth dimension you're looking for the perfect sound, you can search in Live's Browser and reuse your sound rapidly!

Learn keyboard shortcuts

This is the biggest gamechanger to your workflow. If you're not working on learning keyboard shortcuts, stop what you're doing right now and do that! When I'm working in a new software, I print out the keyboard shortcuts and record them up near my desk-bound. Equally I'm working, I constantly reference them and try to internalize them.

Effigy 10

If you employ your mouse to admission an pick in the menu bar, pay attention to the keyboard shortcut shown next to the particular so you tin utilize the keyboard shortcut next time (fig. 10).

Create and save templates

Create and save templates often. Are you using Live for keys? Create a keys template with all your presets labeled and save it. Are y'all decision-making lights with Ableton Alive? Create a template and save the template with all your presets named and labeled.

Do you record demos of your songs in Live? Create a demo vocal template that you can open and start recording instantly. Add a basic pulsate rack with drum sounds, a go-to bass, pad, and pianoforte sound, and your default vocal concatenation to a track. Name your tracks and salve that Live set every bit "Recording Template."

Figure 11

Side by side time you offset a song, open the template and use the "Salve Live Set As" command (fig. 11) to duplicate your file and start creating!

The goal of whatever adept software is to get out of your way. Whether you're recording a song or performing onstage, yous shouldn't have to focus on the software or think about what you're doing. Taking the time to slow down and ameliorate your workflow volition benefit you lot immensely. Applying these tips will help you speed up your workflow in Alive immediately!