A venue that I frequently perform music at has a Behringer X32 Producer console mixer. The bartenders are often too busy to figure out how to work the mixer, so I wrote up these notes in self-defense.
40-Input, 25-Bus rack-mountable digital mixing console with 16 programmable Midas preamps, 17 motorized faders, 32-Channel audio interface and iPad/iPhone remote control.
This review mentions the following:
Each channel is set up with specific gain, EQ, and effects for typical instruments.
These procedures document how to operate the device as installed in Bar La Marche à côté.
LHS means “left-hand side”. The Input Channels section of the console is located on the LHS, and offers 8 input channel strips.
RHS means “right-hand side”. The Output and Effects Channels section of the console is located on the RHS, and offers 8 input channel strips.
The Master channel strip is on the far right.
In general:
For example, to set the volume on channel 5 (saxophone):
For example, to set the volume on channel 9 (female vocal):
In general: I think these instructions have an error. Please test and correct!
In general:
Reaper is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. It is very configurable, and costs much less than it should.
My DAW has two 4K monitors and a 1080P monitor and runs Windows 10. To make the Reaper menus appear at a decent size:
VSTs can be provided in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and might comply with the VST2 or VST3 specification. VSTs must be installed into the appropriate location for them to be detected. In addition, VSTs might be provided in Windows, Linux or Mac format.
Version 2 VSTs for Windows are provided with the dll
filetype;
version 3 VSTs are provided with the vst3
filetype.
The PE Header indicates whether the file is for a 32-bit or a 64-bit operating system.
Filealyzer can show this to you in the PE Header tab; check the Machine value: it will either say 8664 64-bit Windows (AMD) or i386.
Another way to check, via the command line, is to use the
pedump
gem Ruby Gem.
$ gem install pedump
The --pe
option of the pedump
command returns many lines of information.
Filter out the Machine line with the following incantation.
$ pedump --pe my_vst.dll | \ grep 'Machine:' | rev | cut -d' ' -f1 | rev x64
x86
indicates a 32-bit program or library.
x64
indicates a 64-bit program or library.
The following script reports the types of VSTs found in the current directory tree:
#!/bin/bash function check { X="$( pedump --pe "$1" | grep 'Machine:' | rev | cut -d' ' -f1 | rev )" printf "$X $1\n" } export -f check find . -type f \( -iname '*.dll' -o -iname '*.vst' -o -iname '*.vst3' \) \ -exec /bin/bash -c 'check "$0"' {} \;
Here is the script in action, on WSL/Ubuntu. First I change to the standard Windows VST2 directory, then I run the script:
$ cd "$(wslpath 'C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins')"
$ vst_version x64 ./Celemony/Melodyne/Melodyne.dll x64 ./GVST/GTune.dll x64 ./Jagged Planet/JScope_x64.dll x64 ./Native Instruments/Guitar Rig 6.dll x64 ./ReaPlugs/reastream-standalone.dll x64 ./ReaPlugs/reaxcomp-standalone.dll x64 ./Satellite Sessions/Satellite Sessions.dll x86 ./sika/sika 1.5.dll x64 ./Voxengo/Boogex.dll
Now lets run the script on the standard Windows VST3 directory:
$ cd "$(wslpath 'C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3')"
$ vst_version x64 ./Celemony/Melodyne/Melodyne.dll x64 ./Boogex.vst3 x64 ./bx_masterdesk Classic.vst3 x64 ./bx_masterdesk.vst3 x64 ./bx_opto.vst3 x64 ./Celemony/Melodyne/Melodyne.vst3 x64 ./Chorus.vst3 x64 ./Compress.vst3 x64 ./De-Ess.vst3 x64 ./Delay.vst3 x64 ./EZdrummer 3.vst3 x64 ./Guitar Rig 6.vst3 x64 ./Komplete Kontrol.vst3 x64 ./Kontakt 7.vst3 x64 ./Kontakt.vst3 x64 ./Master.vst3 x64 ./NoiseGate.vst3 x64 ./PitchFix.vst3 x64 ./ProEQ.vst3 x64 ./Reaktor 6.vst3 x64 ./Reverb.vst3 x64 ./Rotary.vst3 x64 ./SGear.vst3/Contents/Resources/FlxComm64.dll x64 ./SGear.vst3/Contents/Resources/FlxCore64.dll x64 ./SGear.vst3/Contents/Resources/SonuusTuner64.dll x64 ./SGear.vst3/Contents/x86_64-win/SGear.vst3 x64 ./SimpleEQ.vst3 x64 ./Supercharger.vst3 x64 ./Toontrack/ezdrummer.dll x64 ./Youlean Loudness Meter 2.vst3
Ableton.com
does not provide a search capability.
The following HTML search box returns articles, images, PDFs, etc. on all
ableton.com
subdomains.
Output will appear in another browser tab.
]]>Ableton is based in Berlin, Germany, as are Beatport, LANDR, Lofelt/Meta, Neumann, Native Instruments, SoundCloud, and Universal Music Group. Steinberg is based 300 km (180 miles) away in Hamburg.
For a fun, intuitive experience of the essence of Ableton Live,
try the learningmusic
webapp.
I started using Ableton Live, version 6, in February 2007. I upgraded to Live Suite for version 9.
Ableton Live v10 was an upgrade targeted at Mac users, certain control surfaces and internationalization. I am not a Mac user, I do not have any of those control surfaces, and I prefer to use English, so I did not upgrade from Ableton Live v9 to v10. Version 10 also has an upgrade for Ableton Link that makes the feature actually usable, but I had no need for that feature then. The need arose recently.
However, many Ableton Live v11 features addressed general capabilities, and that interested me. I decided to upgrade my Ableton Live v9 Suite to the v11 Suite. Live Suite v11 gave 9 more instruments, 7 times as many sounds (75 GB!), 40% more audio effects, and 2 more MIDI effects. All for $289 CAD, plus the Canadian and Quebec taxes, totaling $43.28. I found the upgrade experience to be very smooth.
The Ableton Live Help is one of the most user-centric and well-thought-out pages of this type I have ever seen. My hat is off to you, Ableton! Respect.
The Ableton Live Manual is available as HTML and PDF. I find the PDF version to be easier to work with.
😠 😠.nki
, .eks
, .sf2
, and .gig
files into Sampler.
This was not mentioned in the release notes.
Some of my older sessions use .gig
files and they no longer work properly.
I have been playing with Live v12 beta, which can be downloaded from CenterCode. Live v12 is quite solid; I not experienced any v12 crashes, and there are lots of new and improved features. I prepaid my licence upgrade and got a discount.
You will notice an option to update your Live Packs at the bottom of the browser. While you should update them without a doubt, if you plan to keep Live 11 or earlier installed alongside Live 12, please watch this video first to avoid issues. If not, you might discover that the previous version of Live will no longer support your presets.
Don't worry if you've already updated your Live Packs; I'll also go over how to resolve the issue where presets that were in Live 11 no longer function after you update them to Live 12.
Ableton Live and Push are ridiculously complex products from a user persepective.
Dentist-friendly versions would blow the market to pieces.
To quote Carl Sagan: Billions and billions! (of $USD)
I purchased a Push 3 Standalone 7 months after the product was released. It only supports a subset of Live. You can read more of the disappointing user experience this product currently provides. Kinda like a hazing one might experience when be initiated into a closed social group. My article on the P3S is here.
This is not a dentist-friendly product!
User recordings are stored in %UserProfile%\Documents\Live Recordings
.
Crashes are stored in %AppData%\Ableton\Live Reports
I moved directories that cause a lot of I/O to individual drives as much as possible, to improve performance.
Directories of VSTs and media are documented here.
The global library is at %ProgramData%/Max 8/Library
.
The user library is at %UserProfile%/Documents/Max 8/Library
.
The default folder for Max for Live devices is
%UserProfile%/Documents/Max 8/Max for Live Devices
,
and the default folder for Max for Live projects is
%UserProfile%/Documents/Max 8/Projects
.
Max for Live examples are stored in %AppData%/Cycling '74/Max 8/examples
.
Snapshots are in %UserProfile%/Documents/Max 8/Snapshots
.
I store Max for Live files in this directory tree.
These files have an .amxd
extension, which stands for Ableton Max Patch.
I have another, very similar tree for Ableton Live v12 called E:\ableton12Library
.
├── Clips │ ├── Construction Kits │ ├── Drums │ ├── Latin Percussion │ └── Suite 8 Demo ├── Defaults │ ├── Audio Effects │ ├── Audio to MIDI │ ├── Creating Tracks │ ├── Dropping Samples │ ├── Instruments │ ├── MIDI Effects │ └── Slicing ├── Grooves │ ├── Hip Hop │ ├── Latin Percussion │ ├── Logic │ ├── MPC │ ├── Notator │ ├── Other │ ├── Percussion │ ├── Quantize │ ├── Rock │ ├── SP1200 │ └── Swing ├── Lessons │ ├── LivePackBanners │ ├── Samples │ └── Sets ├── Presets │ ├── Audio Effects │ ├── Instruments │ └── MIDI Effects ├── Samples │ ├── Components │ ├── Loops │ └── Waveforms └── Templates
I have another, very similar tree for Ableton Live v12 called M:\Ableton 12 Factory Packs
.
├── 64 Pad Lab by Mad Zach ├── APC Step Sequencer by Mark Egloff ├── Beat Selection by Sample Magic ├── Beat Tools ├── BeatSeeker by Andrew Robertson ├── Bomblastic ├── Brass Quartet by Spitfire Audio ├── Break Selection by Sample Magic ├── Breakbeats by KutMasta Kurt ├── Build and Drop ├── Building Max Devices ├── CV Tools ├── Chop and Swing ├── Classic Synths by Katsuhiro Chiba ├── Connection Kit ├── Convolution Reverb ├── Creative Extensions ├── Cyclic Waves ├── DM-307A Free Pack by Heavyocity ├── Designer Drums ├── Digicussion 1 ├── Digicussion 2 ├── Drive and Glow ├── Drone Lab ├── Drum Booth ├── Drum Essentials ├── Drum Machines ├── Drumdrops Recording Hybrid Kit ├── Electric Keyboards ├── Expressive Choir by Spitfire Audio ├── Glitch and Wash ├── Grand Piano ├── Gratis Hits by Max for Cats ├── Guitar and Bass ├── Inspired by Nature by Dillon Bastan ├── Instant Haus by Alexkid ├── Kapture by Plastikman and Liine ├── Kasio by Oli Larkin ├── Konkrete Breaks ├── Latin Percussion ├── Loopmasters Mixtape ├── M4L Big Three ├── M4L Building Tools ├── M4L Granulator II ├── M4L Pluggo for Live ├── Max for Live Essentials ├── Microtuner ├── Mood Reel ├── Orchestral Brass ├── Orchestral Mallets ├── Orchestral Strings ├── Orchestral Woodwinds ├── PitchDrop by Mormo ├── PitchLoop89 ├── Probability Pack by Sonic Faction ├── Punch and Tilt ├── Retro Synths ├── Samplification ├── Schwarzonator 2 by Henrik Schwarz ├── Session Drums Club ├── Session Drums Studio ├── Skitter and Step ├── Sound Objects Lite ├── Spectral Textures ├── Stray Cats Collection by Max for Cats ├── String Quartet by Spitfire Audio ├── Surround Panner ├── Synth Essentials ├── The Forge by Hecq ├── Unnatural Selection ├── Upright Piano by Spitfire Audio ├── Vinyl Classics └── Voice Box
PDF manuals are saved in E:\media\Ableton\Support
├── Lessons │ ├── Demo Songs │ ├── Samples │ └── Sets ├── Projects │ ├── Celestina │ ├── Crazy Shit │ ├── GalleryProject │ ├── GardenWalk │ ├── House Funk Project v1 │ ├── House Funk Project v2 │ ├── IDM_Ableton_Practice_Ep_1_Remove_Creative_Block_Generate_ideas Project │ ├── Ninajirachi - In The Rain (Live 11 Suite Demo) Project │ ├── OMNIA Poetree - Grone Lunden Project │ ├── Opening the Arc Project │ ├── Push 3 Standalone Demo Set Project │ ├── ReChorder │ ├── Secret Eclipse Project │ ├── Surpassing Beside the Vortex Project │ ├── The Possessed Opulence Project │ ├── TogetherYeah │ ├── melodic_probability_fun Project │ └── noodling Project ├── Session Drums Studio │ ├── Ableton Folder Info │ ├── Ableton Project Info │ ├── Clips │ ├── Drums │ ├── Lessons │ └── Samples └── Support ├── ASK Video └── Live 8 Tutorial Bundle
Recording with Live is described in the Live manual.
To control Ableton Live recording behavior, type Ctrl-, and adjust the highlighted preferences:
I like to change Record Session automation in from Armed Tracks to All Tracks.
Recording multiple takes is described in the manual in the Recording Into Session Slots section. The Live Info View panel has this to say about the session record button:
The above is not entirely accurate. A toggle alternates between two states. Instead of toggling its behavior, the session record button initially records audio or MIDI notes, then for all subsequent takes of the recorded clips, pressing this button creates an overdub, not a new clip.
You can create a file called
%AppData%\Ableton\Live 12.0\Preferences\Options.txt
.
This file
controls few experimental and unsupported Live features.
I am unaware of any interesting or useful Live 12 options that can be controlled in this manner.
Ableton Live uses an SQLite3 database.
For Windows, the database is found in %LocalAppData%/Ableton/Live Database
.
The incantation to change to that directory from WSL/Ubuntu is:
$ cd "$( wslpath "$( cmd.exe /c echo %localAppData% 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' )" )"
$ pwd /mnt/c/Users/Mike Slinn/AppData/Local
$ cd 'Ableton/Live Database'
Ableton Live v11 uses a file called Live-files-53.db
,
while Live v12 uses a file called Live-files-1218.db
.
$ ls *.db Live-files-1218.db Live-files-53.db
Let's look at the v12 tables:
$ sqlite3 Live-files-1218.db SQLite version 3.42.0 2023-05-16 12:36:15 Enter ".help" for usage hints. sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> .mode column
sqlite> .tables ancestors plugin_modules devices plugins fe_values search_aggregation fe_values_record search_aggregation_content file_devices search_aggregation_docsize files search_aggregation_segdir keywords search_aggregation_segments metadata search_aggregation_stat metadata_values version places vfolder_patterns plugin_domains vfolders
Here is the schema for the files
table:
sqlite> pragma table_info('files'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- --------------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 file_id INTEGER 0 1 1 parent_id INTEGER 0 0 2 file_type INTEGER 0 0 3 subtype INTEGER 0 0 0 4 file_kind INTEGER 0 0 0 5 mod_date INTEGER 0 0 6 file_size INTEGER 0 0 7 aggr_id INTEGER 0 0 8 name TEXT 0 0 9 colors INTEGER 0 1 0 10 md_version INTEGER 0 0 0 11 scanner_version INTEGER 0 0 0 12 use_count INTEGER 0 0 0 13 place_id INTEGER 1 0 0 14 flags INTEGER 0 3 0 15 device_type INTEGER 0 0 0 16 device_arch INTEGER 0 0 0 17 device_id TEXT 0 0 18 edit_source TEXT 0 0 19 edit_date INTEGER 0 0 20 fe_version INTEGER 0 0 0
Here are the rows for the first 10 .adg
files.
ADG stands for Ableton Device Group.
These files contain presets of virtual instruments or audio effect racks.
sqlite> select * from files where name like '%.adg' limit 10; file_id parent_id file_type subtype file_kind mod_date file_size aggr_id name colors md_version scanner_version use_count place_id flags device_type device_arch device_id edit_source edit_date fe_version ------- --------- ---------- ------- --------- ---------- --------- ------- ----------------------- ------ ---------- --------------- --------- -------- ----- ----------- ----------- ------------------------------------------- ----------- --------- ---------- 9067 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 4689 94118 Keys & Scales.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9068 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 6575 94119 MIDI to MPE.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9069 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3675 94120 MPE Invert.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9070 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3701 94121 MPE Note PB Range.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9072 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 4648 94122 Arp Autobahn.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9073 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3192 94123 Arp Chance.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9074 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3111 94124 Arp Chord.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9075 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 5729 94125 Arp Descending Note.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9076 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3179 94126 Arp Double.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0
Here is the schema and the first 5 rows of the places
table:
sqlite> pragma table_info('places'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ----------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 file_id INTEGER 0 0 1 folder_kind INTEGER 0 0 2 level INTEGER 1 0 0 3 name TEXT 0 0
sqlite> select * from places limit 5; file_id folder_kind level name ------- ----------- ----- ------------------ 79005 0 0 Drum Machines 78999 0 0 Digicussion 2 79011 0 0 Guitar and Bass 79027 0 0 Konkrete Breaks 79031 0 0 M4L Building Tools
Although there is an entry for User Library
in the places
table,
it seems that Push
and Packs
places are hard-coded,
because they do not have entries in this table.
Here is the schema for the plugins
table:
sqlite> pragma table_info('plugins'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ----------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 plugin_id INTEGER 0 1 1 module_id INTEGER 0 0 0 2 dev_identifier TEXT 0 0 3 name TEXT 0 0 4 vendor TEXT 0 0 5 version TEXT 0 0 6 sdk_version TEXT 0 0 7 flags INTEGER 0 0 0 8 scanstate INTEGER 0 0 0 9 enabled INTEGER 0 0 0
Here is the schema and the single row of the version
table:
sqlite> pragma table_info('version'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- -------- ---- ------- ---------- -- 0 version INT 0 0 1 platform INT 0 0
sqlite> select * from version; version platform ------- -------- 1218 1
Here is the schema and the first 10 rows of the vfolders
table:
sqlite> pragma table_info('vfolders'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ---------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 vfolder_id INTEGER 0 1 1 group_id INTEGER 0 0 2 name TEXT 0 0
sqlite> select * from vfolders where name like '%.adg' limit 10; file_id parent_id file_type subtype file_kind mod_date file_size aggr_id name colors md_version scanner_version use_count place_id flags device_type device_arch device_id edit_source edit_date fe_version ------- --------- ---------- ------- --------- ---------- --------- ------- ----------------------- ------ ---------- --------------- --------- -------- ----- ----------- ----------- ------------------------------------------- ----------- --------- ---------- 9067 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 4689 94118 Keys & Scales.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9068 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 6575 94119 MIDI to MPE.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9069 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3675 94120 MPE Invert.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9070 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3701 94121 MPE Note PB Range.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9072 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 4648 94122 Arp Autobahn.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9073 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3192 94123 Arp Chance.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9074 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3111 94124 Arp Chord.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9075 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 5729 94125 Arp Descending Note.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9076 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3179 94126 Arp Double.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0
The Live 12 schema is 3.3 MB.
I created it by feeding the Ableton Live 12 demo project .als
set file to
this online XML to XSD converter
Ableton Live is designed to work with arrays of clips in a live music setting. This makes it ideal to provide sound for OBS Studio streaming sessions. Uses include background music, theme music and foley.
I tried various ways of sending audio from Ableton Live to OBS Studio, but the only way that worked was the method described in this article.
The process described in this article is efficient and does not introduce any noticable delay.
The weird thing about these instructions is that we just need a virtual audio cable because OBS Studio requires an audio device in order to receive audio. The fact that the virtual audio cable is not connected to anything might be surprising. Instead, the audio from Ableton Live is provided via a VST plugin in Ableton Live talking to another VST plugin in OBS Studio. This technique is not difficult, even though it is rather unique.
The free ReaStream VST2 plugin is the key ingredient. It is one of the VST2 plugins in the free ReaPlugs VST FX Suite. Download it here and install it into the default directory.
I used the VB-CABLE Virtual Audio Device to play the part of an audio device.
The installation process makes the output of the new virtual audio device the default audio device. That is not helpful because the installation process does not connect anything to the input of the virtual audio device. As a result, you no longer hear any sound from any program after installing VB-CABLE and rebooting your computer. All you have to do after installing VB-CABLE and rebooting is to change the default audio device back to what it used to be.
There are two ways to configure VB Cable under windows, each does something different:
%ProgramFiles%\VB\CABLE\VBCABLE_ControlPanel.exe
as administrator.mmsys.cpl
.
The remainder of this article assumes that you have already installed ReaStream and VB-CABLE.
Ableton’s audio settings do not need to be changed. Instead, for each Ableton Live session that you want to connect with OBS Studio, the ReaStream VST2 plugin is placed on the Ableton Live session’s master channel. ReaStream broadcasts the Ableton Live session master channel throughout your computer’s internals.
The name for the broadcast is crucial, because the name is all that is used to route the
Ableton Live broadcast audio to OBS Studio.
Often the name is you give to things like audio clips and channels is relatively unimportant,
however this is not the case for ReaStream.
It is super important that the names you specify in both Ableton Live and OBS Studio match.
OBS Studio also needs the ReaStream VST2 plugin, to receive the Ableton Live session broadcast audio. You just need to add a new Input Capture that uses ReaStream. You must ensure that the name of the broadcast set in Ableton Live matches the name of the broadcast in OBS Studio.
The weird thing about this setup is that the reastream audio is that it arrives by IP broadcast, not by a normal audio source. Just follow these simple instructions, and it should work.
reastream-standalone
will open:reastream-standalone
meter shown above should show audio when the session plays.
Verify that is the case before going further.
default
; I suggest you name it Ableton Live 11 Audio
,
Ableton Live 12 Audio
, etc.
reastream-standalone
plugin should look like:reastream-standalone/Master
configuration window.
reastream-standalone/Master
configuration window again, click on the little wrench icon in the plugin.
reastream-standalone
Ableton Live 11 Audio
or Ableton Live 12 Audio
.
Leave Enabled and Receive audio/MIDI selected.
Yesterday, my new Ableton Push 3 Standalone was delivered.
I purchased this device because it is the first of its kind–
I recommend that most people should NOT purchase a P3S because Ableton does not provide proper support, and the product is not ready for release.
Like the early versions of the Arp 2600, today’s Ableton Push 3 Standalone is quite heavy (3.95 kg / 8.7 lbs) – although it is only about a quarter as heavy as the early Arp 2600s, which were 43 pounds / 19 kg. Perhaps future versions will be lighter.
Ableton Push 3 Standlone supports ADAT I/O, which means it should plug right into my RME audio interfaces.
People often use the nickname P3 to refer to the Ableton Push 3, but the nickname does not specify whether the reference is to a standalone device or a standard device, which requires a computer. In this article, I use ‘P3S’ to mean the standalone variant.
Since the P3S is essentially a subset of Ableton Live, packaged as a hardware product, it is essential to know how to use Ableton Live before attempting to learn how to use the P3S. One of the features of Ableton Live that P3S does not provide is Arrangement View, so you just need to know how Session View works in order to operate P3S.
A good hands-on resource for self-study or teacher-led classrooms is First Steps with Ableton Live – A classroom project by Matt Ridgway. The free learning resources are here.
Currently there is not much documentation available for the P3S. However, it is an evolution of the Ableton Push 2 (P2), so if you cannot find information about how to do something, look for Push 2 instructions, and try take into account the physical differences.
This can be awkward, because if you have never used a P2, learning about an older device that you do not have can be frustrating.
The attempt to find information might be fruitless, because there are aspects of the P3S that have no analog in the P2 or P3.
The quality of this product is good. As is often the case when I write about a product, I made many statements in this article that sound critical, but every product has room for improvement. P3S is a terrific product, but new users are likely to experience a needlessly frustrating and confusing experience.
There are two types of products in this world:
This article will evolve as the product evolves, and I learn more. Hopefully, new users who read this article will have an ever-smoother experience with the product.
A printed manual, 4.5" x 6" in size, was provided. I cannot read it without a magnifying glass because it is set in 4-point type. The quarter placed on the manual helps show the scale. Only seven pages of the manual are printed in English. Not much of a manual.
When I purchased Abletone Live 8.14 in June, 2010, it came with a 2" thick printed manual. I had no problem reading it, and it was well written. Times have changed! Now we pay more, but get less.
The manual can be viewed online here
(it redirects to https:/
if your web browser's default language is English),
and can be downloaded in PDF format
here and
here.
It would be easy to miss the other printed documentation in the box. This documentation is on the same color paper as the packing material.
The text is also extremely small, and the black ink used does not contrast well against the brown paper it was printed on. The result is the material is useless. I cannot read it without a bright light and a magnifying glass.
The same diagram is also provided on the first page of the manual.
The same diagram is also provided on the first page of the manual, however the explanatory text in the manual for this image, while legible, is less detailed..
I find working on devices with this form factor awkward unless they are tilted up. It seems I end up hunched over for hours, resulting in neck and shoulder pain.
The display would be easier to read if the unit could be slightly tilted up.
This device is quite heavy, and you might press its pads urgently, so it would need a sturdy stand. I found an inexpensive solution: an adjustable folding guitar stand.
The stand does not weigh much, even though it is quite sturdy, and it folds up nicely.
I purchased two 25-foot Toslink / SPDIF / ADAT cables. Although the specifications say 5 meters (16.4 feet) is the maximum length of this type of fiber-optic cable, much longer cables can be used. These cables do not carry electricity, they carry light generated by LEDs, so they do not need gold-plated connectors.
Toslink fiber-optic cables are used for SPDIF and ADAT. These cables are provided with protective covers over the ends. Often, you can kinda-sorta plug in these cables without removing the protective covers, and they kinda-sorta work. However, they will not click into place and will fall out easily with the protective covers on. Be sure to remove the covers before use!
When you have two 1/4" audio cables, one for output and one for input, you cannot tell them apart unless they are labeled. Because of the potential for confusion, you might plug the cables into the wrong jacks. This is not the case with fiber-optic cables; when plugged in, the end of the output cable glows red because of the LED in the sending device that provides the signal. This is the cable that should be plugged into the P3S ADAT In jack.
The red LEDs used in Toslink cables emit normal light; they are not lasers. If you accidently point the light into your eye there should be no damage.
Ableton Live is available in three editions: Intro, Standard and Suite. This table shows the capabilities of each edition. As you can see, one of the differences is that Ableton Live Intro is limited to 16 Audio & MIDI tracks.
P3S requires an Ableton Live license, and a license for Ableton Live 11 Intro is included. MusicRadar published How many tracks can Ableton Push 3 Standalone actually run?, and they reported that P3S supported 40 tracks before encountering problems. I interpret this to mean that the limitations of Ableton Live Intro can be removed by purchasing a license for a more capable edition.
This morning, I received the following email:
Push’s built-in lessons will show on the screen the first time you turn Push on; they’ll take you through the essentials step by step. You can return to the lessons any time by pressing the lightbulb button on the top left of your Push.
You’ll also find lots of helpful video tutorials in our Learn Push series. These cover everything from setup and Session View to sound design tips. Check out the Learn Push videos >
Our Help area is the place to go to answer your questions about Push. There you’ll find articles covering almost every aspect of Push and Ableton Live, plus further video tutorials, a dedicated Push section of Live’s user manual, and much more.
Happy music-making!
That email was properly thought out. Kudos, Ableton!
The 65-watt custom power supply produces 3.5 amps at 20 volts, which is common for laptop power supplies. This means the power supply is readily replaceable.
The Push has no fan and no vents. It is essentially one large heat sink. Letting it rest on a blanket for 20 minutes while running did not cause overheating.
The small orange power button is located on the back of the unit, at the upper left when viewed from the normal orientation for usage.
After using the Push for a while on my lap, I noticed that the Push was warming my lap, much like a laptop would. Most of the heat comes from the right side of the Push. That area has a rubberized mat covering the underside, presumably for the comfort of a user who puts it on their lap.
Some articles about the P3 are available, including a few about P3S. None of the articles have datestamps, unfortunately. All of my articles have datestamps for when originally published, and when last updated. It would be helpful if Ableton did the same.
Unfortunately, most of what you need to learn about the P3S has not been published yet. Frequently you must learn find documentation for the P2, and try to adapt it to the P3S. For example, I could not figure out how to delete a clip that I had recorded. An internet search retreived dolltr!ck’s video entitled “Ableton Push: How to Delete Clips”. Her videos teach viewers about the P2. The location of the Delete button is in a different location for the P3S, however the information worked. All that is necessary to delete a clip is to hold down the Delete button and press the clip button.
The video My Ableton Push 3 Workflow. Interface, features and tips is the best way to learn about the P3S. It is made by Anna Fruit, not by Ableton. Once your P3S is authorized, learn by following along on your P3S as Anna goes through each step.
I discuss other learning resources in the rest of this article, but I recommend you start with this one.
The next video is a performance that Anna recorded using a P3S.
More videos are provided at the bottom of this article.
I plugged in my P3S, turned it on, and several minutes later, “Welcome to Push” appeared on the display. The tutorial then started.
The tutorial could be slightly improved. “To adjust the volume of an output, first press the volume encoder to select the correct one.” I found that the rotating knob must be pressed down before turning it. A better message would have been: “To adjust the volume of an output, first press the volume encoder down several times to select the correct one.”
The P3S was connected to a stereo system via two 1/4" TS monophonic plugs. I had no idea if I was supposed to hear sound at this point or not. After I fixed a cabling issue, sound could be heard when I pressed on a pad.
I found myself wishing I could touch a button or combination of buttons that would play a demo, so I could adjust sound levels. I eventually figured out how to do this.
One of the instructions was: “Turn the jog wheel to highlight an item,
and press it to take action on an item.”
Turning and pressing did nothing.
The next instruction was, “You can also nudge the jog wheel left or right”.
Again, trying that did nothing.
I suppose if the Push was in a certain state, those controls might do something.
However, the tutorial failed to indicate how to achieve that.
Later, I learned that when you want to back up from a submenu to the previous menu,
just nudge the jog wheel left.
It would have been really helpful if the tutorial had mentioned that.
This tutorial was minimalist in the extreme. I had expected more. In particular, this ‘tutorial’ did not generate any sound. Considering that the purpose of this device is to make sound, a tutorial should have as one of its primary goals to show how to generate sound.
P3S has a demonstration Ableton set, accessible at the end of the disastrous tutorial just mentioned by pressing the Demo Set option. You can restart the horrible tutorial at any time by pressing the Learn button, which has a lightbulb icon. Rapidly click through the tutorial until you see the Demo Set option, then push the lower display button under that menu item to load it.
Press Save as soon as it loads so you can recall the original Demo Set at any time.
If you have Ableton Live connected, the demo set will load into it, and you can save the set on your computer. The track lanes are rather narrow; to make them wider, hold Alt when resizing a track lane, and all of the others will also resize. This is what you should see after resizing the track lanes:
The next few sections are a few things you might want to try using the demo set.
The demo set has 8 scenes, laid out as horizontal rows. Each scene is shown twice: as a horizontal row in the display, and as a horizontal row in the 8x8 button matrix.
When the demo set loads, the topmost scene, labeled 1, is selected in the display; this scene is named Intro.
Scenes are comprised of clips, which might be audio samples or MIDI notes. Clips are arranged in vertical columns, called tracks. By default, all the clips in a track share the same audio settings.
Press the jog wheel down to play the all the clips in the selected scene (horizontal row). The scene will start to play at the beginning of the next bar.
Turn the jog wheel slightly to select another scene; scene 2 is named Verse A. Notice that the name of the selected scene is briefly displayed after you turn the jog wheel. Play it by pressing down on the jog wheel again.
Another way to play all the tracks in a scene is to press one of the scene buttons immediately to the right of the 8x8 button matrix. You can recognize a scene button because it has a green arrowhead on it that points to the right. Scene names and numbers are not shown on the scene buttons.
Scene buttons also double as repeat interval buttons, which is why you also see green fractions on the scene buttons. Don’t worry about repeat intervals just yet.
While a scene is playing, try pressing a lit button from another scene. That clip will start playing at the beginning of the next bar, and the clip on that track which was previously playing stops. This is because each track (vertical column) only plays one clip at a time.
To stop the set, press the Play button, which is the bottom-left button containing the green triangle. The triangle will change color to white when not playing a scene.
Complex tasks are best performed when working with a user interface that presents context. Providing context, such as menu breadcrumbs, can be a big help for users.
The menuing system should always display breadcrumbs.
After the tutorial, the Push displayed “Update Push to use the latest features. To update, go to the Setup menu, connect to Wi-Fi and then navigate to the Software tab.”
Before I could follow those instructions, I had to find out how to reach the Setup menu. After looking around for a bit, I saw a gear icon on a button on the upper left of the Push.
When I pushed it, the display showed many things, but did not self-identify with the word ‘Setup’ anywhere on screen. I found myself wondering, once again, ‘What am I looking at?’ UI breadcrumbs would have helped in this regard.
I found this procedure to be non-intuitive. The photo above is labeled with the step numbers to follow to connect to Wi-Fi.
The Wi-Fi menu item is only displayed when P3S is in standalone mode, which means if Ableton Live is controlling the P3S, this menu item will not be seen.
Now an unlabeled list of the alphanumeric characters appears. You are expected to realize that this is where you enter the Wi-Fi password.
I connected an external USB keyboard, but the P3S did not recognize it. Keyboard support could easily be provided, and it should be.
The big round knob to the right of the display is used for that purpose. Turn it to select a character you want to enter, then press the round knob to enter it. There are buttons labeled Space and < Delete if you need them.
Press the button glowing green over the Done menu item when you have finished typing in the password.
If you typed in the password correctly, the SSID you attempted to connect to is shown at the top of the list of SSIDs in green.
Now that my Push was connected to Wi-Fi, I pressed the button underneath the Software* menu item. The display looked like this:
I thought I should update the unit before authorizing it, in case the updated device might authorize more reliably. I pressed the Update button, and in a few minutes, the device updated.
The Push went completely dark for about 15 seconds after updating, then the message “Updating firmware, please wait” appeared. After about 3 seconds, the message “Update finished. Please turn Push off and on again.” appeared.
P3S emits large DC pulses through its two 1/4" TRS outputs whenever it is turned on and off. If you connect P3S audio via these outputs, be sure to turn down the audio system, before updating P3S, and before turning it on or off.
I had to hold the power button down for a few seconds before it asked me if I wanted to turn it off. When it turned off, the stereo speakers went “boom”, twice. The P3S emits large DC pulses through the 1/4" outputs each time it turns off.
When I turned it on, the speakers were silent. The message “Updating the firmware” appeared for about 10 seconds, and the speakers again went “boom”. The message “Updating the firmware” appeared again for several minutes, and the speakers went “boom” twice more. The message “The firmware update was successful” appeared, and the speakers went “boom” three more times.
The P3S emitted a total of eight large DC pulses during the update process.
Audio devices should not behave this way!
I expected better from Ableton.
I went back to the setup menu and saw the following versions:
Serial was blank, and User was blank.
No DC pulses are emitted through ADAT, because that is a fiber optic medium.
I already had an Ableton Live Studio license installed on two computers.
I pressed the Authorize button on Push and saw this message:
http://push.local/authorize
The P3S did not respond to the web browser.
I used Fing to learn more.
Fing seems to believe that the P3S runs Microsoft Windows,
but others report Linux.
Fing showed me that my P3S was at the IP address
192.168.1.175
and had these open ports:
ssh
http
Pointing my web browser to 192.168.1.175
brought up a blank web page.
When I looked at the source, I saw:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en">
<head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1.0"> <link rel="icon" href="<%= BASE_URL %>favicon.ico"> <script defer src="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.11.0/js/all.js"></script> <title>Ableton Push</title> </head>
<body> <noscript> <strong>We're sorry but the Ableton Push Manager doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.</strong> </noscript> <div id="app"></div> <!-- built files will be auto injected --> </body>
</html>
I see from looking at the source code that the favicon had a templating expression,
as if the HTML had not been properly processed:
<%= BASE_URL %>favicon.ico">
.
The developer windows for the Chrome and Firefox browsers showed that the only injected content came from browser plugins. Relying on injection is problematic; browsers often change their rules about injected content. Chrome is going through a rather traumatic time in that regard these days. This is proving to be a troublesome engineering decision by Ableton, and I expect that this will be found to be related to the problem I am experiencing.
P3S provided me with a bad first-time user experience. I see others have the same problem, while others have been able to get this working. Is it me or the unit?
I submitted a support request. The response was disheartening:
https://www.ableton.com/en/help/
The next day, I got the following response. I had sent a link to this article in my request. Clearly, it had not been read.
I noticed that the second, third, fourth and fifth links in the above message had tracking information appended to the URLs,
which I removed when inserting them into this web page.
This allows Ableton to detect if the user clicks on the link.
The tracking is not disclosed.
I believe this is a violation of GDPR.
I decided to try with another computer that had Ableton Live installed.
This computer had a wired Ethernet connection.
Using this computer, I was able to connect to http://push.local/authorize
, whereupon I saw:
After entering the authorization code, the web browser displayed:
... and Push said, “You have succesfully authorized Live. Thank you, and have fun!’
I also received the following email from no-reply@ableton.com
:
I needed a way to make the P3S continuously emit sound, so I could troubleshoot audio problems. I eventually figured out two ways of doing this, which I will share with you now.
There are probably easier ways of accomplishing this. If anyone would care to share with me quicker and easier ways of generating music from a P3S for debugging purposes, please tell me and I will update this page.
The P3S tutorial provides an Ableton Live demonstration set whose name is automatically generated once you use them. The lack of a standardized name makes it difficult to refer to when discussing with others, or finding a saved copy. The first time I saved the demonstration set its name was Secret Eclipse, and the second time it was called The Possessed Opulence.
Here are the P3S controls shown previously with red sequence numbers added.
The red sequence numbers in the above diagram correspond to the numbered steps below, so you can follow along.
Here is a magnified portion of the P3S controls shown previously.
The following numbered instructions correspond to the red numbers in the above diagram.
I attended Ableton Sessions in Montreal on December 12, 2023. At the event Ben Casey, Local Brand Manager, Ableton, who is based in Brooklyn, New York, demonstrated the following facts about the P3S ADAT implementation to me:
The tutorial videos published by Ableton on YouTube do not properly explain how to connect P3S to Live. The first video is a feel-good overview that is rather vague and does not include many specifics. The second video dives straight into controlling Ableton Live on a Mac, without explaining the details of the connection. No mention of the Windows interface is made, even though it is quite different.
The Ableton Push manual has a section entitled Connecting Push to a Computer, but it does not actually tell you how to make the connection, and does not direct you to a page that explains the process.
Tha Ableton Live reference manual does not mention Push 3 at all. Instead, Section 31 is about Push 2, which caused me to wonder if this information was relevant for connecting a P3S to Ableton Live. After experimenting for a few hours, I discovered that there were more differences than similarities in this regard.
This means you cannot control Live with P3S and transfer files at the same time. This is another PITA. In my limited time with this device, I have wanted to transfer files many times while controlling Live from the P3S. This restriction should be removed.
When you first turn it on, P3S will be in standalone mode.
A third Push mode, user mode, appears to be a subset of Control mode. If you do not configure user mode, custom MIDI mapping on the P3S is impossible.
The following is not properly described in the P3S manual or the Live manual.
The P3S acts as an ASIO device, so select ASIO as the Driver Type.
Select Ableton Push as the Audio Device.
Pressing Input Config displays a window in which ADAT 1/2 inputs can be enabled; however, they are labeled as inputs 9 & 10.
Pressing Output Config displays a window in which ADAT 1/2 outputs can be enabled; however, they are labeled as outputs 9 & 10.
If you switch to another audio device, and then revert back to Ableton Push the previous settings are remembered.
Pressing Hardware Setup displays the Push 3 Control Panel.
Here are the Push 3 Control Panel screens for Windows. I could not find any documentation on them.
The windows for configuring volume settings have no OK or Cancel buttons. To save changes, press Enter; to cancel, press Esc.
It is conceptually easy to transfer files between a P3S and your computer. Ableton made a nice, succinct video on the subject.
😠 😠Unfortunately, I found this kinda sorta worked on one computer, and not at all on another. Ableton tech support is not very responsive. Documentation is thin. There are few users so far, so the community is not very helpful.
NOT HAPPY!
Kit Maker published a short video on how to transfer drum kits.
The P3S is currently only compatible with Live 11. There is no version of the available P3S software (released or beta) that is compatible with the current version of Ableton Live 12 .
I just put together a set of backing tracks using the latest release of Ableton Live 12 (12.0_12049).
I updated my P3S to the latest beta (update-push3-1.2.5b2-release-v1.2.5b2.swu
)
and used that version of Live 12 to download the set to the P3S.
When I tried to play a scene in the set on my P3S, it displayed the following error:
The document is corrupt and cannot be loaded. (Unsupported MinorVersion (12.0_12049) (at line 2, column 154).
I solved this problem by converting my Live 12 set to Live 11 format, as described in the next section. The version of software on the P3S was not a contributing factor to the problem that I experienced.
Back on the PC, I opened the .als
file with 7-zip,
and edited the XML file inside.
Ableton Live .als
files are stored in gzip
format.
If you know how to use the bash command line, the following incantation
displays the first 2 lines of a Live set definition file called path/to/my_set.als
.
The output is folded so you can read it easily:
$ zcat path/to/my_set.als | head -n 2 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <Ableton MajorVersion="5" MinorVersion="12.0_12049" SchemaChangeCount="7" Creator="Ableton Live 12.0" Revision="5094b92fa547974769f44cf233f1474777d9434a">
The .als
file was pretty simple, and did not use any Live 12 features,
so I changed the second line of the XML file to:
<Ableton MajorVersion="5" MinorVersion="11.0_11300" SchemaChangeCount="3" Creator="Ableton Live 11.3.21" Revision="5ac24cad7c51ea0671d49e6b4885371f15b57c1e">
I deleted the <ExpressionLanes/>
and <ContentLanes/>
sections.
I also changed all instances of AudioOut/Main
to AudioOut/Master
(must we be so ridiculously woke?).
Then I saved the XML file and the .als
file.
I published a free, open-source program called
live_set
that converts Ableton Live 12 sets to Live 11 format.
The program makes a copy of the .als
file that defines the Live set.
.als
files are stored as compressed XML files.
Features in the original live set that are incompatible with Live 11 are removed before saving the copy.
The original Live 12 set is untouched.
I used Ableton Live 11 to load the modfied Live set and downloaded it to the P3S. The set loaded (yay!), however, this set, like all my other sets with audio clips that were created on the PC with Live, still did not play audio on the P3S yet.
I describe how I fixed this new problem in the next section.
I got frustrated with being unable to download Live sets to P3S that contained audio clips for certain Live sets. Every sample reported as being offline, however after a quick check they all seemed to be there. I followed the meager Ableton documentation and read every post on the Live forum. I thought of the following possible causes to investigate to solve the problem:
The XML file provided a potential clue.
Each audio clip has an associated <FileRef/>
XML element.
<FileRef> <RelativePathType Value="3" /> <RelativePath Value="Samples/Imported/hey_mama_drums.mp3" /> <Path Value="E:/media/Ableton/Projects/jam_dance/jam_dance_2024-03-23 Project/Samples/Imported/hey_mama_drums.mp3" /> <Type Value="1" /> <LivePackName Value="" /> <LivePackId Value="" /> <OriginalFileSize Value="8717000" /> <OriginalCrc Value="23411" /> </FileRef>
In the above example, the location of the audio clip on the PC is stored in a Path
sub-element:
E:/
.
The relative path for this clip is stored in a <RelativePath/>
sub-element:
Samples/
.
We can also see that a CRC
is used to ensure that if the file is damaged, the problem will be detected.
This means that for the P3S, the audio clip is stored in the same relative directory as the directory used by Live on the PC. That makes sense. I uploaded the broken file from P3S to my PC, then opened it with Live 11. All the audio clips were offline.
The corrected RelativePath
values looked like this:
<RelativePath Value="../
This is not what I expected. Collect All and Save did not consolidate the audio clips! Instead, the clips remained outside the project directory tree. I call this a bug. Perhaps there is a fancy dance one might do to make Collect All and Save work properly. No such dance should be required. This feature is not robust enough to work reliably.
I decided to try File / Save a Copy, and saved under the name fu
in the
E:\
directory.
This created a directory tree at E:\
.
At this time, the directory only contained these files:
├── Ableton Project Info │ └── AProject.ico ├── Desktop.ini └── fu.als
Now I opened the fu
project and use the File / Collect All and Save menu item.
This had the desired effect: a Samples
directory and a Backup
directory were created under
the fu Project
directory:
├── Ableton Project Info ├── Backup └── Samples └── Imported └── audio files were all stored here.
Now I downloaded the fu
project to P3S.
The problem remained, just as before.
There is another bug waiting to be found.
I submitted a support request (#2888895).
Ableton's instructions say that audio clips with plugins should be frozen. The set I am attempting to transfer has no effects applied to any track, except that the master/main track uses the Color brick wall limiter from the Creative Extension pack.
Because plugins are defined to be VSTs and AUs, it is my understanding that the audio effects provided with Live are not considered to be plugins. However, I found that the Color brick wall limiter was not present on the master/main track after transferring to the P3S.
The set that I want to transfer has dozens of stems in MP3 format for entire songs. When I attempt to freeze some of them, I get the error message The selected time range is too long to be rendered. This limitation has been problematic for Ableton Live users for at least 13 years.
I deleted the largest audio clips and was able to freeze all the tracks (except the Master/Main track, of course). I deleted the previous version of this project from P3S and downloaded it again.
IT WORKED!
Ableton Live needs a bold hint for users that readily makes it apparent that the current set is too large to freeze.
I suspect that if a set cannot be frozen, it cannot be transferred to a P3S, and perhaps other problems might also manifest.
If a user persists in attempting to transfer a Live set to a P3S that is somehow problematic,
a modal dialog should be displayed, detailing specifics about the problem,
so the user would know exactly how to fix the problem(s).
Microsoft Clarity showed me that this website received a lot of atttention from Berlin for a few days. An NDA was signed.
Jesse and I had a long and very friendly chat. Then nothing happened. I followed up, but after a month there was still no response.
My thoughts after owning a P3S for 2 months.
The name of this product is misleading.
Without a capable computer attached most of the time, the Push 3 Standalone has very limited usefulness.
Ableton may have set themselves up for a class action lawsuit in the USA. Attorneys in the USA usually get about a third of the winnings, right off the top, and their kill ratio is good enough that they are happy to take on those types of cases for free. Here are some suggestions for Ableton to prevent such a lawsuit from occurring:
As an organization, Ableton has years of sluggish customer interaction. This greatly affects sales and support. The core product (Live) is excellent.
I am an outsider, without access to confidential information. However, I have almost 50 years of experience working in the software and music industries. Conway’s Law suggests that other Ableton products are given at best second-class treatment by the Live engineering and product marketing teams. The overall corporate mindset seems to be that “Ableton makes Live and other stuff too”, not “We focus on providing Live customers an ever-expanding experience”.
The old saying about rotting fish means that when an organization or state fails, it is the leadership that is the root cause.
The Ableton employee reviews on Glassdoor blame senior management for poor management. From what I read, it seems that the major problem is that the founder and CEO is product-focused, not people-focused. As a people pleaser, he says what he thinks the person in front of him wants to hear. Unfortunately, as soon as that person is gone, they are out of mind.
I expect much better support from a hardware manufacturer at the P3S price point.
To be specific, I expect that:
This is what Japanese camera vendors at this price point provide, as well as computer manufacturers, computer equipment manufacturers at much lower price points, and mobile device manufacturers, etc.
Ableton uses Zendesk for product support. Zendesk has published documentation on best practices for customer support. Ableton does not follow any of these best practices.
In addition, P3S users who report any problem are immediately told that they should reset the device. Imagine your doctor performing a medical procedure on you before doing any diagnosis. How long do you think they would keep their medical license? Asking users to reset their P3S without diagnosing the issue is a procedure that can cause more confusion instead of assisting with the solution.
Ableton Live earns a lot of money, and Ableton has hired many world-class employees. However, it is apparent to any astute outside observer that the Push family of products is under-resourced, and the Glassdoor employee reviews paint a picture of very wasteful behavior.
Live is a cash cow, while Push is a disruptive product. The markets for Live and for Push are different, requiring different marketing approaches. It is readily apparent that the Live and the Push teams do not work together effectively.
P3S is a product that was created by a company that rewards artistry but is not customer-focused.
These worthy videos were not previously mentioned in this article.
I am not a fan of extreme piercing of body parts, but Mr. Beck is a great teacher who knows his subject well. This very short video is a good place to start.
The following continues the preceding video. It begins with an explanation of various controls, which is useful for all modes of operation of this device. Thavius then starts discussing material that requires Push to be connected to a computer that is running Ableton Live.
The following continues the preceding two videos. This well-thought-out video shows exactly how to use this device for percussion.
Seems like Mr. Beck might have a fourth video coming.
The following video is helpful for learning what the buttons do. The author is trying to make sense of the device. Ableton could do a better job of providing this information.
This video starts with Ned Rush playing a cool demo, then he explains it. Ned often goes deep in his videos, and this is no exception:
Putting it all together:
CA2600, an ARP 2600 emulation.
In order to know where to trim video using my
MediaTrim
program,
I needed a video player that could move forward and backwards through a video in small increments,
even frame-by-frame.
Very few programs can do that. VLC cannot. Windows video players cannot. DJV can!
DJV is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. This article discusses how I invoke the Windows version from WSL.
The djv
installation program does not put djv
on the PATH
.
To do that, open a cmd
shell with administrator privileges by
pressing Windows-R, typing cmd
,
then pressing Ctrl-Shift-Enter.
Now type:
C:\>setx /M PATH "%PATH%;C:\Program Files\DJV2\bin"
The modified path is not available on the existing console.
Close it and open another instance with normal privileges.
You should now be able to operate djv
from the command line.
To run djv
from the WSL command line, add the following to ~/.bash_aliases
:
alias djv='cmd.exe /c "C:\\Program Files\\DJV2\\bin\\djv.com"'
Load the modified ~/.bash_aliases
by typing:
$ source ~/.bash_aliases
If you followed the above steps, then you should be able to type the following into a
WSL bash
shell, a Windows cmd
shell with normal privilege,
and PowerShell with normal privilege.
djv -h
djv is an application for the viewing and playback of images and image sequences.
Usage
djv [input]... [option, ...]
Inputs can be files or file sequences. If the auto-detect file sequences setting is enabled, files will automatically be expanded to file sequences. File sequences can be specified with either frame numbers (e.g., render.0001-1000.exr), or '#' wildcards (e.g., render.####.exr).
Compatability
-maya Maya command-line compatibility.
Window Options
-full_screen Enable full screen mode.
-full_screen_monitor (number) Set the full screen monitor.
OCIO Options
-ocio_config (.ocio file name) Set the OCIO configuration.
-ocio_display (name) Set the OCIO display color space.
-ocio_view (name) Set the OCIO view color space.
-ocio_image (name) Set the OCIO image color space.
Playback Options
-speed (value) Set the playback speed.
-in_out (value) (value) Set the playback in and out points. The values are given in either timecode or frames, based on the time units settings.
-frame (value) Set the current frame. The value is given in either timecode or frames, based on the time units settings.
UI Options
-init_settings Initialize all settings to default values.
General Options
-time_units Set the time units. Options: "Timecode", "Frames". Current value: "Timecode".
-log_console Print the log to the console.
-version Print the version and exit.
-help, --help, -h Print this message and exit.
This article introduces musical microtiming for music played by humans with physical instruments as well as digitally produced music.
These microtimings can be applied to solo instrumentalists and vocalists. However, more complex music can be made when many instruments and voices are used.
You might find that an arrangement works best in front of an audience if microtiming is not applied to all the instruments and voices. For example, just the drums and/or the lead instrument might be flavored with a style of microtiming, while the bass line might be played in straight time.
The contrast of different microtimings applied to lead and background voices can feel dramatic, especially when the microtiming is subtle.
Less is more. The best spice is the one you hardly notice.
A triplet is just three notes played in the time normally allotted for two notes.
The blues is full of triplets. They are played in straight time, which means mathematically constant time. The blues musical style was created as a result of racial oppression in the United States. Emotionally, triplets are associated with the blues and the shuffle beat.
The shuffle beat is like playing an eighth-note triplet without playing the middle note of the triplet.
A tighter-sounding shuffle would be to play the first note of the triplet as a dotted eighth note, followed by a sixteenth note.
“La Grange” is a famous Texas shuffle by ZZ Top:
For more about the Texas shuffle and other shuffle variations, see Shuffle Beats Every Drummer Should Know – Blues and Beyond.
If the timing of the middle beat of a triplet is slightly delayed, we say it is swung. Swing is a variation on triplets, usually played in 6/8 timing. However, it is conventionally written in common time (4/4) for simplicity’s sake, with the swing timing added by musicians.
The following shorthand indicates that the passage or song to which it applies should be played in swing time:
MuseScore is one of the few music programs that implements true jazz swing instead of MPC swing, as described later.
MuseScore forces you to write using the convention described above when you want a swing tempo. Marc Sabatella, one of the MuseScore programmers, explains:
Swing is accomplished by writing ordinary eighth notes and then putting the word "Swing" (from the Text palette) on the score. MuseScore automatically swings eighths in a 60% ratio, more or less as human musicians would.
Triplets are something you write explicitly in the score, using Notes / Tuplets / Triplets or the shortcut Ctrl+3, as described in the Handbook.
If you want swing, write swing. If you want triplets, write triplets. You can force MuseScore to interpret swing as if it were triplets by right-clicking the Swing text, going to System Text Properties / Swing Settings, and setting the ratio to 66%.
I wrote a MuseScore 4 score that followed Marc Sabatella’s instructions. The score contains two instrument tracks: claves and piano. Both instruments play using the same timing. The following video demonstrates straight triplets and swung eighths timings:
Swing music was created in the 1930s as an offshoot of jazz, based on the lopsided rhythm of swing. Swing music sounds happy.
Listen to this example of classic swing jazz, from 1932, the heyday of the Swing music era. Count Basie’s April in Paris has the horn section swinging hard:
Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)”, written in 1931, is another classic example of jazz swing.
‘Swing’ eventually came to be used to describe any rhythm with an off-kilter groove that had loose, fluid timing.
The blues is full of triplets, but it never swings.
Shuffles cannot swing because they are missing the middle beat of the triplet.
Drummer Jonathan Curtis made this next video, in which he contrasts straight triplets with swing. Because he lives in the UK, Jonathan says ‘crotchet’ when he means a quarter note and ‘quaver’ when he means an eighth note.
Bateria Monte Reno has an excellent page describing samba swing.
To paraphrase, only the first of the four 16th notes is played on the beat, and the accent (volume) of each note is different.
EZ Drummer 3, Ableton Live and Pro Tools can work with MIDI data containing triplets and introduce positive and negative swing, which is cool. However, the “MPC swing” commonly provided by DAWs and synthesizers is, in general, a different rhythm than the jazz swing style described above.
If you want to create a composition containing true jazz swing using DAW software that only supports MPC swing, your choices are:
Roger Linn designed the Linn sample-based drum machines, invented DAW quantization and MPC-style swing, the Akai MPC and the DSI Tempest. He describes MPC-style swing this way:
This is a good video that shows MPC-style swing as implemented in Pro Tools:
The strength of the MPC-style swing effect used in DAWs and synthesizers is controlled by swing percentage.
This video shows what swing percentages look like mathematically:
Christopher Smith describes swing percentages this way:
A negative swing means that the sound is played ahead of the beat.
There is an interesting TikTok video that demonstrates positive and negative swing. This video shows many variations rather quickly, using technical jargon, so it can be difficult to understand. This video is worth playing several times to fully appreciate the content.
All DAWs can quantize MIDI data. DAWs can also introduce a degree of randomness (which is usually termed humanization), which I dislike unless used appropriately. While I believe that ‘humanizing’ a drum track played in straight time might improve the piece’s sound, ‘humanizing’ a rhythm containing microtiming destroys the subtle effect that microtime can provide.
Just as applying quantization can destroy microtime, adding random variations, or‘humanizing’ a track, can significantly diminish the subtle effect the composer intended.
I have found that audiences react very positively to minute swing percentages. Most of the time, they do not know why they suddenly feel like dancing; they just smile and dance. Some become quite vocal and exuberant.
Roger Linn agrees.
Microtiming Deviations and Swing Feel in Jazz, published by the US National Library of Medicine in 2019, has an in-depth discussion of original research on this topic.
]]>Music synthesizers, also called synths, generate sounds and often include a keyboard or pressure-sensitive pads.
I bought my first synth in 1979, an ARP 2600 v2. It was an analog synth; instead of containing a digital computing device like a CPU, it consisted of analog components such as oscillators and physical filters made from capacitors and inductors. I remember how very heavy it was—43 pounds (19 kg)!
Back in those days and earlier, patch cords were often used to electrically connect the sound-generating components together in various combinations to shape the sound. Since then, the term patch has also been used for digital synths to refer to the sounds that they can make. For example, a synth might have patches for ‘saxophone’ and ‘piano’, and a drum machine might have patches for ‘snare’ and ‘hi-hat’.
For my undergraduate engineering thesis in 1979, I wrote a PDP-11 assembler program that turned a Digital Equipment PDP 11-45 into a virtual ARP 2600, complete with A/D and D/A, and a graphical user interface that utilized a Tektronix vector CRT and a light pen.
The main computer cabinet was 6 feet tall, almost 2 feet wide, and 2.5 feet deep. A second cabinet held the CRT, and the terminal rested nearby on a small table.
Most synths today are digital, not analog, and comply with the MIDI standard, which was initially published in 1983. The MIDI specification has continued to evolve. The MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification, published in 1985, clarified the original MIDI specification.
MIDI has been cited as an early example of open-source technology.
MIDI patches are organized into banks. Patch banks usually contain 128 patches, but some MIDI devices have 256 patches per bank. A preset is a MIDI patch that was programmed by the synthesizer vendor.
Patches can be remotely selected by MIDI program change messages.
The General MIDI standard, also known as GM or GM 1, was published in 1991. GM is a specification for MIDI instruments; it defines standardized instrument names and their corresponding MIDI program numbers.
Roland GS, introduced in 1991, is a superset of the General MIDI standard that added several proprietary extensions, including:
Yamaha XG, introduced in 1994, is a GM superset that added several proprietary extensions, notably support for Yamaha's 600-series instruments and 32 simultaneous notes (polyphony).
The MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specifications
were published in 1996 and included the specification of the
Standard Midi File (smf
) format.
Standard MIDI Files contain all the MIDI instructions to generate notes,
control individual volumes, select instrument sounds,
and even control reverb and other effects.
The files are typically created by a
MIDI sequencer
and then played on some kind of MIDI synthesizer.
The GM 1 specification was superseded by GM 2 in 1999; however, GM 1 is still commonly used.
The MIDI 1.1 specification was published May 1, 2006. Changes to the MIDI file format are MIDI-File Format sumarized here, including sequences, tracks, file formats, chunks, meta-events, messages, note numbers.
MIDI Type 1 files contain separate information for each track. For a MIDI Type 0 file, however, all the tracks are merged into a single track, although MIDI channel information is still retained. When a Type 0 file is loaded into a sequencer, it will take each channel’s information and put it on a separate track. So for a typical sequence with one track per MIDI channel, it will normally not matter if the sequence is saved as Type 0 or Type 1.
But if your source sequence has several tracks assigned to the same MIDI channel (for example several drum tracks playing the same program on the same channel, but with an individual drum sound on each track), then it is best to export it as a Type 1 file. If exported as Type 0, all tracks assigned to the same channel will be merged into a single track when the .MID file is loaded.
– From MIDI Type 0 and MIDI Type 1 filesIn 2020, the MIDI 2.0 standard was introduced. The first products using the MIDI 2.0 standard began to reach the market in 2023. However, as I write this, MIDI 2.0 is still bleeding-edge technology. Most musicians should wait a few years before investing in products that use MIDI 2.0.
The MIDI 2.0 Property Exchange specification is part of the MIDI 2.0 family of specifications. It uses JSON over SysEx to get and set device properties.
In the future, once MIDI 2.0 becomes more commonly used, MIDI 2.0 Property Exchange will become important for the next generation of MIDI 2.0 patch librarians.
Nov. 16, 2023 – the Roland A-88MKII MIDI Keyboard Controller got a software update to MIDI 2.0 (the hardware was already MIDI 2.0 capable).
I was not able to find any description from Roland of this product’s MIDI 2.0 capabilities. The Owners manual makes no mention of MIDI 2.0. The Roland announcement did not say which download contains the update, however after examining them all, I found that only the A-88MKII System Program (Ver.2.00) mentioned MIDI 2.0. The download had absolutely no documentation. This is consistent with the finest tradition of Japanese hardware device manufacturers.
I do not know what “and more” means, but given what I know of Roland’s attitude towards software, I have low expectations.
December 2023 – the Korg Keystage claims to be the first keybaord that implements MIDI 2.0 Property Exchange. Ableton Live also supports MIDI 2.0 Property Exchange, and apparently the two products cooperate well. The rest of the MIDI 2.0 spec is not mentioned in the Korg product documentation.
The Owners Manaul does not mention MIDI 2.0 in the specifications. It only says that the Korg Keystate USB-MIDI driver must be used on Windows.
Another disppointing example of the Japanese hardware manufacturer attitude towards software.
Neither of the above products should be called MIDI 2.0 devices. They only implement a small portion of the important MIDI 2.0 features. Furthermore, software documentation and support is seriously deficient.
Perhaps the established manufacturers are concerned that MIDI 2.0 renders their existing product lineup obsolete. This is an opportunity for a new manufacturer to take advantage of.
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