4 ms·

Drag the mp3 onto an audio track, and turn on / adjust the warp settings to set it to the correct tempo.

by dmicah 6y ago

galaxyLogic 6y ago
Thank you for the advice. But even that sounds difficult for a novice like me. How do I "adjust warp settings" so that two tempos are the same? And I don't want to just have the same tempo, I want to align specific beats. I know there is a forum and documentation but if all my time goes to trying to figure out technical solutions then all my creativity goes into finding technical solutions, rather than solving artistic problems.
- GavinMcG 6y ago
  > if all my time goes to trying to figure out technical solutions Any musician has to learn their instrument. Commit to that.
  - galaxyLogic 6y ago
    > Any musician has to learn their instrument I don't have the time or resources to 'commit to that". Ableton Live is NOT my instrument, I would like to just use it as a tool. It takes years of practice to learn any musical instrument and become a musician that other people would want to listen to. Maybe the same applies to Ableton? It takes years of hard practice to master it? If so it would be proper that their sales literature would be up front about it. You will need years of study to master this instrument in order to produce something that other people would want to listen to. You will need to commit to it :-) The difference between Ableton and "ordinary musical instruments" is that Ableton runs on a computer, therefore its use should be easy enough to not require years to learn.
    - lbotos 6y ago
      I mean, it takes years to be a "good programmer" as well as years to be "good at photoshop" as well as years to be effective with any professional tool. You are expecting Ableton, a professional tool, to act as a toy. Spend $100, Take a course, or watch some tutorials in the styles you want to make, and you'll build to proficiency. Tools take time to learn. Toys less so. I found that Ableton push was actually extremely helpful to take my understanding of Ableton to the next level. I then sold my push, and am more proficient with the software now. If you don't have the "muscle memory" of other DAWs then ableton will be a new paradigm and absolutely hard to use and understand. Esp the difference between midi and audio. Edit: I had a long day, so I might sound harsher than you expect, but the core of my message is: learning new powerful instruments is hard. Best of luck learning ableton, it's great. Go make some drones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdRcpRxYJK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdRcpRxYJK0
    - scarecrowbob 6y ago
      The advice about treating it like an instrument is good, IMO I play a bunch of instruments and have been on quite a few recording, but I had to spend the last couple of months learning a novation circuit and an electron octatrack for a project I am working on. TBH, it took me about a week with abelton and a DVD course to learn enough to be fairly productive with it... that was back when there wasn't much on YTube. These things are instruments and require just as much work to learn.
    - nharada 6y ago
      Agreed with siblings that Ableton is a powerful tool and powerful tools aren't trivial to learn. Nobody expects to come in proficient on day one for ProTools, or Avid, or SolidWorks, etc. That said it's totally fair to not have the time to commit to learning a complex tool. There are other, more accessible DAWs out there you can use if you don't need the power this one provides. Garageband, for example, is easy to use and straightforward. Curious if folks know other ones similarly easy to use.
    - brokenmachine 6y ago
      Ableton is easy enough to use that you can have fun with it immediately. I think I could have worked out your question about syncing an mp3 within the first hour of using it. Warp is on by default for any audio you bring in. If you're not prepared to spend some time learning how to use it, then maybe the whole thing is not for you. Most people enjoy the whole process. You are being unrealistic if you think that just because Ableton runs on a computer means everything about it should be automatic. Ableton is a professional level DAW and as such has a lot of complexity under the hood. Ordinary musical instruments only have a few knobs and take a lifetime to master. I don't know why you would suppose it should be any easier to master Ableton which has literally thousands of knobs?
- dmicah 6y ago
  I hear you, Ableton actually has pretty great tutorials in the program itself that can help to learn the software as well.
  - galaxyLogic 6y ago
    I understand that and not saying it is not great, just that it seems to be more difficult to master than I expected. It can be fun to tinker with and learn if you have the time. One problem I think is that the documentation is scattered there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there? In the world of programming languages there's a lot of books called "cookbooks" - recipes for how to do things that many programmers will need to do. Say "C# CookBook". Is there such a book or resource for Ableton? If not maybe there should be. It might be a best seller :-)
    - lbotos 6y ago
      https://www.adsrsounds.com/product/courses/ableton-live-10-the-complete-course/ https://www.adsrsounds.com/product/courses/ableton-live-10-t... I used one of these a few years ago for an earlier version. Was helpful. I suspect this one would be just the same.
    - scarecrowbob 6y ago
      "I understand that and not saying it is not great, just that it seems to be more difficult to master than I expected. It can be fun to tinker with and learn if you have the time. One problem I think is that the documentation is scattered there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there?" Just to commiserate, I feel the same way about the pedal steel guitar :D
    - munificent 6y ago
      > there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there? There is. The reference manual: https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/ https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/ It is incredibly well-written. Possibly my favorite piece of technical writing ever, and am myself a technical author.
- iron0013 6y ago
  What you want to accomplish here is one of the most basic tasks in Live. If you can’t commit to learning at least this small thing you might as well not even attempt to use Live.
  - galaxyLogic 6y ago
    > If you can’t commit to learning at least this small thing The point is I don't know it is a "small thing". I don't even know if it is possible. I don't want to commit to learning something that may not be possible (as far as I know at the moment). And I don't know where I should even start. Can you post a link that explains how to accomplish this "most basic task"?
- andrepd 6y ago
  Just like a violinist must spend time with such boring things as tuning the instrument, replacing strings, caring for the bow, learning correct posture, playing scales literally tens of thousands of times... etc. Software is just another tool, like a painter's brushes or a musician's instrument.

Drag the mp3 onto an audio track, and turn on / adjust the warp settings to set it to the correct tempo.

by dmicah 6y ago

Drag the mp3 onto an audio track, and turn on / adjust the warp settings to set it to the correct tempo.

Thank you for the advice. But even that sounds difficult for a novice like me. How do I "adjust warp settings" so that two tempos are the same? And I don't want to just have the same tempo, I want to align specific beats. I know there is a forum and documentation but if all my time goes to trying to figure out technical solutions then all my creativity goes into finding technical solutions, rather than solving artistic problems.

GavinMcG 6y ago
> if all my time goes to trying to figure out technical solutions Any musician has to learn their instrument. Commit to that.
- galaxyLogic 6y ago
  > Any musician has to learn their instrument I don't have the time or resources to 'commit to that". Ableton Live is NOT my instrument, I would like to just use it as a tool. It takes years of practice to learn any musical instrument and become a musician that other people would want to listen to. Maybe the same applies to Ableton? It takes years of hard practice to master it? If so it would be proper that their sales literature would be up front about it. You will need years of study to master this instrument in order to produce something that other people would want to listen to. You will need to commit to it :-) The difference between Ableton and "ordinary musical instruments" is that Ableton runs on a computer, therefore its use should be easy enough to not require years to learn.
  - lbotos 6y ago
    I mean, it takes years to be a "good programmer" as well as years to be "good at photoshop" as well as years to be effective with any professional tool. You are expecting Ableton, a professional tool, to act as a toy. Spend $100, Take a course, or watch some tutorials in the styles you want to make, and you'll build to proficiency. Tools take time to learn. Toys less so. I found that Ableton push was actually extremely helpful to take my understanding of Ableton to the next level. I then sold my push, and am more proficient with the software now. If you don't have the "muscle memory" of other DAWs then ableton will be a new paradigm and absolutely hard to use and understand. Esp the difference between midi and audio. Edit: I had a long day, so I might sound harsher than you expect, but the core of my message is: learning new powerful instruments is hard. Best of luck learning ableton, it's great. Go make some drones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdRcpRxYJK0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdRcpRxYJK0
  - scarecrowbob 6y ago
    The advice about treating it like an instrument is good, IMO I play a bunch of instruments and have been on quite a few recording, but I had to spend the last couple of months learning a novation circuit and an electron octatrack for a project I am working on. TBH, it took me about a week with abelton and a DVD course to learn enough to be fairly productive with it... that was back when there wasn't much on YTube. These things are instruments and require just as much work to learn.
  - nharada 6y ago
    Agreed with siblings that Ableton is a powerful tool and powerful tools aren't trivial to learn. Nobody expects to come in proficient on day one for ProTools, or Avid, or SolidWorks, etc. That said it's totally fair to not have the time to commit to learning a complex tool. There are other, more accessible DAWs out there you can use if you don't need the power this one provides. Garageband, for example, is easy to use and straightforward. Curious if folks know other ones similarly easy to use.
  - brokenmachine 6y ago
    Ableton is easy enough to use that you can have fun with it immediately. I think I could have worked out your question about syncing an mp3 within the first hour of using it. Warp is on by default for any audio you bring in. If you're not prepared to spend some time learning how to use it, then maybe the whole thing is not for you. Most people enjoy the whole process. You are being unrealistic if you think that just because Ableton runs on a computer means everything about it should be automatic. Ableton is a professional level DAW and as such has a lot of complexity under the hood. Ordinary musical instruments only have a few knobs and take a lifetime to master. I don't know why you would suppose it should be any easier to master Ableton which has literally thousands of knobs?
dmicah 6y ago
I hear you, Ableton actually has pretty great tutorials in the program itself that can help to learn the software as well.
- galaxyLogic 6y ago
  I understand that and not saying it is not great, just that it seems to be more difficult to master than I expected. It can be fun to tinker with and learn if you have the time. One problem I think is that the documentation is scattered there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there? In the world of programming languages there's a lot of books called "cookbooks" - recipes for how to do things that many programmers will need to do. Say "C# CookBook". Is there such a book or resource for Ableton? If not maybe there should be. It might be a best seller :-)
  - lbotos 6y ago
    https://www.adsrsounds.com/product/courses/ableton-live-10-the-complete-course/ https://www.adsrsounds.com/product/courses/ableton-live-10-t... I used one of these a few years ago for an earlier version. Was helpful. I suspect this one would be just the same.
  - scarecrowbob 6y ago
    "I understand that and not saying it is not great, just that it seems to be more difficult to master than I expected. It can be fun to tinker with and learn if you have the time. One problem I think is that the documentation is scattered there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there?" Just to commiserate, I feel the same way about the pedal steel guitar :D
  - munificent 6y ago
    > there's not single Bible to read to learn all about it, is there? There is. The reference manual: https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/ https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/welcome-to-live/ It is incredibly well-written. Possibly my favorite piece of technical writing ever, and am myself a technical author.
iron0013 6y ago
What you want to accomplish here is one of the most basic tasks in Live. If you can’t commit to learning at least this small thing you might as well not even attempt to use Live.
- galaxyLogic 6y ago
  > If you can’t commit to learning at least this small thing The point is I don't know it is a "small thing". I don't even know if it is possible. I don't want to commit to learning something that may not be possible (as far as I know at the moment). And I don't know where I should even start. Can you post a link that explains how to accomplish this "most basic task"?
andrepd 6y ago
Just like a violinist must spend time with such boring things as tuning the instrument, replacing strings, caring for the bow, learning correct posture, playing scales literally tens of thousands of times... etc. Software is just another tool, like a painter's brushes or a musician's instrument.