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> 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?

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?