Assigning Tempos to Scenes in Ableton Live

In this article we will take a look at how to use one of the coolest features of Ableton Live.  If you are interested in using loops then the techniques shared in this article will allow you to use loops in the best possible way.   So open up Live and buckle up cause here we go!

1) Session view vs. Arrangement View

Live consists of two basic views.  Session View (the vertical “scene” based view) and Arrangement View (the horizontal “track” based view).  Arrangement view functions like any other recording software does.  You can record parts and edit them, and paste them together to create a song.

Session view is a whole other beast of its own.  It is what makes Live the powerful software that it is.  In session view you can record parts and then trigger them on the fly and record them into arrangement view (all in a few easy steps).  Working in Session view gives you the efficiency and convenience that no other software can provide.  By using Session View you can assign tempos to each scene and treat each scene as a separate song.  If you’ve never used Live in this way before or your still unsure the best way to use Live then this article will open up a world of possibilities.

2) Creating a Blank Midi Clip

The first step is to open up Live and make sure your in Session View.  The far right track is called the Master Track (the one with numbers going down it).  Each one of those numbers represents a Scene.  Each scene can contain multiple clips.  A clip can be either a midi clip or an audio clip.  If you click the triangle in the master track it will fire that scene that your in, and any clips within that scene.

*It is important to note that if you don’t have any clips created in the scene your trying to work with then nothing will happen.  You must have a clip (audio/midi) in a scene in order for it to fire.*

Create a Midi Track that will hold our clips that we will create.  Once you create your midi track double click in the blank area next to the square in scene 1.  This will create a blank midi track.  The square now turns into a triangle.

If you click the Triangle in the master track of scene 1 you will now be able to fire scene 1.  Turn your click on and adjust the volume if  necessary.  You should now hear your click playing at whatever tempo you have Live set to.

3) Assign a tempo to Scene 1

Now that we have a clip in scene 1 we want to assign a tempo to the master track for scene 1.  Lets set our tempo to 70 bpm in 4/4.  We want to subdivide the click so we will set it to 140 bpm 8/4. ( for an explanation of why to set it up this way check out this article here).  To do this right click on Scene 1 in the Master track and select rename.  Then simply enter in the tempo and the time signature (140 bpm 8/4).  As soon as you do this you’ll see the triangle turn orange, which means you entered the info correctly.

Now when you click the triangle in Scene 1 you will be able to fire that scene at 140 bpm playing in 8/4.  With this knowledge you can now setup a set-list for Sunday morning and assign your tempos for each song to each individual scene in Live.  You can use your blank Midi clip to enter in the song info for each song ie.  “1 We fall Down ” .

Doing this will allow you to quickly Program in clicks for a Sunday service without having to count how many measure you need it to run for or worrying about when to start or stop it.  It will save you so much time and make the process of using Clicks and Loops so much easier.