Abelton Questions

[Johnny N.]

I think we have an Ableton user or two in the house. I am working on something for the upcoming recording "fest" and have come across a couple of issues.

First issue: I recorded a track. Just a fingerpicked electric guitar part. It sounded fine when I was recording it and when I played it back a time or two. But when I went back into Ableton a couple of days later and opened that session, it had a strange pulsating sound on that track when I played it back. Is there a setting I should be changing or something?

Second issue: I am sure I could eventually find the answer but thought I would try the easy way first. I want to use the punch in feature but cant figure out how to tell it when to start recording. I play the first part of the song and it sounds great but somewhere in the middle I fall apart and throw my guitar across the room. I want to go back and start recording from where my decent playing left off.

I click the little punch in symbol at the top but I dont know how to tell it where to start.

Any help appreciated.

[Mark Wein]

I have Ableton but have never used it, so I won';t be a huge amount of help. For the punch ins try highlighting the section you would like to record over, put your track in record and press play...that might actually drop you into record only in the highlighted part f the track and then take you out at the end of it...I'll take a look at mine this afternoon and try it...

[Johnny N.]

Thanks Mark. I will hopefully get some time to work on it tonight. I am sure the help function or the little lessons on the right side will reveal an answer but I thought I would ask here while I was at work.

I am baffled by the sound thing though. It is a really annoying sound that I cant figure out how it got there.

Oh, I might add that I am using the lite version that came with my Toneport. I think the functionality is the same but with limited tracks and effects.

Thanks,

[Prages]

In Cubase for punch ins you can either select the time of the punch in/punch out in the transport panel (where the play, rewind, etc is), or on the screen that shows the sound files, at the top there are little things that look like the margin settings on a word processor. You can move the margin settings to your punch in/punch out locations.

I don't know if it works like that in Abelton or not.

Don't know what to tell you about the sound issues.

[Johnny N.]

In Cubase for punch ins you can either select the time of the punch in/punch out in the transport panel (where the play, rewind, etc is), or on the screen that shows the sound files, at the top there are little things that look like the margin settings on a word processor. You can move the margin settings to your punch in/punch out locations.

I don't know if it works like that in Abelton or not.

Don't know what to tell you about the sound issues.

It is similar. It has little brackets. I just wasnt able to figure out how to place the brackets in the time I was working on it earlier. I am sure it is some combination of clicking and/or dragging. I just havent found the right combination yet.

I thought I had it and recorded over my intro. :mad:

[Prages]

If it does like Cubase, then even if you recorded over your intro, the intro is still there, just covered up by the new recording. I can do that, then go in and 'split at curser' where I want the punch in to start, then delete the part that's over the intro, and the original intro is under the new stuff I just recorded.

If that fails, there's always 'undo'.

[Denverdave]

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j186/akousticdude/765_live3_arrangescreen.jpg

You set the punch in measure and beat where arrow A is pointing and where it stops at where arrow B is pointing. You then make sure the two buttons just inside of the measure counters that look like escalators are highlighted. That tells Ableton to start (the left one) and stop (the right one) a punch in at the points in the measure counters.

[Johnny N.]

Perfect Dave, Thanks.

[Johnny N.]

Successfully punched in and finished recording the track so thank you very much guys. :aok:

Also figured out where the strange noise was coming from. I had read that you can change the tempo of the song you are working on at any time. I recorded that track at a certain tempo but decided that it was dragging a bit too much and speeded it up a little. Well, when I speed it up, I am getting an aweful echo. So at least I know why it was happening.

What I wonder is if there is a way to fix it. I mean if it tells me I can speed it up or slow it down, there has to be a way to do it without this crazy echo. No big deal for now but I am going to have to figure this one out.

[Prages]

I don't know about the speeder upper plugin in Abelton, but the one in Cubase sucks ass. Leaves all kinds of funky artifacts. The pitch shift isn't much better.

Maybe try looking online for different plugins and see if they work any better.