> the beginner’s guide to live
> Step by step 7. Creating a custom slicing preset and storing it in the User Library (continued)
There are four slots left – just enough
7 to control Simpler’s Volume envelope.
Assign Attack to Macro 5, Decay to
Macro 6, Sustain to Macro 7 and Release
to Macro 8. Set the Decay to 600ms,
8 Places, select the User Library, then,
Sustain to 0.0dB and Release to 50.0ms.
The Attack will be 0.00ms by default.
Live automatically warps the break, so
10 it’s ready to slice right away. Right-
click the audio clip and select Slice to New
MIDI Track. A menu will appear, asking
how you want the audio to be sliced. By
11
default, one slice is created per transient,
which is perfect – all we need to do is to
tell Live to use our new slicing preset.
Adjustments made to the Drum Rack’s
13 macros affect the Simpler instruments
on every pad. For example, turning the
Sustain macro down to -inf dB will result
in a tighter drum sound, and we can
14
further tweak the tightening effect by
turning the Decay macro up or down.
(Audio: Tighter beat.wav)
20 / ABLETON LIVE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 2015
Now we’re ready to save the preset. In
in the Browser Content Pane, click the
arrow next to the Defaults folder to see its
contents. Drag your new Drum Rack into
9 name the preset. Adding presets
the Slicing folder. A preset will appear in
the folder, with its name automatically
selected ready for you to enter.
Click the Slicing Preset menu and
select Breakbeat from the list, then
click OK. A new MIDI track will appear with
a Drum Rack on it. Solo the MIDI track,
then click the MIDI clip and press Ctrl/
12
Cmd+L to loop around the clip.
We can also independently process
specific slices, of course. For example,
click Audio Effects in Categories, then
drag Reverb onto Slice 3’s pad to add a
reverb effect to just the first snare hit. This
technique is particularly useful with EQ,
enabling you to high-pass each slice with
its own cutoff frequency – great for
cleaning up classic funk breaks. (Audio:
Reverb slice.wav)
Type ‘Breakbeat’ and press Enter to
works like this for everything in the User
Library: just drag whatever you’ve created
into the appropriate folder and name it.
Now we’re ready to test the preset out.
Drag Vintage break.wav from the
Tutorial Files folder onto an audio track.
Press the Play button to listen back to
the sliced audio. If you can’t see the
slices’ pads, click the light grey boxes in
the Drum Rack’s Pad Overview. As the
beat plays back, each slice’s Preview
button will illuminate to show that the
slice is playing.
POWER TIP
>Trigger finger
A small but important option
hidden away at the bottom right-
hand corner of the Simpler
interface is the Retrigger button –
a tiny box with an ‘R’ in it. With this
active (yellow-green rather than
grey), whenever a new note is
triggered, the previous note will be
stopped dead. This doesn’t make a
huge difference most of the time,
but with long release times, the
effect will be more obvious. So, if
you’re using loops with sustained
sounds, like synth chords, try
experimenting with the Retrigger
button to see which mode works
best for you.