- Ableton Live 9 Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Symbols
- Ableton Live Shortcut Keys Pdf
- Ableton Live Keyboard Shortcuts Chart
Ableton Live 9 Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Symbols
While a menu is open, you can use: the up and down arrow keys to navigate the menu items; the right and left arrow keys to open the neighboring menu; Enter to choose a menu item. Jul 16, 2019 I rapid fire through a bunch of different Ableton Live keyboard and mouse shortcuts. I'm using Mac lingo but you can easily apply it to Windows as well. Full list of shortcuts: https://www.ableton. Write, record, edit, and mix your Ableton Live music files on your Mac faster and easier! This ultra-thin form-fitting Ableton Live Keyboard skin includes color-coded shortcuts right on the keys – so you spend more time creating, producing, and performing your music and less time learning and memorizing Ableton Live shortcut keys! May 23, 2016 the 20 best keyboard shortcuts in ableton live (mac os x and windows) May 23, 2016 in production tips, ableton check out the updated version of this article here. Ableton live suite 9 on Mac OS 10.15.4 Catalina. Every time I drag an audio file into ableton it reads “this sample contains no audio data.”. Search and visualize default keyboard shortcuts for Ableton Live 8 and 9. For Mac keyboards with or without a numeric keypad, and for generic PC keyboards. How to use: Click on a category on the left, then hover over a function on the right. Alternatively, enter a keyword into the search input field, and hover over the results. The appropriate keyboard shortcut will light up. Commit to memory! The Ableton Live Backlit Keyboard is the ultimate way to edit faster in Ableton Live. You will be able to master the program. Updated for Ableton Live 10.1 You can spend hours - if not days inside the edit, eyes focused on your bright monitor, so it's important you choose the.
Do you feel like you could achieve so much more if you could only work faster?
If that’s the case for your production, don’t worry. There’s actually a lot of tools at your disposal that can help you improve your workflow.
Specifically, there’s one thing that you can learn that will help you save a ridiculous amount of time..
And that’s keyboard shortcuts. This may sound obvious, and at times, they’re often overlooked by producers. But because you’re using a lot of the same functions over and over again when producing a song, these shortcuts can actually save you way more time than you could ever imagine.
In fact, a study from Brainscape even estimated that you could save up to 64 hours per year by using shortcuts! Imagine how many more ideas and tracks you can come up with if you actually gained 64 production hours in one year (that’s almost 3 additional days!)
And they don’t just help you save valuable time; they also make your production process more enjoyable.
That’s because by knowing these shortcuts, you won’t t have to worry about scrolling through endless menus with your mouse or pad to select each option.
And the thing is, most of these shortcuts are very straightforward and easy to learn. The letters you have to type to activate the commands are usually the first letter of the action you’re doing.
For example, to save your project, it’s an easy ⌘ + S on MacOS, or ctrl + s on Windows, which is very easy to remember.
Nonetheless, it will take some time to memorize all of them, but soon enough they’ll become second nature. And at that point, you won’t even have to think about what keys you’re pressing. You’ll just be able to fly through your production steps.
And to help you get to this point faster, feel free to save this guide or print it out and keep it handy when you dive into Ableton.
Let’s now jump into these 25 Ableton shortcuts!
1. Don’t Forget To Save: ⌘ + ⇧ + S (ctrl + ⇧ + S) or ⌘ + S (ctrl + S)
At some point in our production career, we have all lost some crucial changes or even an entire file because we didn’t save our work or something crashed.
But it you get in the habit of saving and make it a routine in your workflow, you won’t have to worry about this anymore.
This can be made easy through the use of keyboard shortcuts. If you just want to make a quick save, all you have to do is press ⌘ + S (ctrl + S).
A good rule of thumb is to save every 20 to 30 minutes. But you can even do it more often if you’d like to be on the safe side, because you never know when your software might crash!
You can also quickly “Save As” another version every time you think of taking your project in a new direction or want to create an alternate version. Just press ⌘ + ⇧ + S (ctrl + ⇧ + S) to save as a new file.
For example, if you’re working on “Trap Banger 1.3” and decide that you could come up with a better drop, save as “Trap Banger 2.1” so you can always come back to the previous version if your new one doesn’t work out.
2. Arrangement View / Session View: Tab
This is another handy shortcut if you work in both modes often or need to access the mixer during your mixdowns.
You could throw in all your ideas into Session View, and as you find loops and parts that work great together, start throwing them into Arrangement View to build up your track. By pressing “Tab,” you’ll be able to toggle back and forth between the two, seamlessly.
3. Clip View - Device View: ⇧ + Tab (shift + Tab)
Do ever find yourself switching your MIDI notes and tweaking your instrument at the same time as you’re creating your bassline or melody?
There’s a way to quickly switch from the Clip View (where you tweak the MIDI information) to the Device View (where you insert your plugins, effects, and other processing chains). To quickly switch between these two, you can just press ⇧ + Tab (shift + Tab).
4. Insert Audio Track: ⌘ + T (ctrl + T)
One of the most used actions within Ableton is inserting new audio tracks to add new elements to the composition.
You’d want to do this every time you’re adding a new percussion element or loop, so you can process them individually without the risk of messing up other tracks. Just press ⌘ + T (ctrl + T), and you’ll have a new audio track ready.
While you can also do this by dropping a sample into a black space, this method is handy if you want to insert that new track right after, or in between specific tracks.
5. Insert New MIDI Track: ⌘ + ⇧ + T (ctrl + shift + T)
Following the previous tip, whenever you need to add a new software instrument, you’ll need to insert a MIDI track instead of an audio one. MIDI tracks will allow you to open any VST instrument or MIDI effect. Pressing ⌘ + ⇧ + T (ctrl + shift + T) will do the trick.
6. Insert New MIDI Clip: ⌘ + ⇧ + M (ctrl + shift + M)
Once you have added a new MIDI track, you’ll need to create a MIDI clip in order to start drawing in your notes, chords, or patterns. The fastest way to do this is to select the desired length of your clip, and press ⌘ + ⇧ + M (ctrl + shift + M) to create a new clip.
7. Activate/Deactivate Clips: 0
You can use the number “0” to deactivate audio clips, MIDI notes, devices, and tracks. Just press on the element you want to deactivate or activate and press this simple command.
This is extremely useful when you’re trying out different beat patterns or melodies and want to check out how they would sound without specific notes or drum hits.
This prevents you from deleting the element if you change your mind.
It can also be a great way to AB your track with a certain processing chain or plugin on or off.
8. Select Loop: ⌘ + L (ctrl + L)
Whenever you’re working on a specific section of your track, you can easily select it and make it loop so you don’t have to worry about stopping and playing it back from the beginning every time.
Just select the section you’re working on and press ⌘ + L (ctrl + L) to activate the loop. To turn it off, just click on the loop switch on the upper right corner of Ableton.
Check out the following shortcut (#9) which goes over additional length variations to double or halve your loop.
9. Loop Lengths: ⌘ + ↓ or ⌘ + ↑ (ctrl + ↓ or ctrl + ↑)
When listening back to a part of your track, you can easily double or halve the length of your listening loop by pressing ⌘ + ↓ or ⌘ + ↑ (ctrl + ↓ or ctrl + ↑).
For for this to work, you first need to press on the loop length bar, with the looping mode on.
10. Toggle Draw Mode: B
This one comes in handy when working with automation, or drawing in MIDI notes or patterns. By pressing “B” you will enable the Draw Mode.
If you’re in a MIDI clip, you can draw in a note, or beat element by clicking on a box. On the other hand, if you’ve enabled an automation, you’ll be able to draw your curve or line freely.
11. Undo/Redo: ⌘ + Z (ctrl + Z) / ⇧ + ⌘ + Z (shift + ctrl + Z)
Have you ever deleted the perfect melody or recorded over a crucial part of your track by accident? Or even just messed anything up and want to go back?
Just press ⌘ + Z (ctrl + Z) to undo your last action and go back to how it was before. You can do it multiple times until you find yourself at the point you wanted.
You can also do the opposite if you change your mind and think that the new action improved the track. Just press ⇧ + ⌘ + Z (shift + ctrl + Z) to redo your action.
12. Fine Tune Parameters: ⌘ + drag (ctrl + drag)
To fine-tune your automation values, the position of clips in the arrangement view, or your notes on the grid, you can press ⌘ + drag your mouse to the exact value (ctrl + drag).
This will allow you to precisely set the correct value or place on the grid.
13. Searching: ⌘ + F (ctrl + F)
Looking for a specific sample or synth but can’t remember exactly in which folder you have it in? Just press ⌘ + F (ctrl + F) to activate the search feature and type in what you’re looking for. Ableton will search in all places for the file name you typed.
14. Show/Hide Browser: ⌘ + alt + B (ctrl + alt + B)
If you work on a smaller screen and need to use the space on it efficiently, you need to be able to hide the browser when working on your song.
Just press ⌘ + alt + B (ctrl + option + B) to show and hide the Browser accordingly.
15. Continue Play from Stop Point: ⇧ + spacebar (shift + space)
Ableton automatically plays back the track from the insert marker (red triangle on the track display) every time you pause and play back the track with spacebar.
One way to avoid this and resume playing from the point you stopped it to press ⇧ + spacebar (shift + space). This way, you won’t go back to the insert marker every time.
16. Insert Time/Delete Time: ⌘ + I (ctrl + I) / ⌘ + ⇧ + delete (ctrl + shift + delete)
This is one of the least known shortcuts among producers, but also one of the most effective and useful.
Let’s say your arrangement is looking great and you have lots of tracks set up, but suddenly you get a brilliant idea for a new section to add in the middle of your arrangement.
It would be a real pain to highlight everything, start moving things, and risk leaving out some parts or shifting something to the wrong place.
Luckily there’s an easy way around this. Just press ⌘ + I (ctrl + I) at the point where you want to insert a new section and a small window will appear where you can type in the length of the section you want to add.
17. Delete Automation Only: ⌘ + alt + x (ctrl + alt + delete)
When editing the automation of a clip, the envelopes automatically appear over the edit clip. However, if you try to delete the automation that way, you will delete the midi notes or files.
If you only want to delete the automation independently, you can select the section in which you want to delete it, and press ⌘ + alt + x (ctrl + alt + delete). This way you won’t delete any of the audio clips or elements within the MIDI clip.
18. Transposing Octaves: ⇧ + ↓ or ⇧ + ↑ (shift + ↓ or shift + ↑) when selecting notes
As you’re testing out different chord progressions, bass lines, and synth pads, you might need to test in which octave those will fit better. To do this quickly, just select the chord or note you want to transpose and press ⌘ + ↓ or ⌘ + ↑ (ctrl + ↓ or ctrl + ↑) to make them jump up or down an octave.
19. Renaming: ⌘ + R (ctrl + R)
Imagine if, after hours of work, you need to find that one synth sound amongst 87 tracks? If you have everything clearly grouped and named, it will be a quick and painless search.
That’s why naming and renaming a countless number of tracks and clips will keep your workflow and project organized.
And to do so, all you have to do is select the track or clip and press ⌘ + R (ctrl + R) to rename it. As you can see, this is one of the easiest shortcuts,and it’s also one of the most used shortcuts on the list.
20. Grid Shortcuts: ⌘ + 1, 2, 3, 4 (cmd + 1, 2, 3, 4)
This is super handy when you’re trying to place all your samples rhythmically on the grid. You might want your grid with more markers, sometimes with less, or arranged in triples. Knowing the following shortcuts can help you save valuable time when tweaking your grid.
- ⌘ (ctrl) + 1 - narrows the grid
- ⌘ (ctrl) + 2 - widens the grid
- ⌘ (ctrl) + 3 - enables triplets
- ⌘ (ctrl) + 4 - turns off the grid
21. Consolidate clips: ⌘ + J (ctrl + J)
Let’s say you’re working on different variations of a loop, whether it’s a bass loop, chords, or percussions. You’re finding yourself cutting it in various parts, adding new sections, samples, and elements to it.
Once you’re happy with the result, you can select that whole section and press ⌘ + J (ctrl + J) to consolidate into one single clip.
This will also automatically be warped at the time of your track, so if you change the tempo, it will sync accordingly. Remember that you can’t consolidate audio while the track is playing, but you can do it for MIDI clips.
22. Split Clips: ⌘ + E (ctrl + E)
This is another essential shortcut for all Ableton producers. When you want to cut out a specific part of a clip to either move to a different track, or adjust the gain, transpose, or warp more individually, this is the best and fastest way to do it.
You can either select the point where you want to split the clip on either side or where you want to split it by pressing ⌘ + E (ctrl + E).
23. Duplicate: ⌘ + D (ctrl + D)
You can pretty much duplicate anything by using ⌘ + D (ctrl + D). You can select a clip, sample, or even an audio or MIDI track.
Just make sure you selected the right section. So if you want to duplicate the kick every ¼ of a bar, don’t just select the kick, but rather the beginning and end of the ¼ section where the kick is present. This will make sure that it’s duplicated exactly in the same spot.
24. Group Tracks/Devices: ⌘ + G (ctrl + G)
When you want to apply the same processing to more than one track, it’s extremely useful to group those tracks together. To do this you need to select the tracks you want to group, and press ⌘ + G (ctrl + G).
This is very common when working with drums or percussions. Adding the same processing (compressors, EQ, FXs) to the group as a whole helps them sound more cohesive together.
Another way to use groups is to group instruments of the same kind together, so that you can navigate through your project faster and more easily. A few broad categories that you could use are drums, bass, keys, pads, synths, leads, vocals, and FX.
You can also group a chain of effects together to quickly activate and deactivate them on the fly, on top of being able to take advantage of macro knobs and collapsing the group if your clip view gets too cluttered.
25. MIDI Mapping Mode: ⌘ + M (ctrl + M)
If you work with MIDI controllers or need to prepare a live set, you’ll need to map them accordingly to the parameters you need.
To enable MIDI mapping just press ⌘ + M (ctrl + M), and select which parameters you want to map to your controller.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to speed up your workflow and save you valuable time in your production sessions. And the thing is, this will all add up in the long run!
Once you’ve completely memorized these and want to take your shortcutting skills one step further, you can reference the Ableton manual for even more shortcuts.
Did we leave out some of your favorite shortcuts that you use often?
Let us know in the comments below!
(2 Ableton Project Files & 300 Drum Samples + Loops)
The keyboard shortcuts in Ableton Live are as robust as they are useful, but there are a number of features that fall outside the scope of the application's default shortcuts. These are often rather specific to an individual's needs & generally speaking using a midi controller is a great way to speed up those areas of your workflow. If you're a laptop-based producer working in multiple locations, however, you won't always have one on you. In these cases, one may turn to Live's highly versatile key mapping features.
You can easily enter key mapping mode at any time by pressing cmd (ctrl) + k. The keys you choose are arbitrary, but you'll find certain ones will work better than others for certain purposes. Feel free to experiment!
keyboard overlap
Live already makes substantial use of your computer's keyboard, even outside the innumerable modifier-based shortcuts. I've made this infographic to help you avoid the keys that are feature-laden or unmappable:
Ableton Live Shortcut Keys Pdf
keyboard (blue) of course represents the built-in single octave keyboard, a wonderful asset for demoing sounds or quick composition on the go. You can override these if you wish when your needs require it, but I prefer to leave it alone.
system (red) represents unmappable keys that are used as modifiers & computer-related input.
Sep 02, 2018 Live 10 Ableton Suite 10.0.5 (2019 Updated) 64-bit OS X 10.11.6 or later Instructions: attached. Direct Download (2GB) Skip to content. VST; Ableton Live 10 (Mac) VST, Plugins, Audio, Samples, Free, Download. Ableton Live 10 (Mac). ABLETON LIVE 10 FREE DOWNLOAD – Mac OS X – SUITE 2018 – EASY INSTALLATION – DIRECT DOWNLOAD. Ableton vst plugins mac download. Using AU and VST plug-ins on Mac. Live Versions: All Operating System: Mac AU or VST? How to install VST or AU plug-ins on Mac; AU or VST? Live on Mac supports both the Audio Unit (AU) and VST2 and VST3 (10.1 and later) formats. Sep 25, 2015 Get the VST version for the Mac, it allows more inputs. Span also has K System metering. “X-ISM is a state of the art VST/AU plug-in which can interpret inter-sample peaks, allowing engineers to make informed.
ableton (yellow) are the keys that already have function in live without modifiers, including z & x (keyboard octave change), c & v (keyboard velocity change), & tab (switch between arrangement & session views).
Keep in mind that Live distinguishes between capitals, so if you want to map some of these default shortcuts without overriding their functions, you can. For example, b enters draw mode, but you could map B to turn the metronome on & still preserve the lowercase b for draw mode.
save to template
Ableton Live Keyboard Shortcuts Chart
There are many, many functions you can key map - device parameters, mutes, track selection, etc. These can be handy in a pinch on a per-track basis, but my focus today will be on ideas for key maps that are useful in all projects thateffectively expand Live's functionality & keyboard shortcuts. As such, you may consider saving your favorites into your default template - this way, every time you load up a new project you have all the keyboard shortcuts you find useful without having to map them each time.
You can check out my guide to reference tracks for an example of a useful default template you can build with key maps. Below, you will find 5 ideas to get you started.
locator create/delete/select
If you're like me, you use a lot of locators to keep your project marked & organized. The ability to jump around to the most important sections of your tracks is fantastic & key mapping can make this process even faster. I prefer < & > as my selectors because they look like their function, & ? for set/delete because of its proximity to those keys.
tap tempo
Tap tempo is in many ways the most organic way to enter tempo. Clicking on a mouse will do fine, but pressing a button feels a lot more solid & natural. It can be handy to have this feature ready & waiting when you load up a project so it's one I definitely recommend saving this to the default template.
metronome on/off
If you're doing any kind of live recording & want to sync to the grid, the metronome is indispensable. it has always bothered me there is no default keyboard shortcut for turning the click track on and off but fortunately key mapping makes this possible. Once again, adding this to your default template can pay dividends in convenience going forward.
automation arm
If you're modulating a lot of parameters, automation arm is a feature you'll be turning on an off as required throughout your project. It's a minor improvement to not have to move & click the mouse to do this, but over the course of many projects & automation arming it in this way can be a huge time-saver.
record
Creating key maps for existing keyboard shortcuts can feel redundant, but for certain shortcuts & uses it makes sense. If you're on a mac, Live's default record shortcut requires you to use two hands to reach the fn & f9 keys at the same time. There are plenty of situations where you'll want at least one hand on your instrument in preparation for playing & the more simple single key press proves useful. I use r as it's not taken up by any other function by default.
master volume snap
You'll often want to check your mix at low levels to hear what pokes through. Of course, you can turn down knobs on your interface or mixer, but mapping the master volume fader to snap to a specific lower level will be quicker & more consistent every time.
check mono compatibility
Here's an excellent bonus tip thanks to reddit user u/ProfessorStrangeman:
Ooo! I have one to add!! I've got a Utility on my master bus with the width set to 0% & the on/off mapped to the tilde '~' key so I can quickly mono reference while sound designing & mixing.
This is definitely one that's worth adding to your default template - it's easy to do but you don't want to have to set it up every time you load a new project. It is always a good idea to check for mono compatibility and having a quick switch at your fingertips can really speed this process up.
That's all I have for this article, but if you have a use for key mapping you can't go without, I'd love to hear about it on Facebook or Twitter.