WIXLIB

CHAPTER 3. UNLOCKING LIVE10Please note that products such as Operator and Sampler are sold separately from Live butare unlocked using the same procedure described here. You can always enter any new serialnumbers and unlock additional products in the Authorizations/Trial tab in the Preferenceswindow. Live's Preferences are available via the Options menu (or the Live menu in Mac OSX).The serial number identi es your ownership of Live. Because your serial number is a valuablegood, you should keep it in a safe place and out of reach of unauthorized hands. Pleasebe aware that sharing your serial number will render it unusable. The only way for Abletontechnical support to help you get back your serial number if you lose it is via your registrationdata. Therefore, please register your product1 , as otherwise you might lose your property!3.2Step 2: Unlocking LiveThe second step of authorizing Live is called unlocking. Unlocking means associating yourserial number with a speci c computer. Please be aware that the standard Live license grantsyou the right to use Live on only one computer at a time. You can, however, unlock Livewith your serial number more than once under the legal and technical conditions describedlater.3.2.1The Unlock KeyFor unlocking, you require an unlock key that can only be created by the Ableton server.Unlocking therefore requires access to the Internet. The computer from which you connectto the Internet does not have to be the same computer for which you wish to unlock Live,but it does make things easier.3.2.2The Challenge CodeThe Ableton server creates the unlock key from your serial number and a so-called challengecode. The challenge code is a ngerprint that Live takes of your computer's components.1 http://www.ableton.com/register

CHAPTER 3. UNLOCKING LIVE11For details, please see the corresponding section.3.2.3Unlocking OnlineIf the computer you want to unlock Live for is connected to the Internet, the only thing youneed to do is press the Unlock Online button. Live will then create a connection to theAbleton server, send your serial number and challenge code, and receive the unlock keyfrom the server. No information other than this is exchanged between your computer andthe Ableton server.3.2.4Unlocking Of ineUnlocking Live Of ine.If the computer you want to unlock Live for is not connected to the Internet, you can useany other computer to access the Ableton server's web interface2 . This is a website withelds for entering your serial number and the challenge code, which you can copy fromLive's Unlock dialog.If you have entered your serial number and challenge code correctly, another website willappear to provide you with the unlock key. Follow the weblink to download the unlock keyas a le. Transfer the le to the target computer via some form of storage media, such as aUSB drive or CD-ROM. Then, press the Unlock dialog's Load Unlock Key button to load theunlock key le.2 http://www.ableton.com/unlock

CHAPTER 3. UNLOCKING LIVE3.33.3.112Copy Protection FAQsCan I Use Live or Other Ableton Products Without a Serial Number?If you do not (yet) own Live or its add-on products, you can still try them out, but saving andexporting will be disabled.If trying Live or another product raises your interest in purchasing it, please visit the Abletonwebshop3 . This site contains information about Ableton's distributor and dealer network. Italso offers you the opportunity to buy Ableton products online.3.3.2What if I Change My Computer's Components?If the challenge code of your computer changes for some reason, Live will indeed askyou to unlock the software another time. The challenge code does not change, however,when computer peripherals are replaced (audio or MIDI hardware, printers, modems). Thechallenge code may change if the motherboard, processor or network card is replaced. Onsome computers, reformatting a hard drive also changes the challenge code.3.3.3Can I Unlock Live More than Once?The standard Live license allows you to use Live on only one computer at a time. However,if you have registered your product4 , the Ableton server will provide you with two unlockkeys in good faith that you will use Live on only one machine at a time. Just proceed asdescribed in the corresponding section.You can therefore run Live on both a studio desktop computer and a tour laptop, but not atthe same time.Should the Ableton server reject your demand for another unlock key, please contact Ableton's technical support.3 http://www.ableton.com/shop4 http://www.ableton.com/register

CHAPTER 3. UNLOCKING LIVE13They can be reached by: E-mail5 ; Telephone: 49 (0)30 - 288 763 151 (available Monday to Friday 11 to 15hrs CET); Fax: 49 (0)30 - 288 763 11.To speed up the process, please: Register your copy of Live6 ; Include a brief explanation of the circumstances.To use Live on more than one computer at a time, you require a secondary license or a sitelicense. Ableton offers these licenses at special rates. Please contact the sales team7 fordetails.3.3.4Can I Play my Set from a Computer That Is Not Unlocked?Even if Live is not unlocked, you can still load and perform a Live Set with no time limitation.You cannot, however, save or export your work. When you go on tour, consider takingalong your Live program CD and a CD with the last state of your Live Set(s). In case of anemergency, you can install and run Live on any computer available and play your backupLive Set(s).3.3.5What Do I Do About Problems or Questions Regarding Copy Protection?Please contact technical support8 . They are happy to help!5 support@ableton.com6 http://www.ableton.com/register7 orders@ableton.com8 support@ableton.com

14Chapter 4Live ConceptsThis chapter introduces the essential concepts of Live. We advise you to read this chapterearly in your Live career, as a solid understanding of the program's basic principles will helpyou fully exploit Live's potential for your music-making.4.1Live SetsThe type of document that you create and work on in Live is called a Live Set. Live Setsreside in a Live Project a folder that collects related materials and can be opened eitherthrough the File menu's Open command or via the built-in File Browsers.A Live Set in the FileBrowser.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS15Selecting the Library bookmark in Live's File Browser will take you to the Live Library ofcreative tools. There are a number of Demo Sets here, and double-clicking a Live Set'sname in the Browser will open that Live Set.4.2Arrangement and SessionThe basic musical building blocks of Live are called clips. A clip is a piece of musical material:a melody, a drum pattern, a bassline or a complete song. Live allows you to record and alterclips, and to create larger musical structures from them: songs, scores, remixes, DJ sets orstage shows.A Live Set consists of two environments that can hold clips: The Arrangement is a layout ofclips along a musical timeline; the Session is a real-time-oriented launching base for clips.Every Session clip has its own play button that allows launching the clip at any time and inany order. Each clip's behavior upon launch can be precisely speci ed through a number ofsettings.Clips in the Session View(Left) and in theArrangement View(Right).The Arrangement is accessed via the Arrangement View and the Session via the SessionView; you can toggle between the two views using the computer's Tab key or their respectiveselectors. Because the two views have distinct applications, they each hold individualcollections of clips. However, it is important to understand that ipping the views simplychanges the appearance of the Live Set and does not switch modes, alter what you hear orchange what is stored.The Arrangement andSession View Selectors.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS16The Arrangement View and the Session View interact in useful (though potentially confusing)ways. One can, for instance, improvise with Session clips and record a log of the improvisation into the Arrangement for further re nement. This works because Arrangement andSession are connected via tracks.4.3TracksTracks host clips and also manage the ow of signals, as well as the creation of new clipsthrough recording, sound synthesis, effects processing and mixing.A Track in theArrangement View.The Session and Arrangement share the same set of tracks. In the Session View, the tracksare laid out vertically from left to right, while in the Arrangement View they are horizontalfrom top to bottom. A simple rule governs the cohabitation of clips in a track:A track can only play one clip at a time.Therefore, one usually puts clips that should play alternatively in the same Session Viewcolumn, and spreads out clips that should play together across tracks in rows, or what wecall scenes.A Scene in the SessionView.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS17The exclusivity of clips in a track also implies that, at any on time, a track will either play aSession clip or an Arrangement clip, but never both. So, who wins? When a Session clipis launched, the respective track stops whatever it is doing to play that clip. In particular, ifthe track was playing an Arrangement clip, it will stop it in favor of the Session clip evenas the other tracks continue to play what is in the Arrangement. The track will not resumeArrangement playback until explicitly told to do so.The Back toArrangement Button.This is what the Back to Arrangement button, found in the Control Bar at the top of theLive screen, is for. This button lights up to indicate that one or more tracks are currently notplaying the Arrangement, but are playing a clip from the Session instead.We can click this button to make all tracks go back to the Arrangement. Or, if we like whatwe hear, we can capture the current state into the Arrangement by activating the Recordbutton. Disengaging Record Mode or stopping Live using the Stop button leaves us withan altered Arrangement.4.4Audio and MIDIClips represent recorded signals. Live deals with two types of signals: audio and MIDI. In thedigital world, an audio signal is a series of numbers that approximates a continuous signalas generated by a microphone or delivered to a loudspeaker. A MIDI signal is a sequenceof commands, such as now play a C4 at mezzo piano. MIDI is a symbolic representationof musical material, one that is closer to a written score than to an audio recording. MIDIsignals are generated by input devices such as MIDI or USB keyboards1 .It takes an instrument to convert MIDI signals into audio signals that can actually be heard.Some instruments, such as Live's Simpler, are for chromatic playing of one sound via thekeyboard. Other instruments, such as Live's Impulse, have a different percussion soundassigned to each keyboard key.1 For an introduction to digital audio and MIDI, please see http://img.uoregon.edu/emi/emi.php andhttp://www.midi.org/

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS18Audio signals are recorded and played back using audio tracks, and MIDI signals arerecorded and played back using MIDI tracks. The two track types have their own corresponding clip types. Audio clips cannot live on MIDI tracks and vice versa.Information about inserting, reordering and deleting audio and MIDI tracks is found here.4.5Audio Clips and SamplesAn audio clip contains a reference to a sample (also known as a sound le or audio le )or a compressed sample (such as an MP3 le). The clip tells Live where on the computer'sdrives to nd the sample, what part of the sample to play and how to play it.When a sample is dragged in from one of Live's built-in File Browsers, Live automaticallycreates a clip to play that sample. Prior to dragging in a sample, one can audition orpreview it directly in the Browser; the switch in the Browser with the headphone iconactivates previewing.Samples Are Dragged infrom Live's File Browsers.Live offers many options for playing samples in exciting new ways, allowing you to create anabundance of new sounds without actually changing the original sample all the changesare computed in real time, while the sample is played. The respective settings are made inthe Clip View, which appears on screen when a clip is double-clicked.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS19An Audio Clip'sProperties as Displayedin the Clip View.Many powerful manipulations arise from Live's warping capabilities. Warping means changing the speed of sample playback independently from the pitch so as to match the songtempo. The tempo can be adjusted on the y in the Control Bar's Tempo eld.The Control Bar's TempoField.The most elementary use of this technique, and one that usually requires no manual setup,is synchronizing sample loops to the chosen tempo. Live's Auto-Warp algorithm actuallymakes it easy to line up any sample with the song tempo, such as a recording of a drunkenjazz band's performance. It is also possible to radically change the sonic signature of asound using extreme warp settings.4.6MIDI Clips and MIDI FilesA MIDI clip contains musical material in the form of MIDI notes and controller envelopes.When MIDI is imported from a MIDI le, the data gets incorporated into the Live Set, andthe original le is not referenced thereafter. In the Live File Browsers, a MIDI le appearsas a folder that can be opened to reveal its individual component tracks, which can beselectively dragged into the Live Set.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS20MIDI Files Are Draggedin from Live's FileBrowsers.As you'd expect, a MIDI clip's contents can be accessed and edited via the Clip View, forinstance to change a melody or paint a drum pattern.A MIDI Clip's Propertiesas Displayed in the ClipView.4.7Devices and the MixerA track can have not only clips but also a chain of devices for processing signals. Doubleclicking a track's title bar brings up the Track View, which shows the track's device chain.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS21The Track ViewDisplaying a MIDI Track'sDevice Chain.Live's built-in audio effects, MIDI effects and instruments are available from the DeviceBrowser and can be added to tracks by dragging them from there into the Track View, orinto a Session or Arrangement track.Live's Built-in DevicesAre Available from theDevice Browser.You can also use plug-in devices in Live. VST and Audio Units (Mac OS X only) Plug-ins areavailable from the Plug-In Device Browser.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS22Plug-In Devices AreAvailable from thePlug-In Device Browser.Consider an audio clip playing in an audio track. The audio signal from the clip reachesthe leftmost device in the chain. This device processes (changes) the signal and feeds theresult into the next device, and so on. The number of devices per track is theoreticallyunlimited, (although there is a limit of eight instruments and twelve audio effects within asingle set when using Live LE). In practice, the computer's processor speed also imposes alimit on the number of devices you can use at the same time, a topic that deserves separatediscussion. Note that the signal connections between audio devices are always stereo, butthe software's inputs and outputs can be con gured to be mono in the Audio Preferences.When the signal has passed through the device chain, it ends up in Live's mixer. As theSession and Arrangement share the same set of tracks, they also share the mixer. The mixercan be shown in both views for convenience. To optimize the screen layout, the individualmixer sections can be shown or hidden using the View menu's entries.The Live Mixer in theArrangement View (Left)and Session View (Right).

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS23The mixer has controls for volume, pan position and sends, which adjust the contributioneach track makes to the input of any return tracks. Return tracks only host effects, and notclips. Via their sends, all tracks can feed a part of their signal into a return track and shareits effects.The mixer also includes a crossfader, which can create smooth transitions between clipsplaying on different tracks. Live's crossfader works like a typical DJ mixer crossfader, exceptthat it allows crossfading not only two but any number of tracks including the returns.Live's Crossfader.Devices that receive and deliver audio signals are called audio effects. Audio effects are theonly type of device that t in an audio track or a return track. However, two more types ofdevices are available for use in MIDI tracks: MIDI effects and instruments.Consider a MIDI track playing a clip. The MIDI signal from the clip is fed into the track's devicechain. There, it is rst processed by any number of MIDI effects. A MIDI effect receivesand delivers MIDI signals. One example is the Scale effect, which maps the incomingnotes onto a user-de ned musical scale. The last MIDI effect in the chain is followed by aninstrument. Instruments, for instance Live's Simpler and Impulse, receive MIDI and deliveraudio. Following the instrument, the signal can be additionally processed by audio effectsas in an audio track.A MIDI Effect, anInstrument and an AudioEffect in a MIDI Track.If a MIDI track has no instrument (and no audio effects), then the track's output is a plainMIDI signal, which has to be sent somewhere else to be converted into audio. In this case,

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS24the track's mix and Send controls disappear from the mixer.The Mixer for a MIDITrack without anInstrument.4.8Presets and RacksEvery Live device can store and retrieve particular sets of parameter values as presets. Aspresets are stored independently from Live Sets, new presets become part of a library thatany project can draw from.Live's Instrument, Drum and Effect Racks allow saving combinations of devices and theirsettings as a single preset. This feature allows for the creation of powerful multi-devicecreations and effectively adds all the capabilities of Live's MIDI and audio effects to thebuilt-in instruments.4.9RoutingAs we have seen, all tracks deliver signals, either audio or MIDI. Where do these signalsgo? This is set up in the mixer's In/Out section, which offers, for every track, choosers toselect a signal source and destination. The In/Out section, accessible through the Viewmenu's In/Out option, is Live's patchbay. Its routing options enable valuable creative andtechnical methods such as resampling, submixing, layering of synths, complex effects setupsand more.

CHAPTER 4. LIVE CONCEPTS25Track Routing Is Set upUsing the In/Out Sectionin the Arrangement (Left)or Session View (Right).Signals from the tracks can be sent to the outside world via the computer's audio and MIDIinterfaces or to other tracks or devices within Live.Likewise, a track can be set up to receive an input signal to be played through the track'sdevices. Again, tracks can receive their input from the outside or from another track ordevice in Live. The Monitor controls regulate the conditions under which the input signal isheard through the track.4.10Recording New ClipsAudio tracks and MIDI tracks can record their input signal and thereby create new clips.Recording is enabled on a track by pressing its Arm button (Hold down the Ctrl(PC) /(Mac) modi er to arm several tracks at once). If the Exclus

download the full Ableton Reference Manual from the Ableton website1. The full-version reference manual also contains information about all of Ableton’s add-on instruments. When you install Live and run it for the rst time, you will be presented with a dialog asking for your Live serial number.