# Comprehensive Ableton Course Outline ## 1. Views - Views - Arrangement View - Arrangement Mixer Basics - Transport Bar - Session View - Track mixer - Detail View - Clip View - Device View - Info View - Browser View - The View - Keyboard Shortcuts - Key Map Mode - Midi Map Mode - Arrangement Grid - Loop - Shortcuts - Favorites - Preferences - Look and Feel - Zoom - Color Scheme ## 2. Tracks and Clips - Types of Tracks - Audio Basics - Creating an audio track - Adding clips to tracks - Starting and Stopping Transport - Setting Volumes - Transforming Audio Clips - Moving Clips - Chopping clips - Lengthening and shortening - Waveforms - Midi Basics - A Midi Track - Midi Clips - Midi data - Instrument Device - Creating a midi clip - Creating midi notes - Headphones ON - Duplicate midi clip - Fold button (clip view) - Multiply and divide by two - Loop Mode - Clip Length - Velocity - Audio Clips - Splicing Audio Clips - Transpose and Detune - Clip gain - Warping - Seg BPM and Transport BPM - A Tale of Two Clocks - Leader Mode in Ableton (Tempo Mapping) - Re-Pitch Mode - Transients - Beats Mode - Tones Mode - Texture Mode - Complex and Complex Pro - Using warp markers - Warping a song - Aliased vs Unaliased Clips - The length of a clip - Clip length that is independent from its length in the arrangement ## 3. Music Theory - Overview of Music Theory - Pitch (High vs Low) - The Piano - One Octave of Notes - Piano on its side - Midi piano roll - Keys and Scales - Discovering the key of your chord progression - Find a scale that matches with that key - CHALLENGE - Scales v2 - Scales and Emotion - Some scales to construct - Have Ableton emphasize a scake - Scales - Constructing a scale - Modes - Stable Notes - Time - Measures and Bars - Beat Subdivision - Abeton Beat Scheme - Grid Resolution - Tempo - Metronome - Time signature - Chords - Triads - Midi Chords and Chord Progressions - Hook Theory Chord Progressions - Melody - Melody and Contour - Half Steps and Whole Steps - Major, Minor, Perfect (and tritone) Intervals - Songs for Interval Recognition - Form - Massification - Adele's Rolling in the Deep ## 4. Orchestration - Instrumentation Overview - Bass - Choral Instruments - Rhythmic Chordal Istrument - Textural Chordal Instrument - Drums - Midi Drum Patterns - Melodic Instrument - Sound Effects - Reverse Cymbals - Sweeps and Risers ## 5. Editing and Recording - Recording Apps - iPhone - Android - Recording onto Tracks - Record Enabling (Arming) tracks - Preferences - Preferences - Audio - Preferences - Record & Warp & Launch - Count-in - Midi Tracks - Computer Midi Keyboard - Overdub (midi) - Audio Tracks - Choosing the Input Source - External Device - Chosing the Input Channel(s) - Stereo vs Mono Input - Built-in system audio example - 32-input audio interface example - Resampling - Use Cases - Freezing and Flattening - Monitoring - Monitoring Controls - In - Off - Auto - Monitoring introduces latency within Ableton - Punch-in, Punch-out, Pre-Roll - Quantization - Sloppy Timing - Quantize Settings - Reconciling Arrangement and Session View - Important Buttons - Automation - What it looks like - Simple Volume automation - Setting Automation - Breakpoint Creation Method - Automation Handle Dragging Method - Shape - Automating Other Devices - Automated Parameters - Re-enabe Automation - Indicator for when automation is disengaged - Automating Devices on and off - Automating Dry, Wet - Automation - Final Thoughts - Recording automation live - Recording System Audio - VB Cable - Windows and Mac - Soundflower - Mac - Asio4All - Windows - Download Youtube Audio - Groove - Base - Quantize - Timing - Random - Velocity - Extracting Grooves from Clips - Applying the Groove - Committing the Groove - Clip length that is independent from its length in the arrangement ## 6. Playback and Export - Audio, Midi Setup - Audio Preferences - Audio Output - Asio4All... - Audio Input - Input,Output Config - Recording Preferences - Count-in - Midi Controllers - Midi Keyboard - Push vs Keyboard - Audio Interfaces - Cue Audition Button - Volume - Exporting Audio - Choosing correct range for Export - Collect all and Save - Ableton Project File Structure - Saving ## 7. Instrument Devices - Racks - Instrument Racks - Controls - Chan - Device - Drum Rack - Show,Hide Devices - Assigning multiple chains to one cell - Changing pitch of samples - Octaves - Envelope (ADSR) - Warp - Applying effects to specific cells of the drum rack - Sends and Returns - Choke Groups - Simpler - 3 Modes - Classic - One-Shot - Slice - Envelope (ADSR) - Amplitude Envelope - Filter Envelope - Pitch Envelope - Loop Setting is Correct - LFO - Rate - Shape - Warp - Gate - Trigger - Simpler to Drum Track - Analog - Oscillator Section - Oscillator Type - Pulse width modulation - Sub & Sync - Routing - Wavetable ## 9. Audio Effects - Audio Effects - EQ Eight - Bands of an EQ - Individaul bands of an EQ - Frequency (filter cutoff) - Gain - Q - Filter Types - Unfiltered - Low Pass Filter - High Pass Filter - Bell Filter - Notch Filter - Low shelf - High shelf - Delay - Delay times - Time Mode - Sync Mode - Stereo Link - Delay Modes - Repitch - Fade - Jump - Filter - Feedback - Spin (Chorus) - Later Reflections - Diffusion Filtering - Dry & Wet - Chorus - Reverb - Decay Time - Reflections - Dry & Wet controls - Ableton's Reverb Device - Reverse Reverb - Predelay - Input Filtering - A modulating delay time - Size - 2nd delay - Early Reflections - Feedback - Compression - Downards Compression - Upwards Compression - Threshold - Ratio - Attack Times - Fast Attack Times - Slow Attack Times - Release Times - Knee - Peak vs RMS - Sidechain Compression - Sidechain Mode - Reacting to Input - Ableton set - Headroom and Makeup Gain - Saturator - Drive and Output - Base Frequency - Second filter - Analog vs Digital Distortion - Gate - Turning On & Off the Gate - Envelope - Lookahead - Sidechain gate - Causing Gate to be triggered by *seemingly* silent signals - Gated Reverb - Flipped Gate Effects - Resources - Beat Repeat - Interval - Grid - Variation - Audio Effect Rack - Chain Selector Experimentation ## 10. Midi Effects - Midi Effects - Scale - Chromatic Scale - In D - 7 note scales - Transpose - Arpeggiator - Style - Rate - Gate - Repeats ## 11. Vocoder - Vocoder Template ## 12. Routing - Basic Routing - Input - Output - Track Group Output - Return Tracks - Defauly return tracks - Sends - Dry & Wet - Can't find sends or returns? - Serial vs Parallel ## 13. Novation Launchkey - Overview - SHIFT function - Manual - Master Volume - Individual Track Volumes - Arpeggiator ## 14. My Favorite Shortcuts - Loop ## 15. Session View - Classic Use - Quantization Menu - Follow Actions - Linked vs Unlinked - Defining two follow actions