- STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER HOW TO
- STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER MANUAL
- STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER FREE
In the section on the right you can reset, randomise or scramble velocity, chance, pitch and length as well as save and recall presets. The box on the left is where you set step size, step count and root note. In Chance mode ('%' icon) you drag bars vertically in a bar chart to set the probability that its step will trigger. In Velocity mode ('V' icon), you click-drag on a wedge to set its note's velocity. MOOR steps are denoted by triangular wedges. Screen 2: MOOR gives you independent Rate, Bend and Shift settings. Try using a couple of MOORs in parallel to generate complimentary sequences and then make slight adjustments to their Rate, Bend and Shift settings. K-Devices' MOOR ( /products/moor/) offers several unusual features: you can assign each step its own length, shuffle the note order ('Scramble'), change the sequence length in small increments ('Rate'), accelerate or decelerate the playback speed during a single pass ('Bend') and shift the whole sequence a fraction of a step. For sequencers that I use frequently, I save a Track Group with those two tracks but without the playback instrument. To do this, place the sequencer on one MIDI track and route that track's output to a second MIDI track, which can also host the playback instrument.
STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER MANUAL
When a step sequencer changes the sequence over time, you'll want to capture its output for manual editing. The MIDI Handling tab lets you use MIDI for real-time pitch and time shifts as well as to choose which sequences are playing.
Finally, Step Sequencer actually holds four sequences, and they can play together, which offers a lot of variation when you use different timing, length and direction for each sequence. In the Sequence Setup section at the far right, you can choose from five playback modes: Forward, Backward, Fore-Back, Rotate and Random. The buttons to the left of the Edit Mode selectors let you transpose the sequence in semitone steps and shift it right or left in time. View All mode (see Screen 1 above) displays horizontal bars showing each note's pitch and duration along with faint vertical bars showing its velocity and probability (the third vertical bar has no function). Buttons along the top select the editing mode. The loop brace at the top allows you to change the start and end points of the sequence and, thereby, its length. Step Sequencer sequences have a maximum of 16 steps. But two features set it apart: probability note triggering and multiple playback modes.
STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER FREE
Step Sequencer from the free Max For Live Pack 'M4L Big Three' ( is the closest in look and feel to editing a MIDI clip. This also works for step sequences captured from the sequencers discussed below.
STEP SEQUENCER ABLETON LIVE SEQUENCER HOW TO
In the third video, Dennis DeSantis shows how to use Live's Groove Pool to overcome the quantised feel associated with step-sequenced clips. You'll find more details in the April 2012 and August 2015 Live workshop columns, and Ableton offers three excellent videos in the tutorial 'Generate endless musical ideas with Live's MIDI devices' ( /blog). Next, adjust the enabled notes' pitches, velocities and lengths, or use Live's Random and Velocity MIDI effects to randomise the pitch and velocity of enabled notes and use the Scale effect to restrict or scale-correct their pitches. Duplicate the clip and enable some notes to establish the desired rhythm sequence. For a template, create a MIDI clip, select a Grid and Time Signature, create notes of the same pitch and velocity at each grid position and then disable all the notes (Ctrl+0). You can emulate many step-sequencing functions using MIDI clips by combining them with Live's assortment of MIDI Effects devices. Step Oneīefore we get into the MFL devices, let's start with a quick look at using a MIDI clip as a step sequencer. This month we'll explore four of my favourite melody-oriented sequencers in greater detail. Back in December we took a look at Melodic Steps from the Creative Extensions Live pack. Max For Live is the source for most of these devices in Live, and the selection is large and varied. In the world of DAWs the role of the step sequencer has largely fallen to manipulating MIDI clips, although step sequencer plug-ins are plentiful and provide features not easily replicated using MIDI clips.
Step sequencing is nearly as old as synthesis itself - early modular systems offered step-sequencer modules, and there were stand-alone hardware step sequencers as well. Max For Live has a rich assortment of step sequencers. The varied step probabilities result in different 16-step patterns. Screen 1: M4L Step Sequencer plays a nine-step eighth-note loop, Fore-Back.