Have you ever seen a seasoned producer or engineer rip apart a DAW without hardly touching the mouse? If you haven't it's something to be enjoyed before you pass this part of the universe on. However, instead of watching someone else, you could always just teach yourself. With a bit of good old fashioned brain memory fueled by the right study material you too can be a hot key champion. Below is a list of shortcuts pulled from a post over at the Ableton Forums authored by the user autogen. I thought they would be useful to all of you as there is also quite a bit of other tips aside from just the hotkeys. Check them out, I'm willing to bet they will make your workflow quite a bit more efficient once memorized.
Live shortcuts & alternative controls for certain functions:
(PC users substitute: ‘COMMAND’ with ‘ALT’ and ‘ALT’ with ‘CTRL’)
Duplicate = COMMAND+D.
Disable Grid = COMMAND+4 (or hold COMMAND whilst selecting note or note start/end).
Select Looped = COMMAND+SHIFT+L.
Resize/Move Loop braces = cursor keys or COMMAND+cursor keys.
In arrange view loop selected = COMMAND+L.
In arrange view consolidate multiple selected clips = COMMAND+J.
Playback from current position = SHIFT+SPACEBAR.
Trigger selected clip slot = RETURN.
Switch Clip/Track view = SHIFT+TAB.
Move clip from session to arrange & vica versa = Click and hold on clip then press TAB.
Stop focus moving when triggering clips (all clips) = In prefs > Record/Warp/Launch > Select on Launch > select 'off'.
Stop focus moving when triggering clips (selected clips) = CTRL+Click desired clip > select 'Select on Launch (Pref)'.
Preferences = COMMAND+,.
Adjust all track widths = hold ALT while adjusting.
Record Enable Track = F9.
Slower response while changing track levels = Hold COMMAND while moving fader.
Show hide plugin windows = COMMAND+ALT+P.
Stop browser preview = ESC.
In browser alternate navigation/previewing = left & right cursor keys.
Zoom to loop = Click on the word "length".
Zoom to position = Click on the word "position".
Zoom out 100% = Double click the bottom clip overview tab.
Zoom to specific portion = Use start and end of bottom clip overview like loop braces.
Alternate scrolling in MIDI clips = COMMAND+ALT+Drag.
Show/Hide overview in session view = COMMAND+ALT+O.
Show/Hide Info View = SHIFT+/.
Mute/Unmute tracks 1-8 = F1-F8.
Time compress/expand MIDI notes = right-click with all notes selected then select 'stretch notes'.
Insert silence in arrange view/scene in session view = COMMAND+I.
Drag multiple files to individual tracks = Hold COMMAND whilst dragging files in.
Unfold all arrange tracks = ALT+Click a track arrow icon.
Alternative velocity control in MIDI editor = COMMAND+Click note+drag.
Duplicate note in MIDI editor = ALT+Click note+drag.
Render tracks as individual files = In render dialog change "Master" to "All Tracks".
Assign twice as many qwerty keys to live = SHIFT.
Restrict automation point movement to vertical axis = COMMAND+Drag.
Scroll drum racks 1 row at a time = COMMAND+Drag.
View multiple plugin windows = In prefs > Look/Feel > Auto-Hide Plugin Windows > select 'off'.
Edit info text for tracks and devices to make notes = CTRL+Click > select 'Edit Info Text'.
Create note with draw mode off = Double Click.
Remove stop buttons to avoid clips stopping when changing scenes = Select clip slot > COMMAND+E (or enable 'Legato' launch mode).
General Tips:
*Hidden buttons visible when in midi or key assign mode =
scene up/down (in master track).
per track play button - launches selected clip in track.
*Entering bpm in the scene launch buttons title sets bpm when launched.
*Click the headphone icon in midi editor to enable vertical keyboard to preview related sound.
*While MIDI synced to external machine hosting Live ALT+SPACEBAR on the sync slave causes it to sync to the masters current song position. (remedy for sync drifting without stopping and starting).
*Remember to experiment with the default live rack presets especially the DJ/Performance ones.
*GIGA libraries can be exported to Sampler then deleted (if required), as all samples are copied to the library.
*Mac users check out a free app called Soundsource. It adds an audio prefs selector to the menu-bar.
*OSX Function keys = ALT+F1/F2 opens Display Prefs, ALT+F3/F4/F5 opens Sound Prefs, ALT+F8/F9/F10 opens Keyboard & Mouse Prefs.
*When a new version of Live is released. Open Info Window (SHIFT+/) and hover any new parameters, fields or preferences.
*Multiple tracks can be selected and frozen simultaneously.
*Drag and drop tracks directly from iTunes for DJing.
*Dragging a sample onto a plugin instrument will replace the instrument with an instance of Simpler containing that sample.
Hopefully you all learned at least a few new things to speed up your work within Live. Until next time... Thanks for reading & happy geeking!
All the best,
Nick
Any arrow-like commands for switching the current tracks device prese?
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