Automation and Editing Envelopes — Ableton Reference Manual Vers... https://www.ableton.

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19. Automation and Editing

Envelopes
Often, when working with Live’s mixer and devices, you will want the controls’ movements to
become part of the music. The movement of a control across the song timeline or Session clip is
called automation; a control whose value changes in the course of this timeline is automated.
Practically all mixer and device controls in Live can be automated, including the song tempo.

19.1 Recording Automation in Arrangement View

Automation can be recorded to the Arrangement View in two ways:

1. by manually changing parameters while recording new material directly into the
Arrangement.
2. by recording a Session View performance into the Arrangement (see 7.5), if the Session
clips contain automation.

During Session-to-Arrangement recording, automation in Session clips is always recorded to

the Arrangement, as are any manual changes to parameters in tracks that are being recorded
from the Session.

When recording new material directly to the Arrangement, the Automation Arm button
determines whether or not manual parameter changes will be recorded.

The Automation Arm Button.

When Automation Arm is on, all changes of a control that occur while the Control Bar’s
Arrangement Record button is on become Arrangement automation. Try recording automation
for a control; for instance a mixer volume slider. After recording, play back what you have just
recorded to see and hear the effect of the control movement. You will notice that a little LED
has appeared in the slider thumb to indicate that the control is now automated. Try recording
automation for track panning and the Track Activator switch as well; their automation LEDs
appear in their upper left corners.

Volume, Pan and the Track Activator Switch Have Been Automated.

19.2 Recording Automation in Session View

Automation can also be recorded to Session View clips. Here is how it works:

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The Session Automation Recording Preference.

This allows you to, for example, overdub Session automation into an existing MIDI clip without
also recording notes into the clip.

Any automation in Session View becomes track-based automation when clips are recorded or
copied into Arrangement View.

19.2.1 Session Automation Recording Modes

The automation recording behavior differs depending on how you adjust parameters while
recording. When using the mouse, recording stops immediately when you let go of the mouse
button. This is referred to in some editing applications as “touch” behavior. When adjusting
parameters via knobs or faders on MIDI controllers, recording will continue as long as you
adjust the controller. When you let go, recording will continue until the end of the clip’s loop
and then will “punch out” automatically. This is known as “latch” behavior in some
applications.

19.3 Deleting Automation

To delete all automation data, right-click (PC) / CTRL - click (Mac) on an automated
control to open its context menu and select Delete Automation, or press the CTRL -
Backspace (PC) / CMD - Backspace (Mac) shortcut keys. The automation LED disappears,

and the control’s value stays constant across the entire Arrangement timeline and in any
Session View clips. You can also delete selected portions of automation by editing breakpoint
envelopes (see 19.5).

19.4 Overriding Automation

In practice, you will often want to try out new control moves without overwriting existing
automation data in the Arrangement. Well, nothing is forever in the world of infinite Undo (see
10.4.1), but it’s easy to disable a control’s automation temporarily to avoid overwriting existing

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In the Arrangement View and in Session View clips, automation can be viewed and edited as
breakpoint envelopes.

Here is how automation editing works in the Arrangement:

1. To show automation envelopes, enable Automation Mode by clicking the toggle

button above the track headers, or using the A shortcut to the View menu item. Note that

you can disable Automation Mode by pressing the toggle button or A shortcut

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3. The toggle appears when an envelope is moved into its own automation lane. This
toggle lets you show or hide all additional automation lanes.

Clicking right-click (PC) / CTRL - click (Mac) on an automation lane header opens a
context menu with additional options for viewing envelopes. This context menu also contains
commands to quickly clear all automation envelopes for the track or any of its devices.

Automation editing for Session View clips is covered in detail in the Clip Envelopes chapter
(see Chapter 20).

19.5.1 Drawing Envelopes

With Draw Mode enabled, you can click and drag to “draw“ an envelope curve.

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Ableton Reference Manual

Version 10

1. Welcome to Live

2. First Steps

3. Authorizing Live

4. Live Concepts

5. Managing Files and Sets

6. Arrangement View

7. Session View

8. Clip View

9. Audio Clips, Tempo, and Warping

10. Editing MIDI Notes and Velocities

11. Converting Audio to MIDI

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11. Converting Audio to MIDI

12. Using Grooves

13. Launching Clips

14. Routing and I/O

15. Mixing

16. Recording New Clips

17. Working with Instruments and Effects

18. Instrument, Drum and Effect Racks

19. Automation and Editing Envelopes

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