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How do I use the Live Logic when it is in Ableton mode?
We recommend to turn Ableton Live's exclusive arm setting on for use with the Live
Logic. This allows the controller to manage arming automatically and makes for a
more seamless looping experience. More advanced users may want to leave this
setting off and manage arming using other MIDI controllers or Ableton Live itself.
To turn on exclusive arm:
1. Right click any track's arm button
2. Ensure Arm Exclusive is checked
The Live Logic will control the first 6 tracks of your Live set. If you're looping using
an audio input, make sure that the first 6 tracks are audio tracks and that the inputs
are correctly set to the audio input that you want to use. When using exclusive arm,
it's recommended to set the input monitoring mode of your looper tracks to Auto.
You can also add effects to each track so that your loops occupy distinct sonic
spaces. Keep in mind that when starting from scratch, you will be adding layers from
left to right, so your tracks should be ordered accordingly.
Note: The Live Logic will not control tracks that can't be armed, so group tracks
and tracks with no input will be skipped.
If you want to create free, unsynchronized loops, simply set the Global Quantization
setting of Live to None and begin looping.
Otherwise, set the Global Quantization setting to the desired sub division. You can
think of this setting as the minimum length of loops that you will be able to record.
A smaller value allows you to record shorter loops, but requires your timing when
starting and stopping lo ops to be more accurate.
A setting of 1 Bar is a sensible default.
When recording with quantization, it's helpful to also turn the metronome on so that
you always know when loops will be triggered.
When Live is stopped, press and hold any foot switch to start the session.
The Live Logic will display the current beat, indicating that it is ready to start looping.
If you would like to start looping as soon as the session starts, then a quick press of
any switch will start recording a loop on the corresponding track after the count-in
set in Live.
You can also start a session using a pre-recorded backing track. To do so, ensure
the clip containing your backing track is the last clip on one of the first 6 tracks, then
hold the corresponding foot switch to start playing.
In Ableton Live, a loop is represented using a clip. The basic flow of looping with the
Live Logic and Ableton Live is to press a foot switch once to begin recording a clip
on the corresponding track, press it again to stop recording and begin playing, and
then repeat this process for the next loop.
Pressing a foot switch will trigger a clip according to the Global Quantization setting.
For example, pressing the foot switch with a quantization setting of 1 Bar means
recording will start at the beginning of the next bar. When a clip goes from recording
to playing, the next track will be automatically armed so that you can hear your input
signal through the next effects chain before you begin your next loop.
Perfecting your timing: When looping using quantization, be careful to hit the
footswitch well before you want it to be triggered, otherwise you risk making your
loop longer than intended. This can be unintuitive if you're accustomed to analog
loopers that begin looping as soon as your press the switch, but it ensures all of
your loops are perfectly synced.
If you've made a mistake while recording or triggering your loops, you can do a
quick double-tap on the switch for the track that contains the bad loop and it will
be deleted.
In general, double-tapping a switch deletes a clip on the corresponding track
You can stop a loop by holding down the corresponding foot switch and restart it
by holding down the switch again.
Stopping a loop will arm the corresponding track so that you can hear your input
signal and prepare to replace it with a new loop. This allows your session to evolve
over time, and all the results will be saved in Ableton Live so that you can go back
later and arrange them into a song.
Holding down the switch for a track that isn't currently playing will always play the
last stopped clip or the last clip on the track if possible. Otherwise, it will arm the
track.
Using group tracks allows you to stop, start, and delete multiple loops at once,
as well as extend the number of available loop tracks by folding and unfolding the
group track.
Group tracks in Live by selecting the tracks you want to group, right-clicking, and
clicking Group Tracks.
When held, a switch controlling a group track will start or stop all the loop grouped
by the track. Note that this operation will apply to all grouped tracks, not just those
that are currently controllable by the Live Logic. A quick double press will fold or
unfold the group track. Tracks hidden by folding are not controlled by the looper, so
folding a group track allows you to control more than 6 tracks using the Live Logic.
Why isn’t Ableton mode working as expected?
If the controller isn't behaving as expected, try the following:
Ensure the Live Logic is connected to your computer with a working USB cable
and is set to Custom mode via the switch on the back of the controller.
Ensure the "Blackstar Live Logic" control surface is selected in Ableton
Live's MIDI Preferences and that MIDI inputs and outputs are set to "Live Logic
MIDI Controller".
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