Make sure you save the WHOLE idea…
Let me set the scene.
You have just spent 90 minutes getting a sound for your next performance dialed in just right.
You created it using Ableton’s wavetable, delay, auto-filter, Dynamic tube, and glue compressor.
The glorious moment arrives for you to save your newly created sound into your user library. You click the save as preset button, celebrate because you can now use your awesome patch in every live set, open a new live set and drag in the saved preset.
Slow tears begin to roll down your face because all that was saved with the patch, with NONE OF YOUR EFFECTS
90 minutes lost…
That you can never get back….
Sound familiar?
Admittedly, It’s happen to me before.
So, whats’ the remedy?
Instrument Grouping
All of the wasted time could have been saved simply by grouping the wavetable device along with all your presets into an instrument rack.
Seems counter-intuitive?
There is some wisdom here.
Think about Ableton as a whole program.
There is no single device that does everything, but rather Ableton has made a very intentional choice to make devices that only perform ONE FUNCTION. In this way, Ableton is a lot like building blocks. We must stack and layer effects and sounds to get our desired outcome.
Bearing all that in mind, instrument racks are the container that allow stacking and layering to take place. In addition to stacking and layering, it also offering us Macro controls for easy control of audio effects that may be way off on a side of your screen that is hard to get to. It eliminates visual clutter, and allows your to SAVE YOUR IDEAS.
How To Save Instrument Racks
Step 1
Group your instruments and effects by:
Selecting all devices by clicking the farest left device, scrolling to the final device, holding shift and clicking the final device.
Right-mouse-clicking on any device that is selected, and choosing “group”
Step 2
Set up your instrument rack the way you would like it to appear when you re-open it. Make sure that:
- Macros are placed the way you want to have them next time you use this sound.
- Instruments are folded and hidden depending upon what you want to see
If you need help mapping macros, you can check out how to do that, and some of my favorite macro controls here.
>>>>>>>How to Map Macros<<<<<<<
Step 3
Rename your instrument rack
Name your instrument rack something that you will understand in 10 years.
If I am sound designing for a specific song my naming formula is.
SongName_PatchType_MMDDYY
For example: NoOtherName_ShinyPad_12-25-2019
If I am sound designing for fun my naming formula is
SoundType_TextureType
For Example: Piano_DottedEighthDelay_Verbed
Step 4
Organize your preset folder
I cant stress the importance of this enough.
An organized user libary will help you know and make use of the work you have already done, which will save you TONS of time later. Do yourself the favor and stay organized now, so that later you can just pull your favorite presets and get to work.
By default, your instrument rack will save to the instrument rack folder. Go ahead and create some folders within the instrument rack folder to help you stay organized. You can do that quickly by right-mouse-clicking and
Here is a picture of my user library to give you some inspiration for ways to name your folders
What To Do Now?
It seems likely that the next step will be different for different groups of readers.
- Maybe now is the time to practice saving your sounds. If so, go get on that!
- For others of you, now may be a time to go through your user library and organize it a little better so you are aware of what types of sounds and patches you have already created
Either Way
Make sure you join the Mainstage To Ableton Community. Every Tuesday and Saturday I release helpful content that is going to help take your knowledge of Ableton to the next level. I don’t want you to miss a single thing, so make sure you are plugged in.
If you want to be fully connected, make sure you join the facebook group as well. It’s a great place to ask questions and get answers.
Until next time, happy creating.
Brett