Additionally, Session View makes it easy to switch between different MIDI instruments and audio processing chains on the fly - hugely valuable in a live performance situation. Crucially, the start of the playback can be quantized to musical time values as they relate to the master tempo and master time signature. Once you have cells prepared they can be played back spontaneously. When these cells are empty, they can be recorded into on the fly. You can think of the Session View as a flexible place for recording, storing and organizing all of your individual musical building blocks (cells). They can take the form of MIDI or audio and are organized into vertical tracks (as opposed to the more usual horizontal tracks found in most other DAWs). These cells in the Session View act as containers for different musical ideas. You could be forgiven if you were to confuse Session View with a spreadsheet - both manifest themselves as a collection of individual cells organized into a rectangular grid. But I’m going to start with a big generalization: it opens up a plethora of new possibilities in deploying the computer as a musical instrument, both in performing and improvising contexts. It’s tricky to describe what Session View can do, because it can do so many things. Session View was the first killer DAW feature that Ableton innovated, and in my opinion it’s still the best feature - and the most revolutionary. There’s a lot to admire in Ableton Live, so I’ve rounded up some of the features that I believe make it an indispensable DAW. In the 13 years that followed, Ableton became my main DAW - one that I’ve used to produce an extensive discography and a considerable number of concert performances. Soon we established the Salt Lake Electric Ensemble, and before long our debut recording of In C was released - all made possible by Ableton Live. Maybe that’s worth looking into?”Īs soon as I began experimenting with Live’s Session View (see below), I knew that I had found the perfect tool for realizing my idea. “I’ve heard of a newer DAW called Ableton Live. I told myself that I needed to be able to play these musical patterns from the score live. Initial experiments included an attempt at playing the score using the looping functions built into the DAW I used back then, Sony’s Acid (I’m dating myself here). Even if you don’t read music notation, you can get a good idea of how this music works by reading the performance instructions. For the uninitiated, have a look at the score. I knew that computers had become capable of real-time synthesis and sampling, but I wasn’t sure how to make a performance happen in terms of the unusual sequencing demands of the score, which doesn’t adhere to typical Western notions of time signatures. I had studied In C in my university music program not long before this idea popped into my head. My idea was to create an ensemble of musicians who each perform using an unusual musical instrument: the computer. This particular score calls for any number and any type of instruments. I wanted to get together with friends to perform and record American composer Terry Riley’s famous 1964 score entitled In C. I first discovered Ableton because of a musical idea I had that I wasn’t sure how to execute.
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