In this video we'll explore Live's browser
The browser gives you access to all the instruments, sounds
and effects you'll use in your projects.
You can hide and show the browser using the icon in the top left.
You can resize the browser by dragging on its right hand edge
and adjust the browser's content panes
by dragging on the line between the two panels.
The browser's sidebar, on the left, is divided into three main sections.
Collections, Library, and Places.
Library contains all of Live's built in contents, like
instruments, effects, and sounds.
Collections and Places are areas for adding and organizing
your own custom content.
The browser content pane on the right shows the content within those categories.
At the top of the content pane is a filters toggle that lets you refine
the contents of any section within the browser using various filters and tags.
We'll explore these filters and tags in more detail later on, but
for now, let's look at each section of the browser in more detail.
We'll start with the library, as when you're just getting started
with Live, most of the content you'll be using will come from here.
The library is further divided into several labels that organize all
the assets in our library by type.
Sounds contains instrument presets, things like synths, guitars, and pianos.
Drums contains drum and percussion instruments.
Instruments contains all of Live's built in instruments in their raw
forms, for when you want to make your own sounds from scratch.
Audio Effects contains all of Live's built in effects for processing
and manipulating your sounds.
MIDI Effects contains Live's built in tools for processing
and manipulating MIDI data.
Modulators are advanced tools for applying various modulations to your parameters.
Max for Live is an extension that lets anyone build their own
custom instruments and effects.
Any installed Max for Live content can be found here.
Plugins contains third party audio unit or VST plugins.
Clips contains Ableton Live clips, which are containers for all kinds
of instrument, audio and MIDI data.
Samples collects all available audio sample content in one place.
Grooves contains Ableton Live groove files that let you apply various
rhythmic templates to your patterns.
Tunings contains custom scale and tuning files for retuning your projects.
Templates contains any template Live Sets from the built in
content or your own library.
Places is where you'll add and access any custom user content.
At the top of the places section is packs, where you can download and
install any official live packs you own.
Installed packs are shown at the top.
Any available packs are shown under the available packs tab.
Right click on any pack to learn more about that pack.
Click the download button to download a pack, then once it's finished downloading,
click the install button to install it.
Below packs is the user library.
This is a place to store any custom content you create.
The user library will already contain a few predefined folders and it's important
not to delete these, but you can freely add any additional folders as you like.
Below this is the current project.
This shows all the files and folders in the currently open project.
Lastly is Add Folder.
Click this to add any custom folder to Live's sidebar.
This is useful for adding folders of your own content, for example any
custom sample libraries you might have.
Collections lets you add custom labels to any content within the
browser, so you can quickly access your favorite and most used content.
To add an item to a collection, right click on it within the browser and choose
which collection you'd like to add it to.
Each collection also has a corresponding number key shortcut
for quickly adding items.
Any items with a particular label will show up in that collection.
Right click and choose the label again to remove it.
You can right click and choose Rename to give a collection whatever name you like.
Hovering to the right of the collections or library headers
will reveal an edit button.
Click this to toggle the visibility of any collection or category within the library.
We already briefly saw that each section of the browser can be
filtered using a series of tags.
Let's look at this in more detail.
We'll use the Sounds category as an example.
Opening the Filters section displays several filters relevant
to the currently selected label.
Filters are subdivided into groups that group particular kinds of tags.
You can right click to the right of the filter's toggle to show and hide
additional tag groups that might be relevant to the currently selected label.
Filters can be used to quickly find the sounds you're after.
For example, perhaps I'm looking for a bass with an analog character.
You can select multiple tags within the same group by holding down the
Command key on Mac or Control on PC.
If you find a filter you like or use regularly, you can add it to the sidebar
by clicking the Add Label button.
Right click and choose Remove from sidebar to remove it.
Click Clear to clear the current filters.
Live comes with several tags already set up, and all of the built in content
is pre tagged and ready to be filtered.
But you can also edit and add your own tags.
Click the Edit button to the right of the filter toggle to open the Tag Editor.
To add a new tag to an item in the browser, select the item, then check
the box for the tag you wish to add.
You can add your own tags to existing groups, or create entirely new groups
using the Add Tag and Add Group buttons.
Right click on any custom tag or group to delete it.
The browser also contains a search bar.
Type what you'd like to search for, and the browser will filter the
current category by those search terms.
You can even use the hash symbol to search by tags.
There is also browser history.
Click the backward and forward icons to page through past filters and searches.
Now that we know how to navigate the browser, let's find and load a sound.
I'd like to find a drum loop, so I'll go to Samples and
filter by Loop and Drum Loop.
Clicking on a sound or sample within the browser will play a preview.
If the sound is a loop and my project is currently playing, the preview will
automatically play in time with my set.
You can adjust the level of the preview using the Preview and Cue Volume
control at the bottom of the main track.
To load the content into your project drag and drop it to where you'd like it to go.