To follow this tutorial you need to know the basics about MIDI files, whose tutorial
can be found in this show.
Let's see how to make a beat. Ableton has all to make a great beat on its own.
I will show you three ways to make a beat. You usually start directly from the
Arrangement View
to try over and over working on such beat before using it in your project.
We firstly need a
to create a new MIDI clip in your
import it in your Arrangement View. This will make a vacant MIDI clip ready to be used.
Before hearing such beat, you need to define the MIDI notes first. Double-click then
on the MIDI clip and change its properties, its notes, and their length.
Once you are done with your basic beat, you can loop it over and over. There are
many ways to do it, the fastest way is to keep the
and set the
that your MIDI file will be looped inside this region. Then simply drag the edges
of the MIDI clip and stretch it in length.
Once finishing, you simply need to add an instrument to straight hear such MIDI.
Add a percussion you prefer from the
and drag such sample clip on the MIDI clip directly.
This will let you perfectly control each single instrument you want to add in your project,
including its notes and their length. However, if you want to make a fast beat,
instead of building each instrument per time, you can use a device called
It is very easy: go to
anything, and just drag it on the MIDI column in the Session View or the track in the
Arrangement View
Click next to the Piano Roll in the bottom right corner. The device
different slots, that will accept different audio samples. This is right done to make beats.
Drag in each slot
Then come back to the MIDI Piano Roll and use the
the percussions to make them sound or not. At this point, hear the full MIDI clip
in the track to check your beat.
Impulse
to change such beat.
At the bottom you can change anything regarding this slot selected. So you can edit
each instrument that composes your full beat, making it more intense, changing speed
and so on. For example see the
The right side of the device is used to change equally all the beats inside the Impulse.
Inside each slot, you can see when each instrument is played, and you can put
it muted or totally solo.
Impulse
quite well but not as much as dedicating a MIDI clip for each instrument as before.
Another very common device used for beats is the
will let you create the basic beats you need. In the same folder of
find
Arrangement View.
At the bottom, you will find the
that you can browse on the right.
Each square is a slot that welcomes a beat.
It is true that the slots are indicated through the same note standard language,
but in this case we will simply have slots that indicate a particular beat
and not a note like in a standard MIDI.
Just drag on such slots all the basic beats you need:
filling the slots you need. The more beats you will add, the more sub-tracks will be
automatically appear above. The
and each track represents each slot of such device.
If you click then on the
instrumental beat added. Turn on the
where you want.
If you have problems with MIDI, watch the video about how to manage MIDI files
in this show.
Have a look at the
as rows making much easier the setting of your basic background.
Let's come back to the
the sample beat if you click and hold your mouse on it.
This play will turn on when the beat is out while the whole Drum Rack track is played.
M
Impulse
There are some rounded buttons on the left, that will show you other options.
Click on the second one to have a second full vision about all your samples imported,
eventually changing panning and intensity. Double-click on a sample, in a row or
in a slot to open its beat
imported into a MIDI file, you can set where the beat has to start.
You may not need this tool because the beats are too short to set a start point.
You can also fill the slots not just with sample clips, but with other
Live device generators
a sample clip, fill it with the device
It will be simply added as a normal sample beat, with the difference that
the instrument can be decided on your own.
Thanks for watching this video! Have fun in creating your first beats! Check the other
videos of this show about how to get into music production! Bye!