Workflow Efficiency For Ableton

Workflow Efficiency for Ableton

Hello production people,

Its good to maintain an efficient workflow when producing.

If you find yourself repeating the same arduous tasks while writing music, then this is time wasted on making the music itself sound good.
For Ableton users, there are various Max For Live devices that can boost your workflow productivity.
Max For Live devices are essentially plugins made by the community. Many of these are free and while there are a lot of interesting devices for sound creation, there are also many simple workflow tools that can increase the speed at which you get ideas down. They are generally very cheap too as they’re usually only coded by one person!

Recently I have looked across the web for new tools to compliment our workflow. The best ones I could find are below:

Clip Gain
This device allows you to increase or decrease the volume of a selected clip without having to switch to the audio clip view.
Essentially you can quickly adjust volume while also looking at your device chain.
In Ableton you can’t natively adjust the properties of a clip while also looking at your plugins, so this is a massive improvement.

More info here: https://maxforlive.com/library/device/6720/clipgain-under-your-mouse

We set ours up similar in this Youtube video, by assigning the plugin to a keymap in Ableton for quick access: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUZpNu95LXs

Project Optimiser
This device quickly analyses your project and can delete empty tracks, disabled devices and disabled clips.
Our projects have been known to get large very quickly! This is a must for project organisation as it will clear your mind.
As part of our workflow we will save a copy of a project before we use the Project Optimiser, then you can clear the project of unnessary items and be safe knowing you can get it back if needed.
Chances are we have found you wont ever go back to the old project!

More info here: https://mat-zo.gumroad.com/l/KCHns

BIP (Bounce In Place)
This plugin allows you to instantly bounce the selected track onto a new audio track. It handles all the soloing and arming for you too.
Its excellent for sound design sessions, for when you quickly want resample a synth into audio.
Once its in audio you can chop it up and go further with it.
We have keymapped the plugin to ‘b’ on our keyboard so once this is pressed you have an instant resample function without having to solo and arm the track each time.

More info here: https://maxforlive.com/library/device/4782/bip-bounce-in-place

There are probably many more made by the community that we haven’t heard of or might suit your workflow, so be sure to do some further research if this is something that interests you.

Be sure to create a new default project with the above devices – so the next time you load a blank project you can get your ideas down quicker.

We will be back soon with more tips and tools to improve your workflow!

Be sure to check out our post on clipping techniques