If you're a new user coming from another dawwgh like Cubase or Sonar,

this video will show you what Live is all about in studio use.

If you're coming from Reason, you'll be glad to know

that you can still make sophisticated effect combos in Live.

Experienced users will be rolling their eyes through most of this, but maybe they'll pick up a thing or two..?

Starting with the basics, learn these keyboard shortcuts:

CTRL-4 will toggle grid snap in any window that shows a grid.

CTRL-E will edit and make a slice (to a clip).

Drag-selecting and editing will make two slices.

CTRL-J will consolidate MIDI clips and audio clips.

For audio clips, consolidate will re-write the wave.

CTRL-R will rename anything, clips, tracks, plugins, effect groups and chains, etc.

While you're at it, add some color coding with right-click.

You should look up a list of keyboard shortcuts at some point.

Use keyboard mapping to map Record+Play to something.

Go ahead and map lots of stuff in a plain set, configure it just the way you want,

and save it as a default project.

You can insert play markers with annotations by right-clicking here.

Did you know about Paste Time? It makes space for the items in your clipboard, thus adding time.

You can also Delete Time.

Any clip can become a loop. The start point can reside outside of the loop.

Did you know about Freeze Track?

This will pre-render your track and spare your CPU from dealing with it in real-time.

You can merge projects by dragging & dropping.

Let's take a look at the EQ. Did you know about its "High-Quality" mode?

Have you noticed its alternative processing modes: Mid/Side and Left/Right?

You can view multiple automation channels in the sequencer by hitting this Plus (+) button.

You can shift-drag a point to wipe away other keyframes (or control points or whatever).

Have you explored effect groups?

Yes, you can group effects, but there's more...!!!

You can assign multiple parameters to a master knob...

...useful for everything from gain compensation, to building crazy morphing effects.

Morphin' time!

Did you know you can create parallel effect chains?

This means one track can run through several parallel effects and plugin instruments.

And did you know that effect groups have a chain selector that's mappable and automate-able?

This means in a live situation you can choose your chain,

or in the sequencer you can, for example, sequence chains of custom MIDI processing.

Every track can send MIDI and audio to another track through its output dropdown.

Every track can likewise steal MIDI and audio from any other track through its input dropdowns.

I don't find myself using send and return busses for much these days...

Tracks can be grouped, and when you do this,

tracks that used to send audio to the Master bus will then send its audio to the Group bus.

You can shift-click to mass-select tracks and resize them.

Have you maxed out the Grain Delay effect?

It chops the incoming audio into slices (grains) specified by this parameter.

From there it can scatter, repitch, randomize pitch, delay and feedback the incoming audio.

With the right settings, it can make dense textures.

It makes a really nice alternative reverb/chorus type thing.

You can do crazy effects with repitched feedback.

Here's this octaving delay thing I made with several parallel grain delays.

Did you know you can make retarded scratching sounds with Simple Delay?

Are your recordings always coming out slightly delayed in the sequencer?

Maybe you have a crappy audio interface that lies about its latency.

You need to use the Driver Error Compensation tool.

Read about how to configure it in the Live manual (there might be a built-in "lesson" as well).

Did you know you can create LFOs for arbitrary parameters?

In a clip, you can make an "Unlinked" looping envelope for a parameter in its track.

Unfortunately, this LFO will always be tied to the clip,

so it's more of a hack than an ideal workflow for applying LFOs for regular sequencing (hint hint Ableton)

You can abuse Live's warp modes to repitch audio clips.

With the right settings, you can do a lame Male-to-Female for backup singers.

You can abuse the Beats mode to do a sawtooth tremolo type thing (which is otherwise achievable with the right AutoPan settings).

If you don't like how Live warps clips by default, you can change the default behavior in the options.

You can auto quantize audio clips,

as well as apply swing (groove) patterns.

Renzu 2009