Arrange a Track with Ableton Push 2: Tips, Tricks & Hacks for Arrangement 

This is a beautiful story Justin, thank you for sharing so openly! I wholeheartedly believe in focus and doing more with less, although this is of course a very personal thing, and a question which touches upon who we are and which workflows work for us. Trying them all out (synth cave / push + live / batcave) is sometimes key to finding out. Good luck, and let us know how it goes, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have in the course.

Justin! Loved reading your post! Berklee student here...also your age. I couldn't agree with you more on what you said. Lol sounds very familiar. Check out my stuff. Would be kind of cool to do a collab with someone just because!

I feel you bro.

So how are you doing? I am heading in that same direction. I am going to write in Ableton and THEN pull out all those synths and drum machines!

Lawrence thank you for letting me know! That’s really nice to hear 😊

That's so nice to hear Monka, thank you! Really :)

@@TLllllll Went to back Logic for a few years. Been live looping with Push 2 since it came out. Andri has rekindled my interest back to Ableton.

Thank you my friend! Those are kind words indeed.

Thank you Stewart! Wonderful feedback 🙏🏻

Ah that’s just wonderful to hear! Happy to have been able to help. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’ve got questions about the rest of the course. Most of all, go forth and Push :)

Thank you so much, Jc! 🙏🏻 Your very kind words are much appreciated 😌

Aw thanks Rufus! 🙃

This was an epic notification to get while randomly browsing my phone at 4am! Thank you Freddie - you’re amazing!

🙏🏻😙

Oh nice! Welcome, sir! 🤝

Awesome, Willem! Did you check the second half on WRKSHP.eu as well?

@@AndriSoren I did not.. I will definitely do that. Thanks!

Thank you in return!

Eboshi San thank you so much! That’s great to hear! I have exactly that kind of content in mind. If you like please email me at wrkshp.eu@gmail.com and I’ll explain in more detail :)

@@AndriSoren I'm thinking that some content like the @Belibat's ones for Live performance: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3Dwq4xvZIck.html is very helpful for practicing with push 2.

@@mariduf I like Belibat's work - good suggestion - I am feeding all the feedback (which is quite a phrase) into what I do next :) Thanks again and let me know if there's anything else!

Thank you kind sir! I reckon I need to “trip the youtube algo” a bit more, or simply suggest that people subscribe more often - then again slow growth is also fine, especially as one tends to collect the nicest peeps first!

@@AndriSoren maybe you could make short clips out of your longer videos. Easiest way: upload every chapter and give it a nice thumbnail and title. Other RU-vidrs created a „clips“ or „shorts“ account these days. Also you could try a livestream if you haven’t already.

@@rasmusrasmussenmusic Amen! I have been pondering making shorter videos, it's absolutely on my list. Thanks so much for the ideas and encouragement. Also I checked out your channel and you're doing good things there, and I had a good laugh at the "nobody watches" song 😅

What is shift-start on the Maschine?

Echo Productions thank you! It’s absolutely in the works! Take care my friend!

@@AndriSoren Thanks man waiting...

Hey Canu, good question! You could explore recording each midi track into a separate audio track. It’s not ideal because when you stop payback or recording it will stop recording clips to these tracks, but it’s an option. Feel free to join the full (free) course on arrangement on WRKSHP.eu and we can discuss more over there if you have any other questions.

Sure! If you go to WRKSHP.eu you can take the full chapter (still for free) and see how you can do this with user mode :)

Thank you, Bassam! I find the pads a big improvement over Push 1. More sensitive, you can slide your fingers across them without them getting stuck, and just much nicer to use, in general. Definitely a different “feel”, but you get used to it.

The pads are amazing. I wasnt planning on buying a push 2 until i tried one... then i couldnt justify buying something else :'). It feels like an instrument (im a piano/guitar player)

You can also adjust the sensitivity to your liking.

@@eternalmonsoon8103 exactly!

Hello Augustin! Absolutely - you can set up an audio track, using the I-O settings to record the external audio input of your soundcard (CMD on Mac CTRL on PC + comma button on your keyboard to get to these settings). You then arm the track, hit record, and go!

@@AndriSoren thank you very much! =)

Congrats, Kevin! You absolutely can - if it’s about Push in general I’ll answer if and when I can here on RU-vid (which is a bit limited) but if it’s about the Push Bible course then we can discuss that here or you can email me at wrkshp.eu@gmail.com and I’ll get back to you - happy to answer any questions before you consider joining 🙏🏻

Interesting question! What you could potentially do is use the plugin “push hacker” (www.soundmanufacture.net/pushhacker.html) to remap that button to indeed do nothing (or close to nothing). I’m 90% sure it will work.

It’s an excellent question, and I have to start by saying that it’s quite difficult for me to answer, but here’s a question that will help; Are you comfortable using technology / computers in general? If yes, then buying Push is absolutely worth considering, and I think the majority of people in your situation would find it a nice entry point to learning how to make music. That said, and if you’d like to be a bit more sure if making music with computers and software is for you, I would suggest the following; 1) try some free music making apps on your phone or tablet (or computer) to get a feel of their potential as well as limitations. 2) Check some of the RU-vid channels that compare daw (digital audio workstation) software - there are some good comparisons out there. 3) Check resources like Ableton’s “learning music” on their website. It’s free and a good introduction to some concepts. learningmusic.ableton.com/ 3) Try downloading the free trial version of different DAW software, such as Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic, and others. Don’t download them all at once maybe as many are limited to 30 days. Get a feel of how they work, their logic, and how they feel. 4) Buy or borrow some budget or second hand MIDI controllers like those from Korg (nano range) or a novation launchpad (or even second hand Push 1 or 2) and see how it feels using them to make music. They will help guide you towards knowing what you want to use. Most of all listen to what feels right, and what you enjoy. Making music should be fun, and yet it can often be frustrating. Keep coming back to the parts that are fun, and slowly but surely you’ll grow, learn, and music will become a friend.

Hi Jeff, no, that generally won’t save any cpu resources. Resources can however be reduced by turning off devices in Live using the “power” button on the top left of a device or rack. Check my Super Instrument Rack tutorial for a neat way to use chain selectors to turn these on and off.

@@AndriSoren OK! I will check that out.. I am suddenly re-immersed in your full course .. so naturally I came across this one. I kind of like the idea of recording a clip with one instrument configuration.. then changing the instrument and into something completely different .... and recording that with affecting the previous one. ... doing that with multiple tracks with the same instrument... but not eating up resources.

30/1 electronic music collab ah that’s strange - which link did you try? Sometimes it doesn’t work unless you use https - wrkshp.eu - wrkshp.thinkific.com should work!

@@AndriSoren Works just fine now! You're goddamn wizard dude, loving your tuts, loads of inspiration, saving up money for getting the full course How do you think, I've followed all the tuts by ableton and loads all over the youtube, should I get the beginner and intermediate course or intermediate one is gonna be just fine? You've got an astonishing, soothing voice and manners, and the content is marvellous, glad to meet you

randallpatrickc hello Randall! Thank you! It seems sometimes the link doesn’t redirect properly. Please try wrkshp.thinkific.com

It does! It covers recording, overdubbing and deleting automation with Push.

bur bus thank you so much for pointing that out! A tired brain was at fault 😌 If you ever decide to go for the course write to me first!

Hi Alex, thank you! I’m not sure I understand your question however :)

@@AndriSoren oh, excuse me. Support/desk/table for your laptop? Can I know the model? Thanks ;-)

@@alexmax9832 ah now I understand :) It’s this one; m.thomann.de/be/millenium_laptopstand_white.htm?offid=1&affid=229&subid=kelkoo-be&from=kelkoo&gclid=CjwKCAiAyc2BBhAaEiwA44-wW0GuaX29kGTu6WT-2dvWDt0XnYmhRKoScx-GQ4J6GIIFic-WxoSQ0RoCMwQQAvD_BwE I’m guessing it can be found on other online stores too.

Хотел бы я предложить это, Денис - я могу добавлять субтитры на определенном языке только в том случае, если есть достаточно людей, которые просят об этом, так как делать это должным образом дорого. Однако я добавлю ваш запрос в свой список - спасибо, что сообщили мне! (я использовал гугл переводчик, извините, если качество плохое!) (I used google translate) 😌

@@AndriSoren thanks 🤓

Hi Marcos - ah this is a setting I’ve just forgotten to turn off - it’s possible to disable showing them (but they are still counted) 🙂

@@AndriSoren each day I learn too much, theres no end

Graphwize there’s definitely room for improvement and added features. In Live 11, scenes can now use follow actions, which mitigates that somewhat, but to use them you do need to step into Live and away from Push. In any case, I couldn’t agree more that workflow is everything, and that ideally we’d combine the beat features out there in one place.

Just drag the scene into arrangement view. What’s the issue.

@@joshraab6808 I see now you were responding to Graphwize :) Good point. As you’re pointing out, there is often more than one way of doing something in Live. Push + Live sometimes can indeed slow down certain processes, but at the same time open up a different workflow, one where we’re not moving between mouse and keyboard and multiple controllers, and that opens up a different mindset or feel. There are definitely some gaps in certain workflows however, and I suppose that’s what graphwize was touching upon.

​@@AndriSoren They added the ability to add the follow action thing to the master track in session view in live 11 now. Closer to how song mode is on the mpc but still not as quick of a workflow

@@Graphwize absolutely! Thanks for highlighting that for everyone. Agreed that access via hardware like Push is still limited however.

😂😂😂

This is one of the shorter reviews I’ve seen. But very succinct.