Ableton Instrument Rack Question

[BlackStrat777]

Hi All,
Just starting out on the great adventure of learning DAW recording.
I am currently working with Live 9 Lite and Sonar X3
Finally catching on to some of the cool stuff in Ableton.
My question is about why some of the pre packaged Instruments included with Ableton seem to be wrapped in the Marco tab and can't be expanded to show chain list or other details of the instrument?
I want to learn more about the power available in this method of sound creation but there doesnt seem to be a lot of detailed information avilable for a newbie like me.

Great Forum TONS of great stuff on here.

Thanks,

 

[DM60]

Hi All,
Just starting out on the great adventure of learning DAW recording.
I am currently working with Live 9 Lite and Sonar X3
Finally catching on to some of the cool stuff in Ableton.
My question is about why some of the pre packaged Instruments included with Ableton seem to be wrapped in the Marco tab and can't be expanded to show chain list or other details of the instrument?
I want to learn more about the power available in this method of sound creation but there doesnt seem to be a lot of detailed information avilable for a newbie like me.

Great Forum TONS of great stuff on here.

Thanks,

Not sure what you're talking about. If you could provide some examples. Some are straight instruments, some are really mix of sound and effects, so if you can provide the names of which ones you are referring to I could take a look and see if I can explain. If it has the Macro, you just need to open then up.

 

[BlackStrat777]

Sorry if my question is confussing but I just did a quick check.
Here is an example.
From my browser Instrument Rack > Bass >
When I drop Analogue Saw Base into the Midi Drop zone all I can see is what appears to look like the Macro Control window with 8 available settings.
When I drop the Analogue Bass into the track it shows up as I would expect an instrument rack to look like.
[Macro Control Window] followed by the [Chain list shows (2) Simplers] followed by the [Simpler showing Muti Sampl Mode] followed by the Redux bit reduction effect.

I just wonder what makes these two instances different and why I can't see what is inside the Analogue Saw Bass Instrument?

Hope this makes sense??

Thanks for the help and advice.

Roger

 

[DM60]

When I look at the two, I see on the analog saw bass one chain (that is probably the difference, the number of chains) tension, with a dynamic tube, cabinet and an amp.

When I look at analog bass, there are two, one with simpler and redux and the other just has simpler.

I would say the difference is the number of chains on each instrument. You will also notice a channel in session for each chain. In this case multiple chains make up the instrument. This really helps when you want to map say, the lower region of the MIDI notes to behave one way and the upper another. Helps with the mixing, it actually is meant to create your own instruments from either basic instruments or macros inside macro chains. Not sure how deep you can go with it, but I think you have noticed the number of independent chains inside a Micro.

Take a look at your session view and notice there are two channels within that group. It shows each chain.

I know it didn't answer your question, but it is the reason you see two different ways of behavior.

 

[BlackStrat777]

I wonder if it is because I am running Lite version, because I can't see anything except the Macro Control window for the Analog Saw Bass?
Could it be that some of the devices / instruments included in the rack are not available in Lite but the instrument wrapper allows them to work in this version?

 

[DM60]

I wonder if it is because I am running Lite version, because I can't see anything except the Macro Control window for the Analog Saw Bass?
Could it be that some of the devices / instruments included in the rack are not available in Lite but the instrument wrapper allows them to work in this version?

Hard to say. I haven't played with the lite version for about three years. I would say the suite is really a good bang for the buck (watch for sales). About the only thing you really need after suite is a good drum kit, good set of amps, the rest you can really build with simpler, sampler and all of the other tools (it comes wit a tone generator). Plus the Max for Live gives you the ability to actually program the instruments (I haven't really gotten into it, but it is powerful).

Ableton is as much a tool kit as it is a DAW. One of my future projects is to create a song using non-instruments, but that is a long term project.

Dive in, the water is fine!

 

[BlackStrat777]

Thanks a lot for the tips and knowledge. I agree from what I have already been able to determine this is a very useful software package. I am a Electrical Controls engineer and I spend a lot of time programming process controls with PLC and HMI interfaces. My real passion is guitar and I got into the recording end of things thanks to a good friend of mine who has been a professional musician for years. Now that I have just scratched the surface of the power and flexibility of DAW I am excited to dive in as you said. Hard pill to swallow for the cost of the Standard version of 9 at this point, maybe I will be able to move further ahead with learning the basics in Lite, but as I have already discovered the limitations may hinder my progress?

Thanks again for the reply's