Ableton Live Hacks I: Creating Ideas

Session View and MIDI Hacks

Get access to all of our courses with a student membership, or purchase this individual course by clicking "Enroll" above.

Welcome to Ableton Live Workflow Hacks! This is the first of 3 courses that focus on workflow hacks. This first segment is designed to help you increase your speed and efficiency when starting new song ideas. We will cover techniques that you can employ in Live's Session View, such as how to record, overdub, and live loop new parts without stopping the flow of the music. We will also take a look at some tricks for more efficient writing of MIDI parts, such as utilizing MIDI effects, step recording in MIDI notes, and making the most of Drum Racks to organize sounds and samples quickly.

Lessons topics include:

  • Session View hacks
  • Live looping
  • MIDI overdub & step recording
  • Easy tempo and time-signature changes
  • MIDI hacks
  • Capturing notes from MIDI effects
  • The Scale MIDI effect explained
  • Seeing Groove Pool presets
  • General MIDI for Drum Racks
  • Drum Rack - more than just drums


Your Instructor


Paul Laski
Paul Laski

Paul Laski (P-LASK) is an Ableton Certified Trainer with over six years of teaching experience at DubSpot New York and Icon Collective Music Production School in Los Angeles. Paul has been involved in the electronic music scene for over a decade as a producer, remixer, sound designer, DJ, and educator.

Blending sounds from house, techno, garage, and beyond, P-LASK's original productions and remixes have been featured on Moody Recordings, Groovebirds Records, Crowd Records, Cherrytree (Interscope) Records, Abe Duque Records, Mean Red Music, Krafted Music, and his own imprint, Electric Dangerous Records. He has done remix work for artists such as Coeur du Pirate, Abe Duque, Divisible, Pointe Claire, Edian (UK), Rainer Hoeglmeier (Germany), and Wei Wei (China).

A small selection of his sound design work can be heard in the factory preset bank of XFER Records’ SERUM software synthesizer. Paul continues to develop presets for software synthesizers, free Ableton Live Racks, and samples, many of which are available through his website (www.p-lask.com). When he's not busy in the studio, he offers instruction and consultation in Ableton Live and live performance for artists and producers in the LA area.


Frequently Asked Questions


When does the course start and finish?
The course starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.
How long do I have access to the course?
After signing up for a membership, you'll have unlimited access to this course for as long as you keep your membership active.
What if I am unhappy with the course?
We would never want you to be unhappy! If you are unsatisfied with your purchase, contact us in the first 30 days and we will give you a full refund.