{"id":1770368,"date":"2021-08-19T16:22:05","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T16:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=1770368"},"modified":"2022-02-11T18:14:40","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T18:14:40","slug":"how-to-set-up-external-instruments-in-ableton-live","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/articles\/how-to-set-up-external-instruments-in-ableton-live\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Set Up External Instruments in Ableton Live"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In this guide, we will show you how to set up an external instrument in Ableton Live. Follow the instructions below to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li><a href=\"#Configure-the-MIDI-settings\"><strong>Configure the MIDI settings<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#Set-up-and-record\"><strong>Set up and record<\/strong><\/a><ul><li><a href=\"#Method-1\"><strong>Method 1<\/strong><\/a><\/li><li><strong><a href=\"#Method-2-Standard-and-Suite-only\">Method 2 (Standard and Suite only)<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"Configure-the-MIDI-settings\" class=\"wp-block-cgb-block-customheader blackHeader alignLeft noUnderline customh2 swheader\">Configure the MIDI settings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>When setting up your external instrument in Ableton Live, you need to update its settings so your hardware can communicate correctly inside your project. Ableton made the process straightforward, so follow these steps to configure the MIDI settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Open Ableton&#8217;s preferences.<\/li><li>Select the MIDI tab on the left side.<\/li><li>Enable &#8220;Track&#8221; for the<em> MIDI In<\/em> port of your controller.<\/li><li>Enable &#8220;Track&#8221; for the <em>MIDI Out<\/em> port of your instrument.<\/li><li>Close the preferences.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Preferences.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Preferences.png\" alt=\"Ableton Preferences\" class=\"wp-image-1770370\" width=\"377\" height=\"458\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Preferences.png 502w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Preferences-246x300.png 246w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Ableton MIDI preferences<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"Set-up-and-record\" class=\"wp-block-cgb-block-customheader blackHeader alignLeft noUnderline customh2 swheader\">Set up and record<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two methods to configure external instruments in Ableton Live. For Ableton Live Lite and Intro, follow the steps in the first method, as Lite and Intro do not allow you to use the second method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"Method-1\" class=\"wp-block-cgb-block-customheader darkBlueHeader alignLeft underline customh3 swheader\">Method 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Create a new MIDI track.<\/li><li>In the MIDI track, set <em>MIDI From<\/em> to your controller&#8217;s MIDI port<\/li><li>In the <em>MIDI To<\/em> section, select the instrument and ensure the channel matches the channel the instrument is set.<\/li><li>Create an audio track.<\/li><li>In the <em>Audio From<\/em> section, ensure that the correct audio input from the audio interface is selected.<\/li><li>Switch the audio track&#8217;s monitor to In.<\/li><li>Make sure that <strong>Reduced Latency When Monitoring<\/strong> is active in the Options toolbar menu.<\/li><li>Adjust the track delay on the MIDI track until the audio is in sync with the rest of the set.&nbsp;<ul><li><em>Track Delay<\/em> is made visible by checking it off in the View toolbar menu.<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>After this is set up, you can record MIDI notes by arming just the MIDI track and setting the audio track&#8217;s monitor to In. Playback will now play the recorded MIDI notes on your instrument.<\/li><li>Once you record the MIDI and make all of your changes, record enable the audio track only and start recording right before the MIDI notes so that the audio from the instrument is recorded.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Options.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"342\" height=\"588\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Options.png\" alt=\"Ableton MIDI options\" class=\"wp-image-1770369\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Options.png 342w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Options-174x300.png 174w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 342px) 100vw, 342px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>MIDI options<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Track-Settings.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"544\" height=\"716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Track-Settings.png\" alt=\"Ableton Track Settings\" class=\"wp-image-1770372\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Track-Settings.png 544w, https:\/\/www.sweetwater.com\/sweetcare\/media\/2021\/08\/Ableton-Track-Settings-228x300.png 228w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 544px) 100vw, 544px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Ableton Track Settings<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"Method-2-Standard-and-Suite-only\" class=\"wp-block-cgb-block-customheader darkBlueHeader alignLeft underline customh3 swheader\">Method 2 (Standard and Suite only)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>Create a MIDI track.<\/li><li>In the MIDI track, set MIDI From to your controller&#8217;s MIDI port&nbsp;<\/li><li>Load in the External Instrument device from the Instruments category in the browser&nbsp;<\/li><li>Set the MIDI To port to your instrument.<\/li><li>Ensure the MIDI channel matches the MIDI channel your instrument is set to<\/li><li>Set the Audio From to the audio inputs your instrument is connected to on your audio interface<\/li><li>You can use the Hardware Latency slider if the audio sounds out of sync (Graphic Ableton External Instrument Settings.png)<\/li><li>Arm the track and start recording<\/li><li>Once you have your MIDI recorded and made the edits you would like, you can Freeze and Flatten the track to convert it to audio or create a separate audio track.&nbsp;<\/li><li>After that, you can set its input to receive from your external instrument track and record just the audio track.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Learn Live 10: Setting up MIDI\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CWOXblksDxE?wmode=transparent&amp;rel=0&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1770428,"template":"","categories":[142726],"tags":[115938,38341,341603,34739],"storecat":[],"itemids":[295759,296012,296013,314257,314258,314259,314260,314261,314262,314263,314264,314265,314266],"manufacturers":[33151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this guide, we will show you how to set up external instruments within the Ableton Live DAW. 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