Ableton/Live/UG/11 MIDI Tools/02 Transformation Tools
- The transformations included with Live.
- Turns the selected notes into an arpeggio, using the Arpeggiator effect's engine and its 18 Style patterns.
- Distance transposes successive steps by semitones or scale degrees; Steps sets how many transposed steps. Rate sets the pattern speed and note length; Gate shortens notes below 100% and lengthens them above.
- Divides notes into 2 to 64 Parts, and builds division patterns of up to 16 parts that repeat.
- Gaps adds rests: a positive value puts a gap after that many notes, a negative value puts that many gaps after each note. Pattern toggles show the result and let you add or remove gaps by hand, which sets Gaps to a dash.
- Emphasis toggles pick notes or gaps to lengthen by the Stretch Chunk(s) factor, 2 to 8 times. Variation randomizes note starts and ends.
- Fills the gaps between notes with new notes at random positions.
- Spread limits how far their pitch can stray from the originals; Density sets what share of each gap is filled, all of it at 100%. Rate sets their length; Tie is the chance a note extends to the next original note.
- An MPE tool that bends from one note's pitch to the next, tying them; needs at least two notes.
- Start sets where the bend begins as a share of the note; Curve shapes it. Drag the yellow breakpoint or the line in the display.
- The bend shows only in the MPE Editor, or in the Pitch Bend expression lane when notes are folded.
- An MPE tool that writes a low-frequency oscillator into pitch bend, slide or pressure, chosen with Target.
- Envelope Attack and Decay shape the amplitude across the oscillation and trade off against each other. Shape Type is Sine, Square, Triangle or Random (with Reseed), and Shape adjusts it.
- Rate runs from 1 (four beats) to 1/128; Time Shift delays the start or shifts phase.
- Amount sets depth: up to twice the clip's pitch bend range for pitch, for example ±120 semitones for a ±60 range, or -127 to 127 for slide and pressure. Amplitude Base sets the centre value within the same kinds of limits.
- Results show in the MPE Editor and its expression lanes, not in the Note Editor.
- Adds ornamental notes before the selected notes; applying again adds more.
- Flam adds one note. Flam Position, as a share of a grid step, places it over the note's start (positive) or before it (negative); Flam Velocity sets its velocity relative to the original.
- Grace Notes adds several equal notes. Pitch: High or Low alternates a semitone or scale degree above or below, Same keeps the pitch. Position, Velocity and Chance work like Flam's, relative to the original note; Amount sets how many.
- Moves or stretches selected notes to the grid or a chosen value, including triplets, quantizing starts, ends, or both. Amount moves notes only part of the way. Audio clips have a matching tool.
- Edit → Quantize Settings… opens it;
Cmd+Shift+U (Mac) / Ctrl+Shift+U (Win) quantizes without opening the panel.
- Swaps one property among the selected notes, chosen with Dimension: Position, Pitch, Duration or Velocity.
- Shuffle permutes at random, a new result each Apply; Mirror reverses the order; Rotate shifts values around by Rotation Steps, set in the display or with the arrows, up to one less than the note count. Positive rotates clockwise.
- For Position, Rotate on Grid counts grid cells instead of notes.
- The three combine in the order Shuffle, Mirror, Rotate.
- Sets note lengths by articulation:
- Legato: each note reaches the next; the last reaches the end of the selection or loop.
- Tenuto: lengths stay as they are.
- Staccato: every note becomes half the shortest gap between note starts.
- Offset lengthens or shortens note ends by up to a grid step. Variation shortens (positive) or lengthens (negative) notes at random, anew each time.
- Staggers the start times of a chord's notes, like strumming.
- Strum Low offsets from the lowest note and Strum High from the highest, each up to a grid step forward (positive) or back (negative); at least one must be non-zero. Set them in the Strum Position display or by typing.
- Tension curves the spacing: positive values start wide and narrow; negative values start tight and widen. At 0 the spacing is even.
- Stretches selected notes along a speed curve, for accelerando or ritardando. The curve spans the time selection and has one to three breakpoints, dragged in the display or set with Breakpoint Time and Speed.
- Quantize snaps results to the grid; Preserve Time Range keeps them within the original span; Include Note End lets the curve change note lengths too.
- A Max for Live tool that shapes the selected notes' velocities with an envelope; click to add breakpoints and drag them.
- Minimum and Maximum Velocity set the range. Loop repeats the shape across the selection; Rotate shifts it by steps of Division, for example one grid step.