Ableton/Live/UG/15 Tuning Systems
- Loading tuning systems other than twelve-tone equal temperament and how MIDI tracks follow them.
- Live's default tuning is 12TET: twelve equal steps per octave. A tuning system can divide an octave, or a pseudo-octave that repeats at another interval, differently.
- Live 12 loads Scala (.scl) files. The Core Library's tunings, under the Tunings label in the browser, use ASCL, Ableton's extension of the Scala format.
- The Info View describes a tuning, including its notes per octave, when you hover over it in the browser or over a loaded tuning's name.
- Your own .scl or .ascl files in any folder of Live's Places appear under the Tunings label with the User tag.
- All of Live's built-in instruments follow a tuning system. MPE-enabled plug-ins and Max for Live instruments follow it when their pitch bend range is 48 semitones; other instruments will likely play out of tune.
- Double-click a tuning file in the browser, or select it and press
Enter, to load it. This opens the browser's Tuning section, which is hidden by default and can also be shown from the browser's view control menu. - .scl and .ascl files can also be dragged into the Tuning section from the computer. A loaded tuning is saved with the Live Set.
- With a tuning loaded, the piano roll shows the tuning's notes instead of standard MIDI notes. Hovering over a note shows its pitch and frequency in the Status Bar.
- Changing or removing a tuning leaves notes where they are, so they may now play different pitches. With Retune Set On Loading Tuning Systems on in the Options menu, Live moves notes to the closest pitches in the new tuning after a confirmation dialog.
- Retuning can delete or shorten a note when two overlapping notes map to the same new pitch.
- While a tuning is loaded, the Scale Mode choosers disappear and scale-aware devices have Use Current Scale turned off.
- The triangle next to the tuning's name expands settings for the reference pitch and the note range:
- Tuning — the tuning system's name.
- Octave and Note — which note is the reference.
- Ref. Pitch/Freq — the reference frequency. Changing it raises or lowers every note in the Set.
- Lowest Note and Highest Note — what the lowest and highest notes play. Changing one moves the other, keeping the number of notes between them.
- Only Ref. Pitch/Freq changes the sound. Changing Octave or Note updates the displayed frequency without an audible jump until the frequency itself is changed.
- The floppy disk button saves the tuning as an .ascl file to the Tunings label. The arrow next to it opens the tuning's page on Ableton's Tuning website, when one exists, with an editor for trying variations.
- Select the tuning and press
Delete to go back to 12TET.
- With a tuning loaded, MIDI tracks gain tuning options in their I/O section for track and controller setups.
- Bypass Tuning makes one MIDI track ignore the tuning; its clips show 12TET notes in the piano roll.
- Tracks containing Drum Racks bypass the tuning automatically.
- Track Tuning MIDI Controller Layout chooses which controller keys play which notes of the tuning, so an external keyboard lines up with the piano roll:
- All Keys — every key plays a tuning note.
- Black Keys Only — centred on C#3.
- White Keys Only — centred on C3.
- Closest in Pitch to Keyboard — each key plays the nearest tuning pitch.
- Custom Controller Layout — set your own with the … button, which opens Configure MIDI Layout.
- Custom layouts are saved with the Live Set.
- Ableton's Tuning website explains the built-in tunings and has interactive tools for building and exporting your own. The ASCL specification describes how to write tuning files for Live.
