Ableton/Live/UG/35 Push 1/03 Playing and Programming Beats
- Turn on Note Mode and load a Drum Rack preset from Browse. On a Drum Rack track, pressing Note cycles the 8x8 grid through three layouts.
- The grid splits into three parts so you can play, step-sequence and set the clip length at once.
- The 16 drum pads use Drum Rack's 4x4 layout. Pad colors: bright yellow has a sound, dull yellow is empty, green is playing, light blue is selected, dark blue is soloed, orange is muted.
- The touch strip or Octave Up and Down move through larger racks 16 pads at a time; add
Shift to move by single rows. - Holding Note briefly shows the 16 Velocities layout;
Shift + Note locks it, and Note again unlocks it.
- Here the bottom-right 16 pads are 16 velocities for the selected drum pad; tap one to enter steps at that velocity.
- Holding Note briefly shows the loop length controls;
Shift + Note locks them.
- Uses the whole 8x8 grid for playing drums, which suits large kits such as sliced samples. Press Note again to toggle to it, and again to return to Loop Selector. Pad colors match the three-part layout.
- The 16 pads shown for step sequencing don't follow layout changes, so you may need the touch strip or Octave keys to bring the right ones into view.
- Browse can load or replace a single pad. Press Device to show the track's devices, tap the pad, then press the selection button under its name. Browse now targets that pad, and tapping other pads while browsing retargets.
35.3.4.1 Additional Pad Options for Push 1
- Hold Duplicate, press a pad, then press the destination pad to copy it. The destination's devices and sound are replaced, but its recorded notes stay.
- Tapping a pad also picks it for step sequencing; hold Select while tapping to pick it silently. Tap step pads to place notes; the clip starts as soon as you tap a step. Each step is a 16th note by default, changed with the Scene/Grid buttons.
- A moving green pad marks the playing step, red while recording. Tapping a filled step deletes the note; hold Mute to deactivate a step instead, or Solo to solo a sound. Hold Delete and tap a pad to clear its notes within the loop.
- Step colors: unlit is empty, blue has a note (darker means higher velocity), dull yellow is a muted note. With triplet steps the two right columns turn red and are unused.
- Velocity and micro-timing per note are covered in Ableton/Live/UG/35 Push 1/12 Step Sequencing Automation; loop length pads in Ableton/Live/UG/35 Push 1/06 Step Sequencing Melodies and Harmonies/01 Adjusting the Loop Length.
- Turn on Metronome for a click if wanted, then press Record and play the pads. Record again stops recording but keeps playing; a third press starts overdub, and further presses toggle playback and overdub.
- New stops the selected clip and readies a new one on the track, so you can practice first. By default it also copies the clips playing on other tracks to a new scene and keeps them playing; the Workflow preference changes this.
- Fixed Length makes new clips a set length; hold it to choose the length.
- With it off, clips record until you press Record, New or Play/Stop. Turning it on mid-recording stops recording and loops the last few bars, per the Fixed Length setting.
