Ableton/Live/UG/36 Push 2/08 Working with Samples
- Push 2 plays samples through Ableton/Instrument/Simpler, with its controls on the encoders and display; see Ableton/Live/UG/31 Instrument Reference.
- Load a sample with Browse on a new or existing MIDI track. An empty Simpler can't play, and the display prompts you to browse.
- In Device mode the display shows the waveform and Simpler's main parameter bank.
- Simpler sets itself up from the sample's length: short samples play once, long ones loop and warp. Warped samples play at the Set tempo on any note, and warp settings from clips or files carry over; see Ableton/Live/UG/09 Audio Clips Tempo and Warping.
- Mode picks one of three playback modes:
- Classic (default) — pitched, polyphonic instruments with a full ADSR envelope and looping, playing on the melodic grid.
- One-Shot — monophonic, for drum hits and short phrases; simple envelope, no looping, the whole sample plays whatever the note length.
- Slicing — slices the sample without changing it, one slice per pad, made by hand or automatically; suits drum breaks.
- Start and End set the usable region of the sample, for example skipping silence at the start. S Start and S Length are percentages of that region: 50% and 25% play its third quarter. S Loop Length sets how much loops, when Loop is on.
- The Zoom encoder zooms the waveform around the last position control touched.
- Press Simpler's upper display button for Edit mode: lower buttons choose more parameter pages, upper buttons toggle settings; press again to leave.
- Loop On/Off — loop while a pad is held.
- Warp as… — fit Start to End into a number of bars; ÷2 and ×2 fix a wrong guess.
- Crop removes audio outside Start and End; Reverse plays the sample backwards. Both work on a copy, leaving the original file alone.
- Zoom, Start, End, Warp as…, ÷2, ×2, Crop and Reverse work as in Classic mode.
- Trigger plays the sample to the end whatever the pad length; Fade In and Fade Out shape its volume, with Fade Out starting that long before the region ends.
Shift+Play/Stop cuts it off. - Gate starts fading out on release, over the Fade Out time.
- Transpose shifts up to ±48 semitones; the result depends on the Warp Mode. Gain sets Simpler's volume.
36.8.2.1 Legato Playback
- Classic and One-Shot can repitch a sample without restarting it, like Legato Mode for clips: in Edit mode, open the Global bank (second lower display button), set Glide Mode to Glide, and in Classic set Voices to 1 (One-Shot is always mono).
- Playing pads legato then transposes without changing playback position. Keep Warp on; Complex Pro usually sounds best.
- Zoom, Start, End, Warp as…, ÷2, ×2 and Reverse work as in the other modes.
- Slice By chooses how slices are made:
- Transient — at transients; Sensitivity sets how many, up to 64.
- Beat — at the beat Division chosen.
- Region — a chosen number of equal slices.
- Manual — none automatically. Turn on Pad Slicing, play from a slice, tap an empty pad where a new slice should start (later pads shift up), and turn Pad Slicing off when done.
- Slices fill the left half of the grid from the bottom left in rows of four going up, then the right half the same way.
- The grid uses the 64-pad drum layout; Layout cycles to Loop Selector and 16 Velocities.
- Playback: Mono plays one slice at a time; Poly several; Through is mono but plays on through the rest of the region. Trigger/Gate work as in One-Shot, according to the Playback setting.
- Nudge moves the selected slice marker (
Shift for tiny steps; Zoom to look closely); Split Slice halves the selected slice. Hold Delete and tap a pad to remove its slice.
