Ableton Looper Cheat Sheet (Free Download)

Live looping can be a different way of expression. It can force you to compose in real time which can end up with amazing unexpected result.

Looper out of all of Live’s devices is the most “Independent” as it’s recording, processing and rendering audio all by itself. It might seem daunting or even useless to Ableton users who haven’t got enough time to mess around with.

Live’s Looper is a special audio effect that comes to emulate Looping hardware like the Boss Looping Pedals.

Although you can achieve similar functionality using the Session view and Audio Tracks it does give an easy and fast solution for live performance. Whether you want to do MIDI live looping with synths and samplers or audio live looping with vocals and live instruments Looper might be the right fit for the job.

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Setting up

The easiest way to start using Looper is to put it on your Master Track.

Alternatively you can add a new Audio track and put the looper on it. Then route all the MIDI tracks and Audio tracks you want to use for your live looping session.

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Using Looper

The most important button in looper is the big record button or the Multi-Purpose Transport Button.+

 

When pressing the button first it will start recording. Pressing the button again will start to loop in overdub mode so you can add more layers. Pressing the button a third time will switch to play mode which will no longer record new layers. This will let you play any other instruments or samples you want without live looping.

For example, You can create your bed of harmony and then go into play mode to start singing the vocals or play a melody without looping it.

If you are using both hands to play an instrument consider getting a MIDI Foot Controller.

There are also 2 double click features and a hold feature with the multi-purpose transport button. See flowchart bellow for reference.

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Looper Cheat Sheet

We made a cheat sheet for you to quickly reference and master all the functions and possibilities of the Looper .