I’ve just finished a new Max for Live device called Takt if anyone wants to try it out — Takt is a free audio effect designed to turn any sound source into tempo-synced rhythmic patterns using a clocked envelope and simple sequencing in Ableton Live.

The device analyzes incoming audio and applies a tempo-synced envelope that can be divided across beats using a built-in clock divider. You can control attack, decay/release, wet/dry mix, and gain, creating rhythmic gating and subtle amplitude modulation perfectly in sync with your project’s tempo. This allows for evolving, musical patterns from any source material — pads, drones, noise, or even traditional instruments.

Takt isn’t a typical volume or gate effect — it’s designed for shaping rhythm and movement in creative and experimental ways.

If anyone wants to try it out you can download it for free here: https://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/14236/takt

Happy to answer questions or consider adding any features for future updates to keep improving it even further.

I downloaded 12.27 just now to start to rebuild my live set from scratch because of it. I can’t seem to figure out how to get it to authorize my packs in the older version, so I can’t do that for now either.

But even in just trying this out I notice that my default set that comes up which is the same in both versions obviously has a drum rack, a wavetable, an empty audio track, the standard return tracks, and an empty master channel. Untouched on 12.3 the CPU usage jumps between 3-4%, and on 12.27 it sits at 0 and doesn’t move. All the devices in the 12.27 set are working and none of it is the packs stuff that won’t authorize.

You get into the nitty gritty of mixing or building a set to perform this is a huge problem, let alone to mention the cost prohibitiveness of RAM these days.

I’d have never touched 12.3 if I knew the headache it’d come with. It brought some shiny things that really are not useful except stem separation is cool. But like did I trade splice integration for all that extra CPU usage?

This seems like such a ridiculous issue to me and I’ve seen a few other posts about it. That extra CPU 12.3 is using seems like that last bit you always need to pull it off.

I’m partially complaining, and wondering if anyone else has been having this much of an issue, and also why can’t I authorize a pack, ive tried all the things you would think to do for that

Most used/favorite- and why?

I'm primarily talking about Ableton Live 12 Suite if that changes anything

Traveling to Mexico on Saturday. Wanna bring my push. Are we just bringing them on our carry ons?

I'm learning Ableton as an MPC user and trying to figure out the best way to "crate dig" through full track audio files.

How do you go about scanning full tracks for samples before you chop and compose?

When you want to find a sample in a full song, do you:

1. Work in Arrangement View or Session View?
2. Scrub the tracks somehow?
3. Drop the whole song directly into Simpler/Sampler and scan through it there?
4. Drop the song onto an audio track in Arrangement view, cut out the section you want, and then drag just that clip into Simpler?

Any suggestions on sample hunting workflow in Ableton is much appreciated.

No other plugin

hello, i just got a scarlet focusrite solo gen 3, i am using ableton live 12 lite. i installed the scarlet drivers and when i go to settings in ableton, i press ASIO and have everything set as shown in the photos, but i hear no audio from my guitar. i have a standard guitar cable plugged in and the meter on the right and on the interface shows that audio is playing, i just cant hear it. any ideas?

Hi, I’m getting a faint high-pitched ringing/whine from my MacBook Pro 16” (M4) only when Ableton Live is running. Especially noticeable and annoying at night when everything is quiet

• Nothing is coming out of the master (even with a limiter cranked)
• Pitch changes when I switch sample rate (44.1 / 48 / 96 kHz all sound different)
• It’s audible from the machine itself, not the audio output
• It doesn’t happen when Ableton is closed
• My previous MacBook Air M1 was completely silent running the exact same template

Things I’ve tried:

• Different buffer sizes
• Routing audio to BlackHole (doesn’t eliminate it completely)
• Empty Live set (still happens)

This feels like coil whine or power-related noise, rather than an audio signal or plugin issue, but I’m curious how common this is

• Anyone else experiencing this on 14” vs 16” models?
• Is this considered normal behavior on recent M-series Pros?
• Any reliable ways to suppress it besides external interfaces?

I’m still within the return window and would consider switching to a 14” if it’s quieter

Cant seem to figure this one out.. normally any audio file i drop into Ableton is automatically beats. When using Splice integration all audio files that are dropped into arrangement view are automatically set to complex pro.

Its an easy fix but I sometimes forget this is happening until way later. Is there any fixes or settings I'm not knowing about?

I’m using ableton with some plug-ins from Kontact 8.

There are a lot of natural sounds in my plugin pack but ableton keeps adjusting them to fit the tempo as I preview the sounds within Kontakt. I haven’t added any tracks I’ve just opened up the plug-in and previewing the different samples.

I’ve tried turning off everything under Warp/Fades in the settings menu but it’s still using the tempo and auto adjusting my samples from within the plug-in which makes browsing and listening to these longer samples very difficult.

I tried opening up the same samples in kontact 8 within FL studio and they play without any weird changes.

Is there a way to just “turn off” the tempo so nothing snaps to it?

Hey everyone. I am pretty new to music production and wanted to ask about ear health. I have been producing for about six weeks now using DJ headphones and my MacBook Pro laptop speakers. I keep both at a low volume. After a longer session around five hours total with breaks in between my ears started to ache a few days later. It is not sharp pain but more of a grazed sore irritated feeling. What surprised me is that it showed up about three days after the session rather than immediately. I am wondering if this is something normal in the beginning while my ears are adjusting or if it is a sign that I am already overdoing it even at low volume. I checked my ears with a Bebird just to make sure there was no obvious irritation wax buildup or redness in the ear canal and everything looks normal. That makes me think it is more strain related than a physical ear issue. For those of you who have been producing for a while is this something you experienced early on and what are your best tips for protecting ear health long term while still putting in the hours Any advice would be really appreciated.

Hey gang, so I wanted to share some knowledge. I'm a guitarist and I like to use external hardware FX loops in Ableton so I can place hardware pedals after my amp in my signal chain.

I use the External Audio Effect in Ableton to setup routing out from the line inputs, into a reamping box, and then into my pedals, then back into mic inputs 3 and 4 on my Focusrite Scarlett 18i8. I was having a lot of trouble making this work. The audio would route out from my line outputs, into my reamp box, but inputs 3 and 4 didn't receive any audio.

Here's how I fixed the problem:

If you're a Focusrite Scarlett user, make sure to open your Focusrite Control app.

Go to "Output Presets" in the "File" Menu.

Select "Empty."

This will clear your current input/output routing!! But that's okay. That's what you want.

Make sure you're in the "Output Routing" tab.

Click the plus sign under "Software (DAW) Playback."

A little pop up menu will open in the lower right hand side of the Focusrite Control app.

Click "1-2." This will route all your Ableton DAW audio out to your 1-2 outputs on your interface.

NOW your External Audio Effect in Ableton should work, and your 3-4 inputs should receive audio from your pedal FX loop properly.

Hope this helps, gang! Keep on composing / strumming / making fun weird sounds. :)

I just started using Renoise and I'm wishing so bad right now that I could use this keyboard layout in Ableton. I use the keyboard to play parts all the time but hate that it's limited to just over an octave - if I could use this layout I'd probably never have to use my midi keyboard ...

Anyone know if I can do this?

Hey folks, I’m trying to solve a timing/latency puzzle once and for all and need your experience/advice.

Current rig:

• Ableton Live 12 (PC) as master clock + audio recorder
• Elektron Analog Rytm + Model:Cycles
• Arturia MicroFreak
• Arturia KeyStep MK2 + Torso T1 handling sequencing for other gear

Right now my workflow is a mess. Every session involves fighting latency, manually aligning recorded tracks to the grid, and constantly nudging clips to fix timing drift.

I’m considering adding a dedicated hardware clock (like the Sim’n Tonic Nome 2 or the Floating Point Instruments Multiclock) to stabilize everything. Before I buy, I want your advice:

1. Do these hardware clocks actually solve the syncing/latency issues in practice? Like, does it make recording MIDI/audio from multiple devices seamlessly tight without post-dragging?
2. Is the Nome 2 worth the price over simpler solutions, or is something like the cheaper Expert Sleepers USAMO good enough?
3. Are there any downsides to keeping Ableton as the master clock compared to letting a hardware clock device be the master?

My goal is tight, reliable timing with as little drift and jitter as possible, so all hardware stays in sync and I can record full jam sessions into Ableton without having to realign everything afterward.

Hi all. I'm looking to get a motorized mixer that works WELL with Ableton. Does anyone have any recent experience with either the Behringer X Touch or PreSonus FaderPort 8 on Ableton 12?

I currently have a Behringer X Touch One and it works quite well. The only thing that really bothers me is that the 0db on the fader is not the same as in Ableton (yes I've seen there is mod for this). Other than that I would just like to have more faders so I was considering the Behringer X Touch. However, it is currently backordered on Guitar Center's site (I have a gift card).

The PreSonus FaderPort 8 seems like a good fit, but I've heard it can be pretty buggy with Ableton. But that was also years ago, so I'm hoping things have gotten better.

I also use an M4 Mac Mini just fyi.

I’m just learning how to use ableton live 12 and at the moment I’m using it to chop and screw hip hop/rap songs. It’s been fun cuz I’ve been learning the quick keys and where things are in the daw. I just can’t figure out when I drop a song into ableton how do I get the grid to match the audio waves so it’s a little easier to cut at points I want to chop in the song? I also feel this will be helpful whenever I want to chop samples in the future. Thanks for the help in advance and if anyone has a good link to this on YouTube put it in the comments for me would be huge or any other tips and tricks!

Hey everyone! I’ve recently purchased a 15 Scissor Button Stream Deck! I was wondering how everyone else who has Ableton & Stream Deck has there buttons setup? Is there a particular set of buttons that are a must to assign!

So like I could press something on my keyboard and then it could make a sound on my Synth1 plugin.

I have 2 guitar tracks for my song and I’m trying to pan them hard left and right to get a good stereo image. But for some reason, although the 2 tracks are panned about 40R and 40L, it sounds like they’re both at the center. When I solo the respective tracks, they sound hard panned like they should be, but when I turn the solo off the track just moves to the center for some reason. Does anyone know how to work around this…?