One of the best ways to get fast at Ableton Live is to master the key commands. Here’s a list of key commands I put together when I was studying to become an Ableton Certified Trainer. Copy and paste this and keep it by you as you work. I found a lot of cool functions just by putting together this list. If I’ve left any out, please shoot them over to add to the list. Enjoy….
A. FILE MENU
Com N: New Live Set
Com O: Open Live Set
Com W: Close Live Set
Com S: Save Live Set
Shift Com S: Save Live Set As
Shift Com R: Export Audio/Video
B. EDIT MENU
Com z: Undo
Shift – Com Z: Redo
Com x: Cut
Shift – Com X: Cut Time – Select a loop, Hit this command, Everything in the loop will be cut and that amount of time will vanish from the arrangement.
Com c: Copy
Com V: Paste
Shift Com V: Paste Time: – Select loop, Copy, Then paste – will copy over what’s there
Com D: Duplicate
Shift Com D: Duplicate Time: Automatically duplicates what’s in the loop
Delete Key: Delete
Shift Com Delete: Deletes what’s in the loop
Com R: Rename
Com E: Cut
Com J: Consolidate
Com U: Quantize
Shift Com U: Quantize Settings
Com G: Group
Shift Com G: Ungroup
Com L: Loop Selection
Shift Com L: Select Loop
Com A: Select All
C. CREATE MENU
Com I: Insert Silence
Shift Com I: Capture and Insert Scene : Takes all the clips that are playing at a given moment and creates a whole new scene with them
Com T: Audio Track
Shift Com T: Midi Track
Opt Com T: Return Track
Shift Com M: Insert Midi Clip
Opt Com F: Create Fade: Also allows for the creation of cross-fades!***** To do this – select the track in arrangement view, then hit the clip you want to add a fade or cross-fade to. Then hit this command and you’ll see the fades appear
D. VIEW
F11: Full Screen – Doesn’t seem to work on new MacBook Pro
Shift Com F: Search In Browser
Opt Com O: Overview of the Entire Track
Opt Com I: Ins and Outs
Opt Com S: Sends
Opt Com R: Returns
Opt Com M: Mixer
Zoom In: +
Zoom Out: –
E: OPTIONS
Com M: Edit Midi Map (Midi Mapping Short Cut)
Com K: Key Mapping Shortcut
Shift Com K: Computer MIDI Keyboard
Com 1: Smaller Launch Quantization
Com 2: Larger Launch Quantization
Com 3: Triplet Launch Quantization
Com 4: Kill Launch Quantization
Com 5: Fixed Grid
Com B: Draw Mode
Com F: Follow: If activated, display will scroll during playback to keep the current song position visible.
ADDITIONAL
Tab – Switches from Session to Arrangement View
Shift Tab – Switches from Track to Clip View
