Help with playback or scrub ?

[mkmooney]

Ok guys, In any other application I have been able to scrub the timeline or have it start playback from wherever the cursor is. Ableton keeps starting from the beginning of my song every time no matter what I do and I cannot figure this out. What am I missing?

[boo]

Hold shift and then spacebar will start playback from the current position.

[mkmooney]

ok, got that. Thanks for the info. I couldn't find it anywhere in the tutorials or help. 1 mark against Ableton for no obvious way to make it the dafault. I suppose I can hit the shift key no problem, but how do I move the cursor back? It only starts from where you stopped it and I can't go back to hear my edit.

[boo]

I was just playing with this a bit, and there is a scrub area just below the beat time ruler at the top. Move the mouse slowly and it will turn into a little speaker. If you click it will start playback from that point. I use Logic for all my creation and editing, and I don't really care for Ableton's arrange view, for some of the same reason's you're having trouble with. It really is just a clip launcher for me. I'm sure some folks know their way around the interface better. It is an awesome program, just a bit confusing for editing, at least for me anyway. I should be clear that I am just learning Ableton, and it is a remarkable and unique program.

[Cailyn]

Left click (in the arrangement view) in any track where you want playback to start. A flashing red line will appear with a red arrow above in the scrub area. Hit the space bar and the playback will start there. It's that simple. I only edit in this view.

[mkmooney]

Ok, maybe I'm not understanding this workflow here but I am working in the session view because I am editing my drum track while listening to other tracks. Can I also edit midi tracks in the arrangement view? I don't see how to do that. I am about to give up on ableton as I am not a DJ, I just want to record my stuff and was using this because I like the midi features and warping and thought it would be a nice app, but it's not working like anything I have used before. Is there something else I can use to lay down midi drum tracks in the same app like I can in Ableton and basically treat a midi element like another track without too much fuss? Seems like this should be much easier.

[Cailyn]

DJs tend to use the Session view and recording artists tend to use the Arrangement view. I edit midi drum tracks in that view all the time. Double click on midi clip and it will appear below. You can edit with the track paused or on the fly. Once you get the hang of it, it is quite simple.