Ableton Live tip. Shift - Space Bar keeps you going.

Posted July 8th, 2008 by Oliver Chesler
Filed Under: Ableton Live

In Ableton Live when you hit the Space Bar it triggers the transport to start or stop. Each time you hit the Space Bar the song begins playing from the last Insert Marker. I find this very useful as you can make changes to a section and listen again to the same section quickly. But what if your playing a live show and you pause the music or you know your happy with a section you have just changed? You want the arrangement to keep playing from the location you stopped it right? Hold down shift and hit the Space Bar and presto your song keeps playing without returning to the last insert marker!

Arrangement playback can also be toggled on and off by pressing the keyboard’s space bar. To continue playback from the position where it last stopped, rather than from the insert marker, hold down the shift modifier while pressing the space bar. - Ableton Live User Manual

photo credit: gottlieb

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8 Responses to “Ableton Live tip. Shift - Space Bar keeps you going.”
  1. Jacksin Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 3:51 am

    Good tip. Something else I’ve found useful spacebar-wise for the arrangement view is to just click in the “Track Display” and hit spacebar to go right back to that spot without having to setup a loop bar or clicking on the “Scrub Area”. I usually utilize this when setting up sweeps or checking my envelop adjustments.

  2. Pete Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 6:17 am

    Ah, but does it work in Session View?
    Twice in my life I’ve accidentally pressed spacebar with my palm in the middle of a gig! Luckily the audiences have been forgiving and jokingly yell for an encore or similar.

  3. Oliver Chesler Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Yes Pete… It works in Session View too! It’s true what you say about the audience… just smile and say woops and they will forgive!

  4. Dave Wesley Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 8:43 am

    Anyone know if there is a variation on this theme that addresses resynchronizing two MIDI linked PCs in a live performance? Often, during gigs, set up is quick between sets. My music partner usually lags behind me in getting his stuff set up and I have to take over and start pushing out music before the two PCs are synced up. This requires a full stop/start to sync our machines once he’s ready - which breaks the continuity of the set. Is there any trick that will allow us to sync with an alternative version of the space-bar in Ableton????

  5. Kent Sandvik Says:
    July 8th, 2008 at 10:38 am

    I don’t know how many times we have told Ableton to set in a preference or something to disable this feature. There are hacks for the PC, I have not found anything suitable for MacOSX yet. Or at least have a way to remap this feature to another key command sequence that will be hard to do on stage unless you want to do it. The spacebar is always there, easy to touch it.

    Anyway, send support@ableton.com more emails about fixing this. I’ve been doing it since 2.1 days.

  6. mindlobster Says:
    July 9th, 2008 at 5:54 pm

    I know at least one Mac guy who inserts a piece of cardboard under his spacebar before the gig. I too have mentioned this to Ableton several times. More than anything else, I’d like Live 8 to include many more Preference settings.

  7. Oliver Chesler Says:
    July 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Hi Dave. How are you syncing the two computers?

  8. Jacksin Says:
    July 11th, 2008 at 6:13 am

    Here’s my settings for syncing computers: http://www.jacksinmusic.com/Temp/Sync.jpg

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