Intro to Ableton Live 10.1’s New Features

Ableton 10 was a massive leap forward for workflow and the enhancement of Live’s incredible features. With Ableton Live 10.1, Ableton continues on the path of workflow enhancements that improve efficiency for performers and producers worldwide. Along with workflow improvements, Ableton has also added some new features to Wavetable, as well as a few new devices. Here’s a quick tour of some of the new features.
User Wavetables

Wavetable is an incredible new synthesizer included with Live 10 Suite. It uses Wavetable synthesis to create incredibly expressive and unique sounds. One of the most highly requested features when Wavetable was released was the ability to use custom user wavetables. Now you can do that with Live 10.1.
If you have custom wavetables that you’ve used with other wavetable synths, you can now drag them directly onto Wavetable and create your own unique sounds. This feature isn’t just for die-hard synth heads though.

Dropping a regular sample onto Wavetable gives you endless options, and brand-new usability for all those old samples that are sitting on your hard drive. Using any sample is as easy as dragging from Live’s browser directly onto Wavetable.
For instance, I challenged myself to see if I could turn a drum loop into an ambient pad using Wavetable and some reverb. I was amazed how quickly I could transform a drum loop into a completely usable pad! Check out the video here.
This opens up worlds of possibility to create your own sounds with almost anything as source material.
Channel EQ

Ableton has added a new device that could very easily be the first stop for sound improvements. Think of Channel EQ like the EQ in the channel strip of an audio console. Sure, there are more in-depth tone-shaping tools, like EQ 8 and Multiband Dynamics, but often it’s a few simple changes that can make a world of difference to your sound.
You can quickly cut or boost frequencies, and you even get a quick overview of the frequency range of your sound using the built-in spectrum analyzer. It’s a great way to quickly cut problematic frequencies or add a slight boost to specific frequencies.
If you record and produce in Ableton Live, you might consider adding Channel EQ to your default audio track. Here’s how:

Drag Channel EQ from the browser to an empty audio track.
Right-click on your audio track and select Save as Default Audio Track.

Now when you load a new audio track into your set, you’ll immediately have access to Channel EQ. This makes changes during recording or mixing so much faster.
Delay

With the new delay effect, two have become one.
Ableton has consolidated the Simple Delay and Ping Pong Delay devices into one device. This makes adding a delay to a sound much faster and helps remove any unnecessary decisions when creating a track.
You can choose a delay time, adjust the feedback control, filter repeats, and much more. Now instead of a separate ping-pong delay effect, you can make any delay settings become a ping-pong delay. One of my favorite features is that the mode options are now available directly on the device, instead of only accessible via a right-click on the device title bar.
Drop the new Delay effect onto a track for your next project, and adjust the controls to see how it affects your sounds.
Automation Improvements
Live 10.1 now includes a whole host of new automation features. From quickly adding automation shapes to transforming automation envelopes into crazy new patterns, there are tons of enhancements. Here are a few worth noting:
Insert Shape

With an envelope and a time range selected, right-click and choose a shape from the Insert Shape menu option. You can choose to add a simple fade in or out, all the way to crazy shapes that will add unique movement to any sound.
Stretch and Scale

You can quickly breakpoint transform automation using the new stretch and scale handles. You can create brand-new sounds and effects by automating values and stretching and scaling the automation values into something new. After creating a few breakpoints on an envelope, select a time range and use the stretch and scale handles to transform the envelope.
Edit Value

You can now quickly jump to a specific value using the new Edit Value menu. Quickly drop a value by a few points or jump to a specific value. While hovering over a breakpoint, right-click and choose the new Edit Value option. Now you can use your keyboard to enter a value for your breakpoint.

Trackpad Zoom
If you use a trackpad with your computer, you can now quickly zoom in and out of arrangement view using pinch and zoom movements. This allows you to quickly navigate and edit your song in arrangement view. This is one of those features that feels like it should have been there all along. Once you realize you can do it, you’ll never stop using it, because it’s the way we’re used to navigating using a trackpad.
Mapping Parameters to Macros

A large focus of Live 10 is workflow enhancements, and this is a perfect example of one of those “small” features that will save you time and add to the enjoyment of using Live. For years, when you mapped a parameter to a macro, the macro would reset to its default value.
When building instrument racks for live performance, I would have to keep a notebook nearby to remember what the original value of the parameter was before assigning it to a macro. Now when I map a parameter to a macro, Live will remember the current value of the parameter.

Rendering Improvements

If you’ve ever rendered out stems from Live to use onstage, you know how quick and handy Live’s export menu is to quickly render stems. While the process of rendering stems was incredibly quick, the process greatly slowed down when you used Sends and Returns as a part of your project. To include your effects from the return tracks in your render, you previously needed to solo each track and render the Master track. If you had lots of tracks that used sends and returns, this could be a long process.

Now with Live 10.1, you can export tracks that use return tracks with effects by enabling the new Include return and master effects setting in the Export Audio/Video window. This allows you to export stems as normal, as well as tracks that use effects on return tracks.
VST 3 Updates
Live 10 provides support for VST 3 plug-ins. It also provides enhancements to how Live interacts with all plug-ins. For instance, a plug-in that crashes while loading will not crash Live. And Live will open without needing to finish the plug-in scan. This is a huge timesaver if you work with a lot of plug-ins in Live.
If you’re going to use VST 3 plug-ins, make sure you’ve enabled support for them in preferences.

Navigate to preferences, and click on the Plug-in tab.
Enable “Use VST3 Plug-in System Folders” if you’re loading your plug-ins into the system folders, or enable “Use VST3 Plug-in Custom Folder” and set the location of that folder if you choose to use a custom location for your plug-ins.
If you’ve used Live for a while, you’ll find these enhancements to Live 10.1 incredibly refreshing. If you’ve never used Live before, there’s never been a better time to start quickly making music, and performing live, with Ableton Live.
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