Audio to Midi in Ableton - INSTANT track inspiration

One of my favourite features of Ableton is it's Audio to Midi conversion, it just instantly sparks ideas for me. Instead of ignoring all the melody, bass and keys loops with packs, try running them through the audio to midi to get a great start for a track!
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[@DirtySecretz]

*Quick note! I've had a few messages through saying 'Audio To Midi' is not working in their version of Ableton - this feature is only available in 'Standard' and 'Suite' versions of Ableton.* www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

[@EMBEEclassic]

I have the Suite but instead of turning the audio to midi, my track turns into an audio-track. Can anyone help?

[@DirtySecretz]

@@EMBEEclassic you need to have an instrument on the midi track otherwise Ableton will just convert it into an audio track

[@jj_hertz]

I just got ableton and have been searching for HOURS for the right way to do this and for someone to break it down well... thank you for this! Subbed

[@yennitseng]

i've been watching your videos while learning and exploring ableton. clear explanations (for non-english speakers) and very inspiring ideas. honestly, after watching quite some video tutorials online, your videos are one of the few that've got me more interested in exploring the possibilities of ableton because you literally make it seem like fun. thank you and hope you can keep doing this. much appreciated!

[@orkahouse3841]

Ableton has so many useful plugins, never tried this one, simple and perfect. Thanks for sharing.

[@damonbrathwaite5520]

This is the best and most accurate hands down. I tested all for windows OS.

[@bboymac84]

This is what makes Ableton great!!👍🏽👍🏽

[@helixxmusic]

I can’t wait to test this out

[@aldraias1]

Push 2 with Intro. Recently upgraded just for this! Should have paid the extra 100 sumpthin from the get go. Lol. An extra 300 later... Love it!

[@matrixate]

Ableton had been getting it right for years.

[@hanzo3188]

Sounds great for recreating some cool old school analog sounds.

[@spurioustransients]

I made a whole track recently, based around a lick I played on my bass guitar and then converted to MIDI. Not only did I get the bassline but also all the other parts too with a little editing.

[@P3tzos]

Can i Put only midi inside ableton with a Guitar of Bass? I am a Bad Keyboard Player 😂 First i record Guitar to Audio and then convert to midi. I not found a way to record only midi from my Guitar. I think i have something in the settings wrong

[@KaosVerket]

Thank u sir! Fun stuff!

[@johnnydiaz5069]

great tip, thx master!

[@FlashyLight]

Great video!

[@user-dv2vv1ch7u]

Thank You!

[@abukhadra2]

Hey man, even though i came her to learn how to do this conversion i really liked the open hat sample you put, tryna find a similiar sound on splice but cant, could you help me find that pack or a similiar open hat loop?

[@LeiChat]

Have you tried Vochlea Dubler Studio? I am wondering how it compares to Ableton's audio to midi feature?

[@naomilovett6097]

Awesome video! Thanks heaps ! But you could have mentioned that you have to assign a sound to the midi track for this to work, otherwise it will just convert the midi track to audio. Took me a little while to figure this out =)

[@DirtySecretz]

Haha yeah there is that, I think that catches quite a few out even me sometimes! As long as you have some instrument of some sort on there it’ll be fine 😊

[@ranajoyshil]

Hi, this looks cool but is there any way to adjust the sensitivity instead of the 1 click solution?

[@darshansigel6738]

just wondering how i can take a sound bite from a sample and draw a beat without it changing the actual sound of the say drums. thanks!

[@ronmckinnon1064]

Hi..great vid. Listen I really like the type of house you have created in your intro...can you make a video and flush out all the tricks of that particular style.. Love it..Is that considered classic house?

[@DirtySecretz]

Check out sonicacademy.com, I have done 7 courses there on different styles of house. There's 'Classic House' and 'Garage House' courses that are probably the closest to the intro beat.

[@jakefindley4880]

Every time I convert audio to midi the notes that come up in the midi note editor are different looking to the usual midi notes in ableton and are more rectangle. Why is this? Can't find an answer anywhere. Great video thanks!

[@DirtySecretz]

Can’t say I’ve seen midi note look more rectangle? Maybe lighter (lower velocity) but I’ve not noticed a shape change

[@DJSupe]

Thanks for this tutorial. I am using Ableton Live 10 Lite on a 2017 MacBook. When I try this, the option the cursor music note does not appear. In fact it just changes the midi track into an audio track. I also tried right-clicking and do not see an option. Is there a setting that needs to be enabled first?

[@DirtySecretz]

I'm afraid Audio To Midi is not available in Lite, you'll need either Standard or Suite: www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

[@DJSupe]

@@DirtySecretz Thanks for confirming that. Just pulled the trigger on Standard Live 10. Made sense since it is 20% off right now with 11 coming in a couple of days. And I get the free upgrade so that is pretty cool. Thanks!

[@axtonchandra6494]

So is the instrument used after you convert it to midi is the same as the instrument from the original audio track? I'm just starting, and I'm struggling in finding new instruments. I just subscribed to loopmasters, and I would like to use their melody loops and use the instrument from the loops to make my own lines. Can I do that? Thanks before!

[@DirtySecretz]

This is kinda the opposite to that, it is taking only the notes of the melody loop and using it in a new instrument. If you’re looking to take a melody loop and sample the instrument from it you could drop the loop into the “Simpler” or “Sampler” instrument and narrow down the selection in that to the note you want. This will then allow you to play a melody with the sampled note.

[@smon3789]

Hey I have a question! If I record a sound of my voice in Audacity and drag it into my Ableton Project then the sound is a Audio Clip but I want to play this sound I made of myself on my Midi Keyboard. How can I do that? Ps love your video!

[@DirtySecretz]

First off, you can actually record yourself inside Ableton without the need for Audacity. Just create a new audio track, set the input as your microphone, arm it to record and then hit record. Once you have the sample you want, create a new midi channel and add the Simpler or Sample instrument to it. Then drag and drop you sample into that and you'll be able to play it across the keyboard.

[@smon3789]

@@DirtySecretz thx

[@Ola88262]

Love yahh mun...

[@LeDrummerDu88]

I can't drag the audio in the midi area : is this because i have the Lite version of Ableton ? (Ableton Lite 10)

[@DirtySecretz]

Yes, it is only available in Ableton Live Standard and Suite

[@Red-gl2cb]

great vid. hey why do loopmasters still add rex files. i delete all those rex loops. if im using rex files its usually pretty rare. i only used them in logic and even then id use recycle to make my own.

[@DirtySecretz]

I have loads of them sitting on my hard drive, my sample collection goes back about 20 years!

[@dovane9932]

Great! In fact, if i followed you right, that means i can turn my rythmn guitar part into an organ one for exemple?

[@DirtySecretz]

Yes, anything with melodic content in can be turned into midi notes - you could even hum into a mic and convert that to midi

[@dovane9932]

@@DirtySecretz does it work for chords too, that's what i meant?

[@DirtySecretz]

Yes it does work for chords but most of the time it’s not perfect and sometimes it’s way off - it all depends how much is going on. If you had some simple piano chords with no reverb/delay on them it’d pick the chords up pretty well however if they are really layered or have FX it can get it confused

[@dovane9932]

@@DirtySecretz Thanks for the tip.

[@huntrrams]

This is amazing! What if the sample is my voice humming from a phone recording? Would it work?

[@DirtySecretz]

In theory it should but depending on the recording and your pitch it may have mixed results

[@huntrrams]

@@DirtySecretz thanks!

[@handris99]

If you autotune it first it probably works better. Thats my theory.

[@hanzo3188]

Subbed btw

[@urzathehappy72]

wow this is incredible. can i do this in real time then output to synths via midi? i want to play acoustic piano n be able to output the midi to my moog subharmonicon

[@DirtySecretz]

Unfortunately it can't do it in real time, it takes a moment to process it all. There is a product called Dubler which is a microphone/software that can translate audio into midi in real time but that's really just for single notes and designed to be used on the voice.

[@urzathehappy72]

@@DirtySecretz i was actualy just doing this, acoustic piano into midi into subh., last nite with a free app called "beat bars A2M" to get audio to midi, but it wasnt perfect. ill have to keep tinkering. still cant beleive this is possible its nuts lol

[@urzathehappy72]

@@DirtySecretz really the easier way tho is just to have a sequence setup on my minilogue, send it to subharm, and play over it with the piano instead of tryna fiddle with real time midi

[@josuevargas2123]

Can this be done on the lite version of abelton or only the full version ?

[@DirtySecretz]

No afraid not, you’ll need Ableton Standard or Suite

[@brennanaman1]

When I drag the audio to the midi channel it changes the channel to audio and i just have an audio copy..any advise from a kind viewer would be appreciated

[@DirtySecretz]

You need to have an instrument on the midi channel before you drag audio onto it otherwise it'll convert it to an audio channel instead

[@MiguelGarcia-ni1ji]

Does it also work with Ableton lite?? I've tried it and it converts the midi track into an audio track.

[@DirtySecretz]

It’s only available in Ableton Standard and Suite I’m afraid!

[@goldiloxnation6421]

@@DirtySecretz dang it I wanted it too

[@fanibacsi2918]

its isnt doing this to me. when i dorp the audio file to the midi chanel its just turn the midi chanel to an audio chanel. but not convert anything. any help. plz.

[@DirtySecretz]

You must have an instrument on the channel for it to work otherwise i'll just change the midi channel to an audio channel.

[@fanibacsi2918]

@@DirtySecretz thanks. its works

[@bobwrotenstien315]

How do you tell Ablelton what midi notes to map your slices too, as opposed to starting on C1?

[@DirtySecretz]

Are you talking about the Slice To Midi command? The Audio To Midi is a different function, it analyses your audio for the notes and then creates the midi file from that - so it's detecting the notes and deciding where to put them on the keyboard. It's the Slice To Midi that chops up your audio file and puts those chops in a drum rack, starting from C1 - it doesn't do any analysation for key and keeps the audio as audio.

[@bobwrotenstien315]

@@DirtySecretz Slice to Midi. It puts the notes in a drum rack down at C1. But I want the notes mapped starting at midi C3 for example, mainly because I will be playing that track with another track and playing up in C3 range. I see you can laboriously remap each note in the drum rack, but was wondering if you cant just set the start range to something else.

[@DirtySecretz]

@@bobwrotenstien315 So I don't think there is a setting to choose to start from C3 when slicing it up and yes you could go through manually changing the mapping but I'd tackle it in much simpler way - using the midi pitch device. Put that in on your midi channel before the drum rack set to - 24 semitones. Then if you play C3 going into that channel it'll pitch it down to C1, I think that's probably going to be your easiest way.

[@bobwrotenstien315]

@@DirtySecretz Perfect. Thanks

[@eeeh_matus]

pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease i need answer is possible to do this stuff also in ableton 10 LITE? pls answer mee i rly need it

[@DirtySecretz]

No, this is only available in Ableton Standard & Suite

[@eeeh_matus]

@@DirtySecretz thanks :(

[@muhurt0]

it doesn't show the converter audio to midi option's here on my daw....y?

[@DirtySecretz]

The audio to midi feature is available in Ableton Standard & Suite versions

[@loveparade6573]

is it on working on the lite edition? He just makes an audio channel of the midi and just duplicates the first audio channel

[@daka5109]

i think it doesn't work. On my lite version the symbol for changing the audio clip to midi doesn't come :(

[@loveparade6573]

@@daka5109 same for me, thats sad :/

[@michaelduwel8012]

@@loveparade6573 you need to load an instrument into the midi channel first

[@noizebox23]

what version ov ableton r u using ?

[@DirtySecretz]

In this video version 10 suite I think, I’m now on v11 suite

[@freestyleCarte]

Je comprend pas, moi ça propose pas la conversion quand je fais clic droit sur un clip audio 😢

[@djbonne1]

Hello my friend, how are you? Is Kush Chord native to ableton?

[@DirtySecretz]

Yes, I think it's part of one of the Ableton Packs but I can't remember which one off the top of my head

[@djbonne1]

@@DirtySecretz Humn okay...no problem, I can't find it in the natives of ableton..thankss

[@DirtySecretz]

@@djbonne1 It's in the "Beat Tools" pack www.ableton.com/en/packs/beat-tools/

[@nightforce6826]

MIDI converting is nothing new to someone tinkering around in Ableton, BUT DAMN that MIDI scale audio plugin IS THE SHIT!!!!!! Thanks so much for this video and your guide!

[@BrianKlobyGuitar]

Interesting... potential lies within this container...

[@yogwaves9935]

doesnt convert with ableton 11 :/

[@Yamuva3]

Mine doesn’t do that it only does it once in a blue moon

[@DirtySecretz]

Yeah it's tricky, it never gets it perfect but I usually find enough to have something to work with

[@mortest59]

it doesnt say convert to midi F

[@sebasguitar132]

Really KZbin ? A 30 minute video Add that only can't be skip? Had to quit the video and entering again after 6 minutes of waiting.. thanks for the video either way

[@50zezima]

Oh just another stupid paywall for some feature that should've been included for the get go. Came to this looking for a way to set up the audio to react to certain midi keys for each section of the audio and was disappointed.

[@justinheat1]

you could always do this. not sure this is new.

[@ceasefireforpalestine]

was disappointed as fuck when i found out i can't do this with intro

[@DirtySecretz]

Yeah it's a shame but I guess they have to strip some features away from the intro version

[@griffingibson4389]

Shift up changes octave… WUTT

[@toma7801]

1:55 here

[@TheAdyyoung2000]

Thanks for showing this, but am I commenting on the same video as everyone else? That was an awful conversion. Dropped notes, wrong pitches etc. There are free online converters that do a better job.

[@frattuncbas]

Ableton converters are shit about this..Studio One is the best about this.

[@TheRangeControl]

LMFAO... Doesn't sound "Perfect"?!... If perfection got hit by a train and evacuated its bowels.... The sound of excrement being evacuated (being routed through an arpeggiator", is what it would sound like in comparison to the original. #JustSayin #Audio2MIDIfailsWithAbleton

[@nairobigamer4876]

Yoooow Timestamps