3 Levels of Ableton Live Looping

Ableton Live is widely used when when it comes to live performance, but how do you go about setting up your own live looping setup? In this video I show you all the steps you need to get started performing, and help you create a more complex multi-track looper using Ableton’s built-in tools and audio effects. By the end you’ll be able to perform your songs and musical ideas with ease.
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You can find the entire project file on my Patreon, set up and ready to use: www.patreon.com/posts/61570447
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0:00 Intro
0:57 Free-form looping
4:39 Quantised looping
7:29 Multi-track looping
12:21 The looping philosophy
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#LiveLooping #AbletonLive #LoopingTutorial

[@AngeloProMusician]

It would be great if in the future you could do a slightly longer video with demos of what you are explaining right after you speak about them. I’ve finally used all these methods but it’s a little difficult to apply from your video alone. I really like your manner so I would have preferred to just watch your video but there wasn’t quite enough detailed info on how to follow through with all the info in real time. Lovely video bud!

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks for the constructive feedback, that's helpful - glad you got it figured out!

[@AdamFBuchanan]

mind blown! I really like this advanced set up. like nothing ive done or seen others teach. Really cool.

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad it's helpful, hope you do some cool stuff with it 😄

[@roscius6204]

I do use Ableton and that's what brought me here, but my primary looper is an RC505 Watching this gave me some ideas on different approaches to that setup. I like the way so many musical ideas cross pollinate, it's endless.

[@HugoMoroux]

And adding in external loopers only multiplies your options, very fun stuff!

[@roscius6204]

@@HugoMoroux Definatly. I use Ableton to add keyboard loops to the RC and also the TimeLines Looper. I mostly having no over arching tempo control and find this gets some interesting swing and poly rhythmic "surprises" Of course sometimes it a mess...

[@HugoMoroux]

Plenty of room for happy accidents 🙌

[@desertsol44]

Thanks you good sir for helping to demystify Ableton’s Looping abilities. Before this video I was a bit stuck between the hardware and software looping world.

[@HugoMoroux]

Great to hear, hope you have fun bringing it all together

[@BenjaminCarlson90]

This is awesome! I'm familiar with looping pedals but am just starting to look at Ableton for software looping. Your multi-loop setup has a lot of potential to do the things I want, and I even may have a midi controller like the one you showed available to me. I'd like to make use of this sort of setup and see how I might make use of it at my church and an open mic I occasionally go to. Thanks for the video! Love it!

[@HugoMoroux]

That's awesome, there's a lot of flexibility to this!

[@lassesworld]

This was really educational almost like a school lesson...So much good material for Ableton Livelooping....wooow THANK YOU SO MUCH

[@HugoMoroux]

My pleasure, glad it was helpful!

[@318h7]

the effects rack looper chains switching 🤯 thanks, great tip 🙏

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks for watching!

[@downburstlive]

Gorgeously explained man! Love that quality studying material :))

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks a ton, hope it serves you well. 🙌

[@torubeat]

this is really creative and dope man. thanks for sharing this approach.

[@HugoMoroux]

My pleasure, have fun looping

[@jaysidd]

Very comprehensive explanation of looper function in Ableton. This was very helpful video.

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad you think so, thanks for watching

[@gEEEtarPotato]

10/10 would loop the video again

[@HugoMoroux]

I see what you did there. 👁

[@christhacke9595]

Thank you so much for your clear instructions. I’ve been trying for a long time to do this!

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad I could help, hope you got it all figured out now!

[@ElliottKleinguitar]

super informative, thanks!

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad it was helpful, looking forward to your looping videos!

[@adriejudd4811]

Thanks for this tutorial easy to take in and helped me in a huge way 🔊

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad it helped, hope you got your music where you want it to be!

[@DarrenBlumenfeld]

I enjoyed listening to your music and you explaining more about your live looping setup, Do you ever play in NYC?

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks, no gigs in NYC unfortunately, I'm based in Europe

[@DarrenBlumenfeld]

@@HugoMoroux Oh well. Guess I will just follow you online :)

[@KaitlinGaspar]

🦆🦆🦆🦆 it’s nice to see u in my subscription feed!!!! :D

[@HugoMoroux]

Thank you, I'm doing my best to get them out more and more often. 🙏

[@andillusional]

Nice content, Hugo!

[@HugoMoroux]

Thank you Andi, more to come!

[@tomfoolery4077]

If you could please show how you mapped the FCB1010 in ableton, that would be greatly appreciated. Including, the mode the FCB1010 needs to be in, including, how you configured inside the FCB1010

[@aldayproduce]

Thanks for this great explanation, It has helped me a lot! 🙌🙌🙌

[@HugoMoroux]

You're very welcome, glad it was helpful

[@NardoParra]

Just what I was looking for, thanks!

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad I could help, have fun! 🙏

[@davenellessen]

Thank you for this video, total gamechanger!!!!!

[@HugoMoroux]

My pleasure, hope you do something awesome with it

[@MrTosejanev]

Hello grear video!! You gave me a lot of idaes. I have one question. If you add looper on channel group it doesn’t record audio from return tracks( reverb, delay) Do you have any suggestions? Tnx

[@HugoMoroux]

Yes, if you want to add effects to your loop, it's best to put them on your instrument tracks that go into the loopers. You could also send the loopers to the return tracks and add spatial effects that way

[@821208RR]

Clear and useful, thanks Hugo!

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks Radu, hope it unlocked some things in Ableton for you!

[@swarley6779]

Excellent video

[@HugoMoroux]

Excellent comment, thanks for watching

[@MreenalMams]

Lovely video.. My process is a broken version of Step 2.. Since I don't have the 'Looper' effect (#abletonlitegang), I directly record audio onto the clips.. And I record/trigger them using the pads on my midi keyboard. Wish midi foot pedals had cheaper & more available options.. PS anyone reading my comment, check out the amazing track names at 8:47 ..

[@HugoMoroux]

You might already know this, but you can get closer to a version of the first method if you set Ableton's global quantisation to none. That way you're not locked on to the grid either. Not my preferred way of achieving this, but could be a nice workaround for Lite!

[@eDrumsInANutshell]

Hi. I came to Ableton by the fact that it was not possible in Cubase to simply shoot a guitar loop for my edrums noodling sessions. I tried it with Groove Agent, but... Anyway, here I got of the track as you start to use the grouping. I have to watch this again. The chain selector I know. 😊 I use it to use different presets in Superior Drummer 3. Is it possible to save "states" in Ableton with regard to the routing? Or switching on/off VSTs? I would guess it might possible. You know, setting an Ableton drum rack, a few SD3 kits or chromatic percussion in an FX rack and then switching the MIDI routing of the ekit, sample pad to SD3, or drum rack...

[@cristofersoto2652]

Thank a lot. Now i can rec an A and a B part. :)

[@HugoMoroux]

As many as you like, as long as you just add more loopers - have fun!

[@heiah]

Could you make it so that the recorded loops in each looper get recorded into separate audio tracks, so that they become clips in the session view ready to be triggered let’s say from the push 2 controller? Or with the midi foot pedal controller like you have, just switch to another midi bank and trigger them from there? does that allow for more intricate live looping possibilities or is it rather impractical? The reason I’m asking is because I’d like to have the possibility to post process/ mix whatever I came up with after a live looping performance. Also: I’m I was to have some performances in 4/4, and others in 6/8, is there a way to switch between those tempos via mapped midi as well? Is there a way to have Ableton detect the tempo of what I input in first, so that the rest of my live looping / clip recordings are in sync?

[@HugoMoroux]

Sure, I think pretty much every button in Ableton can be MIDI mapped. It might not always be the most convenient approach, but technically it should be possible

[@heiah]

@@HugoMoroux thanks for the reply- what buttons and in what configuration would you go about it? Because tbh, I am overwhelmed and confused, loosing my track of thought 😅

[@HugoMoroux]

Recorded loops can be clicked and dragged into the arrangement view, or your clip slots, which would be one way of saving those loop recordings. For tempo detection, you can MIDI map your tap tempo button, or set your first looper up to 'Set & Follow song tempo'. And when it comes to time signatures changes, I think they're best set up per scene (in the Session View). You can do this by typing the meter in the name of the scene itself. As always with Ableton, there are multiple ways of doing things - I hope this helps make you a bit less overwhelmed, I know it's not the easiest thing to explain in text!

[@heiah]

@@HugoMoroux thanks for replying. Yeah I was hoping to set it up so that I don’t have to manually drag recorded loops in a separate audio channel while live looping, but have it set up hands-free😅

[@Ozan_Feryat]

2 years ago I bought an FCB1010 but I couldn't make it work at live 11. How do you made it?

[@beats-machen]

Great video and cool voice! I would love to hear you play/sing in between, then it would be even more varied 😉

[@Joyboy027o]

Do I really need a midi foot pedal to start looping? I’m a multi instrument player and I want to start live looping and I use logic so it’s kinda hard for me to understand how Abelton works and you kinda helped me! Tyvm I’d like to talk with you for more small questions 🙏🎵

[@HugoMoroux]

Not necessarily, there are other types of MIDI controllers available if you prefer to use something else. A foot controller is convenient because it allows you to be hands-free. Happy to discuss further. Feel free to reach out to me: www.hugomoroux.com/lessons/

[@libremocion9273]

Sooo helpful!! Thanks!!!

[@HugoMoroux]

You're welcome!

[@sternenherz]

Hello, thank you! i m used to the BOSS RC 505, which means a) visual feedback of EACH looper, everytime! b) absolutely zero latency when it comes to "Transpose" and "Guitar to bass" effects (basically pitch shifter, octaver). I tried re-creating the rc505 in ableton but both a and b wont work, haha. What a pity! And that's with a very good CPU/RAM/SSD and RME Babyface interface. When i use e.g. the max for life simple pitch shift, or a 'bigger' VST, everytime the latency/Delay for the vocals is too high to have fun with and beatbox tightly. Do you have some tipps for both problems mabye? i m also wondering if the Ableton Push2 would be able to show several looper plugins in its display, but i ve never ever seen anything like it in any video on YT. Very strange for a "live" DAW.

[@HugoMoroux]

Hi there, I'm not sure if it's possible to visually represent the device view of multiple tracks. Perhaps if you set up a second window, you could at least see two simultaneously? As far as latency goes, Max for Live sadly seems to introduce some delay for me as well, so I avoid them for live sessions. Outboard gear such as effect pedals is probably your best bet to minimise latency!

[@sternenherz]

@@HugoMoroux Thanks, i kind of expected this - interesting that you also get some delay with those plugins. Concerning the second window of Ableton: this is a sad story also because somehow they decided that only 1 clip-view can be open at a time. So the other window gets forced into Arrangement view, when the first has ClipView, haha!

[@HugoMoroux]

Dang, that's a bummer. I wonder if there's a clever workaround with Max for Live

[@3xAudio]

amazing work

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks a lot, Sidney. Good luck on your looping journey

[@eross21]

on the first looper option you showed. is there a way to have a count in before it starts actually recording a loop?

[@HugoMoroux]

Besides the quantisation options, not on the looper itself. The looper follows your project, so this means you could use your metronome to count yourself in if you have the looper quantised to the project.

[@tenderthorns3238]

Nice vid! very helpful

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks, glad you think so

[@sjcronchi]

Nice video!! thanks!!!!

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks, have fun looping 😄

[@joaquinduran5662]

Hi! I want to start live looping with various acoustic instruments and I need many mic imputs, so I was considering buying an analog usb mixer. Concretely the mackie profx12v3. Do you recommend that kind of device to work with ableton? Thanks a lot for the video!

[@HugoMoroux]

I have no experience with USB mixers, but as long as it connects to Ableton, you should be fine in terms of building a looping setup like the one I demonstrated in the video

[@electricphantomstv]

Nice tutorial, thank you! I am looking to do loops for different guitar parts with different effects, for e.g one rhythm, a lead and then transposing the guitar to a bass. At the end of the first guitar part I would like to immediately play the second part and not wait for the loop to loop again, is this possible with the last setup you had shown? Would I be able to hit a second pedal to change the track (second guitar part/effect)coming into the loop and it will keep looping? I have managed to get this working with the session view and not using the Ableton looper but I have to hit 3 pedals: Hit the first pedal once to stop the loop Hit the second pedal once to move to the next track Hit the second pedal again to start that loop Sorry for the long question, hope that makes sense. If I can just hit one pedal once this would be ideal.

[@HugoMoroux]

If I understood your question correctly: you can split your parts up into two different tracks, and then connect a pedal to stop the first track while playing the second track. You'd have to have your set planned out for something like this of course (perhaps pre-recording some parts before the performance), which probably wouldn't work great in an improv scenario. I hope that helps

[@electricphantomstv]

@@HugoMoroux I usually have a rough plan, I basically want to loop but have each guitar part in a different track for different effects. When the first loop ends, I want it to keep playing and basically overdub immediately with the second track. At the moment I can only do this hitting the pedal 3 times as described above but wondering if it’s possible with the Ableton looper setup like you have shown. I think I’ll need to do some experimenting 😅

[@HugoMoroux]

@@electricphantomstv Maybe you can make use of Ableton's Follow Actions for what you want to do? Let us know if you discover a cool method!

[@rodgerwebb1]

How did you program the FBC 1010? I got a new one but can't program it I spend all my free time trying to set it up to send cc to Ableton/ Guitar rig 6. I've watched every tutorial going back 12 years . Absolutely nothing works it doseint do anything. Any suggestions?

[@HugoMoroux]

I'd recommend having a look at the manual on Behringer's website. You can find the entire process of how to set up and program your switches in there: mediadl.musictribe.com/media/PLM/data/docs/P0089/FCB1010_P0089_M_EN.pdf

[@timoleary2423]

Follow this link. This guy will sort you out kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXrEiaCBpLJ5bNU

[@HugoMoroux]

@@timoleary2423 Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@BirdsIndia]

sir looper is missing in my audio effect i hv a elton live lite 11

[@HugoMoroux]

I think you need at least Live 11 Intro. You might want to check with Ableton

[@ismailakyagchannel]

thanks for helping

[@HugoMoroux]

My pleasure, glad it was helpful

[@Bezz_Jeens]

Yo! Is there a way to have a separate count in for the looper, so whenever I hit record it will give me a full bar of click? I can’t figure out how to do it but it seems like it should be possible.

[@HugoMoroux]

You can use the 'Quantization' control in the bottom left, which will affect how long it takes before recording or playback launches.

[@Bezz_Jeens]

@@HugoMoroux legend! Thank you, don’t know how I missed this!

[@HugoMoroux]

@@Bezz_Jeens no problem, I hope this helps!

[@csillery]

Excellent!! What kind of guitar?

[@HugoMoroux]

It's a Strandberg guitar! I made a video about it, that you can find here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/joLIf2uhrbN5a6M

[@kevinrobertandrews]

Oh wow, you can group groups!!

[@HugoMoroux]

And put grouped groups into even more groups

[@jdtorian]

Brilliant🎉

[@HugoMoroux]

Glad it's helpful 🔁

[@igordecamillo]

Great!!! Thank you

[@HugoMoroux]

Thanks for watching 🙌

[@igordecamillo]

@@HugoMoroux I'm the one who says thank you for sharing your knowledge. Success!

[@GatorDreams]

What about just using the scenes/clip slots and avoiding using the looper device?

[@HugoMoroux]

You'd lose out on some of the looper's functionality, but it's still a perfectly valid way of setting up your performance

[@fuzzyip]

I followed the whole thing front to back. is there a way to start/stop-all these tracks? (like, comment, subscribe)

[@HugoMoroux]

Yep, one way to do that is to map all the stop buttons to the same control/shortcut

[@phantazzor]

keep rewinding ! the thing missing here is Looper A / B are set up like scenes but not. It would be nice to integrate it , how to get the best of both worlds! ? You might want to use the looper for guitar/voice and the rest on midi clips? why would that be better than the looper set up on a return track? Thanks anyway

[@HugoMoroux]

Sure, you can always combine method 1 and 2 in whichever way you want, depending on what instruments you're using. That's basically what method 3 is doing, with a specific way or organising the many different instances of the Looper audio effect. The problem with return tracks is that you'll continuously be sending audio to them, unless you manually disable the send - so that's unfortunately not very effective for our purposes here. Groups are a neat way of circumventing this problem, because they're only audible as soon as the recording is playing back (this is because we set the 'Input > Output' control on the Looper in the group to 'Never'). I hope that clarifies things a bit. It's a pretty complex set up the first time around, but it'll make sense as you put it together bit by bit. Good luck!

[@bartthevissen7963]

How do you install the midi foot control FCB1010 Behringer in ableton live?

[@HugoMoroux]

You can set it up in Ableton's preferences. It should appear under the MIDI Ports section

[@HugoMoroux]

What’s your favourite audio effect to put on a looper?

[@juanmorenmusic5516]

Tankx

[@skeletonbow]

Great video on looping in Ableton! Can you do one for Reaper too? :)

[@HugoMoroux]

Great suggestion, I wish I was more familiar with Reaper

[@kittycloudz813]

Nice✨🎶..I’ve been using a version this method for many year’s..its deep You can map a knob to the macro on the audio fx rack and select as many loopers as you like..level looptastic

[@HugoMoroux]

Yes, those macros are so powerful!

[@hamed2011]

nice but i never change my loop tracks just instruments and on/off chord and loop tracks for live arrangement that's important to a live season to switch to different variation of a song you playing and performing

[@HugoMoroux]

Many different ways to do things in Ableton, I think that's the beauty of it!

[@steve_one]

This seems so complicated, needing a degree in Abelton just to do one song. Surely backing tracks would be less of a headache? But guess that takes the fun out of it 🙂 I guess I just cannot understand the process too easily.

[@HugoMoroux]

I guess it ultimately depends on what you're trying to do. If you want to stack loopers with different effects, it's definitely more involved - but you can start simple with a single looper and perform that way too

[@typefeisu]

trust the guy in the turtleneck!

[@HugoMoroux]

What could possibly go wrong? 🐢

[@odalv7278]

😂.. thanks for the video

[@kezosikuka1870]

Make more videos..on how to loop without a pedal

[@HugoMoroux]

Interesting idea, curious how you'd approach that!

[@kezosikuka1870]

@@HugoMoroux I recently (5 or less days ago) got ABLETON live suite 9,and I've been looking for any REALLY BEGINNER videos for live session, I've been playing with loopers for a while, so I'm trying to incorporate looping without actual loop pedals,

[@odalv7278]

@@kezosikuka1870 you can use anything that has midi to trigger loopers but if your hands are busy why not foot pedals? … they have those funny midi rings that send midi based on twisting your fingers in very awkward ways… that would work too though..

[@jonsible]

Most subtle "Like Comment Subscribe" on youtube lol

[@HugoMoroux]

That's going on my gravestone

[@Scarborean]

BRO THIS IS SO COMPLICATED WITHOUT DEMONSTRATIONS....

[@Scarborean]

nvm i replayed it 592308 times lol thank you

[@HugoMoroux]

@@Scarborean haha, glad you figured it out. It definitely takes some tinkering, depending on how crazy you want to get with it

[@intuneknitter4220]

You don’t need loppers though. Ableton is a looper!

[@HugoMoroux]

Definitely, but each method allows for a different workflow, which'll lead to different results. It's awesome how flexible Ableton is with this stuff!

[@carpediem4413]

Great info ……but as a beginner, you move too fast and skip the how/why you do each step.

[@HugoMoroux]

I can see it being overwhelming if you're not familiar with Ableton. Probably a good idea to experiment with the first two methods as those are a bit more accessible!

[@Elmatador964]

Definitely recommend not calling the tracks Like Comment and Subscribe. That was distracting and doesn’t make me want to subscribe.. if anything it achieves the opposite effect.