Looping on the Fly in Ableton Live

Here is another subject that keeps coming up over at the ALDJ forum, looping on the fly in Ableton without using a mouse or keyboard.  Ableton's looping capabilities is one of the key reasons why i use the program.  Being able to create loops on the fly on time and not having to monitor them as they play is a great asset.

From the ALDJ Forum:

"Here is a tip for looping on the fly that I though most people already did. I thought this one was kind of easy, but based on this quote and a conversation I had with someone else maybe it is not so obvious:

In Live 6, to loop on the fly assign a midi button to the "Track Status Display" for each track that you are using. Then also assign a midi button to the loop on-off, start point, and end point button. I have my global quantization set to one bar, but if you want to create finer loops set it for something smaller.

To capture a loop on the fly hit the button for that track's status. Note that the status button only works if the track is playing. Now that you can see the wave form for that track hit the start button where you want the loop to start and the end button where you want it to stop. If your warping is tight, you now have a perfect loop. To exit the loop turn off the loop button.

A couple of notes.

- Make sure that you are looking at the correct song before you start the loop. Every now and then I loop the wrong track and it takes a second to realize what is going on.
- If you hit the track start button the track will go back to the beginning.
- If you turn off the loop, but realize it was the wrong moment as long as the playhead is in the loop brackets you can turn it back on.
- If you are not sure where you want the loop to start you can "ride" the start button, i.e. hit it over and over to it feel right. The loop open bracket will just keep on moving. Then when you feel that you have it right just close the loop. This works because the loop automatically defaults to include the entire song."

-Charles Cushman