Chopping samples manually in Ableton Live and assign to drum rack

Chopping samples manually in Ableton Live and assign to drum rack

This is just a quick video showing how to chop samples manually in Ableton Live then assigning them to a drum rack.

It’s a quick way to slice samples and still have control over your sections.  I showed how to automate chopping in the video how to use ableton live to chop samples like an mpc.

This one is for all the questions I got regarding how to have more control over your chops before you slice and assign them to the drum rack.

let me know what you think, leave a comment below.

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44 Responses to “Chopping samples manually in Ableton Live and assign to drum rack”

  1. William says:

    Yo,man!, thanks for the tutorial on chopping samples on Ableton Live. Keep dropping that knowledge.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    no problem, always glad to help

    [Reply]

  2. asouthernlife says:

    thanx homie.cause knowing is only half the battle…”gi,joe”hahaha.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    No doubt yo! Hope it helps ya!

    [Reply]

  3. Kloo says:

    yo man thanks for the info. Appreciate the help.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    no problem, glad to help

    [Reply]

  4. Great Scott says:

    Thanks for that Joe.I use Abelton and I have been tryng to figure out how to do that.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    no problem yo, glad to help!

    [Reply]

  5. PaulKey says:

    Good tutorial. This is the easiest and yet the most convinient way to do this. Thanks again. This will save me time :) Cheers.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    glad you could use it, I have a few peeps asking about it so I figured it’s best to share a quick video on it.

    [Reply]

  6. great tutorial man…. great tutorial. very very helpful. keep this up, you could be the only lead source of hip hop tutorials for ableton man… i can’t wait to figure out some stuff, so i can do videos for your site too!

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    hahahaha, glad u like it man, just trying to share some tips ya know.

    [Reply]

  7. Sean says:

    I’m just getting into Ableton Live, and this is exactly what I’m looking to do with it. Awesome tutorial man, thanks!

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    Glad to help Sean, it’s pretty slick.

    [Reply]

  8. try2dream says:

    dope tutorial man, just wondering if theres a way to do ’16 levels’ like you would on the mpc but to do it with say one sample layed out on all keys of a keyboard controller at different pitches. kind of like the asr-10 sampler style.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    if you just want to lay a sample out across the keys, drag it into a simpler instead of a full drum rack, then you’ll be able to play it out on the keys

    [Reply]

    alwayzambitious Reply:

    try2dream, I was curious about the 16 level method… is there a song that utilizes that technique that I could learn from. I’m trying to see how that would sound if i applied it

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    it’s not really a “sound” it’s just a quick method on the mpc where if I have a sound on a pad I can hit 16 levels and it will spread it across all the pads, each pad with a different pitch or velocity, whichever you choose.

    [Reply]

  9. BG says:

    Can you do this in Live 7 or does it have to be 8?

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    I’m using live 7 so it will def work in there :)

    [Reply]

  10. Metatron72 says:

    Yeah man, the old MPC mentality never dies does it? I was reading MPC forums the other day, and someone asked why Akai has never put a jog dial on any of the MPD’s.
    Not totally necessary, but man that would dope for this.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    it’s all about the workflow man! that’s what it is…folks wanna get ideas down quickly without stuff getting in the way, I know u feel me lol

    [Reply]

    alwayzambitious Reply:

    im a strictly software guy because i cant afford to get an mpc.. whats the jog dial for that software can’t do?

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    it would just provide a hands on way for people to edit their samples is all.

    [Reply]

  11. seestuff says:

    THANK YOU SJ!!appriciate the vid,this is going to help me try some different things.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    you’re welcome man, really glad to help out!

    [Reply]

  12. Dolomyte3d69 says:

    Very straight forward tutorial. Man, I’m loving your site! Thanks for putting in the time to do these videos!

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    thanks man, glad to help!

    [Reply]

  13. Brian B. says:

    Can you change the pitch or time stretch those samples inside of the drum pad?

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    I don’t think you can timestretch in there but you can change the pitch if you open up the simpler device connected to each pad.

    [Reply]

  14. killermike says:

    your sample isnt gonna be in time if u do it manual

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @killermike, it won’t be in time if you automatically slice to midi either, I always use tap tempo when slicing samples.

    [Reply]

    alwayzambitious Reply:

    @saintjoe, can you describe how to do tap tempo in more detail. not sure what its used for

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @alwayzambitious, tap tempo so that the tempo of the track matches the tempo your want, I always use it any time I make music. Just tap the tempo and then it’s set at what you want. When using samples, you can tap it to the sample to get the tempo you need, it’s a more hands on way of setting your tempo.

    [Reply]

  15. jpeg says:

    whut up saint joe

    u killin it with this site dude, ive been wanting to get using abelton for some time ur chop to midi and this vid really got me movin but.

    when i load a sample more then 8 seconds long into simpler and the **** fades out, on fill length and full release.

    how can i make this **** play in true tigger/one shot mode?

    as ive setup a default simpler and default drm rack but all my longer music samples r fading out

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @jpeg, no doubt fam thanks for the love! Check the sustain on your volume/amp envelope, it may not be set to 100%

    [Reply]

    jpeg Reply:

    @saintjoe, thats the joke i made sure the length was full, sustain and decay was all checked but regardless after the 6 to 8 second mark the shit starts to trail.

    have u ever tried puttin a 2 minute sample in simpler? its cool for drum sounds but seems longer audio aint supported

    [Reply]

    Dwayne ( @alwayzambitious ) Reply:

    saintjoe, jpeg ( what a name lol ) is right.. it does trail off at the 6-8 second mark. sustain decay relay set to 100 percent.. it’s probably something simply we are missing

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @Dwayne ( @alwayzambitious ), that’s crazy fam lol, I’ll have to peep it.

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @jpeg, hmmm, interesting, i’ll have to try wit a longer sample, I’ll admit I never put in samples that long lol

    [Reply]

  16. Stuen says:

    Hey thanks man, I’ve been doing it the ‘automatic’ way but it was tedious and gave me shit splices, had to spend ages fixing every time.
    I’m such an idiot for not thinking of this!!
    Peace

    [Reply]

    saintjoe Reply:

    @Stuen, cool glad to help yo!

    [Reply]

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