Here I will be showing you the most important shortcuts in Ableton and what they do.

No matter what your profession is, shortcuts will speed up your workflow and make you more efficient.

One of the key benefits is time saving which not only speeds up your productions, but also means you are less likely to forget an idea as you try to find the right menu option.

The following list are my top shortcuts which I use in every project. I will also explain their benefit and why you should use them

Finer resolution

One of the most annoying thing in any DAW or software with controllable values is the resolution of control.

Ever tried turning a knob or fader trying to get the exact value but it just won’t get to the right number?

Well in Ableton you can increase the resolution of control.

Holding shift while you change a value is great because it means the mouse movement makes smaller value changes.

This works on many things across Ableton, from volume faders to synth controls. It also works on envelopes.

Continue Play from Stop Point

This really shouldn’t be a thing in my opinion. In every other piece of software I use, from DAWs, to video editors, to YouTube, hitting spacebar stops playback at the playhead, then hitting it again continues from where you have left off.

But in Ableton if you pause and hit spacebar to resume, it will resume from the original start point and not where the pause left off.

To just un-pause, you’ll need the shortcut above. It’s a hassle and I wish it was built in that way from the start, but changing now will be at the detriment of long-time Ableton users.

Record

For a quick way to get recording, hit F9. This one doesn’t need much explaining, and it may not be the biggest time-saver, but if you like to do everything from keyboard, it is a good one to know, since you’ll no doubt be recording multiple times per session.

Halve/Double Loop Length

This is one I use a lot for chopping up parts and samples. It is a convenient way to do it and saves fiddling with the mouse to get exactly half/double the length.

One thing to make sure of is that the clip is the exact length to start with. I sometimes have trouble when chopping recorded MIDI clips that may be a half beat too long. This can affect the command.

Rename

This is important as your project grows to keep tab of track names and clips. I recommend you name all your tracks and any clips that are key (e.g naming and numbering fills).

You might not know this, but you can use the emoji keyboard (Windows key & . ) to add emojis to the track names as well. There are emojis for lots of instruments so you can keep your tracks minimised on the side and still see what they are.

Split Clip at Selection

There are many reasons why you may want to split a clip, whether you are cutting out a beat for sampling, or trimming a sample, this is a shortcut, you will use on the daily.

It is also effective on highlighted sections of a clip, where if you use it, it will chop on both sides and not just on the cursor.

Optimise Arrangement Height

As you edit, you will zoom in and out on different areas. Using this shortcut, it will optimise the view to fit everything in better.

Optimise Arrangement Width

Like above, but for width.

Reverse Audio Clip Selection

Depending on your production style, you may not be a frequent user of the clip reverse function. This is actually really useful for reverse fades and chopping samples.

If you are a fan of The Prodigy, you will probably like this feature, as their sampling style used a lot of chops and reverses.

It is also good for converting kicks into rising rumbles and hiding satanic messages in your music.

Insert Audio Track

Simple enough, and needs no explanation, this shortcut adds a new track.

Insert MIDI Track

As above but for MIDI tracks.

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