In Studio One you can save entire tracks and plugin settings within a single preset file. Is there any way to do something similar to this in Ableton?

For example, if I've created a kick channel with sample, effects, written the MIDI, and got it to where I feel it's perfect and likely to want to re-use in multiple project, what's the best/easiest way to save the track state and be able to recall as easily as possible for future projects?

I can obviously save Instrument Racks or Audio Effects Rack to save the plugin state and settings, but there's other things as well like the MIDI, track volume, track panning etc.

I don't want to save as a default track as I don't want every track created to be inserting all of these settings and parameters that I'd have to undo for all other tracks.

Any way around it?

 

This is what many producers do. You setup a big template and then hide or delete what you don't need into a new file, so you don't wreck your template. It's not uncommon to have a few of them. You can just select between them when first you start a new track and save that copy right away, so you are working in a new file. People say it saves a ton of time. They setup all the channel strips, groups, sends, organize and apply colors to tracks so they make sense to you. You can setup a decent amount of your gain structure that way also. With all the instruments (plugins) disabled, they have no real effect on CPU or memory.

I don't use Live much. But in Logic you would just save the smaller style setup you are more directly asking about as a Channel Strip. It just wouldn't have midi in it.

 

Last edited: Nov 10, 2023

Yeah, that in essence is creating a template, which hasn't worked for me in the past as it feels to restricted and I spend so much time refining a template I don't actually produce music.

In Studio One you can save entire tracks as track presets. You can then open up a blank project and drag in the tracks you want to use. The track presets doesn't only save and then insert the actual track along with its instruments, plugins, and channel settings, but it will also add in any audio or MIDI on that saved channel as well as create any bus groups or FX groups the channel was linked to when created. This is super efficient as you can easily and quickly open up a blank project and populate only with the things you're feeling like using on that session and then supplement with anything else you want, including any bus groups and FX channels and MIDI and audio clips etc. No hiding or anything necessary and no template creation necessary, though you can obviously save a fully populated project as a template if you wanted to as well.

When making things like techno, you could pretty much drag in a kick track preset and it could load up the plugin/sampler, all the FX plugins, the MIDI clips/audio data for a 4/4, and create a kick bus group with any relevant plugin on the group channel too. All by just dragging in one track preset. Add in a kick like this, along with an off beat hat track, ride track, clap track, basic perc track, and you have the groove foundations of a techno or house track set up in seconds with all the MIDI, audio, plugins, bus groups, FX channels too. It just seems like a super intuitive way to implement such a solution, and you could create your track presets for all of the different types of kicks, hats, claps, cymbals, percs etc, and add in the ones you're feeling on that day without getting the creativity too stifled, giving you a virtually automated back beat to start the project from with the feel that you choose without having to procrastinate too much.

Just seems like a pretty efficient and innovative way to create a session quickly without the restrictions and limitations of templates of procrastinating creating endless templates.

 

For some reason I was under the impression you have a hybrid setup of both hardware and software instruments. The "simpler" version of a Template in Logic is called a "channel strip setting", and you can drag them out and use them one at a time. All these DAWs do 99% of the same stuff, they just use different terminology.

See if this isn't the ableton equivalent (Live tracks and Effects Rack): https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=124227

 

Yeah, these are essentially the Instrument Rack and Audio Effects Rack that I mentioned. You can group together and save in Ableton, creating your 'channel strip', but only in terms of the plugins added to the channel. It does not save things like the channel volume, channel panning, routing options, and so on that are 'outside' the plugins. It also does not save any MIDI clips nor audio clips on the related track as part of the Rack being saved. It is solely the plugin strip.

What I'm wondering is if this is as far as Ableton goes, or is there a way to save the Rack (or plugins strip) as well as the other 'outside' bits as an entire track preset (which is what you can do in Studio One).

 

Hi Bunford,

You can always drag an entire track from another als file to your current project.


That way you have all the MIDI or audio and all of the devices on that track at your disposal.

Hope this is what you are looking for?

 

Just drag and drop the midi to anywhere you like. It'll be saved as a ".alc" file which will keep everything including the automations.

I suggest creating a custom folder inside user library so it won't transform into a "project folder".