Presets on Move and Note

You can select from a wide range of instrument and effect presets included with Move and Note. As of Live 12.1, you can also create and export presets from a selection of Ableton Live instruments for use in Move and Note Sets.

Presets on Move
Creating presets for Move and Note in Ableton Live
Preset templates

Presets on Move

In Device View, to swap the current preset, click the wheel to open the browser, then scroll and select a different preset.

  • When you start browsing, the current preset is shown.
  • Scroll through the list to highlight a different preset, which will be immediately swapped in to the focused device. It’s not necessary to click the wheel.
  • You can audition each preset by manually playing notes while it’s highlighted, or by playing a Clip while you browse.
  • Press the back button , or turn the wheel counterclockwise to select the top blank entry and click, to go up one level in the browsing hierarchy .

Learn more about using Move’s presets in the Move manual and Learn Move video tutorials. 

Creating presets for Move and Note in Ableton Live

An experimental feature allows you to design and export presets like drum kits and synth patches from Ableton Live to use in Move and Note sets. Although this feature is still in development, you can try it out as of Live version 12.1.

Enabling preset export

As of Live 12.1, you can enable preset export by adding an entry to Live’s Options.txt file. Learn how to create an Options.txt file, or download the options.txt file linked at the bottom of this article under Attachments.

To enable preset export, add the following entry to the Options.txt file on a new line:

-_Feature.ExportPresetsToAbl

Make sure to include the hyphen at the start of the line, and omit any leading spaces. Save and close the file, then restart Live.

Preset format

To work in Move and Note Sets, presets created in Live must use the following format:

Drums:

  • Instrument Rack
    • Drum Rack
      • Drum Samplers on the pads
      • One return chain with one effect in it
    • One insert effect

Drift:

  • Instrument Rack
    • Instrument Rack with mapped macros
      • Drift
    • Insert Effect
    • Insert Effect

This preset structure is required for compatibility between Move, Note and Live.

You can also omit effects in Live and add them later on Move using the + icon that appears in the empty effects slots on Move’s Device View.

Note: Macro dials in Instrument Rack or Drum Rack that have been mapped in Live will not be displayed.

Supported instruments and effects

Ableton Live devices that currently support preset export include:

Instruments Effects

Drum Racks that use Drum Sampler
Drift
Drum Sampler
Instrument Rack

Channel EQ
Chorus-Ensemble
Delay
Phaser-Flanger
Redux
Reverb
Saturator

Drift preset voice options

When exporting a Drift preset, you may expect a different voice maximum on Move depending on the type of instrument and voice settings. This means the resulting sound may not be exactly the same as in Live. While Drift in Live can have up to 32 voices of polyphony, Drift presets on Move can have up to 8 voices, depending on the mode. For more info on Voice Modes, refer to Info View for the Drift device in Live and the Live Instrument Reference. The following table shows the options for Mode selection in Drift on Move:

Mode Voices
Mono 1 note can be played at a time
Unison max. 2 notes at a time (4 voices per note)
Stereo max. 4 notes (2 voices per note)
Poly max. 8 notes (1 voice per note)

 

Supported sample rates

Since Move’s audio engine operates at 44.1kHz, all audio file sample rates are supported but files will be downsampled to 44.1kHz during playback. Down-pitching a file with a high sample rate (e.g., 96kHz) can be used creatively to make normally inaudible frequencies in a recording (> 20kHz) audible.

Converting Drum Rack Simplers to Drum Sampler

You can replace Simplers with Drum Sampler to easily convert an existing Drum Rack for export. Right-click or CTRL + click on the Drum Rack header and choose Replace Simplers with Drum Sampler. To set up Live to automatically use Drum Sampler when dragging samples onto a Drum Rack, you can set the default pad as a Drum Sampler pad. To do this, right-click on a Drum Sampler pad and select  Save as Default Pad. 

Preset templates

We will soon provide template presets in the Live Core Library that follow the structure described above, which you can use as a basis for creating valid presets for export to Move and Note. Two starter templates are available to download at the bottom of this article under Attachments:

Exporting presets from Live

Once you've created and saved a preset using the structure described above, right-click on the outer Instrument Rack header and choose Export ABL Preset. You’ll be prompted to choose a location and save the exported .ablpresetbundle file on your computer. 

After exporting a preset following the steps above, you can load it in Move or Note Sets.

Loading presets on Move

In Move Manager, drag the .ablpresetbundle file onto the Presets tab and confirm by clicking Upload. Or, click the upload button in the Presets tab to browse for a file on your computer. The .ablpresetbundle file includes all referenced samples.

Note: The maximum file size for presets uploaded to Move is 400MB.

 

The preset is then available in the Presets tab.


Loading presets in Note

  1. After you've exported a preset from Live, transfer the .ablpresetbundle file to your iOS device, using AirDrop, cloud storage such as iCloud / DropBox, messaging, or your preferred method. 
  2. Open the .ablpresetbundle file in Files on iOS, then select "Open in Ableton Note."

Attachments:

Ableton offers these in-depth help and learning resources:

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