So im kind of new to using ableton and my APC40, when i gig i do it with a friend of mine.. and I use his setup.. macbook pro, ableton, APC40 and a sound card.. and when we gig at clubs we have a serato mixer too. So recently I bought myself an APC40 but what i realized is that the sound quality on the playback on ableton is HORRIBLE and somewhat distorted, it seems as if ableton is trying to split my track up and sometimes even stutters on my speakers.. i dont have a soundcard yet so i am using a stock soundcard thats built into my desktop.. note im not trying to gig with my setup right now but just to practice and record mixes at home.. is there any way i can get the sound quality on the playback better? ive tried changing my preferences from 1/2 mono to 1/2 stereo and that didnt help tried changing the output quality and that didnt help.. is there something im missing here aside from a soundcard? is there anyway i can fix it without purchasing one?
Choose the right algorithm for warped clips, the default is “beats”, which is terrible for poliphonic material (aka full songs).
Regarding stutter, increase the latency a bit
Word of advice mate, ditch the APC40 and get a Novation Launchpad and an Evolution UC33-e, together they will be about the same price as an APC40 if not cheaper and you’ll have more instant control over Ableton
I had the same problem when i first started using Abelton and for the life of me i couldnt figure it out why the quality was so bad. But what warping clips on “beats” does is it inserts little silences in the clip to make up for the changes in tempo from the original recording to stretch the song out. So it sounds like pops and clicks which are usually indicative of a latency issue but its not. You probably (like me) didnt even realize you were doing this as “beats” is the default setting.
I warp everything on “re-pitch” which works exactly like a turntable when increasing or lowering the tempo. If you have the full version there is also “complex” or something as well which keeps the key the same when you increase or decrease the tempo unlike a turntable.
thank you! and thanks for the help guys as for ditching the APC40 i actually just bought it off craigslist recently and got it for 200 bucks.. so i cant really complain.. i want to eventually move onto CDJ-2000’s since i do spin house/dub step/ and trance.. but after last night i reinstalled my ableton and the output quality seems to sound alot better.. i might’ve tweaked around with the settings prior without noticing it.. but im going to reload a set.. and see if anything changes in the near future.. thanks for all the replies!
