Recording Mac Audio Into Ableton

Nov 18, 2011 markmakingmusic wrote:I just used a flip video camera and was recording directly into ableton I imported the sound channel from the video along with the video into ableton and just lined up both sound channels in ableton.

There are multiple benefits to this - the obvious one is that you can continue to use your primary audio interface's inputs and outputs and use iPad’s at the same time, allowing mics and other external gear to continue feeding into Live along with your iPad. Keep in mind this will introduce a little latency, but unless it's absolutely critical you probably won't notice it.

The other, perhaps less obvious benefit is that you can “preserve” your iOS device as an input for Live even when it’s not plugged in. Say you’re recording from your iPad and have it set up as an input in Live. Normally, when you unplug the iPad, Live will no longer be able to find it and your input is set to ”No Device.' If iPad is set up as an input of an aggregate device, however, that aggregate device can remain as an input in Live even if the iPad portion is unavailable. When you plug your iPad back in, it repopulates the aggregate device but there’s no need to reselect it in Live!

One hiccup - whether you set up an aggregate device or not, you will still need to “enable” the iOS device as an audio device each time you plug into your Mac.

The M-Audio M-Track MKII is a powerful 2 channel interface that gives you access to instant plug & play recording on your computer. This guide walks through how to make sure that your M-Track MKII is set up properly on your system as well as how to get started recording audio tracks with the included Ableton Live Lite software.

Connecting the M-Track MKII and Confirming the Driver Installation

Connect the M-Track MKII to your computer via USB. The M-Track MKII is a class compliant device, which means it requires no download or installation of special drivers that are not already found on your computer. On a Windows PC, a dialog will open in the bottom right hand corner of your screen indicating that the driver is automatically installing. When it is done it will indicate that your device is installed and ready to use. You will not see this on a Mac, however the drivers are still installed automatically.

Although the M-Track MKII is a class-compliant device, there are is a low-latency driver available for Windows that may improve the performance of the unit. The driver is available for download from the Drivers & Updates page on the M-Audio webiste.

M-Audio - Drivers & Updates

Properly Adjusting your System's Sound Settings

Windows

The M-Track MKII should now be ready to use on your computer, but in some cases it may be necessary to tweak your system's sound settings. While this will more than likely not be required, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with how the device is setup with your PC or Mac.

On a PC, click on the Start Menu, and choose Control Panel. From the Control Panel, choose Hardware and Sound and/or Sound. You should now see your playback devices.
As pictured above, the M-Track MKII should be set as your default playback device. If not, right click it and choose Set as Default Device. This should be reflected under the Recording tab as well.
With the M-Track MKII highlighted in the recording devices tab, click on the Properties button. This will bring up a new set of options. Click the Levels tab. In Windows 7 you will need to adjust the recording level. It will default to 100 but you will need to drag the slider down until it is set at 4. You will not have to make this adjustment in Windows Vista.
Click OK and you should be all set.

Mac

On a Mac you can access your sound settings from the System Preferences. You should not have to change any settings. Your input and output should look as pictured below.

Getting Started With Ableton Live Lite by Recording an Audio Track

Ableton Live Recording

Open up Ableton Live Lite. If you need help installing or authorizing your software, please refer to Ableton's handy guide.

Once Ableton is open go to Options > Preferences. On a Mac this will be Live > Preferences.
In the Preferences window, click on the Audio tab. For the Driver Type, select MME/Direct X and then the M-Track MKII as your Audio Input and Audio Output devices. On a Mac you will choose CoreAudio instead of MME/Direct X.
Alternatively, if you have chosen to use the additional M-Track ASIO driver for windows, select ASIO for Driver Type and select M-Track ASIO as your Audio Device.
You can now exit out of this window.
Go to View and select In/Out. This will bring up the input and output options of any audio tracks you've created.
On your audio track, set your Audio From to Ext. In and set the input to be either input 1, 2, or 1 & 2 (if you have a stereo signal plugged into both inputs of the M-Track II). Clicking on the Record Ready button will arm the track and enable you to monitor your incoming audio.
At the top of the screen, pressing Record and then Play will begin your recording!
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When you're finished you can press stop to end the recording.