Applies to Ableton Live and all Focusrite USB audio interfaces
Ableton Live Lite is part of the Hitmaker Expansion. If you have registered a qualifying Focusrite interface, you can redeem Ableton Live Lite from the My Software tab of your Focusrite account here.
This guide walks you through how to set up your Focusrite audio interface in Ableton Live, set up an audio track for recording, and start recording. To learn more about how to use Ableton Live, see Ableton's Help Centre:
Get started with Live or go deeper into the details
Windows
Please make sure you've installed the Focusrite audio driver and control software before going through these steps. If you haven't installed the Focusrite audio driver or control software, download them from here.
- Open Ableton Live on your computer.
- Click Options → Preferences....
- Go to the Audio tab on the left-hand side of the Preferences window.
- Set the Driver Type to ASIO, and Audio Device to Focusrite USB ASIO.
- Click Input Config. The next step is to make all the inputs on your device appear as input options in Ableton.
- Click to highlight each set of Mono and Stereo Inputs to make sure they appear as selectable in Live.
- Click OK.
- Do the same for the Output Config, if you are using multiple outputs.
- Close the Preferences Window.
Next, see How to set up an audio track to record below.
macOS
- Open Ableton Live on your computer.
- Click Live → Settings in the top menu bar.
- Go to the Audio tab on the left-hand side of the Preferences window.
- Set the Audio Input Device and Audio Output Device to Scarlett 2i2 4th Generation or the name of the interface you're using.
- Click Input Config. The next step is to make all the inputs on your device appear as input options in Ableton.
- Click to highlight each set of Mono and Stereo Inputs to make sure they appear as selectable in Live. You will see up to four channels.
- Click OK.
- Do the same for the Output Config, if you are using multiple outputs.
- Close the Preferences Window.
Next, see How to set up an audio track to record below.
How to set up an audio track to record
- Click to highlight an Audio Track in Live's main window. Live had two views (Session and Arrangement). Session view is best suited for looping and clip launching, whereas the Arrangement view is best suited for continuous recording. Depending on which view you are in, please see the following screenshots.
- Set the Audio From to Ext. In and the input drop-down to the interface input you are using, e.g. 1.
- Set the Monitor to Auto. This allows you to hear sound coming in from your Scarlett's input.
- Click the Record Arm button beneath the track. It lights red when record arm is on. Send a signal to the input on your Scarlett and you should see the meter in Ableton move.
- When you're ready to record, click the record ⏺ button in Ableton's transport bar.
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