In this post, we’ll be covering how to simultaneously change tempo and time signature mid-song in Session View. Ableton doesn’t natively have a way to do this so we’re showing you our method on how to accomplish this.

Multiple Time Signature Changes

We’ll start by selecting 2 empty scenes. We’ll name one 3/4 and set the time signature to 3/4 and the other to 4/4 and set the time signature. We’ve changed the colour of the scenes but it’s not a necessity. Lastly, select both scenes, right click and choose ‘Select all slots in scene’ and then right click and select ‘Remove Stop button’ Cmd+E.

Next, we’ll create clips that contain MIDI notes that will trigger the scenes we created earlier. We’ll create a blank clip and draw in a MIDI note (we’ll use C1 for this example). After creating the MIDI clip, we’ll assign the note to the scene in session view. We’ve demonstrated in the video but for those that need further explanation, please refer to this post. Repeat this process for the other scene making sure you use different MIDI note.

In our example song, we’ve got a number of time signature changes from 3/4 to 4/4 and back. So we’ve copied the MIDI clips that trigger the time signature scenes across the entire song.

After this we’ll consolidate all the MIDI clips into one MIDI clip so it can be transferred to Session View. Drag the start of the first clip to the start of the song and the end of the last clip to the end of the song, select all clips and consolidate Cmd-J. Then drag the MIDI clip to its corresponding MIDI channel in Session View.

Be sure to play the song to check the automation works.

Simultaneous Time Signature & Tempo Changes

Similarly to the previous section on multiple time signature changes, we’ll be creating a MIDI clip containing a MIDI note that will trigger a scene that will change time signature and tempo.

So let’s choose a scene in Session View, assign the tempo and time signature.

You can change the colour of the scene if you want but be sure to delete all the stop buttons.

Then, create a MIDI clip, draw a MIDI note (that isn’t already in use) then assign the MIDI clip to the trigger scene.

Consolidate the clip so it’s the duration of the song and drag it over to session view.

Play the song back to test the automation works

Closing Thoughts

We hope this has been helpful and you’ve been able to see how it’s possible to accomplish both multiple time signature changes and tempo and time signature changes simultaneously in a single song. These instances are probably quite rare but if you prefer to use Session View, this method will help you get around tempo & time signature issues.

As always, if you ever need some help or have any questions, please contact us at hello@renderthemusic.com.

Thanks for reading!