MusicRadar Tech Flips Loops: Ableton Live 12’s Session View Gets Streetwise

Here’s where things get spicy. Tom points out that most folks sleep on Ableton’s session view, sticking to the arrangement view like it’s the only game in town. But session view? That’s your sketch pad, your beat lab, your late-night taco truck—quick, flexible, and full of flavor. It flips your tracks sideways, letting you mess with ideas at lightning speed.

Unlike arrangement view, session view lets you launch clips, jam out combinations, and try out structures without locking anything down. You can move parts back and forth, loop ‘em, and experiment until something sticks. It’s perfect for those moments when inspiration hits and you just want to see what works—no pressure, just pure groove.

Now we’re cooking. Tom shows how to get your parts from arrangement view into session view—just a quick select, tab, and drop. But here’s the streetwise tip: make sure your clips are set to loop, or you’ll end up with dead air faster than a busted boombox. Double-click, check the loop, and keep it tight.

Once your clips are in session view, the real fun begins. You can trigger clips, mute them, and try out endless combos. Tom breaks down how scenes work: each row is a section of your song, and you can rename them for that pro touch. Want to build up your track section by section? Use the capture and insert scene shortcut (command shift I or control shift I). It grabs whatever’s playing and locks it into a new scene—no more copy-paste headaches.

With this trick, you can jam out different sections, swap instruments, and build your arrangement on the fly. It’s all about speed and vibe, not getting bogged down in menus. Tom’s workflow is like a live beat battle—quick moves, bold choices, and always keeping the groove front and center.

Ready to take it to the next level? Tom drops the ultimate hack: recording your arrangement live while jamming in session view. Instead of dragging and dropping like you’re sorting laundry, you just hit record and vibe out, letting the track build itself as you trigger scenes. It’s spontaneous, it’s fun, and it feels more like a block party than a studio grind.

You can skip sections, jump around, and capture all those happy accidents that make a track feel alive. When you’re done, just hit stop, flip back to arrangement view, and boom—your jam is now a structured track, ready for some polish. This is the kind of workflow that keeps you in the zone and out of the menu maze.