College application intensive
Learn electronic composition through Live's central ideas: clips, scenes, devices, warping, MIDI, synthesis, sampling, improvisation, resampling, arrangement, automation, mixing, and collected delivery.
Completed outcome
Required common orientation / 75 minutes
A reusable orientation to the habits that keep creative projects reproducible, reviewable, accessible, and safe to hand off.
Complete the shared foundationGuided sequence
Module 1 / 3 hours
Learn Live's nonlinear and linear models, configure audio and MIDI safely, and turn a creative constraint into an organized first Live Set.
Module 2 / 3.5 hours
Create an original beat using Drum Rack, MIDI editing, velocity, probability, groove, microtiming, variation, and resampling.
Module 3 / 4 hours
Create a bass, harmonic voice, lead, and texture through source choice, oscillator or sample behavior, envelopes, filters, modulation, warping, and macro control.
Module 4 / 3.5 hours
Use clip launching and scene design to discover formal relationships, record a performance into Arrangement View, and edit it into intentional structure.
Module 5 / 3.5 hours
Refine the Arrangement through energy control, automation, resampling, returns, grouping, contrast, and a mix built around musical roles.
Module 6 / 3 hours plus capstone work
Commit the final arrangement, verify sample rights and project dependencies, export master and stems, and present the work through a short controlled performance and walkthrough.
Standardized coursework pack
Rights-cleared one-shots, field recordings, vocal fragments, MIDI motif cards, tempo and form prompts, synthesis constraints, delivery brief, and sample license manifest. Approximately 4 GB including frozen and rendered project states.
Media access: the downloadable files define the required rights-cleared pack, checks, and evidence. Large application media must be distributed by the institution through its licensed learning or storage system.
Why this application
Ableton Live is built around a split no other application makes this central: Session view for finding an idea, Arrangement view for committing to one. Most people get comfortable in the first and stall at the second, ending up with folders of loops and no finished pieces. This course is organised around the crossing point. You will work through moving material from Session to Arrangement, and through the decisions only becoming visible once a piece has to last four minutes rather than eight bars: where energy drops, what changes when nothing new arrives, and how an ending gets earned. Live's warping and device chains are covered as the tools serving those decisions rather than as a feature tour.
Portfolio assessment
Create a 3-5 minute electronic composition that grows from a constrained rhythmic and timbral system into a contrasting, resolved arrangement.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Creative and editorial judgment | 25 |
| Technical execution | 25 |
| Workflow organization | 15 |
| Application fluency | 15 |
| Delivery and quality control | 15 |
| Documentation and reflection | 5 |
What counts as strong evidence under each criterion, and what sends it back for revision, is set out in full on the shared foundation. The same wording ships with this course as rubric.csv.
Read 21 September 2026
The vendor documents below were read. The course teaches menus and shortcuts, and software changes them between versions, so confirm a menu path against the vendor's current documentation before you rely on it. For the software documents only the title, version and date were read.
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