Timeline Automation

The timeline is a single project-wide set of automation lanes. Each lane holds one curve over time. Any parameter mapped to a lane follows that lane’s curve during playback, so one lane can drive several parameters at once.

Toggle the panel with the TIMELINE button in the top bar.

The two halves of a lane

This is the part that trips people up. A lane has two separate things in it:

Part	What it is
The curve	The recorded or drawn automation. This is what plays back.
The live input	A live signal the lane captures while recording.

Recording writes the live input into the curve. Playback reads the curve back out. The lane’s ARM button (the ◉ circle) decides which of the two is currently in charge.

Recording a parameter’s slider

This is the common case: you want to perform a parameter by hand and keep the movement.

1. Click the parameter’s map button and choose Timeline, then pick a lane (or New Lane). The lane is armed automatically and seeded with the parameter’s current value.
2. Press Record (the ◉ button in the timeline header). Playback starts.
3. Drag the parameter’s own slider. The movement is captured into the lane.
4. Press Record again to stop, or let the playhead reach the end.

Once recording stops, the lane’s curve takes over and the parameter follows it.

This works when the lane has no Recording Input mapped — the lane records whichever parameter you’re dragging. If you map an input source to the lane (see below), that source becomes the authority instead and dragging the parameter no longer records.

Recording from MIDI, OSC, or audio

To record something other than the slider itself, give the lane its own input signal:

1. In the parameter’s mapping panel, under RECORDING INPUT, click Map input source.
2. Pick any modulation source — MIDI CC, OSC, audio band, keyboard, LFO, and so on.
3. Press Record and perform on that source.

The lane now captures that signal regardless of what the parameter’s slider is doing. You can also map a lane’s input directly from the lane row in the timeline panel.

ARM and the LIVE badge

An armed lane passes its live input straight through to mapped parameters instead of playing its curve. That is intentional in two situations:

• While recording — so what you see matches what’s being captured.
• While the transport is stopped — so you can audition a value before committing it.

During playback the curve always wins, even on an armed lane. When a lane is bypassing its curve, an orange LIVE badge appears on the lane row and the curve dims — if a parameter isn’t following its automation, check for that badge. Click ARM to disarm and lock the lane to curve playback.

Automation override

Dragging a timeline-mapped parameter’s slider when you are not recording overrides its automation: the parameter holds your manual value and ignores the lane. The slider shows an override indicator and an orange Re-Enable button appears in the timeline header.

Overrides clear when you:

• Press Re-Enable in the timeline header (clears all of them at once)
• Let the playhead reach the end of the timeline
• Let the playhead cross a loop boundary

This lets you grab a parameter mid-performance without destroying its automation, then hand control back.

Editing curves by hand

Each lane row has a curve editor. You don’t have to record anything — drawing works just as well.

Action	Result
Click empty canvas	Add a point
Drag a point	Move it in time and value
Double-click a point	Toggle between linear corner and curved
Drag a handle	Reshape the bezier (handles mirror each other)
Right-click	Delete Point, Make Linear / Make Curved, Reset Handles, Clear All Points

Bezier handles only appear on the selected point, and only when that point is curved.

Duration and sync

The timeline header sets how long one pass is:

• Bars — beat-synced length at the project tempo. Use the −/+ buttons or type a value. This is the default (4 bars).
• Duration — a fixed length in seconds.

The current tempo is shown as BPM. When Ableton Link or MIDI Clock is active, a Follow Link / Follow MIDI toggle appears — enable it and the timeline starts from the top when the external transport starts, and stops when it stops.

Loop region

Click the repeat button to loop. A region appears in the ruler:

• Drag either edge handle to resize
• Drag the region body to move it
• Snap (next to the loop button) snaps edges to the beat grid

Recording ignores the loop — a recording pass always runs to the end of the timeline.

Audio clips

Drop an audio or video file onto the timeline panel to load its audio. The waveform appears in its own lane above the automation lanes, and:

• The timeline duration switches to the audio’s length
• The playhead follows the actual audio position, so automation never drifts from the track
• The Bars / Duration controls are replaced by the clip length

This is the reliable way to automate against a fixed piece of music.

Zoom and pan

Gesture	Result
Pinch, or ⌥/⌘ + scroll	Zoom around the cursor
Horizontal scroll	Pan
Click the zoom percentage’s fit button	Reset to fit the window

Transport

Play/pause and stop in the timeline header control the renderer and the timeline together. Space toggles the transport. Stop resets the playhead to the beginning.

Related

• Modulation overview →
• LFOs → — for cyclic movement you don’t need to record
• Sequencers → — for stepped, beat-locked patterns