← First Contact
Mission 43 · World 1
Capture MIDI
The take you didn't record — recovered.
Live is always quietly listening. Capture rebuilds the take you didn't know you wanted.
+60 XP🏅 Time Traveller
// WHAT IT DOES
Even when the red Record button is off, Live keeps a rolling buffer of every MIDI note that comes in. Capture pulls that buffer out and turns it into a clip.
Press the camera-shaped Capture button at the top-left and the notes you just played land on the armed MIDI track, in time, ready to edit.
It works at any tempo and Live will even guess the tempo from your performance if the project hasn't started playing yet.
Think of it like → Like saying 'wait, what did I just say?' and your phone replaying the last 30 seconds for you.
▸ WHY YOU CARE
- • You never lose a happy accident again.
- • Practise freely; commit only the moments worth keeping.
- • Removes the pressure of 'arming and waiting' that kills first-take feel.
// SEE & HEAR IT
C5
B4
A#4
A4
G#4
G4
F#4
F4
E4
D#4
D4
C#4
C4
B3
A#3
A3
Click cells to draw notes. Press Play to hear them.
▸ HOW IT WORKS
MIDI in → ring buffer per armed track → press Capture → buffer materialises as a tempo-locked MIDI clip.
▸ Signal flow — watch the dot
▸ SIGNAL FLOW
Glowing dot = your signal travelling through Live.
▸ LISTEN FOR
- • Capture's auto-tempo nailing your groove.
- • MPE expression preserved on captured clips.
▸ WALKTHROUGH (3 steps)
- 1. DO: Arm a MIDI track with any instrument and noodle for 20 seconds without pressing Record.▸ LISTEN: Nothing visible — but Live is buffering.
- 2. DO: Hit the Capture button (top-left, camera icon).▸ LISTEN: A new clip appears with your performance, time-corrected.
- 3. DO: Press Play.▸ LISTEN: Project tempo now matches your performance.
▸ COMMON MISTAKES
- ✗ Forgetting to arm a track — no buffer, no capture.
- ✗ Hitting Capture mid-take and getting only the partial buffer.
// QUIZ (QUICK)
Question 1 / 30 correct
Capture MIDI requires Record to be armed first.