← Devices
Mission 18 · World 4
Drum Rack
16 pads, infinite kits.
16 pads. Infinite kits. The heart of Live's groove.
+70 XP🏅 Kit Builder
// WHAT IT DOES
Drum Rack is a container with up to 128 pads (you see 16 at a time). Drop any sample onto a pad → it plays from a MIDI note.
Each pad has its own volume, pan, mute, solo, and own device chain — full FX per pad.
Think of it like → Like a hardware drum machine — each pad is a sound, fully tweakable, all in one rack.
▸ WHY YOU CARE
- • Build a custom kit in seconds.
- • Process the kick separately from the snare without splitting tracks.
// SEE & HEAR IT
Presets:
KICK
SNARE
HAT
CLAP
1
·
·
·
2
·
·
·
3
·
·
·
4
·
·
·
DRUM RACK PADS
TIP: In Ableton, the Drum Rack maps each pad to a MIDI note. Steps 1–4 = Beat 1, steps 5–8 = Beat 2, and so on. The highlighted step is the playhead — audio is scheduled 300ms ahead of the clock for glitch-free timing.
▸ HOW IT WORKS
MIDI note → Drum Rack maps to pad → pad's Chain processes → audio out.
▸ Signal flow — watch the dot
▸ SIGNAL FLOW
Glowing dot = your signal travelling through Live.
▸ LISTEN FOR
- • Choke groups silence the previous pad immediately.
▸ WALKTHROUGH (3 steps)
- 1. DO: Drag a kick onto an empty pad.▸ LISTEN: Pad fires that kick.
- 2. DO: Drop EQ Eight onto the pad's chain.▸ LISTEN: Only the kick is EQ'd.
- 3. DO: Set pad 9 + pad 10 to Choke Group 1.▸ LISTEN: Open hat cuts off when closed hat hits.
▸ COMMON MISTAKES
- ✗ Adding FX outside the Drum Rack when you wanted per-pad processing.
- ✗ Forgetting to assign Choke Group on hi-hat pairs.
// QUIZ (QUICK)
Question 1 / 30 correct
Choke groups are useful for…