Using keyboard hot keys, rather than clicking buttons with the mouse, to perform tasks in Ableton Live will speed up your work flow. To quickly flip between "Session View" and "Arrangement View," press "Tab." You can also use keyboard shortcuts to insert new tracks into a session: press "Ctrl" and "T" simultaneously to add a new audio track, press "Ctrl," "Shift" and "T" for a new MIDI track or use "Ctrl," "Alt" and "T" to get a new return track. Instead of enabling "Grid Snap" in the context menu, press "Ctrl" and "4" together to turn it off and on.
The more parts you add to an Ableton Live session, the more memory and CPU power it requires. To reduce system load, right-click a completed MIDI track and select "Freeze," then right-click it again and select "Flatten." Ableton renders the MIDI information to an audio file, which takes fewer resources to play. You cannot edit the MIDI notes in a flattened track, but you can still add audio effects to it. Consolidating multiple audio clips can also reduce the required system resources. To do this, select the clips, then right-click one of them and choose "Consolidate."
Automation allows you to control an element of a set using a pre-defined control envelope rather than by manually moving the control. Ableton Live lets you automate nearly any parameter in the program. To create an automation lane, right-click a control in the program and select "Show Automation in New Lane." Ableton will create a new automation channel underneath the track to which the control applies. Press "Ctrl" and "B" to enable the pencil tool, then draw an automation envelope into the newly created automation lane. You can automate nearly any control on the built-in Ableton instruments and effects; you can even add automation to master channel parameters, such as the tempo and master volume.
When you are in the initial stages of composing a song, use Ableton's "Chord" and "Scale" MIDI effects to try different key signatures and chords. Drag and drop one of the "Chord" presets from the "Live Devices" section onto a MIDI instrument track. Drop a "Scale" preset after the "Chord," then turn the "Base" knob to change the key signature. Type "12" or "-12" into the "Transpose" box to respectively raise or lower the MIDI track by an octave. Use the "Shift" knobs on the "Chord" plug-in to add extra notes to the chord. Enter MIDI data using the piano roll, or play an attached keyboard to hear the chords.