How to Load WAV Sounds in Ableton

By Seamus Islwyn

Updated September 22, 2017

WAV is an uncompressed audio format.
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The Ableton Live digital audio workstation also functions as a WAV audio editor. Most audio samples in, for example, drum sample packs, use the WAV format. Load the samples into Ableton to start using them in your own productions. Once you've loaded a WAV file into the program, you can crop it, split it, reverse it, transpose it and even slice it into a MIDI track.

Double-click the Ableton Live desktop icon to open the digital audio workstation.

Click on one of the folder icons on the far-left side of the program window to open the Ableton browser panel. Navigate to the directory in which the WAV file you want to load is saved.

Click, drag and drop the WAV file from the browser panel onto the mixer track labeled "1 Audio" to load it into Ableton.

Repeat the process for any other WAV sounds you want to use. If you want to put each WAV on its own track, press "Ctrl" and "T" together to add a new audio track, then drop the second WAV onto this new track. If you want to put all the WAVs on the same track, drop the second WAV into the slot directly beneath the first WAV.

Tips

Click the "RAM" button in the WAV's "Sample" section to load it into RAM. You can also drag and drop WAVs from Windows Explorer directly into Ableton audio tracks.

Warnings

Only use royalty-free or appropriately-licensed samples in your productions.

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