If you make music, chances are you’ve faced a familiar frustration: you can build loops, but turning them into finished tracks is another story. With Ableton Live’s Session View making loop-based creation so immediate and inspiring, this is a challenge many users know all too well. At this spring’s Ableton Meetup Tokyo, three guest presenters will share their approaches to developing sketches and loops into complete pieces of music.

Sakura Tsuruta — music producer, live act, DJ, and Ableton Certified Trainer — will present “From Loop to Song: Learning Arrangement Through Active Listening.” Focusing on active listening, her session invites the audience to listen closely to melody, rhythm, harmony, and other musical elements in order to better understand song structure and the art of musical development.

Dub and experimental artist Sancho Meiso Chaya will present “Writing a Track in One Stroke.” Using automation and MIDI controllers to introduce movement and variation into loops, he will explore a continuous, intuitive approach to composition — a process that feels almost like collaborating with a past version of yourself.

Making a first appearance at AMT, Herbalistek — a bass music producer also featured on Ableton’s official website — will present “One Source, Infinite Interpretations.” In this session, he will demonstrate how a single sound source can be transformed into a wide range of sonic textures through resampling and creative effects processing.

The event will also feature the regular Touch & Try session, where visitors can get hands-on with the teenage engineering EP series, including the EP-40, a beat machine designed with reggae and dub in mind. It’s a chance to experience this distinctive lineup firsthand.

In addition to student discounts, Ableton Meetup Tokyo now also offers discounted admission for attendees aged 28 and under. Students can receive the discount by presenting a valid student ID at the entrance, while attendees aged 28 or under can do so by showing identification with proof of age.
We look forward to welcoming everyone with a growing collection of unfinished loops — and helping turn those ideas into finished tracks.