Ableton Push 3 Settings You Should Change Right Away

A few simple tweaks can make it feel smoother, more responsive, and a lot easier to use,  especially in standalone mode.

Let's get to it...

How to Open the Settings

Just tap the cog icon in the top right corner of the screen.
You’ll get menus for display, pads, audio, MIDI, and more.

Save Your Battery First

If you’re running on battery and want it to last longer, change these:

• Display Brightness — Turn it down

• LED Brightness — Lower this too

• Wi-Fi — Turn it off unless you need it

That alone will buy you a lot more time when you’re away from the mains.

Expression Settings for MPE Control

If you want those pads to feel more like an instrument, change this:

• Set Pad Mode to MPE

• In Tune Location → set to finger

• In Tune Width → set to max

• Slide Height → somewhere around 10mm works well

This gives you slide, pitch, pressure, and way more expressive control across each pad.

Sensitivity Settings for a Tighter Feel

Want that MPC-style pad response? Try this:

• Threshold - set low

• Compand - full

• Drive - full

• Range - somewhere around the middle

This gets the pads to respond how you expect them to, especially for finger drumming.

Audio Setup Basics

• Sample Rate — Set to 48k for a cleaner sound

• Buffer Size

   Low (128) is better for tracking or jamming

  High (512 or above) is better for mixing

Need more outputs for live shows?
Use a Y-splitter on the headphone jack. That gives you outputs 3 and 4 for cueing or routing.

Workflow Settings That Actually Help

These two are worth switching off straight away:

• Exclusive Arm - off

• Exclusive Solo - off

Also turn off Select on Launch — that stops Push from jumping around when you trigger scenes. Makes live building and looping much smoother.

Scene or Clip Mode?

If you’re performing and want to build live, use Scene mode.
If you’re editing one idea at a time, Clip mode is better.

Final Thoughts

Push 3 is serious hardware. But it needs a bit of setup to really shine.
Tweak these settings once and you’ll get a smoother experience every time you turn it on.

Watch the full walkthrough here