This walkthrough covers hand-editing automation in Ableton Live once you've moved past recording it live with a mouse or MIDI controller. Click and drag directly on the automation line to create breakpoints, which snap to your grid resolution by default. Holding Cmd or Alt frees you from the grid, and right-clicking a breakpoint lets you type in an exact value when precision matters more than eyeballing it.
Straight lines between breakpoints don't have to stay straight. Hovering near a segment until it highlights blue, then holding Alt while dragging, bends it into a curve, useful for filter sweeps or volume fades that need a more natural taper than a linear ramp.
Highlighting a stretch of time opens up predefined automation shapes and transform options, letting you apply patterns across a selection instead of placing every point by hand. For a more direct, performative approach, pressing B or switching to Draw mode lets you sketch automation with your keyboard, trading precision for speed and feel.