I use Ableton’s Autopan often. Mostly I use it when recording old analog synths that don’t have MIDI. I use it as a 1/8th or 1/16th note chopper to keep things in line. You can hear it at work on the bassline in my song Sex Machine (above). Of course there’s more the little Autopan can do as the Liveschool video points out. Here’s another tip… Audiodamage’s Panstation plug-in which is based on the Drawmer M500 gives you a different, more classic, wider effect than Autopan.

“Ableton Autopan device – multiple ways you can use it in your music.” – Ableton Liveschool

For more info: vimeo.com/abletonliveschool

photo credit: Seven Morris

via synthtopia

IRCAMAX SuperVP is a set of 5 plug-ins for Ableton Max4Live. You really have to head to the Ircam website and watch the demo videos. Each of the plug-ins SimpleTransp, Transp, Scrub, Mover and SuperVPSynth allow for some serious audio rearranging, part transposing, formant manipluations, etc… My favorite is Mover. 139 Euro.

“Mover offers a different way to control time position and transposition performed by the SuperVP engine. It displays the sound on a big waveform on witch the user can move using the mouse, its MIDI controllers or a joystick. It can be easily use to improvise on the sound material thanks to its synchronized random motions capabilities.” – ircamax.ircam.fr

For more info: ircamax.ircam.fr

Nalepa clearly describes a quick way to create inspiring patterns using Ableton Live. I’ve use this technique and if you take a shot at is try it with some drum kits! I like how you can see the student in the orange hat start to get it.

“Dubspot Instructor and Curriculum Developer, Professor Nalepa offers a glimpse into our Ableton program; explains and demonstrates how to create custom arpeggio patterns using Live’s powerful interface.” – youtube.com/user/DubSpot

For more info: dubspot.com, ableton.com

AfroDJMac is a songwriter and guitarist/electronic musician from New York. Besides his interesting name he creates free and very inexpensive Ableton Live Racks. Some Racks include “Brostep” inspired by the Jersey Shore, RapMan (Casio VL-1, Teenage Engineering OP-1), Gameboy Glitches and Synth, Ensoniq SQ-80, Glitched Piano, Glitch Machine, Nu Wave Synth (sounds from his oven!) and about 20 more so far. Any Live user should give his website a good look over!

“Futuristic, yet nostalgic. New York’s AfroDJMac is a live electronic musician, drawing influence from the genres of indie garage rock, classic rock, video game music, and modern electronica.” – afrodjmac.com

For more info: afrodjmac.com

wimp whamp from Nick Ciontea on Vimeo.

Nick Ciontea is living in Chicago, IL. Here he happily performs a sequence using some very nice modules. I like how the rack is a little too high for him as he twists dials. That, the beard and the sound make this a good Saturday synth video.

“all modular, beat repeat and reverb in ableton, tip top oscillators, harvestman, tiptop, makenoise filters/lpg, rene and z8000 sequencers” – Nick Ciontea

photo credit: analoguehaven.com

I will be speaking on a panel with Peter Kirn (Create Digital Music), Micah Frank aka Kamoni (Sound Designer & Founder of Puremagnetik), and Julie Covello aka DJ Shakey (DJ, Creator & Promoter of the Warper Party, Music Collector) on Saturday, September 25 at the SAE, 1293 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York NY 10001.

The IMSTA FESTA is free and should be good fun and of great interest to anyone who reads this blog. It’s a pro-audio manufacturer get together and panel series. It’s from 11:00AM – 7:00PM. Some of the exhibitors include Ableton, Arturia, Bias, SSL, Celemony, IK Multimedia, Image Line, Native Instruments, Pianoteq, Propellerhead, Rob Papen, Steinberg and Waves.

UPDATE: Over 1,000 people are registered. Come on down!

“IMSTA FESTA, a celebration of music software is coming to the heart of New York City. The First IMSTA FESTA started in Japan where it was highly successful for technology companies, producers and hobbyists alike. IMSTA FESTA brings a collection of the top audio technology companies together in an environment where they can interact with music makers face-to-face. If you use music software you will benefit from this event in a number of ways.” – http://www.imsta.org

For more info: http://www.imsta.org

Collect all and save in Ableton from danny bonnici on Vimeo.

This video from Danny Bonnici is a good quick reminder on how to Flatten a Frozen track and archive a project for later use or to send to someone to remix. Whenever I am 100% finished with a song I do exactly this process, zip the project folder and save it in a few places. Remember a few years, computers, DAWs and Operating Systems down the road chances are some of your plug-ins won’t work. Convert them to audio before it’s too late.

“When tracks are frozen, the audio les that are created are 32 bit, which ensures that they will not be lower quality than the audio heard prior to freezing. Please note that the Flatten command replaces any original clips and devices with the audio les created by freezing.” – Ableton Live User Manual

For more info: ableton.com

K1 Clip – Demo by thingstocome

Here’s some music I recorded for a German female producer. It’s in her court to add vocals for this and send it back to me. You’re hearing two slightly detuned Yamaha CS5 lines. Both are going through D16 Devator’s. You also hear white noise from the CS5 modulated through Ableton’s Auto-Pan. Assorted booms are my own recordings and swing is up.

Alles klar?

Ableton Live in 60 seconds from tono.com.ua on Vimeo.

That’s the reason Ableton Live is the best production tool: different modes. I can use Live in Arrangement View and work like I did years back in Cubase and Pro-Tools. I can use Live in Session View and have a play/scratch area to let ideas explode or just build the parts Im going to use in Arrangement View. I can use Live when I’m on stage triggering video and controllers. I’ve almost never had Live crash in the studio and never once on stage. Yep this is an advert except I didn’t get paid for it. Just saying thanks for something I use a lot. We tend to worship the tools that make us sound good (and make us money!). To people who aren’t convinced there is a fully functioning free trial of Live (no saving).

“Ableton Live is about making music; for composition, songwriting, recording, production, remixing and live performance. Live’s nonlinear, intuitive flow, alongside powerful real-time editing and flexible performance options, make it a unique studio tool and a favorite with live performers. If you’d rather be “making music” than just “using music software,” Ableton Live is for you.” – ableton.com

For more info: ableton.com

Smoking Kills (The Horrorist-Electrofied Mix) – Millimetric by thingstocome

Here’s a clip of a remix I just finished for Millimetric. I played it live in Stuttgart and it past the club test so it’s in his inbox. From a production standpoint your hearing Vermona DRM-1 drums through Izotope Trash, white noise crashes from a Yamaha CS5, the 90′s T99 or 80′s Vomito Negro sample is in an Ableton Simpler going through various Sugar Bytes Effectrix presets. My vocals are through a Shure KSM32 and Wavearts plug-ins.

“I’m a ELECTRONIC. ELECTROCHARGED. RUN RUN RUN RUN!!!!” – The Horrorist

For more info: millimetric.com