Hands On: Ableton Live 5
Pages: 1, 2, 3, 4

Recipe 7: Dialing in the Operator

Ableton's Operator FM synth plugin (a $149 extra) will produce lots of great sounds, but its MIDI inputs are limited. It won't respond to modulation-wheel messages, for instance, so adding vibrato from the LFO in real-time performance is awkward.

If you're working in Arrangement View, however, there's an easy workaround: assign the LFO's Mod knob to MIDI real-time control. You do this by clicking on the MIDI button in the upper right corner of the main Live screen, clicking on the Mod knob, and wiggling your MIDI controller's modulation wheel. Then click on the MIDI button again to turn off assignment mode.

Once you've made this assignment, you can record mod-wheel moves while laying down a synth part or add them as overdubs. When you do this, you'll discover that they aren't recorded as MIDI controller data. Instead, Live records the actual movements of the LFO Mod knob. That is good news, because it means that after recording your first modulation overdub, you can reassign the mod wheel to some other Operator control without losing the mod-wheel move.

The newly recorded envelope data won't be copied back to the Session view if you drag the clip from the track into a session slot. All is not lost, however. Here's what to do:

  1. Drag the clip into Session View if you need to, then go back to Arrangement view and drag across the envelope you've recorded.
  2. Right-click to bring up the context menu, as shown in Figure 11, and copy the envelope.
  3. Go back to Session view and double-click the clip to display it in the clip editor.
  4. Make sure the same knob is selected in the clip's envelope area, then click at the left end of the clip display area (or wherever you want the envelope to start), and hit Ctrl-V (or Apple-V). The parameter envelope you recorded in the arrangement will be dropped into the clip.
Fig. 11: Copying Envelope Data Figure 11. Copying envelope data in Arrangement View.

Recipe 8: Beat Generation

Live's new Beat Repeat effect is powerful, but it's not exactly intuitive, and the explanation in the manual is rather dry. Here's how to get your head around Beat Repeat:

  1. Load an audio loop. Anything will do, but a two- or four-bar drum loop might be best.
  2. Set Interval to 1 Bar, Offset to 4/16, Grid to 1/16, Variation to 0, Chance to 100 percent, Gate to 4/16, Pitch to 0 st, Pitch Decay to 0.00 percent, Volume to 0.0 dB, and Decay to 0.00 percent.
  3. Leave Repeat and Filter switched off. Switch the Mix/Ins/Gate selector switch to Ins.
  4. Start the beat.

With these settings, the following will happen: in every measure (Interval: 1 bar), the effect will begin on the second quarter-note beat (Offset: 4/16). During the next quarter-note of the loop (Gate: 4/16), you'll hear the output of the effect. The sample you'll hear during that time will be one 16th-note long (Grid: 1/16). As a result, the second beat of every bar will consist of a 16th-note sample repeated four times. Because Insert mode has been selected, the sample will replace the original audio during the period of the Gate time.

Play with the controls one at a time and listen to the result, restoring them to the values given above before you try changing a different one. You'll quickly get a feel for what they do:

  • The Interval knob tells Beat Repeat how often to grab a sample. Settings of 1 Bar and 2 Bars are probably the most useful.
  • The Offset knob tells Beat Repeat how far from the start of the measure the sample should be taken. Controlling this knob from a MIDI slider works well.
  • The Grid knob determines the size of the sample. If it's set larger than the Gate, Beat Repeat will do nothing, because there won't be time for any repetitions of the sampled segment before the gate ends.
  • The Gate knob controls how long the sampled slice will be repeated before the effect shuts off.
  • The Mix button blends the effect and dry signals. The Ins button replaces the dry signal with the effect signal whenever the effect is active. The Gate button lets you hear only the output of the effect (equivalent to a 100 percent wet setting).

One final idea: if you set Interval to 1/32 or Chance to 0.00 percent, Beat Repeat will always pass only the dry signal. Do that. Then put the effect in Insert mode and map a QWERTY key or MIDI button to the Repeat button. Set Grid to 1/32 or faster, and program a moderate amount of Decay and/or Pitch Decay. Whenever you tap your programmed key or button, Beat Repeat will start recycling the most recent slice of the sample. You can trigger it whenever you want a rhythmic variation.

In the following MP3, I've automated several of Beat Repeat's parameters, all based around the Repeat button, to give you an idea how you might want to interact with it. The loop is "Breakbeat - 133 - Beat 3.wav" from the factory soundset. (I also added a bit of Saturator distortion to the track to give it an edge.)

Live and Learn

If you're using Live, be sure to check the Live user forum from time to time. There's a whole section on tips and tricks. And if you have favorite ways to use Live, share them with others! We're all in this together.

Jim Aikin writes about music technology for a variety of publications and websites. His most recent books are Power Tools for Synthesizer Programming and Chords & Harmony.

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