The Covert Operators

You can use the racks in Live to do a lot of things. They can be used to make your own MIDI effects, audio effects and instruments.

Today we will start with the very basics of making your own audio effect. We will make a rack that has 2 chains. The first chain will be empty, so that it can let our "dry" signal pass. The second chain will contain the effects you want to use. We wont be making an actual effect, just the building block that you need to create a cool audio effect rack.

If you read my previous article on the Chain Select Ruler, you are probably hungry for some more tips and tricks concerning this feature. This trick will show you how you can lower the Audio track count in your Live sets.

White noise is one of those things we often shy away from in studio production, so I decided to demonstrate a few things that make it useful. There are some beginner, intermediate AND advanced uses in this video, so pay attention! ;-)

Enjoy!

Ableton Live - Uses for White Noise from Andreas Wetterberg on Vimeo.

In the past few years I've written many times about Dummy Clips. Every time a new version of Live arrives, it gets a little bit easier to use them. We have done a small collection of videos that will highlight many of the uses for Dummy Clips, starting with the basics and working our way up.

The first video shows how to apply different effects to an audio source. Its a simple example but a very important one; the method illustrated in the video can also be applied to regular Audio and MIDI clips, allowing you to assign a designated effect to a clip. 

Dummy Clips Part 1: Dry/Wet Clips from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo. - Click here to download a HQ version of this video.

The second video shows how you can make more complex Dummy Clips by integrating the Clips you already have.

Dummy Clips Part 2: Combining Clips from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo. - Click here to download a HQ version of this video.

The third video illustrates how you can route a sound on-the-fly to a Dummy Clip Track or any other destination.

Dummy Clips Part 3: Routing from Bjorn Vayner on Vimeo. - Click here to download a HQ version of this video.

New York Style compression adds extra punch and presence.  On the Ableton Forum there has been some debate as to how best to implement the approach in Ableton Live. Here's one take on it - as always go through the links by the video to get to the tasty HD on vimeo :)

And don't forget NOT to blink... this one is QUICK!

Rolling drums are a pain to program, but they can be made in a snap when you combine some of Live's MIDI effects. Lets set up a device group that allows you to play a drum roll by just holding one note.

After a recent discussion on the Ableton forum regarding the Calvin Harris "sound" I decided to try out some of the techniques involved in that lovely little track Accetable in the 80s.

The following example is done in Live 7 using only Analog and a drum rack. Very simple, except for the bass sound, which I found hard to acheive using the overly resonant formant filters in there.

I had a great deal of fun on this, which means I probably ended up "grooving" more than actually reaching the same sound, but here it is, you judge for yourself.

 http://www.myspace.com/calvinharristv

and:

My version 

and for all you live 7 heads, here's what I got so far with the .als file - all sounds are included, all free, all Covert Ops (alright, and a bit of that Harris chap). 

 

One of the most common things I want to add in my tracks is that little touch of drop bass, or a straight sine wave to double up the bass line or kick. It's remarkably easy to do, and you don't even need a synth to do it in Ableton Live... what? No synth?