Creating with Ableton Live Plugins and Instruments

Course details

Explore the wide variety of powerful plugins and instruments in Ableton Live, the popular music production software. Instructor Rick Schmunk starts with an in-depth look at Sampler and how to create multi-sample presets, as well as overviews of the core instruments Electric, Collision, Analog, and Operator. Rick also covers audio and MIDI plug-ins through a variety of walkthroughs, tips, tricks, and examples.

Concepts

Introduction

About this course
What you should know

Sampler (Instrument)

Sampler intro
Sample playback
Prepare and load multisamples
Multisample instruments and key zones
Multisample instruments and velocity zones
FM modulation and pitch envelopes
Filter and amp envelopes
LFO modulation
Assign MIDI control

Electric (Instrument)

Electric intro - Hammers and tines
Damper and pickup in Electric
Creating classic EP sounds
Creating wide stereo EP sound

Audio Plug-Ins

FX overview
Beat Repeat
Resonators, part 1
Resonators, part 2
Multiband Dynamics
Random
Vocoder
Vinyl Distortion
Working with external devices
EQ and filters
Compressors
Side chain processing
Using delays
Echo intro
Echo advanced features
Saturator and Pedal
Drum Buss
Reverb

Collision (Instrument)

Overview
Excitator section
Resonator section, part 1
Resonator section, part 2
LFO section
Creating sounds with Collision

Live Mixer

Overview
Group tracks
Sends and returns
Routing and resampling
Headphone cues

MIDI FX

Arpeggiator
Chord and Scale

Max 4 Live

M4L LFO plugin
M4L Shaper

Analog (Instrument)

Introduction to Analog
Origins of sound synthesis - Oscillators and oscillator waveforms
Create a richer sound with oscillator tuning
Analog's hidden sub and sync oscillators
Use filters to sculpt the sound
Use a filter envelope to shape the sound
Create motion with filter modulation
Emulate a vintage synth with oscillator modulation
Create tremolo and stutter effects with amp modulation
Create a sidechain saw bass
Create a supersaw and mellow pad sound
Create a growl bass sound
Create a vintage lead sound

Operator (Instrument)

Introduction to Operator
FM sound synthesis - Carrier and modulator oscillators
Choose an oscillator waveshape
Create custom oscillator waveshapes
Add low end with a sub oscillator
Use filters to sculpt the sound
Use a filter envelope to shape the sound
Create motion using modulation and LFOs
Create a processed EP sound
Create a house bass sound with sidechained sub bass
Creating an ambient FM pad sound
Creating a plucked synth sound

Conclusion

Next steps