Ableton’s AUTO PAN audio effect is one of the stock effects included in Live that gives a track a “stereo feel” by automatically panning it from left to right following a pattern of movement determined by the effect’s parameters; this saves the user from having to manually automate the pan pot of the track. Dec 15, 2019 Let's take a look at some of the best free autotune plugins around. Our List of the Best Free Autotune VST Downloads Auto Talent V0.2 AutoTalent V0.2 is a cool free autotune plugin which can be used on any instrument from vocals to guitar and more. It has a basic user interface which may seem daunting at first but is easy to get to grips with.

In this Ableton Live Tutorial, Dubspot’s Rory PQ takes us through four methods of creating rhythmic gate style effects to add movement and energy to sustained sounds. Also included is an Ableton Live project loaded with racks and examples of the rhythmic gating methods covered in this tutorial.

One of the most commonly used audio effects utilized in all styles of music is the Noise Gate. Noise Gate effects have many practical applications and are used as either corrective or creative tools. For example, Noise Gate’s can be used as a corrective tool to eliminate background noise that occurs between sounds, or used to clean up a mix by cutting off long reverb or delay tails. In addition, Noise Gate’s work great to shape a sounds decay to either tighten up long notes or control syncopation between sounds to achieve a tighter groove. Noise Gates also excel as a creative tool in the studio for sound design purposes or on the road in live performances as an audio effect to excite the crowd.

In this tutorial, we will look at four rhythmic gating methods and sound design techniques using various Ableton Live devices. In addition, we have included a Creative Gating Ableton Live Project loaded with the Audio Effect Racks and examples of the four rhythmic gating methods covered in this tutorial.

Rhythmic Gating with Dummy Clips

Using Dummy Clips to trigger automation is a great way to build a complex set of rhythmic gate patterns. You may ask, “What are Dummy Clips?” The term Dummy Clip is used to describe an empty Audio Clip that contains automation for modulating a specified parameter of any device in Ableton Live. They are used to trigger automation only and are not intended to playback any audio. Learn more about Dummy Clips and how to create them in the following article:

Rhythmic gating using Dummy Clips allows you to create unique rhythmic patterns with automation envelopes that can be drawn in or recorded to give you complete control over how the sound is being gated. In addition, you’re not limited to using a Gate device for this method. You have the option to use any device that can dynamically affect levels. For example, you could use volume envelopes or filter frequency envelopes. What’s also nice is that you can build a collection of Gating Dummy Clips that can be easily recalled in future projects.

For the examples below I created two Dummy Clips to add some creative movement to a sustained pad sound. One Dummy Clip automates Live’s Utility Gain control and the other automates the Auto Filter’s Frequency control. Each Dummy Clip has the same automation envelope but a much different effect.

Sustained Pad

Rhythmic Gating w/ Utility

Rhythmic Gating w/ Auto Filter

Bonus Tip: You can use a Return Track to feed the gate effect in parallel. To set this up select the track you wish to gate and change the output to ‘Sends Only.’ Next, select the Dummy Clip track and change the input to any empty Return Track. On the track you wish to gate, use the Send knob to control the amount of gate effect being applied in parallel.

Rhythmic Sidechain Gating

The next method of rhythmic gating we will look at involves using Live’s Gate device and its Sidechain feature to trigger the gate effect from another source. This technique is fun and much faster to setup than using Dummy Clips. The source that triggers the Gate’s Sidechain input can either be an audio sample or MIDI sequence. For example, you could set the Gate’s Sidechain source to trigger from a percussion sample so that the effect matches the groove of the project or program a MIDI sequence to create a more complex gate effect.

Using the same sustained pad sound, we will set up Live’s Gate device to sidechain from both a percussion sample and a programmed MIDI pattern so you can hear the difference. The initial setup is quick and easy. First, drag in Live’s Gate device onto any track you wish to gate. Next, expand the Sidechain controls and choose the source material to trigger the gate effect. Lastly, fine tune the Gate’s Threshold, Attack, and Release settings until you’re happy with the results. Often, a fast Attack and medium Release is a good starting point.

Rhythmic Gating Triggered by Audio

Rhythmic Gating Triggered by MIDI

Stutter Gating w/ Auto Pan

The third rhythmic gating method we will look at uses Live’s Auto Pan device. This method is by far the simplest form of gating and the easiest to set up. However, it lacks the fine control seen in the previous methods. Auto Pan does a great job adding stereo width and movement to your sounds, but it can also be used to create gate style stutter effects that sync to the project’s tempo. Let’s explore this further. Auto Pan has a Phase control to adjust the amount of offset between the waveforms for the left and right channel. Setting the Phase to ’0.00′ will leave you with a single waveform that modulates amplitude. Essentially it’s an LFO to control volume levels. Once the Phase is set, you can fine-tune the effect by selecting an LFO Waveform and adjusting the Rate, Shape, and Amount to control how much of the effect is being applied.

Bonus Tip: You can drop in multiple instances of Auto Pan with different waveform settings to create a more unique gating effect. You could also adjust the Offset slightly to add some stereo width. Caution, sounds can become very sharp and percussive, so it’s recommended to drop in a Compressor to tame the gate party.

Stutter Gating w/ Auto Pan

Sidechained Rate Gate

The final rhythmic gating method we will look at is similar to the rhythmic sidechain gating method we explored earlier, except it allows us to adjust the MIDI notes triggering the gate effect on the fly. This approach uses Live’s Compressor instead of a Gate and a custom Audio Effect Rack (included in the free project download) stacked with Live’s Arpeggiator and Simpler loaded with a sample to trigger the Compressor’s Sidechain input.

The combination of devices allows you to adjust the rate at which tempo synced notes trigger sidechain compression on the track you wish to apply the effect. Essentially, it’s like traditional sidechaining but with the option to increase and decrease the pumping effect on the fly to create tempo-synced patterns. The setup involves loading a Compressor on the track you wish to effect and setting the Sidechain input to the Audio Effect Rack that is loaded on a separate MIDI track. On the same MIDI track create a clip that has a single sustained note for 1 or more bars. The Arpeggiator will play this note at a rate you can adjust with a turn of a knob. This rack works great for adding additional movement to sounds and creating pumping buildups that increase in rate.

Sidechained Rate Gate

Bonus Tip: Try applying some delay or any of your favorite effects to any of these methods to enhance the sound.

Also, check the following article to learn how to use Live’s Beat Repeat to create some fun rhythmic effects.

Ableton Live Producer Certificate Program

The flagship of our music training, with every Ableton Live course offered at the school. After completing this program, you will leave with a portfolio of original tracks, a remix entered in an active contest, a scored commercial to widen your scope, and the Dubspot Producer’s Certificate in Ableton Live.

What’s Included:

• Ableton Live Level 1: Beats, Sketches, and Ideas
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• Ableton Live Level 5: Advanced Effect Processing
• Ableton Live Level 6: Going Global with your Music

This program is about learning Ableton Live by going through the entire process of being an artist, by developing your own sound through a series of sketches and experimentation. You will also learn the ins and outs of this powerful software through a series of exercises designed to help you master the steps involved in producing your own music. After a level of getting familiar with the tools that Ableton has to offer, you will then develop your sonic ideas into full-length tracks. You will be exposed to a variety of approaches to arrangement and composition, storytelling techniques, ways of creating tension and drama in your music. At the end of the day, it is the sum total of your choices as an artist that define your sound, and Levels 2 – 6 will give you the experience of actually completing tracks to add to your portfolio.

Click here for detailed information on this program, including start dates and payment plans.

Or if you have questions, please call 877.DUBSPOT or send us a message.

Max for Live, potentially offers endless new MIDI and Audio Effects, Instruments and Video Devices .

Since Ableton Live 9. Max for Live is bundled with the Suite version of Live.

If you are not already using Max for Live you should first check out the Max for Live Essentials Pack which includes very useful tools for your production including a the brand new Convolution Reverb.

Max is a visual programming language designed for media artists. You can start building your own devices and edit other’s

Shortly after Max for Live was introduces maxforlive.com started. There you can find hundreds of free and paid M4L devices and library is growing everyday!

I always love finding new Max for Live devices and I’ll start posting the ones that stand out which I find myself using more regularly.

Palmas

I’ve been using Palmas for a while now. It makes a very realistic clap sounds. It’s really simple and just works. It allows you do decide how many people are clapping and even automate it.

So you can go from one person clapping to a big group of 32 people clapping.

You can even change how accurately timed the claps are. /titans-tv-show-2018-download-torrent.html. You can change the pitch and even the sound across the stereo field.

If you’re looking for more live sounding organic claps, Look no further.

Download Palmas (Free)

Palmas is part of a pack of devices created by Beyond-Digital. The included instruments are more focused on ethnic scales called Maqams. All the devices share a very unique and beautiful design.

J74 Harmotools

I’ve always envied Logic‘s built-in chord detector you can find in the global transport bar. Finally you can have one just like that with Max for Live.

J74 Harmotools are a collection of Max MIDI effects to help you with your compositions. Inside the pack you can find the HarmoChord J74. Simply load it into a MIDI track and start playing, it will tell you which chord you playing or which chord is being played from the MIDI clip.

Download J74 Harmotools (Free)

Stereo Imager

You can achieve stereo widening effect in various ways in Ableton Live (Utility, Frequency Shifter, Filter Delay etc.) but this Stereo Imager from Calvin Lanz just works straight out of the box. Drop it on any track and you’ll instantly hear the sounds completely spread across the stereo field. Really great on Pads, Noise, Textures, Arpeggios and Backing Vocals.

Download Stereo Imager (Free)

Track Stereo Pan Enabler

Ableton’s lack of a true stereo panning is hardly talked about. In Live the Pan knobs only function as a Stereo Balance. Meaning that they only turn down one side as much as you turn the Pan knob.

To get true stereo panning you can use Faint Response – Track Stereo Pan Enabler a free Max Audio Effect from Marc Sprecher.

Place the device on any Audio track and instantly it will take over that Track’s panning. Now using the regular Pan knob you used all along you can achieve true stereo panning that will more naturally change the perceived sonic angel of the sound and not just turn down the left or the right channel. Valuable on the stereo sounds of your tune. It might even solve you some mixing problems.

Download Track Stereo Pan Enabler (Free)

For more details on the panning limitation in Live check out the very informative video from Urple Eeple.

Auto Pan Ableton Download Mac

One

Might be the most simple yet useful Max for Live device out there. Created by Certified Trainer Yehezkel Raz out of Israel.

This Device has only one knob. You map this knob to one of the knobs/faders on your MIDI controller. Then every parameter in Live that you click with your mouse will be controller by that one knob/fader on your MIDI controller! So you can basically use one knob to control any parameter in Ableton Live!

You can get a lot more free and useful Max for Live devices like this on Yehezkel’s blog 4live.me

Max Devices Installation

Drag the downloaded file to:

Max Instruments: User Library -> Presets -> Instruments -> Max Instruments

Max MIDI Effects: User Library -> Presets -> MIDI Effects -> Max MIDI Effects

Auto Pan Ableton Download Full

Max Audio Effects: User Library -> Presets -> Audio Effects -> Max Audio Effects

Auto Pan Ableton Download Windows

Do you know of any must have Max for Live devices? Let me know, Would love to check them out.