Using only Ableton

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:09 pm

Tarekith wrote:I'll be 100% Live starting Friday.

eh? you selling zebra? what gives?

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:17 pm

I haven't gone 100% Live but I have been writing some tracks using nothing but the stuff in Live studio.

The two things I miss the most are a good modulatable delay like Fabfilter Timeless and an analog style filterbank like Volcano. I've had some luck replacing Timeless with the grain delay but I can't get any of the filters to sound anything like the ones in Volcano or Quad Frohmage. I wish we could get the filters from Analog in an audio effect.

I've found you can cover a pretty wide range of sounds with just Ableton but I've had a hard time getting the more analog sounds that, for example, old Mouse on Mars records used to have.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:21 pm

I've been on Live for all my sequencing and even mastering needs. But I do rely on some external synths, like Z3ta and Sylenth1, and for effects, I'm using Kjaerhus, T-racks, Voxengo, and Camel products. Live effects and synths get used whenever possible, and in most songs, I'd estimate about 60-75% is pure Live in the box.

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:26 pm

I'd be interested in tips people have for getting more out of the Live effects.

For instance, I've found that sticking a 100% wet grain delay in front of the reverb with the random pitch turned up a bit can add a little extra dimension to the reverb. I've been happy enough with this that I've been using it instead of the ArtsAcoustic reverb in many cases.

I've been working on saturator/autofilter combos for a while to get a richer sound out of the autofilter but it seems to just be a pretty clinical sounding filter.

DJ VAKIS · Post by **DJ VAKIS** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:39 pm

100% Live

jamester · Post by **jamester** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 5:59 pm

I would love to go 100% Live, but it's just not possible at this time.

Aside from the long-winded workflow of having to work around things like lack of track folders, crossfades, per-item fx and such...as a guitarist there's no built-in amp sim or tuner, and again the lack of takes/comping slows down the workflow.

nebulae · Post by **nebulae** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:03 pm

jamester wrote:I would love to go 100% Live, but it's just not possible at this time.

Aside from the long-winded workflow of having to work around things like lack of track folders, crossfades, per-item fx and such...as a guitarist there's no built-in amp sim or tuner, and again the lack of takes/comping slows down the workflow.

agreed!!

kuniklo · Post by **kuniklo** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:16 pm

There's no dedicated amp sim but you can get some similar sounds with the saturator + reverb or delay. Maybe not a true substitute but one of the things I like about working 100% is that it forces me to break some habits and sometimes I come up with better ways to do things I wouldn't have tried otherwise.

For instance, this is just operator + grain delay + reverb but I think the reverb actually acquits itself pretty well here:

http://www.burgerkone.com/music/done.mp3

funky shit · Post by **funky shit** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:26 pm

Mr Man wrote:
funky shit wrote:Well I used to always rewire reason into ableton for drums. Terrible way of working as there are a lot of nice sounds in reasons synths
But after hours of sampling every damn sample in reason, i now use them with impulse.
I use ableton to do everything, send midi to synths. Record. Mix etc
did you know there is a program that exracts all reasons samples?

Where

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:26 pm

nebulae wrote:
jamester wrote:I would love to go 100% Live, but it's just not possible at this time.

Aside from the long-winded workflow of having to work around things like lack of track folders, crossfades, per-item fx and such...as a guitarist there's no built-in amp sim or tuner, and again the lack of takes/comping slows down the workflow.
agreed!!

Hopefully though we see track folders and the other often requested improvements before we see the Abes attempt a guitar amp though..... please please please.

jamester · Post by **jamester** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 6:38 pm

kuniklo wrote:There's no dedicated amp sim but you can get some similar sounds with the saturator + reverb or delay....

True, out of all the things I mentioned probably the amp sim is the least important - definitely want a tuner though!

Machinesworking wrote: Hopefully though we see track folders and the other often requested improvements before we see the Abes attempt a guitar amp though..... please please please.

Haha agreed!

I think the folder tracks are a given for the next version since we already have Instrument Racks....will they be "Track Racks"?

feyshay · Post by **feyshay** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 7:20 pm

I think Ableton is quality enough to make any track. Of course, you still need preamps, and external compressors are important. I need nothing more than Ableton. I could get by. Wait, I would need Session Drums. I use BFD2. I'd also need Voxengo Elephant or PSP Xenon.
Oh yeah, one more thing--reverb. Ableton does not cut it for vocals and acoustic instruments. I use a Kurzweil KSP8 or Altiverb.

JAMM · Post by **JAMM** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:38 pm

Now: Ableton, Reason and some VST synths, plug ins powerered by a powerbook

In the old days i used a lot off hardware samplers en old analog synths.

jamester · Post by **jamester** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:46 am

feyshay wrote:I think Ableton is quality enough to make any track. Of course, you still need preamps, and external compressors are important. I need nothing more than Ableton. I could get by. Wait, I would need Session Drums. I use BFD2. I'd also need Voxengo Elephant or PSP Xenon.
Oh yeah, one more thing--reverb. Ableton does not cut it for vocals and acoustic instruments. I use a Kurzweil KSP8 or Altiverb.

Ha, doesn't sound like "Ableton's all I need" at all!

Curious, what do you use external compressors for?

aeon · Post by **aeon** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 8:24 am

yep, i'm 100% Cubas... wait, sorry.