Mixing using live effect's only?

[herbertson]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever made a song in live using only the effects in live and nothing else, like other vst's and stuff.
And really had it sound good.

[Pyro Z]

Absolutely. I've created entire albums this way.

Live gets dissed quite a bit for it's built in effects. I think they could be better, but really it's the user that matters. The EQ in Live isn't going to be substantially different from something from Waves in what it actually does to your audio, the difference is in the default settings, presets, ease of use, and many times hardware emulation that means it's not actually doing just that given effect. Many times these extra things can be gotten natively in Live by saving your own favorite presets, using multiple effects in chains, learning what every device actually does to your audio and then applying it correctly, as well as using automation, choosing the appropriate model when using Compressor (I love 8's new feed-back setting based on real hardware, it sounds great), and also the old mantra applies here: "trust your ears" when producing and changing any settings. Of course nothing can compete with good source material. None of my fancy Chorus VSTs could ever compare to or replace true double-tracking for vocals. That will always be the case and that's not Live's fault.

[davepermen]

i only use live's internal stuff. none of the library-presets or anything. just operator to generate sounds, and the effects to tweak and manipulate them. works great. it's a bit like lego. simple things, but great if you combine them to something bigger.

[neurotesque]

yup. once you start tweaking with operator and the native effects, everything else seems so clammed up and complicated.

[v00d00ppl]

Ever since live 5, all i had was an mpc 1000 and live 5 for mixing. man, I used to catch wreck with that thing. I mean this was before the mpc 1000 had time stretching.So lie did that for me. Doing the beat in the mpc or just recording into live and re-recording the sounds post effects sending to the mpc. I didn't have operator. All i had was my x-station and i used to just work with that.

By the time I was on live 6, i ditched the mpc and even with all the latency and other issues, i made enough heat to get people recognizing my sound.

if you are broke and all you have is a recording interface, midi controller, and live 7 or newer you are set. All you need to do is use your head and be willing to make mistakes. If you push your thinking to the limit amongst your budget constraints, you will make heat.

wordlife

[leedsquietman]

I am (or at least was) a total gearslut with more plugins and DAW software than you can shake a stick at.

However, it is more than possible to use Live and it's devices, especially Live Suite, or at least Operator and Sampler, to make great sounding tracks using just the internal plugins and devices, especially since Live 7 when they upgraded the compressor, introduced slicing and drum racks etc and brought sidechaining in.

I have made several tracks which are completely made and mixed in Live with just Live devices and FX, even though I have so many other plugins.

Sometimes it's also better to limit yourself in some ways, it can be more productive and creative. Having said this, I don't impose those restrictions on myself deliberately, I just go with the flow and if it's sounding good in Live with it's FX and devices, I will go with it, but if I know some other manipulation in Cubase will get me what I want, or a 3rd party VST FX or instrument is what I need, I go to them. Whatever gets the job done with the minimum of fuss really.

[Tarekith]

Usually I use whatever effects come with the DAW I happen to be using. If I'm writing a track in Live, I tend to use mainly Live effects. If I'm writing a track in Logic, I use mainly Logic's effects.