Ableton Forum

Hi,

I'm sure i'll get shouted down with this post, either because I should just spend money on packs or because it's been posted a billion times before. BUT - i've blown all my money on buying Ableton Live 9 Standard, and I have searched and can't find answers, so here it is:

Having spent all that money on the software, i'm really keen to get some good packs to work with - mainly as instruments for midi stuff. Does anyone have recommendations for where to download them?

Thanks

fearofbirds wrote:- i've blown all my money on buying Ableton Live 9 Standard, and I have searched and can't find answers,

That's a hard one, indeed. Owning a Standard license only narrows down your choice a lot. Most free packs I know about rely on Ableton Instruments you don't have a license for (Sampler, Operator, Max for Live,...). If you're lucky, you might be able to use readymade presets, and that would be from Ableton partners only, because only they can wrap the packs that way. You will certainly not be able to enter the chains and edit those presets.

I'm not taking potshots at giving recommendations that may or may not work for you.

Sorry.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that went over my head a bit. I'm just trying to understand Ableton, having come from Logic and Protools - both pretty similar in the way they work.

For instance, I don't actually understand why one needs 'instruments' to use 'packs'. I guess I dont really understand what 'instruments' are, especially because 'instruments' are listed in the sounds i'm using, such as horns or whatever, and they work fine. Hmm... Difficulty figuring it all out. No idea where to start.

Gosh...

Hope this is helpful:

Packs and instruments are not the same thing.

Instruments are the sound generating devices. Operator, Analog, Sampler, etc.

AFAIK packs are collections of presets and sounds, which can be used by instruments.

You can of course get collections that have names of instruments of e.g. french horn sounds.

But those are not really instruments; they are samples which you can play on an instrument like simpler / impulse, or presets for a synth like operator.

Free packs on Ableton's website store can be nice but in my experience they are mostly teasers and tasters to get you to buy the paid for packs.

AFAIK you are not going to get any instruments in a free Live pack.

As for the nicest free packs for an owner of Live Standard - tastes differ. It depends on the music you make and the genre you work in.

My advice: save up for Operator. You'll find your range hugely extended.

afrodjmac has a lot of free packs on his website, you can learn some nice tricks form the way he builds instrument racks
http://afrodjmac.com/category/free-ableton-instruments/

puremagnetik has really nice stuff for little money, you pay 8$ for one pack per month. a bit confusing purchase concept, but worth cecking out.
http://www.puremagnetik.com/

I've released a free Live Pack available at my website, it's what I like to call a Super Sampler.
The rack features 10 multi sampled instruments contained in one rack, you can browse different presets using the macro presets knob.
I'm still new to the instrument creation game, but all 10 instruments are very usable.
I enjoy doing this for my own compositions and plan to release several more, I hope somebody finds value in this.
Find it at http://www.weswookbeats.com/kits . Cheers!

We have 31 free riser (uplifter) Operator-based racks here http://www.blog.abletunes.com/free-uplifter-racks/
These racks are mainly for EDM, but you can use them for any kind of music.
Be sure to check other freebies - http://www.blog.abletunes.com/category/freebie/

abletunes wrote:We have 31 free riser (uplifter) Operator-based racks here http://www.blog.abletunes.com/free-uplifter-racks/
These racks are mainly for EDM, but you can use them for any kind of music.
Be sure to check other freebies - http://www.blog.abletunes.com/category/freebie/

These are great! Thanks!

Try the Ableton Racks section here: https://www.audiobombs.com/