Think Outside the Box, Use Ableton’s External Instrument Plug in!

Here is a quick 2 Minute Ableton Live Tip about how to route external instruments into Live.  Once in Ableton, you can sequence them and add plenty of good effects. In the video I use the Synthboy by Ninstrument.  It turns Nintendo’s Gameboy into a 5 channel Synthesizer;  just listen to the 8 bit glory it unleashes!  Big thanks to Chris for lending me one to play around with.  Much more on Synthboy coming soon!  Enjoy the tip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm7aQaEplpQ

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Special Free Ableton Live Pack for The Advanced User Group Meet Up!

In honor of the Advanced Ableton Live User Group Meeting in New York City tomorrow night, I have created a special Free Live Pack.  My discussion at the meet up will cover drum treatment during a live performance.  Starting with effects processing, we will end up going over creating fills and variations.  To illustrate the demonstration, I have created a few little presents I’d like to share.

The OP-1 Toy Drum Rack and The Beat Repeat, Reverser and Mute Rack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7axbufiErY

I was very inspired by this video by Cuckoo to start creating some synthesized drums with the Teenage Engineering OP-1. Each of the 16 drums were created on the OP-1 and placed into Ableton Simplers in a drum rack.  I played around with some of the filters and gave certain drums a little Filter-LFO action to create the illusion of different sounding hits.  Also, I used a cool little technique with the Random MIDI device, to randomly choose slightly different hi hat samples on one drum pad.

All of which, plus a discussion of how Follow Actions can be used for drum fills are detailed in the video Above.  Once you have watched it, download the pack below and start messing around with the set.  To install, open the .ALP file and select a destination to save the Project.  Open the Project (one version requires Max for Live, the other does not).  You can save the racks to your library by clicking on the save icon (image of a floppy disc) in the top right corner of the rack.

Advanced Ableton User Group Meet Up May 9th at 7pm

If you are in the New York City area, come down to Tekserve for a fun night of nerding out about music production and performance.  If you aren’t nearby, the entire event is streaming over at Shocklee.  I’m very excited about all of the presenters, I hope you can make it in person or over the web.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

AfroDJMac Discusses Live Electronic Drum Technique at Ableton Meetup

Come down to Tekserve on Thursday May 9th at 7pm, for the Advanced Ableton User Meetup.  I will be there discussing how to handle drums in a live situation.  The talk will cover programming beats quickly, creating variations to those beats, adding fills, and adding effects.  Expect a bunch of practical information and ideas that you can use within your own live performances.  To coincide with the night, I will release a special Free Ableton Live Pack that will help you get going.

An Exciting Night with Some Incredible Talent

If that doesn’t sell you, then definitely come down for some of the other presenters.  I’m really excited to see the valuable bits of knowledge will come of the night.  On the bill are Laura Escudé, Adam Rokhsar , Dana Schechter , and Juan Larios.  I feel like I will be leaving the event smarter and totally inspired thanks to these presenters.  DJ Phil Painson will fill the gaps between speakers, and of course, Hank Shocklee and Ben Casey will be the evening’s gracious hosts.  Check out the video from the Advanced User Meetup in December.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vuiAFq-9o8

I hope you can make it to the event, RSVP here.  if not it is streaming from Shocklee.com.  Head over to Shocklee for more details.  If you make it down, be sure to say hello. The best thing about these events are meeting others in the community, and I hope to get to know as many people as possible.

 Discount Code from LoopMasters

If anyone shops at LoopMasters, they gave me a promo code to share with you for 20% off your next order.  The code is “AFRO20″  Enjoy, it is good until May 31st.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Ableton Push = The Guitar Player’s Friend

My first instrument was guitar.  It was on guitar that I first unlocked and discovered the magic of music.  Its mysterious world began to unfold across the fret board and six strings.  No other instrument makes as much sense or is as familiar to me as a guitar.  Ableton’s Push has been a dream come true for the guitarist in me.  The note mode is arranged in fourths, just like a guitar.  Intervals I know on guitar are present on Push.  Patterns my fingers have memorized and can follow in my sleep are once again alive on Push.  It’s pretty exciting.  Though it’s so familiar, the Push still feels strangely exotic.  Playing it is almost like having deja vu.  I know it’s new, but somehow I feel like I’ve been here before.  Anyway, just to amuse myself, I’ve been playing some old guitar riff favorites on the Push and I put together this quick collection of songs you already know.  I loaded up my Nintendo Instrument Rack and my 8 Bit Super Tape drums to perform some old favorites on this new instrument, in an old style.  Enjoy this silly little video featuring: ”Crazy Train” Ozzy Osbourne    -  “Purple Haze” Jimi Hendrix  - “Ain’t Talking Bout Love” Van Halen 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wQJPW_i8Q4

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

2 Years of AfroDJMac Ableton Live Packs and Tutorials!

April marks the two year anniversary for my series of Free Ableton Live material.  It all began when I shared a little instrument I made with the feedback from my computer’s internal microphone interacting with its speakers.  Free Weekly Ableton Live Rack #1- “AfroDjMac Laptop Feedback”  was born, and at the time I had no idea how far it would go.  After a year of releasing a new Live pack every week, I began my Two Minute Ableton Live Tips series with the Remap Dangerous Controls video (a lesson I learned the hard way). For the last year I’ve alternated each week with a tip and free Live pack.  As of now, there have been 76 free Ableton Packs, 31 Two Minute Tips, and a bunch of Premium Live Packs.  It’s been an amazing journey that has connected me with thousands of people across the world.  I’ve heard great new music, met and worked with a lot of people I look up to, gotten the chance to do some presentations, and been inspired by artists over and over again.  This is a truly marvelous community and I encourage everyone to get involved and participate in it!

I begin my 3rd year with some big goals and plans in mind; I am very excited to share these ideas with you.  So lets jump right in!

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Live Ableton Pack

I’m sure it’s pretty clear that video games have a large influence in my life.  One of my first and favorite Live packs was the AfroDJMac Nintendo Rack.  Probably my favorite video game series of all time is the Legend of Zelda.  It has captured my imagination since I was about 5 or 6 years old, and I’ve purchased Nintendo systems exclusively to play Zelda games.

Link fights enemies on the overland map of Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda, his gaming debut. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A good friend of mine, J-Rod, gave me a really nice ceramic Ocarina for Christmas a few years ago.  It’s just like the one Link uses in many of the games.  It even comes with a little booklet that teaches you how to play songs from the games.  This week, I finally put this ocarina to good use.    I sampled a couple of notes into Ableton and created an instrument that works especially well with Push.  It has controls for the sample selection, filters, delay, etc.  It even makes use of Push’s aftertouch to control subtle vibrato and the filter frequency.  You can adjust it to sound true to the Ocarina, with slow attacks reminiscent of your breath blowing in.  But it also can function like a weird electric keyboard, or under extreme manipulation, some kind of bizarre breathing organism.  Check out the video below, which features a few tunes some of you Zelda lovers may recognize.  Then download it for free to use with Ableton Live 9 (sorry you Live 9 holdouts!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hT0rPgaSGrE

New Music From AfroDJMac, Using AfroDJMac Sounds

To further the 2 year celebration, I’ve released a new track.  It’s called “Mind Space” and I think it’s a perfect chill out zone out ambient piece for the warmer weather that’s approaching.  There’s a floaty vibe to it, but I’m not sure if it feels like floating in water or outer-space.  I’ll give you a more definitive answer after my next space voyage.

The track features the Charlie Brown X-Mas Tree Synths  for the main chords that play through most of the song, and the Ableton Live Armageddon Pack w/ Korg Poly800 MKII for the higher pitched melody that pops in and out periodically.  Check it out above, and if you dig it, give it a like or a share, and hook up with me on SoundCloud.

Thanks and Here’s to Another Exciting Year!

I’d like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading this, checking out the Live Packs, Tips, and music I create.  It really does mean the world to me and inspires me to push myself into new creative endeavors.  Thanks and until next time…!!!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Quickly and Easily Create Dummy Clips in Ableton Live 9

Dummy Clips is a powerful Ableton technique for creating interesting and evolving effects.  If you are not familiar with the idea, watch Tom Cosm’s in depth video.  It’s a great technique, but a little painstaking, because you had to draw in each envelop in each dummy clip.  Now that Ableton Live allows for clip automation recording in the session view, this process is 100 times easier.  Check out the video below as I show you how to start recording automation into dummy clips on the fly, live.  It’s a great use of my favorite Live 9 feature, clip automation recording.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM913lMtWuI

PS the synth sound you hear in the video is Robert Chamber’s Nokia Dumb Phone.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Easily Create Momentary Midi Controls with Max for Live

Yehezkel Raz, certified Ableton trainer, writer of 4live.me, and all around cool dude, has released an extremely useful device.  It allows you to turn any midi note into a momentary control.  This lets you hold down a midi note to trigger an effect and when you let go, the effect turns off.  The normal operation is toggle, meaning pressing the note turns on the effect and pressing it again turns it off.  If you’ve ever wanted to do some quick beat mashing and effects swapping, this is the tool you need!  I recently put out a cry for help on Facebook, and Yehezkel came through with this device.  I am so grateful and have already been using this in my live performance set to great results.  Check out his video below (which I think is edited brilliantly) and visit his site for the download.  And let me take this moment to give a super big thanks to Yehezkel!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeHsN5902-o

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Video Tutorial on Creating Multi Band Effects in Ableton Live 9

Multi Band Processing allows you to separate certain frequencies and apply effects only to certain portions of the sound.  One practical use might be to add distortion to the higher frequencies of a bass track, but leave the lowest frequencies untouched.  This way your bass stays strong and present, while the higher frequencies can be mangled and distorted to your heart’s content.  The possibilities are literally limitless and they can be used to create some really dynamic and interesting effects.  Fortunately for us, Ableton Live makes it pretty easy to do, so we don’t need to invest a ton of money on 3rd party plugins that specialize in this department.  Check out the video below as I show you how to make your own Multi Band Effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHbrjsndFo

Sounds from the video made with the Korg Poly800 Armageddon Pack for Ableton Live.

Tons of analog goodness, inspired by the end of the world!  More information on the Armageddon Ableton Pack Here.

Here’s Some Music Created with the Armageddon Pack!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

There is music everywhere

Robert Chambers, writer of HeadThoraxAbdomen, has just released a really awesome Ableton Instrument.  He sampled his Nokia x1 “Dumb Phone”  and turned it into a brilliant instrument.  The sounds are loaded with character, and have a really unique feel.   Here’s the sound sample:

So head over to Robert’s site and download this instrument.  He also released some Ableton effect racks recently, which are also worth your hard drive space.  Check it out!

The Rusty Fender Rhodes Ableton Pack

You may remember a few months ago, I worked with Robert on the Rusty Fender Rhodes pack.  It’s a less than perfect (in all the right ways) Fender Rhodes instrument.  Here’s the video and download link, in case you missed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avOzBxbxooc

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Take Glitch to the Next Level using Max for Live.

K Devices has released a really fun device for Max for Live, DrumK.  DrumK is designed for “beat oriented madness.”  Think of it sort of like Buffer Shuffler on steroids.  It’s a super powerful device that you drop samples in and start smashing your beats.  Pretty much every parameter can be automated and different presets can be saved and instantly recalled.  I’ve had some time to mess around with it and can recommend it to you.  Below are some videos that will help you understand how it works, but first let me show you this one with the Lemur.  If you have an iPad, this free Lemur template is amazing!  I supplied some drum loops for video, using my Super Tape Drums Ableton Pack.  Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uocd8ztjw2Y

And here are a couple of more videos…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT4CpHOuZkI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GniqUkVe8Sw

DrumK is a a lot fun, be sure to check it out.  You will need Max for Live to use this.  Compatible with Ableton Live 8 and 9.  K Devices is offering a special for DrumK and the Human Manual.  Basically you get the DrumK and 1 hour of one on one training for 49 Pounds (not really sure about the dollar amount there).  If you pick up Drumk let me know what you think.  If you opt for the “Human Manual” let us know if it is worth our while!  Enjoy!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Ableton Live Channel Strip Audio Effect Rack

If you’re like me, you probably wind up doing a lot of the same things over and over again each time you are working on a track.  For me, I often apply a little EQ and Compression on most of my tracks.  A good percentage of them may also get a touch of Reverb as well.  These are features that I use over and over again, so I thought I’d create an Effect rack preset for them.  Now rather than add each effect individually, I just drop this rack on the track and get tweaking.  And now that Ableton Live 9 allows you to create default audio and midi tracks, you can create a track with this rack built into it.  Super workflow enhancer!

Drop it on any Track!

So here is what you get.  A Low Cut and High Cut Filter.  I made these filters using EQ8.  In Live 9, EQ 8 has been drastically updated and I love the sound of the filters.  There are settings for the Compressor as well.  Finally there is some Reverb.  The Reverb is special because it only affects the highest frequencies.  This way the bass and mids will stay crisp, without becoming muddy.

In the video I break the rack apart and show you what is inside.  I hope you enjoy this handy pack and it saves you some valuable time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPnE1cwqV-s

Super Tape Drums and Juno 106 Pack Used in Video

To create the music you hear in the video, I used by Super Tape Drums and Roland Juno 106 Ableton Live Packs.  Both of these packs contain tons of unique sounds you won’t find anywhere else. Check them out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCyd6bogMLo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJIn-BrRNdI

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Excellent and Thorough 20 Minute Push Review by SonicState!

Nick Batt of SonicState is basically the music gear review master.  He gets his hands on all the cool new toys and reviews them from a place of sincerity, not hype.  I like a guy who can tell it like it is and Nick is on the ball in that regard.  He recently did a 20 minute Ableton Push review (yea 20 minutes!).  He covers pretty much everything you could possibly wonder.  One of the super nice things he did was use my Mom’s Piano Ableton Pack to demonstrate.  As a guy who, for years, has been watching Nick’s reviews as well as the great Sonic Touch iOS app show, I was pretty pumped and flattered to see him using that instrument.  Big thanks goes out to Nick for all the great reviews and the kind mention.   Here’s the review (head to the 5 minute mark for my 15 minutes of fame .  If you are still hungry for Push reviews, the best text review I’ve read (unsurprisingly) comes from Peter Kirn of Create Digital Music. 

*Thanks to Mark Mosher for giving me the scoop!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atnn_uCsZBs

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

How to Sample Hardware Gear into Ableton Live

I’ve recently put together a tutorial on sampling for the good people at Winksound.  In the video I share a few workflow techniques to make sampling your outboard MIDI gear a little easier.  Using Ableton Live, I send MIDI to the Arturia MiniBrute.  From there I record the output of the MiniBrute into clips, which will ultimately be imported into Live’s Sampler to create new instruments.  The power of Sampler allows you to do things impossible on the hardware synth (polyphony, additional filters and effects).  This is the technique I used to create the MegaBrute Collection Ableton Pack.  Check out the video below for the complete walkthrough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIadp0fUzeU

How to Use Ableton Instrument Racks

This is not the first tutorial I’ve done for Winksound.  A few months back I did a lesson on how to create instrument racks in Ableton Live.  Check that out below.  And if you haven’t been following Winksound, be sure to visit their YouTube page for tons of useful Music Production tutorials.  It’s a great resource and their videos are very well done, featuring a myriad of respected people in the music scene.  I’m happy to be included in the bunch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRY2KSNhKsw

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Turntable and Some Leaves Jamming Away

Diego Stocco has always got something interesting up his sleeve.  I think he is an amazing and inspiring sound designer.  Check out what he can do with some leaves and a turntable.  Amazing!

Diego Stocco – Duet for Leaves & Turntable from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Hit the Big Time with Big Vocal Snippets

You’ve been there before.  The track is almost complete, the bass is sitting just right, the drums are pumping… but something is just missing.  Where’s that final touch that will take your track from bedroom masterpiece to Billboard chart topper?  Well look no further, here it is.  The Super Hot Vocal Swag YOLO Pack for Ableton Live is guaranteed to get your tracks charting everywhere from Beatport to the New York Times best sellers list.  Just drop some of these hip catchy phrases at the opening of a track or before the break; or if you really want a hit, just make a track using only these ballin’ samples.   The press will start calling, A&R Reps will stalk you at night, and you’ll need to hire body guards to keep the women away.   Use at your own risk.  Sometimes we are unprepared for what success brings.  Save these samples only until you are truly ready for the big time.  Big thanks to Mike Longo for co-conspiring with me on this life changing project!  Check the video preview below (turn on the subs to hear the bass yo).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-4gdfdOvqQ

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Dark, Moody, Mellow Electronic Music You can learn from…

I’ve just upgraded to the Pro Unlimited SoundCloud, so I will be posting more music on a more regular basis.  The first track I’d like to share is called “Here in my Heart.” Have a listen below.

It’s a dark moody piece that deals with feeling more like a machine than a man.  It’s so easy to get caught up in routine and monotony that emotions can feel dulled.  It’s a song of late night introspection, when the mind goes to weird places.  I was feeling more like a machine than a man. Emotions were distant memories and emptiness populated the heart.

Made with Ableton Live 9.
Max for Live Drums, iPad Jam Up guitar amp app on Vocals. Samplr app used on one synth sound.

Go Behind the Curtains with AfroDJMac

The song is available for free download, so please enjoy.  For anyone who would like a deeper look at the track’s construction, as well as the Ableton Live Instruments and Effects used to create the song, I offer the Behind the Curtains with AfroDJMac Pack.  It contains the song, the Ableton Live project used to create it, and all of the instrument and effect racks used.  It’s a great way to see how I put this track together by reverse engineering it and to add some sounds to your collection.  You are free to remix, sample, and otherwise use and abuse the sounds in the pack.  All this is yours for less than a pint of beer at $3.  Requires Ableton Live 9.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Create Ableton Instruments That Contain More Than One Synth Sound!

The last few 2 Minute Ableton Tips have dealt with aspects of Live’s device racks.  This week we will continue that discussion with how you can layer multiple synths on one keyboard.  Using different chains within a rack opens many options.  We can have instruments that trigger different synths depending on the velocity of the in coming notes.  We can also have certain notes trigger one synth and other notes trigger different ones.  This is great if you have a midi control with lots of keys.  You can have instruments that have some thick bass sound on the lower octaves, with a warm pad higher up the keyboard.  There’s a lot of potential in this trick.  Check out the video below as I show you how to do it, and in two minutes, you’ll be making your own multi-synth instruments!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCmnRcoxNFc

All Sounds in the Video Come from the AfroDJMac MegaBrute Ableton Collection

Right now the MegaBrute Collection is on sale.  It features 50 synths created with the Arturia MiniBrute Analog Synthesizer, and an additional four extra Ableton Live sets of songs made completely with the MegaBrute Collection.  These Ableton sets will give you an idea of just some of the potential of this massive collection.  This collection will give you a taste of what the MiniBrute has to offer, as well as some sounds that are simply impossible on the original hardware.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Umf6xK8gK0

Ableton Push?

Anyone out there receive their Push yet?  I preordered mine from Guitar Center back in January and there is still no word.  The wait is unbearable!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Get Every AfroDJMac Ableton Pack in On Convenient Download

I’ve just finished archiving and packaging every single Free Ableton Live Pack I’ve ever created into one simple download.  A few readers, who have recently found my downloads, were asking if there was a place to download them all, and this is it.  You’ll get it all.  Synthesizers, Sampled instruments, Effect racks, Midi effect racks, experimental sounds and effects, it’s all here.  Currently the download is almost 1.5GB, so there is a ton of content here!

Get it Now!

*All packs will remain free to download individually.

Here’s one of my latest and favorite creations, Mom’s Piano.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvXYqeCKaAc

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Unlock a World of Possibilities with Ableton’s Chain Selector

Ableton Live’s device racks offer amazing customization possibilities.  Users can build their own instrument and audio effects racks that can do some pretty incredible things.  One of the key features is the Chain Selector.  If you are unfamiliar with Chains within a device rack, check out this video.  Each chain in a device rack is a path that the audio signal travels through.  By default, all newly created chains receive audio and are heard all at once.  The Chain Selector allows you to choose a particular chain or combinations of chains.  This can be used to select between different instruments or effects.  In my latest 2 Minute Ableton Live Tip, I show you how to use the chain selector to cycle between different soft synths all within a single device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZo1oOFJtM0

All Instruments in the Video Come from the MegaBrute Ableton Collection

I encourage you to check out the Megabrute Collection for Ableton Live.  It’s a ton of instruments for Ableton, using the Arturia MiniBrute Analog Synthesizer.  Currently it is on sale!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h-nC_kYrKM

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Two Minute Ableton Live Tip #27: How to Stack Synths in Ableton Live

One synthesizer may sound nice on its own, but sometimes you want things to be a little thicker.  Maybe you want to add some bass to a sound or give a bassy sound some interesting high end.  Imagine being able to control multiple synthesizers with the touch of one keyboard.  Ableton Live makes this extremely easy to do.  In this 2 Minute Ableton Live Tip, I will show you just how easy it is to layer synthesizers on top of each other in a single midi track in Ableton Live.  The creative and sonic possibilities this opens up is endless. Check out the video below, in which I use the AfroDJMac MegaBrute Collection to demonstrate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odVUAplx6No

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment

I’m sure you can imagine, this technique allows you to quickly and easily build very complex sounds.  Try out some interesting things. On a piano sound, layer a slowly evolving pad that only creeps in on longer sustain notes. Fatten up a weak kick drum with a thicker heavier one underneath. On a synth lead, add another synth that generates a little white noise to dirty up the sound.  The possibilities as always are endless.

All sounds in the video created with the AfroDJMac MegaBrute Collection, On sale now!

Here’s the promo video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h-nC_kYrKM

Here’s a 4 song EP I made using only MegaBrute Collection Sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Umf6xK8gK0

The MegaBrute Ableton Live Collection contains loads of analog warmth, charm and character.  It’s originally $20, but currently on sale for $15.  Here are the features:

• 50 Ableton Live Instrument Racks (most of which contain additional midi and audio effect racks inside)
• 10 Ableton Live Sets
• The AfroDJMac MegaBrute EP- a four song EP created entirely with the Mega Brute Collection
• The 5 Ableton Live sets used to create the MegaBrute EP (this gives an inside look at how the MegaBrute Collection was put to work)
• Works in Ableton Live 8.2 and above.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Ableton Push Emulation for LaunchPad, Three New Variations

My 72th Free Ableton Live Pack was inspired by the Note Mode on Ableton’s Push. Like many creative efforts, the goal we set out to achieve is often different from where we wind up.  My LaunchPad Push Emulation turned out to split the LaunchPad in half, each side housing a different synth.  It’s a lot of fun to play with and opens up lots of sonic doors.

After I released it, I was contacted by a few clever Ableton Device Rack Engineers who built and shared their own LaunchPad Push Emulations.  Full disclosure, they all came  a lot closer to the real thing than me.  Each of them went about it a different way and they all have their benefits.  After getting their permission, I am sharing these wonderful creations with you.  So plug in your Novation LaunchPad, set it to User 1 mode, and get practicing!

LaunchPad Push Emulation from Yehezkel Raz

I’ve been meaning to share the work of Yehezkel Raz for a while.  He is a certified Ableton Trainer from Tel Aviv, Israel.  He runs a really great site called 4live.me .  Here he shares some excellent Ableton creations.  You may have seen this rad video for one of his racks, feature none other than THE DUDE!

Also, being a certified trainer, he has got his hands on a Push and may well be the world’s first Push virtuoso, check out his rendition of “Flight of the BumbleBee.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhPuxyBiHgo

(This device is only available in the Live 9 Project).

 Michael McLaughlin’s Nova LaunchKeys Rack

Michael McLaughlin sent me the rack pictured above.  This one allows you to determine and change the velocity with a macro knob (remember the LaunchPad has a fixed velocity), determine types of scales, and adds an arpeggiator, which I found pretty fun.  Michael writes for the blog Creative Edge Music, which features a ton of information on musical gear, techniques, recording, production, and artist interviews.  There’s a lot of cool stuff on there.  He is also a part of the band Girl Electric.  Check out their SoundCloud page for some music!

Colby The Heart’s Turns His LaunchPad into a Push!

Colby The Heart’s take on the LaunchPad Push is another cool variation.  This one gives you control over the pitch, type of scale, minor or harmonic minor, and offers a chromatic mode.  Colby is responsible for some cool music available at his Bandcamp.  There is a nice combination of electronic and acoustic sounds in his pop music.  I’m digging the sound of this a lot!

Let There Be Light

The only real contribution I am making is a group of midi tracks called “LaunchPad Lights.”  Make sure the output of the tracks within the group are set to  your LaunchPad.  If you play the first scene of clips, it will light your LaunchPad in the same way Push lights up in chromatic mode.  So if you use any of the emulations, it will show you the root notes (in green) and the other notes of the major scale (in yellow).  One side note, I have noticed that the LaunchPad can get a little sluggish when switching between pages.  I think that is because so much midi information is being sent to it.  It works, but I have seen a couple of glitchy moments.  (only available in Live 9 version).

So hopefully this holds you over until your Push arrives from Ableton.  All the best and many thanks to Yehezkel Raz, Michael McLaughlin, and Colby the Heart!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

A Writer’s Worst Nightmare

So there you are, sitting in front of your computer or holding your guitar, maybe banging away at piano keys or staring at a clean blank piece of paper.  But nothing is working.  Writer’s Block.  Sometimes it can grab ahold of you for days and weeks.  Nothing new or original comes out of you.  You begin to question your ability to create, wondering if all of your creative successes were just flukes.  Accidents that you stumbled upon, completely detached from any talent or ability.

Calvin and Hobbes: The greatest comic strip ever. Bill Watterson manages to be creative even when he is stuck!

I Have The Power!

Other times, it all just falls together.  Songs write themselves.  Melodies fly from your guitar.  Words populate the page as if your fingers have a mind of their own.  You have been endowed with creative super powers!  How could you be the same person, who yesterday was ripping out that beautiful new haircut from your head in frustration?

Creativity is an elusive thing.  It comes in bursts.  Sometimes you are overflowing with it and other times it’s like a dried up ancient river bed in a desert.  How do we harness it?  How do tap into it when we need it? And how do we overcome our creative road blocks?  It may come down to playing a mental game of chess, against yourself.

Play Mind Games on Yourself

Everybody is creative, even those who claim not to be.  You are being creative in just about every decision you make. Picking out an outfit for the day, making breakfast, taking a detour to avoid traffic are all examples of creative problem solving.  Give yourself credit for this.  Your mind is a very impressionable thing.   If you tell yourself you are not a creative person, you will believe it and behave as if you are not.  You will look to others for answers.  You will question your decisions and become paralyzed by indecision.  Reinforce your creativity in your thoughts and you will begin to believe that you are, in fact creative, and you will then begin to behave that way.

Kill the Critic

Our mind is said to be divided into two portions, the left brain and the right brain.  The left side is your logical side and the right the creative side.  When you are in the early stages of creativity, you want to be more right-brained.  Nothing kills your creativity more than your inner critic.  That inner critic is the voice in your head that is questioning everything you do.  Is this a good chord progression?  Do I like this melody?  Is this a good first sentence for my research paper? If you allow this inner voice to be heard, you will undoubtedly come across writer’s block.  It is because that part of your mind is comparing your brand new, embryonic idea to all of the completed, polished finished products you have ever see, heard or read.  It is the voice that says “this simple little melody I just wrote is nowhere near as good as ‘Yesterday’ by the Beatles.”  It’s like having a race between a week old infant and an Olympic track star.  Your idea has not been refined and edited countless times.  It doesn’t stand a chance.

When you are first creating something, kill that critical part of your mind.  Operate in the mindset of quantity over quality.  The goal is to get ideas down. You will have plenty of time to decide which ones are good later, but for now you need to collect ideas to work with.  If you are working with the idea that you are going for quantity, you will come up with more things to choose from and therefore train your mind to be more creative.

No wonder Ableton Live is so intuitive. Arrangement view= Left Brain; Session View= Right Brain

Part of the reason I think that Ableton Live is such a great creative tool is that it is divided kind of like your mind.  The session view is your right brain or creative side, and the arrangement view is the left brain or more logical side.  After you collect your ideas in the session view, you can then become critical of them and decide which ones are worth bringing into the arrangement view.  Just because you recorded a clip in session view doesn’t mean it has to make it into the final arrangement.  And if it doesn’t, it will always be there and it might be just the thing you need in a future project.  Hence the importance of simply collecting ideas in the beginning stages of creativity.

How To Be More Creative

So the best thing you can do to boost your creativity is to recognize the stages of creation.

The very first part is to collect ideas. Don’t judge them, just collect them. Music and art are so subjective anyway.  Something you love today may put you off tomorrow and something that doesn’t resonate with you today may truly speak to you next week.  In the early stages just focus on gathering ideas.  If you focus on the quality of your initial ideas, you will eventually get down on yourself because you will be comparing those baby ideas to the great, refined ideas of the world.

The second stage comes after you have plenty of ideas to work with.  From there you can put on the critic hat and decide what can stay and what can go, what fits together and what doesn’t quite blend.  It is crucial you do not move to this stage to early!

Your Turn!

I hope this helps, it is probably my number one secret on staying productive.  How do you foster and nurture your creativity?  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Using Ableton’s Slice to Midi to Chop Vocals

Ableton Live 9 is capable of making your life a little easier and a bit more fun.  By using Slice to Midi, you can chop up samples, in this case vocals, and perform them like an instrument.  You could of course go into the Arrangement view and start cutting, copying, and pasting little sections of a sample.  This method might be nice for exact edits, but sometimes it feels a little too much like surgery.  The beauty of Slice to Midi is that you can perform your edits.  I have a lot more fun playing keys, banging on pads and turning knobs than dragging a mouse around.  In the tutorial below, I use a song I am writing to demonstrate how to start Slicing to Midi.  Most of what I am doing works in Ableton Live 8, so don’t feel left out if you haven’t upgraded yet.  Enjoy and if you have any techniques or would like to share some of your own results, say so in the comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duDlddmqCcY

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

Ableton Live 9 has been released! Is it to early to celebrate?

Well it’s been close to four years or so since Ableton Live 8 came out and today the wait is over. Ableton Live 9 is upon us!  One of the big concerns with a new release of any software is stability.  Is it safe to use?  Will it crash like crazy? I’ve had the chance to spend the last few months messing around and testing the beta version of Live 9.  I suppose safe practice is to wait a little bit to make sure any bugs get ironed out, but I am not so patient.  I’ve been using the Live 9 beta for everything, including live gigs (I know it’s playing with fire). And guess what?  It has been rock solid.  I think in the entire time I was testing, I had one crash, and I remember feeling like I deserved it.  I was overloading the system with non Ableton plugins.  Other than that one time, everything was smooth as can be.  Personally I love the new Ableton 9.  Live is my favorite piece of computer software ever, and one of my favorite musical inventions ever (including things like the guitar).  So having an even more amazing version of this product that I love so much is such a treat.

Some of the coolest additions in Ableton Live 9

I plan on spending a little more time discussing the awesome new features of Ableton Live 9, but I thought I’d give you a run down of just a few of my favorite features.

Session Automation

The first time I used Live I was a little let down that there was no session automation.  I learned to work around it and in time sort of forgot how cool it would have been to have.  Now, with Live 9, I can tell you that Session Automation is one of the coolest features of the whole program.  The ability to record automation into my clips has added so much life to every sound I create.  Electronic music has never sounded so alive and organic.  The implementation is great.  It does take a little while to get used to, but the best way to explain it is that it works kind of like midi overdub does in 8. If you have ever used midi overdub to build a drum clip one drum at a time, this is the way you might think of session automation recording.  Basically, I will record a part, then on as the clip loops, start moving knobs on my midi controller.  You can keep adding layers of movement and it all gets recorded.  Honestly, it is so freaking awesome!

Max For Live Updates

Max for Live has been integrated into Ableton much more thoroughly and is stabler than ever before.  There are some amazing new effects like the convolution reverb and the updated Buffer Shuffler.  Buffer Shuffler is totally amazing and super deep; you can really work some magic with this one.  The new reverb sounds amazing.  I think it is the coolest bundled reverbs I’ve ever used.  The Envelop Follower allows you to use any sound to manipulate any other sound.  It’s sort of like side-chaining on steroids (steroids are bad, don’t do them).  You can do things like control a filter with your voice or add delay to a guitar every time a snare drum hits.  An updated Max for Live might sound like 1 new feature, but make no mistake, there are so many cool new things that result from this update. Amazing.

The Browser Previews Instruments and Drums

The browser now previews instruments before you even load them into a track.  You know how you have to drop a drum kit on to a track and test out all the different sounds to determine if it will fit in your song?  Yea, that nonsense is over. Now when you click on an instrument in Live’s browser, Ableton previews the sound or the drum kit.  It’s the same way Live 8 lets you preview a sample before dropping it in.  This is such a HUGE timesaver and I love it so much.  One thing that  kinda sucks though: it currently only works on factory presets.  I hope they change that soon, because as you know,  I have a library full of custom sounds.

So Should You Update?

Should you continue breathing air? Of course! My verdict is definitely!  What are you even reading this for? Why am I even writing this? Lets go make some music!  Go update now!  I won’t even write some silly disclaimer stating if you run into problems it’s not my fault.  Do it!

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.

A Ghostly, Glitchy, LoFi, and Bursting-with-Character Piano for Ableton Live

My mother has a beautiful baby grand piano.  Though I’d feel a bit dishonest calling myself a pianist, I love getting a chance to sit down at this piano to bang out some melodies.  As much time as I spend playing around with synthesizers and digital instruments, there really is nothing quite like the sound of an acoustic instrument.  Over the holidays, I sampled a couple of octaves on this piano, while my mother, grandmother, and aunt were in the kitchen having a conversation over a cup of tea. As the notes decay, you can hear their voices in the background, which I think adds a ton of character to this instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvXYqeCKaAc

Bringing Life to the Instrument…

I’m not one for trying to create pristine and studio-clean, sterile instruments.  There are plenty of places you can find those kind of sounds; I prefer to offer something a bit different and unique.  This free Ableton Instrument is a great example of that.  I spent some time creating effects and modulations that will bring these piano samples to life with organic movement and personality.  First, the samples loop around forwards and reverse.  You can morph between two different samples of each octave.  One of my favorite sound design features of Sampler is the Key Zone Shift (pictured below), it allows you to really change the timbre of your instrument.  There is a knob for that control.  I’ve also added some aftertouch control over the pitch.  As you press on the keys, they drift slightly in tune.  (This should be a lot of fun on Push).

Sampler’s Key Zone Shifter can dramatically alter the sound of the instrument.

 A Call for Reinforcements

The instrument sounds cool on its own, but the samples are a little lacking in the low end (I recorded them using my iPad with a Tascam field recording mic attached).  To counteract that, I placed a Simpler in the instrument rack with a triangle wave sample inside.  There is some modulation to the Simpler to help give it some movement.  Finally I decided to do one more thing: create another version of this instrument that sounds a bit glitchier.  So all in all you get two instrument racks to play around with!  I hope you enjoy it, and please send along any music you create with it; I’d love to hear where my mom’s piano goes!

Mom’s Piano

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AfroDJMac - (n) Musical Aphrodisiac; Producer; Songwriter; Ableton Live Guru.