Live’s Auto Pan device can be used not just for creating stereo effects, but also as a simple mono volume modulator. One use for this is rhythmically chopping up a signal. Try setting up Auto Pan like this: The key aspects of this setup are: Phase is set to 0. At it’s default value of […]
PREPARE TO MORPH!
Earlier in the year, I spent a few tips building a Bi-Mode Filter, which is an important part of my performance setup. It’s not my only filter though – the bi mode is only used for tracks which contain beats or entire songs. For tracks which contain vocals or samples, I use a morphing bandpass/highpass […]
CONTINUE TO PREPARE TO MORPH!
If you followed along with yesterday’s tip, you should have a pretty good idea of how Chain Selector is used to switch between chains in a rack. If you play with the zones a little more, you’ll also discover that they can be elongated by dragging the edges. Anywhere the zones overlap, both rack chains […]
MORPHING FILTER
The morphing filter that I’ve been referring to over the last couple of days consists of three chains: a high pass filter, a band pass filter and then another high pass filter. The zones are set up like this: The first high pass filter quickly crossfades into the band pass, then a slower fade into […]
CROSSFADE WHAT?
I’m not a crossfader guy: mixing with the volume faders has always made the most sense to me. However, over the last year, I’ve come up with some fun uses for the crossfader on my VCM-600. I use it to switch between my main channels and my effect returns. Today, I’ll show you a basic […]
INSTANT BEAT JUGGLE
One simple and incredibly fun way to use return tracks with the crossfader is for simple beat juggling. To do this, throw a Simple Delay on the return track set up like this: All you’re doing is using the delay as an 1/8 note offset, so every time you flip the crossfader, the signal is […]
SHIFT THE BEAT, KILL THE KICK
The beat juggle trick described yesterday works well for all sorts of music, but not all types – it’s often problematic for house, techno, or any sort of groove based around a straight quarter note kick drum. The straight kick rhythm is so dominant, that turning it around even briefly can really upset the flow […]
FLIP IT, DUB IT
So far, we’ve just been looking at ways to use the crossfader-effects trick with pre-fader sends. You can also have some fun crossfading to return tracks when using a default post-fader send. Remember, the difference between using pre-fader (Send A) and post-fader (Send B), is that when using the post-fader send, the source signal will […]
RACK SWAP
It never totally made sense to me that Live lets you “swap” a rack using the hot-swap button. Since racks contain other devices, it always seemed a bit odd. I thought of swapping as traditional preset loading: once you’ve picked the device, you can try out some presets for it. Swapping out a rack means […]
DRAG AND SWAP
If you’ve gotten into using a Sounds Project or a non-library location for storing your presets, you may have found that using hot-swap is not entirely smooth because Live directs the browser to the default preset location, leaving you to locate your custom preset folder manually. That’s why I drag and drop instead. To replace a […]
