The Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live Audio Effects

What are audio effects? Ranging from subtle mixing tools to extreme sound manglers, effects are used in every part of the music production process. A delay may be an integral part of a synthesizer sound, a distortion unit may be used to give a snare drum some extra bite, and equalizers and compressors may find their way onto nearly every track in a song during the final mixdown.

In the Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live Audio Effects, we'll look at all of Live's effects, giving some tips as to how each might be used along the way. But don't take our word for it, using effects is all about experimentation. 

The Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live MIDI Effects

MIDI effects allow you to alter MIDI data before it reaches its destination. A MIDI effect can be used by itself on a MIDI track whose output is some external MIDI sound device or before a virtual instrument in the Device View.

MIDI data passes through the MIDI effect, which then passes the altered MIDI on. Note that MIDI effects do not change the sound that comes out of an instrument the way audio effects do. Instead, the MIDI effects change the notes coming in to those instruments.

In the Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live MIDI Effects, we'll look at all of Live's MIDI effects, giving some tips as to how each might be used along the way.

The Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live Instruments

Live features nine virtual instruments: Impulse, Simpler, Operator, Wavetable, Sampler, Analog, Electric, Tension, and Collision. Impulse and Simpler comes free for all Live users, while the others are included in the Live Suite or must be purchased separately.

Under the Instruments View of the Browser, you'll see 12 items, three of which aren't precisely instruments but are included in the same category nevertheless. Drum Racks and Instrument tracks work in conjunction with other virtual devices to make customized meta-instruments, ranging from the very simple to the mind-boggling complex. External Instrument is a handy utility for easy integration of hardware instruments and multitimbral plug-ins.

In the Ultimate Guide to Ableton Live Instruments, we'll look at all of Live's instruments giving some tips as to how each might be used along the way.