Ableton Retro Synths for free
Starting now, Ableton gives all users of Ableton Live 8 or Suite 8 its most popular Partner Instrument: Puremagnetik’s Retro Synths! Registered users of Ableton Live 8 or Suite 8 can now download Retro Synths free of charge. In addition, purchasers of Ableton Live 8, Suite 8 or any relevant upgrade before October 31, 2011 will also receive Retro Synths for free.
We invite you to enhance your Ableton Live experience with a free download of Retro Synths by Puremagnetik, our most popular Partner Instrument. Retro Synths represents the best of Puremagnetik’s meticulously multi-sampled vintage synthesizer packs, including samples from classics such as the Korg MS-20, Roland D-50 and more. With intelligently selected macros, Retro Synths is immediately playable in Live.
Retro Synths is free for all Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8 users. It is also included with any upgrade or new purchase of Ableton Live 8 or Suite 8 until October 31, 2011.
Ableton Live Super Glitch Machine
Free Weekly Ableton Live Rack #23: Super Glitch Machine (Part 1). This week AfroDJMac brings you not one, not two, but three Ableton Effect Racks, all designed to mangle, twist, and mutilate your audio. Get your Glitch on people!
Download @ http://bit.ly/freesynth23
Greetings boys and girls, this week I have part one of a two part series on creating glitchy music. As fun as it is to create things, there’s a whole other sense of satisfaction in destroying them. For your downloading pleasure, I’ve constructed three different Ableton Live Effect Racks that are designed to mutilate, mangle, destroy, and crush your tracks up. I built up groups of effects that will take your sounds and twist them into oblivion so that you wind up with something totally new and down right nasty. These are great for individual tracks or entire mixes, experiment with them and take the music you have worked so hard to create and destroy it to your hearts content! Follow the destruction in the video below. Next week in part two, we will take these very racks and go through the steps to take just about any sound and mangle it into a large group of glitchy noises that can then be reused again and again.
Ableton: Nicolas Jaar – My Instrument
To bring his solo productions to the stage, Nicolas Jaar expanded his sound to include a live band. Playing Ableton Live with his band, Nicolas leads a set full of improvisation and creative transitions. “We caught up with Nicolas and his band at Sonar 2011 for an incredible performance.”
Slice n’ Dice In Ableton – Chop Your Audio Directly
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEehw8rgKwo
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jeR4f42FLQ
In this video I demonstrate how I chop up breaks in Live’s arrangement view. I go over both standard chopping techniques as well as effects processing commonly found in IDM and Breakcore.
AfroDJMac delivers his weekly Live rack called “NuWave Oven Synth”
Not only does the NuWave Oven make delicious meals, it also makes tasty sounds. This weeks Ableton Live Rack is made from a sample of the electronic beep that my NuWave Oven makes. Enjoy and Spread the Word!
Download it @ : http://bit.ly/freesynth22
Background info:
You’re staying up late, way past your bed time, flipping through the channels, watching reruns of “Hey Vern, It’s Ernest.” All of the sudden you find yourself seriously lusting after this “Nu” appliance that will cut your cooking time in half, tastes better than the microwave, reduces the fat content of your Salisbury Steak, and as it turns out, makes for a pretty cool sounding synthesizer.
This weeks free Ableton Live Rack was created by sampling the tiny electronic beep from the info-mercial sensation, NuWave Oven. It’s not an uncommon electronic beep, it sounds like a stop watch, but when dropped into a sampler it becomes a haunting, ghostly pad or an atmospheric and organic electric keyboard. It has quite a bit of character on its own, and I have added some tasteful effects and modulations, as well as introduce some AM Modulation to bring out some nice harmonics. For such a short sample, under one second, this instrument has quite a bit of life. Enjoy it and spread the word 
Free Synth Work Station and FX for Ableton
AfroDJMac here, bringing you another Free Ableton Live Rack. This one is an entire Live Set that I use to play virtual synthesizers live. In the video, I explain how I have set up 7 different synths (all included in download) as well as my OP-1 by Teenage Engineering for live performances. The synths are routed through a multi effects rack, which I control with an Akai MPK49 and Keith McMillen SoftStep. Everything is explained and can be customized to your own personal set up. Designed to be extremely versatile and change quickly from an extremely wide array of sounds. Enjoy!
Background info:
Last fall, I got a call from my friend Chris P Cauley asking if I could fill in on the bass guitar for his band, The Chris P Cauley Collective, at a gig at the Patchogue Theatre here on Long Island. We managed to squeeze in a rehearsal and the show went well. Later that night he asked me if I wanted to set up my computer and play some synthesizers in his band. It definitely took me by surprise because I’ve never played synths in a band, and to this day, don’t play the keyboard well enough to ethically call myself a keyboard player! But, I excepted the challenge and have been doing it since. My set up has evolved like crazy, equipment has been changed and added, settings have been tweaked for weeks to only be thrown out in favor of some other crazy idea. Even as recent as last night things have been changing. But right now I have figured something out that works well for me and the role I am trying to fill in Chris’ music…
For this weeks Free Ableton Live Rack, I am sharing my CPC set and going through the details of how I use it. I am always amazed at how many different ways people use Live, but I haven’t really seen too much information online about how to use Ableton simply as a synth workstation (trust me I looked!). So, I guess this one is most appropriately handled in a video walkthrough and your own experimentation. In the video I discuss routing inside Live, “Dummy” tracks, setting up midi controllers, building effect racks, sending multiple synths through the same effects, morphing synths, using external synths (my beloved Teenage Engineerings OP-1)… So, download the Live Set and use it to play live, load your own sounds, or the effects rack that is inside.
The Whoosh Machine for Ableton Live
At its core, Whoosh Machine has 10+ high quality analog white noise patches. The instrument is truly a one-stop whoosh shop featuring 8 filter types and a built FX rack with LFO, Sidechain Pumper, Delay and a massive Reverb. Simply drag and drop Whoosh Machine onto a track, play a note on your midi keyboard and start tweaking the filters to create huge, soaring risers and powerful, cascading descenders.
Whoosh Machine Audio Demo 1 by SonicFaction
For those who just want to party, Sonic Faction took the liberty of creating pre-made whooshes at specific intervals like 2 Bar up, 4 bar down, 8 bar rise, etc. Simply drag and drop these clips from your Ableton library for instant, perfectly-timed whoosh madness.
Features:
- High quality multi-sampled analog white noise
- 8 filter types including LP, HP, BP, Vintage, Resonant
- Built in FX Rack: LFO, Pumper, Delay, and massive Reverb
- Includes custom made clips for drag/drop whoosh intervals
The Whoosh Machine is a free download from Sonic Faction.
Producers and DJ’s all over the globe have one thing in common: they all need good whooshes. Whether you’re in the club or in the studio there is rarely a time when you don’t need a high-quality whoosh effect to raise the energy in a track or make the entire dance floor go insane. With the Sonic Faction Whoosh Machine you will never need another whoosh creation tool again.
Free Weekly Ableton Live Rack – Guitar Harmonics Synth
The ever so persistent AfroDJMac is yet again here with a new rack for Live:
Using my Fender Mustang electric guitar, I sampled all the harmonics on each string at the 5th, 7th, and 12th frets. From there I brought it into Ableton Live and created a pretty cool sounding instrument. Enjoy!
Download it here: http://bit.ly/freesynth20
I’m very excited to be bringing you the 20th Free Weekly Ableton Live Rack: “The AfroDJMac Guitar Harmonics Synth.” It’s been really great bringing you these racks every week, and today is a special one, not just because #20 is something of a milestone, but also because it happens to be my birthday
So, I’m currently enjoying a visit from my family, including a surprise visit by my two little nephews. The eldest one, Sam, is five and when he got to my house and saw some of my musical instruments, he told me he was “really good at music.” So I took him into the basement studio and after he banged out a beat on the drums, I gave him my Fender Mustang. It was a lot of fun seeing the sense of discovery and innocence in his eyes as he banged away on the guitar, unaware that his left hand not only had to touch the stings, but also press them down on the fretboard. By just placing his hands over the strings, he was actually producing some nice harmonics for a few seconds, and that inspired me to create this rack. (If you are not sure what I mean by “Guitar Harmonics” check out this link).
This weeks rack was created by sampling the harmonics produced by each string at the 5th, 7th, and 12th fret. The instrument comes set up with a macro knob that allows you to switch between the different samples, each of which has its own unique character. This allows for some cool effects, such as holding the sustain pedal and changing the sample while you play, which creates an interesting morphing timbre. There’s a macro knob that reverses the samples, creating a swelling, somewhat glitchy sound, not unlike those from some of my favorite psychedelic Beatles tracks (or my 3rd Ableton Live Rack: Reversed Piano”). I’ve also been experimenting with the Grain Delay plug-in more and more these days, and there are some macro knobs to control that effect. Check it out and have fun! PS. If you are not a Live user, you can still use the samples included in the download.
Interesting new and free Mattel Synsonics drum machine
Francis Preve has put together a free virtual Mattel Synsonics drum machine for Ableton Live:
In the pantheon of vintage analog drum machines, there’s an unsung classic that isn’t from a big name manufacturer like Roland or Korg, but from a toy company. Released in 1981, the Mattel Synsonics was an affordable black box that housed a fully analog kit consisting of kick, two toms, snare, cymbal and hi-hat – all playable via velocity sensitive pads.
Of course, since it was a “toy”, few artists took it very seriously – with one notable exception: Kraftwerk.
About a month ago, I pulled my Synsonics of its shelf in my studio, fired it up and started sampling.
It’s available as a free download from Preve’s site.
Free Ableton Live rack based on Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”
Free Ableton Live synth made with a sample of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” and the infamous Big C. These sounds are mushed together and garnished with some Ableton effects, to create this deliciously dreamy synth. [The drum sounds in the video are courtesy of Francis Preve (download them here: http://francispreve.blogspot.com ) ]
Below the hunk in action 
Download it here: http://bit.ly/freesynth19
More info:
For the 19th installment of my free Ableton Live Rack series, I bring you a synth based off of a quick sample of the slide guitar from the Chris Isaak song “Wicked Game.” Man, I love that song It’s been getting some attention recently, thanks to some cool covers that are circulating, including this one from Washed Out. Anyway, I took that sample and mixed it with a sample of the infamous and notorious Big C, and mushed them together with some fun effects to bring you this weeks free synth. Enjoy! (PS in the video I use a drum kit created by Francis Preve, using a Mattel Synsonics. Download it here).
DATAMASKIN
