There are reasons that Ableton Live has become one of the world’s most popular DAWs. Some people love how it can be used in a live setting as a player for backing tracks, as a sound module for a keyboard rig, or as a way to trigger lights and video perfectly in sync with music.
My favorite things about Ableton, however, have to do with how it can help bring inspiration, even when I’m feeling musically stale. Let’s explore some ways unique to Ableton Live that we can spur some creativity when we find our own a bit lacking.
1) Saving custom racks
Whether you use the built-in instruments that come with Live, Ableton Packs you’ve bought, or third-party plug-ins, Ableton offers a magnificent way to save your favorite combinations of instruments and effects together as one set. That might not sound terribly unique until you dive in and realize that you can actually mix and match multiple instruments and effects in one rack and assign countless parameters to eight handy multifunction macro knobs for instant gratification.
2) Using Chord and Scale
If you’re like me, your grasp on harmony is a 0.3 on a scale of 0 to Coltrane. Sometimes it’s difficult to pry new and unique melodic and harmonic concepts out of my own knowledge, and using Ableton’s MIDI effects, notably Chord and Scale, can jump-start a composition.
Scale takes any incoming MIDI data and turns “wrong” notes into “right” ones, though you get to define what’s wrong and right. Chord takes any single note and outputs up to six pitches at whichever intervals you specify.
One of my favorite approaches is to run a scale effect into a chord effect into another scale effect. Now by simply playing familiar riffs on my MIDI controller, a single pitch takes on a life of its own and is ultimately constrained to a scale so it doesn’t sound totally chaotic. It can be fun and, at times, unpredictable.
3) Feeding a virtual instrument with multiple MIDI tracks
I’ve had a lot of fun giving a synth line new life by creating multiple MIDI tracks to control the instrument. This allows me to create many variations around a common melody and get some wild results. This might be easier if you just watch…
4) Getting weird; using the “random” MIDI effect
You want to get weird? Fire up the “random” MIDI effect. Run it into an arpeggiator or chord effect and just — see what happens. You can create a new MIDI track to capture whatever weirdness it spits out, and if you want to rein in the weird a bit, slap a scale effect after the arpeggiator to constrain notes to “right” ones.
5) Creating a default set
This might sound obvious as a time-saving tool, but it’s easy to overlook how useful it can be as a way to get a shortcut to inspiration.
Live allows you to save a default set that is already populated with your favorite VSTs, routing, and grouping, so that you can simply start the program and instantly start sketching ideas.
I usually have an instance of Reveal Sound Spire with a simple polyphonic lead patch, an instance of UVI’s Falcon with an arp from FMX1 (found in Vintage Vault II), a simple bass patch in Massive, and a drum rack with a decent kick, snare, and hats (from the Maschine library) booted up and ready to go so I can just start sketching right away.
I also have a room reverb (Ableton’s built-in), a big reverb (FabFilter Pro-R or Eventide Blackhole), and a delay unit cued up on three aux returns so I can get a bit of flavor without having to think too hard.
This can be a huge time-saver and inspiration-rescuer. Just set your session the way you like, go to Live’s preferences, go to the file/folder tab, and hit “save current set as default.”
I hope that at least one of these tactics saves you some time or stimulates some creative thought the next time you’re in the studio. Ableton Live is limitlessly flexible, and this isn’t even scratching the surface of its capabilities. Soon we will explore some of what can be done with Ableton’s next-level tool Max for Live, which gets you under the hood of the program itself.
