New Years 2023 Freebie: “Introspection” Pack.

Effect Racks for Live Intro.

‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎ ‎ ‎Since my son has now acquired Ableton Live 11 Intro, I thought it would be interesting to make a pack of effects that utilize only effects native to that iteration of the software. These include Audio Effect Rack, Auto Filter, Auto Pan, Beat Repeat, Channel EQ, Chorus-Ensemble, Compressor, Delay, EQ Three, Erosion, Gate, Grain Delay, LFO, Limiter, Looper, Phaser-Flanger, Redux, Reverb, Saturator, Tuner, and Utility. This is no paltry collection to smirk at! Quite a range of possibilities. But also — a nice change of pace, being arbitrarily limited in options according to what I am used to as a rack craftor. I saw it as an exciting challenge. At the end, I’m super proud of what I’ve come up with. Methinks I’ll definitely be using these racks in the full version of Live 11 Suite aplenty moving forwards.

~`~

-> Download the Introspection pack for Ableton Live Intro, Standard, or Suite <-

Read about the process of the device creation below.


Continue reading

Dither Presets for Metal

(intro)

It’s a set of free presets for Dither, optimized for the Metal genre.

They were made for the mastering of the upcoming metal album, Lust & Insecurity by Animus Invidious.

Noise-shaping dither algorithms are theoretically optimized to “bury” the noise in the frequencies you hear least, while avoiding so much in the preeminent tonalities (in this case, distorted electric guitars focused around 2.5kHz).

Download

You can DOWNLOAD HERE and open the .fxp presets using your DAW of choice. If you happen to use Ableton Live 11, you can additionally access the .adg Racks which allow for more easy snapping-to or fine-tuning of the intensity value.

⚠️ You are also going to need to grab the free TB_Dither_v3 VST2 plugin if you don’t have it already, which has been graciously set free amongst a slew of other awesome legacy TB plugins.

Continue reading

Parallel-Friendly Native FX Racks for Live 10+: “ParallAux”

Which Effects Work Best In Parallel?

So one day i got it in my head to figure out which of Ableton Live’s Effects are the best to use in parallel.

What is the criteria for this? Simply, which processes alter the phase of audio passing through them, either to the least degree, or in a nicely summable way.

Why does this matter? Because phase offsets, when summed in parallel with the original signal, will inevitably cause changes to the frequency contour. Sometimes slight amounts of this phase offset can add a nice creamy touch to the sound of things (and pretty much all analog gear causes it to some degree), but when being surgically technical like during the finalizing stages of a track, they are generally just not helpful.

An example of not altering phase at all is Live’s Compressor effect which is phase-neutral; it can be used safely in parallel with no unwanted frequency coloration whatsoever.

An example of altering the phase in a “nicely summable” way is Live’s Reverb. Technically, it’s altering the phase a whole bunch, but it’s doing so in a time-smeared fashion which results in far less likelihood of perfectly-lined-up frequency cancellations, and so, when at 100% wet, reverbs can be just fine to use in parallel, and are often preferred this way.

After carefully checking the phase response of all of Ableton Live Ten’s native Audio Effects, i came up with five distinct racks providing combinations of the most parallel-friendly native effects, optimized for specific purposes with maximal versatility of application.

~`~

>Check Out ParallAux via Isotonik Studios<

>Download ParallAux PDF Manual<

Continue reading

Social Isolation Freebie: “Secret Weapon” Racks.


***Note: “Sweetie Pies” has been updated for Live 11 Suite! Grab the new version here.

(For the original version, continue below.)



While we’re going through some crazy times right now, it has been heartwarming to experience how humans have upped their compassion game in response to shared crisis. I’ve seen more freebies and crazy deals going on this past week than any other time i remember, which seems because people want to help each other, share and be nice (well, not so much a certain political faction in the usa who seems to prefer that regular people suffer as much as possible. But that’s another topic). With graciousness and care for their fellows is how humans should act, rather than trying to take advantage of each other sleazily—which happens all too much.

In this spirit, i am offering up my super secret stash of “Sweetie Pies”—a small collection of effect racks for Ableton Live Suite 10, each crafted to address a specific need in a sweet manner. These are highly practical yet fun racks with the primary purpose of “getting stuff done”.

i WAS planning on releasing this pack eventually anyways once it grew a bit more, but to expedite the process of getting you the goodies, i’ve decided to simply omit the not-quite-finished devices, give everything a good once-over, and release the pack for free as it is now.




SO WHAT ARE THESE GOODIES OF WHICH YOU SPEAK?

Continue reading

New Packs

Guitaritis
guitaritis
A deluxe suite including combo amp racks making the utmost of Live’s built-in Amp and Cabinet devices, “Stomper” effects designed like guitar pedals and guitar Chord presets.
Stuff it comes with…

Combamps a whole bunch (30) of combo amps which are crafted to optimize Ableton Live’s built-in Amp & Cabinet devices to their utmost. These racks make it much easier to dial in your sound (combination of preamp drive, tone, envelope settings, biasing, and gain structure) without having to constantly adjust the output level to match as well. They also optimize your timbre selection options by providing many “dual” and even three “triple” racks, which combine and balance the tone of multiple amps. In testing, these multi-combamps have been much-appreciated for an expanded range of unique amp flavors, as you now basically have 30 unique amp models, instead of 6. All combamps have been gain-staged at multiple points in the signal chain using both Peak and LU matching with both “Strat”and “Les Paul” styles, as well as bass electric guitars. The dual & triple combamps are gainstaged with a system resulting in relatively balanced levels at all gain settings when using wide panning (so that one amp is not way louder on one side than the other one). Since every guitar has its own tone & envelope character, these values are guaranteed to be imperfect, but it should result in you only needing to make miniscule volume adjustments to fine-tune your ultimate sound.
Post Amp Compressor a simple compressor with settings calibrated ideally for taming an amp output’s transients.
Guitar Chords 35 presets for Chord based on actual human guitar fingerings.
Stompers 18 racks set up like guitar pedals, designed for use with a Combamp akin to a physical guitar routing setup.  If you have a midi foot controller you can use them exactly as such. Includes…
Booster
Chomper
Comper

Dister
Dualay
Flonger
Gater
Glitcher
Phozzer
PitchDownDelay
PitchUpDelay
Smevel
Somber
Sproing
Swamper
Toner
Tremotary
Whamper

Groovification 2
groovenose
A robust collection of groove files which implement rhythmic “chop” effects in quarter, eighth, and sixteenth-note patterns.
Stuff it comes with…

Chopper Grooves 302 of them! Drop a Chopper Groove onto an audio OR a MIDI part, make sure your global groove amount is up, and hear it do its thing. Drop different Chopper Grooves onto different tracks… then when you turn global groove amount up… they all start chopping in their own way.

Harmonicality
harmo
Audio effect and MIDI racks designed for enhancing and manipulating harmonics by various methods.
Stuff it comes with…

Harmonic Colorizer enhance harmonics using various different methods. By using different amounts of each knob, you can set up your own unique boost texture to help a part stand out against its various song elements, or use it to subliminally add a particular color to a submix or mix.
Overtone EQ (3 versions) EQ racks set up to select a target frequency, and then manipulate the harmonics based on that frequency. The Even & Odd version allows separate control of even & odd harmonics. The Even vs Odd will boost Even or Odd and attenuate the other (useful for hearing the difference between those types of harmonics). The Sculptor version is useful for manipulating each harmonic interval individually.
Undertone EQ (3 versions) just like the Overtone EQs, but these manipulate lower harmonics instead (not as common of an operation). They include the same 3 versions.
Harmonic Chord Presets these will add in MIDI notes based on harmonic intervals. Simple, but useful. Includes 2nd through 4th harmonics which each add only 1 note and also CoarsePerfect, and Undertone versions which each add multiple harmonics.
Harmonics Extender (3 versions) MIDI racks which can be used to set (& automate) the amount of added harmonics. Includes CoarsePerfect, and Undertone versions.

Amplitude Operands
ampop
Utility presets allowing to divide or multiply level according to Sound Pressure Level, Acoustic Intensity Energy, and Perceived Loudness Sensation.
Stuff it comes with…

Sound Intensity by Energy (Utility Presets)
Sound Loudness by Sensation (Utility Presets)
Sound Pressure by Voltage (Utility Presets)
divide or multipy audio level by either “SPL”, “SIL”, or “Volume”. This is technical stuff. Check out http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-soundlevel.htm for more info. Basically…
-use SPL (voltage) division when you want to sum parts perfectly (i.e. 5 copies of something each divided by 5 SPL and recombined will equal the exact level of the original)
use SIL (energy) for acoustic energy calculations. Like, let’s say you’ve got a really small sound, like a pin drop. Multiply it by 100 SIL to estimate the level provided by 100 pins dropping at the same time.
use Volume (loudness) for the human perception of level.
So, to make something seem twice as loud, subjectively, multiply it by 2 Volume.
There are also included some racks to choose/automate which multiplier/divisor to use:
SPL Divisor

SPL Multiplier

Volume Divisor
Volume Multiplier

Note Range Setters
noterangemash
An assortment of midi racks, primarily for composers, which filter incoming notes according to standard instrument & vocal ranges, plus tools for making custom note ranges.
Stuff it comes with…

Note Range Setter (Absolute) define a playing range by setting the lowest and highest allowable notes
Note Range Setter (Relative) define a playing range according to distance from a root note
Note Range Blocker (Relative)
set a sub-range of notes to block from being played within a range

Includes individual MIDI racks for a vast range of classical and folk instruments, as well as standard vocal ranges:
Brass
36 instrument ranges
Exotic 2 instrument ranges
Guitar & Plucked 58 instrument ranges
Mallets 8 instrument ranges
Percussive 5 instrument ranges
Piano & Keys 14 instrument ranges
Strings 15 instrument ranges
Voices 35 vocal ranges
Winds 88 instrument ranges
Simply set a note range before a MIDI instrument to allow it to only play notes within that range.

“8-Bit Reverb” free effect rack

Sometimes you want a pristine reverb with the most delicate and precious tail imaginable.
Other times, you want a layer of digital dirt to add a touch of gritty color.

For those other times…
here’s another new free audio effect rack for Ableton Live 9.
It’s called “8-Bit Reverb” and is a lo-fi reverb effect that can be used on individual tracks or in a return channel.
It stays at an output bitrate of 8, for an old-school computer noise sound.
It has robust controls for sculpting the timbre easily to apply to many versatile usages.

GRAB “8-Bit Reverb” for Ableton Live 9 for FREE by clicking here
8-Bit Reverb Image

Macro Controls

Wetness:
The amount of reverb.
At 0, effect is bypassed.
To use this as a send effect in a return channel (in order to add amounts of the same reverb to different channels), set it to 100% (127).

Tone Width:
Affects the reverb and erosion bandwidth.
Increase this for a more dense, colored sound.

Shape:
Alters many parameters simultaneously.
Set this carefully for the desired reverberation contour.

Erode:
Adds in erosion coloration to the reverb layer. At 0, no erosion is added.

Lows:
Sculpts the lower range of the reverb. Boost this for more boominess.

Freq Center:
Sets the midpoint of the reverb and erosion tones.
In conjunction with Tone Width this has a great effect on the overall sound.

Highs:
Sculpts the upper range of the reverb. Boost this for more shimmer.

Down-Sample:
Divides the sample rate by the number shown.
(Note that the bit rate is always set to 8; dividing the sample rate further degrades the sound.)

“Planetary Convolution” – a new set of impulse-based reverbs for use with any DAW.

Now unveiling “Planetary Convolution” – a pack of Reverb Impulse Responses, each based on a planet (including dwarf planets!) in our Solar System.

planetaryConvolution

They were created using different custom settings of Ableton’s built-in Reverb Algorithm, re-sculpted into Impulse Responses, and then further enhanced.

Each is presented as a “Convolution Reverb Pro” preset for Ableton Live 9 (+MaxForLive) with individual IRs, tone control parameters and a special 1-knob extra effect each.

Using Ableton Live, the presets will open with their corresponding impulse files automatically.
Non-Ableton users can use the IRs too… just open them with your favorite Convolution plugin (though you won’t have access to to the custom EQ shaping parameters and bonus FX, sorry).

 

“Planetary Convolution” is available at Isotonik Studios.  <<<<—- Click Here.

(If you’d like to snag some original Convolution Reverbs by PerforModule for FREE… check these outGT-8 Convolution & Fostex MR8 MKII Convolution.)

Now for an overview of the Impulse Responses that come with “Planetary Convolution”.

Mercury Reverb_
Has a sizzling, bright tone, like you’re getting fried by the sun.
Xtra FX: “Liquid” – adds a creamy movement; molten.

Venus Reverb_
Sandy-sounding with a smooth high end.
Xtra FX: “Scorch” – adds a subtle fuzz which is affected by the tone control. Also has an enhanced “Thick Chorus” control.

Earth Reverb_
Our good ol’ home planet, you know? This has a medium room sound, good for hip hop drums. The overall tone is (you guessed it) earthy.
Xtra FX: “Gravel” – this adds a nice gritty, chalky color to the reverb.

Mars Reverb_
This reverb has a punchy, forthright quality. It is well-suited for march-style drum patterns, brass, or other high-energy instruments.
Xtra FX: “Anger” – dials in some burning bite to the sound.

Jupiter Reverb_
This reverb has a ridiculously long and smooth tail (25.6 seconds to be precise). Use this for extreme spaciousness and super fade-outs.
Xtra FX: “Storm Swirl” – adds movement to the sound as you get carried along the current.

Saturn Reverb_
Very large and with a resonant, ringy quality.
Xtra FX: “Rings Twirl” – take a trip along the concentric circles.

Uranus Reverb_
Has a billowy texture, as if enveloped in thick fog.
Xtra FX: “Vapor” – adds a smoky layer of reverbish decay.

Neptune Reverb_
Has an icy, chilly spaciousness.
Xtra FX: “Frost” – dial in some crystalline crunch.

Pluto Reverb_
Very small, very cold. Just listening to it will drop your body temperature by a few degrees.
Xtra FX: “Interior” – fade into the interior cavity of the sphere. It must be hollow?

Eris Reverb_
A lesser-known dwarf planet, Eris is known as the Goddess of Chaos, having a bizarre orbit.
It has a short, foreboding sound, like the feeling of someone watching over your shoulder.
Xtra FX: “Dirt” – adds a muted, broken darkness.

~`~

By Style_
Booth Type (very small)
-Pluto
-Eris

Room Type (small)
-Mercury
-Venus
-Earth
-Mars

Hall Type (large)
-Uranus
-Neptune
-Saturn

Epic Type (vast)
-Jupiter

`~`

Mars Reverb Image

Ableton Racks Macro Controls_
Dry/Wet: Convolution Reverbs tend to be quite lush, and often are audible at even 1% wet. These start at 23% as a default starting position — make sure to adjust this carefully to not over-apply reverb.
Tone: Starts in the middle by default. Each planetary reverb has its own unique band-interactive filtration which will occur upon moving the “Tone” control up or down. If you have the EQ pane open you will see the visualizer of the audio input spectrum and the EQ curves. After adjusting with the “Tone” dial, you can grab any of the 3 individual EQ nodes and adjust them by hand to fine-tune (they are not locked to the macro). However, once you move the tone knob again, that planet’s custom filter curve will take over again.
Distance: This begins at the default (normal) setting. Turning it down will make the object sound closer; turning it up will make it sound further away. Use this to alter the spatial depth of elements in a mix.
______ (Special Effect): This Macro is named differently for each planet, and has a different sonic effect on each.
Predelay: The time before the reverb first begins. Can be useful for preserving your original transients or adding a stuttered rhythmic feel.
Chorus: Adds a subtle creamy stereo movement. The planet Venus has a more extreme “Thick Chorus”.
Stereo Width: Lower settings place the reverb at the middle of the stereo field; greater settings lead to more spread, up until the maximum possible.
Also: Using controls on the Convolution Pro device (which aren’t mappable to the audio effect rack), one is able to lengthen or shorten the decay, shorten or lengthen the size, combine 2 different planet IRs attack and decay sections, alter the shape of the early reflections and length, cause “cascade” overlapping of decay curve, implement reverb fade-in or fade-out,  adjust the Damping Curve (basically the EQ for the decay), or even flip into a reverse reverb.

Grab PLANETARY CONVOLUTION at Isotonik Studios by clicking >>>>>>>>>>HERE<<<<<<<<<<<

Includes:
-“Planetary Convolution” self-installing Ableton Live Pack. Simply drag the .alp file into Live to install it, and the presets will show up in the “Room” and “Hall” folders under “Places”. BAM. That easy.

-“Planetary Convolution” set of .aif Stereo Impulse Responses (L + R files). These are for anyone who doesn’t have Live.

Provided as a single zip file to download. Once unzipped:
If using Ableton Live: use “Planetary Convolution by PerforModule.alp”
If using another DAW: use “Planetary Impulse Responses” zip file. Unzip it and find the aif IR files inside for usage in your Convolution plugin of choice.

Audio Demo_

~`~

ps. On the topic of celestial bodies, check out the “moon reverb” ableton preset which comes with “PerforModule – Dephaultz”.

new free Multiband Reverb effect rack for Ableton Live 9

“PerforModule: MultiBand Reverb”

MultiBand Reverb Image

A reverb effect rack sending different calibrated reverb algorithms to the lows, mids, and highs. The lengths, widths, and shapes of each reverb chain are scaled compared to each other leading to very complex, smooth and lush sound which can be used from very short ambience “small box” reverbs to extremely long-tailed hall reverbs, and everything in between. The tone can be altered carefully with just a few macro controls to sculpt the sound with great versatility and ease.

Add in Low, Mid, or High reverberation, change the room size and tightness, and alter the tone with the cutoff and diffusion knobs.

Each chain of the reverb is suited for the frequencies of material sent through it.
The “Low” chain additionally saturates its output. Tip: Try using it on a kick drum or drum buss with a higher “Tightness” setting and turn up “Low Reverb” then play with the room size to add a natural boom to kick drums. 

Click the image above or these words to grab “Multiband Reverb” for free!

Check out an audio demonstration of various settings of the “Multiband Reverb” applied to drum + percussion loops_

~`~

ps check https://performodule.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/how-to-organize-user-plugin-presets-like-a-boss-in-ableton-9-using-the-hidden-architecture/ for how to save this in your Live 9 library so that it shows up in the “Places” section of the browser. Super nifty.

[update] HUGE thanks to ABLETON for featuring PerforModule’s “MultiBand Reverb” for “Free Stuff Friday”!!!

Free “Chopper” Effect Rack

Here’s a free effect rack.  It allows you to chop up your audio, with a rate knob that fades between 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 notes, and avoids triplets. Or, the rhythm can be switched to “Triplets” mode instead. There is built-in extra gating for adjustable dynamics, an “LFO Type” knob to select between 4 different flavors of chopping including random, and an “invert LFO” switch which will make the chop come in where it was going out and vice versa.

Good for live performance, especially on sustained synth tones.

Enjoy~
Chopper Image

<- click image to D/L “Chopper”

~`~

p.s.

Bonus shoutouts to ISOTONIK STUDIOS

Ableton Live & MaxforLive


The brain behind PerforModule has had the pleasure to delve into the “Modular Series” set of devices and wow is there some truly innovative and useful stuff in there! “Follow” adds some much-desired added functionality to clip launching, such as the ability of making a clip launch the next clip when it ends, no matter the length. “Smart” is a great multi-knob to map anything to anything, with the ability to set response curves. So you could for example have one knob that controls parameters in two or more different effects parameters in different tracks in your set, and one of them could ramp up then ramp back down while another just ramps up. Endless possibilities. “Looper” adds extra control to using the loop brace in arrangement view, and there are 3 super-wild glitch effects as well as more nifty gadgets. What’s super cool? If you get one of the Isotonik sets, you get lifetime updates to all the devices.
Check out “Follow” here: https://isotonikstudios.com/product/follow/

 

Updated set of free special racks to economize cpu: “The Enablerz”

“The Enablerz”

The Enablerz browser image
What they are:  An Ableton Live rack (one each for effects in audio tracks, effects in return tracks, midi effects, and midi instruments)  used to temporarily disable devices without deleting them, thereby freeing up some ever-precious CPU.

Features:  Frees up CPU of contained racks. Click-free realtime operation (feel free to enable/disable while audio is routing through). Input Trim & Output Gains.The Enablerz - Track

Continue reading