Over 420 free effect racks for free VST plugins… WHAT

EaReckon VST Rack.PNG
Due to an increasing upcoming workload, we’ve decided to release the freeVST racks all at once, instead of in monthly batches as originally planned. That’s over four-hundred and twenty individual racks now available! Talk about an expanded toolkit.

These are “default/template” audio effect racks for many different plugins which are available publicly for free in 64-bit. You simply load any of these Ableton racks, and it loads its corresponding plugin (assuming it’s installed). Each rack includes help text which will be shown when hovering over macro controls.

Most of the plugins we have racks available for have 32-bit and mac versions as well; however, some are 64-bit or windows-only. Mac-only and AU plugin racks are planned in the future. FreeVST racks here will be updated occasionally to reflect developer updates. If you know of a free vst developer we missed or encounter any issues, please leave a comment.

ABLETON LIVE 9.6 required (Intro, Suite, or Standard).
Yes, you can even use all of these racks with Live 9 Intro!

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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.

Controlling MIDI in Ableton Live with a Video Game Controller

joystick ableton
DO WHAT NOW?
Get your video game controller to do stuff in Live.
DO WHY? Because doing so is awesome. Duh!
DO HOW? This is where it gets tricky. But not that tricky.

MIDI or KEY mapping? Key mapping alone is groovy, but you are limited to toggling between two values. That’s no fun for a filter sweep! With 0-127 ranges you can map that analog joystick to control knobs and faders with full precision.

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Free “Emphasizers” Racks

emphasizers image

Now updated for Live 11!

Click to Get Emphasized.

Control any audio effect with more precision than ever before.
Drop any nonlinear FX plugins into them and have the ability to alter the signal they are reacting to.

Includes:

•In~Out
Provides basic input gain, compensated by an opposite amount of output level. Super simple and super useful for fine-tuning any nonlinear effect. For example, use it on a saturator to make that saturator drive harder or softer, expanding its usual working range. Same idea for any threshold-based effect like a compressor — you can use In~Out to fine-tune the onset or expand the range of any built-in threshold.

•Emphasizer
•Emphasizer (LR)
•Emphasizer (MS)
•Emphasizer (Dual Shelf)
Boost a certain frequency or frequencies to hit nonlinear FX differently, output-compensated by exactly opposite curvature, leading to a totally neutral sound (other than the reactivity of the dropped-in FX).
For example, you could push more midrange (say…2.5kHz) into a saturator, without directly affecting the overall clip gain. This greatly expands the capability of normally non-adjustable distortion processors by a great deal, if you think about it. Want to crunch up only the highs or the bass more than other frequencies? Go for it. It’s especially great for guitar distortion and amp plugins whose tone controls tend to be quite limited.
Same for compressors and the like. You can make a compressor plugin that has no built-in sidechain EQ effectively have one. Effin’ sweet. Think about gating and noise reduction. Preserve certain frequencies by boosting them in the sidechain, or ignore frequencies you don’t care about.

~`~

(inspired by this excellent tutorial video by Dan Worrall)

Have with the funs!

Sometimes the simplest things are the most useful… introducing the free “Utilification” Ableton Live Pack

Here’s a {free} ableton live pack of effects that are made for simple yet extremely useful purposes, including fading, stereo panning, m/s encoding and decoding,.

It is highly recommended to grab these and implement them into your Ableton Live library.

toolz

INCLUDES:

Audio FX

“-inf to +0 Fader” — just like it says, this is a simple fader from negative infinity to zero decibels. When you want a quick and easy volume knob that goes all the way to silence and maxes out with no boost (unlike the “utility” device), use this.

“LR to MS Controller” — this will switch a Left-Right Stereo file to transmit its left channel as the sides and its right channel as the center, or you can swap those results so the right is the sides and the left becomes the center.
You can then tilt the center and sides channels, mute them, and alter their levels.

“MS to LR Controller” — this will switch a Mid-Side Stereo file to transmit its sides channel as the left and its center channel as the right, or you can swap those results so the center is the left and the sides becomes the right.
You can then tilt the left and right channels, mute them, and alter their levels.

[an example of using these controllers would be to make an MS recording into LR to be able to apply a stereo effect to it, then to return it back to MS again]

“Instant Muter” — Mutes the audio, plain and simple, the moment the knob is moved above its minimum value. Use this to be able to easily interrupt the audio flow wherever you want within a chain.

“Stereo Panner” — Allows for “stereo panning”. Using clever routing, this allows non-exclusive panning of audio wherein the content from the opposite side is moved over rather than being faded out (while maintaining overall level). This allows for more natural-sounding panning of stereo sources without losing material.
[For example, let’s say you have a stereo track with a guitar panned hard to the left side and a piano panned hard to the right. Normally if you use a pan knob to move right, the guitar sound would be lost. With this, panning right will gradually move the guitar over to the right along with the piano, rather than removing it.]

“Phase Adjust” — Select among 4 phase-flip options with one knob, and implement micro-delay to align waveforms more carefully, either between the source and the mix or between the left and right halves of the source.

“Utilify” — “Swiss army knife” which includes most of the above devices in one rack.  Use this as a more robust replacement for Ableton’s built-in Utility effect.

—>>> Download “Utilification” for Ableton Live 9+ <<<—

Free Ableton Live Pack: Midi Dynamics

Midi Dynamics BrowserPresenting Midi Dynamics, the latest PerforModule free pack.

It includes 4 simple yet useful devices specifically for controlling midi dynamics, and one silly device with various fun-ctions. Click image to grab!

Midi Dynamics

Included Devices:

Midi Compressor
Smooth out too-loud midi instrumentation.
Use this like you would an audio compressor, to attenuate midi notes which exceed a certain velocity. All notes exceeding the threshold will be attenuated. The further past the threshold it is and the higher the amount is set, the more a note will be attenuated. Notes below the threshold velocity will not be affected at all.
Example usage: Playing a synth instrument melody in which notes above a certain velocity become too harsh-sounding due to a filter resonance tied to the velocity. Use the midi compressor to soften only those too-harsh notes. 

Midi Expander
Smooth out too-quiet midi instrumention.
Use this like you would an audio expander, to boost midi notes which are below a certain velocity. All notes under the threshold will be boosted. The further below the threshold it is and the higher the amount is set, the more a note will be boosted. Notes above the threshold velocity will not be affected at all.
Example Usage: Trying out a melody with a different synth instrument, and the quietest notes are now much quieter than they were previously due to the new instrument’s velocity mappings. Changing the mappings or note velocities would take too much time so you just use the midi expander to lift up the quietest notes.  

[Midi Compressor and Expander Special Notes: You can use Live’s “Velocity” device by itself to attenuate or boost overall note velocity; however these devices are useful for more precise and careful dynamics control, by using the threshold to set a cutoff point. Notes nearby other notes do not affect each other’s response the way an audio compressor’s transients do, so imagine them as if they have perfectly fast & noiseless attack and release.]

VelociRaptor
Set the velocity to a specific value.
Use this when you want rigid control of the velocity of an instrument, to be able to use a knob or automation to set the level at any moment to an exact setting. This overrides input velocity and all velocity effects prior to it in the chain.

Velocity RNG
Add in a bit of random fluctuation to an instrument’s velocity.
At small amounts, this will add in a bit of “humanization” and make the playback of instruments less robotic sounding. At higher settings it will vary more sporadically, until at maximum, a note of any input velocity may result in an output of any possible velocity. Tip: record a midi track with little or no dynamic variation into another midi track, routed through this device at a low setting. The new midi track will now have random difference applied to each note.

Rad-omizer
This is a rack with various tools to quickly alter a midi instrument’s input. Macros include:
Mutant DNA: adds in a random chance that played notes will instead “improvise” and play a different note. The higher the control is set, the more chance of a mutant note, and the further away from its original value it might stray.
Force Scale? Key Major … Minor?: optionally implement a scale selector to force all notes to conform to a chosen major or minor key. Niftily see the choices in the macro control’s numerical box.
High Octave+ … Low Octave+: Blend in added octave notes (Make sure the instrument you are using has enough voices enabled to cover the added notes).
Random Velocity: adds in velocity flux just like the “Velocity RNG” device.
Dynamics: the default position for this is in the middle (63.5). Turn this up to drive overall note velocity; turn it down to soften overall note velocity.

CLICK HERE to grab the stuff!

Handy Tip: Custom Metronome Sounds in Ableton

Sick of the default Ableton metronome sound?

Since it is already described more eloquently than i could, i recommend Sonic Bloom’s nifty guide:
http://sonicbloom.net/en/ableton-live-tutorial-how-to-change-the-metronome-sound/

Do that thing.

Here’s what my current metronome sounds like.

and remember: NEVER HESITATE TO MAKE LIFE MORE FUN!

Handy Ableton Tip – Change a Macro Name After It’s Been Mapped.

Problem:
You may have noticed that after you map a macro knob to another macro, you can then no longer rename it either by clicking on it and pressing [CMD-R (mac) / CTRL-R (windows)] or by right-clicking it and selecting “rename” — the context menu option disappears for that macro =(
Image
Solution?
As long as you have at least one unmapped macro in the rack, click on an unmapped macro. Then press “Tab” until the macro whose name you want to change is highlighted.
You are free to rename it as you like now…sweet!
If the macro it is nested to is currently unnamed, its name will reflect the new change as well.

Image

I went a long time working in Ableton before realizing you can do this, so maybe it slipped under some other radars as well, so i figured i’d pass it along as a quick tip. If you make your own Racks all the time like me being able to rename a macro after it has been mapped if desired is quite useful.

That’s all for today… more heady packs in development.

Peace!

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

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