> the beginner’s guide to live
Audio Effects
EQ EIGHT
Live’s main equaliser is an eight-band
parametric affair with stereo, left/right and
mid/side modes, a choice of 12 or 48dB/
octave low-pass and high-pass filters, and
an integrated spectral analyser. Access the
expanded view by clicking the triangular
Toggle Display Location button at the top of
the interface.
EQ THREE
This simplified three-
band equaliser is
primarily designed for
live use, although it
does have a few useful
niceties for studio
work. The high and low
crossover frequencies
are adjusted with the
FreqLo and FreqHi
knobs, the filter slopes toggle between 24
and 48dB/octave, and the kill switches below
each band can be used to quickly deactivate
and reactivate them.
EROSION
An unusual lo-fi effect, Erosion degrades
the input signal by modulating a short delay
with filtered noise or a sine wave, resulting
in a unique, digital-sounding distortion. For
enhanced stereo width, try Wide Noise mode,
which uses independent noise generators for
the left and right channels.
EXTERNAL AUDIO EFFECT
If you own any hardware effects, External
Audio Effect makes integrating them into
your Live sessions a breeze. Simply add
the External Audio Effect device to a track
and select the audio interface inputs and
outputs to which your gear is connected.
You can even enter a Hardware Latency
value to ensure everything remains
perfectly in sync.
30 / ABLETON LIVE: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 2015
FILTER DELAY
Live’s most involved delay effect, Filter Delay
features three independent delay lines with
low-pass and high-pass filters. The delays
take their input from the left, right and mid
channels, and output to the same positions
unless their Pan controls are adjusted.
FLANGER
A classic psychedelic modulation effect,
Flanger works much like Chorus in that
it’s based on two parallel, time-modulated
delays. However, the delays are much shorter,
delivering comb filtering effects. Try using it
with a low Feedback setting and synced Rate
to make mono percussion loops stereo in a
fairly transparent manner.
FREQUENCY SHIFTER
Frequency-shifting works like pitchshifting,
but moving each frequency by a fixed amount
and thus not maintaining the harmonic
relationships between them. This can create
some truly strange timbres, particularly
when a little of the original signal is mixed
back in. Live’s Frequency Shifter also includes
a ring modulation mode, which modulates
the incoming signal’s amplitude level – great
for robotic vocal effects!
GATE
When the input signal drops below a defined
threshold, the Gate silences it. This useful
for getting rid of background noise on audio
tracks when nothing is playing, as well as
tightening parts up. The Gate can be used
creatively, too, by feeding its sidechain input
a rhythmic source signal – known as “gating”
or the “trance gate” effect.
GLUE COMPRESSOR
A great alternative to Live’s standard
Compressor, Glue Compressor isn’t as
transparent, imbuing sounds with analogue
character. It’s perfect for beefing up beats,
pumping up vocals or just adding a little
warmth and
grit to other
instrument
parts. The
sidechain input
makes it ideal
for ducking
effects,
too. Glue
Compressor is essentially Cytomic’s
acclaimed The Glue plugin, baked into Live.