My fav Ableton effect combo (and how to make it)

A look into one of the techniques I use to make fun little sound sequences. I've used this in several tracks over the past year and wanted to film a quick vid demonstrating it.
Additional comments:
Everything I use is available on the Intro version, so you can create this without having to upgrade Ableton. It's important to note that Arpeggiator and Random are in this order because the randomizer takes after the repetition of notes as generated by the arpeggiation. You may also play several notes at once with both of these on, however I decided to stick with one since you can make a sequence random enough that way.
Also, I realized that at 1:04 I said "chopped up sequences" when I really meant "chopped up samples". A sequence would be either the original untouched source recording or a recording of the effect combo made up of multiple samples.
Find more of my stuff here:
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digitalgardenmusic

[@pywidem5823]

Let my man have fun! If you don’t gain anything then watch something else, there’s nothing more wholesome than someone sharing excitement about something

[@averywow]

nobody was saying anything rude?

[@lodewijkwerle65]

Cringe

[@theTZA]

Sometimes a simple combo like this can add so much character to a song, thanks for sharing.

[@matt_r_w]

You could start the song with the raw sample then transition to chops to surprise the listener

[@Elriri]

this is banger tiop

[@AnonDe71]

I used slicer, but never thought about arp+random! Thanks a lot!👏👏

[@digitalgardenmusic]

No problem! Just something I stumbled upon while exploring Ableton that I love playing around with. Thanks for watching!

[@Apletree_Music]

I enjoy the randomized chaos that this was. Especially toward the end, it sounded like a track being played in reverse and then fading into a song. Cool video bro

[@bluenitriletouch2842]

Oh yeah, I’m trying this out. You rock for this one, dawg.

[@DemboeBeats]

Sick video bro!! you deserve more

[@ThomasMYoutube]

Love this as an idea for starting new projects/frameworks 👌

[@woegarden]

this is really fun in multisample mode as well!!

[@Ole696]

great idea. I will try it out immediately

[@AAARREUUUGHHHH]

Thanks for this, will definitely try out

[@WapBamboo]

Very easy to follow explanation, the sound does most of the talking. This was nice, thanks for sharing

[@christhescientist]

Great tip! I’ve subscribed and Looking forward to more of these tutorials from you

[@savvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvva]

Reminds me of the OPN's sound

[@dontoverdoseoncopium]

just started ableton gonna try this

[@13luken]

coulda listened to that for hours

[@chippyskipper]

Dope as hell!

[@kombobeats]

That’s dope 🔥

[@marcorighetto173]

Very Steve Reich like ❤️

[@inturnetavatar]

This is a great way to take perc loops or drum loops and resample/chop up too 👀

[@Fellolkek]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing. Will def try it out in my productions 👍

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Awesome, have a good time!

[@BoyXx76]

You might want to look at granulator and modulating the file position - works polyphonically and smoother

[@digitalgardenmusic]

I'm a huge fan of the Granulator and I use that a lot as well! Might make a vid on it in the future

[@mdmajunge]

great video!!

[@Impuhlz]

This is sweet, the Chance reminds me of the Random knob in Serum- you could automate the Chance to open up/increase over time during a build to expand the sample and build tension to unfold the lil story that is your guitar sample- would be sick to do with some vocals too, gonna have to try this out n experiment- great stuff!

[@vibration.wizard]

wonderful, great ideas, thanks a lot kind sir ^-^

[@zanatyx2730]

Thanks for sharing man

[@GoodVibrationsBoi]

This gave me so many ideas haha

[@bobby5850]

thats so cool thank u for sharing

[@patrickperlasjulian]

Very cool!!!

[@MartenKey]

a good man sharing these secrets with us! Thank you 🔥

[@mathews7401]

you should try granulator II, I use it for exactly these reasons, but the fade when it loops into itself is a lot more natural, I'm sure you'll love it. Sick vid 🤙🏼

[@Jwats96]

Is there a way to get granulator to sync to bpm like this? I’ve only used it in ms mode

[@extrasoggybagel9015]

@@Jwats96I don’t think so but you could just calculate how many ms based on tempo

[@nilsowsianny]

Thats really cool :D
Virtual Riot did something like thats as well but specialized for dubstep production. The Video is called: "Let your patterns write themselves."
He uses way more Midi instruments in a similar chain. This might be interesting to check out for you :D

[@notreally-sf3df]

Shut up please.

[@tugffffffffff]

thanks for sharing!

[@hazujh7]

Awesome :D Will be the next thing I'll try haha

[@JAY6OLDEN]

Thanks for sharing friend 🙏

[@usualatoms4868]

On the Elektron Octatrack you'd just use an LFOs to randomly modulate the Start point (or the slice). Then just fill the sequence with 16th notes. You could also randomize the note's chance of triggering, have one LFO randomize panning and maybe a third one to randomize a reverb send or a filter or whatever. Not sure how to do all that in Ableton but I'm sure it's possible. Just little tweaks here and there make it much more lively.
You could also try tweaking the Fade in and out to make some notes really short and some longer.

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Ooh, all good ideas. I'll look into these, thanks!

[@lilwombat]

I think you could do that with sampler instead of simpler. Maybe using the expression midi device to modulate the start point. I know you can set the note chance in piano roll.

[@iShredStreets]

Thanks man!

[@cyanyoshida2650]

Slap a reverb on it and I'd reckon you'd get a nice ambient sample with lots of texture. This might be exactly what I need. Thx for sharing!

[@jakxcombat]

Thank you for video

[@SuperRingoffire1]

Wow that's my weeknd sorted 👌 😅☮️

[@brun0295]

AWESOME!!!

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Appreciate it!

[@WalkinonSunshyne]

Very cool.

[@gamefantasticcuz]

Sick I don’t usually use random effect kinda just do it in arp but this gives more control I’ll add it to my midifx rack, I’ve had some fun adding a few beat repeats after the simpler

[@valeriykramar8871]

Great!

[@LdotSdot210]

feel like Thom Yorke probably did this exact thing at the end of "The Eraser"

[@NealCaen]

the eraser, one of my desert island albums!

[@quickscopic]

awesome

[@NilsBeh]

this is essentially a homemade granulizer, nice!

[@renatinn]

cool video! liked and subbed

[@apex1203]

quadeca liked this

[@sidekickbeats_the_official]

Bruhhh...hehe...just double click on the arp....It will fall in place. ✌✌ Dope idea, thx for the inspiration !!

[@nembutsu1045]

just in case you dont know, but you probably do, you can just double click an effect to apply it to the selected track

[@gabrielmercier-blouin7478]

I would add that when doing this you should record the midi so you can replay any part that you like easily.

[@13luken]

this is so cool!! i wanna figure it out on fl studio

[@FredbrStudios]

fr me too

[@rubyadkins9375]

Its doable in Patcher using Formula Controller. A main downside of FL sadly is that it doesn't have a true randomizer. The random sequence options in Formula Controller aren't actually random, but the effect should still work with some elbow grease. (from an FL user)

[@Digital__rb]

Im reaally considering switching to ableton.. seems so much better for IDM type music which is what im into

[@cjnniko]

That sounds just like the end of "The Eraser" by Thom Yorke

[@arjunrsrivatsa]

I do this too! except I do it with a drum rack. If you slide an audio track to Midi you can go ham on the trnasients with this. Try it with an ASMR recording. It's sick!!

[@FredbrStudios]

AN ASMR RECORDING??? LMFAO

[@skatechatham]

Fill a whole drum rack with percussion or synth one shots and do the same with arp and random

[@m18pauli]

thanks my G. Shit is going hard

[@nembutsu1045]

man 1:50 jumpscared me I though my pc bluescreened

[@bladelores666]

throw a couple beat repeats on with a drum break sample = instant jungle/breakcore

[@kuragedaisuki244]

What do you do in order to edit the guitar sample to be studio ready?

[@user-kv7ld7kd5r]

There’s quite a bit that would go into this. Long story short; EQ and a series of compressors. Take out any boomy low end or unpleasant resonances with EQ. For compression, you want to keep in mind that acoustic/clean guitars have a large dynamic range, so quiet parts and loud parts are going to differ in how a compressor reacts to them. You could seperate the quiet and loud parts (think quiet verses and loud choruses for example) onto their own seperate tracks so that you can treat them differently with your compressor settings. The goal is to tame the spikey peaks and bring out the detail that’s not as loud as those peaks. A classic way to do this is using a fast compressor like an 1176 to tame the peaks, and then put a slower compressor like an LA2A after to round things out. You could also get super surgical and manually compress by using clip gain so that you know the audio is hitting the compressors at a consistent level.

[@s77uki]

reminds me of that one jim o'rourke live album

[@telexghoulie]

yesss!!! exactly what i was thinking

[@s77uki]

@@telexghoulie I'm happy and I'm singing and a 1 2 3 4. just remembered the title lol

[@telexghoulie]

@@s77uki thats the one

[@alexlangrish2519]

Thanks

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Forsure, thanks for watching!

[@NonJohns]

you can also change the style of the arppeggiator to be random in case you can only use one effect lol

[@jacobmcarthur2623]

hehe you sound like john wilson. i love it

[@_4l3cs]

cool

[@loganlamoreaux5347]

reminds me of the nurture album by porter robinson

[@pkliskiki1800]

Thats basically how a few granular synthesizers work right?

[@onesuavestudio]

basically yea but smaller grains rather than these big sample chops

[@miketkong2]

Yeah, but this technique uses automatic transient detection to place the slices and create the “grains” which a regular granular synth doesn’t do. Almost the same, but slightly different… also, with this technique, you could creat the slices manually which I think opens it up to some different creative possibilities than the more random way that a granulizer would do.

[@cicada8790]

sounds like Zelda Breath of The Wild fight music

[@kippergillespie6749]

Do you have three hands?

[@starboyrob]

i love u

[@bombaclitt]

You can double click stuff in the browser, you dont have to drag everything fyi

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Thanks haha, force of habit I guess

[@ThePsyKiiD]

Thanks a lot !! Lets make psytrance now

[@digitalgardenmusic]

Sounds like a plan

[@ThePsyKiiD]

@@digitalgardenmusic yes it is !!

[@victormarin4061]

Skrillex does this with vocals

[@emmadomusic]

czcams.com/video/p6snD1650ck/video.html ( "ÅMARA(大未来電脳)" feat.HatsuneMiku+KAITO / sasakure.‌UK )
reminds me of this,
arp that controls segmented sample is pretty easy trick and it gives you ability to explore which is great

[@chaz4478]

you sound like michael cera

[@char252]

buy a mouse. I used to do this with a trackpad as well, but it makes things much slower than a mouse. a mouse was probably my best gear purchase for making music.

[@WRCKTNGL]

Thanks bud

[@clericsupport]

let this man live

[@marcojm6422]

Good trick, but the sample makes it useless.