Artists Petrichor: Sounds Come Alive As a musician, engineer, live performer, DJ, and Ableton Certified Trainer, Simon Stokes plays many roles in his musical life. Working with classic hardware and cutting-edge software, Simon’s music balances a love for pristine, timeless sounds and new techniques for production and performance. His latest project, Petrichor, has seen release...
Artists Second Storey on Push Alec Storey - aka Al Tourettes aka Second Storey - is a master of enveloping ambient atmospheres and sharp, punching electro-style beats. Alec stopped by Sonic State to perform live in-studio and demonstrate his workflow with Push and Live 9 - watch below: Hear more of Alec's music on last...
Events Meet Ableton at SXSW 2014 From March 12-14 we’ll be in Austin, Texas throughout the South By Southwest Music festival. We’ll be debuting Ableton Spaces - a festival space for daytime workshops, demonstrations, and performances with Ableton specialists, Certified Trainers, and some of our favorite artists including Jerome LOL, Knxwledge,...
Artists J-Pop Mashup from Rishabh Rajan We thoroughly enjoyed the last mashup video from Certified Trainer Rishabh Rajan, featuring a series of K-Pop songs. Now, Rishabh is back with a J-Pop mashup video, working with songs by Yasutaka Nakata (songwriter/producer for Capsule and Perfume, among others). Playing Push again, Rishabh is joined this time by his...
Tutorials Make a Lead Sound in Live - Tutorial from Ambrus Deak A good lead can make a classic track - with just the right cut through a mix and effects movement, you've got a sound for the audience to cling to that's nearly analogous in importance to the lyrics in a rock song. In a new tutorial, Certifed Trainer Ambrus Deak...
Downloads Spy Guitar - Multisampled Bass Guitar Instrument from Antonio Sage The Fender VI Bass Guitar is a classic instrument - moving beyond the traditional four-string bass layout, it features six strings, for an impressive range. Certified Trainer Antonio Sage meticulously sampled his Fender VI for Spy Guitar, a new free instrument for Live. Spy Guitar includes a variety of playing...
Artists It's 303 Day - Celebrating the Acid Legacy Today is March third, or 3/03. Among fans of acid house and techno, it's an day to celebrate all things with squelch, after the legendary sound of Roland's TB-303 bassline synthesizer. And we couldn't pass up the opportunity to share a few of our favorite acid tracks.
Tutorials Develop Your Live Performance Setup with Live 9 Timo Preece performs live Performing electronic music live can be tricky - how much do you want to use loops? How much do you want to play in live? How do you want to use controllers, or external hardware effects/acoustic instruments? It might seem daunting to think of what you...
Downloads Bits and Beats - New Free Samples from 8 bit bandit The video game music (aka chiptune aka 8-bit) aesthetic was born of necessity - early video game systems couldn't synthesize or process audio at higher bit-depths. But from these classic systems, artists have taken influence for a style of music that balances...
Artists New Mixtape from CyHi the Prynce & Tec Beatz Since he first appeard as part of Kanye West's GOOD Friday series, CyHi the Prynce has made a name for himself as an up-and-coming MC with endorsements from other huge names like Pusha T and Akon. Released this week, CyHi's new mixtape, Hystori: Black History Project, presents a politically and...
Downloads Advanced Aftertouch with Push - New From Isaac Cotec The pads on Push are made for expression, and respond to velocity (how hard you initially hit the pad), as well as aftertouch (how much pressure you apply in keeping the pad pressed). Aftertouch can me mapped to a variety of controls - open up a filter by pressing harder,...
News Herse: Deconstruct & Refine Your Sound We’ve all worked with loops that just feel too static - maybe some elements could use subtle rearranging, or perhaps some filter tweaks or rolls/repeats would spice things up. Or, maybe it’s time for the nuclear option, throwing everything through a mangle for experimental/IDM-style results. Whether you’re looking for subtle...
Tutorials A Track in 10 Minutes with Push Push is all about creativity and feel, connecting the sounds you want with expressive motions on pads, knobs and buttons. With inspiration from classic instruments and the versatility of Live 9, Push is an ideal platform for quick and expressive composition. Putting this to the ultimate test, Sonic State challenged...
Artists David Rothenberg: Bug Music The Ableton Community is rich with unique musicians. Few fit that bracket better than jazz musician, environmental philosopher, academic and author David Rothenberg. David’s book, Bug Music, chronicles the effect of the sounds and rhythms made by insects on human music. For this feature, we hand the proverbial mic over...
Downloads AfroDJMac Turns 100 - Celebrate with Free Electric Guitar Synths For years now, AfroDJMac (aka Certified Trainer Brian Funk) has been posting a consistent stream of inspiring Packs, from sources as diverse as synthesizers and snowglobes. In honor of his 100th pack, Brian presents a special set of Instrument Racks with samples from his electric guitars. From tight, palm-muted notes...
Artists Adriano Clemente: Human Interaction With backgrounds in music, teaching, psychology, and anthropology, Adriano Clemente is truly a creative polymath. Coming up with eclectic tastes that ranged from Eurodance to IDM, Adriano maintains an open ear and mind when approaching music and audiovisual projects. We recently spoke to Adriano about bringing...
