How to Create Organic Ambient Instruments in Ableton Live
Tutorial Details
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Time: 1-2 hours
- Requirements: Ableton Live, though similar techniques can be used with other DAWs
In this tutorial we are going to use Ableton Live’s “Sampler” and some of its built-in audio effects to produce wide, organic, ambient textures and pads, originating from a single one-note instrument sample. It’s a great way to create MIDI-playable ambient pads with a warm and evolving character, and most of all to be able to use our own original and custom ambient sounds, without having to scroll through hundreds of synth presets to find the right one, which usually leads to losing patience and inspiration.
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This is what we’re going for in this tutorial.
Step 1: Choosing the Sample
The most suitable samples for this simple technique are probably mallet-type or plucked string-type instruments, such as piano, vibes, music box, glockenspiel, classical/acoustic guitar, etc. The tail of the sound will be our main source, but their fast attack will be quite useful in creating nice transitions and reversed-string sounds. During this tutorial we will be using a one note sample of a Guzheng (traditional Chinese instrument), but more examples have been included in the Ableton Live project available for download below.
Keep in mind that our sample needs to be on C3, or at least needs to be transposed suitably if the original tonality is different, since we’re going to be playing whole chords and melodies with the final Sampler instrument.
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The original sample we chose, a sustained C3 note of a Guzheng instrument.
Step 2: Tweaking the Sample
Drag and drop the sample in the Sampler “Sample” section.
The sample is being dropped inside Sampler.
Enable the Reverse option, as well the Loop function on Sustain Mode. Edit the “Loop Start” and “Loop End” values suitably to avoid the silent parts of the sample, and focus on the tail of our sample. Remember, we have the Reverse function on, so the sample will start from where the Loop End value indicates. Increase the Crossfade value, to avoid clicks and pops while our sample loops. (It’s also needed for Step 5.).
Reversed and Looped sample.
Finally, let’s smoothen the attack a bit. Go over to “Filter/Global” and increase the Attack’s microseconds.
Smoothening the Attack.
It still doesn’t sound that interesting, but we’re getting closer.
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Step 3: Adding FX
As with most ambient sounds, we’ll obviously use some delay and reverb FX. Let’s begin by adding a PingPongDelay and a subtle Filter Delay. Try not to overdo it with the delays, or else your sound will probably end up a bit muddy.
PingPong Delay.
Notice the quite lowered values on the delayed signals.
What can also be handy is a GrainDelay, with heavy “Spray” and a +12.0 “Pitch” Value, keeping the Dry/Wet signal low though. You’ll notice some higher frequencies being added on top of our sound, making it more spacy.
Grain Delay.
A compressor is quite needed to even out the levels, especially after completing Step 5.
Compressor.
Last, but not least, the most obvious and probably most significant effect for this sound, a reverb with high Decay Time, and 60% Dry/Wet signal.
Reverb.
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Our sample, after the above effects have been applied.
Step 4: Return Channels
If we want more depth and ambience to our sound, we could use a return channel with some additional Reverb, 100% Wet, and a Utility plug-in to widen the sound a little.
Increase the “A Send” knob all the way. You can try more FX of course, multiple return channels, etc.
Step 5: Controlling Parameters Via MIDI
Different volume, panning, and sample offset values can keep a sound quite more interesting. What’s really handy in our situation is controlling the fast attacking “string” sound of the sample via modwheel or velocity. Live’s Sampler gives us that option. Click on the “MIDI” tab, and notice the several parameters that can be changed via different levels of velocity, mod wheel, pitch bend, and more. This makes our sound more alive, and more suitable to be played with a MIDI keyboard. In the following preview, to make the effect more obvious, the modwheel is being triggered during the second note.
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Even if you don’t have a keyboard and mod-wheel, you can just draw the automation in the MIDI clip.
Step 6: Controlling Parameters with Macro Controls
We can further control elements of the sound, such as space (reverb, delay) via Macro Controls. I grouped everything on the track together as an instrument rack (Shift-Click all the racks on the channel, then Ctrl-G), and connected some MapControls to the reverb’s Decay Time, the GrainDelay’s Frequency value and the Dry/Wet signal value.
You can map as many knobs you like to one Macro.
Another way to do that.
My final very simple Macro set-up.
Step 7: Trying Out More Samples
Here’s the same technique applied to different instruments’ one-note samples.
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Piano.
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Vibes.
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Marimba.
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MusicBox.
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Acoustic Guitar.
We can also experiment with stacking up different sampler-instruments we’ve made. For example, here’s an instance of some of the above sounds put together in a new instrument rack. Later we can map different Macro Controls again. Our options are truly limitless.
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Instrument Rack.
And here’s an example of those sounds used in the intro of a track.
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Conclusion
So there you have it. A quite simple but entertaining technique. Keep experimenting with more one-note samples and have some fun with it! All the non-Ableton folks out there could try this out with Kontakt or EXS24 of course. For any questions or suggestions/requests, don’t be afraid to drop a line in the comment section. Thanks for reading!
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By Alkis Livathinos
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Wow, what a beautiful sound! This is just what I was looking for… :)
Now, if the next tutorial would show how to turn those static noises used in the final example into a drum track life would be just great!
Hi Locke, I’m really glad you found it helpful. :-)
The static noises used in the final example are actually made with AbletonLive 8 Operator, they are not sampled, and I was thinking of writing a quick tip on that. Thanks for encouraging!
Happy music making!
Alkis
Ohh, I would love to see a tutorial pt. 2 on how to make the static noises and turn them into a beat… :)
I’ve been wondering about these sounds for a while, this tutorial is spot on!
Thank you very much for this tutorial! I got my first keyboard yesterday so I’m very excited about this :) I haven’t done the whole tutorial yet, but I’m working on it :) Thank you for sharing this, I’m looking forward to hear my final result :)
/Sp34k
@ Mike : No problem, I’m really happy you liked it. If you find any serious difficulties, you can always download and check out the Ableton Play Pack of course, although I think trying it out yourself is the best way – then you’ll be able to try it out with hundreds of samples and see what you can come up with, that’s the beauty of it, you keep the preset and load different samples in the Sampler, yay! :-)
Beautiful stuff! The track is really great as well, I wish there was longer version. And I would like to know about those static noises as well, they sound really good.
@bassboss I will definitely write a tutorial about those static sounds since more people seem to be interested. Thanks for the input and the kind words!
I love this kind of sounds so THANK YOU for this tutorial. As you said, you can also do that with Kontakt. Even the sampling engine in Absynth should be able to do that. I don’t want to advertise NI, but with Absynth’s new filter called “Aetherizer” it must sound great.
One additional comment: although I play piano I often have some difficulties to find this kind of beautiful chord progressions. Those kind of chords where the listener is “flying away”, you know … :)
Thanks Andy, glad you enjoyed it! There are some midi files in the Ableton Play Pack available, you can open’em up and have a look at the chord progressions (I don’t remember what I actually played, it was a bit improvised). What I personally like having in mind when trying out chord progressions is “Stick to a certain scale. Then try out chords with notes contained in that scale. Write down the combinations you like the most. Improvise for a couple of minutes”, at least before learning the Harmony Theory behind all that (which really helps but you can live without it :P).
-Alkis
This is quite nice , also a good thing to consider when making the strings is a “wavering” of pitch , as natural string sounds are often imperfect and its this imperfection that we as humans are able to resonate with.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/443448/howslife.mp3
Great tutorial!
What do you guys mean with “static sounds”? Those synth sounds and “beeps” you can hear besides of the percussions?
Yes, those rhythmic “clicks” and “beeps” on the last mp3 example.
Very nice work, Alkis. It is about time someone emphasizes a somewhat forgotten form of electronic music ;) I really appreciate your sharing of ideas.
great tutorial – extremely helpful! I really liked how you included the project files so I could follow along myself. thanks a bunch!
Nice to see Ableton getting some more love around here.
Thanks Bryan, I agree. While we still love Logic Pro, it’s great to give attention to other popular DAWs. Expect more!
Absolutely! I’d like to submit an article on ableton while they are still a limited number. Just need to come up with something…
this sounds so crisp! How could I do this with the exs 24? I don’t think that the exs has a graphic interface where you can change the the sample like in live…
Hi tyler,
unfortunately I don’t have Logic (neither a Mac) so I can’t look that up easily. But I am almost certain that there are options like Start and End , and Loop of the sample. If it doesn’t have a Reverse function, just reverse the audio file before you import it into exs24. You could also simulate the “Crossfade” we did in this tutorial by fading the audio file in and out a little, before importing it into the sampler. If I get my hands on an exs24, I will definitely reply to you with a more in-depth reply. Good luck!
Alkis
Oh, I just realized that Kontakt doesn’t support a certain point in step 5 of this tutorial. It’s not possible to control the loop length when Kontakt is in the Sample Loop mode. But this is essential to get this characteristic sound because it’s the only way to control the (reversed) fast attack.
Either you can control the playback speed (than Kontakt is also preserving the correct pitch according to the notes you play) OR the playback length (in standard sample mode, which means that playback speed rises when you play higher notes), but not both. It seems that Ableton’s Sampler is more flexible here.
Okay, my mistake. Now I downloaded the demo version of Ableton and now I know how all that works. This is of course possible with Kontakt. Anyway, Ableton is a nice piece of software. :)
Wow, some cool sounds. Will definitely try this out, thanks!
Alkis , can you do a tutorial of the exact same thing but using reason? I love the sounds!
Hi there John,
I don’t have much free time to try that out now, but I may have during the summer. If so, I’ll post a quick explanation here on how to emulate the same technique in Reason (although some of the steps won’t be easily applicable in Reason I’m afraid).
Thanks for the interest, cheers!
Alkis
So helpful! This has opened my eyes to a whole new world of sound synthesis! Thank :)
Really beautiful sounds! Thanks for this professional and helpful tutorial, especially the modulation of the loop length via wheel is a great idea!
Thanks man, glad you liked it. :-)
Btw, nice website you got there!
I’ve been looking for pad sound like these in Ableton for years!!! Is there any chance you have these as just simpler instruments? I don’t have the sAmpler instrument (just the base Live 8 package).
Hi Greg,
unfortunately I don’t have those as Simple instruments, as some final tweaking techniques on this tutorial can only be done in Sampler instrument. You can try out the basic steps though and with some cool reverb, reverse, and delay FX you can get some quite nice results.
I hope this helped.
Cheers!
Really amazing tutorial.. thx alot man :)
Just one question …what if you use a sample that is not C3 or even totally out of scale..what way would u recon is the best way to fine tune a sample so that it fits in with other samples tuned to c3.. well what im asking is how do you tune a sample to a certain note :P
thx anyway
peace
Hi naken!
Yes, I know what you’re talking about, this has happened to me before.
I’m using Gtune (on Windows) whenever I want to tune something (just use it as a normal audio effect):
http://www.gvst.co.uk/gtune.htm
Start playing C3 on your keyboard/mouse and tweak the “Transp” and “Detune” values on Sampler/Simpler/Wherever until you get your C3 :-)
(the GVST package in general is awesome – I love the GRevDly reverse fx for pads and ambiences)
I hope this helped!
-alkis
thx man will check it out :)
much appreciated !!
Alkis, Great tutorial mate. Looking forward to the next one. :)
wow…probably the best tutorial I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. Thank you so much for your contribution to better sounds across the globe!
Wow, this means a lot, thank you very much, I appreciate it! :-)
I love that tutorial.
I saw it a few month ago but i didn’t fin anymore.
So it’s a good idea that it is classified in the best tutorials of the year.
Many Thanks ti you Alkis
Sylvain, Music composer, France
Really helpful, thanks !
I am a beginner & somehow accidentally tried this technique with sampler & used in this experiment with some acoustic instruments.
Reading this has opened up more possibilities ! Thanks..
All I gotta say is hot-damn! Nice, simple, easy-to-follow tutorial! Dude, if I had a hat on, I would take it off for you :) I’m a newborn Ableton user (haven’t played with sounds before), so thanks for the intro man!:)
You’re welcome Mike! I’m sure you will love Ableton, especially through techniques like that which help you make your own personal sounds :-)
Also many thanks to everyone who commented and thanked above, and helped get this tutorial on the list of Top Audio Tuts Tutorials of 2010!
Hey Alkis. Nice tutorial, but i’m mostly interested about those tiny clicks/beeps on last mp3 example. As i see, you’ve created those with operator? Can you please explain this or just send a operator preset to analyze? My email is legdub@gmail.com. Thank you for your time.
Hello Leg,
I will make a tutorial about this as soon as I find more time. Right now I’m extremely busy with University, unfortunately. These sounds have been requested lots of times by other commenters as well, so I’ll try my best to deliver a good tut. So, stay tuned! :-)
Alkis
PS: I’m quite sure I’ll have time to write the tutorial during the end of March or the first half of April, and I’ll let you know via e-mail as well.
@Leg, Keep checking out the website. The tut with Operator blips and clicks sounds will be published soon! :-)
great way to do ambient sounds. look foward to see more of ur tuts.
thanks
ah yes, so very well done… i had to go back and check that original sound at the end… like chalk and chocolate… the power of live is astounding… great tute… i didnt actually do this one today, just reading and listenig,.. i will be doing it tho, . great site, i have learnt so much today…
so, i would guess you can get quite close with simpler, if you choose the right sample and fx, but having suite 8 makes it sweet!!! now for that generative lesson…
this tutorial is awesome, thank you very much
Man, this sound is incredible! it’s deep, rich, organic, and it’s made with just one sample, just awesome!
I always thought that grain and filter delay can be used mainly for schizophrenic and scary effects, but here they subtly enrich the sound and give it more depth. I would definitely like a tutorial about more ways of using them. Thanks anyway, listening to this was a pure pleasure! :D
this tutorial is so nice!!! and the sound is so wonderful!!!
Thanks for sharing!
wow this site is really promising!
Thanks so much, Helped Alot!!