What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

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What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby topitmunkeydog » 30 Dec 2013 22:14

Sometime in the next few days my friend who wants to start a band with me is coming o my house for a jam session. We are both pianists and want to be keyboardists in the band (I have a guitarist and bassist but they can't make it). So basically both of us, who have absolutely no experience using Ableton Live are just gonna try and learn as much as possible about the software because that is what I have and what we are planning to use. So I was wondering, what do I need to download in addition (if anything) to supplement this software? Are there synthesizers in it that are customizable already? And are the drum sounds good enough or should I download some other ones to use? Does Impulse allow you to like change presets or like assign samples that you find or something?
I guess basically what I'm asking is that is Ableton on its own good to get started with or should I add some other addons to get what I want? I mean the music we are trying to make is we envision it like early Passion Pit (like Cuddle Fuddle and I've Got Your Number) or The Postal Service. The synthesizers in those don't sound very complex to me but do you think I could make something like that in Ableton alone?
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby itroitnyah » 30 Dec 2013 23:45

You could create everything you want to do in Ableton, no doubt. Obviously somebody who knows more about Ableton and the synthesizers it comes with will tell you all about it and stuff. You just need to know how to properly use them, what everything does, etc. It can take quite some time to get a proper understanding of (I've been going at this for almost two years and I struggle with sound design a lot).

For kicks and other drum samples, you can visit another thread in this forum specifically for sample packs. There are a lot that are definitely worth checking out.

Other than that, if you're using midi keyboards, you may need an audio interface with midi connections or a midi-usb cable. If you're recording via mic, then you at least need one dynamic mic (preferably, condenser mic will work in a pinch) and of course proper connections, yada yada.
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby S.P.P » 31 Dec 2013 06:35

Ableton is incredibly usable straight out of the box. The synthesisers already in Ableton are very good and its capabilities on the whole are good provided you can use the program. You will be looking at either running your keyboards through the Ableton synths via MIDI cable, or you could play your keyboard into Ableton. I'm not sure on the specifics of how to do this as I'm not really an Ableton user very much; however I know that you'll be looking at a MIDI/audio interface(s), and either standard size jack leads and/or MIDI cables. Some quick research should tell you what you need to do to hook up your keyboarss through Ableton, and what cables are right for your setup. :)
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby topitmunkeydog » 31 Dec 2013 08:23

Thanks for the advice! I actually do have both an audio interface cable (which I use to record piano stuff from my electric piano) and a MIDI audio interface which I have successfully connected to ableton (the only thing I know how to do haha) And I do have a condenser microphone (it is the blue snowball, which I used for voice acting in animations a lot)
So that's good news, we should be able to figure out ableton without downloading other synthesizer instruments. and also is this the topic with the sample packs? viewtopic.php?f=34&t=7394 Which do you recommend?
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby itroitnyah » 31 Dec 2013 09:07

I'm not really sure, because I haven't really downloaded a whole lot of them. Just download some yourself and take a listen to the samples, find ones you like, etc. The Boyinaband sample packs are pretty neato.
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby S.P.P » 04 Jan 2014 13:10

There's a sample pack floating around with 1000 samples in it, and that's a pretty choice pack. Just google "musicradar 1000 drum samples" and you should find it pretty easily.
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Re: What do I need to accomplish what I want in Ableton

Postby natsukashi » 01 Feb 2014 18:24

The answer to all your questions is yes. Well okay I haven't listened to the postal service and such, so I can't say if those synths are managable to replicate using the standard Ableton synths.

I think that the drum sounds that come with Ableton are good tho, but most of them are based around old drum machines which will give your tracks a kind of oldschool sound I guess if you decide to use them.

If you're using Live 9 I'd reccommend getting another compressor because I feel like they've dummied down the current one, the one in 8 is really good tho.
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