Next-level effect racks in Ableton Live
The idea of creating racks of effects isn’t something unique to Ableton Live. Logic, Bitwig, Reason and a number of other DAWs all have their own take on the concept, allowing users to create and save chains of effects – and the concepts we’re discussing here are applicable across the board. We’re focusing on Live here though for two reasons; firstly, the process of setting up, saving and controlling effect chains in Live is particularly easy, and second, the DAW has been updated with some truly excellent creative effects in recent versions.
As we’ve already discussed, sometimes the best approach to building creative effects chains is simply to experiment – take far out presets from your favourite devices and place them one after another to see how they interact. There are certain combinations and go-to tools that we use regularly though. For practical purposes, it’s good practice to end all Rack chains with a Utility allowing you to adjust both the level and width of an effect at the output stage. We usually end effect chains with an Auto Filter too, with its cutoff set up as a macro, allowing us to automate or modulate the effect as a track progresses. Often we’ll add these at the input stage of an effect chain too, to alter the gain and frequencies of a signal before it hits the effects, which can make a big difference for effects such as distortion or compression.
Live’s Drum Buss is another device that’s a versatile addition to creative effect chains. Its input stage offers saturation and compression, which are particularly useful for adding thickness to percussive sounds, but its most handy tool is the transient control, which can help add punch to – or soften – sounds.