The 100th Free Ableton Live Pack: Electric Guitar Synths!
100 Free Ableton Live Packs!
I'm very pleased and excited to share the 100th Free AfroDJMac Ableton Live Pack! It's been quite a journey and I am happy to have you here reading and playing with these toys! For this collection, I return to my roots as a musician, the electric guitar.
I was doing a little recording and wanted some fast palm mute plucks. I eventually got the part, but it was pretty difficult to get these rapid fire 16th notes sounding tight, even after almost 20 years of playing guitar. So I decided to create some sampled instruments to do the job.
Fender Mustang into a Fender Deluxe Tube Amp
In order to create these samples, I recorded my trusty Fender Mustang through my Fender Deluxe tube amp, with a little spring reverb. I used an AKG C414 and a Shure SM57 on the amp. I mixed the two samples together before dropping them into Ableton's Sampler. Check out the walkthrough video below for full details. All the music you hear was created with these instrument racks.
Palm Muted Electric Guitar
The first thing I did was record some palm muted guitar plucks. One of the problems in sampling a guitar is that, in the real world, each pluck of the string will sound slightly different from the next. With sampled instruments, you are often triggering the exact same sample over and over again, which can sound robotic or machine gun like. So, I plucked four or five different notes four times each. I set up a Sampler instrument in Live so that each time you play a note, one of the four samples will play at random. This gives the instrument a more life like sound, which is closer to the way a guitar actually works.
I wound up creating three different instruments with these samples...
polyphonic version, which is great for chords
Reverse electric guitar
Strummed Guitar Chords
Electric Guitar Chords Drum Rack
The final instrument of the collection is made up of strummed chords in the Major scale. This instrument allows you to trigger a bunch of chords found in the major scale and transpose them into the key you are working. Things start sounding pretty cool as you pitch the guitar up and down a bit. There are controls for sample length, start and loop that can yield some out of this world sounds.
Free Download!
Click below to receive a free download of these instruments! *Requires Live 9. If you don't own Sampler, open the Live Set labeled "SIMPLER." *SIMPLER files do not contain Cabinet device for compatibility reasons.
Get All of the Free AfroDJMac Ableton Live Packs in One Easy Download
I have packaged all Free Ableton Live Packs into one convenient download for $15. Caution, this will keep you busy for a while! I think the collection covers just about everything imaginable. There's certainly something here for everyone. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Big Thanks!
Big thanks to everyone here checking out my work and sharing their own creations and progress that have come as a result. It's super inspiring and I look forward to getting back to work and making more cool stuff. There's a lot of exciting stuff on the horizon that I can't wait to share it with you, and a lot of territory left to explore. Here's to the future! All the best to you!