Sie sind auf Seite 1von 3

make music now Ableton Operator

Create a track with

Ableton Operator
Don your surgical gown as we get stuck into Ableton's
latest offering. Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit

On the DVD
TUTORIAL FILES
AND DEMO
For the results of our
frolickings, see the Tutorial
files folder on the DVDROM; and to try Operator for
yourself, head for the Demo
software folder, pronto

060

| COMPUTER MUSIC APRIL 2005 TUTORIAL

bletons brand spanking new


Operator (reviewed on p94) uses
a combination of two synthesis
techniques to produce its sounds. Both
Frequency Modulation (FM) synthesis
can be pretty intimidating, and many
such synths can be confusing to
program, often leaving you jabbing at
buttons, searching through manuals and
wondering why you have significantly
less hair than when you started six
hours ago.
Thanks to its clear interface and
good design, this isnt the case with
Operator, and we think that even the
novice should be able to get to grips
with it in a pretty short space of time. It
always helps if you understand the
basics though, so heres a quick recap
of how Operators two different types of
synthesis work.
FM synthesis requires at least two
oscillators. One is used to produce the

carrier wave; the other is referred to as


the operator and is used to modulate
the carrier. By mixing the two waves
together you can produce all kinds of
harmonic variations and create the
powerful digital sounds that FM
synthesis is capable of.
Subtractive synthesis is pretty much
the opposite. Rather than crossmodulating waveforms to produce a
result that is harmonically richer, you
start with a harmonically rich signal and
use filters and envelopes to subtract
various elements of the sound the
end product is whats left.
It gets much more involved than this,
but with Operator even the deepest
processes are readily accessible. Were
going to guide you through the process
of creating a 16-bar tunelet using only
Operator and a drum loop. Were going
to take some of the presets and, using
most of the available edit parameters,

get busy changing them to suit our


needs. Well be employing the LFO and
Time control, re-routing the oscillators,
and creating fixed tones over the top of
a preset before warping it with the pitch
envelope. Well also look at envelope
looping and the Spread control. Theres
lots to do, so lets get on with it. cm
3Operator is only available
as part of Live 4.1

Ableton Operator make music


Q&A focus
now

STEP BY STEP Smooth Operators

Fire up Ableton Live 4.1 and select FileNew Live Set to


create a fresh workspace. Set the tempo to 140bpm.
Using the file browser, navigate to the loop called
Operator Tut Drums on the cm DVD and drag it onto an
audio track. Stretch it to 16 bars in the Arranger view. This
loop will provide the drums for our track. >>

Switch on the LFO by clicking the small square button


to the left of the LFO section. Change the waveform to
Sine by selecting it from the drop-down menu.
Experiment with the Rate and Mod controls until you create a
good bit of movement in the sound. You can see the setting
were using above. >>

Things are starting to come together, but that KEYS


Grandfather Clock sound just isnt quite what were
after. Click on the Algorithm icon in the bottom-left of
the right-hand parameter section. This will display the routing
algorithm page. >>

Create a new MIDI track with InsertInsert MIDI Track.


Click on the Live Instrument browser button and
double-click on the Operator option. Select the preset
BASS Jungle Drop from Operators preset sounds these are
accessed by clicking on the small arrow at the top-right of
Operators interface. >>

Now copy the part over every other bar of our 16-bar
loop. Create another MIDI track and drop another
instance of Operator onto it. Select KEYS Grandfather
Clock. Starting at bar 1, record a flowing(ish) melody like the
one shown above. Copy it into the spaces where the bassline
doesnt play. >>

As you can see, the algorithm currently in use is the


second from the right on the bottom row. However,
theres nothing stopping you hitting play and cruising
through the different routing options to see what takes your
fancy. Weve opted for the square shaped algorithm. >>

Starting at bar 3, record or draw the one-bar MIDI part


shown above. Play it back. Our bassline is fat, but its a
very simple melody so well use Operators LFO to mash
the sound up a bit. >>

Now for a bit of automation. Select Operators Time


control and turn it fully anticlockwise. Arm the MIDI
channel and hit record. At the end of each rendition of
the Keys Grandfather Clock part, increase the Time value. This
will cause the sound to change throughout the piece from
staccato to smooth. Have a listen. >>

As a final touch to the Grandfather Clock preset, were


going to make it pan from speaker to speaker. Look to
the bottom left of the Algorithm page youll notice the
Pan section. Increase the Rnd parameter and listen to the
effect. Were sticking with a value of 89. >>

TUTORIAL APRIL 2005 COMPUTER MUSIC

| 061

make music now Ableton Operator

STEP BY STEP Smooth Operators (Continued)

10

On to the next part. Create another MIDI track and


drop another instance of Operator onto it. This
time, were using the LAYERED Glasso Phone
preset. Play in a part that complements what you have in the
tune already. Ours is four bars long and displayed above. >>

13

11

12

The Glasso Phone preset isnt using the fourth


oscillator, so turn it on. Click on the Fixed button in
the middle of Oscillator Ds controls. Now when you
play a note, youll hear a fixed-pitch tone along with the rest of
the sound. >>

Set Oscillator Ds level control to 0dB and its Multi


value up to 10. Hit play and, using the Freq control,
select a frequency that fits the tune. Were going for
175Hz, but the main thing is that you get a sound you like. >>

Next were going to change the envelope of


Oscillator D. Grab hold of the nodes and drag them
so that they form an envelope shape similar to that
above. This will give a smooth rise, hold for a little while, then
release very quickly. >>

Lets change the envelope Mode to make it repeat


continually in sync with the song tempo. At the
bottom left of Oscillator Ds screen is the Mode
section. Click on the tiny arrow underneath the word Loop
and select Sync. Set the Repeat value to 1/8. >>

14

15

16

17

18

You can set up the pitch envelope however you


like. Were opting for a low-lying envelope shape
that works together with the rest of the settings to
give a cool squealing firework sound. Once the sounds been
made, you might want to turn the oscillators level control
down a bit. >>

062

| COMPUTER MUSIC APRIL 2005 TUTORIAL

Were going to automate the squealing sound so


that it comes in and out of the tune rather than
boring into your head like a dentists drill. Simply
click on Oscillator Ds Level control, record enable the
channel, hit record and twist the dial. >>

Nearly there now. Turn the pitch envelope on using


the square button to the left of the Pitch Env
control, which you need to set to -48%. Route the
pitch envelope to affect only Oscillator D by ensuring that only
the D icon is highlighted in the Pitch Envelope window. >>

As a final (and, it has to be said, rather excessive)


touch, whack up the Spread control to widen the
edited LAYERED Glasso Phone preset. You might
find that this muddies things up too much and have to use it
very sparingly, or not at all. Experiment though theres
nothing to lose!

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen