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Ableton Live 7 Workshop

Tension synth

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Tension is probably the most interesting and certainly the most unusual of Live’s new synths. As a ‘stringmodelling’ instrument, it mathematically re-creates the physical properties of various instruments that make sound with vibrating strings.

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The next challenge we face is to understand the Decay and Ratio controls. To get a grip on these parameters, set Damping to 75%, so the sound naturally has a lot of sustain. Holding down a note with Decay at its default value of 75% will give you a nice slow decay of several seconds. Increasing this value can make the decay seem endless, while reducing it to very low values will result in very short, clipped tones. Things get more interesting when you start playing with the Ratio control.

To hear what the Ratio control does, return the Decay to 75%. Notice that while there is a relatively long decay as long as the note is held down, releasing the key causes the note to decay to silence very quickly. Ratio can be used to adjust how the note responds to release. At lower values, the string will decay longer after the key is released. At 1%, the string’s entire decay will sound, regardless of how long the key is held; at 0% you get an unnaturally long sustain that can continue indefi nitely (if the string’s Damping is set to a high value).

So far we’ve learned some valuable information about how String parameters operate. However, everything we’ve learned is dependent on settings in the Excitator section. Instead of using a standard ASDR envelope that

works in more or less the same way regardless of the other settings on your synth, we’re working with a bunch of different characteristics of an instrument, all of which can affect each other dramatically. In this case, every assumption we’ve made about how the String parameters work is based on the fact that we’re striking the string with a pick. Let’s see what happens if we change to a bow.

Making modifi cations Before selecting Bow from the Excitator menu, set the Ratio control back to 50% and turn down the volume of the track. Switching to the Bow is one of several

Power Tip

The Filter/Global tab reveals an additional page of controls. Here you’ll find all of the filter types you would expect to find, as well as a formant filter. The Envelope and LFO sections can be used to modulate the Frequency or Resonance, while the LFO has a nifty Attack control that can be used to fade in the LFO over a period of time.

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MusicTech Focus Ableton Live 45