Blog - LiveKeyboardist

12Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Cleaner, More Interesting Chord Triggers

1Sound Design, Blog, Midi, Program Features, Uncategorized

Chord Triggers are a great tool. As a Keyboard player who is constantly playing the parts of several people with just ten fingers, they can be quite indespensible. It's always better to think in terms of artistic value though, as opposed to a necessary aid for covering more ground then physically possible. So the question then has always been, how to I keep more chord triggers sounding, natural, clean, and transparent. Here are three tricks I've come up with over the years that have helped me to use chord triggers in an effective way. I have also built a diatonic chord trigger that works in all 12 keys for you. You can download a free copy of that by clicking here. It's touch sensitive so high velocities produce bass notes,…

08Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Writing Dummy Clips WIth The Two Click Method

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features, Transition Essentials

Writing dummy clips is essential for working in Ableton, especially in session view. Dummy clips can have many functions. We can use them for patch changes like described in this post. You can use them to create that sort of "Jump to" functionality the way you are able to in Mainstage. You can also use them to adjust the range of keyboard splits, or other types of set up adjustments. No matter what way you cut it, you will be putting information into dummy clips within Ableton, and so it's really important that you are able to do it quickly and efficiently. The Two Click Method The two click method of writing dummy clips actually has four steps. It's a great work flow that is going to save you tons…

05Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Three Audio FX to spice up any Piano Patch

1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Presets and Sounds

I love a good piano patch. I've spent a ton of time thinking about what makes a piano sound interesting and I think it really comes down to three things. ColorPresenceTexture There was a time that I really hated using non musical words to describe sound, so let me extrapolate a bit more. Color When I talk about "color", I am specifically referring to saturation that has been added to the low-mids. It doesn't have to be a ton, and sometimes, it's not needed at all. But time and time again I find myself adding a little but of saturation or distortion there to help give my piano sounds a little more body. Presense When I talk about "presence" I am specifically thinking about come form of compression. When I…

01Jan 2019 by Brett Pontecorvo

Cool Ping Pong Delay Trick

1Sound Design, Blog, Essential Audio Effects For Keyboard Players, Presets and Sounds

If you are playing keyboard live, you will want to make excellent use of all the audio effects you have available to you. It's one of the things that sets us apart from someone who is playing on a regular acoustic piano. Ping pong delay is a great effect that you hear probably more often than you would expect. It's a great way to add dimension and rhythm to a standard piano patch. It takes a delayed signal and moves it quickly back and fourth across a stereo feild. Many ping-pong delays leave my sound a little muddy. I have created a bit of a workaround for that that will leave this effect still sounding crispy. Rather than using Ableton's ping pong delay device, I use the simple delay panned…

29Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Automation In Arrangement View

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features

Working with automation is a great way to bring your music to life. You use automation to tell Ableton how to move and change any given parameter over a timeline. This works particularly well in arrangement view since it is so naturally tied to the timeline. The Two Most Common Uses Making a track If you are using Ableton live to build a track, automation will be your friend and come in handy. For example, you may want a ton of reverb on a particular drum hit, but not anywhere else in the track. In that case, you could automate your reverb send to turn all the way up for that hit, and off for the rest of the song. You may also use automation for turning on and off…

22Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Supercharge Your Live Performance With Macros

1Creating A Keyboard Set Up, 1Sound Design, Blog, Live Playback, Midi, Program Features

Ever wonder why all of your keyboard sounds feel stagnant, sterile, and computerized? Perhaps you feel comfortable making set lists, but are looking to make your sounds go the extra mile? If you're tired of sounding more like a robot than a musician, read on... https://youtu.be/VB_rngXDS_4 Every instrument has the ability to produce many types of sounds... Ableton is VERY MUCH your instrument, so your approach to creating a variety of dynamics, textures, and tones is pivotal in creating a captivating performance. Unfortunately, just popping a few audio effects after a synthesizer isn't going to give you the ALIVE feeling that you need to have. In order to make your sounds pop you must have the ability to change how, and how much a sound is effected in real time,…

18Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

How To Record Automation In Ableton

Blog, Presets and Sounds, Program Features

Recording automation in Ableton Live is just about as easy as recording anything else in Ableton Live. There is and will always be a time and a place to manually draw in your automation, but much like using curved automation lines, recording your automation brings in a whole new level of human expression to what could be otherwise stagnant. You can record all of the same parameters that you can manually enter in live. However, with the ability to record Ableton you can capture things that you actually do during a live performance such as Aftertouch and Modwell adjustments. If you add this to the other things that you could draw in that you might actually do with a controller during a live performance like bring side-chained effects in and out, adjust…

15Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Almost Auto Sampler For Ableton Live

1Switching From Mainstage To Ableton, 1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features

If you're like me, you are constantly making synth sounds. You may also be like me and want to play all of your synth sounds during a live set. Using samples of synths is a great way to lighten the load on the computer, while still scratching the itch to have all your awesome synths loaded and ready to go. I have come to find that running too many instances of soft-synths live can be a lot for my computer to handle. In my mainstage days I used to use auto-sampler, and so once I transition to Ableton, I really felt the weight of not having that ability. Which is why I started using this method. Its saved me a ton of time and allows me to use as many…

11Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Delay: Essential Audio Effects For Keyboard Players

1Sound Design, Blog, Essential Audio Effects For Keyboard Players, Presets and Sounds

Delay can add a lot by doing a little. Admittedly this post transformed into to something different then I intended as I explored the Ping Pong Delay. In all of this, my passion is using the software as a piece of my instrument. When an electric guitar player plugs into their pedal board, the board is no less a part of their instrument than the guitar. As a keyboard player, how do I use my software the same way? This is a question I ask myself often. This post comes from that place. And I know you are going to love this approach to using delay. https://youtu.be/WoMH5YHi0eA What is Delay? Delay is an audio effect that takes a part of your signal, and repeats it after a given amount of…

08Dec 2018 by Brett Pontecorvo

Ableton’s Metronome: Everything You Need To Know

1UsingAbleton, Blog, Program Features

Using a metronome is a daily task for many of us. We use it when we record, when we are playing live, when we are creating, when we are practicing music, when we are mowing the lawn... The list goes on and on. Today we are going to take an in-depth look at Ableton Live's built-in metronome to see how it works, check out its features, and get the most out of it. Ableton's Metronome First things first, we gotta find this thing! Ableton's metronome is located at the top left-hand corner of the screen. If the metronome is greyed out, it is off, and it if its colored in than it is on. Metronome Sounds Ableton's metronome offers three different sounds to choose from. They can all be accessed by clicking on the…

Category: Blog