Instrument busses really helped me out of a playing rut. I had just switched from Mainstage to Ableton and I was on cloud nine because it was stable and allowed me to really create anything I could imagine.
But of course:
With great power, comes great responsibility.
Uncle Ben
Although Ableton’s stability (power) provided me a breakthrough in some areas, it created a new problem for me.
It hosted more sounds than I could individually control.
After struggling with this problem for a while, using instrument busses came to the rescue
It allowed me to control my instruments by type of sound rather than by individual patch.
This meant that I could use the same single knob to add or take away reverb from any piano patch.
Creating Instrument Busses
Most of the time, patches can be broken down into 4 categories
- Piano
- Pads
- Leads
- Aux
Rather than control 3 or 4 pianos individually, we can control them all using audio effects designed for the piano.
Create a new audio channel strip
Create a new audio track by pressing Command + T, and rename the track “Piano Bus”
Set the monitor status to “in”
Select all your piano tracks, choose audio to, and select Piano Bus
Now, whenever a piano sound is played, it is first sent to the piano bus channel strip before leaving Ableton and entering the world.
Audio Effects for Your Instrument Bus
Now that the piano sounds are isolated, it’s easy to process them with audio effects customized for piano sounds.
Add your favorite effects to the channel.
For piano, mine are:
- Reverb
- Dynamic tube
- Auto filter
- Ping pong delay
Click here download my Piano FX rack.
Once your effects are in place, map your controller to your favorite parameters.
The Benefits Of Instrument Busses
- Separating your sounds allows you to use more patches, and not sacrifice control.
- It allows you to build an “instrument” because your controls will always be in the same place.
- Instrument Busses creates space for muscle memory to form.
What To Do Now
Create instrument busses for all categories of your sound.
Download The Piano FX Preset
Begin incorporating this technique into your live set