The Juno Organ is one of my favorite Ableton presets for the Wavetable synth. Its great right out of the box, but we’re going to take a look at how we can use macros to take it up to a whole new level.
All synthesizers are customizable in nature. They exist to “synthesize” or create a sound. A standing difference between Mainstage/Logic and Ableton is that in Ableton your synthesizers are visible while you are playing. In Mainstage, you can be playing a synth and have literally no control over any of its parameters.
This is one of the reasons that patch level controls are so important on Mainstage. You can’t see the actual synthesizers parameters while you are playing. So if you want to be able to change the attack speed, you need to set up a knob on the performance screen to do so.
This is not the case with Ableton. If you’re using the wavetable, you can see every aspect of the synth while you are playing on it. It’s set up this way because these sounds are meant to be played altered shaped and molded while you are playing.
Ableton presets don’t get enough credit for their quality, and since all of the parameters are so easily adjustable, you can very very quickly alter something to make it EXACTLY what you want.
Today we are going to talk about how to use Macros to make this Ableton preset from good to AMAZING. And if you have no time to build it yourself, thats okay too. You can click here to download the preset
**In order for this preset to work, you must be using Ableton Live 10, and have the wavetable synthesizer.
A Brief Note On Controllers
Controllers can be very helpful in this process. Particularly controllers that interface well with Ableton, though anything that sends midi will work just fine.
There are many different good controllers out there, but my all-time favorite is the Push 2. You can’t beat its incredible integration with Ableton. I also love and use the launch control XL. Factor mode gives you easy intuitive control over most everything inside Ableton, and user mode allows you to map anything you might lack.
My first ever controller was the Akai LPD 8 and I made excellent use out of that. A lot of people also love the Korg Nano Kontrol.
For keyboard players I highly recommend the Keylab 88, it interfaces with Ableton beautifully. Some other popular keyboard/controllers are the Code 61, Akai MPK. and novation launch key.
The benefit of using a controller is it doesn’t require any customized midi mapping. It controls the most useful parameters automatically and intuitively
Juno Organ Wave
What I love: This Ableton preset does a great job emulating the Juno synth sound. And I have to admit, I’m a total sucker for that tone. I don’t get through a single set of any type without whipping out a Juno patch.
What I Wish: I like to have some control over the dynamics of a sound like this, so I wish this preset had more filtering options, and also a way to make the attack a bit more gradual when I am wanting a softer pad version of the Juno, and a more aggressive version when I need something that has a more forward sound.
Before we go making any changes, let’s set up our workspace.
Step 1: Drop the Juno Organ Wave Preset from the browser to a default midi Channel.
Step 2: Select the preset from the bottom of your screen, and press Command-G to move the synth into an instrument rack.
At first, it may seem like nothing happened, but click the circles that the arrows are pointing to, and you will see this.
Now we have revealed our macros, which we will use to take control of our synth. Next, let’s make it so we can see all of Wavetable’s parameters on one screen.
Step 3: Click this arrow:
You should see this:
Okay, now we’re ready to rock and roll.
So here are the 4 things I did to make this preset highly playable.
Create a macro to control both the attack and release of the amp envelope simultaneously
Step 1: Click the map button on the instrument rack
Step 2: Click amp attack, then click macro 1.
Set the minimum range to .75 ms, and the max range t0 1.33 s.
Step 3: click amp release, and then click macros 1 again
Set the minimum value to 30.6 ms and the maximum value to 4.08
Step 4: Click map on the instrument rack to close out the mapping
Create a macro that controls the filter frequency of filter 2
Step 1: Click the map button on the instrument rack
Step 2: Click filter two frequency, and then click macro 2
Set minimum filter value to 3.58 kHz, and max to 20.5kHz
Step 4: Click map on the instrument rack to close out the mapping
A macro to control LFO rate and LFO amount
Step 1: Click map on your instrument rack.
Step 2: Select LFO rate, and click macro 3
Step 3: Select LFO amount and click macro 4
Step 4: Change LFO 1’s attack and shape to 0%
In Wavetable’s matrix, LFO 1 to -88 in the Amp row
You will now have the following:
What I love about this altered preset is that I can decide while I am playing by making use of my macros, how quickly my sound will attack, I can add or take away from the high end with my filter, and I can add varying amounts of pulsing using my LFO rate and amount.
Using just one preset you can cover so much ground!
You can download a copy of my preset by clicking here!
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