In this tutorial we’ll look at a way of using loops to create a custom glitch percussion layer in Ableton.

To start off, I have selected 10 percussive loops from a Vengeance sample pack and loaded them into a single track in Session view. This will not work in Arrangement view as it requires Session views clip launching feature to work.

To start you need to double click on any clip to open it in the sample window below. If the launch box is not visible you can enable it by clicking the “L” button from the “Clip” tab from bellow.



Now you need to click on the first loop, and while holding shift click on the last loop. This will select them all and you will see the Clip box will change and the Sample box will change to indicate multiple audio clips selected.



Now we need to get creative with the launch properties of the clips. First I will explain how follow actions work.

Follow actions dictate both what a clip will do when it ends, and when it will happen. It is actually very easy to use once you understand the structure.

The three boxes are the time control. It is split into Bars / Beats / Sixteenths, this is where you tell Ableton when to use the follow action.

Directly under it are two drop-down menu boxes, the left one is the main area to work in, the right one is to give an element of chance to the follow actions. The boxes directly below them are called Follow Action Chance A and B. With a setting of 1:0 only A will ever occur. With a setting of 1:1 there is an equal(50%) chance of either A or B occurring.

The dropdown menu boxes reveal some options, they are:

No Action – Nothing happens after a clip ends.

– Nothing happens after a clip ends. Stop – After the clip ends, no more clips will play.

– After the clip ends, no more clips will play. Play again – The same clip will play again.

– The same clip will play again. Previous – After the clip ends, the previous clip will play.

– After the clip ends, the previous clip will play. Next – After the clip ends, the next clip will be triggered.

– After the clip ends, the next clip will be triggered. First – After the clip ends, the first clip in the clip group will be triggered.

– After the clip ends, the first clip in the will be triggered. Last –After the clip ends, the last clip in the clip group will be triggered.

–After the clip ends, the last clip in the will be triggered. Any – Any clip in the clip group will be triggered.

– Any clip in the will be triggered. Other – Any other clip apart from the one playing in the clip group will be triggered.

And in case you’re wondering, a clip group is simply a group of clips. To set up clip groups, just leave a blank slot between them, as seen in the right image.

Now that we understand how Follow Actions work, let’s apply it to our percussion loops. With all the loops highlighted and selected, change the follow action to be 0:0:3. This means that after every 3 16th notes, the follow action will trigger. The action itself should be set to Other so that it will always be a new loop triggered.

And now the most important step: Make sure legato mode is enabled.

Legato mode will make the next clip start where the last clip ended. So if it was on the 3rd beat, the new clip will start on the 3rd beat instead of from the beginning. This will make the end result sound much more dynamic and much more random, since it will always be starting in a new place on the loop.

And now the good news. That’s it. Done. Now we can get to the creative bit.

Switch to arrangement mode. Hit record. And let it play for a minute or so. This will not record the audio output, it will record all the chops that launch mode makes.



And this is what it sounds like without any touch-ups.

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114418911″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Now we can start to use it. Depending on how you prefer to work, you can either select it all and render it directly to audio, or you can choose bits you like and re-arrange them. You can even take certain pieces and reverse them or apply FX. That’s why it’s the creative part of the process, you can do whatever appeals to you.

But lets just make it sound good. First thing we need is EQ on the percussion line. There is too much low frequencies coming through, affecting the kick and making it muddy. So a simple high-pass filter on the percussion set to around 150hz/200hz will do the trick.

But we’re aiming for glitch percussion, so lets make it. DBlue_Glitch is probably the most common VST used, so just drop one on. Don’t even need to change a setting, but I prefer it to be in half beats instead of over the whole beat. Simply change the template from 1 to 2. (Disclaimer: You do actually need to go into it and adjust some settings. Master filter/ Master Mix are a good place to start, but for this tutorial we’ll leave it as is).

Then to add to it, we’ll add a Filter Delay, on only the left and right channels with center disabled. Change the frequency response so its only affecting the highs and don’t forget to lower the volume of the delay. This will give a subtle delay on only certain frequencies and make the audio bounce around.

Lastly we need to side-chain the percussion to the kick, to allow the kick to be prominent. Since I used a loop for the kicks, I need to enable the EQ on the compressor. Enable the side-chain options and set it to the relevant mixer track, then enable the EQ and set it to high-pass. Then simply change the frequency to around 100-150hz so that only the kick is triggering the side-chain. Use a very fast attack time so the sound dies instantly, then a low release time so everything else comes back fast. The end result is percussion that’s only in between beats and never over them. It is worth noting though that you should experiment between the FF1/FF2/FB settings. FF2 usually is better for side-chaining, and the ratio should be to taste. Because its percussion we don’t really need to change them.



And this is what it sounds like:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114419253″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Then if you start adding a bassline, you’re left with something like this:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/114419535″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

More than enough to get your creative juices flowing and produce a banger.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Plenty more to come.

My work as producer: Soundcloud | Reverbnation

[author image=”https://www.producerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/prfile-picture-ashley-200.jpg” ]Ashley Young – Former DJ turned producer from South Africa[/author]

I also write:

Resampling and Splitting Frequencies in Ableton

Creating Custom Percussion in Ableton Collision by Ashely Young