Generate new musical ideas in Ableton Live

How can I fatten and widen any sound?

Atrick on many synthesisers to achieve a fatter, thicker and even wider sound, is to add another oscillator to the original, and slightly detune them. This is a function that on many synths is called “unison”. The idea behind this is that duplicating the sound and detuning will create differences in the length of the waveforms to cause “phasing”, but to our ears sound pleasing and give more depth to the sound. However, not all soft synths have this function, and you may wish to see how this sounds on some vocals or guitars? (Spoiler alert, it sounds really good!)

In this example, we are using the new Live 11.1 device, Shifter, in parallel on an effect rack to add extra detuned (and modulated) voices to your sound source.

We’ll be taking it a bit further by panning those oscillators and modulating them, assigning all of the controls to a few macros, and having a ready-to-use device with many options to achieve a much bigger (fatter) and wider sound.

is a curious and passionate lover of heartfelt music, quality sounds and inspiring tech.

He’s constantly researching non conventional ideas and loves helping others be adventurous with their music. crinico.com