Results for AfroDjMac

AfroDJMac has released a new free library for Ableton Live: Tape Hiss Vinyl Crackle.

Last week I received an email from Oliver Chesler, aka The Horrorist, who writes an extraordinarily useful and informative blog called “Wire to the Ear.”  He is always amazingly on point and up to date, whether with production advice, great music, or the latest audio/ iOS gear.  Oliver asked if I do request for Ableton Live Instruments (which of I try my best on); he was looking for samples of cassette tape hiss.  While there’s an assortment of plugin emulators of the tape sound (including Ableton’s Vinyl distortion which I used on this freebie), as we all know, there’s nothing quite like the original.  Funnily enough, just the day before I was looking for samples from vinyl records, and one of the samples I got the most use out of was just the vinyl crackle right before the music starts playing.  So, naturally I thought Oliver’s suggestion was a good one.

After busting out my old Ka-Boom Box, and dusting off what remains of my cassette tape collection, I started sampling empty sections of the tapes.   While I was at it, I took out some vinyl records of varying condition, sampled those, and grabbed a few minutes of tape noise from my Tascam Reel to Reel (the bad boy used on the Super Tape Drums Ableton Pack).  I’ve used those samples to create a pretty excellent Ableton Live Pack for you all!

The Ableton Pack is a free download.

More information: AfroDJMac

AfroDJMac has introduced the SynthPad Tape Synth, a free Ableton rack created with the SynthPad app.

This instrument came unexpectedly. I was recording music to my Tascam reel to reel machine with my friend SuperKid, and he performed one of his parts with the SynthPad app from Big Robot Studios. (SynthPad is a cool and cheap iPhone app that lets you sculpt your own synth sounds through a variety of waveforms, a filter, envelopes, effects and an arpeggiator).

After bringing the tape tracks into Ableton Live, I sampled a single note he played and created this instrument from it.

The Ableton Live AfroDJRack #59 is a free download at AfroDJMac.

More information: AfroDJMac

AfroDJMac has released Super Tape Drums for Ableton Live, a collection of drum samples recorded to a reel to reel tape machine.

There’s some kind of magic that occurs when audio is put to tape. One of my best musical investments has been my Tascam 388 Studio 8 Track reel to reel machine. In a world of digital music that can sound as if it were produced inside a sterile vacuum, this tape machine can transport recordings into the warmth and coziness of the living room you used to play with your Legos in. Something about that analog tape just makes things warmer and smoother.

So I recorded some drum samples to the tape…I wound up recording over 450 drum sounds to be more exact! It took about 10 minutes of tape to get them all down.

Super Tape Drums features

• 5 Ableton Live Sets.
• 450+ drum samples recorded to tape.
• 5 Families of drums (8 Bit, Drum Machines, OP-1, Synthesized and Live, Odd Percussion).
• 30+ Ableton Instrument and Effect Racks.
• Drum racks that allows you to quickly audition different drum sounds, layer drums together, and browse by drum type (Kick, Snare, Toms, Noise, Cymbals).

The sample pack is available to purchase for $7.99 USD.

More information: AfroDJMac / Super Tape Drums for Ableton Live

AfroDJMac has announced Super Tape Drums, a drum sample sound library for Ableton Live.

I am very excited to announce that next Wednesday, June 27th, I will be releasing a massive Premium Ableton Live Pack called “AfroDJMac’s Super Tape Drums.”

I took over 450 drum samples from drum machines, synths, 8-bit sources, the OP-1, and acoustic drum sources, and recorded them on to my Tascam 8-track reel-to-reel machine. The magic analog-warmth does to drum samples is beautiful!

From there, I created 30 Ableton Live Drum Rack Instruments with some great features that allow you to manipulate the sounds and cycle through the different drum samples with ease.

The Super Tape Drums will be available to purchase on June 27th, priced $7.99 USD.

AfroDJMac is offering a special pre-order deal for this new Live Pack.

As a way to say thanks to the people that have been so supportive of my work, I have set up a special presale. If you order the Super Tape Drums pack by 12 noon EST on Tuesday, it will only cost you $4.99. On Wednesday June 27th, you will get an email with a link to download the Super Tape Drums pack, before anyone else. Plus as a special bonus, when you preorder you will get an exclusive free download for an Ableton Instrument made with the Roland Juno 106. Entitled, “Juno-Bonus,” this instrument is not a part of my Roland Juno 106 Pack; it was made as a thank you for your preorder.

More information: AfroDJMac / Super Tape Drums Pre-Order

AfroDJMac has released a free New York Style Compressor for Ableton Live.

I have built a super handy Ableton Live audio effect rack for New York Style or Parallel Compression, and offer it to you as my newest Free Ableton Live Pack!

It works by compressing the audio (usually squashing the daylights out of it!) and mixing that processed signal with the original. The compressed signal has the fullness that a compressor offers, but the original maintains the dynamic range that the compressor can destroy. The end result is you get to have your cake and eat it too, the best of both worlds.

To achieve this effect in Ableton Live, I have built an Audio Effect Rack that has two chains: one with a Compressor (plus a Saturator for a little extra flavor), and one chain that allows the audio to pass through unaffected. The download link is below. The eight macro knobs allow for control over the most commonly used parameters (Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release…) as well as an overall volume that allows you to mix in as much of the compressed signal as you like. I particularly like this effect on drum tracks, because it beefs them up while preserving their impact. Feel free to get creative an use it on all kinds of tracks (I’ve had a lot of success with vocals and acoustic guitars).

The Ableton Rack is a free download.

More information: AfroDJMac

AfroDJMac has released Vinyl Crackler, the 56th download in a series of free Ableton Live packs.

I made this effect rack to emulate the vinyl crackles and pops inherent to samples recorded straight off a record. It’s based around Ableton’s Vinyl Distortion plug in and is perfect for adding vinyl crackle to drum samples and having that crackle cut off as soon as the volume of the drum sample reaches a specified threshold, emulating the cutoff created when sampling from vinyl. The macro knob assignments allow you to customize the vinyl sound and how it begins and cuts off. I hope you like it, I think it’s super handy.

The Vinyl Crackler is a free download at AfroDJMac.

More information: AfroDJMac / Vinyl Crackler