If you want to use plug-ins in Live, they need to be set up first whether it’s VSTs or Audio Units (Mac only). It’s an easy and quick process when you know-how. This tutorial will guide you step by step through it.

1. Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Windows 10
2. Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Plugins
3. Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Vocals
4. Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Plugin

A cool new reverb, a stylish delay, a few different synths, a realistic string section … To take your audio production and mixes to the next level, sometimes you have to look outside the box, to work inside the box. That’s where exciting third-party plugins often come in, which can help shape sound in creative and fun ways, and they’re a blast to experiment with. Although some plugins have separate versions, most of the time they have to be used within a digital audio workstation (DAW). But don’t worry, installing them is not that complicated.

In Ableton, click the MIDI button in the upper-right of the screen to enter MIDI Mapping mode. You can also access this mode by pressing Ctrl+M on Windows, or Command+M on Mac. When in MIDI Mapping mode, all mappable areas in Ableton will be highlighted blue. Locate the Play, Stop and Record buttons at the top of the Ableton window. Instead, load the MIDI Guitar 2 VST plugin and use the direct midi output (which is enabled by default). In your MIDI/instrument track, go to “MIDI From” and select the audio track on which the MIDI Guitar VST is loaded. Now, when recording, you get MIDI into the piano roll of that MIDI track. MIDIQ is an innovative MIDI sequence generator for both studio and live applications, featuring a unique and highly interactive user interface. Generating near-limitless chord sequence possibilities, MIDIQ uses a simple pattern language for the definition of repeating chords. Watch this video to learn how to automate VST plugin parameters in Ableton Live 8. Follow The DJ Podcast Web - Twitter - http://twitt.

To use your plugin, insert a MIDI track into Live, and double-click your chosen VST plugin with your MIDI track selected. Your Next Step In Music Production With your new VST plugins installed and functioning, you can now begin to craft your signature sound. Adding a VST instrument. VST instruments are essentially plugins that generate audio and act as software-based instruments. They often emulate recognizable sounds of famous synthesizers and other instruments. Luckily, Ableton Live 10 comes with some free, built-in, decent-sounding instruments and sounds to play around with.

When installing new plugins in Ableton Live, the first thing to know is that Live supports AU and VST formats. However, most of the time your plugin will fall under the VST format, as this is the case most often. Secondly, this is just a note to say that in our editorial style guide, we use the spelling “plugin”, but within the software, it can be “plug-in”. (If you get confused, you should know that they are the same thing.)

7 Steps To Install Plugins in Ableton

1. First, download the plugin to your computer and install it.
2. Once the plugin is installed, open Ableton Live.
3. Go to the “Live” tab at the top left, and click “Preferences”.
4. Click on the Plug-In section and make sure to activate “Use Audio Units”, “Use VST2 Plug-In System Folders” and “Use VST2 Plug-In Custom Folder”. If necessary, also turn on “VST3 Folders”.
5. Close this window and go to the Plug-Ins tab on the left side. Your plugin should be listed under “VST”. If for some reason your plug-in doesn’t appear, follow the next step.
6. Go to “Preferences” one more time.
7. Turn off “Audio Units” and turn it on again. Click “Rescan” to explore the available plugins again. The reason your plugin might not appear yet is because Ableton Live might not have detected it yet. Give it time. If it still doesn’t work, you may want to reinstall it on your computer.

Browser tab for the most used plugins

If you’ve accidentally chosen a big folder as the VST custom folder, you can keep ALT pressed when starting Live. This will keep Live from scanning for plug-ins and you can then go into the Preferences > File/Folder to change it to the appropriate folder. Create a folder anywhere on your hard drive and name something like quick access. Now use the Ableton browser to navigate to the quick access folder. I have file browser tab 3 permanently to see the quick access folder as it is used a lot.

You will use this folder to collect all the commonly used presets and add-ons with just drag and drop files from the browser tab to another. Try going to the Live Device Explorer and dragging any Live Device Presets like an EQ8 Preset or a Preset Compressor to the Quick Access tab.

If you tried to drag and drop the live device onto itself (for example, the EQ8 device instead of a preset EQ8) you’ll notice that Live did not allow the operation. This is because the device and plug-in files cannot be moved, only the predefined files can. Therefore, the best solution is to save initialized presets from your favorite devices live to the Quick Access folder. If you want quick access to third-party plugins, create a live rack containing the plug-in, and then save the rack as a preset in the Quick Access folder.

Save default sets for multi-channel plugins

Many instrument plugins allow multiple outputs. Setting the input and output routing for each output is not automatic live as in some other hosts, but they do not once, and you will have to worry again.

Your system can achieve a higher level of performance using a multiple hard drive set up. In this article, we will provide an example that uses three drives, plus an additional backup drive. For the purposes of this article, the terms “drive” and “disk” are interchangeable.

System Disk

The system disk would ideally be a Solid State Drive (SSD) in this configuration.

Using such a drive will greatly improve the loading times of your applications, because of the drive’s superior speed in accessing data.

We recommend installing the Ableton Live application and all third-party plugins on this system drive. It is highly recommended to always keep at least 10% of free space on your system disk.

2nd drive – Samples and Libraries

The second hard drive in this configuration is used to store samples and sound libraries, including the User Library. For optimal performance this drive would be an SSD, or alternatively an HDD SATA 3 (7200 RPM). Please format this drive into your operating system’s native format to ensure the best performance possible. On Windows, this format would be NTFS. On Mac OS X, this would be HFS+ (Mac OS Extended).

If you are working with a desktop computer, the best choice would be to install this drive in your computer’s dedicated SATA slot.

Should no slot be available, or if you work with a laptop computer, an external hard drive will suffice. Drive enclosures can also offer some speed benefits compared to a typical external drive, but this is a more costly and bulky solution, and is not always practical.

If possible, use Thunderbolt or USB 3 drives for maximum transfer speed. USB 3 enclosures need to be plugged in to a USB 3 port to access full bandwidth capabilities. We recommend avoiding the use of external USB hubs.

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Have a good Mix!

Ableton is unlike any other DAW you can get your hands on these days. Many producers are drawn to it due to its impressive functionality and efficient workflow. It helps the user to explore the bounds of their creativity and dive into new musical ideas. For this reason, Ableton is among the most powerful DAWs on the market today.

The plugins that are included in Ableton Live are a great starting point for any music producer, but there are tons more plugins that can be combined with these to really enhance your production process. We’re going to look at what we consider to be the best plugins for Ableton to add to your collection.

Top 9 Ableton Plugins

1. Xfer Records Serum (Best Synthesizer)
2. FabFilter Saturn (Best Saturator)
3. Waves H-Delay (Best Delay)
4. SoundRadix SurferEQ2 (Best EQ)
5. UAD Classic Limiter Collection (Best Compressor)
6. Waves Center (Best Stereo Spreader)
7. Valhalla VintageVerb (Best Reverb)
8. Waves Smack Attack (Best Transient Shaper)
9. Dadalife Sausage Fattener (Bonus)

1. Best Synthesizer – Xfer Records Serum

Ableton Live has a pretty good selection of VST instruments and synthesizers, but you may want access to a bigger collection of sounds. If that’s the case, you should check out the Xfer Records Serum wavetable synthesizer. It got a lot of attention when it was first introduced years ago because of its unique ability to minimize aliasing. If aliasing is not a term you’re familiar with, just think of inharmonic artifacts that come along with digital audio. With the Xfer Records Serum, you can avoid the unfortunate high-end distortion that virtual synthesizers typically give you. This means you end up with a much more realistic sound than you’ll get with the majority of VST synths currently available.

You’ll find A and B oscillators that you can see in 2D or 3D with the help of an advanced wavetable engine. You have the ability to blend these waveforms through the use of spectral morphing, standard crossfading, or harmonic morphing. If you are a synth aficionado and like to develop your sounds from scratch, you’ll appreciate this tool.

This plugin has a number of exciting features, including a filter module, a third oscillator for sub sounds, an editable graph display to manipulate waveforms, a variety of modulation sources, and a massive collection of editing options. The interface is beautiful and will give you a great visualization of how different sounds affect the mix. There’s also a crazy collection of over 450 presets to choose from. The Serum gives you nearly unlimited possibilities when it comes to shaping your sounds, so it’s definitely a handy wavetable synthesizer to have at your disposal.

Pros

• A great selection of modulation options
• An impressive library of presets and effects
• Flexible, morphing oscillators

Cons

• Takes up a lot of CPU

2. Best Saturator – FabFilter Saturn

The Ableton Saturator is sufficient for when you want to add a little warmth and distortion to your signals, but if you need a saturator that offers more flexibility, we recommend checking out the Fabfilter Saturn. This multiband saturation and distortion plugin is one of the most flexible saturators available today. Its versatile modulation routing technology will enable you to saturate your signal down to the finest detail.

Saturn acts like a single band frequency analyzer as it helps you visualize how your signal appears when coming in and when pushed. The display is very hands-on, enabling you to work with your multiple bands right on the interface without having to mess with knobs or sliders. You simply create a band, choose from 16 distortion or saturation options, and then push or pull that band however you like.

The Fabfilter Saturn offers incredible functionality and flexibility. You can use it for warm, subtle tape saturation or complete sound decapitation—and everything in between. You’ll be able to drive a portion of your signal, pan it, utilize M/S processing, and then blend it in with the use of the wet/dry knob. If you want to take it to a higher level, you can explore everything the modulation system has to offer, including envelope followers, the modulation step sequencer, and much more.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better multiband plugin with so many customization options and a user-friendly interface. If you are in need of a saturation plugin, this one won’t let you down.

Pros

• Unique modulation system
• Making crossovers is a breeze
• Awesome range of sounds

Cons

• Lacks real-time modulated parameter visualization

3. Best Delay – Waves H-Delay

No matter what genre you’re working with, delay is an essential part of most modern productions. When looking for a delay plugin, your focus should be on flexibility and low CPU usage. The H-Delay from Waves has you covered in these areas, even if it does lack versatility. If you want a go-to delay plugin that can get you where you want to go quickly, this is a great choice. And its analog tone makes it a great choice for electronic music.

The H-Day gets its inspiration from the PCM 42, a piece of Lexicon Hardware. You’ll have access to just about any delay effect you can imagine, including slapback, phasing, ping pong, flanging, and others. One of the most critical parameters it offers is delay time, which allows you to set your delay to the host tempo or in milliseconds or BPM. The sound can then be manipulated through the Delay and Feedback knobs.

The onboard pitch modulation includes adjustable depth, which allows you to modulate LFO frequencies up to 6kHz. This will give you even more creative freedom when it comes to manipulating your sounds. The analog design ensures that you will end up with natural sounds, and you can further control your delay tone through the use of low and high-pass filters.

The H-Delay is a unique plugin from Waves that has all your delay bases covered. It’s very accessible for beginners but has enough effects to satisfy even seasoned producers.

Pros

• LFO range is wider than you would expect
• Super smooth parameter transition
• Intuitive interface

Cons

• Not able to bypass variable pitch

4. Best EQ – SoundRadix SurferEQ2

Ableton Live comes with an impressively versatile parametric EQ, so we don’t blame you if you just want to stick with that. However, if you want to explore other options, we recommend that you start with the SoundRadix SurferEQ2. You’ll have access to two filters and five frequency bands for equalization and pitch tracking.

Frequencies often shift in dense modern productions. The Surfer EQ plugin is able to analyze frequencies in polyphonic material to determine if they should be corrected. This is super beneficial because you won’t have to worry about your EQ for the verse negatively affecting the chorus. The SurferEQ2 will read your signal while the song plays to make the best EQ choices.

One feature we love is the sidechain, which gives you the ability to make space in a track for each instance a certain sound pops up. For example, if your synth pad is consistently overwhelming your vocals, you just have to sidechain it and then it will drop down whenever vocals come along.

The GUI is gorgeous and incredibly functional. It will combine well with the standard parametric EQ in Ableton Live to give you even more capability and creative freedom.

Pros

• MIDI pitch tracking
• Unique Spectral Gate
• GateHelpful Sidechain feature with pitch tracking

Cons

• Limited Q widths lessens its surgical capability

5. Best Compressor – UAD Classic Limiter Collection

Ableton Live comes with a compressor that can pretty much get the job done. However, if you’re looking to add some more color and excitement to your mix, you should think about picking up some character compressors. We recommend the UAD Classic Limiter Collection.

UAD has a strong reputation for faithfully recreating some of the world’s best hardware compressors in software form. Bill Putnam was the designer of the original UA 1176 many years ago. It’s known for being one of the first true peak limiters with all-transistor circuitry. Its rapid FET gain reduction enables it to boost the grit and punch of whatever signal you’re working with.

The Rev A Bluestripe is included in the Classic Limiter Collection. It comes with many distortion characteristics and FET gain amplifier attributes. Another in the collection is the Rev E Blackface with low noise and linear compression straight from the 70s. Finally, there’s the 1176AE, which is UAD’s 40^th anniversary edition.

If you’re looking for advanced sidechaining capabilities or multiple bands with various thresholds, you won’t find them here. But it still stands out as the best option for us because the sounds it produces have a quality that has yet to be matched by its competitors. Combined with the functionality of what you already have with Ableton Live’s compressor, this plugin will definitely take your mixes to a new dimension.

Pros

• Super detailed sound
• Three compressors in one bundle

Cons

• Drains processing pretty quickly
• Less flexible than other compressors

6. Best Stereo Spreader – Waves Center

The beauty of the Waves Center plugin is its simplicity. But don’t be fooled—it’s still a more than capable stereo image manipulator. You can utilize a stereo spreader to widen signals or elevate your masters to a more professional level. The Waves Center is basically a signal splitter that gives you the ability to make sure the center and sides of an individual signal, multiple signals, or the whole mix remain balanced.

With Ableton Live you’ll find a Utility plugin, which can be used to separate the sum and difference of your stereo signal, the sum being a mono mix of both the right and left signals. With the Waves Center, on the other hand, you’ll get a “perceived” center rather than a mono sum. This gives you the ability to work individually with various parts of the stereo field.

DJs love using the Waves Center to take out certain mono parts of a track like the vocals or the drums. You’ll also be able to rebalance the side and central elements throughout your mix. While we can’t tell you exactly how or why it works, Waves Center does give you an easy and effective way to adjust your stereo image.

Pros

• Has many different applications
• Unique stereo manipulation capabilities
• User-friendly interface

Cons

• Isn’t able to pan signals
• No one can really explain exactly how it works

7. Best Reverb – Valhalla VintageVerb

The onboard reverb VST for Ableton does offer some flexibility, but if you want to get a true vintage sound, you’ll have to add something else into the mix. We recommend the Valhalla Vintage Reverb, which utilizes downsampling and modulation shaping to produce that distinct vintage sound. You’ll find nine different algorithms packed into this VST plugin, which all draw their inspiration from Lexicon. These include rooms, halls, ambient spaces, plates, and a few other unexpected options.

Check out the 1970s button if a warm, lo-fi texture is what you’re after. The 1980s button will give you a shimmery result, while the modern button offers a crisp digital version of the reverb sound of today. You can also add color to your individual sounds rather than having to destroy the reverb algorithms to elevate a sound. That’s one reason why this plugin stands out among its competitors.

There are a number of controls on this plugin that will give you all the power you want without overwhelming you. These include dampening controls that give you multiple shelving options, a Size knob for you to set the room size, a Decay dial that lets you set the reverb time, density controls to change up the early and late diffusion settings, and a bass multiplier to stretch out the decay time of various elements.

If you want to extend your reverb capabilities beyond what’s already included in Ableton Live without spending too much money, the Valhalla Vintage Verb should be at the top of your list.

Pros

• Super affordable
• User-friendly interface
• Great option if you want to add color to your sound

Cons

• Not an ideal option for simple room sounds
• Not able to sync pre-delay to BPM

Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Windows 10

8. Best Transient Shaper – Waves Smack Attack

If drums play an essential role in your mix, a transient shaper will help you achieve the best drum and percussion sounds. Smack attack follows in the footsteps of the Waves Trans-X, but there are several additional features that make it stand out.

Smack Attack gives you all the functionality you would expect from a typical transient shaper. It enables you to individually boost your transients on either the front or back end. This gives you the power to drive up the attack to achieve more front-end punch on your kick drum if you want. Or you can cut back the release to eliminate some unwanted decay. One feature we want to point out is the sensitivity thresholds. These give you the unique ability to set exactly when the plugin should get to work. This will help preserve the natural sound of the transients.

You’ll also find a limiter that will keep you from pushing your DAW past its limits. The Mix knob gives you the ability to mix in your transient-shaped sound. With the unique capabilities of the Smack Attack’s transient shaping technology, you’ll be able to easily achieve transparent sounds that will enhance any style of mix.

Pros

• Envelope shape controls
• Amazing transparent sound
• Protection limiter

Cons

• No multiband shaping
• Can take a while to figure out

9. Bonus – Dadalife Sausage Fattener

Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Plugins

We’ll be the first to admit that this plugin is a bit on the silly side, but it’s also way more useful than you would expect. Dada Life got a lot of attention when they introduced their own plugin to help up-and-coming DJs replicate their sound. But it was uncertain if the Sausage Fattener would live up to the hype.

The beauty of this VST plugin is in its simplicity. It has one primary function—to add thick, bold compression while also dialing in incredible distortion. On the interface you’ll find two knobs: Color and Fatness. Use the color knob to dial in some brightness to your signal. The Fat knob can add some weight to your signal. Another feature is the small gain parameter, which enables you to view the incoming level.

No, the Sausage Fattener isn’t going to blow your mind, but it is a different and fun plugin option if you want to add weight to your signals.

Pros

• Affordable
• User-friendly
• Incredibly beautiful sound

Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Vocals

Cons

• Limited flexibility
• Might make you hungry

Go to Another Level with Ableton Live

Accessing Midi From Vst Plugin Ableton Live Plugin

It’s easy to underestimate the plugins that are included in the Ableton Live Suite. The truth is they offer tons of functionality and will take your productions to the next level. That being said, as a mixer and producer, you never want your creative process to be limited. For this reason, you should experiment with as many plugins as possible and add the ones you like to your mixing toolbox. If you are looking to broaden your musical horizons, we suggest that you start with the high-quality plugins from our list.