Ableton User Group Resource Thread - Part 4 - Production Resources

Sample Players / Plugin Hosts

Recommended free sample players and plugin hosts. Some of these are needed to play the sample libraries listed below.

• Decent Samples - Decent Sampler - Plugin to play Decent Samples libraries.
• Native Instruments - Komplete Start - Bundle of free plugins. Contains Kontakt Player and Reaktor Player, which are needed to play some free libraries and instruments. Also contains Komplete Kontrol, which is a plugin host that allows browsing / loading presets from NKS compatible plugins. Bundle contents can be installed individually.
• Plogue - Sforzando - Free player to play SFZ and SoundFont libraries.

Sample Libraries

Most of the samples you need can likely be recorded yourself, or are already available in Live.

Maintaining a large sample library can take a lot of work, so I would recommend only downloading samples you know you will use. I would also recommend organizing your samples into folders by type (e.g. kicks, snares, hats, etc.).

When using samples that aren’t included in Live, using the ‘Collect All and Save’ feature is generally a good idea so you don’t misplace project files.

You should always check the license of any sample library you use in your productions. Some of the libraries listed below may not be licensed for commercial use. If you are unsure, contact the creator of the library.

• 99 Sounds
• Caelum Audio
• Cymatics
• Decent Samples
• Free Sound
• kb6 Drum Samples
• LANDR
• Music Radar
• Producer Loops
• Sample Focus
• Sample Swap
• Samples From Mars
• Sounds Resource
• Pianobook - Decent Samples format (see Decent Sampler above).
• Virtual Playing Orchestra - SFZ format format (see Sforzando above).
• Versil Studios Freeware - SFZ format format (see Sforzando above).

Plugin / Live Device Sources

You don’t need to buy plugins to make good music - the stock plugins in Live are more than enough. If you get into plugins, you might develop a problem, spend tons of money, and spend all your time managing files. But if you want to get plugins, here are some places to look. Note - M4L devices require Live Suite.

• Audio Plugins For Free - Site that hosts free plugins.
• Fabrizio Poce - Developer of Ableton Live devices.
• iZotope - Developer of audio plugins, highly regarded for mastering and audio cleanup. Will be absorbed into Native Instruments in the near future.
• Kilohearts Essentials - Awesome developer of audio plugins. All free effects can be incorporated into paid Kiloherts plugins, or used individually.
• KVR Audio - Hosts a large database of plugins.
• MeldaProduction - Developer of audio plugins. MFreeFXBundle is a large bundle of high quality plugins.
• Native Instruments - Developer / purchaser of plugins - recommend downloading Komplete Start listed above. Has a free section. Big music.
• Plogue - Great developer of audio plugins. Developers of Sforzando (listed above), as well as several accurate reproductions of classic synthesizer, vocoder, and console audio chips.
• Plugin Boutique - Massive plugin store / developer of Scaler. Has a free section.
• ReaPlugs - Stock Reaper DAW plugins.
• Spitfire Audio - Developer of high quality orchestral instruments. Has a free section.
• Splice Plugins - Plugin and sample store / host of Rent-to-Own plugins. Has a free section.
• Tokyo Dawn Labs - Developer of audio plugins, some of which are free.
• Valhalla DSP - Developer of audio plugins - some are free.

Recommended Plugins / Live M4L Devices

Always ensure compatibility with your DAW and operating system version before purchasing plugins. M4L devices require Live Suite - some require version 11.

• A1 Audio - A1 Trigger Gate - Trance gate plugin.
• Ableton - Live 8 Compressor - Old style Ableton Live 8 compressor device.
• asb2m10 - Dexed - FM synthesizer plugin based on the Yamaha DX7.
• Cableguys - Pancake 2 - Panning plugin.
• Caelum Audio - Tape Cassette 2 - Tape emulation plugin.
• Camel Audio - Camel Crusher - Distortion plugin.
• CodeFN42 - Chordz - Chord generator plugin.
• d-16 group - Frontier - Limiter plugin.
• Fabrizio Poce - J74 HarmoTools - Harmonizer / chord detection device.
• Integraudio & Sixth Sample - Deelay - Delay plugin.
• iZotope - Ozone Imager - Stereo imager plugin.
• iZotope - Vinyl - Vinyl emulation plugin.
• Klanghelm - MJUCjr - Variable-tube compressor plugin.
• Klanghelm - VUMT - VU meter plugin.
• Martin Lueders - PG-8X - Digital synthesizer plugin based on the Roland JX-8P.
• ODDSound - MTS-ESP Mini- Microtonal tuning system. There is also a paid version with more features available.
• Random Preset Generator - Ableton Live 11 random preset generator devices from Seed to Stage.
• Slynk - Duck Buddy - Sidechain / LFO device.
• Sound Magic - Piano One - Piano plugin.
• Spitfire Audio - BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover - Orchestral sound library plugin.
• Spitfire Audio - Labs - Various sound library plugins.
• Steven Atkinson - Neural Amp Modeler - Neural network guitar amp modeler.
• Surge Synth Team - Surge XT - Open source synthesizer plugin.
• Thomas Mundt - LoudMax - Limiter plugin.
• Trackbout - Ripchord - Chord generator plugin.
• Tritik - Krush - Bitcrusher plugin.
• u-he Tyrell N6 - Analog style synthesizer plugin.
• Valhalla DPS - Space Modulator - Chorus / flanger / phaser plugin.
• Valhalla DSP - Supermassive - Reverb plugin.
• Valhalla DSP - ValhallaFreqEcho - Delay plugin.
• Vital Audio - Vital - Popular wavetable synthesizer.
• Voxengo - SPAN - Spectrum analyzer plugin.
• Xfer Records - Delta Modulator - Bitcrusher plugin.
• Xfer Records - Dimension Expander - Stereo expander plugin.
• Xfer Records - DJMFilter - DJ-style Filter plugin.
• Xfer Records - OTT - Multiband compressor plugin - based on the Multiband Dynamics device preset.
• Youlean - Loudness Meter - Loudness meter plugin.

Plugins in the right folder but aren’t appearing in Live?

• If this happens to you, try clicking the Rescan VST folder button holding down shift. This will force Live to rescan all plugins in the folder.

Note: this collection of resource threads will be converted to a single post once the character limit is increased.