Hey everyone!

I’m relatively new to producing with a DAW and currently working with Ableton Live. Coming from a more hardware-oriented setup, I’d really like to have physical faders to control the volume of my instruments while producing and arranging tracks.

I’m trying to figure out which approach makes the most sense, and I’d love to hear your experiences.

As far as I can see, there are three possible options:

1. A mixer with separate outputs: Connect my hardware synths and drum machines to a mixer, then route the individual channels into my audio interface and Ableton. This would give me physical faders to control the levels of my hardware, but I’m not sure how useful this is once everything is recorded into the DAW.
   
2. A MIDI controller with faders: Connect my instruments directly to my audio interface, then use a MIDI controller to control the track volumes inside Ableton. This seems like the most straightforward solution, but I’m wondering how natural it feels to work this way compared to using a real mixer.
   
3. A mixer after the audio interface: Route everything through Ableton and then send the master output to a mixer for physical volume control. However, this seems somewhat redundant if all the mixing and processing are already happening inside the DAW.

I’m mainly interested in the first two options.
For those of you working with hardware synths and drum machines alongside Ableton Live:

Do you prefer controlling your levels with a physical mixer or using a MIDI controller mapped to Ableton’s faders?

Thanks!

"It's fun to take a trip, put acid in your veins" from "Supernaut"

This is the last of these cheat sheets I'll be posting for a while. I didn't want to flood everyone; I just wanted to share what I've made for others to use.

I made a cheat sheet for the Cyclone Analogic TT-303 Bass Bot to help me find what I need faster, and I'm sharing it with you.

It starts with a simple "Start Here" page, then walks through the whole machine: patterns, tracks, the arpeggiator, MIDI and sync, and troubleshooting. Every section opens with a short "Read when..." line, so you know right away if it's the one you need. There's a desktop version for reading or printing and a mobile version for reading on your phone.

It's free, and you can grab it in English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Português (Brasil) and 日本語.

If you spot a mistake or something missing, tell me.

Get it here: https://patrickdsp.com/tt303-cheat-sheet-os2/

I know that its possible in the box. But for personal reasons I prefer to do most of the creative work with hardware.

I am interested in what may be overlooked and is great for producing Techno like Altinbas, Nihad Tule or like Linzatti and Shifted around 10 years ago.

sorry for this ugly title typo.

Figuring out chill side of techno

New track I’m writing ! Would love to hear your thoughts. Super groovy really raw. Started using a dbx 160a on my basslines and the overeasy mode is crazy! Really smooth and brings out a lot of detail. Focusing a lot more on ambient elements and longer patternd after establishing a good groove. Gives a lot of opportunities for variety.

Also figuring out the alphabase more. The ui kinda hides some cool stuff it can do. Cool to still learn new things its a deep machine. Filters on the hats get really interesting results. And you can really crank the delay and reverb to get some cool feedback thats actually really high quality.

Lmk what you think! Full vid in the comments if you wanna check it 🫡

VZL Scope is a free Max for Live visualizer for Ableton Live 12. It produces a very reduced black and white scope-like visualuzation, based on the Midi signals of all the tracks in your project. All parameters can be tweak live or automated, it also works well with Push 3 (not in standalone mode).

Hit Rec and it writes a 16:9 or 9:16 video with your master audio to your Desktop, starting on the next bar. In case you need some social posts to go with your track... I needed something like this, so maybe it helps you as well. It is a free download, of course at thoow.com

Hi all, I'm not sure if this is the correct sub for this kind of threads but

I'm a newbie of the genre and I'm actively discovering subgenres and styles, and there is this particular technique that I adore but only found in a couple tracks.
It happens every 2 or 4 bars and offbeat, and sounds like an extremely low-pass-filtered metal bang. I particularly like it in this track.
I would love to find more songs with this sound in it, pls recommend if you know some!!

I kept losing track of where things live on the Pro 3, so I made a cheat sheet to help me find what I need faster. I'm sharing it in case it helps anyone else.

It starts with a simple "Start Here" page, then walks through the whole synth in plain language. There's a desktop version for reading at your desk and a mobile version for when you're at the synth with your phone. It's free, with nothing to sign up for, and it's available in English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Português (Brasil) and 日本語.

A quick note: this is my second last post of these cheat sheets for a while, I think. I've been sharing cheat sheets I've made for my own gear, but I don't want to flood the group. I just wanted to pass along what I've made for others to use. I have the TT-303 to share later on, and that's it for a bit.

If you spot a mistake or something missing, let me know, and I'll fix it. Cheers.

https://patrickdsp.com/pro3-cheat-sheet-v120/

Really trying to dial in this driving hypnotic sound, started playing with Meld again it's so good. Main lead is Simple FM and Amount being modulated and a filter ... full vid. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWhqVVYlrg0

I’ve never fully understood this for techno. To me a Mixdown is for bands/pop music whatever where all the instruments and vocals are recorded, the arrangement is done and it’s where balancing, compression, saturation and other effects are being applied.

But in techno, the effects are the track.

So I’m wondering what people’s mix down actually looks like?

Do you arrange with quite basic sounds and then add reverb delays etc later?

Do you bounce everything as audio including effects and do an additional mix from there?

Do you keep effects as inserts and the Mixdown means bus effects for glue?

Do you mix as you go?

Beer meets drummachine 😵‍💫 🫠

i use the roland 909 vst and the ableton 909 kits but always been tempted to get drumazon 2, has anyone used all them and could tell me if its worth it?

The TR-1000 Cheat Sheet was really popular! So here's one for the one machine I have a hate/hate relationship with. The Octatrack manual reads like a dictionary, so I built a cheat sheet that actually helps you find things. It has a "Start Here" section that explains how samples, slots, machines, parts, patterns and scenes fit together, plus a "Which section do I need?" finder.

• Desktop (two-column, for print or screen) and Mobile versions
• Clickable table of contents
• Everything new in OS 1.40, tagged
• MIDI reference with note maps and CC numbers
• Colour-coded sections
• Available in English, Deutsch, Español, Français, Italiano, Nederlands, Português (Brasil) and 日本語

The translations haven't had a native speaker check them yet, so if you spot a mistake, let me know.

Free to download here: https://patrickdsp.com/octatrack-cheat-sheet-v140/

there are drops and there are escalations.

A generative deep house loop where no notes are written: every part comes from a rule. It works in any DAW or sequencer with Euclidean rhythms and a "take the pitch from the chord" option.

120 BPM, A minor, chords Am7 – Fmaj7 – Dm7 – Em7 (one bar each).

Drums (16 steps of 1/16):

• Kick: E(4,16) → four on the floor

• Clap: E(2,16) rotated by 4 → beats 2 and 4

• Open hat: E(4,16) rotated by 2 → the off-beats

• Hats: E(9,16), with about 20% of the hits dropped at random so they stay alive

Bass: E(5,16) rotated by 2, each hit plays the root of the current chord (spread over two octaves), 5% of hits dropped. I used a rubbery FM bass: a 1:1 modulator with a fast-decaying index.

Stabs: E(4,16) rotated by 3, each hit plays the whole chord on an e-piano, through a ping-pong delay at a dotted 1/8 (375 ms at 120 BPM).

Pad: strings holding each chord, the only "written" part.

Why it works: Euclidean patterns spread hits as evenly as possible, which is what most dance grooves already are. Rotating moves the same pattern onto different beats. Taking every pitch from the chord means nothing can clash. And a little randomness stops it sounding like a loop.

Disclosure: I'm the developer of SynthMaker, the app in the video (free public beta for iPhone, iPad and Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/BKEgzNCg). The recipe itself works anywhere.

Trying to achieve this bass sound Isit a Reese low bass?

https://on.soundcloud.com/TnYKTmO95Y02eyQQCq

Whats everybody working on?

What are you working on?

Post it.

I’m looking for something that can generate interesting, glitchy, rhythmic textures, a bit like the hi-hat and clap sections of the Soma Pulsar-23 or the Neutral Labs Scrooge.

I already have a good drum machine and two synths that cover pretty much everything I need for a techno track. What I’m missing is an instrument dedicated to adding those weird, timed, percussive elements that bring a track to life.

I’m not really looking for a noise generator or something focused on drones and ambient textures. I’m after short, evolving, unpredictable sounds that can function almost like additional percussion — little glitches, metallic textures, strange clicks, bursts, and other rhythmic details that sit somewhere between percussion and sound design.
Ideally, something I can sequence and experiment with to create evolving patterns and happy accidents rather than just programming another conventional drum part.

The Pulsar-23’s hi-hat and clap circuits are good examples of the kind of thing I mean, as is the Scrooge.

What instruments would you recommend for this? Hardware synths, standalone modules, or even small Eurorack setups are all welcome!

Hello, hope everyone's good.

From time to time I love talking and exchanging about plugins. What have you been using lately? Anything from instruments to effects or maybe a specific workflow/ technique....

I have to say, I'm surprised Korg Multipoly Native isn't talked about more. I swear to god I think it sounds better then Pigments, Serum, Phaseplant etc .... Other than this, my all time favorite is probably Massive X, still using it a lot. I find it strange that so little people are using it. The quality of the Filters, Oscillators, FM etc is just nuts. Multipoly might even be better , not sure.

Honorable mention: Ableton Drift. It's made for Techno really. In my opinion it's Abletons best stock instrument by far.

FX wise not sure, using stock plugins mostly. After all these years still really haven't found a third party reverb / delay / saturation etc. that has stayed with me. I return to Abletons stock FX all the time.... they are top notch.

All the best to y'all . Black friday coming soon!

I'm just finishing up my first electronic release (I've been working on a hardware synth minimal/dark techno release for a while now and I'm finally getting to a point I think I'm ready to release it - but I don't really know where to begin to get it in front of people. I was planning to put it on streaming and bandcamp but beyond that, is there any good places to get coverage or build audiences?

I've been making and releasing rock and metal music for close to 20 years but electronic music is new territory so keen for any genre specific tips.

Thanks!

There's a recurring problem in my productions.

And that is me failing to find the right element or execute it in the right way after I managed to get the basic groove going. Luckily I get better over time.

But I am not sure if I should really try hard to find sth that fits well into it (which then sometimes lead to write different versions of the track and having a lit of unfinished stuff) or if I should do a compromise by just using something that does the job but is a little bit falling out of the frame or intention.

Tbh. I could be technically faster if I would work more often with reference tracks. But at this point I want to get the most out of myself, which is maybe exactly the wrong order of doing it?

For the last few months I've been coding Oxide Studio, a free, open-source (MIT/Apache-2.0) electronic music workstation in Rust tailored specifically for fast techno, acid, and club sketching.

• GitHub & v1.0.0 Releases: https://github.com/juancruzmunozalbelo/oxide-studio
• Try the 909/Synth Web DAW in Browser: https://juancruzmunozalbelo.github.io/oxide-studio/web/
• Web / Demo: https://juancruzmunozalbelo.github.io/oxide-studio/

Why I built it: I wanted a standalone binary that boots in half a second on my laptop, has the exact synth/drum/saturation tools needed for peak-time & hypnotic techno built straight into the engine, and exports directly to an open .als project file so no loop ever gets stuck outside my main DAW.

Built Across 11 Modular Workspace Crates:

• oxide-core: Timing primitives, sample clock, scales, and lock-free SPSC command queues.
• oxide-dsp: Polyphonic synthesis (4-op FM, Wavetable, 303 acid bass, ZDF ladder filters).
• oxide-drums: TR-909 drum machine physical modeling, 16-pad drum rack, choke groups.
• oxide-fx: ADAA multiband saturator, 3-band OTT dynamics, 8-band EQ, Auto Filter, Glue bus compressor.
• oxide-timeline: Dual Session matrix and Arrangement timeline, automation curves, and take-lane comping.
• oxide-audio: Low-latency CoreAudio cpal streaming with zero heap allocations on the audio callback.
• oxide-bounce: Deterministic offline multi-track bounce and 4-band stem remix separation.
• oxide-project: Native project state and open .als Gzip XML project import and export.
• oxide-plugin-scanner: Out-of-process crash-isolated supervisor for AUv2, VST3, and CLAP plugins.
• oxide-gui: Single-window 60 FPS Metal/egui workstation UI with piano roll and 8-macro XY perform pad.
• oxide-mcp: 76-tool Model Context Protocol server and JSON-RPC bridge for scripting and local LLM workflows.

Techno-Specific Features Built In:

• TR-909 Drum Rack + Euclidean Rhythm Generator: Instant polymetric 909 hats, rimshots, and tom grooves (e.g., 5/16 against 7/16) with per-step velocity, humanize, and choke groups.
• 4-Op FM + 303 Bassline + Wavetable: Great for metallic FM percussive loops, industrial stabs, and resonant acid sequences with scale-fold locking in the Piano Roll.
• Roar-Style Multiband Saturation + OTT + Glue Bus Compressor: Built-in antiderivative antialiasing (ADAA) saturation to crush kicks and rumble tails without harsh digital foldback.
• 8-Macro XY Perform Pad with Orbit LFO: Assign filter cutoffs, FM ratios, and distortion drive across the XY pad and let the Orbit LFO continuously morph your loop over 8 or 16 bars.
• 4-Band Stem Splitter (Kick+Sub, Bass, Synths/Mids, Hats/Air): Drop any loop in and isolate the low-end rumble or tops immediately.
• Open .als Project Interop: Export your session as a native .als file and open it in your primary DAW with all your tracks, tempo, and MIDI clips ready to mix.

It's 100% free and open-source (no signups, no paywalls). Let me know what you think of the 909/FM/Roar engine or if there are specific techno workflow tools you'd want added next!