In our latest video, we are going to look at using XLN audio’s amazing drum machine XO. With XO, we will be looking at loading our own samples, editing samples, routing and most importantly generating our own techno beats.

We will also look at setting up XO so you can quickly load it into any session and have a beat going in minutes which is perfect for people with little time on their hands.

What we aim to do in the blog post is outline 5 Ableton Tips, that are either overlooked or just so hidden we would never find them without someone lighten the way for us. These Ableton tips are not just for the beginner producer but also the advance producers among us. There are tips to help make your bass sounds beefier, new chord techniques and a few gems to help speed up your workflow. First up, let’s take a look at follow actions.

FM synthesis can seem a very mysterious beast and via a series of tutorials we are going to help demystify this for you, so you can take full control over your FM synths and make all the sounds you desire. 

In this how-to tutorial, we are going to look at creating a four-note chord only using operator from Ableton. The huge advantage of using this technique over programming your chord in a midi clip or via a chord midi effect is that you get full control over each note. Meaning you can have say, a different waveform, envelope and volume (just to name a few) per note. 

So, if you would like to learn more about FM synthesis keep reading

With the invention of the modern daw which is an all-encompassing workstation with a whole of host of controls, instruments and audio effects (plus so much more) it has never been easier to start making music. Almost all the effects have the parameter controls you could ever wish for. But sadly some do not (like redux), but for the Ableton user this is never a worry, we can simply make them ourself. 

How do we do this I hear you ask, well in this how-to tutorial we are going to be showing you how to make a Dry/Wet control for redux. This is hugely important in the sound design, production and even the mixing stage. It allows you to be able to dial in the exact amount of your chosen effect.

To the bedroom producer having release-ready tracks may seem an unattainable goal but by making some small changes to your current workflow and set up, you can with time start pumping out banging tunes that can start pushing your career in the right direction. 

In this post, we will be covering 5 ways to help improve your techno productions by focusing on some key mixing techniques specifically designed for techno and dark genres.

Before we start let’s make sure our tracks are ready for mixing, check out this blog post and use it as a checklist before you start to think about mixing. Ok without further ado, let’s get started by visualizing the mix.

With the release of Dystopian Signals, we at Mind Flux thought it would beneficial to follow the release up with some informational video. This video is designed to help you use the pack to create some Dark Techno ideas. Cause as we all know that creating that initial spark can be the hardest part of producing music.

For Mind Flux’s newest blog series we have decided to open it up to the floor and ask our followers and friends what they would like to learn. And one request really stood out.

This request was to show how you could go about recreating Pat Thomas & Ebo Taylor - Ene Nyame Nam 'A' Mensuro (Henrick Schwartz Blend Mix).

In our last adventures into drum synthesis we looked at using synths to make our drum sound but you can also explore samplers to do the same. All you need is the raw material to get started. So for this kick we are just going to use a sine wave and Ableton’s Sampler.

For old analog synth users a happy accident occurred when increasing the resonance to the max. The cool and crazy result of this left a lot of synth lovers angry and confused, but the adventurous among us saw it as an opportunity to experiment and create weird and wonderful sounds!

In this ‘Drum Synthesis’ series blog post we are going to use this “mistake” to build a kick drum, without even using an oscillator or sample.

Samples are an amazing source of inspiration but the fact is everyone who buys the pack has access to the same set of sounds, so the question is how do you go about making those sounds your own. Well in the blog post we will show you a selection of ways to do that.

Without a doubt Ableton is the most user friendly DAW when it comes to work flow and being able to get your ideas down quickly but there are a multitude of ways to make Ableton truly your own. In this series of blog posts we aim to showcase a number of ways to make Ableton work for you.

The team of nerds at Mind Flux, have put together a gem of a instrument rack. The main sound of the rack is from the ever impressive Moog Minitaur which is a one stop shop for bass.

But using the amazing elements within Ableton it can become so much more. Simply turn the “Warp It” macro to let loose all hell.

Sometimes when trying to build an chord progression or chord melody you seem to just jump instinctively for the same chord, for me its the Minor 7th. While I would say this is my and many peoples favourite chord it does end up with your ideas sounding rather similar to everyone else. 

So to help breath new life into your stale chord progressions and chord melodies we at Mind Flux have built a chord randomiser which with the selection of over 80 chord variations will output a new chord at the rate and depth of your choice.

More often than not in your music you will want to create harmony, that can be done via layering notes in your piano roll or adding a extra synth or vocal layers using a different note. This is all great but what happens when you want something a little more outlandish.

Well we have the solution, a grain harmonizer. In the tutorial we will use Ableton’s other worldly grain delay to create a more unique way of adding harmony to your music.

From time to time there will be situations when working with audio that its essential that you control the mid and side signals separately, yes you can do this with the EQ in M/S mode but what happens if you want to go beyond just a simple EQ. Well in this article we are going to show you how. 

An EQ splitter is a very very useful tool which can allow you to split your frequency bands and add individual processing to each of these bands. In this blog post we are going be looking at how to set this up in Ableton Live 10 using the audio racks.