ABLETON SMEXOSCOPE SOFTWARE
ABLETON SMEXOSCOPE FREE

Packs such as Goldbaby's Dirt and Layers have cottoned on to this workflow and offer this approach in a useful pre-prepared format. Once your layering skills improve, it's great to have specific folders in your sample library dedicated to this layering task so you can quickly turn to 'Tops', 'Snap', 'Body' or 'Release' elements on the fly. Export the return track separately, then reimport and layer it with your source sound for even more editing and processing. Load up some crazy effects chains onto a return track, send a portion of your source sound's signal to that return, then experiment with plugin settings and effects. Sends and returns can be ideal for creative layering journeys. Again, keep a library of interesting beds and textures to draw from when designing your samples. It can add brightness to a snare, texture to a soundscape, or realistic 'glue' to stick sounds together.

Whether it's recorded texture or basic white noise from a synth plugin, trusty noise comes into its own when mixing sound sources together. Most will also feature multiple outputs so that you can route your separate layers to individual DAW channels if you need to process them further. Onboard high and low-pass filters let you speedily remove unwanted frequencies to get things working in a flash.

ABLETON SMEXOSCOPE FREE

Free mode is the default, and means that the display never erases and immediately. Click the display mode button to cycle between the modes. See below for more details) to determine how often it erases the display and starts drawing again (retriggers). Transpose functions enable you to pitch sounds around quickly and easily. S (M)exoscope has four modes (note that the modular version of the plugin has five modes.

ABLETON SMEXOSCOPE SOFTWARE

Modern software samplers and drum machines house features that make your life easier when combining two or more sounds together. Keep a folder handy of thinner sounds and layers (old hip-hop or drum machine hits, for example) for specific layering tasks. Whilst sounding impressive in isolation, if you want to use them for layering, you'll probably have to process them a lot to get them to fit in. Lots of modern commercial packs contain dense, ready-layered sounds to create that 'wow' factor when you audition them. If there's one layer that will do the job of two, replace them with it. We're not saying you should never stack five sounds together, but make sure you regularly mute each channel to see how it's contributing. Try to minimise the number of layers you're combining. If your end result falls apart or disappears, consider revisiting each part and tweaking its width to prevent too much cancellation. When fading in a stereo layer to give a wide presence at the sides of the mix, be sure to sum your overall output to mono on occasion using any standard 'monoising' or width-reduction plugin. Be prepared to throw away or replace things that aren't working in your search for a superior sound. Use each element to contribute to an overall 'bigger picture', and don't get too fond of one particular part. Stacking layers isn't just about throwing together sounds as quickly as possible.

Ableton smexoscope