issue 3 · 2026-07-11 · for people who make house

Free modular delay/filter + Live 12.4 tricks

Tonight’s standout: ShinRonin is back as a free modular delay/filter. It’s gritty, flexible, and begs for a send on your stab bus. Plus: the E16 just learned to loop MIDI parameter moves, and Live 12.4’s effects got real upgrades you can hear fast.

📅 today · new today

published today

StereoVault stereo width tool

Per‑band widening, image rotate, and mono‑check in one spot — handy to spread pads or guitars while keeping subs straight, and cleaner than Haas tricks.

8 min read · read →

◢ learn

Live 12.4: Erosion goes deeper, Delay gets weirder, Chorus gets options

Erosion now blends sine/noise and balances stereo with much lower frequency reach, Delay adds new LFO shapes with a Morph control, and Chorus gets tap/time choices — quick tone moves that open up movement without extra devices.

2 min read · read →

25 Live browser/mixer tricks you probably aren’t using

Faster sessions: set scene tempos and signatures, flip to split‑stereo panning, and clean up the browser so you stop hunting and start arranging.

1 min read · read →

◢ free & gear

ShinRonin returns: modular delay/filter with tape/digital flavors

Creative delay and filtering in one patchable box means dubby stabs, evolving pads, and drum buss movement without stacking five plugins — modular routing and morphing filters do the heavy lifting.

2 min read · grab it →

E16 firmware 1.0 adds a real MIDI parameter looper($499 / 449€)

You can record knob moves into loops, morph snapshots, and group encoders — perfect for hands-on CC modulation of your synths and FX without touching the DAW; the Lua SysEx tools are a bonus if you like custom maps.

5 min read · grab it →

◢ the word

Ableton Extensions: right‑click scripts that edit your Set

Heads‑up: Suite 12.4.5 beta only — not in Standard/Intro/Lite. If you’re in, you can batch‑tweak clips and parameters, transform MIDI, or generate patterns from JavaScript without building a Max device.

4 min read · read →
🎯 Tonight's Move
Stop the rolling-sub drone: shorten notes + 30 ms release
Your rolling bass stops smearing into a sub drone so the low band grooves and the kick stays clear.
  1. 1. Duplicate your upper-bass MIDI to a new track; load a simple sine on a stock synth, playing the fundamental only.
  2. 2. Solo the lows on the master or the sub bus so you’re hearing just the sub band.
  3. 3. Shorten the sub’s MIDI note lengths so there’s space between hits; stop when the lows read as rhythm, not a drone.
  4. 4. If you hear clicks on low keys (E, E♭, D), lengthen the amp-envelope release—tracks that low might need as much as 30 ms.
  5. 5. Set up sidechain from the kick to the sub with your stock compressor so the kick leads.
  6. 6. Optionally, try a pluck-shaped decay on the sub and watch the envelope position (Vital/Serum show this); expect some lost weight and louder transient.
Stock path: .
Why it works: Space in the sub band restores temporal cues our ears need for groove, a release long enough for one cycle avoids clicks, and sidechain keeps kick and sub from summing into a blob.

🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your snare will win the loudness war; your hats will file an appeal.

Alright, back to the loop — print something you’ll still like tomorrow.

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for working house producers with a track already half-finished.

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covered in this issue: audio damage shinronin · ableton live