Tom Curry Guitars

Synth Access

How do I utilize a VST synth plugin in Ableton Live 7?

I recently bought an edition of Computer Music and I want to use the VST synth plugin that came on the included DVD, in Ableton Live 7. Now that it’s on my computer, how do access it through Ableton?

You have to activate the VST folder in Live’s preferences on the File / Folder tab.

Then you’ll find your plug-ins in Live’s browser by clicking the little plug icon.

From there you can drag your synth into the project, and start playing (if you have a MIDI keyboard), or double click an empty clip slot and enter some notes in the sequencer (you’ll probably want to click the little headphones icon to hear the notes as you draw them).

Press play on your clip to hear it loop, and adjust the clip length if you want to make your loop longer.

Drag a few more instances of the synth onto new tracks and make some more clips to loop along with it (bass, drums, chords, etc.).

Voila, you have music…

By the way, the Ableton forums are a better place to ask this kind of question: http://forum.ableton.com/