Get The Power Of Ableton Live Suite For Free

Tutorial
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29 June 2016

I’m guessing you’ve landed here because you want to get started making music with Ableton Live. But you’re finding it hard to justify spending a few hundred dollars for something you’re not even sure you’ll use.

Of course, you could head to some dodgy piracy site and get a cracked version, but there’s a completely legal, reliable way to get Ableton Live for free. And you’ll still have just as much music-making potential as even the most expensive version of Ableton Live.

Why Is Ableton Live So Expensive?

You’ve heard about Ableton Live and you’ve heard that it’s pretty powerful software for making music. Maybe you’re just getting started making music and you’re looking for your first DAW (digital audio workstation). Maybe you’ve already been making music for a while and you’re looking to change things up. Regardless, there’s one major obstacle you’ll run into when trying to get started with Ableton Live… the price.

Ableton Live is expensive for a reason; it’s an insanely powerful piece of software that’s been continuously improved for around 20 years by a team of 100s of people. Ableton Live Suite comes with a range of incredible built in instruments and effects, as well as unique tools like MaxForLive. It’s potential for music-making is literally limitless. Believe me, I’ve been using Live for almost 10 years and I still learn new things every day.

There is a fully featured 30-day trial, but 30 days isn’t enough time to really learn the ins and outs of what you can do with the software. You’ll end up stuck in the same position, hesitant to fork out a large chunk of cash for something you’re not quite yet confident with.

Why You Shouldn't Pirate Ableton Live

Many music makers resort to piracy and download a cracked copy of Ableton Live. Legal reasons aside, this is generally not a great idea.

First, you have to expose yourself to fairly questionable sites to get the download. Then, you’ll most likely struggle to actually get it working reliably. Even then, there are often bugs and glitches that come along with cracked software that gives a very sub-par experience.

A Better Way To Get Live For Free

Fortunately, there’s a much better way to get started with Ableton Live for free. It’s totally legal and much more reliable and doesn’t sacrifice much in terms of features.

Ableton Live comes in multiple versions; Intro, Standard and Suite. While there are some slight feature differences, the biggest difference is in the number of sounds, instruments and effects that you get. Fortunately, each version of Live supports 3rd party plugins (often referred to as VSTs). These are add-ons you can install to get more sounds, instruments and effects for your repertoire.

There’s also another version of Ableton Live available called Live Lite. This usually comes bundled with audio interfaces or MIDI keyboards. If you’ve recently purchased a MIDI keyboard or audio interface you may already have a free license for Live Lite. If you don’t, you can get a Live Lite license for as little as $4 by buying the mobile music making app Koala Sampler**, which includes a free Live Lite license

**Unfortunately the free Live Lite license is currently only available with the iOS version of Koala Sampler. There may be other Android apps that include free Live Lite licenses though, so be sure to look around.

Once you’ve setup and registered Live Lite, all that’s left to do is download and install some free 3rd party plugins to get more instruments, sounds and effects!

Are Free Plugins Bad?

It’s important to note that free doesn’t necessarily mean ‘cheap’ or bad quality. Many plugin manufacturers make free plugins as ‘teasers’ for their more expensive stuff. Others make free plugins purely out of the goodness of their hearts!

While there are some fairly awful free plugins, there are many others that sound better than similar $100+ plugins. Many music makers (myself included) will happily use free plugins alongside other more expensive tools.

Do I Really Need All These Plugins?

At this stage you might be asking, do I really need all these plugins to make music?

I have two thoughts on this. First, the answer is no, you don’t. You can make incredible music with nothing more than Ableton Live Lite. If you’re just starting out you probably won’t even know what 95% of these plugins do anyway. Many producers make the mistake of having too many plugins and they never really master any of them. Sometimes it’s better to start small and learn the tools you have. As you learn more about production you can add to your toolkit and spend time getting familiar with the kinds of tools you need.

On the other hand, music-making should be fun, and what’s more fun than having a bunch of really cool gadgets to play with. So what if you have no idea what they do – if you load them onto a track and it sounds good, go with it.

The best answer is probably somewhere in the middle. You want enough plugins that you’ve got some good variety to choose from and keep things fresh. You also don’t want so many plugins that you get overwhelmed and never actually learn any of the plugins you have.

Getting Free Plugins

So where do you go to find these free plugins? There’s an excellent, regularly updated list at Bedroom Producer’s Blog, but there’s quite a lot there and it can be a bit intimidating for beginners. To make things easier, I’ve compiled a list of what I think are the absolute best free plugins to get started with.

I’ve only chosen plugins that are available for both Mac and PC. I’ve also broken the plugins down into different categories so you can find exactly what you’re looking for.

One Last Thing

Before you dive into the list, you might also wanna check out my own collection of awesome free tools for Ableton Live. Most of these will work with Live Lite. There are sound, instruments, drums and effects for you to make music with.

🎛 FREE: A Collection of Free Ableton Live Packs

The List

The list of plugins is separated into distinct categories so you can easily find what you’re looking for. I’ve included brief descriptions about each category to give you an idea of the kinds of instruments and effects you can expect.

I’ve also organised the plugins in each category in order of my personal preference, so if you wanna quickly grab one plugin from each category then go for the one at the top.

Instruments

Synthesizers 🎹

There are some incredible free synthesizers available that cover a range of different kinds of synthesis. I've specifically chosen plugins that come with a good amount of built-in presets so you can easily get sounds even if you don't yet know how to program a synthesizer.

Drum Machines 🥁

There aren't that many free drum machine plugins available. Fortunately, every version of Live gives you access to the Drum Rack, which is all you need for making beats.

Samplers + Others 🎛

Samplers let you play 'real' acoustic instruments using recordings of those instruments. Each of the samplers below has a huge range of available instruments, giving you more than enough for a diverse palette of sound.

Audio Effects

Amps + Cabinets 🎸

Emulations of guitar amps and cabinets. These generally include a range of guitar stomp-box style effects as well, and they're useful for anything, not just guitars.

Autopan + Tremolo 👂

Tools to automatically pan the sound between the speakers. These can be used to create volume modulation (tremolo) effects as well.

Chorus, Flanger + Phaser 👾

Classic modulation effects. Some of these, like SVEP, provide multiple styles of modulation. Others focus on either chorusing, flanging or phasing.

Compressors 🗜

Tools to manage the dynamic range of your sound. These are mostly used for mixing. Some of them are very clinical, digital-style compressors. Others have a unique colour and analog vibe.

Delay 🛰

Otherwise known as echo. Use these to add a spacey vibe to your music.

ValhallaFreqEcho (can also be used as a Frequency Shifter, Phaser or Flanger)
SoundHack Delay Bundle
HY Delay (scroll to the bottom of the page to find the free version)

Distortion + Colouration 🔥

This seems to be a competitive category! There's a wide range of options here, so I've narrowed it to only the absolute best. These cover a range of distortion styles, from guitar stomp-box type overdrive and fuzz to the warm sound of analog tubes and tape.

Equalizers 🔊

Equalizers are used in mixing and are an essential tool for getting your tracks sounding professional. There is a range of free EQs available. From precise digital EQs to more colourful analog-style recreations.

Filters 🎛

Filters are most commonly used to create DJ-style effects (highpass and lowpass filters), but they can also be used in mixing. The Noiiz Filter also has some very unique sound design options.

Noiiz Filter
HY Filter (scroll to the bottom of the page for the free version)
MBandpass

Frequency + Pitch 🤖

These effects let you manipulate the frequency or pitch of your audio. Frequency Shifters and Ring Modulators can be used to create quite metallic sounds.

Glitch + Looping 🦠

There's not much to this category I'm afraid. But the free Insta Looper device makes up for it by giving you some very useful sound mangling options.

Insta Looper

Metering 📊

Metering tools give you a way of visualising your sound. This can be useful when trying to troubleshoot issues or spot stray frequencies in a mix.

Reverb ⛪️

Reverb lets you place your sounds in an artificial space. This is very necessary when working with synthesizers, as the sound will always be completely dry. The right amount and kind of reverb can bring any sound to life.

Utilities 🛠

A miscellaneous collection of tools that includes imaging plugins to increase the stereo width of your sounds as well as some basic functions like phase inversion or mono-ing your sub-bass.

ELPHNT