NOTE as of Dec 24, 2020: Ableton Live 10 Suite and up and this version of Liquid Rhythm (1.4.5) are not AMXD (Max for Live) compatible. We recommend giving Liquid Music a try instead. Liquid Music includes an updated version of Liquid Rhythm, which is fully compatible in Ableton Live 10 and up. You won’t be giving anything up, and you will be adding harmonic tools to your rhythm toolset.
If you own Liquid Rhythm and Ableton Live 10 or up, you will run into issues with AMXD (Max for Live) however you can use VST instead.
This version of Liquid Rhythm (v1.4.5) may require further configuration for full compatibility in Catalina and Big Sur OS, please write into [email protected] if you run into any issues.
Liquid Rhythm is a beat generator, sequencer, and software controller for MIDI-based music production that provides instant access to quadrillions of rhythmic patterns. Experiment with beats using a comprehensive suite of effects and see the relationship between notes with a new representation of music.
- Develop musical ideas by instantly inserting and swapping bar-long rhythm patterns.
- Create beats fast by painting groups of notes directly onto the arranger.
- Humanize the velocity and groove of multiple notes simultaneously based on their underlying color-patterns.
- Generate musically-informed rhythm patterns from a customizable palette.
- Create tom fills and multi-instrument percussion patterns.
- Integrate Liquid Rhythm into your workflow as VST, AU or RTAS plugin.
Ableton Live clips + Liquid Rhythm
Edit clips using Liquid Rhythm’s workflow enhancement for Ableton Live 9 Suite. As you jump clip-to-clip in Ableton Live, Liquid Rhythm automatically displays the MIDI contents of each selected clip and Drum Rack information of each track.The cycle is as follows:
1) Drum rack channel names and MIDI notes in the clip are automatically loaded into Liquid Rhythm.
2) All pattern creations and note edits are automatically pushed into the Ableton Live clip in real-time. This allows for a seamless integration of Liquid Rhythm’s powerful MIDI editing tools into any existing Ableton Live production and performance workflow.
- Speed up the creation of rhythm tracks in Ableton Live clips.
- Integrate with Ableton Drum Racks.
- Create and remix MIDI patterns in Ableton Live clips.
- Implement your rhythmic ideas into the MIDI clip piano roll instantly.
- Build beats entire bars at a time.
- Use your own samples to create truly original beats.
- Experiment with variations and alternatives to your drum patterns, all in real-time.
- See relationships between notes in your MIDI clips with Liquid Rhythm’s Music Molecule MIDI visualization technology.
This integration is only available when using Liquid Rhythm with Max For Live in Ableton Live 9 Suite. Additionally, Max for Live 5 is required for Ableton Live Clips Editing.
Accent Modifiers
Accent Modifiers target the velocity and groove of notes, basically the things that make music not sound robotic. You can think of them as avenues to humanize your beat.
This is how they work: As you make beats, you’ll notice color patterns developing beneath the notes. Each module in the Accent Modifiers controls velocity and groove based on these colors. What’s more, the colors exist on two levels so you can target in a broad sense or very detailed.
So, if you want to raise the velocity of every note above a dark red or blue pill, move the corresponding faders.
You’ll find, when you’re dealing with a pretty long loop, this is a very quick and intuitive way to sculpt an original feel.
BeatBuilder: BarForm List
When you’re creating a drum track, the Beat Builder is your best friend.
By default, it’s a really straightforward look at some commonly occurring patterns for whatever instrument you have selected. For example, if you’re working on a snare instrument, the Beat Builder will instantly highlight snare-specific patterns you can insert into regions with one click.
But that’s only one filter. See those buttons at the bottom of the list? They filter the results in a couple of different ways. Suggested gives you those aforementioned “commonly occurring patterns,” while Similar shows patterns that are related to whatever you have selected in the Arranger– a great way to get slightly varying variations.
You can also add patterns to a Favorites list you can access in any project.
It’s crazy easy. Try it out. You’ll never look back once you start making beats this way.
BeatForm Sequencer
The BeatForm Sequencer is what would happen if a radioactive spider and happy-go-lucky surfer dude collaborated on a really artsy documentary on Eastern Canadian flora. There’d be tons of hi res timelapse footage of flowers in bloom and it would be sweet.
However sweet as that would be, let’s get to some basics. To really understand how the BeatForm Sequencer works, we need to answer this fundamental question: What’s a BeatForm?
A BeatForm is a note or cluster of notes that all fit into the same space. Envision a ruler, or better yet, refer to the ruler below for an analogy.
Notice how an eighth and two sixteenths take up the same amount of space? You can think of the 8th as the space within which all the smaller divisions fit: a 16th, a 24th, 32nd, and so on. In Liquid Rhythm, all BeatForms take up the space of an 8th of a bar.
Then, what’s the BeatForm Sequencer? Basically it’s this: a regular sequencer loops one or two bars and you input notes one at a time. The BeatForm Sequencer takes that model to the next level. How? Each space can hold one note, or more than one note; like two notes, or three. Four even.
Each space in the sequencer can hold 6 notes.
Do you make trap beats? Let’s use that as an example. So, you’re making a trap beat and you want to spice up your hi hats. Use the BeatForm Sequencer to insert a triplet BeatForm anywhere in the bar (you always have 8 spaces to choose from).
All it ever takes is one click in the BeatForm Sequencer to get a cluster of notes in any given space. Press the arrows to the left and get that entire bar instantly.
This list can be to create beats with lots of swing, straight-up syncopation, glitch, you’ll never find the results boring.
BeatForm Palette
BeatForms combine to form rhythmic patterns just like colored building blocks that fit together. They are clusters of notes that are color-coded to provide a view into the rhythmic structure of your music.
You can think of the BeatForm Palette as a library of palettes that contains various note clusters. These clusters are objects that we can play with – they can be grabbed from this palette and dropped anywhere.
BeatSeeker
If the BeatWeaver Rhythm Synthesizer were a gallant and faithful winged horse that you’d bravely ride into battle, the BeatSeeker would be the saddle and reins you’d need to mount the beast.
Perhaps that’s a bit of a stretch, but seriously, the BeatWeaver can be an intimidating mass of information to negotiate through. That’s why the developers at WaveDNA built the BeatSeeker, an intelligent algorithm that highlights the most commonly occurring patterns for whatever instrument you’re working on.
Our team of astute scientists studied several hundred songs from a variety of genres (hip hop, d&b, trance, house, rock, metal, jazz, to name a few) to put this feature together. No rodents were harmed during its inception.
Drag-and-Drop MIDI
Occasionally, you might want to use Liquid Rhythm to power another plug-in in your arsenal of software. Luckily, many DAWs provide the capability to route MIDI from one software instrument track to another. For details on how to do this using Liquid Rhythm as a plug-in in the DAW of your choice, check out this page.
Unfortunately, not all DAWs feature MIDI routing options between instrument tracks. If this is the case with your DAW, don’t fret! The Great MIDI Oracle at WaveDNA designed the Drag-and-Drop MIDI tool.
In-Line Editing
Liquid Rhythm’s Pencil and Paint tools turn the Arranger into something it should always be– a Canvas. Rhythm is art, your screen is an easel, and these are the tools of your trade.
Just press the pencil tool (or use the super-convenient key commands) to edit notes right on the Arranger. ..and in case you’re wondering, yes: it’s entirely possible to paint groups of notes across the arranger.
Want to paint a shuffle into your hi hats, or maybe you just want to meticulously add ghost snares to that Jungle track you’re working on. Either way, we think you’ll find our manual note editing tools pretty handy.
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