Effects Overview
Every Live 12 audio effect in one table — category, what it is best for, the parameters that matter and CPU cost — followed by ten tricks for the devices most producers leave in the browser.
Live 12 ships around fifty audio effects and most producers use ten of them. This page is the map: what each device is actually for, which two or three parameters do the work, and roughly what it costs. Below the table are ten short techniques for the under-used ones, the devices that solve a problem no third-party plug-in solves better. For the two heavyweights, Roar and Saturator, see Roar & Saturator; racks have their own page.
Architecture
Every audio effect sits in the same device chain: track input, devices left to right, mixer. Sends tap the chain after the devices into return tracks with their own chains; a Rack wraps chains in parallel.
Parameters that matter
CPU is relative on an Apple-silicon or recent x86 machine: low is under 1% per instance, medium 1–3%, high 3–8%, very high above that (convolution, spectral, oversampled distortion).
| Device | Category | Best for | Key parameters | CPU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Align Delay | Utility | Time-aligning layers, parallel chains, hardware returns | Delay in samples / ms / metres, Link L/R | low |
| Amp | Distortion | Guitar-amp tone on bass and drums | Amp type, Gain, Bass/Mid/Treble, Dual mono | medium |
| Auto Filter (12.2) | Filter | Any filter sweep; new 12.2 UI with LFO shapes and envelope | Type/circuit, Freq, Res, Env, LFO amount and shape | low |
| Auto Pan-Tremolo (12.3) | Modulation | Tremolo, auto-pan, sidechain-shaped rhythm | Mode (Pan / Tremolo), Rate, Shape, Phase, Amount | low |
| Auto Shift (12.1) | Pitch | Pitch correction, harmonising, vibrato, formant tricks | Scale, Speed, Amount, Vibrato, Pitch LFO, Formant | high |
| Beat Repeat | Glitch | Stutters and repeats on grid | Interval, Grid, Variation, Chance, Pitch Decay | low |
| Cabinet | Distortion | Speaker emulation after Amp or Pedal | Cab size, Mic position, Dual mono | medium |
| Channel EQ | EQ | Fast console-style three-band | Low (shelf/HP), Mid freq+gain, High | low |
| Chorus-Ensemble | Modulation | Width, detune, vintage ensemble | Mode (Classic / Ensemble / Vibrato), Rate, Amount, Feedback, Warmth | low |
| Color Limiter | Dynamics | Coloured limiting, loud lo-fi | Loudness, Ceiling, Saturation, Color, Release | medium |
| Compressor | Dynamics | Standard, sidechain with EQ, Peak/RMS/Expand | Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Knee, Model, Sidechain | low |
| Corpus | Resonator | Physical body resonance: beam, marimba, string, membrane, plate, pipe, tube | Type, Tune, Decay, Material, Brightness, MIDI note input | medium |
| Delay | Delay | Clean dual delay with modes | Mode (Repitch / Fade / Jump), Time L/R, Feedback, Filter, Ping Pong | low |
| Drum Buss | Distortion | Drum glue, sub boom, transient shaping | Drive, Crunch, Damp, Transients, Boom freq/decay | low |
| Dynamic Tube | Distortion | Envelope-driven tube: more drive on peaks | Tube type A/B/C, Drive, Bias, Envelope, Tone | low |
| Echo | Delay | Dub delay with reverb, modulation, gate/duck | Time L/R, Feedback, Filter, Reverb, Modulation, Gate, Duck, Noise, Wobble | medium |
| EQ Eight | EQ | Precision EQ, M/S and L/R modes, oversampling | 8 bands, Mode, Scale, Adaptive Q, Oversampling | low–medium |
| EQ Three | EQ | DJ kills | Low/Mid/High gain, kill switches, crossover | low |
| Erosion | Distortion | Digital grit from noise/sine modulation, hat air | Mode (Noise / Wide Noise / Sine), Freq, Width, Amount | low |
| External Audio Effect | Routing | Hardware inserts with latency compensation | Audio To/From, Gain, Phase, Hardware latency | low |
| Filter Delay | Delay | Three filtered delay lines (L, L+R, R) | Per line: filter, Time, Feedback, Pan | low |
| Gate | Dynamics | Cleaning, sidechain-keyed gating, rhythmic chop | Threshold, Return, Attack, Hold, Release, Floor, Flip, Sidechain | low |
| Gated Delay | Delay | Delay fed by a step sequencer | Pattern, Rate, Time, Feedback | low |
| Glue Compressor | Dynamics | Bus glue, SSL-style | Threshold, Ratio, Attack, Release, Range, Soft Clip | low |
| Grain Delay | Delay | Pitch-shifted, granular delay clouds | Spray, Frequency, Pitch, Random Pitch, Feedback | medium |
| Hybrid Reverb | Reverb | Convolution + algorithm (Dark Hall, Quartz, Shimmer, Tides, Prism) | IR, Algorithm, Blend, Routing, EQ, Vintage, Decay, Freeze | high |
| Limiter | Dynamics | Brickwall, master | Gain, Ceiling, Release, Lookahead, Stereo/L-R | low |
| Looper | Performance | Live looping, resample pedal | Record/Overdub, Length, Speed, Reverse, Feedback | low |
| Multiband Dynamics | Dynamics | Upward and downward per band, OTT-style, de-ess | 3 bands, Above/Below thresholds and ratios, Time, Amount, Sidechain | medium |
| Overdrive | Distortion | Bandpassed overdrive, cheap and nasty | Filter freq/width, Drive, Tone, Dynamics | low |
| Pedal | Distortion | Overdrive / Distortion / Fuzz pedal with 3-band EQ | Type, Gain, Output, Bass/Mid/Treble, Sub, Dry/Wet | medium |
| Phaser-Flanger | Modulation | Phaser, flanger, Doubler mode for width | Mode, Rate, Amount, Feedback, Notches / Delay, Warmth, Safe Bass | low |
| Pitch Hack | Pitch | Delay with transposition, reverse, re-pitch loops | Interval, Delay, Reverse, Feedback, Recycle, Dry/Wet | medium |
| Redux | Distortion | Bit and sample-rate reduction with jitter, filters | Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Jitter, Shape, Pre/Post filter, DC | low |
| Resonators | Resonator | Five tuned comb resonators, chord from noise | Note + 4 intervals, Decay, Color, Mode, Gain, Width | low |
| Reverb | Reverb | Classic algorithmic, cheap on sends | Predelay, Size, Decay, Diffusion, Chorus, Shelf EQ | low–medium |
| Roar | Distortion | Multi-stage, multiband, feedback, modulated colour | Routing, Shaper, Amount, Bias, Feedback, matrix | medium–high |
| Saturator | Distortion | One-curve saturation, clipper, waveshaper | Mode, Drive, Color, Soft Clip, DC | low (high with oversampling) |
| Shifter | Pitch | Pitch, frequency (ring) and ring-mod shifting with envelope and LFO | Mode (Pitch / Freq / Ring), Coarse/Fine, Window, Delay, LFO, Envelope | medium |
| Spectral Blur | Spectral | Reverb-like smear of a frequency range | Low/High freq, Blur, Decay, Freeze | high |
| Spectral Resonator | Spectral | Pitch-tracked or MIDI-played spectral resonance | Freq / MIDI mode, Unison, Decay, Shift, Stretch, Polyphony | high |
| Spectral Time | Spectral | Spectral delay and freeze, tilt, frequency-dependent time | Freeze mode, Fade, Delay time/tilt/spray, Feedback, Mask | high |
| Spectrum / Tuner | Analysis | Looking, tuning hardware | Range, Block size; Reference Hz | low |
| Utility | Utility | Gain, width, Bass Mono, phase, DC, mute | Gain, Width, Bass Mono freq, Phase L/R, Channel mode | low |
| Vinyl Distortion | Distortion | Crackle and tracing distortion | Tracing Model, Pinch, Crackle Volume/Density, Drive | low |
| Vocoder | Spectral | Vocoding, noise carriers, formant fun | Carrier (Noise / External / Modulator / Pitch), Bands, Formant, Release, Range | medium |
Techniques
Erosion as a hi-hat exciter
Sine mode at 6–9 kHz adds a narrow band of ring-modulated fizz on top of dull sampled hats.
- Mode Sine, Freq 7.5 kHz, Width 0.3 (narrow), Amount 40%.
- Automate Freq 5→10 kHz across a phrase: the hats "open" without a filter.
- Wide Noise mode at 2 kHz, Amount 20%, is the lo-fi version: a broadband hiss that only exists while the sound plays.
Erosion modulates a short delay with the chosen signal, so it only produces sidebands when there is input: it is noise that follows the envelope.
Corpus: a drum body from any click
Send a transient through a Membrane or Tube resonator and you get a tuned percussion hit; add MIDI sidechain and the pitch follows a clip.
- Type Membrane for toms, Tube for pipes, Plate for metallic snares, Beam for marimba-like tones.
- Enable the MIDI sidechain in Corpus and pick a MIDI track; the Tune now follows notes so a kick-tom pattern can be sequenced.
- Material controls damping (low = ringy); Brightness tilts the mode spectrum. Listening Position L/R offset makes it stereo without a chorus.
The input only needs to be an impulse. A 5 ms noise burst from Drum Sampler is plenty: Corpus provides the whole sound.
Resonators: chords out of noise and drums
Five comb filters tuned to a chord turn a hi-hat loop or white noise into a chord stab that is rhythmically locked to its source.
- Note A, intervals I +3, II +7, III +10, IV +14 for a minor 9. Decay 60%, Color 50%.
- Mode B is brighter and tracks pitch more cleanly than A. Width 100% spreads resonators I–IV across the stereo field.
- Dry/Wet 100% and filter the result: the source rhythm becomes a chord pattern.
A comb filter with feedback is a Karplus-Strong string; feeding it noise is exactly how plucked-string physical modelling begins.
Vinyl Distortion and Dynamic Tube: crackle that reacts
Vinyl Distortion gives crackle and tracing distortion; Dynamic Tube adds drive that increases on transients because its Envelope control feeds the level into the tube bias.
- Dynamic Tube: Tube B, Drive 4 dB, Bias 20%, Envelope +40% (peaks push the bias further: more even harmonics on hits), Attack 5 ms, Release 150 ms.
- Vinyl Distortion: Tracing Model Drive 15% at 1.2 kHz, Pinch Drive 10% at 2 kHz for the stereo "pinch" distortion, Crackle Density 30%, Volume −20 dB so it sits under, not on top.
- Soft mode on for gentler crackle.
Crackle is constant noise, not level-dependent: gate the track or automate Crackle Volume in breakdowns, or it reads as a mistake.
Pedal with Sub kept clean
Pedal's Sub switch keeps a clean low band underneath the fuzz, which is the one thing most distortion pedals cannot do and why it works on bass.
- Type Fuzz for gated splatter, Distortion for square-ish sustain, Overdrive for dynamics.
- Sub on. Gain 60%. Mid +4 dB at 800 Hz gives the honk.
- Dry/Wet 70%, then Utility Bass Mono.
Phaser-Flanger Doubler and Chorus-Ensemble width without mono loss
Doubler mode in Phaser-Flanger is a short modulated delay with Safe Bass; Chorus-Ensemble in Ensemble mode is a three-voice vintage chorus. Both keep the lows mono if you ask.
- Phaser-Flanger Mode Doubler, Time 8 ms, Rate 0.4 Hz, Amount 30%, Feedback 0, Safe Bass on at 150 Hz.
- Chorus-Ensemble Mode Ensemble, Rate 0.6 Hz, Amount 25%, Warmth on (adds high-cut and subtle saturation), Width 80%.
- Check mono: Safe Bass means the fundamental does not comb-filter when summed.
Shifter ring mode and Pitch Hack reverse-delay
Shifter in Freq mode is a frequency shifter (inharmonic, Bode-style); Pitch Hack is a delay that transposes and reverses each repeat, with Recycle feeding transposed audio back in for spiralling pitch.
- Shifter Mode Freq, Fine +23 Hz: a slow beating inharmonicity on every partial. Envelope amount +200 Hz, Attack 2 ms, Release 100 ms for a per-hit zap. LFO S&H synced 1/8 for random per-step shifts.
- Pitch Hack: Interval −12 st, Delay synced 3/16, Reverse on, Recycle 60%: each repeat is an octave lower and backwards, and feeds back transposed again.
- Freeze on Pitch Hack holds the buffer; automate it for a stutter-hold.
Frequency shifting adds a constant Hz to every partial, so harmonic ratios break: a few Hz is a beating chorus, hundreds of Hz is bell-like metal.
Align Delay for parallel chains, Gate as a rhythm tool
Align Delay nudges a chain by samples so parallel distortion stays phase-coherent; Gate with sidechain keyed from a hat pattern chops a pad into rhythm with Flip for the inverse.
- In a parallel rack, put Align Delay on the dry chain and dial samples until a Utility phase-flip null is deepest; oversampled distortion adds latency Live cannot always compensate inside a rack.
- Gate: Sidechain on, source the hat track, Threshold so each hat opens the gate, Hold 40 ms, Release 60 ms, Floor −inf. Flip to make the pad play only between hats.
- Return (hysteresis) 3 dB stops chatter on soft hats.
Multiband Dynamics upward, Spectral Time and Spectral Resonator
Multiband Dynamics' Below section is upward compression (the OTT sound). Spectral Time freezes or delays per frequency bin; Spectral Resonator imposes a played chord on any input.
- Multiband Dynamics: Below thresholds −40 dB with ratio 1:3 (upward), Above thresholds −10 dB at 3:1, Amount 40%, Time 50%. Quiet detail comes up, peaks go down.
- Spectral Time: Freeze mode Retrigger, triggered by transients, Fade 400 ms, Delay on with Tilt so highs delay longer than lows, Feedback 50%, Spray 20%.
- Spectral Resonator in MIDI mode: play a chord from a MIDI track; Decay 2 s, Unison 3 voices, Shift 0. Everything, even speech, becomes that chord.
All three are CPU-expensive. Freeze or resample once the sound is right; see resampling workflow.
Auto Pan-Tremolo (12.3) and Auto Filter (12.2) as sidechain substitutes
12.3's Auto Pan-Tremolo has a Tremolo mode with a shaped, synced LFO whose phase can be offset; 12.2's Auto Filter adds LFO shapes and a better envelope. Together they fake ducking with no sidechain routing, which is useful on returns.
- Auto Pan-Tremolo: Mode Tremolo, Rate synced 1/4, Shape toward a falling saw, Amount 70%. The LFO dips on every beat like a kick sidechain.
- Pan mode with Phase 180° and Rate 1/8 is a classic auto-pan; Phase 0 with a square shape is a hard gate.
- Auto Filter LP MS2 at 1.2 kHz, LFO 1/4 triangle, Amount 20%, Envelope 30% so the filter also opens on loud input.
Presets to build first
- Hat Air: Erosion Sine 7.5 kHz with Freq on a macro.
- Noise Chord: Resonators minor 9 plus Auto Filter plus Echo send, Note on a macro.
- Lo-fi Chain: Dynamic Tube → Vinyl Distortion → Redux with Crackle Volume and bit depth on macros.
- Keyed Gate: Gate with sidechain pre-set, Hold and Release on macros.
- Fake Duck Return: Auto Pan-Tremolo tremolo 1/4 plus Auto Filter, Amount on a macro, saved as a return-track default.
Related
- Live 12 devices map for instruments and MIDI tools.
- Roar & Saturator and saturation & distortion.
- Spectral processing, delay design, reverb & space.
- Sidechain & ducking, compression & glue.
- Device parameter map.