Glossary

Every scene has its own words for the same physics. "Rumble", "reese", "tearout" and "skippy" describe spectral and rhythmic facts you can reproduce in Live once you know what they point at. This glossary gives one tight definition per term — synthesis, mixing, Live 12 vocabulary and genre slang mixed together, alphabetical — and links each to the page on this site where the idea is used in a recipe. Where a term is contested between scenes (what a "riddim" is to a reggae producer versus a dubstep producer) both meanings are given.

Synthesis and sound terms

Additive synthesis

Building a timbre by summing sine partials at chosen amplitudes. Operator's user waveforms (draw up to 64 partials) are the Live way in. Operator

ADSR

Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release — the four-stage envelope; attack/decay/release are times (ms), sustain is a level (0–1). Synthesis primer

Aliasing

False, non-harmonic frequencies that appear when a signal contains content above half the sample rate (Nyquist); audible as inharmonic grit on bright FM and hard clipping. Oversample (Roar, Saturator Hi-Q) to reduce it, or embrace it with Redux. Saturation & distortion

Amplitude modulation (AM)

Multiplying one signal by another; at audio rates it creates sum and difference sidebands. Tremolo is slow AM. Auto Pan-Tremolo at audio rate does it in Live. Effects overview

Beating

Slow amplitude pulsing when two tones are a few Hz apart — the basis of detune, chorus and the reese bass. Reese bass

Bit crushing

Reducing bit depth so quantization noise becomes audible; Redux's Bit Depth and Roar's Bit Crush shaper. Distinct from sample-rate reduction (downsampling). Glitch & IDM sounds

Carrier / modulator

In FM, the oscillator you hear (carrier) and the one that modulates its frequency (modulator). In Operator's algorithms, the bottom osc of a stack is the carrier. Operator

Comb filter

A very short delay mixed with the dry signal; produces evenly spaced peaks and notches, pitched when the delay is under ~20 ms. Resonators, Corpus and Echo at minimal time all do it. Physical-modelled strings & brass

Convolution

Imposing the measured response (impulse response, IR) of a space or device on a signal. Hybrid Reverb's Convolution engine. Reverb & space

Cutoff / resonance

The corner frequency of a filter and the gain peak added at that corner; high resonance self-oscillates on MS2/PRD-style filters. Synthesis primer

Detune

Offsetting oscillators by cents (1/100 semitone) for width and movement; 5–15 ct is "fat", 30+ ct is "chorus". Leads

Drift

Slow random pitch instability that makes digital oscillators feel analog; a dedicated amount on Drift and Analog. Not to be confused with the Drift instrument. Analog & Drift

Envelope follower

A control signal derived from a signal's amplitude; drives filters, Roar's matrix, or anything via the Envelope Follower M4L device. Modulation & Max for Live

FM (frequency modulation)

Modulating an oscillator's frequency with another at audio rate; integer ratios give harmonic timbres, non-integer give bells and metal. Operator

FM index

The depth of modulation (modulator level); higher index = more and brighter sidebands. In Operator it is the modulator's level slider. Operator

Foldback / wavefolding

Reflecting a waveform back on itself when it exceeds a threshold — adds harmonics without flattening the top. Saturator's Sinoid Fold, Roar's Fold shaper, Shaper (M4L). Roar & saturation

Formant

A fixed resonance peak that does not follow pitch — what makes a vowel a vowel. Wavetable's Formant tables, Meld's Formant engine, Vocoder. Voice & vocals

Fundamental

The lowest partial of a harmonic sound; the pitch you perceive. Subs are nearly pure fundamental. Sub bass

Glide / portamento

Sliding pitch between notes rather than stepping; Legato + Glide time in Drift, Operator, Analog. Essential for 303 and 808 slides. Acid / 303

Granular synthesis

Chopping audio into tiny grains (1–100 ms) and re-triggering them with varied pitch, position and density. Granulator III, Grain Delay. Textures, foley & noise

Harmonic / partial / overtone

A partial is any sine component; harmonics are partials at integer multiples of the fundamental; overtones are partials above it. Inharmonic partials make bells and noise. Synthesis primer

Hard sync

Forcing a slave oscillator to restart its cycle whenever the master completes one; sweeping the slave pitch gives the aggressive "sync lead" timbre. Drift Osc 2 sync, Analog. Leads

LFO

Low-frequency oscillator — a sub-audio modulator (0.01–30 Hz typically) for wobble, tremolo, vibrato; sync it to tempo for rhythmic modulation. Wobble & growl bass

MPE

MIDI Polyphonic Expression — per-note pitch bend, pressure and slide. Wavetable, Meld, Drift, Sampler, Granulator III respond natively. Tuning, scales & MPE

Noise (white / pink)

White noise has equal energy per Hz (sounds bright); pink has equal energy per octave (sounds balanced). Operator and Drift have noise sources; Wavetable's Noise category. Textures, foley & noise

Phase

The position within a cycle. Two identical signals out of phase cancel; oscillator phase reset ("retrigger") gives consistent transients on bass. Sub bass

Physical modelling

Synthesis from a mathematical model of a vibrating object (string, bar, membrane, tube). Collision, Tension, Electric, Corpus. Keys & mallets

Pulse width (PWM)

The duty cycle of a rectangle wave; modulating it (PWM) gives chorus-like movement from a single oscillator. Drift's Rectangle shape, Analog. Pads & atmospheres

Resampling

Recording the output of a chain back into Live as audio and treating that audio as a new source — the central sound-design loop. Resampling workflow

Ring modulation

AM without the carrier — only sum and difference frequencies survive, hence metallic, inharmonic tones. Drum Sampler's Ring, Roar in Feedback routing with pitch. Glitch & IDM sounds

Sample-and-hold (S&H)

An LFO shape that jumps to a random value every cycle — stepped, random modulation. Available on nearly every Live LFO. Generative sounds

Shepard tone

An auditory illusion of endlessly rising (or falling) pitch, made by overlapping octave-spaced glissandi with crossfaded amplitude. Hybrid Reverb's Shimmer and Spectral Time's frequency shift can approximate it; stacked Wavetable voices do it properly. FX, risers & impacts

Spectral processing

Working on a signal in the frequency domain via FFT — freezing, shifting, resonating individual bins. Spectral Resonator, Spectral Time. Spectral processing

Subtractive synthesis

Start with a harmonically rich wave, remove with filters, shape with envelopes. Analog, Drift, and most of Wavetable. Analog & Drift

Sync (tempo)

Locking an LFO or delay time to the song tempo in note divisions (1/4, 1/8, dotted, triplet). Delay design

Unison

Stacking several detuned copies of a voice; Wavetable's unison modes (Classic, Shimmer, Noise, Phase Sync, Position Spread, Random Note) each spread a different parameter. Wavetable

Vibrato

Slow periodic pitch modulation (4–7 Hz); Auto Shift adds it to audio, LFO → pitch adds it to synths. Voice & vocals

Wavetable

A set of single-cycle waveforms you can scan through (position) — timbre morphing without filters. Wavetable's Osc 1/2 and Position parameter. Wavetable

Waveshaping

Mapping input amplitude through a transfer curve to add harmonics; the general term for saturation, clipping and folding. Saturator's waveshaper mode, Roar. Roar & saturation

Mixing and dynamics terms

A/B

Comparing two states (yours vs a reference, or before/after a device) at matched loudness. Live 12.3 adds set-level A/B. Listening checklist

Attack / release (compressor)

How fast gain reduction starts after the threshold is crossed and how fast it recovers. Slow attack lets transients through; fast release pumps. Compression & glue

Bus / group

A track that sums several others (Group Track or a Return). Drum bus, mix bus. Drum bus rack

Clipping (hard / soft)

Flattening peaks above a ceiling — hard clipping is instant and bright, soft clipping rounds into it. Saturator Soft Clip, Roar Hard / Digital Clip. Loudness & limiting

Crest factor

Peak level minus RMS level in dB — a measure of how transient a signal is. Drums ~15–20 dB, a mastered techno track ~6–9 dB. Listening checklist

Ducking

Lowering one signal when another plays — sidechain compression, or Echo's Duck, or an LFO-shaped Utility gain. Sidechain & ducking

Dynamic range (DR)

Loosely, the gap between loud and quiet parts; measured as LRA (loudness range) or the DR/crest number. Loudness & limiting

Glue

Gentle bus compression (2:1, slow attack, auto release, 1–3 dB GR) that makes separate elements feel like one recording. Glue Compressor. Compression & glue

Haas effect

A delay of 1–30 ms between left and right reads as width, not echo. Cheap stereo, but it falls apart in mono. Mid/side & stereo

Headroom

Space between your peaks and 0 dBFS; keep 6 dB on the master pre-limiter. Mix templates

Knee

How gradually a compressor moves from no compression to full ratio around the threshold. Compression & glue

Limiter

A compressor with infinite ratio and lookahead, used as a brick wall at the end of the chain. Live's Limiter. Loudness & limiting

LUFS / LKFS

Loudness Units relative to Full Scale — perceptual loudness. Integrated = whole track; short-term = 3 s window; momentary = 400 ms. Streaming normalises around −14 LUFS; club masters sit −8 to −6. Loudness & limiting

Masking

One sound hiding another in the same frequency region; the reason for EQ carving and sidechain. EQ strategies

Mid / side

Encoding stereo as sum (mid) and difference (side) so you can process centre and width separately. Utility, EQ Eight M/S mode, Roar Mid-Side routing. Mid/side & stereo

Mono compatibility

Whether a mix survives summing to one channel — phase-cancelling width disappears. Check with Utility's Mono button. Listening checklist

Multiband

Splitting into frequency bands and processing each independently. Multiband Dynamics, Roar Multiband routing. Parallel processing

New York compression

Parallel compression: a heavily squashed copy mixed under the dry signal for density without killing transients. Parallel processing

Pumping

Audible, rhythmic gain-reduction recovery — a flaw on a vocal bus, the point on a French-house synth. Sidechain & ducking

RMS

Root-mean-square — the average level over a window; closer to perceived loudness than peak. Loudness & limiting

Saturation

Mild, level-dependent harmonic distortion that adds density and perceived loudness. Saturation & distortion

Sidechain

Feeding a device's detector from a different signal than the one it processes — Compressor, Gate, Auto Filter, Roar (12.2) and Auto Shift all accept one. Sidechain & ducking

Stereo width

How different L and R are; Utility's Width, Chorus-Ensemble, M/S EQ. Keep it near 0% below ~120 Hz. Mid/side & stereo

Transient

The short, broadband onset of a sound. Drum Buss Transients, Compressor with slow attack, or the transient-design page. Transient design

True peak

The inter-sample peak after D/A reconstruction; can exceed the sample peak by ~1 dB. Aim for −1 dBTP on masters. Loudness & limiting

Live 12 specific terms

Arrangement / Session

Live's two views: a linear timeline and a grid of launchable clips. Tab flips between them. Keyboard shortcuts

Bounce in Place (12.2)

Render selected clips through their track's chain to a new audio clip without freezing the track. Resampling workflow

Chain (rack)

One parallel path inside a rack, with its own devices, key/velocity zone, chain-select zone and mixer. Racks & macros

Chain selector

A 0–127 ruler that picks which rack chains are audible; map it to a macro for morphing between patches. Racks & macros

Clip envelope

Per-clip modulation of a device or mixer parameter, unlinked from the clip length for polyrhythmic movement. Automation & modulation

Consolidate

Cmd+J: render the time selection to one clip (audio stays audio, MIDI stays MIDI). Keyboard shortcuts

CV Tools

The Max for Live pack for sending and receiving control voltage through a DC-coupled interface: CV Instrument, CV Triggers, CV LFO, CV Clock. Hardware & modular integration

Drum Rack

A rack with 128 pad-addressed chains, per-pad choke groups and return chains. Sampler, Simpler & Drum devices

Drum Sampler (12.1)

One-shot sample player for Drum Rack pads with built-in pitch, decay, filter and effects (Sub, Punch, Noise, Ring, Bitcrush…). Sampler, Simpler & Drum devices

External Instrument / External Audio Effect

Devices that route MIDI/audio out to hardware and bring the audio back with latency compensation. Hardware & modular integration

Freeze / Flatten

Freeze renders a track with its devices to a locked temporary file; Flatten replaces the track with that audio. Resampling workflow

Groove

A timing/velocity template extracted from a clip and applied to others via the Groove Pool, with Timing, Random and Velocity amounts. UK garage

Hot-swap

Q: replace the selected device, preset or sample from the browser while the rest of the chain stays. Keyboard shortcuts

Macro

One of up to 16 rack knobs that can control many parameters with individual min/max ranges. Racks & macros

Macro Variations

Stored snapshots of all macro values in a rack, recallable or morphed live. Performance rack

Max for Live (M4L)

The Max environment embedded in Live; home of LFO, Envelope Follower, Shaper, Expression Control, CV Tools, and your own devices. Modulation & Max for Live

MIDI Tools (12)

Clip-level Generators (Seed, Rhythm, Shape, Stacks) and Transformations (Arpeggiate, Connect, Ornament, Quantize, Recombine, Strum, Time Warp, Velocity Shaper…). MIDI Tools

Modulation vs automation

Automation writes absolute values on the timeline; modulation (clip envelopes, LFO devices) offsets the current value relatively, so both can coexist. Automation & modulation

Push

Ableton's pad controller; Push 3 runs Live standalone and has MPE pads and CV outputs. Performance & live

Rack

A container (Instrument, Audio Effect, MIDI Effect or Drum) holding parallel chains and macros. Racks & macros

Return track

A bus fed by every track's send knobs — where delays and reverbs live. Dub delay send rack

Resampling input

The audio track input option that records the master output. Routing & resampling

Scale awareness (12)

Set-wide key/scale that folds clip editors and feeds Scale, Chord, arpeggiator and MIDI Tools so everything stays in key. Tuning, scales & MPE

Simpler modes

Classic (loop/sustain), One-Shot (trigger), Slice (transient/beat/region/manual slices to MIDI notes). Sampler, Simpler & Drum devices

Stem separation (12.3)

Suite feature that splits an audio clip into vocals, drums, bass and other. Live 12 devices map

Tuning system (12)

Per-set microtonal tuning loaded from .ascl/.scl files; native instruments follow it. Tuning, scales & MPE

Warp modes

Beats, Tones, Texture, Re-Pitch, Complex, Complex Pro — the time-stretch algorithms; each has a sound of its own worth abusing. Glitch & IDM sounds

Genre and scene slang

2-step

UK garage rhythm where the kick skips the 3rd beat (X..X..X. feel) with swung, syncopated hats and snare on 2 and 4. UK garage

808

The Roland TR-808 kick: a decaying sine with pitch sweep; in trap/drill it is the bassline too, pitched and slid. 808

Amen

The drum break from "Amen, Brother" — the DNA of jungle; its chops, reversed snares and ride define the genre. Jungle & breakbeat

Big room / festival

Maximal EDM drop aesthetic: layered saw leads, white-noise sweeps, and a kick/bass that occupy everything. FX, risers & impacts

Boom bap

Hip-hop drums with a hard, sampled kick and snare, swung and slightly loose, usually chopped from records. Boom bap

Braam

The cinematic trailer blast: a huge, slowly attacking, distorted brass-like hit with a long tail, usually with sub. FX, risers & impacts

Break / breakbeat

A sampled drum section (originally the instrumental "break" of a funk record), chopped and re-arranged. Jungle & breakbeat

Chord stab

A short, punchy chord hit — rave piano, house organ, dub chord. Chords & stabs

Chop

A sliced sample fragment (vocal chop, break chop) re-triggered as a note. Vocal chop rack

Clap stack

Several claps layered and slightly offset for width and smack. Snare & clap

Cowbell (808)

Two detuned square waves through a bandpass — the 808 cowbell, Miami bass and trap staple. Hi-hats & percussion

Donk

A short, pitched, resonant bounce-bass hit on the offbeat (UK bounce / scouse house), usually a sine or square with a fast pitch envelope. Plucks & arps

Drill slide

UK/NY drill 808 glides between notes, usually a semitone or fifth, using legato + glide. Drill

Drop

The section where the full energy arrives, after a build. Dubstep track deconstruction

Dub (noun)

A remix built from a track's parts with heavy echo, reverb and mute/unmute performance — reggae's gift to all electronic music. Dub & reggae

Dubplate

Originally a one-off acetate pressing for a sound system; now any exclusive or custom version of a track that only one DJ has. Dub & reggae

Eskibeat

Early grime style (Wiley): square-wave bass, sparse icy leads, sinister strings, 8-bar structure at 140. Grime

Foley

Recorded real-world sounds used as percussion or texture. Textures, foley & noise

Footwork / juke

Chicago 160 BPM style with rapid-fire triplet 808 toms and chopped vocal repeats. Halftime & footwork

Ghost note

A very quiet drum hit (velocity 20–50) between the main hits that supplies groove without changing the pattern. Hi-hats & percussion

Growl

A formant-rich, modulated mid bass — the dubstep "talking" sound, FM or wavetable through filters and distortion. Wobble & growl bass

Halftime

A snare on beat 3 only, so a 170 BPM track feels like 85. Halftime & footwork

Hoover

The Roland Alpha Juno "what the…" PWM sawtooth sweep of hardcore and gabber. Hard techno & hardcore

Impact / hit

A one-shot downbeat marker: kick + sub + noise burst + reverb tail. FX, risers & impacts

Jump-up

DNB sub-style with cartoonish, bouncy, mid-range FM basslines and simple two-step drums. Drum & bass

Log drum

The amapiano bassline sound: a pitched, short, woody percussive bass (originally the Logdrum preset) that plays melodic patterns. Afro house & amapiano

Lo-fi

Deliberately degraded fidelity — tape wobble, vinyl crackle, bit reduction, dull top. Lo-fi hip-hop

Mentasm

Another name for the hoover sound, after the Joey Beltram / Second Phase track. Hard techno & hardcore

Neuro / neurofunk

DNB style built on complex resampled, modulated bass — "neuro bass" is the sound; resampling is the method. Neuro bass

One-drop

Reggae drum pattern where beat 1 is empty and kick and snare/rimshot land together on beat 3. Dub & reggae

Pluck

A short-decay, filter-enveloped synth note; trance, garage and house melodic staple. Plucks & arps

Reese

Two (or more) detuned saws producing slow phase beating; filtered and distorted it is the backbone of jungle, DNB and dubstep bass. Reese bass

Riddim (reggae)

An instrumental backing track that many vocalists "version" over. Dub & reggae

Riddim (dubstep)

A minimal, bouncy dubstep sub-genre: repetitive mid-bass stabs in triplet patterns, little melody, lots of swing. Dubstep

Riser

A rising-pitch or rising-filter sweep (often white noise) that builds tension toward a drop. Riser FX rack

Roll (drum / snare roll)

Rapidly repeated hits, usually accelerating, as a fill or build; Beat Repeat or note-split in the editor. Snare & clap

Roller

A DNB track that keeps a steady, propulsive, uncluttered two-step groove — the opposite of a stop-start drop. Drum & bass

Rumble

The low, reverb-tail bass under the kick in techno — the kick's own tail sent to a distorted reverb/delay, sidechained from itself. Deep techno

Rumble kick

A kick whose low tail fills the gap to the next kick — the rumble baked into the drum. Kick

Shuffle / swing

Delaying every other 16th (or 8th) note; 50% = straight, 60%+ = heavy. MPC swing, Live grooves. Genre tempo map

Skank

The offbeat chord chop of reggae and dub — guitar or organ on the "and" of each beat. Dub & reggae

Skippy

UK garage / 2-step hats and percussion that are heavily swung and syncopated, feeling like they skip. UK garage

Stab

See chord stab; in dubstep also a short bass hit. Chords & stabs

Steppers

Dub/reggae drum feel with the kick on every beat (four-to-the-floor). Dub & reggae

Sub drop

A descending sine sweep from ~100 Hz to ~30 Hz used as a downbeat marker. FX, risers & impacts

Tearout

Aggressive, heavily distorted dubstep bass style; also the brostep-era "tearout" sections of maximal noise bass. Dubstep

Tresillo

The 3-3-2 rhythmic cell (X..X..X.) that underlies reggaeton, trap hats, 2-step and the Afro-house kick. Afro house & amapiano

Version

In reggae, the instrumental/dub mix on the B-side; "to version" is to reuse a riddim. Dub & reggae

Wobble

LFO on a filter cutoff over a bass at tempo-synced rates — the original dubstep bass movement. Wobble & growl bass

Wub

One cycle of a wobble; "wubs" is the mocking name for the whole genre. Wobble & growl bass

Yoi

The Japanese-style high-pitched vocal shout sample ("yoi!"/"yoi yoi") dropped as a one-shot accent in dubstep, riddim and juke. Voice & vocals

Yoy / "yo"

Shouted vocal-sample accents in general (Think break "yeah" / "woo", Lyn Collins "yeah woo") used on drop downbeats. Jungle & breakbeat

A few terms in context

Three of the slang terms above describe things you can see on a step grid. "2-step" and "one-drop" are drum facts; "halftime" is the relationship between a tempo and where the snare sits.

Related

• Frequency chart — ranges behind the spectral terms.
• Genre tempo map — BPM, swing and tempo families.
• Keyboard shortcuts — the Live vocabulary in keystrokes.
• Synthesis primer — the synthesis section, expanded.