Guitar, Bass Guitar & Band Instruments in Live 12

Recording guitar and bass DI into Live: input, gain, latency, monitoring

A clean DI recorded at sane level is the raw material for everything below; you can re-amp it forever. Get impedance and latency right once and save it as a template track.

1. Plug into the interface's Hi-Z / Instrument input (≈1 MΩ). A line input loads the pickups and you lose top end and output — the DI will sound dull and no amp sim fixes that.
2. Preferences › Audio: buffer 64–128 samples at 48 kHz for tracking (≈3–6 ms round trip plus converter latency). Switch back to 512+ for mixing.
3. Audio track: Audio From Ext. In, choose the mono input (1 or 2, not 1/2). Monitor set to In while playing through amp sims; Auto if you monitor the interface directly.
4. Set interface gain so the hardest strum peaks around −12 dBFS on the track meter. Guitars have peaks 15–20 dB above average level; clipping a DI is permanent and ugly.
5. Calibrate latency once: Preferences › Audio › Driver Error Compensation. Loop a cable from output to input, record a click, measure the offset in samples, enter it. After that recorded takes land on the grid.
6. In the Options menu, enable Reduced Latency When Monitoring: Live then bypasses delay compensation on monitored tracks so plug-in latency elsewhere doesn't add to what you hear.
7. Arm, Session or Arrangement record. Record the DI dry; the Amp chain is on the track, not printed.

Amp & Cabinet deep-dive: the seven amp models, cabs, mics and Dual mode

Amp offers seven models; Cabinet five speaker types, two mic types and three mic positions. Most bad sim tones are a mismatched model/cab pair or too much Gain with too little Middle.

1. Pick the model by genre (table), then set Gain low. Turn it up until the chord just stops ringing clean, then back off 1. Amp sims sound bigger with less gain than you think.
2. Middle is your mix position. Guitars that disappear next to synths need Middle 6–8; scooped mids (Middle 2) only work solo.
3. Presence adds upper bite after the tone stack; it interacts with Cabinet. Start at 4.
4. Cabinet: 1x12 tight/boxy, 2x12 balanced, 4x12 big low-mid thump, 4x10 Bass for bass, and the small-speaker option for lo-fi/practice-amp character.
5. Mic: Dynamic (mid-forward, rejects fizz) vs Condenser (fuller, brighter). Position: Near On-Axis brightest and most aggressive, Near Off-Axis darker/smoother, Far roomier, less low end.
6. Dual (Amp and Cabinet each have a Mono/Dual switch): processes L and R separately. Feed it a stereo source (chorus before the amp, or a double-tracked pair) and you get two independent amps — wide without phase tricks.

Pedal and Overdrive: OD, Distortion, Fuzz before the amp

Pedal has three types — OD (soft, mid-hump), Distortion (harder, tighter) and Fuzz (gated, square, splatty) — with Gain, Output, Bass/Mid/Treble (with a Mid frequency switch), a Sub switch and Dry/Wet. Overdrive is the older, simpler band-pass-into-drive device with Drive, Tone and Dynamics.

Roar as a gated, octave-up fuzz

Roar's Rectify shaper produces the octave-up "ring" of an Octavia-style fuzz; Bit Crush or Hard in a second serial stage adds the splatty gate. Feed it into Cabinet and it's a guitar fuzz no pedal model gives you.

1. Roar routing Serial. Stage 1 shaper Rectify, moderate amount — full-wave rectification doubles the frequency (octave up) and adds even harmonics.
2. Stage 2 Hard or Diode, drive high, for the square-ish fuzz sustain.
3. Pre-shaper band-pass around 700–1200 Hz: fuzzes sound best when the low end is cut before clipping (less intermod mud on chords).
4. Modulation: route the Envelope Follower to Stage 2 drive negatively, so loud picks distort slightly less — feels like a real dynamic fuzz.
5. Always follow with Cabinet. Then a Gate to get the abrupt fuzz cutoff.

Post-punk chorus/flanger clean tone

The thin, metallic, chorused clean of early-80s post-punk: bright single-coil, high strings, a chorus or flanger set slow and deep, short slapback, and a lot of space around it. It's a treble instrument — the bass guitar carries the melody below.

1. Compress before the amp: post-punk cleans are even and percussive, every 16th audible.
2. Amp Clean, Treble high, Bass low. HP at 200 Hz before the amp so there's no low-mid bloom to fight the bass.
3. Chorus-Ensemble in Chorus mode, rate 0.3–0.6 Hz, high amount. For the harsher, jet-like version use Phaser-Flanger in Flanger mode, slow LFO (0.1–0.2 Hz), high feedback (60–75%) — the classic "underwater metallic" sweep.
4. Echo short (100–160 ms) at low feedback, or synced 1/8 dotted at ~130 BPM for the chiming-arpeggio thing.

Variations: Chorus-Ensemble in Vibrato mode (100% wet) for warped seasick leads; Amp in Dual with chorus before it for wide stereo; bass guitar through the same chorus (but HP the chorus return at 200 Hz) for the "lead bass" sound.

Shoegaze wall: fuzz → reverse reverb → shimmer → echo, with whammy glide

Shoegaze is fuzz smeared into a reverb so long and dense that chords become a texture, plus the "glide" from bending the whole chord with a tremolo arm. In Live you build the wall in parallel and get the bend from pitch modulation.

1. Reverse reverb swells: duplicate the guitar track, reverse the clip (Clip view › Rev), put Hybrid Reverb 100% wet with a 6–10 s tail, resample to a new track, reverse that audio again. Now each chord is preceded by its own reverb rising into it. Slide it earlier by 1/16–1/8 to taste.
2. Live alternative: send to a return with Hybrid Reverb (8 s, 100% wet) and a Compressor sidechained from the dry guitar (ratio 4:1, release 600 ms) — the tail swells up between strums, a forward-moving bloom that stays playable.
3. Shimmer: Hybrid Reverb algorithm Shimmer, pitch +12, long decay, on a return, HP the send at 400 Hz so the octave-up doesn't double the mud.
4. Echo after the reverb, long modulated delay with its own reverb; modulation rate low (0.2–0.5 Hz) for the seasick pitch drift.
5. Glide ("whammy"): put Shifter after the rack (pitch mode, 100% wet) and map its pitch to a macro, range 0 to −1 semitone, then automate or play it from a Push encoder or expression pedal. Bending into chords from slightly flat is the signature. On a synth guitar, use the instrument's pitch-bend range of 2 st and ride the wheel.

Dub and post-rock delays: dotted-eighth cascades and throws

Two delay philosophies: post-rock uses a dotted-eighth delay played with to make one guitar sound like a cascade of 16ths; dub uses throws — the delay is an instrument you ride in and out.

1. Post-rock: Echo synced, both channels at 3/16 (or L 3/16, R 1/4 for spread), feedback 30–40%, light modulation. Play straight 8ths. Wet 30–45%.
2. Dub throws: guitar skank (offbeat chops, Amp Clean, short) dry; a return with Echo (1/4 dotted, FB 60–75%, Character Wobble/Noise up a bit, filter on) and Auto Filter (BP, mapped to a macro). Map the send level to a Push encoder or button and throw single chops into it.
3. Use Echo's Ducking so repeats sit under the dry playing and bloom in the gaps.

Reamping through real amps and pedals (External Audio Effect)

Send a recorded DI (or a synth) out of the interface into real pedals/amp/eurorack and back, inside the device chain, with latency compensated.

1. Interface line out → reamp box (converts line level/low impedance to instrument level/high impedance) → pedals → amp → mic → interface input. Without a reamp box the pedals see the wrong level and impedance; fuzzes especially sound wrong.
2. External Audio Effect: Audio To = the out, Audio From = the mic input. Gain staging: start with Gain around −6 dB.
3. Click the Hardware Latency ping/measure (or set the value manually in ms/samples): Live compensates so the return aligns with the rest of the set.
4. Print it: it's real-time hardware. Freeze won't work through hardware; resample to a new audio track (Audio From = the reamped track, Post FX) or record the return input directly.

Re-amping synths through Amp/Cabinet (in the box)

Synth through amp sim is half the post-punk/darkwave synth sound: Cabinet's speaker roll-off makes harsh digital waveforms sound physical and lets them sit next to real guitars.

1. TD-3 / acid line → Amp Heavy → Cabinet 4x12: industrial acid with a speaker-cone edge.
2. Reese or Meld Dual Saw → Pedal Fuzz → Amp Clean → 2x12: grunge-synth.
3. Use Dual mode with a stereo synth to keep the width.

Bass guitar: DI + amp parallel rack, compression, sub synth layer

Split the bass: a clean, compressed, low-passed DI chain owns the fundamentals; a driven amp chain, high-passed, owns the growl. Blend. Optionally add a sine sub triggered from the bass so the low end is as steady as a synth.

1. Compression: bass guitar note levels vary 10+ dB string to string. Compressor 4:1, attack 10–20 ms (lets the pick through), release ~100–150 ms, 4–8 dB GR. Then Glue Compressor on the whole rack, 2:1, 1–2 dB, for consistency.
2. Amp chain: HP at the crossover before distorting so the lows stay clean.
3. Sub synth layer: right-click the bass audio clip › Convert Melody to New MIDI Track, clean up wrong notes, replace the instrument with Operator (sine, A short, Release 40 ms, LP 120 Hz). Transpose −12 if the conversion landed an octave up. Mix 6–10 dB under the bass.
4. Dynamic alternative: Envelope Follower on the bass mapped to the sub chain volume, so the sub follows the playing dynamics.

Synthesized guitars when you don't own one: Tension, Collision, Electric, Simpler

Physical models plus Amp/Cabinet get closer than you'd expect, because the amp/cab does most of the "guitar" work. The tells to beat are rigid timing, identical attacks and no strum spread.

1. Voice chords like a guitar: six notes max, stacked fourths/fifths with an open top string. Use the Strum MIDI Transformation (Live 12) to spread chord notes 10–40 ms, alternating down/up direction.
2. Velocity variation on every hit (Velocity device Random 10–20, or Velocity Shaper).
3. Pitch bend range 2 st; play slides and bends with the wheel. A 50–80 ms glide on mono lines sells legato.
4. Fret noise layer: a quiet noise burst (Drum Sampler or Simpler with a short scrape) on random chord changes.

Feedback and ebow sustain: Tension bow, Granulator III freeze, Roar feedback

Infinite sustain that swells in from nothing — ebow or amp-feedback sound — is a sustained excitation with a slow attack. Three ways.

1. Tension Bow: excitator Bow, slow amp envelope attack (300–800 ms), vibrato from LFO (4–5 Hz, small depth) faded in after ~1 s. Through Amp Lead it's an ebow.
2. Granulator III freeze on a real guitar note: load the recorded note (or capture live input), park the playback position on the sustain portion, grain size 80–200 ms, spray low, small random pitch (±5 ct). The note sustains forever; ride the position slowly for movement.
3. Roar feedback: on a guitar insert, routing Feedback, feedback amount high, its pitch/frequency tuned to a note in key (the octave or fifth above the chord root). Roar regenerates that pitch like a howling amp. Map feedback amount to a macro and ride it — overshoot is dangerous: put a Limiter after it.

Tremolo picking and surf: Auto Pan-Tremolo and spring reverb

Surf is a clean, bright amp drenched in spring reverb with fast tremolo picking; the darkwave/western variant adds amplitude tremolo from the amp itself.

1. Live 12.3's Auto Pan-Tremolo in tremolo (amplitude) mode: 4–8 Hz free or 1/8–1/16 synced, sine shape for amp-style, square for choppy. Amount 40–70%. For the old-school "harmonic"/pan wobble use pan mode at the same rate.
2. Spring reverb: Hybrid Reverb convolution side with a spring impulse from its IR categories, algorithm side off or very low. Spring "drip" comes from the pick transient hitting the spring: don't compress after the reverb.
3. Tremolo picking (fast repeated notes) from MIDI: hold notes, Arpeggiator in a mode that repeats one note at 1/32 with slight velocity decay, or Note Echo with zero pitch shift. Add Velocity Random 15 so it isn't a machine gun.

Live drum kit: recording and processing multitrack drums

Typical minimal kit: kick in/out, snare top/bottom, two overheads, one room. Group them; process close mics for attack and the overheads/room for size.

1. Phase: zoom into the snare hit across snare top, overheads and room. Flip snare bottom polarity with Utility (Phase L+R) — it's opposite by default. Nudge close mics later by a few ms only if you hear comb-filter thinness; Live's track delay field (ms) does it.
2. Gates on toms (and optionally kick); use Gate's sidechain EQ to trigger only from the tom's fundamental. Snare gate is optional — bleed is part of the sound.
3. Overheads: HP at 200–400 Hz if close mics carry kick/snare body; they're for cymbals and image.
4. Drum group: Glue Compressor gently, Drum Buss after with low drive.

Drum Buss on room mics: smashed room for size

The room mic, brutally compressed and driven, blended in underneath, is the biggest kit you'll get. Drum Buss is ideal because Crunch, Damp and Transients shape exactly the room's problems.

1. Compressor ultra fast attack, ratio 10:1 or more, 12–20 dB GR: the decay of every hit (the room) comes up to the level of the hit itself.
2. Drum Buss Transients negative: further suppress attack so the room is all sustain. Damp at 5–7 kHz kills cymbal hash which otherwise explodes under compression.
3. Blend −10 to −6 dB under the close mics. Mute and unmute: kit should get bigger, not louder.
4. For krautrock motorik: room mic mono, heavy compression, Drum Buss Boom tuned to the kick for a tight, hypnotic thud.

Hannett-style dry, separated drums with digital space

The late-70s/early-80s Manchester sound associated with producer Martin Hannett as a stylistic reference: every drum recorded and treated separately, bone-dry and tightly gated, then sent into short, unnatural digital delays and reverbs. Close, cold and spacious at the same time.

1. Each kit element on its own track. Gate everything tight — no bleed, no room. Toms and snare included.
2. Short, single-repeat delays (30–90 ms, feedback 0–10%) on snare/hat sends — the "flam" doubles that make machines and humans blur.
3. A small, metallic reverb with pre-delay (Hybrid Reverb algorithm Quartz or a small plate IR), decay under 1 s.
4. Hats panned hard, very bright and quiet; kick dry and dead; snare is the only element with reverb-forward space.
5. Drum machine layer: a Drum Rack with a dry electronic tom/snare doubled with the real kit fits the style.

Gated reverb snare (80s)

Huge, bright reverb that stops dead after ~250–400 ms. Built on a return: reverb then a Gate keyed from the dry snare.

1. Return: compressor first (squashing the send brings up the room energy), then Hybrid Reverb long and bright, 100% wet.
2. Gate after the reverb, Sidechain on, Audio From = the dry snare track. Hold 200–400 ms (tie to tempo: at 120 BPM, a 1/8 note = 250 ms), release fast (10–40 ms).
3. Blend the return up to near the dry snare level — it's supposed to be loud.

Breakbeat drummer feel via groove extraction

Steal the timing and accents of a real drummer and apply them to programmed MIDI drums, synths or bass — your machines lock to the human.

1. Warp the recorded drum clip correctly first (warp markers on downbeats only; don't quantize the transients themselves).
2. Right-click the clip › Extract Groove(s). It appears in the Groove Pool.
3. Apply it to MIDI clips via the clip's Groove chooser. In the Groove Pool, set Base (1/16 for most), Timing 60–100%, Random 0–5%, Velocity 30–70%.
4. Commit when happy (clip view › Commit) so you can edit the actual timing.

Convert Drums to MIDI: replacing and augmenting a real kit

Turn a recorded kit or break into MIDI to trigger a Drum Rack: replace a weak kick, layer an 808 under the live kick, or rebuild the performance with electronic sounds while keeping the human timing.

1. Best on solo kick/snare tracks rather than full mixes. Convert each close mic separately for clean trigger data.
2. Live maps detected hits to kick (C1), snare (D1) and hi-hat (F#1). Check for false triggers (bleed) and delete them; velocity reflects hit strength.
3. Layering: keep the real kick, add a Drum Sampler sine-ish sub hit at −8 dB, tuned to the song key. Use a short decay so it only reinforces.
4. Align: converted MIDI can land a few ms late. Check against the audio waveform and nudge (or use track delay) so layers phase-align.

Real-band arrangement: take lanes and comping

Loop-record a section, each pass lands in its own take lane; then audition and swipe the best parts into the main lane.

1. Arrangement view, set the loop brace over the section, enable Loop, arm, record. Each loop pass becomes a new take lane (right-click track › Show Take Lanes if hidden).
2. Audition a lane by clicking its audition/solo button. Select a time range in a take lane and press Enter (or click) to copy that region to the main lane — the comp.
3. With a range selected, step through the takes for that range to compare quickly, then commit the winner; repeat phrase by phrase.
4. Crossfades: Live auto-adds short fades at comp boundaries; lengthen them on sustained guitar notes to hide edits.
5. Take lanes also work for MIDI — comp multiple synth-guitar performances the same way.

Following a live drummer's tempo

For live performance with a real drummer, Live can adjust its tempo to an incoming audio signal so your clips stay with the band instead of the band following a click.

1. Preferences › Link/Tempo/MIDI › Tempo Follower: choose the input (a kick or overhead mic, or a mixed drum feed).
2. Enable Follow in the control bar. Live listens, estimates tempo continuously, and smooths changes.
3. Start at a tempo close to the drummer's; let them play a bar or two before triggering synced clips.
4. All clips must be warped. Complex Pro on pads/vocals; Beats on loops; synths and MIDI just follow.
5. Studio alternative: record the drummer free, then warp the drum track with markers on each downbeat and use the warp-marker context commands ("Warp From Here") to create a tempo map so the grid follows the drummer.