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Sonic Bloom

12 stories

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsEverything SideChain in Ableton Live Most people are familiar with compressor side-chaining by now, but Ableton Live offers more than just the Compressor that allow for sidechaining.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsHidden Features Ableton Live’s Instruments & MIDI Effects In this video tutorial we're going to take a look at which instruments and MIDI effects in Ableton Live have hidden features, and also what they're good for.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsDrum Sampler for Sound Design In this video, we’ll explore Drum Sampler’s Stretch, Loop, Pitch Env, FM and Ring Mod effects on one-shots and loops for sound design.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsFree Omnichord Strums Live Pack 6 free Instrument Racks based on all the Omnichord strums from an OM-27 model. 4 with Drum Sampler, 2 with Simpler. Fully macro mapped. For Ableton Live 12.4 Intro+.

Sonic BloomDAW & plugins7 Free Max for Live Recorders and Loopers In this video, we explore 6 free Max for Live recorders and loopers, as well as 1 paid looper. They vary in intended use and functionality quite significantly.

Sonic BloomDAW & plugins15 Tips for Building Racks Better & Faster in Ableton Live 15 useful tips and tricks to help you build racks in Ableton Live more quickly, resulting in leaner racks that are perfect for studio or stage.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsMy 16 Favourite Ableton Extensions So Far (After Just 2 Days) Ableton Extensions are accessible through context menus of tracks, clips, MIDI, devices, tempo, and other parts of a Live Set to automate, transform, and more.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsAudio Effect Updates in Live 12.4: Erosion, Chorus-Ensemble, Delay Ableton Live 12.4 updates Erosion, Delay, and Chorus-Ensemble; here’s a look at the new features and their effects on sound and in sound design.

Sonic BloomDAW & plugins25 Hidden Features in Ableton Live Explore 25 often-overlooked Ableton Live features, mostly hidden in context menus—covering the browser, control bar, mixer section, and scenes.

Sonic BloomDAW & plugins5 Warping Sound Design Techniques In this video you'll learn 5 ways to use warping in Ableton Live for sound design. We'll use it to make drones, risers, rhythmic patterns, granular textures and more.

Sonic BloomDAW & plugins6 Free Max for Live Devices You Didn’t Know You Needed I've checked out all recently released free Max for Live devices and show you my 6 favourites, including a preset generator, MIDI bounce, and smooth variations.

Sonic BloomDAW & pluginsFree Ableton Live 12 Theme Set No. 6 (Moody Collection) The free Ableton Live 12 Theme Set No. 6 contains 12 themes for Ableton Live 12. Six brand new ones as well as six remixed ones. They’re all dark grey, some neutral, some tinted.

On the calendar

· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every six hours, linked to the original

About

Three pins, and nearly every signal in this business passes through them.

The magazine is named after the cable: the microphone in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX run that fires the lights. Studio, stage and rig share the same cable. Most magazines pick one of the three. This one covers all of it, because the people we read do too — the engineer mixing a record on Tuesday is on front of house by Saturday.

Around a hundred and sixty sources, in English, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Italian: makers and their release notes, reviewers who put a hand on the thing, studios and touring crews, the producers and collectives surfacing this month and the scenes they came out of. Synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lighting. What the trade is talking about is counted and plotted. The editor's letter has just started; it will find its rhythm.

For each story: a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link out. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the maker or the photographer. A German review appears in German and a Japanese one in Japanese, as the writer published it; the link goes to the original.

Nothing is sold on this site. When a link leads to a shop, it is the maker's shop, not ours.