B RECORDS

Ableton Live 12.2 is now in public beta. Free for all Live 12 users, the next update speeds up essential creative workflows and brings new and updated devices to all editions of Live 12 – along with a host of new features for Push, and an additional device for Move and Note.

Bounce to New Track

You can now bounce clips or time selections on any MIDI or audio track, including all processing, to a new audio track with just a few clicks – or use Bounce Track in Place to convert the whole track to audio.

Explore new and updated devices 

Auto Filter has been a core audio effect since the very first version of Live – but it sounds and looks like new in 12.2. Experiment with creative filter types like Vowel, DJ, and Comb, and shape sounds with greater precision thanks to Auto Filter’s revamped modulation section, new mixing controls, and real-time visualization. Auto Filter also comes to Move and Note for the first time.

Roar, Live 12 Suite’s flexible saturation and modulation machine, adds a new Delay routing mode and Dispersion filter type, plus an external audio and MIDI sidechain – allowing you to play the pitch of the feedback in Note mode.

Meld’s new Chord oscillator lets you play chords from a single MIDI note with four sawtooth waves. Adjust or modulate the chord shape and inversion, and keep everything in key with Meld’s scale awareness. The synth also gets a new Scrambler LFO effect.

Spectral Resonator and Resonators now support Live 12’s scale awareness and tuning systems.

Search, tag and browse more easily 

Live’s Browser has been redesigned to help you find and organize your content more efficiently. The new Quick Tags panel lets you view, edit and assign tags directly in the Browser. The Filter View has been simplified, and its hidden features have been made more discoverable.

You can customize the look of any label and user folder in your sidebar with a range of new icons, and the Browser lets you view multiple columns of metadata at once.

For more details, head to the Live 12.2 beta release notes*.

What’s new for Push?

Live 12.2 brings major new creative features to Push. Expressive 16 Pitches lets you make melodies spanning multiple octaves from your drums and one-shot samples, with added fine control from Push’s MPE-enabled pads. 

You can now structure songs, perform Sets, and explore flexible ways of sequencing clips and scenes on Push, with Follow Actions. 

Fine-tune the timing, feel, and even the tonality of your music, with full access to the Groove Pool and Live 12’s Tuning Systems, plus Bounce to New Track directly from Push. 

And in addition to the all-new Expressive Chords and the updates to Auto Filter, Meld, and Roar, Live 12.2 brings the External Audio Effect device to Push – enabling you to use hardware audio effects wherever you like in your Push Set. 

For a full list of what’s new for each version of Push, see the release notes for the Live 12 beta on Push*.

If you own a Live 12 license, you can sign up for the Ableton beta program* to try the new features now.

*Note: Release notes and the Ableton beta program are only available in English

Start using FM8 in your electronic music

Once again, we want to give a special shout-out to Laidback Luke for coming on and talking about the history of FM synthesis and why now is the perfect time to start embracing this method of sound design. It might seem intimidating at first, but it’s nowhere near as complicated as it looks.

FM synthesis is having a huge resurgence, whether it’s the donk-style sounds in techno and house or the iconic Reese bass, which is everywhere from drum and bass to house, tech house, and beyond.

This sound is defining the moment, and there’s no better time to start using tools like FM8 to recreate these tones. Laidback Luke shared a ton of workflow tips, his go-to presets, and the parameters he tweaks most when dialing in sounds.

Check out FM8 below, and once again, a huge thanks to Laidback Luke. Don’t forget to stream his latest track, It Clicked, out now on Dim Mak Records. Add it to your playlist and share it – because this guy is a living legend, and everything he touches in the studio is absolute gold.

Demo FM8 free

1. Subtle textures that keep you hooked

One of the key strengths of “All I Got” is its background movement – textures and subtle details that fill out the sound without overwhelming the mix or distracting from the main elements. A combination of white noise sweeps and percussive sounds, both small and not-so-small, creates a sense of movement just below the surface, evolving subtly as the track progresses.

Keinemusik keeps these background elements subtle, prioritizing the atmosphere they create rather than drawing direct focus. This approach rewards repeat listening – these textures may not be immediately apparent, but they add a tension and depth that makes the track compelling. This adds replay value, as listeners notice something new each time.

Komplete’s Replika XT plugin is excellent for creating similar dynamic background elements. Replika XT emulates analog-style delays and modulation, creating textures that are both rich and natural. The analog characteristics of this delay add a nuanced, driven sound that contributes to the track’s backdrop without overtaking it.

Pro tip: Use the Lo and Hi Cut parameters to control where the delay sits in the mix. Cutting higher frequencies can help blend the delay into the track’s background, especially for detailed elements. Automating these cuts can help the delay weave in and out of focus at key moments.

Some musicians are content working with familiar, time-tested instruments that deliver predictable but reliable results. Others, however, push beyond convention. They seek to make sounds that could never have been heard before. Over time, musicians and instrument makers have experimented with new materials and designs that sometimes lead to groundbreaking inventions, and sometimes make oddities that push the boundaries of what we consider music to be.

These weird instruments challenge our way of thinking about music-making. Some have found their way into mainstream music, but others remain niche curiosities that are waiting to be explored by adventurous composers and music producers.

In this article, we’re diving into ten of the weirdest instruments ever created. Some are steeped in tradition, and others are futuristic experiments. All of them show how far musicians will go in the pursuit of new sounds.

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Add some of these sounds in your music using Komplete 15, a music production bundle that has everything you need to make the music that matters to you.

Discover Komplete 15

Creating weird instruments: musicians as innovators

The need for new sounds is a constant in music. As genres evolve, we as artists and producers look for fresh ways to capture our artistic visions. Sometimes, we simply want to surprise our audiences. That’s why we can spend hours creating the perfect synth patch, why orchestral composers experiment with extended techniques, and why some experimental musicians build custom instruments from scratch.

Some of the most famous innovations in music history started as strange, niche ideas. The electric guitar, the synthesizer, and the drum machine were once considered radical departures from traditional instruments. Today, they define entire genres.

Let’s take a look at some of the most unique instruments of all time.

Kerry, could you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to found the Young Urban Arts Foundation?

I was born into chaos at Holloway Prison, to a mother serving time. My father was deeply involved in crime and my early years were marked by instability, poverty and survival. I grew up in an environment where options felt limited and I saw how easy it was to get caught in a cycle that seemed impossible to escape.

Music became more than just an escape, it was a lifeline. It connected me to mentors, to people who genuinely cared and to a world beyond what I knew. Without those key influences, without those people who saw something in me before I saw it in myself, my story could have been very different.

I was at a crossroads. One where the wrong step could have taken me down a very different path. Instead, I was given an opportunity. There wasn’t a single defining moment but a series of moments. People, music and experiences that guided me towards something greater. One of those was my time in New York, immersed in hip-hop culture, battling, learning and seeing that there was more out there for me. That trip shifted my perspective, it made me realise that my voice had power.

That’s why I founded the Young Urban Arts Foundation (YUAF) because I know that access to creativity, mentorship and opportunity can change lives. I wanted to create the kind of support system I never had growing up. A space where young people feel seen, heard and empowered. Through our Studio Bus, we bring creativity directly into communities, offering young people a way to express themselves, heal and build self-belief.

For me, music was never just about sound, it was about survival, transformation and rewriting my story. Now, through YUAF, I’m helping the next generation rewrite theirs.

Daphne Oram (1925–2003) was a trailblazing electronic composer, inventor of the Oramics Machine, and a passionate advocate for electronic music as a legitimate art form. She co-founded the influential BBC Radiophonic Workshop and contributed significantly to the development of experimental sound techniques. Despite receiving an offer to study at The Royal College of Music in 1942, Oram chose to work as a Junior Studio Engineer at the BBC, where her career in electronic music began.

By the mid-1940s, Oram was composing music that combined acoustic orchestration with live electronics and turntables. She lobbied the BBC to provide electronic music facilities and began experimenting with musique concrète techniques, recording, manipulating, and looping tape sounds.

In the 1950s, her groundbreaking experiments with tape machines culminated in the creation of the BBC’s first wholly electronic score using sine wave oscillators, tape recorders, and filters. This growing demand for electronic sounds led to the establishment of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in 1958, which Oram co-founded.

Disillusioned by the BBC’s focus on using the Workshop primarily for background music and sound effects rather than original compositions, Oram left the organization just one year after its founding. She set up her own studio, Oramics Studios for Electronic Composition, at Tower Folly. There, she explored her artistic vision more fully, composing works for radio, film, advertisements, exhibitions, and live performances. Her uncredited contributions even included sound effects for James Bond films such as Dr. No and Goldfinger.

Oram’s most notable invention, the Oramics Machine, was a revolutionary “drawn sound” synthesis and sequencing system. It allowed users to draw waveforms, pitches, and volume envelopes on film to generate sounds, embodying her innovative spirit and commitment to expanding the boundaries of electronic music. Today, she is remembered as a pioneer whose contributions helped shape the evolution of electronic music.

What is a soundtrack?

In its broadest sense, “soundtrack” can mean all of the sound in a film, including music, dialogue, and foley. Some people use the term soundtrack to refer to a film’s general soundworld – not just the music.

More often, though, “soundtrack” describes the songs or compositions used in a film – especially if these songs weren’t made specifically for the film. Many films use pre-existing music, such as beloved pop songs or famous classical pieces, to evoke a certain mood or era. When we talk about this music, we’re talking about a movie’s soundtrack.

Assembling a soundtrack is often the work of a Music Supervisor, who sources the perfect music and gets it licensed for use in the film.

To make things more complicated, “soundtrack” has an extra, overlapping meaning. When the music from a film is released commercially, this release is often referred to as the soundtrack, or OST (original soundtrack).

An OST typically features music from the original score, pre-existing songs used in the film, or a combination of the two. It might also include dialogue and foley, or even music that was never featured in the film – such as a song that the director found inspiring.

The best soundtracks (or OSTs) create a pleasurable listening experience that immerses the listener in the atmosphere of the film. Different OSTs approach this in different ways.