Detroit Techno Chord Sequences In Ableton

This is a quick guide to how to make Detroit Techno, taking inspiration from DJs like DJ bone, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood. This uses all stock Ableton plugins including the SQ sequencer which is then fed through a Chord unit to make every note a Detroit techno chord. There’s a free rack too…

You can get the Ableton rack for this in the Downloads section below.

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See also: all our Techno Technique, and Detroit Techno articles. You can find all the free Ableton presets here.

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How To Make Detroit Techno Chord Sequences In Ableton In Ableton Live

Here’s a run down of the patch from left to right of the midi effects, instruments and audio effects I’ve used to make this Detroit techno patch…

This Detroit techno sequence is made in Ableton Live 12 and uses the SQ Sequencer which is a free update if you have Live 12. The sequencer obviously puts out pitch, note, and gate / length info, but the Velocity row is what makes it great for a techno sequence as this can modulate parameters in Operator. I do this in loads of techno sequences.

I set up a Chord unit to make the sequencer notes in to chords (I set this as 0,+3,+7). I change the Strum setting to add a bit of pitch error the notes.

I set up Operator with a 4 Oscillator patch, with all Oscillators routed to the output and all saw waves, which I detune a bit for a really thick sound. Then I add feedback to a couple of the osculators to get them a bit more nasty! This ‘feedback’ is FM but the oscillator will frequency modulate itself. I add some glide too for that sliding pitch sound (which is great when you have some much higher notes in the sequence after a lower note).

And I use a fairly low cut-off lowpass filter. Then use a tight filter envelope to push quick short stabs through the filter. I add Filter Drive too for some nice distortion.

Now the patch is set up I assign velocity modulation to as much as I can, so that the sequencer modulates those parameters: I set OSC<Vel on Oscillator’s A and D so the velocity drags them out of tune. I then change the Time<Vel and Freq<Vel settings on the filter so the cut off and filter envelope length change for each note, as per the velocity row on the sequencer. You can then go and draw in velocity on the sequencer and give the sequence really rhythmic movement.

After Operator I add an Overdrive unit. I use an LFO tool to move the frequency on the Overdrive to add even more movement. Then I add more distortion with Saturator and finally I add Echo and Reverb for rhythmic delays and space.

Then I add a Drum Buss at the end for a bit of final distortion which will pick out the delays and reverb too.

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Some Other Things To Try…

Changing up the Chord on the Chord unit will have big effects on the sounds as will tweaking the sequencer. If you change the chord from 0,+3,+7 to 0,+3,+6 you’ll get a more nasty ‘Birmingham’ techno type sound. You can try adding some FM in Operator (by changing the routing) and then modulation the FM source with velocity so it changes with the sequencer.

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The Macro Controls For The Detroit Techno Chord Sequence Rack…

Here’s the Macro controls in the rack and what they do….

Time – turn it down to gate the chords short and turn it up to elongate them.
Filter Freq – Turns up the cutoff to reveal the whole chord.
Filter Res – turn it up for a bit of hi end resonance on the filter.
Filter Drive – Distortion at the filter.
Drive – Move distortion, added by the Overdrive unit.
Echo Fdbck – turn it up to add tension and create builds.
Echo Mix – Wet/dry mix of the Echo unit’s delay.
Reverb Decay – the length of the reverb – turn it up to add tension and create builds.

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Detroit Techno Chord Sequences In Ableton – Video:

Here’s a video tutorial and run down of the rack on our Youtube channel….

Please subscribe to the youtube if you haven’t yet: youtube.com/@studiobrootle 

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