IDM Techniques

Welcome to our guide to production techniques and tips for creating IDM and braindance sounds in Ableton Live, influenced by producers like Aphex Twin and Autechre. Ideas for glitching, stuttering and introducing randomness and deliberate timing errors into your synthesis.

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See also: our paid IDM preset pack: 58 IDM Racks (use this code for 60% off: SBCOM60STWD). And our free guide How To Make An IDM Beat In Ableton plus our free IDM drum sample pack: Volca Drum and Fuzz Pedal. You can find all the free Ableton presets here.

Buy our packs at our Shopify store, use this code for 60% off: SBCOM60STWD

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IDM Tips

Looped envelopes

One of my favorite ways to make weird sounds it to loop envelopes. Normally an envelope plays once per note and shapes the note, but on Wavetable and Operator you can set them to loop continuously so they act like an LFO. They retrigger and it can sound like repeating notes. If you make them really short and tight you can get almost audio rate modulations and can create some really nice glitches. Try it on amp or filter envelopes, with no release, and tight decays for stuttering, repeating chords or glitching percussion.

Grain delay

A staple for IDM – the grain delay – the great thing about it is you can tune the delays so each delay is 7 semitones (for example, as in the image below) higher than the last. Add a bit of spray too and you get some great digital artefacts.

Chorus and Phaser With Plenty Of Feedback

These can get really weird especially when you turn the feedback up which leads to some droning detuned sounds.

Beat Repeat

These are great and stutter the incoming audio. Sometimes they can sound harsh, so I normally add an Echo or Delay unit after them.

Random Velocity to FM and others.

You can add a Velocity midi effect and set it to randomly change the velocity. Then make velocity modulate different parameters on your synth. I like to set it to change the filter envelope and cut off settings randomly. In the image below it is set to make the FM source randomly out of tune.

Sample and Hold LFO

I set a sample and hold LFO to control the filter, I like 1/8 or 1/16 synced. And make sure the filter is resonant. Sample and hold is a random LFO shape, but it is stepped, so it’s like a random step sequencer. You can use it to modulate what you like but I preferred a resonant filter. In the image below I have 2 different speed S+H LFOs and they are modulating 5 parameters between them.

Arpeggiator to Random Pitch

I like to use an arpeggiator in my own racks, then add a Random Pitch midi unit after it, so the arps are always slightly different. The Random Pitch unit will change one of the notes every now and again and create constantly different arps.

You can see these techniques in action in our paid IDM preset pack: 58 IDM Racks (use this code for 60% off: SBCOM60STWD).

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IDM Techniques In Ableton Live – Video:

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

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