Song Sketch 2 (Starter Pack) by XY Studio Tools
A WORKFLOW TOOL THAT LETS YOU QUICKLY TURN YOUR SONG IDEA INTO A FULL ARRANGEMENT.
TRIPLE PACK SAVINGS: Add any three or more XY Studiotools products to your cart and save 20% automatically at checkout!
Song Sketch 2 is a Max for Live tool for working with song arrangement in Ableton Live. In Song Sketch 2, you can load, import, edit and create different arrangement patterns and apply them to your loops. In this way, you can quickly draft an arrangement, experiment with different options and evaluate arrangement ideas for the music that you are composing.
The Starter edition includes a total of 72 arrangement templates in 12 genres. Song Sketch 2 is also available in a Pro edition (172 templates in 14 genres). More templates are available in expansion packs.
USER GUIDE: CLICK HERE
Song Sketch 2 (Starter Pack) by XY Studio Tools
A WORKFLOW TOOL THAT LETS YOU QUICKLY TURN YOUR SONG IDEA INTO A FULL ARRANGEMENT.
TRIPLE PACK SAVINGS: Add any three or more XY Studiotools products to your cart and save 20% automatically at checkout!
Song Sketch 2 is a Max for Live tool for working with song arrangement in Ableton Live. In Song Sketch 2, you can load, import, edit and create different arrangement patterns and apply them to your loops. In this way, you can quickly draft an arrangement, experiment with different options and evaluate arrangement ideas for the music that you are composing.
The Starter edition includes a total of 72 arrangement templates in 12 genres. Song Sketch 2 is also available in a Pro edition (172 templates in 14 genres). More templates are available in expansion packs.
USER GUIDE: CLICK HERE
Additional information
| MaxforLive | Control Devices |
|---|---|
| Ableton Live Compatibility | Ableton Live 11 Standard with MaxforLive, Ableton Live 11 Suite, Ableton Live 12 Standard with MaxforLive, Ableton Live 12 Suite |
| Min. Requirements | Ableton Live 11 Standard with MaxforLive Installed or Ableton Live 11 Suite |
| OS | Mac, Windows |
PRICE: £29.00
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December 23, 2021
I just gave this a test run two days ago and it’s so straight forward and easy to use. I quickly turned one of my abandoned projects into a song! Recommended!
Song Sketch 2 (Starter Pack) by XY Studio Tools
With Song Sketch 2 you can quickly draft an arrangement based on your loop and work with different arrangement options for the music that you are composing.
SONG SKETCH 2 – WORKFLOW
The Song Sketch workflow takes you from a loop to a full track in a few steps:
- Start with your loop. Start with the loop that you are working on. You can use midi- and audio clips of different lengths. For each track or group of tracks, you can use either just one scene of clips or several different scenes.
- Apply an arrangement pattern. Load a template with an arrangement pattern for the genre. You can either use preset templates in Song Sketch, or you can create your own templates. In Live 11, it is also possible to import the structure of an arrangement into Song Sketch.
- Assign parts. When loading a template, your tracks will be matched with the different tracks in the template. Before placing the arrangement, consider how the tracks are assigned and make the adjustments that you like.
- Define scenes. You now have a draft arrangement to start working from. If you are using several scenes, for example if you like to use a different chord progression in choruses, select in which section each scene should be used.
- Play back the first draft. Click the “To Arr” button to place the arrangement onto the Live Arrangement View and play back to hear the first draft.
- Edit. Edit the song structure in Song Sketch, for example by changing the length of sections, adding new sections, drawing bars and adding automation.
- Play back and continue your workflow in the Arrangement View. Update the Live Arrangement View and listen to your result. You now have a starting point for a track and can continue your workflow in the Live Arrangement View, for example to work on layering sounds, creating variation throughout the track and adding automation.
SONG SKETCH 2 – KEY FEATURES
- Grouped tracks: Assign a group of tracks in the Live set to one part in the arrangement template
- Multiple scenes: Use several different scenes to create variation between song sections
- Edit and create: Make settings for song sections, draw/edit your arrangement and save your own templates
- Expanded view: Get more space to work in the pop out window
- Drum rack tool: Auto separate drum racks to individual clips to enable arranging different drum parts
- Import arrangements from Live: Import existing Live sets into Song Sketch (in Live 11)
SONG SKETCH 2 – ARRANGEMENT TEMPLATES
Song Sketch 2 Starter comes with 72 arrangement templates in 12 different genres and styles. Applying various arrangement templates enables you to quickly test your loops in a full length song. You can also customise the arrangements, for instance by applying the pattern to your loops in different ways, or by editing the length and placement of the different parts of your song. Any work you do in Song Sketch can be saved as a new arrangement template. You can also create your own templates from scratch.
Templates included in Song Sketch 2 Starter:
- 6 x Hip Hop
- 6 x House
- 6 x Techno
- 6 x Dance & Mainstage
- 6 x Pop
- 6 x Drum & Bass
- 6 x Trap
- 6 x Reggae & Dancehall
- 6 x Trance
- 6 x Reggaeton
- 6 x Downtempo
- 6 x Rock & Country
SONG SKETCH 2 – COMPARE EDITIONS
Song Sketch 2 Pro: CLICK HERE
- All features
- 172 templates
- 14 genres
Song Sketch 2 Starter: CLICK HERE
- All features
- 72 templates
- 12 genres
SONG SKETCH 2 – EXPANSION PACKS – AVAILABLE SEPARATELY
Expansion pack are available separately and give you additional arrangement templates in a style of your choice, they are compatible with Song Sketch 2 Pro and Song Sketch 2 Starter editions. Available expansion packs include:
- 12 x Mid Tempo Pop
- 12 x Detroit Deep House
- 12 x Deep Techno
- 24 x Melodic House and Techno
- 24 x Minimal / Deep Tech / Deep House
- 12 x Tech House
- 12 x Synthwave
- 24 x Deep & Hypnotic Techno
- 24 x Detroit Electro
- 24 x Organic House & Downtempo
- 24 x Instrumental Beats
BUILD YOUR OWN BUNDLE: Purchase any 3 XY Studio Products at the same time and claim a 20% Discount automatically applied at checkout!
ALSO AVAIALBLE: SONG SKETCH | LOOP FLIP | KEY ARRANGER
Frequently Asked Questions
Song Sketch 2 requires Ableton Live with Max for Live, which is included in Live Suite or available as a separate add-on. Live 11 or later is recommended, particularly if you want to use the feature that imports arrangement structure directly from an existing project.
You start with your existing loop or clips in Ableton’s Session View, then load or create an arrangement pattern template that maps out a song structure for your genre. Song Sketch 2 then assigns your clips to the relevant parts of that structure, letting you quickly generate a full arrangement in the Arrangement View.
You can use the included preset templates as a starting point, but you are also free to build and save your own custom arrangement patterns. This makes it adaptable to any genre or personal workflow style.
Yes, Song Sketch 2 supports both MIDI and audio clips, and you can work with clips of different lengths. You can also assign either a single scene or multiple different scenes per track or group of tracks.
The Starter Pack includes the Song Sketch 2 Max for Live device along with a selection of preset arrangement pattern templates to get you up and running straight away. It gives you everything you need to begin moving from loop ideas to full track arrangements immediately.
After purchase you will receive a download from Isotonik Studios. The Max for Live device simply needs to be placed in your Ableton User Library or dragged directly into a Live set, and it will be ready to use without any additional configuration.
Song Sketch 2 is built to speed up the workflow for producers at any level. Experienced producers will find it useful for rapidly prototyping arrangement ideas and comparing different structures, while those newer to arrangement will benefit from the genre-based templates as a solid starting framework.
Important Information
Version 2.1.1 – Released 6th November 2023
Bug fixes:
Arrangement would not work in a specific case: If using “FX type” tracks together with multiple scenes, the arrangement would not work in case clips were missing on some of the scenes in use
Version 2.1.0 – Released 14th November 2022
New features in Song Sketch 2.1
- Improved Clip Placement (Live 11) When clips are placed on the arrangement view, they are placed with the original loop points from the clip, instead of placed with duplicated notes within the clips (or repeated clips for audio). You can choose to restart clips at every new section. The new clip placement is faster, more flexible in terms of which material you can use, and makes it easier to work with the material once arranged.
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Placing Locators The new “Place Locators” button places locators according to the sections in the arrangement.
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Sections Track (Live 11) With the “Sections Track” feature, you will get an extra track on top of your other tracks with empty midi clips that are named according to the sections in the arrangement. (“Sections Track” replaces “Section Names on Clips” for Live 11 users.)
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Use Scene Names Any scene names in the Live set can be transferred to the scene settings in Song Sketch, making it easier to work with settings for multiple scenes in Song Sketch.
Other updates in 2.1:
-
Separate drum rack function is updated to work with the latest Ableton and Max version
-
Improved font graphics for section names.
HOW TO INSTALL – VIDEO:
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Unzip the downloaded file
2. Place the folder “Song Sketch” with all its content in: User Library / Presets / Audio Effects / Max Audio Effect
3. Place the file “Sketch Rack.adg” in: User Library / Presets / Audio Effects / Audio Effect Rack
HOW TO USE
To use Song Sketch: In the Live browser, select “Max for Live” and “Max Audio Effect” and drag “Song Sketch.amxd” to a new channel
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