With all of the incredible music production tools we now have beneath our fingertips, it’s easier and easier to make an end product that lacks the particular warmth of good old human error. You probably didn’t start writing with the idea that you wanted to create something that sounded like it was generated by a machine, so how do you add that all-important human touch? Here, Ableton Live expert Hens Zimmerman shares some very human words of wisdom.

Live coding: type programming code in and spit music out. It might sound a bit much, but if you’re an Ableton Live user looking for a new way to get creative, you’ve just found it. If you want to impress your hoards of fans on stage or at home, it’s time to set that inner nerd free and invite Sonic Pi into your Ableton software. Here, Guestblogger Hens Zimmerman shows you the way.

Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman returns to show you how you can draft up tracks with Ableton Note before turning them into fully-fledged songs in Ableton Live.

It sounds like the most anti-creative thing you could do: copying and pasting and analysing, rather than playing in a sandpit of sounds and seeing what happens. But the truth is that a more measured and ‘anti-creative’ approach can actually help you get unstuck. You know all too well that around three-quarters of those amazing sparks of inspiration you have end up in that little folder marked ‘Ideas’. Here, Guestblogger Hens Zimmerman reveals how using arrangement templates can really help free those locked up ideas and bring them kicking and screaming into the world.

While it isn’t the most obvious, live editing is actually one of the best ways to create music using Ableton Live, especially when it comes to genres where quick-switching is the name of the game, like drum-and-bass and other glitchy styles. Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman is back to show you how to remix in real time via seven simple steps.

Ever wondered what MPE, or MIDI Polyphonic Expression can do for your Ableton Live productions? Guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman is here to explain the potential of this ground-breaking MIDI feature and show you how MPE can be used to shape super-expressive sounds.

Finding the right chords for a new tune is never easy. Thankfully, guest-blogger Hens Zimmerman is here to help ease the process with Ableton Live, but first, let’s look at a little music theory.