Get hands-on control of Euclidean rhythms on Ableton Push, Push 2, Push 3, and even Push 3 standalone, with Mark Towers’ new creation for Max for Live. And wow, this is addictive–especially for generating geometric melodies and techno grooves.
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There are a lot of Euclidean goodies at Isotonik Studios now. I’d been using Mark Towers’ Euclidean Mode:Fire, which is terrific, but its hardware integration works best with Akai Fire and Force. As the name makes clear, Push:Euclidean Mode is all about Ableton Push.
And if you use a Push in jam sessions or have one sitting in your production setup, this thing gives you just instant inspiration and satisfaction.
For those just discovering this site, the approach generates rhythms by symmetrically distributing hits across a set number of steps. It’s so named because it uses the Euclidean algorithm for finding the greatest whole-number divisor of two integers. That in turn sounds really good musically, and like a lot of clave rhythms and other common rhythmic patterns. Long before mathematician Godfried Toussaint pointed this out, you can hear producers instinctively adding this to techno, for instance, no doubt because they were already steeped in Afro-American and Afro-Cuban music that do the same.
What’s great about Mark’s implementation for Push:Euclidean Mode is that it makes everything readily accessible online, by making full use of the Ableton Push control configuration:
- The lower left-hand 8×8 grid lets you select up to 16 tracks of sequence information, each set to a single pitch
- Lower right-hand grid gives you control of maximum velocity
- The top half of the grid shows the disposition of hits in steps and lets you select the last step
- Device encoder mappings let you dial in the steps and hits you want, plus make rotations and transpositions (and adjust velocity and performance settings)
All of this becomes performative and improvisatory. Being able to quickly set the last step on the grid–as on Mark’s previous device–is a boon to syncopation and polyrhythms. There are a bunch of velocity presets for shaping velocity across the pattern, or you can create your own. And you get independent per-track control of steps, hits, rotation, pitch, and velocity, with global swing, rate control, and MIDI pattern export.
Just watch how quickly you can build up a pattern. I didn’t set this up as a demo; I just started going with a stock Ableton techno kit. I can’t wait to play with it more – without the video camera running; that always makes me nervous.
I was able to work with Mark today, and we even tweaked a couple of things. Everything is working seamlessly now – including one-button mapping to your controller, which takes over the grid. (To get back to melodic or sequencer views, you just swap over to the active device.)
Bonus – since this works with Push 3 standalone, if you do have that hardware, you can use just your Ableton Push as a controller for other hardware or (via CV) analog and modular. Toting that to a studio session with Eurorack has some appeal. (If you have one of the controllers, of course, you can do the same with an appropriate interface.)
Here’s a full tour:
And here’s another look at what a jam session can be like. (I have no idea what their handle means; I can ask.)
Enjoy! I can already tell I’m going to use the hell out of this one…
Push:Euclidean Mode by Mark Towers