CE CROSSDRIVE the device's own UI · click a tab to fold

CE CROSSDRIVE

Audio-rate cross-modulation sidechain distortion for Ableton Live. This Max for Live device drives one signal using another signal, sample by sample, for purring sub-basses and rhythmic textures. The two sounds stay separate so you can filter and balance each one on its own.

Getting started · 01

What CROSSDRIVE does

One sound pushes another around, and both stay on their own faders.

You give CROSSDRIVE two sounds. One sits in the driver’s seat. The other gets pushed around by it. Its claim to fame is the purring sub-bass: a sub that makes noise flutter in time with the bass. It is just as good for gritty 808s, rhythmic textures, and drums that chop up a pad or vocal.

You choose who drives (the Input Mode) and how rough the push is (the Drive Mode). The driver comes out clean and the pushed sound comes out shaped.

In Body mode the two sounds keep their own faders, MAIN and 2ND, so you can balance and filter them apart. In Texture mode the sound being shaped is this track, so Levels gives you one DRY/WET fader instead: your track against its own shaped self.

The two signals

Name on the device	What it is
Main (MAIN)	The audio on the track CROSSDRIVE sits on.
Secondary (SC)	A second sound: another track by sidechain, a sample loaded into the device, or the built-in noise.

Getting started · 02

Download and install

What is in the download, where to put it, and where to find it in Live.

The download unzips to one folder, CE CROSSDRIVE:

`CE CROSSDRIVE.amxd`	The device. Everything it needs is inside this one file.
`Manual.html`	This manual. Open it in any web browser.
`README.txt`	The build date and where to send feedback.

Move the whole CE CROSSDRIVE folder into your Live User Library. By default that is Music/Ableton/User Library on a Mac and Documents\Ableton\User Library on Windows.
In Live’s browser, open Places → User Library → CE CROSSDRIVE. That is where the device lives from now on: drag CE CROSSDRIVE.amxd from there onto a track.

Not sure where your User Library is? Live shows its location under Settings → Library.

Getting started · 03

Quick start: the purr

A purring sub in five steps, all on one track.

Put a clean sub on an instrument track (a sine or a soft bass patch). Drop CE CROSSDRIVE.amxd after the instrument.
In Input, choose Body, so your sub drives.
Under Secondary Signal, choose Noise and pick Wht (white).
In the Scope header, keep AM and set Ceiling near the peaks of the sub on the scope. Around −6 dB is a good start.
In Levels, set MAIN for the clean sub and 2ND for the purring noise on top.

Play a note. The noise now breathes in time with the sub. Lower notes purr slower; higher notes turn the purr into a buzz.

Next steps. Switch to Clip for a dirtier purr. Add a high-pass in Post-Filters (SC bank) so the noise stays out of the sub. Raise Tension for a stronger purr.

Getting started · 04

The device is split into 7 collapsible sections

Click a control in the preview at the top of this page to read about it, and click a column’s side tab to fold or open it.

Column	What it holds
Input	Input Mode, the secondary sound, and its level.
Pre-Filters	Filters on each sound before they meet.
Scope	AM / Clip, Ceiling, Tension, In Gain and Vol Comp, around a live waveform view.
Post-Filters	Filters on each sound after they meet.
Levels	MAIN and 2ND faders in Body, one DRY/WET blend in Texture.
Gate	Optional gate on the shaped sound.
CE Sender	Send to a CE RECEIVER.

Fold a column with its side tab. Folding never changes the sound.
Drag sliders and faders; click pills to choose.
Double-click almost any control to reset it.

How it works · 05

Body and Texture modes

Input Mode decides which sound drives and which one gets shaped.

Input Mode	Driver (clean)	Shaped
Body (default)	Main: the track the device is on, on the MAIN fader	Secondary, on the 2ND fader
Texture	Secondary Input	Main: The track the device is on.

Picking a mode. If the sound that should drive is on this track, choose Body. If it is the secondary, choose Texture.

Body mode

The track the device lives on does the driving. Put a crunchy loop on this track and bring in a smooth bass as the secondary: the crunch gets stamped onto the bass. It is also the one-track purr from the Quick start.

Texture mode

The secondary drives. Bring a sub in by sidechain and put noise on this track: the noise flutters in time with the bass, while the bass stays clean.

Here the dry driver signal is felt, not heard. It never reaches the output, so the kick, bass or whatever second signal simply acts as the driver. What leaves the device is from the original track alone, blended between dry and shaped by the single DRY/WET fader in Levels.

The Gate starts off. Choosing Texture switches the Gate off, so you hear the blend before anything chops it. Turn it on whenever you want it. Going back to Body leaves the Gate exactly as you left it.

How it works · 06

AM and Clip

Drive Mode decides how the driver pushes: smooth or rough.

The two pills at the top left of Scope choose the Drive Mode.

AM

Picture a smooth volume fader moving at the speed of your bass wave. It turns the noise down as the bass gets loud and back up as it gets quiet. The result is a clean, natural flutter: the purr.

Clip

Picture gluing the bass and the noise together and smashing them into a ceiling. It acts like a fast on/off switch and sounds dirty, crunchy and gritty. In Gain sets how hard it hits.

	AM	Clip
Sound	Smooth flutter, purr	Crunch, grit, chopped edges
Start with	Subs, pads, anything that should stay musical	808s, drums, guitars, aggressive textures

How it works · 07

Ceiling, Tension, In Gain, Vol Comp

The four controls that set how deep and how hard the effect goes.

Control	What it does
Ceiling	This sets the threshold of where the shaping will begin. Once the driving signal crosses this line, the other signal is shaped. Line the amber marks up with the driver’s peaks and slowly lower it to apply the effect.
Tension	Amount of AM / CLIP. Above 1 the purr gets tighter and stronger. Below 1 it gets softer.
In Gain	Further dial & drive the signal into the ceiling with this input gain control.
Vol Comp	Brings the shaped sound back up when strong settings make it too quiet.

Setting the Ceiling

Line the amber Ceiling marks up with the peaks of the driver on the scope. If it sounds choppy, raise the Ceiling. If the effect is too subtle, lower it.

Tip. When the secondary drives, turn up its Source Gain until its peaks meet the Ceiling.

The device · 08

Input

Who drives, what the secondary is, and how loud it arrives.

Input Mode chooses Body or Texture.

Secondary Signal chooses where the second sound comes from:

Sidechain	Another track in your set. Pick the track and the tap point in the two Live menus. “no sidechain input” in amber means nothing is arriving.
Sample	A sample loaded into the device. Drop a file on it or click Browse.
Noise	Built-in noise.

Noise

Wht White	Bright and hissy. The classic purr.
Pnk Pink	Balanced, like rain.
Red Red	Dark rumble.
Vio Violet	Thin, airy fizz.
Blu Blue	Crisp, lighter than white.
Gry Grey	Even across the range.
Blk Black	Sparse clicks. Crackle rather than hiss.

Width goes from mono to wide stereo.

SRC strip

Drag the meter to set Source Gain, how loud the secondary arrives. M mutes it.

The device · 09

Sample player

Loop part of a file as the secondary.

Free	The loop plays at its original speed.
Sync	The loop follows Live’s tempo to fill 1, 2 or 4 bars.
Waveform	Drag the handles to set the loop, or drag in an empty part to draw a new one. Double-click to loop the whole file.
Xfade	Smooths the loop edges so it does not click.
Browse	Load a different file.

The device · 10

Pre-Filters and Post-Filters

Quickly shape or modulate the signals both before & after the effect

Each filter column has a MAIN bank and an SC bank. The tabs at the top pick which one you are editing, and the power button turns it on or off.

Pre-Filters change how the two sounds interact.
Post-Filters change what each one sounds like in the mix. Post MAIN filters the MAIN fader and Post SC filters the 2ND fader.

Example. A Pre SC low-pass on a sidechained bass makes the purr steadier. A Post high-pass on the noise cleans up the low end without changing the purr.

In Texture mode the secondary is not in the output, so Post SC has nothing to filter and does nothing. Post MAIN shapes the whole DRY/WET blend. Both Pre banks work as always.

The device · 11

Filter controls

FIL, LFO and ENV pages, shared by all four banks.

FIL

Type: low-pass, high-pass, band-pass, notch or comb.
12dB / 24dB: gentle or steep.
Plot: drag left and right for frequency, up and down for resonance.
Drv: adds saturation.
Amt (comb only): how strong the metallic ring is.

LFO

Shape and Free / Sync rate: sweeps the filter on its own or in time with Live.
Amount: how far it sweeps.
Phase: Time offsets the sweep of the left and right channels, creating a stereo effect.

ENV

Env Amt: the filter opens or closes as the sound gets louder.
Attack and Release: how fast it reacts.

The device · 12

Scope

The main controls, around a live view of the sound.

In (cyan)	The signal from the track this device lives on
SC (amber)	The secondary signal
Out (white)	The result.
Rm (red)	What was removed.

The amber lines are the Ceiling, grey is In Gain and green is the gate threshold. Use a short Scope length to see single cycles of a sub.

The device · 13

Levels

Blend the levels of the two signals after the effect has been applied.

Body mode: MAIN and 2ND

MAIN is the track the device lives on, 2ND is the secondary signal. Drag a meter to set its fader; click M to mute. Whichever sound does the driving stays clean, and the other one carries the effect. You can have only the purr, only the clean bass, or any blend.

Tip. Mute the driver’s fader to hear only the effect, a quick way to print a texture to its own track.

Texture mode: DRY/WET

The secondary drives and is never heard, so there are no two sounds to balance. The panel shows one DRY/WET fader: Blending the dry signal from the original track and the effected signal from the device. The meter behind it is the device output.

0%	The track exactly as it arrived. CROSSDRIVE is out of the way.
100% (default)	Shaped only.
In between	Both at once. Around 30 to 50% is pumping you can feel while the track keeps its weight.

Drag it, or double-click to go back to 100%. Dry is tapped where the signal enters the drive stage, so a Pre-Filters MAIN setting colours both halves and the two stay in phase with each other.

Tip. Automate DRY/WET to bring the pumping in for a chorus and take it back out afterwards.

The device · 14

Gate

Let the shaped sound through only when the driver is loud enough.

Click ON to use it. Handy when you want the texture only on bass notes or drum hits, and silence in between. The driver itself is never gated.

It starts on in Body mode. Choosing Texture switches it off, because the DRY/WET blend is easier to set with the gate out of the way.

Thresh	How loud the driver must be to open the gate (green on the scope).
Return	Raise it if the gate flickers.
Attack / Hold / Release	How fast it opens, how long it stays open, how fast it closes.
Floor	Raise it for gentle ducking instead of silence.
Look	Lets the gate catch hits early and removes the swell as it closes.

The device · 15

CE Sender

Send CROSSDRIVE’s output to a CE RECEIVER anywhere in the set.

Click OFF to turn the send on.
Choose a receiver under DEST.
Set LEVEL.

THRU	The track plays normally and also sends.
SEND	The track plays only through the receiver.
BOTH	Adds a LOCAL slider to set the two apart.

A DEST outlined in amber means that receiver is no longer in the set.

See cloverdaleengineering.com/mix-bus for more information.

Recipes · 16

Purring sub from two tracks

A sub on its own track makes a noise track purr.

Put CROSSDRIVE on a noise or texture track. Choose Texture mode.
Secondary = Sidechain. Pick the sub track and the Post FX tap.
Choose AM. Raise Source Gain until the amber SC trace reaches the Ceiling marks.
Add a Pre-Filters → SC low-pass for a steadier purr.
Leave DRY/WET at 100% for purr only, or pull it down to let some of the plain noise back in. Add a Post-Filters → MAIN high-pass to keep the noise out of the sub.

For a dirtier purr, switch to Clip and bring In Gain up slowly.

Recipes · 17

808s and kicks

Grit that follows the 808, or a kick that carves it.

Air under an 808. Put CROSSDRIVE on an 808, in Body mode. Set your Secondary to Noise. Gate should be enabled so the noise follows only the notes.

Kick carves the 808. CROSSDRIVE on the 808, Texture mode, Sidechain from the kick. Select AM for gentle pumping or Clip for chewy distortion on every hit. DRY/WET sets how hard the kick carves: full for a deep duck, half for a push that keeps the 808 under it.

Recipes · 18

Rhythmic textures

Drums, pads and vocals playing each other.

Drum-chopped pad. CROSSDRIVE on the pad, Texture mode, Sidechain from the drums. Setting to Clip has a stutter-like effect while in AM the signal is more smooth. Back DRY/WET off to around 60% so the pad still holds the chord under the chopping.

Drums crunching a vocal. CROSSDRIVE on the vocals, Texture mode, Secondary should be your drums. The vocal now crunches under every hit that passes the ceiling.

Reference · 19

Troubleshooting

Quick fixes for common snags.

Nothing is happening: Make sure the driver reaches the Ceiling on the scope (raise Source Gain if the secondary drives), and the Gate is not closed. In Body, check the shaped sound’s fader is up. In Texture, check DRY/WET is not sitting at 0%.
“no sidechain input”: Pick a source track in the Live menus and make sure it is playing.
I hear the kick on this track: In Body, mute 2ND. In Texture the secondary is never in the output, so the kick is coming from somewhere else in the set.
I only hear the effect, not the clean sound: In Body, raise the driver’s fader in Levels. In Texture, lower DRY/WET.
The 2ND fader has gone: You are in Texture mode, where the secondary only drives. Choose Body to get both faders back.
My Gate turned itself off: Switching to Texture does that on purpose. Click ON to bring it back.
It sounds choppy instead of purring: Raise the Ceiling or lower Source Gain or Tension. In Clip, lower In Gain.
Too harsh: Switch to AM, or add a low-pass in Pre-Filters or Post-Filters.
The effect gets too quiet: Raise Vol Comp.
The noise muddies the low end: Add a high-pass in Post-Filters.
Gate flickers: Raise Return, or add a little Hold.
Device too wide: Fold some columns. Folding never changes the sound.