Screen 1: The Meld synthesizer features a complete modulation matrix above the main panel.
New in Live 12, Ableton’s Meld synthesizer is far more complex than you might think.
Meld is a new polyphonic, two‑oscillator wavetable‑type synthesizer introduced with Live 12. But can it offer anything new in a world packed full of synthesizers of every type? Ableton say that “it is a bi‑timbral synthesizer that specialises in textural, evolving sounds,” which doesn’t exactly make you drop your chocolate HobNob in the sheer excitement of it all! However, this is a lovely little synth, seemingly simple at first glance, which reveals its power in some novel ways.
Bi‑timbral Design
Meld is indeed bi‑timbral, meaning it has two complete synths within it, each with its own independent oscillator, filter, envelope generators, LFOs and more. The ‘meld’ part occurs when modulations are patched from ‘Synth A’ to ‘Synth B’ and back again. However, the two halves cannot be super‑melded by cross‑modulating their audio as you can in synths like the Prophet‑5 or Jupiter‑8, or through use of FM or ring modulation.
Despite this, a wide range of sounds can still be achieved. It’s definitely an ‘electronic sounds’ kind of synth, capable of creating some lovely synthetic tones, but it’s not your string‑ensemble replacement, go‑to piano and keys VST, or bread‑and‑butter session synth. But it is great for when you want to dial up a sound, have a play, and see where the muse takes you, much like a good modular synth session would.
Sonically, it plays in the ballpark of synths like the Arturia MiniFreak, Korg Wavestate, and modular synth voices like the Noise Engineering Basimilus Iteritas, E‑RM Polygogo and Mutable Instruments Plaits. If you like pulse‑width type modulating sounds and pure electronic tones that can be further manipulated in a host of ways, this will satisfy!
Screen 2: Most of Meld’s parameters are available in the main screen, with tabs for the A and B synths.
More Than the Sum Of Its Oscillators
Synth A and Synth B each have two oscillators, and each oscillator has a choice of 24 wave shapes. Meld’s designers have clearly spent a great deal of time carefully choosing these oscillators and their associated ‘macro’ controls, which are specific to each oscillator.
The macros are worthy of a closer look. They have been optimised for each oscillator type, performing a role that is most relevant and useful. For example, the Basic oscillator sports a Shape macro for morphing the wave through sine, triangle, ramp and square, and a Tone macro which alters the pulse width. By contrast, the Harmonic FM oscillator’s macros are Amount and Ratio, which, as you will guess, adjust the FM qualities of the tone.
Screen 3: Each of Meld’s oscillators has two macros optimised for that oscillator’s parameters.
The effect of these macros is almost perfectly designed. It may be a bit of a cliché, but they really seem to exist in one continuous sweet spot, and the more melodic of the oscillators are all highly musical and attractive. These features helped me immediately conjure up sounds that I’d love to start writing some lead or bass lines with — perhaps using Live 12’s new Generative MIDI Tool, which we covered in SOS August 2024 issue.
There are also some more unusual oscillators that don’t immediately suggest obvious uses, reminding me of the somewhat useless dog bark on 1980s Yamaha home keyboards. Yes, Bubbles oscillator, I’m looking at you! But having unusual options like Bubbles, Rain, Crackles, Shepard’s Pi (the ever‑rising pitch illusion) and Bitgrunge is actually great — the only answer is to play around and see what happens. Even these start turning up interesting sounds quickly with minimal exploratory effort. My only criticism is that the white‑noise oscillator’s Range macro tops out at around 1kHz, which is a little on the low side if you want proper fizz in the top end!
Filters
Each oscillator has its own filter, and these are well‑endowed with options, including the expected high‑/low‑/band‑pass types, but going well beyond into phasers, comb filters, vocal formant and resonators. Especially interesting are the ‘scale aware’ plate and membrane resonators, which snap those resonant frequencies into tune with your track. This is great and can lead to some really interesting harmonic washes of sound if coupled with modulations, generous reverb and delays. Maybe Ableton were right, after all — Meld does excel at textural and evolving sounds! [Picks up Chocolate Hobnob.]
Handily, if you use a filter type that creates more frequencies, such as the resonators, there’s a final tone control in the mixer for a quick high or low cut if things get too harsh or boomy. It’s not going to replace FabFilter Pro‑Q 3, but it’s right there and the sound balance can be tweaked in a moment’s mousing. Very convenient. Likewise, the built‑in limiter and drive controls are simple, but useful at the right moments.
Modulation: Entering the Matrix
Things step up a level with the modulation matrix, toggled on/off by a button next to the on/off switch of Meld. A new window appears above the main screen where all available parameters can be modulated by the LFOs, envelopes, and a range of MIDI and MPE controls. In typical Ableton style, moving a synth parameter highlights it in the modulation grid for easy identification.
The LFO section at first glance appears straightforward, but it’s another area where Meld’s designers have added extra power. The LFO panel reveals LFO 1, LFO 1 FX, and a simpler LFO 2. Modulating LFO 1 with LFO 1 FX creates modulation signals that can contain much more nuance and interest than just LFO 1 alone.
The visual representation of this is very useful. To make this clearer, you can see the effect in Screen 4 where an S&H shape in LFO 1 FX 1 is modulating LFO 1’s sine wave, with a fade‑in on FX 2 for added complexity.
Screen 4: Modulating LFO 1 with an S&H shape from LFO 1 FX 1 gives rise to complex new LFO shapes.
And because the LFO rate goes up to a relatively fast 200Hz, you can achieve real audio‑rate tonal effects by modulating volume or filter with LFO 1 FX, which can then change the harmonics of the overall sound in extremely fun ways. And don’t forget that Synth A’s LFOs can control Synth B’s parameters, adding to the possibilities.
But even with all this, the synth is not cognitively overwhelming. It’s really straightforward to see what’s doing what and to not get lost in a maze of menus and modulations. In fact, there’s barely any menu‑diving, just a couple of tabs for the A and B synth engines, the Filter/Envelope tabs, and the matrix window pretty much contain everything that’s needed.
You will inevitably be hitting the Save button every couple of minutes (as I did), as intriguing and stimulating sounds arise of their own accord.
Meld is a synth that well deserves a couple of hours of your time to explore its possibilities. You will inevitably be hitting the Save button every couple of minutes (as I did), as intriguing and stimulating sounds arise of their own accord through Meld’s clever mix of simple and advanced sound‑design features.