Tremolo is an effect that is associated with amplitude modulation. To re-create this in Live one must apply an LFO to the volume which can be achieved using one of Lives native audio effects ‘Auto Pan’.

Apply the ‘Auto Pan’ device to any channel in Live.

Turn the amount parameter up so you can see the difference in volume changes between the speakers. The orange line represents the left channel and the yellow like represents the right channel. Here we can see that as the left channels amplitude boosted the right channels amplitude is attenuated and vice versa.

With the current settings of the effect, the left and right channels both have individual tremolo, however we want this modulation to be applied the same way to both channels. To do this, turn the phase control either all the way up to 360º or all the way down 0º. Now the same modulation is being applied to both channels, however now, only the orange line is visible, this is because the yellow line is hidden behind it.

Now the amount parameter will control how intensive the amplitude modulation will be, and the rate parameter will control how often this cyclic motion will happen, rate can be measured in either Hz or a musical value such as 1/4.

One can also change the shape of this modulation. By default the shape is a sine wave, however by using the shape parameter (or the wave-shape selector below it) one can also create a square shape (or other shapes), which will act like a slicing and stuttering tool.

Quick Tip: By default the offset is set to 0º which will result in your slices being slightly off time. To fix this change the offset to 270º which will ensure that the slicing starts on time.

Cheers,
Bill.