Call and Response

Call and Response: two synths in conversation, for Ableton Live

Call and Response is a synth plug-in made by Lessons in Live with two parts that talk to each other: CALL plays a phrase that asks a question, RESPONSE answers it, both in time with Live.

• A call, and a response that answers it. Press the yellow die for a new call and an answer to it, the green one to keep the call and try another answer. The generator writes them to belong together: the call leaves the question open, the response picks it up and brings it home. Three ways to talk: Question & Answer, Interlock (the response fills the call’s gaps, like a bass answering a stab) and Echo.
• Play it in any key. Hold a key and the whole conversation moves there. Minor, Major, Dorian, Phrygian, Mixolydian, Harmonic Minor, pentatonics and Blues. Chords per part (triads, sevenths, ninths and more) with inversions. Swing, half time, 1, 2 or 4 bars.
• Edit by hand, or bring your own. Draw, move and stretch notes on the lanes; Cmd-drag a note off the grid for a pushed or laid-back feel. Drag a pattern into Live as a MIDI clip, or drop a clip from Live onto a lane and it becomes the pattern. MIDI out: play your other synths with it.
• Two warm synths. Per part two oscillators with FM and unison, a sub and noise, a filter in four characters (Clean, Ladder, Acid, Vintage) with FAT drive, analog-style envelopes, and Poly, Mono or Legato with glide.

• Effects with a picture. A tempo-synced ping-pong delay with tape wow, EQ and ducking, and a reverb with pre-delay, EQ and ducking, each drawn as you turn it. Eight macros you drag onto any knob.
• 54 conversations and 53 sounds for house and electronic music (bass talk, chords and bass, keys, acid, atmospheres), all levelled with headroom, in a browser with categories, favourites and search.

Formats and systems

VST3 for Mac and Windows, Audio Unit for Logic Pro and GarageBand (Mac), plus a standalone app. macOS 11 or later (Apple Silicon and Intel), 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Made for Ableton Live.

One purchase, both systems

Buying gives you both the Mac and the Windows version and one serial number for two of your computers, for example a desktop and a laptop. You’ll find the serial in your order e-mail and under My account. Updates are free and announced inside Call and Response.

Free 30-day trial

The download works as a free 30-day trial with everything working: install it and play. After the trial it keeps playing in demo mode (about two seconds of silence every minute) until you enter your serial.