Envelop4Live
December 1, 2025•424 words
Envelop4Live is a set of tools developed in Max for managing ambisonics within Ableton Live. I have been using these tools within the sound design and composition for the soundscape that I have produced for Constellations of Us.
These tools are useful for developing immersive sound with 16 channel ambisonics. Ambisonics are a full 360 degree sound field construct and are speaker layout independent. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambisonics for further detail.
Envelop4Live takes the 16 channel ambisonics and routes the audio field to any speaker setup. This has been useful as in my own studio I have been testing with a 5.1 or 6 channel set up. Whereas for the Constellations of Us installation we are using a 7.1.4 or 12 channel set up.
The Envelop4Live Master Bus utility handles all of the routing, but sends the audio as a direct output to each channel. Initially I found this frustrating as I then had to balance each part of my speaker set up independently. There is a master gain control, although it’s not easily accessible. I have later come to realise that this is a benefit as it allows you to switch to different audio systems with a clean signal set up for each.
There are a host of panning actions available with different tools, moving you throughout a 360 sphere from the centre outwards with mono and stereo field options. With the use of LFO’s sound can be moved around and positioned in any which way. Various effects including reverb and delay are also available.
A send and return utility allows different audio signals to share actions and effects. The main thing to realise is that none of the audio is being routed through Ableton Lives own routing which is limited two channels of stereo. Other DAWS are capable of handling more channels directly. So, the in built send return functions do not work, and similarly grouping tracks whilst handy are not in fact grouped as audio signals.
The Envelop4Live Master Bus also handles the recording of your mix with all of the ambisonics intact as an AIFF file.
A Sampler utility is provided for the playback of this file which can then be routed out again via the Master Bus to whatever sound set up that you have in mind. The only restriction is a file size of under 2.5Gb which is typically around 25 minutes of audio. The soundscape for Constellations of Us runs for 25 minutes and is looped so that there is no formal start of finish to the piece.