Rachel K. Collier: Simplifying Creativity with Novation’s Launchkey MK4 and Ableton Live Lite

If you’re new to music making, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the endless choices of production gear available. There's software and hardware, DAWs, plug-ins, interfaces, keyboards and controllers. The sheer variety can leave even experienced music makers feeling confused.

The internet is buzzing with articles, reviews, and video tutorials to help inform us on gear choices, but even then, it can be overwhelming. Finding a trusted voice to guide you through the noise can make all the difference.

Enter Rachel K. Collier. A performer, educator, and producer, Rachel has carved a unique niche in the music world. Her journey from a beginner to a highly skilled artist and mentor offers invaluable insights for aspiring creators. Starting as a top-liner writing melodies and lyrics for major acts, she transitioned to making her own music out of a desire to have more creative autonomy. “I wasn’t completely vibing with what I was working on, and I thought, ‘I actually want to do this myself,’” she reflects.

Sharing her learning journey online has become a cornerstone of Rachel’s work, enabling her to cultivate a vibrant and supportive community along the way. From her first educational video – created as part of Andrew Huang’s “4 Producers” series – to launching her Patreon, Rachel has grown a supportive network of music creators. Her Patreon community now hosts monthly challenges, workshops and listening sessions, fostering growth among members at all levels. Rachel notes, “I’ve seen people come in at zero and, within two years, submit material that’s just awesome.”

With her wealth of experience guiding people at all stages of their creative journeys, we asked Rachel to reflect on her own early days and what advice she would give beginners wondering what gear they should get?

“For beginners, I’d recommend a simple Focusrite audio interface, some quality headphones, a MIDI keyboard/controller like the Novation Launchkey MK4, and a copy of Ableton Live,” she says. “You don’t need much more than that to make something good.” 

The Novation Launchkey MK4 keyboard comes bundled with Ableton Live Lite. This streamlined version of Ableton Live provides essential features to write, record, produce, and perform songs, making it an excellent choice for beginners. 

Also included with the Launchkey MK4 are GForce synths, Orchestral Tools, Klevgrand plugins, and Melodics lessons. “You get a good bang for your buck with this deal definitely”, says Rachel. ”The keyboard is quite advanced, not only can you produce tunes with it, you could perform live with it quite easily as well. They come in various sizes, I've got the Launchkey 37, there are eight encoders on mine and sixteen pads. Everything's customizable.”

Over time, Rachel has built up a diverse selection of music gear, but what happens when all the bells and whistles are stripped away? To explore the advantages of simplicity and to demonstrate workflows accessible to everyone – especially beginners – we gave Rachel a challenge: create a track using only the Novation Launchkey MK4 keyboard and Ableton Live Lite.

The result? A creative journey that shows how much can be achieved with two essential but powerful tools. We sat down with Rachel to discuss her process, and she took us step by step through how the track came to life. Plus, she’s shared a free download of her Live Set, so you can see for yourself exactly what she did.

Download the Live Set to Rachel K. Collier’s Track*

*Requires an Ableton Live 12 Lite license, or a Live 12 Intro, Standard or Suite license, or the free Trial.

Please note: This Live Set and included samples are for educational use only and cannot be used for commercial purposes.

Unlocking Chords with the Novation Launchkey MK4

Finding fresh ideas for chord progressions and playing them well can sometimes be challenging—especially if you’re not an experienced keyboard player. Features like Chord Map on the Launchkey MK4 can help with the creative process. Chord Map allows users to set the scale and use the encoders and performance controls to discover new chords and play them via the drum pads.

“The main riff of my song was all made using the Chord Map”, says Rachel. “By pressing 'Chord Map’ on the keyboard I could access lots of different chords. Once I found a sound in Live that I liked, I started playing a rhythm using the pads. Honestly, I’d probably never play chords like that naturally. Firstly, I couldn’t play chords that fast or that well, it’s not something I’d just sit down and compose. But I love it when a piece of gear helps you to compose in a new way – it’s super inspiring. The chords were all mapped to one pad, so I could just play the rhythm. When you hit the pads, it even shows you what chord you’re playing, which is very handy.

I even created a B section by doing the same thing. I tweaked the ‘Adventure’ and ‘Explore’ settings on the keyboard to find new chords. It gave me two different sections with two different chord progressions, which, honestly, I wouldn’t have come up with on my own if I were just playing the keys.”

The ‘Spread’ control on the Launchkey MK4 was another feature that helped bring Rachel’s chords to life. “It affects how the notes in the chord are spaced—whether they’re close together or spread out wide,” she explains. “It’s really simple to use.”

“Once I had that little riff going, I was straight in and ready to build the rest of the track.”

Beat Making in Ableton Live Lite

When it came to building her beats, Rachel used the “Beastly Kit” from the Ableton Live core library. “It’s an electronic drum kit that gave me the foundation I needed,” she says. “I also used the ‘Feat Pete Kit’, which is another kit from the library.”

In Live, a Drum Rack is used to organize and play the drum sounds from these kits. It’s like a virtual drum machine where each pad is assigned a specific sample or sound. With its lightweight feature set, Ableton Live Lite, comes with some limitations. “You can’t tweak individual hits in certain Drum Racks” Rachel explains. Upgrading to Ableton Live Intro, Standard, or Suite unlocks editing features for Drum Racks containing devices not included in Live Lite. 

Rather than letting limitations hold her back, Rachel found creative ways to work within them. “To get some variation, I used Beat Repeat,” she says. Beat Repeat is an effect in Live that chops up a sound and creates rhythmic patterns by repeating certain parts.

Programming Beat Patterns with the Launchkey MK4 

To help with programming the beat patterns, Rachel turned to the Sequencer feature on the Novation Launchkey MK4. This function offers hands-on control of Ableton Live’s clip sequencers, allowing you to create drum patterns directly from the Launchkey’s pads.

This feature works much like a step sequencer commonly found on drum machines and groove boxes, making it an intuitive tool for creating exciting drum rhythms – even if you’ve never made a beat before. By bringing this classic hardware functionality into the Ableton Live environment, the Launchkey MK4’s step sequencer provides a fun and creative way to program your drums. 

If finger drumming is your thing, you can activate 'Drum Mode' on the Launchkey MK4, allowing you to play drum sounds in real time using the pads.

Crafting a Bassline with Crunch and Depth

When creating the bassline for her track, Rachel was immediately drawn to the Crunch Arcade preset. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is sick!’” she says. This preset comes from Drift, a new synthesizer available in Live 12, built for quick and easy sound design.

“The preset actually had a saturated sound already,” Rachel explains, However, she wanted to enhance it further. “I always saturate stuff,” she adds. “The Saturator effect in Live is so handy it’s got a lot of options. You’ve got Analog, Soft Sine and Bass Shaper presets, which change the character of the Saturation curve—it’s actually more flexible than it looks.”

Layering Basslines: Crunch and Sub Working as One

To create a bassline with a solid low end, Rachel uses a tried-and-tested technique: layering a mid-range bass with a sub-bass underneath. “The Crunch Arcade preset was a lovely sound, but it didn’t have the sub depth to really be a bassline,” she explains. “I often find a cool synth line that’s low and crunchy, but if it’s missing that low-end weight I duplicate the MIDI track and layer it with a subtle sub.”

This approach involves copying the exact MIDI pattern from the main bassline and assigning it to a pure sub-bass sound. “The sub by itself is really boring to listen to, but without it, the track is lacking that low-end warmth,” Rachel says. For this project, she turned to Ableton’s Instrument Rack, Basic Sub Sine. “I use the Basic Sub Sine preset a lot—it’s subtle and does what it says on the tin. It pairs perfectly with the sound above it.”

EQ Balancing: Letting Each Layer Shine

To make space for the sub without compromising the character of the Crunch Arcade preset, Rachel applied a Channel EQ, useful for shaping the frequencies in a sound. “I used it to turn down some of the low end from the Arcade Crunch sound, but I didn’t do a hard cut,” she explains. “There’s so much character in this preset, so if you EQ out too much, it changes the vibe entirely.”

A Team Effort

Rachel treats the mid-range bass and sub as partners, working together rather than competing for space. “I always try to find a very subtle sub,” she says. “I’m not going for a big, in-your-face 808 sub. It’s more like a harmony to a vocal—supportive and complementary rather than overwhelming.”

This philosophy helps her avoid the common problem of conflicting bass frequencies. “Frequency-wise, they’re really different,” she explains. “I want them to work as a team. If the sub was too loud or dominant, it would clash with the Crunch Arcade sound. But with a subtle sine wave, they blend perfectly.”

Creating Arpeggios with the Novation Launchkey MK4

The Novation Launchkey MK4 features an arpeggiator (arp for short), which Rachel used to create rhythmic melodies in her track. For those unfamiliar, an arpeggiator is a tool that takes a chord or selection of notes held on the keyboard and plays them individually, often in a rising or falling pattern. It’s a quick way to create melodies without manually programming each note.

“The Afterglow track in my project was made using the arp”, Rachel explains. “It’s really cool, you can do a lot with it. You can change the swing rate, and there are different rhythms, like triplets or eighth notes. You can also change the gate length to control how long each note in the arpeggio plays.”

Applying Automation to Arpeggiated Sounds 

Rachel relies heavily on the automation features in Ableton Live that allow you to program changes to synths, effects, and mixer settings that evolve over time. “I like automating the attack on arp sounds because it changes how the notes behave,” Rachel says. “It starts shorter, like just a tick, and as the attack gets slower, the notes get longer and start to fill more of the frequency spectrum.”

This technique helps keep the sound interesting. “It’s not just like, ‘Here’s the arp, boom!’ It’s building in a way that’s not just about volume or frequency. By automating the attack and release, the sound feels like it’s got its own thing going on,” she adds.

Adding a Human Touch

Rachel wanted to balance the precision of her electronic sounds with something more organic. “I wanted to work with human textures,” she explains. One standout element in the project is Track 7, which features a sample of her five-year-old niece singing a traditional Welsh song.

“My sister sent me a video of her singing, and I dropped the vocal into Simpler, a sampler plugin in Live,” Rachel says. Simpler allows you to manipulate audio recordings and play them as samples on your keyboard.

“I added a couple of effects and her voice became this cute, choppy texture that runs throughout the track. I love doing that – adding organic, human textures into a production,” she says. “Especially in very electronic music, I think it’s so important to balance it with something organic. It adds a warmth and a sense of connection.”

Processing the Vocal with Warmth and Character

Rachel’s main vocal stem in the track shows how effective creative processing can be. The key, she explains, is finding the right effects to bring the vocal to life.

“The Smokey Water Effects Rack was a big deal,” Rachel says. “Without it, the vocal was quite dry and basic. But as soon as I put it on, it made the vocal warm and saturated” For Rachel, this was a pivotal moment. “I remember thinking, ‘OK, my vocal sounds good now.’”

The Smokey Water Effects Rack, combines multiple effects, including Amp, Drum Buss, EQ Three, and Limiter adding a touch of guitar amp-style distortion to the audio. This type of processing is especially helpful for giving vocals a distinct vibe.

Tuning Vocals with Auto Shift

Rachel mentions using vocal tuning tools in her workflow, like Auto Shift, available in Live Lite. “It’s such an important tool for any beginner,” she explains. Auto Shift helps users add real-time pitch correction to vocals, helping to keep every note in tune with your track. “It makes such a difference—especially when you’re just starting out and maybe don’t feel as confident about your voice“, Rachel adds.

Playing with Filters, Looping and Delays

To make her vocal more interesting, Rachel automated Auto Filter to add some movement. “I use filtering a lot,” she explains. Auto Filter is an effect in Live that allows you to emphasize or reduce certain frequencies in a sound using a filter. It can be used to create sweeping movements, rhythmic effects, or to isolate specific parts of a sound, like the highs or lows.

“I’ve also used a few instances of an effect called Super Looper”, she continues, “Which are doing quite a lot of delay rhythms.” Super Looper is another Effect Rack that combines Beat Repeat, Auto Filter, and Delay to create rhythmic, looped delays, adding a sense of movement to audio signals. “They’re doing a lot to the sound,” says Rachel. “Without them, the vocal doesn’t have the same feel.”

Building Tension with Automation

Rachel also used saturation to build tension and dynamics in the vocal. “I automated the dry/wet on the Saturator quite a lot,” she says. “It starts soft but gets quite distorted in the B-section, adding a lot of crunchy tension. Then, when the drop hits, it gets really intense.”

She also used automation to roll off the low end on the master channel, creating a sense of anticipation before the drop. “And then, the low end comes back in,” she explains. This often-used technique amplifies the impact, making drops hit harder.

Hands-On Control with the Launchkey MK4

One of the features Rachel found especially useful when creating her track was the hands-on plug-in control offered by the Novation Launchkey MK4. “It was super cool because you can control all the plugins in Ableton Live Lite,” she explains. “If you press ‘Shift’ and ‘Plugin’ on the keyboard you can actually tweak your plugin settings with the encoders. It’s awesome – you can really get hands-on while you’re working.”

This feature is particularly valuable for beginners and experienced producers alike, as it allows you to interact with your sounds in a more tactile way, rather than clicking through menus on a screen. Adjusting settings like filter cutoff and resonance, directly from the hardware makes the creative process feel more intuitive and immediate.

In addition to plugin control, the Launchkey’s transport controls streamlined Rachel’s workflow. “When I was creating the track, I used all the transport controls— also the metronome, the Capture button, quantizing—it was all right there,” she says. The Capture MIDI button, allows you to instantly record and save what you’ve just played, even if you weren’t actively recording.

“For me, just popping the metronome on and off or using quantizing directly from the keyboard made things so much easier,” Rachel adds. “It lets you stay in the creative flow without having to switch back and forth between the controller and the screen.”

Inspiring Beginners and Looking Ahead

Rachel’s exploration of creating with a limited setup—a Novation Launchkey MK4 and Ableton Live Lite—shows that music making doesn’t require an endless array of tools. From transforming her niece’s Welsh song into a percussive vocal texture to layering basslines and using effects like Saturator and Auto Filter, she demonstrates how a few essential tools can yield polished, professional-sounding results.

When asked what she hopes beginners will take away from her process, Rachel says, “I would hope they feel inspired to just get stuck in. You don’t need lots of expensive gear to make something good. I hope this shows how accessible it can be.”

Rachel also reflects on how tools like Ableton Live Lite and the Launchkey MK4 can continue to evolve to make music production even more accessible. “I sometimes think about how Live itself could be simplified even further for younger students or absolute beginners. Streamlined versions like Ableton Live Lite help bring more people into it.” 

Looking ahead into 2025, Rachel is focused on her next chapter. “I’m working on my third album now. 2024 was a fun year of experimenting—I wrote songs in different languages, filmed a music video in Japan, and tried new things like one-to-one mentoring. But going forward, it’s all about making another record that feels banging. I live for creating, making tunes is where it’s at for me.” 

Keep up with Rachel K. Collier on Instagram, Youtube and Patreon

Text and Interview by Joseph Joyce
Photography by Jamie Panton

This article, created in partnership with Focusrite/Novation, explores the Novation Launchkey MK4 and its official Ableton Live integration