Goose’s FM Explorations Rack: Hardware-Inspired FM Synthesis in Ableton Live

Sydney producer Goose (Agustin Marseillan) has crafted a powerful FM sound design rack that brings the spontaneity and creativity of hardware improvisation into your Ableton workflow. We’re excited to share his creation with you – a rack built entirely with native Ableton devices that captures the essence of live hardware experimentation.

The rack is available as a free download for a limited time – download here.

The Story Behind the Rack

As one half of Goose & Hosca and a leading figure in Australia’s underground live electronic scene, Agustin Marseillan (Goose) has developed a unique approach to sound design that bridges hardware improvisation and digital production. Known for combining hardware drum machines, synthesizers and Ableton Live in his ever-evolving live sets, Goose has distilled his improvisational approach into this powerful FM synthesis rack that captures the spontaneity of hardware exploration within Ableton.

This rack translates Goose’s hardware improvisation techniques into the digital realm, allowing producers to access the same creative workflow that makes his live sets so dynamic and responsive to the moment.

“My FM Explorations Rack is built using only native Ableton devices. This rack translates my hardware improvisation techniques into the digital realm, giving you the tools to create evolving, expressive sounds that respond dynamically to your input. From granular textures to complex modulation, each component has been carefully designed to inspire creativity while maintaining the spontaneous feel of hardware exploration.”– Goose

Key Features

Designed invite spontaneity and experimentation, the sound of this rack captures the atonal and inharmonic side of FM synthesis, while providing controls for nuanced tonal randomisation:

Experimental FM synthesis toolkit using only native Ableton devices
8 dynamic macro controls for intuitive sound shaping:
- Note and granular processing with dry/wet controls
- Echo rate and feedback parameters
- Space controls with dry/wet options
- Wide reverb and melodic reverb parameters
- Texture manipulation for complex sounds
Internal “chaos engine” that applies movement and randomisation to multiple parameters.
Additional effects rack “Goose’s Random Repeater” for added rhythmic wildness.

How to Use It

Follow the in-project guide lessons to master each tool in this creative powerhouse and learn how to bring hardware-style improvisation into your productions.

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“I’m always using and creating tools like these: quite random in nature but with a common thread. Once I’ve tuned the kbons to my liking, I record the output and pick my favorites into loops I keep to make songs with. The resample channel in the project makes this easy.
Something else I do with this particular device is show/hide its devices, to access the “Chaos Engine” which gives a lot of the randomness to the sound. I turn off that whole device to maintain a particular patch of the FM synth that I’m using (Operator) throughout different MIDI notes, instead of constant randomness.”– Goose

About Goose

Agustin Marseillan (Goose) is a leading figure in Australia’s underground live electronic scene. Obsessively combining hardware drum machines, synthesisers and Ableton Live, he creates ever-evolving live sets as one half of Goose & Hosca. Spanning intricate techno to improvised ambient jazz, his live shows are truly something to experience.

Warehouse parties, clubs and festivals are the place to experience Goose & Hosca’s music – their dedication to making the music fresh for that night’s audience means each set is purpose-fit for the energy in the party. As a result, their rare releases are something DJs scramble to get.