Using LEADR to play your other synths

Here's a trick that isn't obvious from the outside: LEADR doesn't have to make the sound. It can play your other plugins.

The chord lock and the WATERFALL arp generate notes. You can send those notes out to drive another instrument in your DAW. So you press one key in LEADR, the chord lock builds the harmony, the arp moves it, and all of that comes out as a performance you can point at Serum, Diva, Pigments, whatever you've got loaded.

Why bother

• You keep the one-key playing. You're still sketching with a finger, except now your favorite synth is the voice.
• You can stack. Run LEADR's own sound and a second synth fed by the same notes, layered. Big without any extra playing.
• The arp does the moving part for you. A lot of synths have stiff built-in arps. WATERFALL feeding them from outside sounds a lot more alive.

The rough setup

Every DAW routes a little differently, so I won't pretend there's one button. The short version is the same everywhere: LEADR sits on one track as the brain, and you send its MIDI out to a track running the synth you actually want to hear. In FL it's a MIDI out / port match. In Ableton and Logic it's MIDI from that track set to LEADR. Once it's wired, you just play keys in LEADR and the rack does the rest.

If you've routed one plugin to another before, this is the same move. If you haven't, it's worth learning once. It changes how fast you can build big, moving parts.

When I reach for it

I use this when I want a sound that's bigger than one plugin but I don't want to actually perform a six-note chord six times. One key. Whole rack moving in tune. Then back to making the beat.