Ruff Draft
Powerful and intuitive mastering chain for beatmakers
The mastering chain I always wanted: kick-driven bus pumping, SP-style tone and 12-bit grit, glue compression and a soft clip, in one Max for Live device.
Ruff Draft recreates a classic MPC & SP-303-era beatmaking mastering chain and puts it behind a handful of controls you can judge by ear. Drop it on the Master track, pick a preset, set the input level and bounce. Every stage can be switched off or reshaped, and a loudness-matched bypass lets you hear what each stage actually does.
- Ableton Live 12.2 or later and Max 9.0 or later. Ruff Draft's interface and engine use Max 9 objects, so it will not load in Live 11 or in Live 12.0/12.1 (Max 8).
- Stereo audio effect. Latency: 64 samples (1.5 ms at 44.1 kHz)
Recorded with level matching to focus on the differences in sound rather than volume.
Input Stage
Every stage works best when the level going in is right, so getting it right takes one click. Press Auto Trim while your beat plays, and in four seconds Ruff Draft sets the perfect input level for you. The meter turns green when you're in the sweet spot. From there, every preset sounds the way it was designed, whether your mix came in quiet or hot.
Pump Stage
The breathing part of the sound. Every kick pulls the beat down for a moment, and the music swells back up before the next hit. Drive it from the whole mix for the classic beat-tape pump, or from your kick track for clean sidechain breathing. Duck Highs tucks hats and keys under each kick.
Tone Stage
The colour of an old sampler. Highs rolls off the top end for a darker, softer sound, or adds air. Thick adds warmth and body to the low-mids. Grit adds the grainy crunch of a 12-bit sampler.
Glue Stage
The finish. A bus compressor pulls everything into one loud, tight sound while keeping your drums punchy. A soft clipper and a true-peak ceiling make the master safe for streaming.
Output Stage
See what you're doing, hear what you're changing. The meter shows how loud your beat comes out and how much louder Ruff Draft made it. Match evens out the volume, so you judge the sound, not the loudness. Export gives you a finished master, or the same sound with headroom for someone else to master.