20 Years of Operator: Download over 100 Free Presets from Robert Henke and Christian Kleine
In 2004, Robert Henke developed what would become one of Ableton Live's most beloved instruments. Debuting in Live 4, Operator was designed to be a synth for everyone. Combining elements of FM, subtractive, and additive synthesis, it was capable of a vast sonic palette while being light on CPU and easy to program. To celebrate, Henke and Ableton instrument designer Christian Kleine have created and curated a pack of more than 100 presets made over the last 20 years, showcasing Operator's range and versatility.
*Live 12 Suite required
Ableton Live launched in 2001 as a simple, audio-only DAW, but computing power was growing exponentially, and home computers soon became capable of handling multiple voices and real-time synthesis. 2004's Live 4 saw the introduction of MIDI, and with it came the desire for Ableton to provide their own built-in synthesizer. The task fell to Robert Henke, one of Ableton's founding members.
Henke was deeply inspired by the work of John Chowning, the pioneering composer, musician, and inventor of FM synthesis. Compared to the distinctly analog nature of subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis is proudly and necessarily digital, due to the complex control and processing required of an oscillator's pitch and phase. Henke had begun to explore FM in 1997, creating bespoke instruments using Max MSP, so when the time came to develop a synthesizer for Ableton Live, one built upon the principles of FM synthesis was the obvious choice.
A presentation slide showing an early proposal for Operator, presented to the Ableton team in September 2004
With the working title Onyx, Henke set out to design a deceptively simple synth that ran counter to FM's reputation for being painstakingly complicated to program. "FM was and is considered a difficult and hard-to-learn type of synthesis, and one goal was to build a deliberately small, non-intimidating four-oscillator synth" says Henke. One of the keys to this approach lay in the unique visual language of the device. Rather than displaying every parameter at once (impractical due to the limited resolution of computer screens at the time), Henke, alongside Ableton Live's original designer Torsten Slama, devised a context-sensitive LCD-style display in the device's center, which showed only the parameters the user was working on at the time. This solution would go on to become a central UI element across many of Live's devices.
For its public release, Onyx was renamed Operator – taking after Yamaha's naming convention. From the beginning, it was equipped with several innovative controls: Global Tone, which tames high frequencies by using a low-pass filter to modulate the input of each oscillator; Time, for scaling the time of all seven envelopes at once; and Spread, a stereo chorus inspired in part by the New England Digital Synclavier II. One feature Christian Kleine – then working in Ableton's Support department – helped implement was the Osc<Vel control, which allows for the pitch of each oscillator to be controlled by velocity.
While Operator in 2024 remains faithful to Robert's original vision, numerous additions have been included over the years, including new filter modes, improved oscillators, and the ability for users to create their own waveforms via additive synthesis. Henke hints that he still has a few ideas in mind for future updates.
To glimpse just some of Operator’s many sound design possibilities, take a look at this video by Seed to Stage and see how easily you can create your own distinct sounds. As Robert says, "There is always something new to discover, even after using it extensively all the time."
Learn more about the history of Operator on Robert Henke’s website.
Please note: the free Operator presets require Ableton Live 12 Suite. If you don't own Live 12, you can try the presets with the free Live 12 trial.