Ableton live is AMAZING!
bthav
1,538 Posts
i dont know why i use any other program. these guys managed to make everything so intuitive and simple. ZERO downtime... just thought id let you all know.
Comments
please share some specifics about its greatness!
dude realtime EVERYTHING... meaning you can be editing while audio rolls
auto quantised effects (of course you can turn that off)
slick reedonculous interface that is simple and OPTIMISED for laptops / computers as oppossed to things like logic protools which in their efferts to emulate trad consoles ignore the need to adapt for the application.
User assignable quantising... meaning you can quantise live instruments / samples anything without cutting and slicing .. and its all punched in by hand so you can leave it quantised / un to taste.
auto beatmatched loops... meaning if you cut it correctly and leave it on your harddrive you can preview it over the track your playing.. and the program will automatically match the tempo. sickness.
Built in effects = dope.. some of the best plugins out there handles vsts to.
the performance mode for triggering loops is retarded.. including randomisation and user defined automatically occuring events ie you can settup a loop to play x number of times and when it switchs to then switch to the next loop at a user defined random interval .. other clips can watch for the event to occur annd then trigger themselves ...
user defined randomised filters too on the drum module
if you want to bang out beats no problem every thing is midi assignable.. throw some samples into the sample cells and beat em out on your midi device or even your computer keyboard
free updates
cheap
i used to use protools .. no more.. been using ableton since V1.5 and its been ass kicking the whole time.
i could get into details but there's certain aspects of ableton that can ONLY be done in ableton.. its some serious next level shit and without actually using it its a lil hard to explain to a novice. peep the site ableton.com to get more specifics
can you assign different swing settings to different sounds? you know i usually dont want too much swing on the hihats but i do like some extreme swing on the bassdrum and the snares.
how does it work when you choose to not quantize things? can i make it pitch everything instead of using timestretch?
how is the vst support? if i automate a vst plugin will the curves automaticlly appear in the sequencer so i can fix my sloppy moves?
oh and a last thing can you define your own groovemaps or swingalgorithms to tracks? and if so, how does that work.
yeah .. you set the swing amount globally and then decide which tracks the swing applies to... so you could have a tight set of hats and a wide swing kick.
you can pitch yeah... you can even timestretch.. AND PITCH
yes.. all the buttons of the vst are curve mappable so you can draw whatever you want
well all the quantising is completly user definable.. you snap the grid lines whereever you want to put them.. so you can make templates theoretically and then swap samples in and out of the groove mapped template.
so its either on or off? no inbetweens? also seemed pretty strange when it came to the quantisation, it looked like it was either 100% or none, i usually dont want to make it tight like a clock, can you adjust the percentage?
while looking at the vid, the first one called 'making music with live'. around 3:30 it looks as if hes adjusting the grid, but to quantise? so can you change the gridlines its quantising towards aswell?
what i usually want to do is if i have say a looped break and a musical loop. make a template of the one with the best groove, and quantise the other one to this. is it possible?
another thing that raised a questionmark in the vids was when he recorded something directly in the program, it seemed cool. but where does the file end up? does it ask for you to save it before you save the project file? or does the project file include samples like in the good ol days with trackers?
I have seen a few acts perform with it and live musicians and it is pretty awesome in the LIVE setting. I saw one Breaks group from melbourne Nubreed do a gig and all 4 of them had laptops and remixed their tracks live without missing a beat.
Sounds mighty tasty, even though I'm 98% happy with Acid Pro
you set a global swing of between 0 and 50 which is the width of the swing
then the individual loops you set them to either straight, swing 8th, 16th or 32nd.. the clips can be any of the ablove and all the clips can be set to differant swing settings but they will all be using the same GLOBAL swing amount, the 0 - 50
did i mention you can also have trakcs speed up and slow down on drawn curves??
the gridlines are how the quantising works.
for example if you cut a 4 bar drum loop and look at it ableton will already guess the tempo and the number of bars.. when you zoom in you will notice that the drummer may waver from the actual HARD beat.. you can choose to ignore this or you can choose to adjust this by moving the gridline to the beat... you can have it sloppy but always hit on the one for example.. or you could lock down every mo fo 16th note.. its all up to you.
another thing that raised a questionmark in the vids was when he recorded something directly in the program, it seemed cool. but where does the file end up? does it ask for you to save it before you save the project file? or does the project file include samples like in the good ol days with trackers?
when you open a doc it automatically records to the temp folder (whic you set to whatever you want) once you name and save the doc it moves everything to a folder associated with the document and anything you record subsequently is added to that folder... you can pull loops on the fly from anywhere on your harddrive and then save the set as self contained and it will put evertything in the source folder. very nice and tidy.
the other feature is that even though the program crashes like once in a blue moon you will never loose /ANYTHING. you simply reboot the ap and it asks if you want to recover your work and it picks up EXACTLY where it crashed.. no loses whatsoever.
that feature alone makes it worth its weight in gold.
SOLD!
Man, not to diss it completely, cause its a cool little program. But its a toy. I mean, it basicly mashes loops together. They can be at any tempo, at any speed and it just smashes them together based on some algorhythm. Ditto live instruments. Like, who would want to hear the actual nuances of a live performance when you could just smash quantize every little bleep into some step sequence?
Ive used the program a ton and even sat through a huge clinic on that and reason at m-audio out here in california. They tried for about a week solid to show me why its better than my method, and I was like....nah...thats still just a little loop toy.
Its probably a shitload better than other loop matching thingy's. And the dudes that made it are serious geniouses.
It is a cool program for flushing out ideas and shit, but I cant see people using this as their main sequencer. I mean, its like people dont want to do anything themselves, but still want to pretend like their making music. Like, whats easier than a drum machine?
yeah thats a major function missing in acid! thanks for all the info dubious, now i just gotta find the iso. i hope the sampler parts of it is as good as fruity.
But if you just wanna mash up loops together, ableton is indeed the ticket.
the program is far from a toy man..
i dont really do much sequencing at all. i record all live drumming, bass guitar, often with a full band.
i use ableton for it all..
done deal, mixdown, master, press the shit and get it out.
my music is far from over quantised and it most certainly isnt sequenced or computer oriented at all.
i use ableton for what it is namely a great mulitracker with a highly original set of features and an incredible interface.
i fucked with protool for years and i've probably made 5 times as much shit in half the time with ableton.
i find it hard to believe you even remotely used the prgram if you think its just a toy for mashing loops together.. that's only one small aspect of what the prgram is capable of.
what's toy like about unlimited STEREO tracks at 24 /96 dude? how is that any less toy than any other DAW??
ableton is really just a standard DAW with an interesting and unique set of additional features.. you can choose to use them or not. but it doenst change the fact that you can play / record unlimited midi and audi tracks into the program ... the way you describe it it makes it sound like its gonna fuck up your sound...
why not drop some real knowledge man instead of some ill informed BS???
you can completely ignore the quantising feature if you want and record straight live off the floor, just like in any other DAW. but because you can also choose to quantise and you can tempo match loops in it it makes it a toy??
whatever dude.
I havent tried these recent Live version, but the sequencer looks just as capable as Fruity, maybe even a little bit more powerful cus of the better overview of the automation. And you can turn off the quantisation and timestretch completely. My main concern is if it handles samples as good tho, with looppoints, envelopes and such. That shit is pretty good and fast in FL, better than MPCs atleast!
i've used it as my only mulitracker since version 1.5 .. and even at that time it was still worth ditching pro-tool to make the switch over.
man, im not dissing you or anything! I just dont think people should trade in their mpc's for it! I actually own the software and I agree, the unlimited tracks and shit is crazy! Its dope for 400 bucks.
I just think about that thread where dude is trading in his turntables and mpc and shit and I shudder. If your going to use this software, I think its much better to let it add on to your current set up than to have it replace everything.
yeah dude, nobody in this room is talking about selling their gear. everything's gonna be ok.
why dont you come with some facts instead? name some reasons why people should keep the mpc.
Its a dope program though. Definitely a better alternative than protools for the home studio. I like protools in a professional studio situation better, but the limited tracks and overly expensive hardware for the m-box and shit is mad gay.
Its also really really easy to use. and you can get a good audio interface from m-audio mad cheap and get yourself going relatively easy. I think its cool that it gives people the ability to create music that wouldnt normally be able to. But I dont like all that time correction, overly quantized junk. I dont like the "loops" and things that it assumes you will be working with. I dont like that whole approach to making music, cause it seems to take the easy parts of sampling and leaves out all of the limitations and creative neccesity that I think make sampling interesting.
Its not an mpc replacement, i dont think any software should be looked at like that. I think theres something to practicing and learning a piece of hardware and getting better at using it that cant be reproduced from a software program.
word man i hear you but dude was just asking specific questions and you come in here trash talkin.. like i said lets have some knowlege on the subject.
well what works for you might not work for another i dont think this dude mentioned anything about an MPC.
not everybody on here is making blazing downtempo / rap beats / moody loops / club bangers
some of us never had an mpc in the first place. i dont sample, dont use loops and i don't make beats. i play my drums, guitar, bass, keyboards.. i might program up a loop here and there but sampling / sequencing has little to no role in my music at the moment.
so to describe ableton as a toy for loop mashing is simply preposterous.
In other words: you think the mpc is better cus its more limited (worse)? I mean just face it, ableton has everything the mpc has and more! Who wants pads anyways when you can get keys.
Why you should keep the mpc.
1. its an instrument. - you can practice at it. you can get better at it. you can learn to master the feel of the machine. You can do this until it becomes second nature to you and you feel as though there is nothing separating you from the music. In a sense, learning the feel of the mpc is always going to be different from learning the interface of a piece of software. It responds to your abilities with it, and it forces you to improve, not just the software.
2. It has a live feel to it - you might accidently hit the pattern you are trying to do wrong but it comes out doper than you had originally intended. I cant see that happening with a software sequencer.
3. Its rigid and limiting - In the best sense of the words. The mpc is harsh. the swing is unatural. But thats what makes it good.
I think all these things also apply to the asr10, or the sp1200 or any of the old sequencer/samplers that people today wanna say are outdated. They have a certain feel that cannot be reproduced. Its like having a moog or having a moog emulator. sure the emulator sounds good, but its all about the knobs, and the real physical control. the physical process of making music which computers are divorcing people from to a degree and i think thats somewhat unfortunate.
im sure it is all my bias, but i was on fruityloops for years and i cant tell you what a difference its made to actually have the hardware in front of me.
i was relating it specifically to my process. I apologize. Sometimes Im pretty self centered......well okay, most of the time.
I use keys too man. My motif has a sequencer built into it thats tons more advanced with tons more features than the mpc, but that doesnt make it better.
try the asr10 if you want keys.
Guess what, I own a fully expanded ASR-10. And an EMAX rack, good old true 12bit with analouge filters. The broke mans SP1200, beats the shit out of the akai s900/950 racks everyones usin. I wasnt the one who was gonna sell my samplers, I'd never do that! I just didnt like ur arguments bout the MPC.
Bsides you've been bugging out lately.
how ive been bugging out?
I thought that was hot. In a full-featured DAW (I use Logic) you've got so much stuff going on. It was nice to get away from that to something simple, clean, and slick for arrangement & performance.
After 1.0 it turned out that a substantial portion of users were using it as their only tool. Bit by bit they started tacking on the features of a full composition suite - MIDI sequencing, the integrated drum sampler, some software instruments.
Also they ran out of money around 2.0! So they threw a bunch of stuff in and hustled 3.0 out so they could pay salary to their employees.
I find it kind of cluttered & weird now. Once you get into the 'Live mentality' it's cool, but I think a lot of users find themselves working for the tool rather than the tool working for them.
And humor value: check out these pictures of Robert Henke, one of the lead developers / designers of Live, doing his thing at a techno store in Berlin. Dude is seriously the funniest German man I've ever met.
http://monolake.de/photos2003.html