Ableton Software Sequencers

There weren't any kind of compatibility issues , the program works on any platform like Windows XP, Windows Seven or a MAC OS. The book provided by the program was quite clear and you get a quite detailed and powerful understanding of the program. General configuration and setup is easy and it doesn't require any additional tasks. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software works correctly , fast and pro. Regarding the functions and the performances , I must mention that all the functions and features are working on a high level , and Ableton's functions are well thought and made by Sonic Academy. OVERALL OPINION What I like most about it beside the pro design and that powerful white design , the instruments provided with the program are great , the sampler , the simpler and of course the Operator , which is a very powerful machine where you can emulate a whole specter of sounds starting from bass to drums. I also do enjoy the way the program works , in two separate ways , either session view or arrangement view , both of them has their own purpose and use. Another great thing about Ableton are the multi effects racks , which are very handy and high quality. My opinion about the value of the price is great , this product included a lot of features and plugins , it has vst support , it's worth the money without a doubt. Precision and quality of the sound is pretty perfect , the only times where Ableton lacks perfection is when it cracks , which isn't very often but still , beside that , quality and precision is 10/10. I've tried several Daw's , Ableton has its own ways and features which makes one of the most used Daw's out there. Knowing what I know , I would get Ableton Suite that comes to the music world with a wide variety of plugins , features and effects.

There were no compatibility issues running Ableton 8 on my Macbook. I have browsed the manual here and there, but it is rather long and with the Ableton forums, great tutorials and google, you really don't need it at all. If you have used a DAW software before, then the "arrangement" section shouldn't be to hard to figure out. I also have Logic 9 and I prefer to use that. I feel that Ableton's interface is a little inferior compared to Logic 9. In Logic, the separation of the clips or tracks is very easy to see and therefore manipulate. In Ableton, the background bleeds into every clip, making it a little hard to use. When it comes to the "Session" view, things are very simple and extremely useful. The only complaint I have is the lack of a "Floating Window" feature. When all of the windows are opened up, you run out of screen space really quick. The typical functions are easy enough to access. Ableton is really special because of its arrangement view which is really original. The functions of that aspect are also easy to access. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE The software works great on my man with one exception, it seems that one of my favorite plugins (GSi's Mr. Ray 73) occasionally generates severe latency. It happens all of a sudden and I cannot figure out what causes it either. The big problem is that after I close/remove the plugin, the latency still persists. Even if I close that session and open up a new one, it is still there. The only remedy is to shut ableton down entirely and relaunch it. This is a big problem for me because I really need a good Rhodes plugin and the GSi is the best I have ever had. I have contacted Ableton about this but have not had a reply yet. If only they had a Midi reset feature, like Logic 9/Mainstage 2 has, it would not be an issue. Hopefully they will fix this in an update. I also notice that Ableton 8 crashes on me once in a great while when I am changing my Audio output preferences (built in output changed to Presonus Firebox). It has only happened 3 times over the past 2 months, and it only happens when I first open up the project. Besides those two hiccups, ableton functions fine. With those two problems in the mix, I can only give ableton an 8 out of 10. I have been using Ableton 8 for 2 months. OVERALL OPINION What I like the most is the amazing abilities Live can give a performing musician. First off, they have added a looping device plugin which is absolutely spectacular. I used to own a RC 50, but I sold it when I found out what ableton was capable of. Due to the fact that it is computer based, there is a extremely small amount of latency, but other than that, it kills!!!!! the RC 50 in every aspect. Of course, I should mention the sheer value of the "session view" which for me is priceless. I can do the "one man band" thing with great ease due to this software. The only fallbacks for me are the ones I mentioned earlier. There really is nothing else out there that can give you this much bang for your buck. I paid $229 with an artist account and upgrade discount. It is worth every single penny. Besides the little bit of latency that happens when running analog instruments (guitar and bass), the precision is great and the sound quality is just as good as Logic/mainstage or any other DAW I have used. I have used Logic, Cakewalk Sonar and Cubase. I prefer Logic for Recording/writing but Ableton is the only choice when it comes to playing Live. Yes, I would happily buy this again if I had to.

Likely targeted as an intuitive sequencing instrument, Ableton does a great job of including many elements of standard DAW's into it's workspace. You get a fairly standard set of plugins. Delays, EQ's as well as Ableton's Operator synth and a new BeatRepeat tool all clad in Abletons skin color. I haven't used these much as I mainly use my own plugins in VST and VSTi format. There is an intuitive browser on the left hand side of the workspace that allows for organization of your projects, plugins, loops etc. It can be collapsed to expand your workspace. You get a fairly standard set of loops aimed towards the more hip hoppy/technoish/house side of things which I'm sure many will find useful. An excellent feature practically exclusive of Ableton's is its time stretching ability. You can easily drag a loop or recording into the session or clip view, trigger it and conform it to the current sessions tempo. The stretching algorithm is quite unique in that it allows you to choose a processing method to deliver the best sounding stretch. You can choose from beat, texture, tone, or complex modes. I find that most percussive loops sound best using the beat setting. and tone and complex modes work best with richer recordings or whole audio clips. Keep in mind that selecting complex will be more intensive on the cpu. Sound quality is great with the re-synced loops and recordings. On the right is an awesome tutorial browser allowing for quick and easy access to tutorials that can be read as you operate the software. It can be also collapsible to expand the workspace view. Ableton does a great job of making the tutorials thorough yet simple, another point that contributes to it's quick learning curve. You even get a little box on the lower left hand side that displays information on every aspect of ableton's mechanics as youplace your mouse cursor over it. For example, if you have no idea what "that little knob" does, simply place your cursor over it and Ableton tells you exactly what it does and how to do it. Something ableton lacks is a better method of organizing comps in the audio recording view. I personally would have liked to see some form of playlist system for managing takes since Ableton really is able to give you a thorough project oriented music production experience. Price paid 281.00 USD (Ebay) Extremely easy to use. Abletons workflow is highly streamlined. You have a unique clip session view where you can simply drag and drop premade or recorded loops into various arrangements and trigger or record them similtaneously or individually in real time. I find this intuitive system especially handy for creating loop based melodic segments (chorus, bridges, etc..) quickly and efficiently. You can record on the fly manually using raw data (line inputs) or midi data (vsti's, hardware modules etc). By the way, Abletons midi handling is simple and powerful. Routing is very flexible via midi channels and can handle just about anything from choosing hardware modules as source from the dropdown menus to running intensive vsti modules such as korg legacy cell which you simply drag and drop from the file browser to the midi strip. Every control aspect of ableton within the workspace is fully automatable and can be programmed to an external controller or the computer keyboard via a simple to use keymap feature. You can draw in automation within the session view. I drew a sine wave pattern onto a level automation and watched the faders on my mixer glide in unison.. fairly entertaining. Using Abletons track recording view, you can record easily and edit it all using the classic cut and paste, region seperation, conforming, slicing methods etc.. Ableton has straight forward and flexible quantizing features which I find to be adequate and fairly precise even with abusive cutting and pasting. This works especially well with midi track recordings. A great thing about ableton is it seems to have some kind of noise reduction algorithm working when making edits. As clicks and pops at the edit points are negligible. Ableton is extremely easy to use and you will find yourself with a creative mix within minutes using the supplied loops. I have to admit I had the thing belting out something that resembled pop in about half an hour without even reading the manual. Enabled the midi controller slaved to my triton, setup my midi and record channels, routed my audio and effects sends, recorded some piano melodies. Threw in an instance of amplitube onto a channel. Routed my guitar, recorded an accompaniment. did the same for my bass guitar, then finally setup another midi channel and dragged in an instance of LM-9 and recorded a hilarious percussion mid track. Highlighted all the recordings and mixed down to wav. Easier done than said. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Great, and definately very adequate, you have sample rates of 16 32 44 and 48 khz, bit depths of I believe 16 & 32. More than enough to achieve polished works. As expected, changing to higher sample rates and bit depths do increase strain on the hard drive and processor quite significantly. With my setup at 44khz 16bit I haven't had a single hiccup on a P4 3.2 HT notebook with 512 megs ram. With a good ASIO audio interface you can achieve very nice & stable low latencies. I am currently achieving 4 ms with an M-audio Mobilepre with samples set to 80 on the mobilepre control panel. Ableton delivers crystal clear audio period. Rock Solid. Ableton is stable even with seriously high computer, ram and hardrive loads that would concern a machine pamperer. On one session I had 9 instances of amplitube on various guitar patches, 12 instances of compressors (CP2S and Rcomp), reverbs, limiters, an instance of quasistereo on every channel, Tracks suite, L2, Lexiverb on the master out ... all in all about 35-40 intensive plugins. All with no hiccups. i was even able to setup two new vocal channels each with its own compressor, de-esser,eq, c4, exciter and autotuner. I even recorded the vocals in real with little to no audible delay present in the headset monitors. I have yet to experience what it's like to really max out Abletons abilities on my P4 3.2 HT notebook. OVERALL OPINION Ableton is very unique and streamlined. It's design is very straightforward yet powerful and allows you to perform tasks quickly and efficiently. It's sequencing capabilites are it's strengths and it's recording and automation capabilities can hold their own against the better established names. Ableton is as much fun to use as it is simple and you'll find yourself making music more than grumbling over questions and dead ends. I frequently find myself sequencing t'ill the sun re-appears and it's clear Ableton's produced simple yet potent tool in the arsenal. Originally posted on FutureProducers.com Posted by: owendolmer ( 3-, 2006)