Ableton Live 10 Suite. Worth upgrading?

[greedy.mf]

Hello, fellow KVR people.

When Ableton announced version 10 I was quite baffled by the price of it for Live 9 users. Even with 20% off for purchasing before release it seemed steep.

Yes, new synth, delay, keyboard commands and mp3 export.
But I thought I could live without that, considering ownership of Serum, Replika XT and Audacity with Lame. I didn't even bother with demo and decided to wait for a better sale.

And it did come. 50% off. Hurray, I thought. Installed the demo to check out the improvements. But none of them made me go "wow".

Wavetable is ok, but quite hungry and preset library is almost non-existent.
Echo is ok.
Max is built in, ok. You can hide automation - ok.
Everything is ok, but I'm still struggling to justify the $150 spending. Is workflow really $150 nicer?

Have someone here made that jump and consider it not just "nice", which is true, but not enough, but really valuable investment?

[tehlord]

The thing to consider with Ableton pricing is that while the upgrade may appear steep, you then get further updates free for several years. They don't do incremental yearly paid updates like some other DAW's (Cubase, I am looking at you).

[bbreakz]

And it did come. 50% off. Hurray, I thought. Installed the demo to check out the improvements. But none of them made me go "wow".

You see it 50% off somewhere?

[Yorrrrrr]

Version 10 made me fall in love with Ableton Live. Version 9 and below were underwhelming to me and I always went back to my trusty FL Studio. Not this time though. I am an Ableton Live convert.

I think it's worth upgrading. Great new workflow, devices, capture, etc.

[kb420]

In my opinion, it's definitely worth the update. With all the improvements in Push 2 and the Arrangement View, it's almost a no brainer. I also really like the new Drum Bus, Echo and Wavetable synth. You know with Ableton, this is only the beginning. How many years of bug fixes and added features are on the way?

[Spencer Maddox]

You know, it’s funny really. I’ve warmed up to 10 as time has gone on and now think it was worth it
I hated it at first and honestly, after 2 years of hype, was genuinely disappointed in a perceived lack of features. But when I actually started using it, my workflow has been so...much...better.
All the little things that have been added make such a big difference it seems. The stretch drag. The snap automation. The plugin favorites feature. The intergrated M4L. The Push 2 enhancements that were game changing for me. The tremendous little Echo and Drum Bus devices and the Wavetable synth that needs some work (importing WT) but is solid and usable.
Just a very good update in my opinion and one I would recommend.

[bundoo]

Sorely in need of some solid touch automation

editing still very basic

reaper just so much better in terms of arrange page functionality and soooooo much cheaper

[greedy.mf]

And it did come. 50% off. Hurray, I thought. Installed the demo to check out the improvements. But none of them made me go "wow".

You see it 50% off somewhere?

Ableton sent me an email with discounted offer valid for limited time.

[greedy.mf]

Sorely in need of some solid touch automation

editing still very basic

reaper just so much better in terms of arrange page functionality and soooooo much cheaper

What do you mean by solid touch automation? I use Push 2 with Faderport and recording automation seems smooth operation to me.
Much easier than Logic X for sure.

Probably Reaper is cheaper, but the discussion is if v9 + $150 is < v10
I do not consider second DAW, especially being committed to Push.

[DJ Warmonger]

Absolutely worth it. Features may seem minor, but each of them actually improves workflow and functionality of Live for me.

[topaz]

Absolutely not.

The main reason is Abletons outright refusal to fix the tiny font on Mac systems with big displays.

It's impossible to see any of the track headers and it seems like they have no intention of fixing it.

The amount of people complaining on the beta forum was staggering but still nil fix.

But also imho the upgrade price was double what it should of been.

Even if it was free I would still use 9 as I can at least see it on my 28" screen.

[phreaque]

I hope that would not trigger any hardcore fan. The truth is, the upgrade costs much, as the OP mentioned, even with that 20% discount, it was still much!
But let's see what the difference between 9.7 and 10:

1. Wavetable: Most of us uses alternatives already.
2. Echo: hmm thank you.
3. Drum Buss: Veteran users can already have their own drum packs arranged in groups utilizing bunch of 3rd party vsts
4. Same goes for Pedal
5. Workflow enhancements: Capture, editing grouped midi clips, library better browsing, groups within groups, mixing improvements etc. : well they are considered bug fixes rather than new features and could be better to be offered free of charge.

So apparently v10 is not essential. For me, I'd not even upgrade for $50.
Better to wait for new serious updates, but then, who knows how much we need to pay!

[bbreakz]

And it did come. 50% off. Hurray, I thought. Installed the demo to check out the improvements. But none of them made me go "wow".

You see it 50% off somewhere?

Ableton sent me an email with discounted offer valid for limited time.

thats awesome

[2ZrgE]

Don't like the new color scheme so I stay with 9...



Well with 50% off I could think about it twice...

[Mister Natural]

yeah, I think it's a good value with everything considered. Continued development of this very complex software would likely cost Ableton a ton of labor cost. It's been a number of years since the v.9 upgrade with many, many subsequent 9.x improvements included in that price & we anticipate v.10 to be similarly developed.
3rd party VST are mentioned above and it could be argued that they are largely unnecessary with these latest upgrades. In which case; the value of LIVE increases by whatever you might(have) spend(spent) on other software.

peace