Ableton Live 11

[jsterne]

Haven't been around much lately because a) the Linnstrument just works and b) work has been stupid busy.

I just got around to playing with Live 11 and the Linnstrument today. It looks promising, but for those who have gotten further than me, how are you liking it so far? Suggestions? Favourite synths, tricks, etc?

[Dirtgrain]

Emit is cool. Comping, MIDI and audio, is very nice for me.

[mpgarate]

One thing to be aware of is that Ableton tracks merge midi channel data during processing. If you have an instrument with MPE mode enabled, it will take the merged data and automatically rotate the notes across 16 channels. This means that if you set the linnstrument to send on channels 2-4 only, then the instrument will still receive notes on 1-16. This gets in the way of some configurations like using the linnstrument split to control two MPE instruments in channel per note mode, but if you stick to the basics (1 or all channels) it works well.

[Roger_Linn]

One thing to be aware of is that Ableton tracks merge midi channel data during processing. If you have an instrument with MPE mode enabled, it will take the merged data and automatically rotate the notes across 16 channels. This means that if you set the linnstrument to send on channels 2-4 only, then the instrument will still receive notes on 1-16. This gets in the way of some configurations like using the linnstrument split to control two MPE instruments in channel per note mode, but if you stick to the basics (1 or all channels) it works well.

Unfortunately, it also means you can't play two pads with the same pitch, or use Channel Per Row with different sounds per row. This is the same problem Bitwig had in its initial implementation, which they eventually corrected. When I was testing Live 11, it had an odd problem: it would pass the correct per-note channels during live play but then randomly reassign them on playback. I pointed out that this would tease people into practicing a part, only to find that what they practiced had changed on playback. I suggested that they change live play to be consistent with playback, which they did.

[jsterne]

Hmph. That's too bad. Here's hoping they get it worked out like Bitwig did. Bitwig has lots of great stuff, but Live has all the benefits of being a much older program as well as a few things that Bitwig still doesn't have, which I actually use playing live. Not that that's happening these days.

[Roger_Linn]

Live also has all the disadvantages of being a much older program. Updating such a large, old code base is like playing whack-a-mole. Live is an excellent program, but Bitwig was written from the ground up for today’s needs and is incredibly efficient at its core.

[mrspiral]

Hearing what Bitwig can do, I sometimes wish I wasn't so set in my ways with Live... but then, I am using laptop DAWs less and less these days, preferring to do the majority of work on iOS devices controlled by my LS128.

[pdxindy]

One thing to be aware of is that Ableton tracks merge midi channel data during processing. If you have an instrument with MPE mode enabled, it will take the merged data and automatically rotate the notes across 16 channels. This means that if you set the linnstrument to send on channels 2-4 only, then the instrument will still receive notes on 1-16. This gets in the way of some configurations like using the linnstrument split to control two MPE instruments in channel per note mode, but if you stick to the basics (1 or all channels) it works well.

Yeah, it also doesn't work with hardware synths like the Elektron A4 for the same reason

[Tj Shredder]

Considering that Bitwig with its higher development pace needed quite a while to sort it out, I suspect that Live 13 will have it fixed...

[BobDog]

As Ableton have ignored every email I have sent them about the MPE issues you may be right!

[jsterne]

This is all very disappointing. I'd hoped it had been worked out. I really like the scripting that's available through ClyphX, which doesn't exist in Bitwig. I also really dislike how Bitwig handles MIDI learn with hardware controllers it doesn't know ("Code it yourself or use one of our templates that assumes it's a keyboard" was not the answer I was looking for). Two important things for setting up for performance. But Live still has plenty of unsolved problems, including why audible latency is higher than other DAWs at the same buffer settings. You're probably right about the ancient code base, Roger.