KVR Audio

womoma · Post by **womoma** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:50 pm

Hi.

Just wondering if anyone uses Live 5 exclusively, without Cubase/Sonar etc.

Has live caught up in terms of DAW capability?

I would like to see more tools such as slice, zoom, delete- cubase style.

But is the audio engine up to professional standard? What I mean is- Would Live be enough for a professional recording "one stop shop" or do we have to wait for version 6?

Watto · Post by **Watto** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:53 pm

bump - I'm very curious as to the responses you get to this, especially as I think KVR is focused more on electronic music, and not many people on here are doing hardcore audio work.

sweet_trip · Post by **sweet_trip** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:01 pm

i'm not sure. As far as audio quality, sOme people say it depends on taste, other say it is not to pro standards. I honestly cannot say yet, though the past few weeks I've used to multitrack audio exclusively and I do not hear any loss in quality as sometimes said. Live's engine is in 32 bits, I'm not sure what other DAWs run on. The new Sonar runs on 64 bits and I'm pretty sure it's bound to sound alot better.

As far a pro features, it does lack many things that other DAWs offer, like a better tools palette, audio pool, other editing and management things. There are still some latency and delay comp. issues, higher cpu usage than on average DAWs.

Honestly, I would not consider Live to be a "one stop shop". It is not quite there yet. But as a remix, live improv tool, which is what is was set out to be in the first place, it is top notch.

linzatti · Post by **linzatti** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:02 pm

I use it exclusively.. Works fine

Spiggy · Post by **Spiggy** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:07 pm

womoma wrote:Hi.

Just wondering if anyone uses Live 5 exclusively, without Cubase/Sonar etc.

Has live caught up in terms of DAW capability?

I would like to see more tools such as slice, zoom, delete- cubase style.

But is the audio engine up to professional standard? What I mean is- Would Live be enough for a professional recording "one stop shop" or do we have to wait for version 6?

Used Steiny for years and recently made the switch - I'm generally using it for 20-30 channel mixes & production stuff. As far as DAW capability goes it's got a few nags but the workflow bonus more than makes up for it. In other words it's far more geared towards creativity rather than the standard DAW interfaces. It's got 'enough' tools to get the job done - and I can't say I've had any real issues with the audio engine either tho' its definitely less 'clear' than something like Nuendo.

One current issue I should warn you about is that the new v5.x is causing quite a few problems/bugs still to be worked out etc.

womoma · Post by **womoma** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 11:12 pm

HMm..
Thanks everyone for your helpfull contributions.

I dont think I can bring myself to use it exclusively just yet.

Now I just have to decide what to complement it with [on my new mac]- Logic Express or Cubase SL. For some reason Im swaying towards Logic Express despite the lack of VST support. It looks like it operates more similar to Sonar [which is what Im used to]

Its nice to see that someone is using it exclusively. Ive always hoped that Live would eventually become "one of the big boys", maybe it will happen sooner than expected.

As an extremly powerfull plugin, I like Live more than Reason. .. its ok to say that?

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 12:14 am

Hi!

Just spotted this topic, so here's my tuppence worth...

In terms of being a full-on DAW, I do use Live exclusively. I have abandoned both my previous hosts - Cubase SX1 and Tracktion 2 in favour of Live 5.

For multitrack audio recording Live is fine. The audio quality is as good as any. Tracktion has 64-bit mixing, but I can acheive better results in Live 5 because the mixing and workflow is so much easier than in T2.

On the other hand it depends a bit on what you mean by "exclusively". If I understood you correctly, then my answer is indeed yes. But I DO use a few VST plugins within Live 5, as well as my main virtual instrument, which is Reason 3 (just upgraded from 2.5.... all I can say is WOW

what an improvement!!!)

Also I use Adobe Audition for sample editing, but this would remain true whichever main host I was using for my DAW. I often do some final mastering in Audition too, although I found that I didn't actually need to do anything at all to my latest Ableton mix... after a full analysis in Audition I found there was nothing to be fixed or improved at all!)

And I use Sibelius for notation. Again, Cubase has this and Live doesn't. But as any classically trained musician will confirm, the notation in Cubase/Sonar/etc sucks big time, and a dedicated program such as Sibelius or Finale is a must if you need professional score printing (I do, because I compose stuff for a couple of the big publishing houses).

So basically I'm giving you a qualified YES - Ableton Live 5 is definitely up to the job, but consider all your needs carefully!

womoma · Post by **womoma** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:27 am

Thanks for your post.

Its reassuring to know that people are using Live exclusively [yeah I meant as their VST host and centre of their DAW]

Im still gonna plough ahead and invest in Logic Express, and use both Live and Logic for the time being. I may at one point in the future decide to drop one or the other out of the equation, but doubt that will happen unless Logic is hugely disappointing.

beergeek · Post by **beergeek** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:33 am

I don't use it exclusively but it is my preferred...I like Live and Tracktion...I have Cubase and Pro Tools but haven't much bothered to learn them because I'm happy with Live and Tracktion...

jackson · Post by **jackson** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:39 am

I'm TRYING to move over to Live from Logic 5, but I'm being pretty lazy about learning all the new shortcuts and workflow concepts, which would speed up production immensely.

The one thing I do have a major issue with is the MIDI editing, which is very limited and fiddly compared to Logic.

As far as sound quality goes, you really have to take alot of the negative feedback with a grain of salt. There have been so many instances where people have Live's audio stretching features turned on which degrades the audio quality immensely. With it turned off, a wave played back is a wave played back. The output based on the summing of multiple tracks may depend on the host, but I stay the hell away from that topic because of all the heated debates over whether or not it really is a factor or how much impact it has.

I think I'll be sticking with a Logic/Live combo for quite some time to come.

Architect · Post by **Architect** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 1:40 am

I use Live 5 almost exclusively and it works great! Its a very good investment for any electronic musician in my opinion, the user base is fanatical, the product support is good and it's just one of the damn good DAW.

SharksFin · Post by **SharksFin** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 3:40 am

i use live exclusively
it sounds like this : http://dominey.schtuff.com/cusin_mp3

even7 · Post by **even7** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:35 pm

i also use it exclusively... and i'm starting to appreciate it's native fx more and more. sucha warm and (a bit) dirty sound.

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:53 pm

I use it exclusively. It sounds like this Haven't bothered reinstalling SX2, or Acid; rarely open FLStudio anyway..and I sold Orion Plat to help pay for it!

dusted william · Post by **dusted william** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:03 pm

It is now my only midi host, but I have to learn a bit more for it to be my only audio host. I am slowly working all the kinks (in my head out)

I feel eventually LIve5 will be my only host.

dw

Ableton Live 5- Anyone use it exclusively?