Ableton Live 5- Anyone use it exclusively?

[ModuLR]

PS... Live has 5 different timestretch algos, of which "repitch" is one algo. THey all behave differently, and the repitch algo is the least CPu intensive. The "complex" algo is around 10 times as intensive as the others but is of course very capable. Anyone new to Live will do well to check out the difference between the five algos, because choosing the correct one for the loop is critical to getting good results.

But "repitching" is not the same as "time stretching." Decent repitching, is nothing more than decent intepolation. It's no different that taking a sample in any host, and changing it's pitch. The difference being when using warp "repitch" in Live... is just locks the clip pitch to the host bpm. It has nothing to do with time streching tho.. which is why is takes no cpu.

[headquest]

In case you haven't seen these already, here are a few lengthy threads on Live's sound quality compared to other DAWs:

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... ht=summing

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic. ... c&start=45

Those are interesting threads... but it's worth noting they relate to Live 4, not Live 5. I think there is a general consensus that since the addition of PDC and the complex timestretch, audio quality is cleaner all around.

No doubt the debate about this will continue to rage of course, as it does between other DAWs as well

For my part I recorded some identical tracks in Adobe Audition, Live 5 and Tracktion 2, noting both the ease of use and sound quality issues. I found little to tell apart Audition and Live. (with Tracktion I did less well because I got audio drop-outs while recording, and as I couldn't overcome the issues I had I was unable to do a fair comparisson).

[headquest]

But "repitching" is not the same as "time stretching." Decent repitching, is nothing more than decent intepolation. It's no different that taking a sample in any host, and changing it's pitch. The difference being when using warp "repitch" in Live... is just locks the clip pitch to the host bpm. It has nothing to do with time streching tho.. which is why is takes no cpu.

Ableton call it an algo in the manual... but we're probably debating something that is essentially semantics.

Either way, as I said before, using the repitch or the Follow Actions I recommended will work, probably with no noticeable qualitative difference.

[dusted william]

I have anohter live5 question for y'all

I imported some midi's from Orion into clips in Live. There are patch changes that happen at the beginning of each clip. How can I get in to the midi's and change the. I know how to do this in cubase, but not Live. I hope it is possible, but not the end of the world if not.

later

dw

[riley4reason]

I have anohter live5 question for y'all

I imported some midi's from Orion into clips in Live. There are patch changes that happen at the beginning of each clip. How can I get in to the midi's and change the. I know how to do this in cubase, but not Live. I hope it is possible, but not the end of the world if not.

later

dw

It's easy. double click the midi clip and it will open up below the mixer, look on the left of the clip and you will see program change numbers that you can assign.

Hope this helps. Riley

[dusted william]

thanks, I just took care of my little problem

dw

[Wormhelmet]

Live exclusively now. I was using Acid pro and Fruity loops before, but Live sort of rolls it into one with extreme ease of use and awesome VST compatibility. Now with freeze, pdc, mp3 support, built in arp, etc. It's covered my needs for now. I don't record anyone else. It's rock solid stable on my XP system with 2000+ cpu and 1 gig ram. My limitations are only on my system itself and my creativity, of course. It is the near perfect app for me right now. They are improving it too. Imagine the possibilities. I am totally digging the freeze on it. I may record a passage with a VST that is crackling because my CPU is holding at 85%, but then I freeze and it's back down to 3% and crystal clear. Maybe there are apps that do more, but Live is the best for me. I tried Tracktion on the free promo they had at V. 1.6. That's a great app too, but I started out sequencing and recording midi on a groovebox and Live makes more sense to me. You can do full audio track style recording too, but I like the option to do clips or full tracks.

[Amberience]

It's a common theme on ALL internet communities regarding audio software... a common theme indeed...

People seem to think that if it doesn't have Steinberg, Cakewalk, or Emagic(or Apple as it is now) then it surely must be inferior.

Time and time again I've read people's posts. "Does [insert software not of the three here] have good audio quality? Can I use it in a professional manner?"

FFS... if you can load audio files into it, slice them up by some means, mix with faders that have a readout of somekind, then yes godamnit! You can use it in a professional context!

Jesus.. I just don't understand the mentality of people sometimes. If someone famous uses it, it becomes one of the most sought after things. If it costs less than a hundred of whatever currency you use, it becomes a case of "oh... so what's wrong with it then??"

I mean... c'mon... I can honestly say that if I won the lottery tommorrow, I would not change the programs I use. My adversity to Cubase, Logic, and Sonar does not come from a financial backing. It comes from those programs requiring rocketman skills to use them. Jesus, I just want to make music! I don't want to breed my own colony of space creatures, I just wanna load up a synth godamnit!

My host of choice is EnergyXT. I have Live 5, but I don't use it that much because I use XT. Now if you want Live 5, I'm selling it, checkout the Market Place

[Harvesteridios]

I love Live!

But still...

Yes, it sound a little bit worst than SX2 (even when the timestretching off)...
Yes, it's not as flexible as SX2 at MIDI & AUDIO editing...

If you can afford it, there is nothing more flexible, creative and powerfull than these 2 rewired except than SX2, Live AND Reason rewired...

The reason that I love Live that much though, is that is the best software I tried so far for live use. I overcame all the issues that I've been facing when playing live...with smart use when can do almost anything you can think of (as long the CPU has the power to support it)

[music55]

I use Live for recording, arrangement, and some special effects in tracks-clips. Once the song is finished, I render every track to audio, and then I use Audition in multitrack session for mixing and mastering. That´s all. After to use Cubase and Tracktion, it is the best combination for me and my needs.

[aallvor]

I found Live's audio quality unacceptable. Have changed to Renoise now, and must say it's a bit shocking that it kicks Live's ass in that department, costing 10x less..

@Ableton:

[headquest]

I use Live for recording, arrangement, and some special effects in tracks-clips. Once the song is finished, I render every track to audio, and then I use Audition in multitrack session for mixing and mastering. That´s all.

As a fellow Ableton + Audition user, I'm interested in this. I have found myself using Audition less and less of late - I really use it mostly for noise reduction, adding convolution destuctively to a clip, sample rate conversion and MP3 encoding...

I also always check out whether a stereo mixdown from Live needs any additional mastering before using Audition to burn to CD. Often I find it doesn't need anything doing at all (partly because my mixing skills are improving, no doubt )

It must add quite a bit of work to bounce down each audio track and remix in Audition, and I'm wondering what benefits you feel there are to doing that?

[music55]

Headquest; let me explain (bad english). I know Live have all capabilities to finish a mix, including mastering. At the begining I used Audition for the same purpose like you; noise reduction, and some minor task. But with the time I have discovered the great potential of Audition to manage audio, pure audio. If you make automation curves, effects per clip,effects per track, and general effect for the hole mix in Live,I found some time I lose the general view of what I am doing in the same screen. My personal rule is the following; I record and arrange in Live because, you know, is one of the better host to do it without losing your creativity.
I apply only specific effects per track and clip in Live; reverbs, delays, filter,...whatever regarding to a specific track or clip.
Once you have the audio tracks rendered in Audition (24 bits), you have a clear screen (may be better than Live) in which you can concentrate only in automation curves and EQ, may be the most important thing about mixing. The look of the multitrack screen in Audition is very good to visualize all these elements. EQ, Compression, PAn, etc, are very good features in Audition, and, of course, last version of Audition has VST capabilities, so you can use whatever plugin you need. I know it is a good method for me after to try another host-combination, but.... may be it could not be the same for another person. My concern is.....take a look in deep to Audition, because there is "room to move" with this host.

[headquest]

Thanks for the explanation music55. I can see why you choose to do that. I got into Audition around the same time as I upgraded from Live 2 to Live 4 and began using Ableton as my main host. So with both programs I have been using them heavily for about 18 months (Cubase and Tracktion before that... and Reason of course ).

I have done some multitrack recording sessions directly in Audition, and agree with you that it is a fantastic host for straight-forward audio work... - very powerful . I do find its mixer a little limiting at times (particularly the routing options) ... but I suspect from what you say that the simplicity is one of the strengths you are attracted to.

To bounce down the tracks to audio do you use Audition as a rewire host and Ableton as a rewire client within it, or are you happy to rely on Live's render (and then reassemble the track in Audition)?

Thanks again... and your english is just fine

[dgkenney]

Jesus, I just want to make music! I don't want to breed my own colony of space creatures,

Underachiever!





Dan