Ableton 12 - Generative MIDI, Multiband Distortion and more

[PieBerger]

A bargain when compared to Bitwig's annual subscription or Cubase.

did you forget that you compared the cost of Live updates to, checks notes, Bitwig

[Yorrrrrr]

Great update!. New MIDI tools and improvements, browser improvements, sound similarity search, key and scale awareness, modulation behavior, GUI refinements, mixer in Arrangement view, new devices, a bunch of little QOL improvements, on top of the great things Ableton Live already offers, all add up to a big update, in my book. I'm sold

[Dalle]

Always amuses me how people will call anything a small point update worthy rip off.

Browser tags and categories, mixer in arrangement view, simultaneous device and clip view, modulation that doesn’t take over the knob, note splitting and joining, piano roll note transforming tools (customizable with M4L!), UI improvements… all things people have been asking for ages and I’m happy to see. Proper global microtuning that’s reflected in the piano roll is very cool! New distortion and synths look ace. Sure there’s lots I’m still missing.

Well done Ableton in my opinion!

[dayjob]

when does live 13 come out? it's been minutes since Live 12 was announced and there's no word on when 13 will arrive. personally, i'm switching to __________ as my DAW because of this.

edit: btw sonic state has a first look w/someone from ableton

[simmo75]

Why do Bitwig fanboys always try and hijack Ableton Live threads?
It's weird!

Ah yes, healthy discussion about two similar DAWs, must be hijacking by fanboys

Ah yes, healthy discussion is great, i'm all for it, but catching up on this thread, there seems to be some weirdness too.
Sorry for going off topic folks.

[PieBerger]

Why do Bitwig fanboys always try and hijack Ableton Live threads?
It's weird!

Ah yes, healthy discussion about two similar DAWs, must be hijacking by fanboys

Ah yes, healthy discussion is great, i'm all for it, but catching up on this thread, there seems to be some weirdness too.
Sorry for going off topic folks.

and I'm sorry for the catty comment you will get in a couple of mouse scrolls time, sorry!

[jules99]

If you own Live 9, 10, 11 - both Standard or Suite - you can now register for and download the beta of Live 12: https://www.ableton.com/en/beta/

[lnikj]

£143 after ~3 years seems fair enough for the improvements to me. I'll upgrade.

[whyterabbyt]

Ableton "updates" have become a joke

v9 had real improvements in its lifespan and lasted years, but since v10 and v11, that has completely changed

Frequent expensive updates are the future for Ableton users

Live 9 lasted longer than any other version, its a significant outlier, so you're kinda cherry-picking there. In response its reasonable to point out that 10, and 11 have lasted at least double the time of any version prior to Live 8.

Live 1.0 30 October 2001
Live 2.0 22 December 2002 : 1 year 2 months later
Live 3 10 October 2003 : 10 months later
Live 4 28 July 2004 : 8 months later
Live 5 24 July 2005 : 12 months later
Live 6 29 September 2006 : : 1 year 2 months later
Live 7 29 November 2007 : 1 year 2 months later
Live 8 2 April 2009 : 1 year 5 months later
Live 9 5 March 2013 : 3 years 11 months later
Live 10 6 February 2018 : 4 years 11 months later
Live 11 23 February 2021 : 3 years later
Live 12 'early 2024' : minimum of 2 years 11 months later

Its also pretty fair to say that Ableton add a decent amount of new stuff in their free x.5 updates.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Ableton "updates" have become a joke

v9 had real improvements in its lifespan and lasted years, but since v10 and v11, that has completely changed

Frequent expensive updates are the future for Ableton users

£140 every 3 years?

A bargain when compared to Bitwig's annual subscription or Cubase.

It looks awesome to me, I like being able to access the mix from the arrangement page, the new midi stuff looks very inspirational too.
Looking forward to it!

Bitwig doesn't have an annual subscription. You just buy an update whenever you want rather than at a main version upgrade. And then you get updates for a year after regardless of when you upgraded. I never do every year, closer to 2 years, maybe 1.5. You just wait until there are new features you really want. The license doesn't stop working as a subscription would.

[PieBerger]

Ableton "updates" have become a joke

v9 had real improvements in its lifespan and lasted years, but since v10 and v11, that has completely changed

Frequent expensive updates are the future for Ableton users

£140 every 3 years?

A bargain when compared to Bitwig's annual subscription or Cubase.

It looks awesome to me, I like being able to access the mix from the arrangement page, the new midi stuff looks very inspirational too.
Looking forward to it!

Bitwig doesn't have an annual subscription. You just buy an update whenever you want rather than at a main version upgrade. And then you get updates for a year after regardless of when you upgraded. I never do every year, closer to 2 years, maybe 1.5. You just wait until there are new features you really want. The license doesn't stop working as a subscription would.

Sounds like fanboy talk to me

[apoclypse]

It feels like 11 was out yesterday.Or maybe im just going insane. Either way this looks like a fun update. I hope it's not too pricey.

I feel more like Live 11 isn't finished. It still has a few bugs in it and is a bit crash-y for me. Especially the PUSH stuff feels a bit undercooked imo. Look like 12 isn't going to address that on launch either.

[Double Tap]

Having a global scale function
Mixer in arrangement view
Stacking clip view with the devices view
Accessibility and short cuts
Filtering sounds and presets and adding your own tags
Having a Sononym-style sample manager
Being able to split midi notes in a systematic way
Grouping notes for the probability function
Roar's feedback function
The improvements to modulation functions, so you can modulate something and still adjust it

All big ticks I think.

[VOODOO U]

*Turns on megaphone*
Ableton seriously needs to get rid of that Session View. Just a bunch of clips that take up space.

*quickly runs out of the room*

[Double Tap]

Sonic Bloom has a look at Roar, the new distortion plugin