Ableton 12 - Generative MIDI, Multiband Distortion and more

[Jmf1928]

hello Bitwig

This is amazing. And the midi tools

What a great update tbfh

Better yet, just drag frozen clips to audio slots. Very useful workflow.

[xbitz]

I am curious about the MIDI tools. In RapidComposer, if there is a master clip, the others can be ghosted and follow its changes, yet each can be varied separately and can have its own voicing(inherited from a master one)



^^^ left one is the master, this is the etalon now for me in this category (ofc. has chord track too), not AI-based luckily just can work on phrases(clips) instead of separated notes

[HOTF]

*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*

session view is my single favourite thing about live

[sacer]

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.

Yeah there some Push3 bugs, like if arm a midi track and click into another track, the arm gets lost.
Also VST3 preset change takes very long on more and more synth plugins, like Korg, Avenger etc.


Hope they fix these issues in v11.
However, I am very excited about the new MIDI features, browser with AI search sample search and the new GUI customisation

[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*

session view is my single favourite thing about live

Well of course! Why else would you use live? It's why i bought it at It's inception for a hundred bucks. Back then it wasn't a DAW but it was quite the unique app.
Id get back into clip recording if each "clip" could be a modular instance. It can be as simple and complex as you like.

[ghettosynth]

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

Yeah, looks great to me. After years of "playing the field" I'm settled on Ableton and Reaper for the most part. Reason occasionally gets a night here and there.

[apoclypse]

*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*

session view is my single favourite thing about live

Well of course! Why else would you use live? It's why i bought it at It's inception for a hundred bucks. Back then it wasn't a DAW but it was quite the unique app.
Id get back into clip recording if each "clip" could be a modular instance. It can be as simple and complex as you like.

A lot of people don't use it Session view. Most of the folks I've seen use Ableton, just use the arranger for the most part.

[SLiC]

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

And you get all the improvements until Live 13 free, probably 3 years of free updates
The updates 11.1, 11.2 etc have been quite substantial!

[pc999]

I wish they added Linux support and open_daw_project for easy file sharing.

Now that browser seems way better than the new and bad Bitwig browser.

[koalaboy]

The scale functionality looks cool, and I'm glad to see it's overridable per clip.. but is there the equivalent of a 'scale track' so key changes can be sequenced in the arranger ?

[koalaboy]

I wish they added Linux support and open_daw_project for easy file sharing.

Linux would be nice, but niche. open_daw_project still doesn't make sense to me, as in Bitwig I make extensive use of their devices and the grid, and none of that is portable.

Now that browser seems way better than the new and bad Bitwig browser.

I think anything is better than the Bitwig browser. I much prefer Studio One for that. Bitwig seems to be intended at the user typing in to find something. and always defaults to 'all' which is never what I want.

[VOODOO U]

A lot of people don't use it Session view. Most of the folks I've seen use Ableton, just use the arranger for the most part.

More power to them. I stopped at version 8 because I got fed up with the Arrangmemnt view, well, actually the way live handled audio recording workflow in general as far as standard linear recordings is concerned.
Now with the mixer viewable in the arrangmemt view all i can say is it took them this long to figure that one out?
Better late than never.

[Dirtgrain]

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

It's always, Bitwig does it better, without supporting the claim. It's all, Bitwig does it all without that Ableton magic . . . with a zillion devices, lol. I own both. Bitwig is good but they pretend it does everything as well as Ableton.

[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.

Sounds like fanboy talk to me

Haha, sure is. Fanboy facts!

I do also have a license for Live 12, mostly because of the ClyphX stuff. Bitwig has amazing remote control stuff, but no way at all to set snapshots for parameters, which can let you get more more experimental knowing you can revert to saved states. But using Ableton makes me miss so many things about bitwig, especially when using plugins. Though Ableton is a nice self-contained program i find, I like it's devices.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Anyone come across any info yet if assigning a control to a macro still locks up the destination control? Or is it set free like with the modulator devices?