Get drool cups ready for... Live 4

[cbit]

multiple ins! thats excellent. i'd never have guessed that that'd be incorporated. this recurring thing about live4 exceeding all expectations really seems accurate.

[Alan]

As far as audio go's,Iv'e heard no mention of PDC yet.

[stale bread]

Yeah I agree to a certain extent, the amount of shortcuts I have worked up in Logic is unbelievable, but I've never really like the way traditional Arrange windows force you to mouse around to rearrange the parts of a song, and Live completely kills the competition with this.
I sincerely doubt that Live 4's MIDI will be up to Logic/Sonar/Digital Performer/ SX standards though. I bet it's comparable to what Reason offers. I'll probably end up starting songs in Logic, then dumping them in Live for the arrangement and improvising of them.

you're kidding right?, did you check out the midi info over at the ableton website. it's revolutionary
which is nothing remotely close to reasons midi, or Logic for that matter. I'm all for celebrating software as a whole but that midi statement is kind of missing the whole point of the upgrade.

[xg2]

Looks really great.. Not alot of info on the new piano roll though. If its up to par Live will be just about unbeatable.

I was interested in that too - looking at one of the screenshots on the Ableton website, it doesn't appear to have any editing icons, but I expect they were hidden. I would be very pleased if it was as well designed as Music Studio Independence's.

[warbug]

could not read all 8 plus pages.

my friend had ableton when it came out and i remember it being a real bugger to register, a bunch of callenge and response BS. you had to tell them certain words on pages of the manual. also i think it was trouble some to register on more than one comp.

the new feature seem really nice. i have been looking for software to use live for some time and it may have matured enough for me.

as far as it replacing other sequecers..not yet. i think right now it accents other sequencers very nicely.

i have trackion. i m i love with it and i dont think that it will ever replace it. if i remeber corretly when mackie bought out jules wasnt there a plan to bundle tracktion and live the the sound card called the spike?

how do you pronounce ableton? is it a long A or a short A

[beej]

> could not read all 8 plus pages.

Really? Must be a new medical condition (only physically possible to read up to 7 pages of meandering KVR posts...

Surely you mean you couldn't be arsed...

> my friend had ableton when it came out and i remember
> it being a real bugger to register, a bunch of callenge and
> response BS. you had to tell them certain words on pages
> of the manual. also i think it was trouble some to register
> on more than one comp.

I just bought Live 3 last week. Just enter your serial from the manual into the authorisation dialog, click "authorise" and that was it. Quick and simple...

> how do you pronounce ableton? is it a long A or a short A?

Check out their demo videos or the NAMM demos at M-Audio...
"Able" as in the word...

[machinesworking]

you're kidding right?, did you check out the midi info over at the ableton website. it's revolutionary
which is nothing remotely close to reasons midi, or Logic for that matter. I'm all for celebrating software as a whole but that midi statement is kind of missing the whole point of the upgrade.

While Live 4 will probably do some things better than the other DAWs, I really don't see Live being used with multiple open windows, as in an arrange window and a piano roll editor. The screenshots point to about a third of the page being used for midi editing, I really don't see how you could get the same sort of surgical precisoin you can get with Logic, or the workflow.
Live is set up primarily to play like an instrument, I can't imagine throwing 20 instances of multi channel Kontact samplers, and running orchestral scores with 40 odd tracks.This is something you can do in Logic and the other DAWs. We'll see, but I bet it is a bit streamlined for Live's all in one interface.

[warbug]

> could not read all 8 plus pages.

Really? Must be a new medical condition (only physically possible to read up to 7 pages of meandering KVR posts...

Surely you mean you couldn't be arsed...

> my friend had ableton when it came out and i remember
> it being a real bugger to register, a bunch of callenge and
> response BS. you had to tell them certain words on pages
> of the manual. also i think it was trouble some to register
> on more than one comp.

I just bought Live 3 last week. Just enter your serial from the manual into the authorisation dialog, click "authorise" and that was it. Quick and simple...

> how do you pronounce ableton? is it a long A or a short A?

Check out their demo videos or the NAMM demos at M-Audio...
"Able" as in the word...

i can only read 3.

ok, then they must have changed the registration process; maybe they recieved too many complaints.
do you know if you can put it on more than one computer? thats one of my main concerns. i want it on my lappy and desk top.

[dten]

I believe they're using the "unlock it as many times as you want until we get suspicious of you" registration scheme. So ya, multi comps OK, to a point.

[frh]

could not read all 8 plus pages.

my friend had ableton when it came out and i remember it being a real bugger to register, a bunch of callenge and response BS. you had to tell them certain words on pages of the manual. also i think it was trouble some to register on more than one comp.

the new feature seem really nice. i have been looking for software to use live for some time and it may have matured enough for me.

how do you pronounce ableton? is it a long A or a short A

That's not like this anymore. You just have to type in your serial number and click on a button when your computer is online.

Ableton is pronaunced like the english "able" plus "ton".

You can install Live on your desktop and on your laptop machine with one serial.

Frank

[stale bread]

for those interested here's the news letter sent to registered users.

Posted: Mon Jun 07, 2004 2:45 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ableton Newsletter (Deutsche Version siehe unten)
=================================================

Dear Reader,

This newsletter contains a special announcement about a major new
release by Ableton. Please make sure and visit www.ableton.com for the
full details.

ANNOUNCING LIVE 4

Today, Ableton proudly presents Live 4, Ableton’s most significant
release to date. Live 4 extends Live’s real-time music-making approach
to the complete range of today’s music-production techniques.

In Live 4, you will find a complete and inspiring approach to MIDI
sequencing, pattern recording, drag-and-drop sampling, virtual
instruments and MIDI hardware support. Ableton has also made
substantial extensions and enhancements to existing functionality,
including such features as swing/groove for audio and MIDI clips, a
powerful new channel-routing scheme, simplified recording, sample
reverse, and several exciting new creative options for the Session View.

In creating Live 4, we faced the challenge of adding our most requested
features, while keeping Live simple, solid and inspiring to use. The
new functionality simultaneously widens Live’s scope and strengthens the
qualities that make the program stand out. We would like to express our
deep gratitude to you, the Live users who urged us to make this happen,
and to make it happen in the right way.


New Live 4 Features include:
----------------------------

MIDI Tracks, Effects and Instruments.

MIDI sequencing in Live has been designed to get the user started within
seconds. Software instruments appear in Live's built-in Browser.
Dragging an instrument from the Browser into the mixer creates a MIDI
track containing that instrument, ready to play and record. MIDI
effects and audio effects can instantly be inserted into the same track
by dragging, with no need for menus or abstract routing concepts. The
signal flow within the track is intuitively set up by drag and drop.
The Track View provides instant access to all instrument and effects
controls.

Live 4 also includes the 'Simpler' sampling instrument, which allows for
instant sampling, polyphonic playback and creative exploration of any
sound dragged into its display. 'Impulse' is a polyphonic percussion
sampler with drag-and-drop sample import and powerful and innovative
sound-shaping controls. In addition, Live hosts any VST or Audio Units
(Mac OS X only) plug-in instruments. MIDI tracks with no software
instrument can deliver MIDI to external hardware synthesizers, ReWire
client programs or other MIDI tracks in Live. Live 4 also includes 5
MIDI effects. The ‘Scale' effect, for instance, forces incoming notes
onto a chosen musical scale and fits well with 'Random,' which creates
random deviations in note pitch.


MIDI Clips

MIDI clips are created by recording or by dragging in Standard MIDI
files from Live's Browser. Notes can be viewed, created and edited in
the Clip View's Note Editor. When Draw Mode is engaged, the Note Editor
behaves like a drum-pattern interface, where a pattern step is set or
cleared by a single click, and flams are created by dragging across
multiple steps. Unlike a static drum grid or step sequencer, Live's
flexible grid allows the user to change the step resolution at any time.

MIDI clips, like audio clips, have their own loop settings.
MIDI-controller movements are represented as clip envelopes, which can
be unlocked from the notes to create independent movements. The same
real-time options apply to MIDI clips as they do to audio clips: MIDI
clips can be launched at any time, with real-time quantization
preventing rhythmical error. MIDI clips can be assigned to computer
keys or MIDI-note ranges for jamming with musical phrases. MIDI clips
can also be exported from Live as Standard MIDI files.


MIDI Recording and Patterns

Patterns can be built up on the fly by overdubbing MIDI onto clips while
they play in a loop. In conjunction with the new 'Impulse'
percussion-sampling instrument, Live offers the options for spontaneous
creation that are normally associated with hardware groove boxes. You
can also One can also use the computer keyboard to play Impulse’s drum
samples and create grooves from the laptop alone. Standard linear MIDI
recording and overdubbing are available in the Arrangement View.


Flexible Routing

New monitoring, track routing and view navigation allow non-disruptive
track setup and recording. Any track can feed and tap other tracks for
submixes or layering, or be routed to eight auxiliary sends per Live Set.


Other new Features

Swing and Groove: Audio and MIDI clips support variable real-time swing
and individual groove parameters.
Automatic Jamming: Audio and MIDI clips can be set to produce customized
or even random sequences of loops or samples in Live’s Session View.
This is great for generating new ideas, making beats or preparing a DJ
performance.
Sample Reverse: A single button can reverse any audio clip in real time.
Session View scenes can change the project tempo.
Session View scenes can be set to advance automatically.
Audio performance has been optimized for Macintosh computers

[MidiSwede]

Thanks for that post stale bread!

these specs just about make my decision to buy it now!

I still want to demo it first.

Rob

[stale bread]

yeah somebody posted it on the abe site and I wondered why I hadn't already done that here, give a bit more understanding as they know in the news letter there will be no pix, I've never been so impatient, its gonna be a long few weeks

[billybk1]

As far as audio go's,Iv'e heard no mention of PDC yet.

From what I understand, like it's predecessors, Live 4 will not have automatic plugin delay compensation. It would have surely been plastered all over the latest Live 4 media blitz, as a new "feature" if it did. It is hard to have a truly "gapless" audio engine with an active PDC engaged. Look at all the apps that now have PDC, (SONAR, ACID, Vegas, Samplitude, Cubase SX, Nuendo), they all exhibit "gapping" to some degree. Other apps, like Pro Tools, Logic & Live don't have full auto PDC, but can claim to be "gapless". That is just the nature of the beast. Personally, I don't mind the brief "gapping", as long as I know that during playback, whenever, wherever, (track insert, aux bus or main), I insert a plugin (effect or softsynth), my project will always stay in sample accurate sync, at all times. Of course, you can see the dilemma for Ableton, having PDC and it's inherent gapping would not be favorable for an app that is geared toward live use. For it's niche, it probably does not need it, anyway.


Billy Buck

[maoinhibitor]

you're kidding right?, did you check out the midi info over at the ableton website. it's revolutionary
which is nothing remotely close to reasons midi, or Logic for that matter.

The new MIDI features looks nice, and there might be some new bells and whistles, but come on...this is Ableton's first attempt at MIDI. You can't be serious in thinking that it will outstrip seasoned apps like Sonar, Logic, or Cubase that have been developing their MIDI functionality for 10+ years.

On the other hand, it does look that it might make a good complimentary product.