Ableton Live

So, you've been playing around with some free production programs for a while and you're looking around for a GOOD production program.  You've searched google, you've found a bunch of programs.  Which one should you pick?

I feel everyone should download demos of the programs they are looking into and see which ones they like the most.  There are many programs out there that can do similar things to what Ableton live can (usually minus a few features). Here's a list of some of the more popular programs:

- Acid by SONY

- Garage Band by Apple

- Reason by Propellerhead

- Fruity Loops

- Ableton Live

There are many more.  Most of them lack some of the features that Ableton live has, but they make up in their specialty.  For example, many people claim Fruity Loops is much better at creating loops then Ableton.  I have yet to test that for myself, because I don't have the money for the program.  I'd like to outline the benefits of choosing Ableton Live.

Why should you pick Ableton Live?

In a nutshell, Ableton Live is powerful, flexible and intuitive. With this program you can easily hook up external midi keyboards, and midi controllers to control the settings within the program. It is capable of producing and performing music, especially with a unique method of music performance and creation that is more circular in format

Most programs have a very linear setup, which Ableton has as well (called the 'Arrangement View'). The more cyclical setup of Ableton (called the 'Session View') allows users to easily cycle a set of loops. This lets you easily modify a sound clip to match a certain section of a song, without having to restart the section. In this view each of your channels can host a multitude of clips, allowing you to interchange in between them with a click of a button (or midi control or click of the button). This feature also hosts different 'scenes', which - when clicked - will change clips on all of your channels to a predefined selection of loops. You can then record the constants swaps of loops into the 'arrangement' view, where you can edit the recordings into a final song. This unique view can be much more inspiring to the creative mind, allowing you to do more than you would with a strictly linear editor.

So that concludes the unique portion of Ableton live, what about the rest? Ableton provides you with many tools to use. These tools are the heart of Ableton, defining its flexiblity.

Operator: A software synthesizer with 4 separate wave modulators (not including LFO). For those who don't know, modulators create the actual sound, while LFO creates the wobble over time (wah-woh ish sound). The relation between the modulators can be changed on the fly, allowing you to dramatically change the sounds with little effort. The standard time envelope settings of attack, decay, sustain and release can be applied to each of the modulators. This tool is just as powerful, if not more powerful, than any hardware synthesizer you can find.

Sampler/Simpler: Allow you to sample sounds and even create your own sounds with sampled sounds. You can select certain portions of a sound to loop into a wave, or use the full sound you have sampled. The range of settings on the sampler is incredible, allowing you to create an infinite amount of sounds.

Other instruments: Allow you to duplicate string sounds, and many other sounds out there. They also have a drum kit tool called Impulse that allows you to create drum kits out of samples.

Compressor: Ableton live has a built in compressor, allowing you to maximize the volume of each of your tracks, without putting out too much volume for that particular sound range.

Audio Effects: Including delay, reverb, ping pong delay (ping ponging between L pan and R pan), saturator (for saturating sound), beat repeat (for creating the duplicate drum on a single bar), and many other effects

Midi Effects: These effects modify midi clips to allow for chords, arpeggio tones, and a few others.

Seems powerful, but how can I perform with Ableton Live?

Check this out!

So the guy that plays the soucnds for American Idol uses Ableton Live, what about DJing?

Many performers, including the Glitch Mob, and many others use Ableton Live for live performances. Why? Well, it is truly incredible. Not only does Ableton Live allow you to perform, but also allows you to produce.

Even if you don't have the Ability to produce your own tracks, you can use Ableton Live to put together songs, just like with a DJ setup.

When songs are imported to clips or tracks, you immediately warp them, ensuring they match to YOUR time signature. Ableton also incorporates multiple warping modes, which allow you to slow down or speed up clips without ruining the pitch of the sounds you are recreating. Ableton also has the ability to assign a crossfader to many parameters, just like a standard DJ set. Once you've warped your songs, you can easily split them apart into separate clips, and add them to your a channel in your session view. This offers a virtually unlimited range of possibilities when mixing songs. On top of that, each control in Ableton can be assigned to ANY midi button, allowing you to control the action HOWEVER YOU WANT!!

Ableton Live is the ultimate choice for any DJ, producer, or sound engineer. Its amazing features create limitless possibilities that have allowed this writer to do things he never thought he would with an audio program (from creating ringtones, to modifying existing songs). Ableton live is a smart choice for ANYONE who wants to edit or play audio at a professional level.