Ableton 4 is out

[bencodec]

ok, so they have announced live 4. i was wrong, thought it was ages away. and yes, they have added midi, and VSTi, midi clips, virtual analog sequencer, and new routing options. does look seriously bad ass, think i'd better get ready for an upgrade.

[christtjj]

holy shit, i've been waiting for that! midi...you would have thought they'd have built it in first thing!!

[phaedrus]

You can finally use vsti now? that was the only thing that kept me from trying it out. Can't wait!

[Ruben A]

bahahaa...propellerheads lost the battle. That was the only thing they never would try to work out!! blablabla..

[bracket]

Cool - will def be making a purchase!!

[audiofelch]

do the older versions of live have no midi whatsover?..
Cant u use midi controllers with them at all?

[bencodec]

the old versions use midi to control the software, but had not VSTi suport, only vst plugins. now live works as a midi sequencer as well as an audio manipulation tool. i must say i am a little nervous, i hope that live can mantain it's stability and support midi, theres no point in using it if it isn't nearly crash proof. i'm very ready for the altivec support though, and Audio Units is a nice plus.
if they do pull off a stable package with midi it really will fly in the face of propellerheads as that was their supposed "reasoning" for not including VST.

Yeah I have to say, while midi and VSTis in Reason would be great.. I bet the stability would be shite.. like every other midi sequencer.

Ableton 4, fingers crossed..

[christtjj]

Live 3 wasn't really stable at all. I've had all sorts of problems from upgrading. I get data leaks which cause all my audio to go to hell.

midi is so tiny (data wise) that there really shouldn't be any problem for programs to handle it. i just can't figure out why any one hasn't released a simple, effective midi sequencer!

[midori]

woooooow,looking good.

[CHIP TRONIC]

i had no problems

[actionjetzon]

yay, finally midi is added - thats what i´ve missed in the older versions. cool

[bencodec]

Originally posted by christtjj
Live 3 wasn't really stable at all. I've had all sorts of problems from upgrading. I get data leaks which cause all my audio to go to hell.

midi is so tiny (data wise) that there really shouldn't be any problem for programs to handle it. i just can't figure out why any one hasn't released a simple, effective midi sequencer!

i haven't had too much trouble with live 3, the trouble with midi isn't the data size, it's the number of devices you have to support. it's pretty easy to make a stable program if it doesn't need to talk to the outside work. i do think you might start to notice troubles with live now that you'll be able to use dodgy homebrew VSTi with it.

[Yer_Maw]

3 is fine. it was 2 that was a shocker.

[euterke]

On a dell inspiron 8500 + 1 gig ram hooked with a RME Multiface + ESX-1 + Micro mod + Xone:92... and never had a problem, Live 3 is stable and suitable for me...

[massplanck]

why release somthing with vsti\midi support immediately when you can just string everyone along for a couple years and get more money out of them.... whilst forcing them to buy something as unmusical to use as cubase et al.

[bencodec]

hey massplanck, is that a poke at ableton specificly or just a general comment.

[Illdaspill]

Originally posted by massplanck
why release somthing with vsti\midi support immediately when you can just string everyone along for a couple years and get more money out of them.... whilst forcing them to buy something as unmusical to use as cubase et al.

Becasue, development takes time and money. Without releasing an initial product, there's none of the latter eh

Though I would definitely have to agree with you as far as Cubase is concerned...

[massplanck]

Originally posted by bencodec
hey massplanck, is that a poke at ableton specificly or just a general comment.

Its a poke at any music software that leaves out something as EASY to implement as VSTis and Midi for so long. That includes Reason who are (unsuprisingly) owned by Steinberg.

bye bye cubase. hello hands on.

[midori]

Iis it possible to use the exs24 sampler with ableton 4?
My exs24 came with logic pro...

[bencodec]

no, exs24 is logic only. but you could look into kontakt, battery, or many other softsamplers, there should be a few freeware ones as well.

[bencodec]

Originally posted by massplanck


Its a poke at any music software that leaves out something as EASY to implement as VSTis and Midi for so long. That includes Reason who are (unsuprisingly) owned by Steinberg.

bye bye cubase. hello hands on.

well, at least ableton doesn't charge you an extra penny for their update. while i understand your frustration with reason and propellerheads (the ability to save reason files in any format compatable even with an older version of reason drives me nuts) i would point out that ableton seems to have the best customer service and commitment to quality i have seen in an audio software manufacturer in years. the only cost for upgrade to ableton has occurred when the price of the product as a whole has risen.
you have to remember that ableton is a small company with a single product and i'd be more inclined to compare them this cycling74 then with anyone like steinberg or propheads.

[midori]

Thanks Bencodec.

[mag]

Yes, plus the programmers make some very nice music too.

[yenorom]

massplanck, I think ableton has concerns about vst's introducing unstablility into the normally rock solid live. But loads of folk asked for it so they implemented it. As for midi, yes its been done loads by other apps and should be easy to implement but dev time is limited and I suppose they concentrated on the things that were unique to live 1st before building the stuff that everything else had.

bencodec, there is a charge for updating to live 4 from previous versions, it isn't free. Eur 119 for the download update seems fair enough.

[bencodec]

oh i know, but if i am correct the price of live has inceased by that amount for everyone, ie live is now $499 instead of $399.

[emef]

looking forward to the update... it has everything i was looking for
the midi sequencer to outboard synths/drum machines is a big yes

[JE:5]

I've only just realised the power of Ableton, using that and Orion Platinum is great. Since Orion lets you render your track as seperate wav files for each channel of the mixer.

[massplanck]

Originally posted by bencodec


well, at least ableton doesn't charge you an extra penny for their update. while i understand your frustration with reason and propellerheads (the ability to save reason files in any format compatable even with an older version of reason drives me nuts) i would point out that ableton seems to have the best customer service and commitment to quality i have seen in an audio software manufacturer in years. the only cost for upgrade to ableton has occurred when the price of the product as a whole has risen.
you have to remember that ableton is a small company with a single product and i'd be more inclined to compare them this cycling74 then with anyone like steinberg or propheads.

trust me I'm an abelton fan. i will be purchasing this but it felt like someone was sitting on something for a while regarding implementing decent midi into the only musical pieces of software on the pc that I consider er.. 'musical'... ie abelton/acid/reason

whats the bets in a few months time reason will have the same amazing breakthrough.

[massplanck]

I acknowlege the post about how midi implementation could have messed with abeltons stability.

Dont get me wrong this is an extremly good development. It means 'musicians' can break free from steinbergitis.