Product Reviews

Ableton Live is a professional music-production package that handles audio recording, MIDI sequencing, synthesis and mixing. Unusually for a product of this type, it also excels at remixing tracks in real time so it's a fantastic choice for electronic music producers and forward-thinking DJs who want to manipulate pre-recorded music live on stage.

This latest version shows maturity, with many new features bringing background improvements rather than new toys. Internal mixing and EQ processing is now 64-bit, and distortion-based effects offer improved anti-aliasing for more analogue-sounding results. Those who take compressor effects seriously will appreciate the new side-chaining capability, plus an additional mode that mimics the behaviour of vintage analogue compressors. Tempo changes are supported, mix automation is easier to edit and MIDI timing and memory management have seen improvements.

The more exciting new features comprise support for REX files - a powerful format that lends itself to mangling drum loops - and a new module called Drum Rack. This goes way beyond the existing eight-voice drum sampler, allowing virtual drum machines to be built from up to 128 samples, instruments or layered instruments and effects.

For those who demand more new toys, Ableton has added a

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new flagship product called Ableton Suite. This includes Live and its Essential Instrument Collection, which handles a range of acoustic emulations and abstract synth sounds based on a 15GB sample pool, plus a further seven virtual instruments. Two are established Ableton products covering advanced sampling and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis, while two are sample libraries for the Drum Rack, covering vintage drum machines and acoustic kits. The other three use a synthesis technique called physical modelling to emulate analogue synthesis, electric pianos and stringed instruments. The latter is the least realistic of the three, but excels at weird noises that are unobtainable by other means. All three are capable of excellent results, and the electric piano is particularly impressive.

The Suite is expensive at £539 including VAT, but the price increase over Live is reasonable considering that the seven top-quality virtual instruments complement each other so well and would usually cost around £100 each if bought separately. Upgrades from version 6 cost £99 for Live 7 and £289 for Ableton Suite.

Ableton Live has more inspiring features than any of its competitors, but it also has some weaknesses. It lacks the ability to crossfade audio clips on the timeline, or any features to facilitate recording and compiling of multiple takes. Its snap-to-grid function includes a shift-relative-to-grid option when moving notes in a MIDI clip, but not for clips on the timeline. These omissions will probably go unnoticed by musicians who produce in electronic genres, but for recording and editing live performances they are more significant.

For this reason, Sonar remains our top recommendation for general-purpose recording. Still, if radical sound manipulation, live remixing or an inspired user interface are more important, Live is the software to get.