Product Reviews

Ableton Live is an extraordinary piece of software. Most music production software has an interface that's modelled on the recording studio, but Live takes a fresh approach.

The program has a flair for live performance, which is something most music software overlooks. Two key features make Live perfect for the stage. One is its Session View, which presents samples, MIDI performances and audio recordings as a matrix of clips. These clips can be triggered in sync with a master clock, individually or in groups, using a mouse, QWERTY keyboard or MIDI controller. This enables the user to create and remix arrangements on the fly, making the software more an instrument than a recording platform. Its other performance-friendly asset is that it hardly ever stutters or falls over. You can add, delete and reroute mixer channels, change the tempo and even drag a playing sample from one channel to another, and playback continues without any glitches.

Many of Live's strengths are just as useful in the studio as on stage. Its aptitude for performance makes it ideal for quickly trying out alternative arrangements of tracks. The simple drag-and-drop interface means the software hardly ever stands in the way of the task in hand. Being able to reorder chains of effects by dragging them across each other speeds up the creative process compared to the rigid, finite effects slots of other packages.

Version 5 introduces many impressive new features. Live could already time-stretch samples so that they play in time with a track, but now entire songs are automatically tempo-mapped as you import them. This is great news for DJs

ADVERTISEMENT

who enjoy impromptu remixing. The automatic tempo mapping is accurate, but not foolproof. We found that most tracks needed the odd tweak to stay in sync, but doing so is easy. Live can import MP3s, too, making it the ideal choice for creative DJs.

JUMP START

Another remix-friendly feature is the ability to jump to different points on the timeline in Arrange View or around individual samples (including MP3 tracks) without going out of sync with the master tempo. This gives samples and full arrangements some of the improvisational scope offered by the Session View. It also provides a quick and easy way to chop up samples and recombine them in interesting ways, where before you had to create individual clips for each fragment first.

In previous versions, adding an effect to a mixer channel made it play a few milliseconds late because of the extra computer processing required. Processor-intensive effects could cause appreciable delays, and even small delays were a problem with multi-mic recordings such as drums. Version 5 has plug-in delay compensation, which shifts the audio streams to counteract any delays. Timing is tighter overall, although high-latency plug-ins make the software a bit sluggish.

Clip Freeze allows you to bounce channels with power-hungry chains of plug-ins down to audio files to free up processing power. Cubase and others offer similar features, but this is more versatile. Rather than bouncing down the entire track, Clip Freeze bounces per clip, so you can still manipulate arrangements in Session View.

LIVING IN CLIP

Live has plenty more new features, such as a Live Clip file format that allows you to save clips along with their effects and any other settings. Five new effects include distortion and a MIDI arpeggiator, and welcome improvements have been made to the sampler instrument. Live is also faster to use thanks to new menus. Existing users will find the upgrade's cost of €119 (around £80) good value.

If you have yet to take the plunge, Ableton Live is recommended. Cubase is fine for recording pre-written music and Reason has some fantastic synths, but Live is perfect for composition with the PC. Onstage it's the only sensible choice.