Ableton made two big announcements today: the new Live 9 software and Push, a creative hardware controller specifically designed for Live! Here’s a sampling of what’s new in Live 9:
- Record automation into clips.
- Edit automation with curves.
- New browser for faster sound, instrument, effects, and sample locating.
- Live 9 Suite comes with more than 3,000 production-ready sounds and loops.
- Analog-modeled Glue Compressor.
- Improved Compressor, Gate, and EQ Eight studio processors.
- Audio-to-MIDI conversion.
- Drums-to-MIDI conversion.
- Powerful MIDI note manipulation tools.
- Max for Live is now included free of charge with Live 9 Suite.
- 24 new Max for Live instruments and effects included.
Best of all, you can buy Live 8 now, save an extra 25%, and get a free update to Live 9 when it is released! There will be three versions available: Live 9 Intro, Live 9, and Live 9 Suite.
The second announcement from Ableton was Push, a new instrument designed specifically for use with Live. Push provides 64 velocity- and pressure-sensitive pads for playing, sequencing, and accessing loops — the pads can even be used to play notes and chords like a 21st century multidimensional keyboard! Other features include rotary encoders, a touch strip, tons of push-button controls, and a highly visible display.
Everything about Push has been optimized for making music with Live — in fact, Push comes bundled with whichever version of Ableton Live 9 you prefer.
Live 9 and Push both support Mac and Windows.
