The latest version of Live!
Last year Ableton Live emerged with a DAW platform that transcended the expectations of Live while adding great new virtual instruments. With Live 7, Ableton continues to improve upon their DAW, integrating features that up the sound quality while adding a veritable boatload of new instruments and sample libraries. Live has been steadily gaining converts as the feature set continues to expand. Version 7 cements Live as a force to be reckoned with in the DAW world, and the inclusion of the great new instruments and sample libraries further expand the cross-genre appeal!
Related Videos: Live 7
Ableton Live 7 at a Glance:- Operational upgrades
- User-requested Features
- Drum Rack
- Virtual instruments
Operational upgrades
First, we'll dive into new operational features of Live 7. Ableton instigates a new audio engine, including a 64-bit mix-summing engine in this latest edition of Live. This equates to finer detail and better resolution of the finished product along with POW-r dithering. To further preserve audio integrity, devices such as Operator, Dynamic Tube, and Saturator are now equipped with optional "high-quality" modes for anti-aliased processing, reducing nasty "digital" artifacts. Also new to Live is the inclusion of a real-time audio analyzer, known as Spectrum. Spectrum can offer visual feedback for any audio signal present in the current session, and can zoom in for an up-close and personal look of the chosen audio.
User-requested Features
Live 7 is loaded with the top user-requested features. New this time around is a streamlined approach to editing automation, offering a look at each automated parameter within it's own lane. Plus, any videos edited or warped within Live can now be exported as a new file. REX files - a staple of groove-building and remixers - can now be imported with drag-and-drop ease, allowing for more fluid and flexible spontaneous song crafting. Rounding out the user-requested features of Live 7 are a couple of time-based tools. Now multiple time signatures can be used within a single Live Set in the Arrangement View timeline and Session View Scenes. For live performance situations, Live 7 sports a function called Tempo Nudge that allows you to temporarily speed up or slow down the tempo so live musicians can more easily sync up with the recorded or sequenced tracks. This function can be mapped to any MIDI controller for on-the-fly "tempo nudges."
Drum Rack
A breakthrough in the way sequenced drums are handled within a DAW, Live 7 introduces Drum Rack. Drum Rack is a drag-and-drop interface for loading samples, and offers a trigger pad-style interface. Just drag samples, instruments, and effects into Drum Rack, assign a key on your controller, and you're off and running! Each "pad" has its own signal chain and can be shown as a mixer channel in Session View. Each Drum Rack also has its own sends, returns, and sub-mixes. Sliced loops can be used to fill Drum Rack with the individual hits from REX or audio loops.
Virtual instruments
The Essential Instrument Collection 2 offers a versatile, comprehensive collection of sounds ready to play and inspire-from faithfully sampled acoustic and electric instruments to unique and impressive electronic creations. The sounds come with preconfigured controls that can be easily mapped to your favorite hardware controller for expressive play. You can effortlessly shape sounds without being concerned about technical intricacies, but if you like to dig deeper, you will find myriad possibilities for creating unique, personalized sounds.
- Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192kHz
- Complete nondestructive editing with unlimited undo
- Powerful and creative MIDI sequencing of software and hardware instruments
- Real-time time-stretching and warping of AIFF, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and MP3 files, for improvisation and instant remixing
- A comprehensive selection of built-in audio effects, including a host of creative delays, filters, distortions, studio compressors and EQs
- Built-in software instruments: Simpler for creative sample-based synthesis, Impulse for sampled drums
- Instrument-, Drum-, Effect Racks for creating and managing complex performance setups, drum kits and multi-effects
- VST and AU effects and instruments support; automatic plug-in delay compensation
- REX file support and native sliced audio file creation
- Video import and export for scoring to picture or warping picture to music
- Real-time control of parameters with any MIDI controller-just MIDI-map it or choose from a list of popular supported controllers for instant mapping
- Full ReWire support
- Single-screen user interface for simple, creativity-focused operation
- Multicore and multiprocessor support