Standalone Power: Seize the Groove Whenever it Moves You
Ableton’s trailblazing work in the DAW dimension has cemented the company as a premium powerhouse for seamless studio and stage use. Meanwhile, the Push controller expanded Ableton Live’s innovative interfacing and modularity into the world of physical control. Ableton’s Move is the next-gen fusion of form and function, meticulously engineered to transform the lauded sounds, instruments, effects, and performance tools of Ableton into a truly standalone instrument — no DAW required! Move’s 4-track architecture is augmented by a suite of more than 1,500 preset sounds, instruments, and effects, spanning multitudes of synthesis styles and drum kits. Producers at Sweetwater are enamored by Move’s flexibility and expression, with robust sampling tools, step sequencing, arpeggiation, and polyphonic aftertouch, alongside customizable assignments across performance pads, rotary encoders, and multifunctional buttons. Plus, Move’s extensive connectivity capabilities make wired and wireless control of your DAW, software, or hardware a natural extension of Move’s comprehensive solo-performance capabilities. Whether you’re sketching ideas, writing on the go, or hitting the main stage, the Ableton Move is a bona fide instrument unto itself, merging everything you love about Ableton’s cutting-edge DAW possibilities into a standalone powerhouse.
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Speed, precision, and possibility: no more overthinking
While Ableton’s Push controller optimized physical control over the distinctive DAW architecture of Ableton Live, Move was built with a philosophy of true standalone creativity at its heart, empowering you to seize every moment of inspiration, big or small. For all the boundless possibilities the virtual world offers, Ableton understands that so many options simultaneously available at every step of your workflow can hinder creativity, especially during the earliest moments of an idea beginning to take shape. Move masterfully threads the needle between Ableton’s versatile, performance-oriented sonic palette and practical, streamlined tactility, giving you ample room for customization. An intentionally limited structure was purposefully and carefully refined to maximize your musical possibilities while minimizing the information overload that all too often hampers our artistic explorations via overthinking. With 64GB of onboard storage, over 1,500 sounds and instruments, built-in effects, powerful sampling, and malleable connectivity, Move’s capacity for customized instrumentation and interfacing lets you build a tailored instrument for any style sans the need for a computer.
Evocative expression and tailored tactility
The secret behind Move’s modular musicality is the deeply layered yet intuitive interface and multifunctional capabilities. Each of its four tracks can be assigned to sampling, instruments, synthesizers, or drum kits, while its 32 RGB-b. At the same time, performance pads can be used for chromatic or melodic notes and chords, with customizable key signatures and octave ranges that are amplified to multidimensional domains of expression, thanks to Move’s polyphonic aftertouch. Furthermore, each of the nine continuous rotary encoders, as well as the 16 backlit multifunctional buttons, can be assigned to multitudes of dynamics tools, effects, or parameters, letting you engage and record real-time tweaking and automation with ease. When it comes to sonic textures, Move balances opportunity with optimization, offering eight voltaic, versatile audio effects, including reverb, delay, and saturator. With up to two simultaneous effects per track, as well as two master-output effects slots and the full gambit of Move’entirenic contouring, depth and dimension are never out of reach.
Step into Sessions and sequencing
Like the Push before it, Move emulates elements of Ableton’s iconic Session View, allowing you to utilize the performance pads to launch, edit, and generate clips. This nonlinear accessibility makes mixing, matching, mangling, and modifying ideas a hassle-free and inspiring experience. When it comes to building beats or crafting note-driven progressions, Move’s 256-step sequencer offers an exceptional array of compositional capabilities. Flexible quantization and grove options let you dial in tight timing and spacious swing while nudging notes spare you the extraneous effort of re-programming or re-recording your grooves. Plus, Move enables you to edit velocity values, parameter automation, and more with each step. What's more, Move can have up to 16 bars; using 16th notes, Move can have up to 256 steps per track, and using 64th notes, the number of steps per track greatly increases.
Supercharged sampling: turn the world into your instrument
Among Ableton’s myriad innovations, multimode sampling and extensive audio-modification tools made Ableton Live a go-to DAW for beat-makers of every creed. Move, like its DAW predecessor, supplies a suite of sampling capabilities. Its onboard microphone and speaker let you sample your surroundings straight into your session, from ambient environments and evolving sonic elements to improvised percussion and experimental sound design. Move also features a stereo 3.5-millimeter I/O that can be used to sample audio from countless external sources, as well as re-sample to your heart’s content, by feeding the audio output back to the input. Transform traffic noises into distinct drums or power tools into scorching synth-like leads — the world’s yours to sample.
Dynamic drums and robust rhythms
Ableton’s Move is no slouch in the rhythm department. Its 1,500-plus built-in sounds and instruments include a slew of diverse, dynamic drums that can be utilized in virtually any style of music. Samples, presets, and drums were painstakingly crafted and curated by Ableton’s sound design team to achieve as much sonic diversity. Still, Move’s palette was made all the more remarkable thanks to special collaborations with L.Dre, Sound Oracle, DECAP, BNYX, and more. When using the performance pads’ Note Mode, a 16-pad breakout section becomes your customizable container for finger-drumming and beat-crafting, taking full advantage of Move’s polyphonic aftertouch to give your percussion plenty of expressive panache. Move also includes a 16 Pitches mode that automatically amps your drums and one-shots to as vast as multi-octave ranges, enabling immediate melodic triggering of your sounds at different pitches. For expanded rhythmic exploration, Move features both an Arpeggiator and the Repeat tool, the latter being a Move-specific iteration of the DAW’s lauded Beat Repeat tool.
Live control, from Ableton to beyond the DAW
Ableton built Move for two significant reasons: to transform the DAW’s multimode production suite into a true standalone instrument and to empower you with a customizable instrument that lets you express yourself to the utmost without the risks of overthinking that frequently accompany the decision anxiety of having too many choices available at once. Move accomplishes this many times over, but for all its standalone capabilities, Ableton pulled no punches in diversifying its interoperative capabilities. Dedicated USB ports for computer and MIDI connections use Type-C and Type-A connectors, respectively, expanding Move’s multi-instrumental control to nearly any virtual or physical instruments and effects. Moreover, the computer connection lets you activate Move’s Control Live Mode, transforming your Move unit into a detailed, customizable control surface for Ableton Live. Plus, Move features built-in Wi-Fi and Ableton Link support, extending your options for keeping devices synchronized across multiple instruments.
Seamless set continuity and worry-free wireless workflows
The Move’s rechargeable battery, sleek form factor, and lightweight design make it an unprecedentedly powerful and portable instrument. While it’s teeming with more than enough creative capabilities to create complete and exciting pieces of music all by itself, Ableton realizes that it’s just as formidable of a tool to kick-start a project as it is to complete one. Through combined use of the Ableton Note application, Ableton Cloud, and this instrument’s Move Manager, a Wi-Fi connection is all you need to seamlessly move your projects to use with Note, the Ableton Push, and the Ableton Live DAW itself. Refining, reworking, and reimagining the ideas you start with Move couldn’t be easier, thanks to one critical detail: when you transfer your projects, you’re not sending stems — you’re sending a proper Ableton project file. Every detail — each parameter, sequence, effect, automation, aftertouch information, velocity value, and beyond — is perfectly preserved, meaning you can pick up where you left off without skipping a beat.
Ableton Move Features:
- True standalone operation transforms Ableton’s vaunted multimode production architecture into a totally mobile music-making machine
- Flexible 4-track capacity includes drum, synth, sample, and instrument options that can be configured in any arrangement to suit your compositional needs
- 32 RGB-backlit performance pads feature polyphonic aftertouch for detailed, expressive performances with your sounds of choice
- 16 backlit, multifunctional buttons and nine continuous rotary encoders can be assigned to nearly any parameter or tool for real-time sonic contouring and recording automation
- 1.3-in, OLED display provides vivid, valuable information without becoming a distraction of menu-diving
- Onboard processor, microphone, and speaker support seamless, immediate sampling for use in any environment
- Built-in mic and stereo 3.5mm I/O augments sampling possibilities to include sampling your immediate environment or re-sampling of any audio from the instrument’s output
- 16-step sequencer with up to 16 bars. Using 16th notes, Move can have up to 256 steps per track. Program 64th notes, and this number greatly increases
- Includes flexible sequencer programming, malleable timing controls, and detailed per-step editing to ensure exact artistic expression
- Dynamic drums include the 16 Pitches Mode to instantly morph drums and one-shots into melodically tuned sounds across multiple octaves
- Note Mode allows you to play chromatic, scale-locked, or chordal progressions that are customizable to include dozens of keys, scales, and multi-octave ranges
- Session Mode lets you edit, trigger, generate, mix, and recombine audio by using Move’s pads to interface with individual clips
- Arpeggiator and Repeat tools expand rhythmic and melodic shaping for inventive, on-the-fly edits and performances
- Capture button offers a fail-safe for momentary genius, recalling performances and automation even if you weren’t recording
- Comprehensive USB-A and USB-C connections facilitate diverse interoperative integration with expanded MIDI control of compatible software or hardware instruments
- 64GB internal storage ensures ample room for ongoing projects, ideas, and custom audio
- Control Live Mode transforms your Move into an ultra-precise control surface for Ableton Live
- Built-in Wi-Fi and Ableton Link compatibility mean instant multi-device synchronization over a local network
- Ableton Cloud and Move Manager let you seamlessly transfer projects to use with Ableton Note, Ableton Push, or the Ableton DAW, with genuine project files preserving every detail
