ABLETON SUBSCRIPTION COST UPDATE
ABLETON SUBSCRIPTION COST UPGRADE

The Categories browser dynamically catalogs all items of a given type, regardless of where they are in your library - think instruments, samples, plug-ins, effects, etc. The browser sidebar is now organized into Categories and Places. The best example of this is the browser, which has been redesigned to provide a clearer overview of your devices, presets, sounds, plug-ins, and directories. Many of the refinements in Live 9 are thoughtful re- imaginings of features present since version 1. Remember, with great production power comes great production responsibility! Any tool can be a force of good or a force of evil in the studio. Remix engineers, songwriters - you need this! It's actually kind of scary when you extrapolate how this could be abused - stealing classic vocal melodies and folding them into an otherwise crappy song as pitch-perfect keys, for example.

Plus, it's really fun to 'break' the feature in compelling and creative ways. (Who hasn't waited around for the singer to pluck the right notes out on a keyboard?) Other DAWs offer audio-to-MIDI conversion, but Ableton has once again set a gold standard for ease of use and efficiency with this feature. Converting stale drum loops with the Convert Drums to MIDI feature instantly expanded my sample library's potential by a factor of 'Holy Crap!', and having worked with a number of non-musically adept artists, having the ability to hum a melody into a mic and then instantly turn that into a warpable synth or string lead is really cool - and timesaving. The conversion isn't always perfect, and your mileage may vary depending on the source material, but Ableton has some great tips and tricks on their website for using these new conversion tools.

Convert to Melody generally works best with monophonic material, and polyphonic source material is best served by the Convert to Harmony selection, but I have had sonically interesting results from mixing and matching the two. You can also drag-and-drop audio clips to existing MIDI tracks, and if the track already contains at least one device, a dialog box opens, asking you which of the three types of audio material you are trying to convert to MIDI. When you right or control-click on any clip in the Session, Arrangement, or Clip view (or in the browser), you are presented with three options - Convert Harmony, Melody, or Drums to New MIDI Track - each of which analyzes the pitch and timing of the notes (as well as the timbre for Drums to MIDI) within the audio clip. Basically, you can extract musical information from any audio clip, and Live will quickly convert it into a MIDI clip on a new track with an instrument voicing assigned to it. Right out of the box, I had a lot of fun with the audio-to- MIDI conversion features. But enough about all of that - on to the shiny new stuff! This isn't a comprehensive analysis of every single bell and whistle, but I'll try to outline a few of the new features and refinements that really stood out to me. And I do appreciate the effort put in by Ableton to make their web- store experience painless - the user-experience of the new site is killer.

ABLETON SUBSCRIPTION COST UPGRADE

Live 8 was released in 2009, so for me, this upgrade is definitely well worth the relatively small cost. Suite is also available as a 30-day demo, and a number of add-ons are available à la carte for Standard, like Max for Live, which comes bundled with Suite. For first-time users jumping into Live, an Intro version with a limited feature-set is available for only $99, and there are Standard and Suite versions available for $450 and $750, respectively. The least expensive downloadable upgrade will run existing Live 8 users around $240.

If you log in to Ableton's newly redesigned website, it presents you with a number of upgrade paths, many of which have detailed comparison sheets and customized pricing based on the licenses associated with your account. Ultimately, it is similar to previous upgrades in relative cost. Depending on what product you are upgrading from (or to), the upgrade pricing schema can be a bit complex. There are three flavors of Live: Suite, Standard, and Intro. We haven't gotten our grubby hands on Push yet, but hope to have a review unit soon. Ableton have also introduced Push, an innovative controller/instrument platform designed specifically for idea and song creation from scratch. New feature-sets include 64-bit support, Session View automation (with curves), easy audio- to-MIDI conversion, enhanced effects, a slick new browser, and tons of other workflow enhancements over Live 8.

ABLETON SUBSCRIPTION COST UPDATE

The whip-smart team at Ableton have finally released the long-awaited update to their sequencing, composition, and performance DAW, Live 9.

Ableton subscription cost