Live 4.0.4

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

Ableton Live is one of several digital audio products that have genuinely transformed the music scene in the past few years. The software is about as close as it's possible to get to a computer-based sequencer that can be played live, like a real instrument. Recording and arranging audio is effortless with its elegantly designed interface, and its Arrange window makes composition just as enjoyable. MIDI composition and editing can be integrated seamlessly into compositions that also use prerecorded audio. Adding effects and manipulating sounds in radical ways, all on the fly, is a snap, and the software supports third-party plug-in technologies including VST. Rewire functionality helps connect it to other sequencing software or applications such as Reason. The package comes with a snazzy software synth called Operator, which takes both visual and sonic inspiration from vintage analog synths. Our only real objection is that, like most pro audio apps, Live's learning curve has become increasingly steep with every release. Even the step-by-step instructions left us scratching our heads at times. But with virtually limitless capabilities, Ableton Live is one of the most captivating music-production packages on the market today.

Publisher's description

From ableton :

Ableton Live is the music-production solution that allows you to spontaneously compose, record, remix, improvise, and edit your musical ideas. Live brings your acoustic, electronic, and virtual instruments, as well as your digital audio recordings, together in a single interface with unparalleled ease of use. In the end, Live lets you focus on what really matters, your music.

Live's specialty is composition by improvisation. You can record musical ideas, combine or create new songs, and compose on the fly. Live captures your every move for later refinement and editing.

Live offers complete multitrack recording and editing for any acoustic source, hardware synthesizer, or software instrument.

It features easy MIDI. Drop a software instrument in a track and play. Drag and drop MIDI and audio effects, layer synths, and record MIDI as audio.

Live puts an arsenal of groove-making tools at your fingertips with Pattern Mode.

Instantly combine jazz with house, with hip hop, with soul--Live synchronizes it all in real time. This year, 58 international magazines voted Live as the best DJ tool on the market.

The application features on-the-spot sound design. You can perform real-time sonic surgery on your sounds. Draw melodies, rhythms, and effects changes onto loops and samples while they play.

It features hands-on Control. Liberate yourself from the mouse and play your sequencer like an instrument on stage or in the studio.

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