Pros
unique session view naturally and intuitively unlocks worlds of possibility, live, for the dj/controllerist.
Cons
a big mama to get ones arms around, but easy is for dates, not music
Summary
no competition for dj/controllerist/e dance composer
Pros
So many I couldn't hope to list them all here.
To sum it up it's a DAW that you can use like an instrument.
Cons
Not 64-bit.
Not for people who don't want to try something new.
Summary
If you're looking for a program that requires little work to get a generic sound out of it go for FL-Studio. If you're looking for a real program that requires you to grow some balls to use it, that you can take with you from the composition stage to the stage you perform on, that's reliable cross platform from a company that's main focus is making music software for musicians (rather than FL asking you to rat out any site that has illegal copies of it, and your friends that have copies of it, includes spyware that tracks you and spends a lot of money on a legal team that "gets results" - from FL's webpage) use Ableton Live. Also Ableton has many midi controllers specifically designed for it. This is the future of music production, don't take my word for it ask Justice or Daft Punk among many others.
Pros
It's pretty.
Cons
See summary.
Summary
I consider myself both (see review title) whenever I start to fiddle with this madness that is Ableton Live. I have yet to actually see a project to fruition. I ALWAYS end up going back to hardware recording after using this program. I must be stupid, but I HATE, HATE, HATE that I cannot conquer this program. Any gurus out there who might want to camp out at my house when I'm ready to use it? Anyone? Anyone?
Pros
There are so many options. This piece of software is the most complete package I've ever got my hands on. Remixing and creating music on the go has never been so easy.
Cons
A whole lot of options requires a whole lot of learning :) It doesn't work with 2 sound cards!!!! If you're a DJ and you want to mix with Ableton, prepare yourself for a whole lot of head scratching and frustration. Why, you ask?
Summary
Because just setting op the cue is a nightmare. Like I said, Ableton doesn't support working with 2 soundcards simultaneously. If you want to listen to your cue with a headphone, your soundcard needs at least 2 stereo out. Even though most soundcard have thjis feature nowadays, setting it up in your preferences is guaranteed to give you a headache. But......
If you succeed in doing this, Ableton is magic! Unlimited numbers of effects can be be applied on your tracks. Creating your own loops is easy. Warping, time-stretching, pitching and using the equalizer feel so fluid and intuitive. Mixing 6 tracks at the same time while playing a tune with your midi keyboard linked with some vst's just works. Simple as that. As far as producing music goes, I recon some people might prefer other software for the creation of the samples itself, but when it comes arranging them nothing beats ableton.
I would advise everyone to give it a go. It may be bit too much for some people, but if you have a good basic understanding about loop based music, you'll get the hang of this in no time.
Read reply (1)
Reply by 3507ERIC on August 28, 2012
get yourself a breakout box...like a focusrite 24...worth the coin...for dedicated volume on headphones, and massive configurability mixer=wise...the next one up gives 2 independent headphone outs on front panel, next to the monitor volume...
Pros
to help to use a live for a remix as necessary.
Cons
if i'm not sure to do how to use that, i'll try this soon.
Pros
The clips, the warping, the easy object-oriented interface... How can I say enough about this software?
Cons
I don't like that I can't change time signatures within my song file (!!!) Also plugins are a little crappy but what do you expect from free preloaded effects?
Summary
I've used a few different tools over the years. Digital Performer, Cakewalk, Logic, Protools. By far, this one is the friendliest, if not the most powerful. If you are a tekkie or gear head, go with one of the more feature-heavy DAW's. If you're a songwriter, though, and you want something that is easy to use and sounds great, Live is for you. As other reviewers have posted, it does eat up RAM, so make sure you've dedicated enough resources.
Pros
Seems to have a lot of options for music creation
Cons
Freezes after about a minute. No sound and I could not fix with new/different sound drivers. Eats up CPU. FLstudio/Reason both work fine on my computer.
-note: I'm using an AMD athlon XP 1600+ (1.4 gh) with 512mb of Ram, so if you have anything less powerful than that, you'll probably have problems.
Pros
You can record your own music and it has a great looking layout.
Cons
You can't save anything and the gadgets arn't great, i have seen alot of better programs!
Read reply (1)
Reply by 3507ERIC on August 28, 2012
This program does have a few hurdles, despite the wealth of local tools/instruments and integration with vst's, but if you can't puzzle out how to save a recording...its probably not for you.
Pros
More than a tool to record sound, Live is an application for live performances, which provides to total functionality to control in real time the parameters that other software. Definitively, Live revolutionized the form to edit, to compose and to execute music in addition to being very intuitive.
Pros
I love how simple and fast it generally is to make music. Plus, its excellent quality sound. I've tried out Reason demos and Cakewalk, but this one is the best. I like how I can drag and drop clips from my comp directly to my destinated track. Lots of MIDI to explore and MIDI/Audio effects. Also, its nice being able to choose which tracks I want to have record on same as playback. This means I can record and hear what Im playing at the same time, or do whatever I want (this is not the same in Cakewalk).
Overall, its a great software.
Cons
Uses good amount of resources and is expensive $400 I believe. But you should get it if you want to do computer recording. If youre playing guitar or whatever into it, its very laggy unless you get ASIO driver, which eliminates all the crap.
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