Ableton Live 10
Berlin’s finest minds ramp things up to the power of 10
You gotta hand it to Ableton for making each iteration of Live really count. The last major update debuted nearly five years ago with Live 9 – and it still rocks hard. But what would a 2018 remix of this ubiquitous music creation and performance package look like? Stop your dreaming! Live 10 is (almost) here.
To see it in action right now, head immediately to watch our First Look videos at bit.ly/Live10CM.
First, four new Devices bearing the obligatory self-explanatory names. Wavetable is a synth with two morphable oscillators, “wavetables derived from analogue synths”, unique unison modes, filters by Cytomic, and a breakout view for easier editing.
Echo promises the sound of classic hardware delays, featuring analoguemodelled filters, “noise and wobble for vintage imperfections” and reverb for “diffuse soundscapes”. Drum Buss deals in percussive punch and power, with controls for Drive, Crunch, Transients, Boom and more. Pedal, meanwhile, goes from “subtle to reckless” with circuit-level recreations of guitar fuzz, overdrive and distortion pedals.
Ever bashed out an awesome synth riff… but forgot to record it? Invoke Live 10’s Capture command and your MIDI noodlings are plucked from the recent past, looped at the correct tempo. Editing multiple MIDI clips together will also be possible; and in the Arrangement view, expect clipstretching, slip editing and automation grid snap, amongst other goodies.
Further improvements include colourcoded Browser Collections for organising Devices, plugins and samples; groups within groups; a refreshed interface; and new sound content. Push owners can look forward to a melodic step sequencing layout, advanced Device visualisation, and a MIDI note view.
Oh, and one more thing: Max For Live finally gets full integration into Live 10, improving performance and reliability, as well as a few new features.
Live 10 is out in early 2018. Live Intro costs £69; Standard, £319; Suite, £539.
URL www.ableton.com