Ableton Beat Tools ¤49

(Free with Live 9 Suite and Push)

Often, you simply want to fire up Live and hit upon instant inspiration – and this Ableton pack facilitates exactly that. As a one-stop creative shop for Live and Push beatmakers, Beat Tools is stuffed with over 120 drum/instrument racks, 97 MIDI clips, 182 audio loops and 15 effect racks across five demo sets. The sounds run the gamut of hip-hop and trap, and the kits are compiled into ‘track packs’ made up of drums, melodics, vocals and more. The kits can feel a little too polished at times, but it’s easy to extract individual elements and customise them. Sonically, as you’d expect from an Ableton-branded pack, all the sounds and kits are exquisite, and everything is expertly macro-mapped for instant tweaking – particularly handy for Push users. An essential Live pack for urban producers who need a creative shot in the arm.

www.ableton.com VERDICT 8.9