Ableton Live tips

1 What‘s the difference between Ableton Live, FL Studio, Cubase and Logic?

All programs are comprehensive DAWs with MIDI and audio tracks, plug-ins, automation, etc. The most striking difference is in Live‘s unique clip mode, which on the one hand allows jamming with different clips or patterns per track (see tip below) and on the other hand has made DJing with Live so popular.

2 How good are Live‘s in-house plug-ins?

The quality and use of synths and effects are of course always to be judged subjectively, but in addition to the usual standards such as flanger, delay and reverb, Live actually offers some highlights that no other DAW offers. These would be, for example, the compressor „The Glue“or the Upwards-compatible Multiband Dynamics effect, which provides frontal sounds especially with its OTT preset. In addition, there is a “Vinyl Distortion” plug-in that not only offers noise and crackling, but can also provide crisp distortion - especially a great pressure maker for basses. On the instrument side, Operator is one of the best FM synths on the market, and Ableton Sampler is the only sampler that can handle frequency and amplitude modulation.

3 Can m4a files and videos be loaded?

Yes, all popular audio and video files load without any problems. The support for videos is limited to a preview track, multiple videos can not be displayed or cut at the same time.

4 Are Live updates for free?

Small updates with version numbers after the decimal point, yes. Major updates - such as from Live 10 to 11 - are chargeable. However, early birds receive a discount.

5 Can the sounds of the Live library be used license-free?

Yes, all sounds that are delivered with Live can be used free of charge in your own projects. But of course it’s not allowed to resell them 1-to-1 in sample packs.

6 How can I exchange presets and sounds from Live with others?

It‘s easy for all presets that are not dependent on samples: Live saves all presets in the user library, neatly sorted by plug-ins. If you can‘t find the folder, just right-click a preset and select “Show in Finder” (or Windows Explorer). Unfortunately, it gets a bit more complicated when samples are involved, because then you have to load the preset into a live song and select “Collect and save” so that all samples end up in the song folder. You can copy this directly or save it in the Set Manager as an Ableton project package (.alp) and then share it.

7 Are VST3 plug-ins and Audio Units supported?

Yes, the VST2, VST3 and AudioUnits formats are supported for instruments and effects.