ShortScale.org

has anyone here used ableton live? how different is it to a normal daw like reaper?

i used it for a short time, but once i was able to try sonar, i was hooked, and moved on.

I liked the synth integration, but apart from that it confused the hell out of me.

An emphasis on live performance is supposed to be it's primary strong suit over more traditional DAWs. It's session view and warp features are pretty useful for DJing loops, and with a Novation Launchpad or Akai APC you pretty much play them like an instrument. There is definitely a big learning curve though, it has a lot going on over something like Reaper or Cubase.

Soon as I get some money, man... (punches palm)

I open it up, look at it, then close it back down and revert to ACID.

Friends of mine use it with ease, they tell me to watch all the video tutorials that come with it etc. in built help stuff. I can't get my head round it, although in theory I should be able too as some parts of it seem like a grown up version of ACID (albeit on steroids)

As has been said, this software is great if you have an external hardware controller (I have a novation launchpad) & you plan on performing electronic stuff live. However, I've ended up not really using it all that much after the initial novelty wore off & spend much more time on Reaper (I learnt to sequence on Cubase, so I guess that working in a linear way like this just feels more comfortable to me).

I played around with a demo for a while and it's much different than other daws. it's designed more as a creative tool than just a multi-track program. like paul said it struck me as more useful for DJ style remix applications (or potentially any genre you could possibly stretch that into... so pretty much everything if you so wanted). I'm not sure if it's very good at straight forward ProTools style audio editing.

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thanks for the responses guys, I was interested to see what people thought of its workflow as a lot of people say its more intuative. A lot of people who I like seem to use it as well. I guess if you are using a lot of loops and samples it might be worth exploring further. I might download the demo and see what its like

It leans towards more of a live setup, using it to trigger samples and stuff. I played guitar live with a electronic musician mate of mine (Johnny Phonic if you're interested!) and he built and mixed all of his tracks in Logic and then exported the samples into Ableton for live use and used a couple of samplers. I wouldn't suggest using it for recording or anything like that. If you're PC then use Cubase etc. for that area.

Another thing you can use Abelton for is to use it as a slave in other DAWs. I'm not sure if this is something you can do in Cubase or Reaper, but I'm coming from using Logic. You can set it up so that Logic uses Ableton as a slave, in that you can use Ableton's sample library in Logic for recording. It probably has more uses than I'm aware of but it's good if you want to extend the library of samples beyond those that you have at your disposal in Logic or whatever. You can also trigger a track you've created in Ableton and have it record into a track in Logic - then edit/mix it to your hearts desire in Logic.

Like I say, it depends what you want to use it for but my main experience with it has been for live use and triggering samples you've made elsewhere. I found the interface pretty difficult and wouldn't have the first clue about recording anything in it. I'm not even aware that you can record real audio in it.

If you want something for triggering samples and stuff then I'd recommend Reason. Far more intuitive layout and user friendly.

YouTube is your friend when it comes to this sort of thing. LOADS of really useful demos available from producers, engineers etc.

thanks simon, that is great. I think I will take a look at it as from what I've seen once you have a loop or track it is easy to manipulate (ok, well easier that reaper), add effects, cut up, synch, etc. I think i will still use reaper for recording other bits though and then take the tracks across.

OK I downloaded and the first thing I like about it is how it can help me build up songs by just getting all my ideas in to clips/phrases and then I can mess about introducing them at different parts of the song to see what structure I like. I can also try alternate takes/lead lines/patterns/drums to see what works with what so it really helps me try and structure stuff with the song creation. I haven't explored the sampler/time stretching type stuff yet but I plan to do it soon