Ableton Live Music Production & Performance Software

Ableton Live is software for Windows and Mac OSX, which allows for composition, recording, editing and live performance of music.

I've just been trying out the demo of Ableton Live, and while I haven't found it to be quite as intuitive as Reason, I've got to say it does seem to be a well put together piece of music software.

One thing which stands out right away for me, is the ease with which it's possible to drop my VST instruments into Ableton Live, and start easily recording MIDI tracks.

I didn't take much time to set it up at all, and instead just flicked it into ASIO mode in the preferences and basically left it at that. As I would make more advanced selections and changes to my first composition with Ableton Live, it would prompt me at the time, to setup this or that setting - explaining why each setting needed to be defined, and how to go about doing it.

As I don't have much patience for sitting through tutorials, I instead prefer to dive right in and start tinkering with music software - something which doesn't always work too well, given how complex the software can be these days. Ableton Live does have another nice feature of a tips box in the lower left hand corner however, which provides tips on almost every button, option and setting when you mouse over them - so I was able to fumble my way through the initial fairly steep learning curve pretty easily.

I haven't yet experimented with the live performance aspect of the software, but it does seem geared towards seamless integration with VSTi's and live musical instruments alike, with handy quick access to VST settings available via the main interface, without having to open up each VST to view it in detail.

My feeling is that Ableton Live would really appeal to a lot of musicians, perhaps especially so to those who are involved in both electronic and live musical performances - and I would like to hear what peoples thought's were on the subject.

Ableton Live - well worth a look.

Ableton Live screenshot

Download a demo of Ableton Live

Watch videos showcasing Ableton Live