ABLETON LIVE 3
Feb 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY ANTHONY RIVERA
Ableton Live is just the kind of thing your mama warned you about: It's a real home wrecker. In fact, this program is so dangerously addictive, you might stay up all hours of the night, withdraw from all social engagements and spend the last stash of your rent money on (yet another) batch of loop CDs. And that was only Live 2! In version 3, Live has become even more potent with deep sampler- and synthesizer-style sound-editing features, four new Ableton effects, MIDI-keyboard mapping with velocity sensitivity and a string of handy new key commands to ease common editing tasks. In short, Live has matured from a loop-wreckin' beat and music machine to a groove sampler and sound-design tool. But as Live 1 and 2 users will quickly see, the interface and basic functionality haven't really changed — there's just a whole lot more going on.
ENTER THE SAMPLE
Given that Live has always worked well with loops and samples, Ableton's new “Enter the Sample” marketing slogan for Live 3 caught me a bit off guard. Live 2's instantaneous loop preview, elastic audio (time stretching) with multiple loop modes and ±48 semitone pitch transposition make for a formidable sample blender — what could users possibly want or need to do that Live already can't? Making it plain, Ableton CEO Gerhard Behles explained with a smirk at the 2003 AES show, “The trouble with loops is that they are boring.” Seemingly, then, “Enter the Sample” means to really dig inside your samples (called “clips” in Live) and then make radical changes to the way your loops loop and your sounds sound. In other words, if Live 2 built its reputation on handling premade loops, Live 3 takes sample and loop playback to another level by enabling clip automation, or the ability to construct longer, more complex and therefore less monotonous phrases from any single sample or loop loaded into Live — just as you might choose to edit inside your sampler.
In Live, however, each individual automation envelope can independently lengthen, shorten, attenuate (adjust the volume), pan, transpose or tweak an effect parameter to your liking. Better yet, all of this automation is nondestructive. Take any one-measure WAV or AIFF drum loop, and stretch it to any length you like (say four bars). Then, take out the snare hits in measure 1, and repitch the bass drum in bar 2. You could go on to add an automated filter sweep, delay pattern or any effect adjustment you like without ever placing the sample into the song. You can make the panning envelope cycle every 16 (or 1,600 if you like) bars while the volume envelope repeats as a single measure. Of course, you can draw simple fade-ins and -outs by creating two break-points on a clip's volume envelope and then dragging the one side down. But clip automation goes way beyond this to make Live, yet again, a truly unique application.
To see what I mean, consider this scenario: Say you stumble upon a particularly cool pattern or automation idea that you would like to apply to another loop or sample. Live 3 allows you to simply copy and paste your new custom-made envelope to any other clip. But here's the catch: You can also apply any edited parameter to any other parameter. If you like a particular rhythmic pattern (hand drawn with a volume-automation envelope), you can then replicate this effect inside another loop. You can also drag brand-new loops on top of fully automated ones so that they assume all of their settings. Say that you have created a new rhythmic percussion pattern by altering the pitch and panning settings of a stale groove. Now, you want to hear some different drum loops with the same settings applied (but don't want to redraw all of the automation). Simply drag and drop the new loop from Live's browser onto the edited loop, and your new loop will instantly inherit all of the automation.
In just a couple weeks of playing with Live 3, I found this to be a delightfully quick and impressive way to build upon my ideas and create hoards of fresh new loops. Taking this idea one step further, you can also work with extremely small loops, such as rapidly repeating one-shot samples, to create some wildly original new sounds. I tried this in a variety of ways to include creating drumbeats out of single hits by extending the small one-beat loop to two measures and then drawing in volume automation. What's more, Live 3's new pencil-style envelope-drawing tool makes all of the described automation editing much easier and more rhythmically correct than drawing it in by hand.
LOOPING THE BLACK AND WHITES
Once you have automated your clips, it's time to play. Live 3's new MIDI-keyboard mapping feature allows you to instantly transpose your samples in either legato or staccato (retrigger) modes. Mapping your samples is as easy as entering Live's MIDI map mode, pressing your root key and then holding down the desired low and high keys on your MIDI keyboard. Live will then repitch and retrigger your sample (like any sampler) as you play the keyboard.
Even cooler is Live's ability to instantly correct your playing by following the clip's quantization setting. This feature can be turned off if you want to “humanize” your performance or set to any reasonable quantization value (eighth note, eighth-note triplets, 16th note and so forth). Engaging a clip's Legato setting will make for smoother melody creation as your keyed notes gently transpose your continuously playing loop. This is a particularly effective way to subtly alter looped melodies (by holding down the root for the majority of the loop with only slight key variations). You can also add realism by setting any clip's velocity-sensitivity range (in terms of percentage) so that the sample will play in relative volume to the force that you play the key. This feature alone catapults Live into the already crowded soft-sampler product group, though Live's simplicity does not allow for cross-triggering multilayer (stacks of) samples or velocity-sensitive sample selection.
GANG OF FOUR
Like many studio software applications, Live comes with a throng of proprietary effects. If you are new to Live, check out Live's Vinyl Simulation, Redux or Erosion — all sonic-decimation-style effects. Or better yet, get to know Live's four eargasmic delays: Simple Delay, Filter Delay, Ping Pong Delay and Grain Delay. Upping the ante in version 3, Ableton has added four new effects: Resonators; Compressor II; EQ 3; and a basic volume, panning and phase-control effect called Utility.
Although Resonators is clearly the most creative of the new posse, Compressor II and Utility add a new level of quality to Ableton's already-impressive array of tools. Born from the mind of Live conceptualist Robert Henke (aka Monolake), Resonators is a vocoderlike harmony creator that allows you to superimpose the selected pitch for as many as five separate resonant synthesizer voices onto any sample. If you are a fan of Monolake's electro-dub minimalism and haunting chord effects, Resonators is a treat. Topping my list of Live 3's new effects is Compressor II. This compressor builds upon Live's Compressor I plug-in by sporting a tighter sound, look-ahead compression and a sidechain EQ. In testing, I discovered that placing a Compressor II on Live's master channel is an excellent mix stabilizer (in terms of volume) when working in a club. Finally, EQ 3 is a DJ-style EQ with low-, mid- and high-frequency kills.
After clip automation, MIDI mapping and the four new effects, the rest of Live 3's improvements appear to be rather minor. Nevertheless, Live aficionados will be relieved to discover Live 3's new Consolidate command, which quickly creates a single editable loop (clip) from any highlighted group of clips in Live's Arrangement window. Along these same lines, Live's new Capture Current Scene command takes all currently playing loops from within Live's Session View and makes a new scene, or song section. Both commands are valuable daydream catchers for those who deviate from their arrangement and want to preserve their experimentation — a clever addition to an application that is geared toward live performance. Other features like the addition of triplets to Live's quantization menus and automatic track-in-record monitoring are not likely to revolutionize anyone's work flow but do make life a bit easier.
ACID TEST
For this review, I installed Live 3 on both my Apple PowerBook and Windows PC. After following the initial setup commands, I entered my serial number and was then asked to “unlock” my copy of Live. Unlocking Live becomes mandatory after 14 days and can be done instantly and invisibly by clicking on the Unlock Now button — as long as your machine is connected to the Net. Unlocking via fax or e-mail is also an option but requires several additional steps.
Live 1 or 2 users upgrading to Live 3 will be pleased to find that Live automatically retains your preferences settings. For those delving into Live for the first time, you need to open Live's Preferences dialog box and designate your VST effects plug-in and inbound audio-recording folders. Once assigned, Live rescans your VST folder each time the program is launched. All supported effects will then show up in Live's plug-in browser. Although Live 3's VST support has been duly improved (to support VST preset management and match plug-in compatibility for the new generation of Mac OS X VST plug-ins), virtual software instruments (VSTi) are still not supported and will almost never show up in Live's window. The one exception I found was Native Instruments Reaktor, which will work in Live but cannot be controlled by a MIDI keyboard. Live 3 also allows you to view more than one plug-in effect window at a time. However, I was disappointed that Live does not yet support Apple OS X Audio Units format (though many AU plug-ins are available in VST format). Another surprise is that Live cannot import (or render to) MP3 files. According to Ableton top brass, this is to ensure that Live works with only the highest-quality industry standards. Live does support WAV, AIFF and SDII (Digidesign Pro Tools sound files).
Regarding performance, Live handled about a dozen 24-bit WAV tracks on my 800MHz Athlon PC before I heard audio dropouts — indicated by a flashing red “D” on Live's control bar. On my G4/667MHz PowerBook, it took between seven to 10 AIFF audio tracks to make the program wheeze. Luckily, Live's CPU meter clues you in before the audio gaps hit the speakers and is therefore a critical gauge to eye while performing. Typical work-arounds for maximizing the number of tracks include submixing (rendering) groups of processor-intensive tracks, deleting any system-draining plug-ins or taking advantage of Live's new play-from-RAM feature (as long as you have the RAM to spare). Because my test machine didn't have an excessive amount of RAM (512 MB), I could only convert a few short loops to RAM before the machine began to sputter. Still, this is a handy addition if you are looking to eke out a little more CPU headroom.
Once in check, Live 3's stability and relatively bug-free playback is impressive. I would still like to see better performance on my Apple PowerBook, which handles fewer tracks of audio than my old desktop PC, but Ableton is promising this already for version 4. Although it is safe to say that both the timing and feature set of Live 3 are somewhat of a surprise, Ableton's innovation and direction prove the company's knack for catering to its user base and ignoring the latest trends. Live 3 is a creative person's dream upgrade with unprecedented sample automation, four new effects and a host of playability options. Whether you are a digital DJ, a live musician or a producer of loop-based music, you owe it to yourself to upgrade your Live.
Product Summary
ABLETON
LIVE 3 > $399; $99 (BOXED UPGRADE FROM LIVE 2); $69 (DOWNLOADABLE UPGRADE)
Pros: The most loop-friendly application on the planet. Deep sample editing and radical automation possibilities. Stable. Four efficient new effects.
Cons: No Audio Units, MP3 or VST-instrument support. No serious MIDI sequencing or editing.
Contact: tel. 49-30-288-7630; e-mail sales@ableton.com; Web www.ableton.com
System Requirements
MAC: G3 or faster; 256 MB RAM; OS 9.2 or later/OS 10.1.5 or later
PC: 400MHz or faster; 128 MB RAM; Windows 98/2000/XP; Windows-compatible soundcard
WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO WITH YOUR LIVE?
Although Live has quickly become a popular loop-based remixing and production application, some users use it exclusively to DJ. The list below cites several known methods for using Live. But don't let these ideas limit your creativity; these are merely some known examples.
Remix tool
First and foremost, Live has become a remix and production tool allowing producers and remixers to preview loops in real time on both Macs and PCs.
Musical instrument
It may not be Mozart's first axe, but artists such as BT are using Live as a performance instrument by creating arrangements and triggering sounds on the fly.
Sampler
Whether you are looking to play loops along with your band or jam with other electronic musicians, Live makes an excellent performance and loop sampler. Live 3's new MIDI keymapping with velocity sensitivity and clip animation make any loaded loop playable and tweakable.
Digital DJ application
Even with the proliferation of MP3 applications such as Native Instruments Traktor DJ Studio, Sonophile DeKstasy and PCDJ Red, a feisty few remain committed to mapping their WAV or AIFF tracks' bpms in Live. Because Live streams all audio from the hard drive — unless you tell it not to — there is virtually no limit to the size of your digital record collection. For instance, DJ Highfish of Berlin loads 20 GB at once into a single Live set.
ReWire loop sampler
Although technically not a version 3 feature, Live 3 does share the same Live 2.1 ReWire enhancements released in early in 2003 (which are still widely unknown). In short, Live can function as both a slave and a master ReWire application on both Windows and Mac OS 9 and OS X systems.
For even more info about how musicians and producers are using Live, visit the artists section of www.ableton.com.
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