Ableton product speculation

The Lounge Other Gear
#63

Push 2 is definitely overdue an update by now - I tried one over a year ago and bounced off the pixelated screen pretty hard - at the very least they could update that to something crisper and more modern.

I found the workflow a bit clunky too tbh - I kind of ended up just wanting to use my mouse instead.

And for live performance there are better options.

Something that combines the best elements of the Push, the APC 40 and possibly even things like the Maschine could end up with something very powerful.

Something with Live in it is probably too far fetched as it would then need to be a powerful computer in addition to a controller - but something more integrated would be good and would explain the time investment.

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#64

I see the AKAI Force as kind of a proof of concept of what Ableton could run with themselves, given the will, tbh. I wonder if AKAI will continue with this line, given that they have now developed the firmware to a point where most users seem happy with its potential, or whether it will turn out to be a one-off.

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#65

Yea if they made a dedicated ā€˜Live Portableā€™. Live Live, if you will, that could work really well - but as you point out the Force exists and seems quite well liked so theyā€™d have to make sure they really hit the nail on the head with it to be competitive.

#66

ā€¦most reasonable step foward would be push in touch softwareā€¦
some kind of an app tablet versionā€¦
some additional full fledged remote app to leave the computer in the side stageā€¦
or to fool around on ur sofaā€¦laptop/computer still all left cabled on ur deskā€¦

ableton as a dedicated hardware stand alone product would be a great thingā€¦
kind of THE ot killerā€¦ :wink:
but letā€™s be realā€¦thatā€™s pretty much impossible to do without total downgradingā€¦
and even then, still no chance to release within a reasonable pricetag for such final productā€¦

#67

Do you mean touchAble Pro?

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#68

Or indeed, LK!

#69

LK is great too, thereā€™s more on the Ableton Knowledge Base page. I think LK & TouchAble are some of the best.

I donā€™t understand why Ableton doesnā€™t implement the OSC protocol, that would be even better.

Apps for controlling Live with an iOS or Android device ā€“ Ableton

#70

ā€¦ahhh, they got something like this alreadyā€¦sureā€¦touchableā€¦
was already wondering why they should not do the obvious in quite a whileā€¦
but lost all touch with all that ableton thing eversince suite 8ā€¦
while pretty much all my collegues swear on their push and push 2 setups these daysā€¦

one still heavy on pro toolsā€¦one still on steinbergā€¦some studio one userā€¦a handfull on logicā€¦
while apart from the nuendo/cubase guy, they all got ableton frequently in use alsoā€¦

one reason only user leftā€¦one brave on reaper onlyā€¦

while i even drop logic more and moreā€¦use it only for some older projects that started/ended out within logicā€¦

for actual stuff itā€™s all bitwig onlyā€¦
and some others started to switch lately, tooā€¦

for me, thatā€™s final destination after a long and winding road through wild wild west daw countryā€¦

#71

A Live portable already (almost) exists. Itā€™s called the Force. This thing is a beast. And it could be an excellent avatar of Live on earth. Running basic Live apps on the Force would be awesome and could spare a lot of money in hardware R&D from Ableton. The Force CPU is powerful enough to run more than a few blocks from Live. The overall philosophy is basically the same between Force workflow and Live. The Linux core OS could certainly handle a stripped down version of Live. Both ecosystems could benefit this move. In fact I wonder how deep is the R&D exchange between the two companies, because the Force has so many common points with Live it canā€™t be a coincidence.

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#72

For me, the release of Live9 with the push rollout was the turning point.
Itā€™s been Ableton for Live ever since.

I also use Bitwig, but mainly for sound design. I canā€™t use Bitwig as a DAW. I donā€™t know why, but I just donā€™t enjoy it. Probably because itā€™s so easy to sink into. I have the same problem with Reason.

#73

ā€¦yupā€¦took me more than a year to really dive into bitwig and to establish some more focussed workflow that suits me, instead of getting constantly lost in all the optionsā€¦
itā€™s sooo easy, smooth, fancy and sooo complex, deep, sonic jungle like at each and every same click u makeā€¦

but end of the day, if u got no daw experience at all and u try bitwig at first, thereā€™s no real reason to use anything else after thatā€¦it really has it all coveredā€¦
errr, apart from direct video support and direct audio to midiā€¦
and even if u can create such a thing with the tools already in there, some drum glue bus plugin like ableton would also be nice to have right out of the boxā€¦ :wink:
but iā€™m pretty confident, that all comes once they cross the 5.0 lineā€¦

and once back to abletonā€¦apart from a few smarter options bitwig offers due to itā€™s fresher startingpoint, i canā€™t think of any truu new killer features ableton could still come up withā€¦
ableton pretty much as it is and bitwig with some little further features like mentioned are at the pinacle of 21st century daw developmentā€¦really no idea what could make them any betterā€¦apart from some next big jump in sonic evolution like brain direct to midi/audioā€¦ :wink:
but oookā€¦next to come is more spectral AI fuzz, iā€™m afraidā€¦

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#74

I have Bitwig as well and it is a sound designers dream for sure but I find its browser mode for vsts and sounds needs improvement (NKS) is best. I also find editing midi notes fiddiy. I prefer Live 11 for editing midi. I agree Ableton is very wide and deep but I could really do without sudden crashes, sometimes with very little going on. I use Catalina on 2018 Mac Mini i7 6 core 32gb ram. I use a Push 2 and NI Maschine MK3 which I primarily use for browsing NKS VSTs. I avoid a mouse as much as possible due to carpal issues from over use when I worked in IT.

#75

Akai helped build the first Push didnā€™t they?

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#76

I didnā€™t know that. They probably have long term contracts indeed.