Ableton Live 11
Is it worth it to upgrade?
After less than a year following Ableton Live’s last BIG upgrade from version 10.1, you can rejoice at another notable overhaul on the horizon! But is it worth it to upgrade?
Not all of the new changes to Ableton Live are groundbreaking but they are certainly useful. I’ll break these updates down into THE BIG ONES and THE NICE-TO-HAVES.
Let’s look at the newest features of Ableton Live 11 and explore the possibilities of each new addition and update to determine if it’ll really be worth it for you to shell out the extra coins to stay current.
THE BIG ONES
- Comping
- MPE Compatability
- New Devices
- Tempo Following
- Note & Velocity Probability
- Additional Follow Actions
- New Instruments
Comping
As an engineer who does a LOT of recording (especially vocalists and unpracticed musicians [me]) I have always been a bit disappointed with how Ableton live handled version recording and comping. It has always been a manual process that can easily clutter your Ableton Live set with multiples of similar tracks.
Now, it appears that Ableton has taken a comping approach very similar to the way Cubase handles comping.
If you don’t know what it is, Comping is where you take a collection of recordings taken of a single section of a song then combine the best parts into one final, “perfect” take. At times, a recording engineer may have to consolidate a recording bar by bar and word for word (I know, it’s terrible but necessary in some circumstances).
Anyway, now it looks hella easy to quickly select the best parts of multiple recordings and compile them into a single track. The sound design implications of this new ability is also exciting, especially when employing Mr.Bill and Ill Gates’ Mudpie/IDM Jam sound design technique.
Already, this new addition gets a thumbs up from me for shelling out the dough.
MPE Compatability
Plug in your MPE-capable controller and immediately add bends, slides, and pressure for each individual note in a chord. Add subtle expression variations, morph between chords, and create evolving sonic textures.
What is MPE?
MPE stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression. This way of using MIDI allows MPE-capable devices to control multiple parameters of every note in real-time for more expressive instrumental performances.
New Devices
Yes yes yes! Ableton has always been great at making many new devices and Max For Live devices available to their users, but this collection of new devices has got me pretty excited.
Live 11 includes new effects designed for experimentation, including Hybrid Reverb, Spectral Resonator, Spectral Time, and PitchLoop89, as well as six playful devices inspired by nature. Classic Live devices have all been updated and expanded, too.
Tempo Following
Live listens to and adjusts its tempo based on incoming audio in real-time, making it a dynamic part of the band instead of the tempo source that everyone has to follow. When you DJ, you can even turn Live into a tempo-synced FX box.
Okay, this is completely next-level! I have always been a fan of Ableton Live as a tool for performing with other musicians and producers and this tempo following feature really does it for me.
Put simply, Ableton will listen as you perform and lock the tempo in with your playing dynamically! This is insane!
Okay, yeah, just go buy Ableton 11 now.
Note & Velocity Probability
If you’ve ever compared a MIDI clip that had been programmed with one that was recorded from a HUMAN performer, you’ll recognize that humans are incredibly BAD at being consistent with anything. It’s always been a funny problem for producers who are attempting to program music that sounds organic and authentic as if a human had performed the recording because we’ll spend hours creating MIDI effect racks and manually adjusting velocities and timing in order to integrate a degree of imperfection.
This new addition to Ableton Live will open the door to natural sounding, AUTO-GENERATED music! Heck yeah.
Additional Follow Actions
Follow Actions can now be linked to the clip length, making it faster to create interesting sequences of clips. Scene Follow Actions let you create evolving arrangements. You can also set Follow Actions to jump to specific clips and enable and disable Follow Actions globally.
Follow actions are an UNDERUSED superpower in Ableton Live. If you don’t know what they are, GO LEARN IT! It’s such a great production tool. I will certainly be making some tutorials on their power in the near future.
These new Follow action capabilities are going to make producing and performing even more interesting.
New Instruments
New instruments
Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio, these three Instrument Packs bring the dynamic chamber ensemble textures to any production.
New Curated Collections
These Packs capture the musical threads that tie evolving styles and scenes together. Each is a curated selection of instruments, clips, and samples that share a common sonic theme.
Who doesn’t want more instruments and packs?
DIG MY VIBE?
“Try a free hour lesson on for size. If my teaching style doesn’t vibe with you, no hard feelings! I want you to be successful on your music journey in the way that suits you best!
What have you got to lose?”
The Nice-To-Haves
- Instrument Racks Combine multiple instruments and effects into a single device, allowing for split and layered sounds with customized Macro controls
- MIDI Effect Racks Combine MIDI effects into a single device, allowing for customized MIDI processing chains with simple Macro controls
- Drum Rack UPDATED An instrument for layering samples, synths, and effects in a classic 16-pad grid
- Video import/export UPDATED Import video as a clip and save modified video and audio.
- Collision Updated for Live 11 Physical modeling instrument for authentic mallet percussion sounds and creative percussion
- Electric Updated for Live 11 The sounds of classic electric pianos.
- Tension Updated for Live 11 Physical modeling string synthesizer.
- DrumSynths Updated for Live 11 8 devices to create unique drum and percussion sounds using synthesis.
- Brass Quartet New in Live 11 Features a rich blend of trumpet, French horn, tenor saxophone and trombone in your music. The instrument highlights the natural breathiness, range of expression and broad tonality of the brass quartet. Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.
- Drone Lab New in Live 11 Weave complex, evolving threads through your productions with tonal and textural samples, generative noise, multisampled instruments, plus devices and Effect Racks designed for experimentation.
- Drum Booth Updated for Live 11 Drum Booth contains carefully curated samples of acoustic kits recorded in a tight, dry room. Perfect on their own or as reinforcement for electronic drums, Drum Booth also offers unique post processing options and experimental recordings not possible with standard acoustic libraries.
- Electric Keyboards Updated for Live 11 Electric Keyboards is a new Pack featuring multisampled Fender Rhodes Suitcase, Wurlitzer A-200, and Hammond C3. Special attention was given to making this Pack sound as true-to-life and organic as possible. The result is characterful electric keys for any genre.
- Inspired by Nature New in Live 11 Six playful instruments and effects that use natural and physical processes as their inspiration. Created in collaboration with Dillon Bastan.
- String Quartet New in Live 11 This combination of two violins, viola and cello has a sound that is immediately intimate, and is also a great starting point for sonic exploration. Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.
- Build and Drop Updated for Live 11 Build and Drop is loaded with ecstatic leads, enveloping bass, slamming drums and a range of rises, sirens and sounds effects. A creative toolbox for building the irresistible anticipation and release this music uses to keep the party going.
- Glitch and Wash Updated for Live 11 This collection explores the contrast of organic texture and precise rhythms – combining precision slices, jagged electronic noise and microscopic snippets of sound with warm ambient pads, textures and soundscapes.
- Drive and Glow Updated for Live 11 Drive and Glow combines swirling synth textures, overdriven guitars and basses and pounding drums. Carefully curated to be mix-ready out of the box, this Pack is perfect for creating tracks that radiate with saturated, indie vibes.
- Upright Piano New in Live 11 Upright Piano infuses your productions with the instrument’s natural warmth. Close-recorded for an intimate feel, this classic sound is at home in many styles of music – whether it’s used at its purest in a folk song or transformed in an electronic track. Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.
- Punch and Tilt Updated for Live 11 A dancefloor-ready collection of sounds focused on machine rhythms, weighty bass and dark, hypnotizing melodies, textures and noises – a rough sonic aesthetic that started with a small group of underground producers and has grown into a worldwide scene.
- Voice Box New in Live 11 A comprehensive collection of contemporary vocal samples from multiple voices, a set of playable vocal instruments, and Effect Racks designed for vocal processing.
- Mood Reel New in Live 11 A collection of sounds for making music with a modern narrative feel. Evocative layered instruments combine organic and synthetic sounds with textural elements to add mood, space and movement to productions.
- Grand Piano Updated for Live 11 Multiple articulations, sampled from a carefully prepared and programmed piano to capture the virtuosity of the classical grand piano sounds.
- Skitter and Step Updated for Live 11 A sound collection that inhabits the space where growling basses, rinsing pads and jarring melodies collide with jagged, broken percussion. The cavernous spaces, dubby basses and tight drums are ready for production but were designed for deep sound manipulation.
- Chop and Swing Updated for Live 11 A homage to the style that made sampling an art form and put a new kind of groove on the musical map. Chop and Swing comes loaded with curated recordings and professional presets perfect for cutting up and re-combining into fresh new tracks.
- Corpus Updated for Live 11 Simulates the acoustic characteristics of seven types of resonant objects
- Hybrid Reverb New in Live 11 Combines convolution and algorithmic reverbs. Place your sounds in any space, from accurate real-life environments to those that defy physical reality.
- PitchLoop89 New in Live 11 Create jittery glitch effects, delayed digital shimmers and outlandish vibrato with this Max for Live pitch shifting device created in collaboration with Robert Henke.
- Spectral Resonator New in Live 11 A sound mangling device that can make anything passing through it sound completely unlike the source material. Use the MIDI sidechain input to process material in key with its surrounding musical elements – like playing an effect as if it were an instrument.
- Spectral Time New in Live 11 Re-synthesize your sounds and feed them into a network of filters, dynamics, reverb and delay, to add metallic echoes, pitch shifting and space to any sound source. Freeze the sound to capture and hold a slice of the audio and alter its characteristics in real time.
- Audio Effect Rack Updated for Live 11 Combine audio effects into a single device, allowing for the creation of simplified Macro controls for complex effects chains
- Chorus-Ensemble Updated for Live 11 Create thickening, flanging and vibrato effects. Ensemble is a new algorithm inspired by a thick 3-delay line chorus used in the 70s for string machines.
- Phaser-Flanger Updated for Live 11 Phaser-Flanger has a new, lusher sound with increased frequency and modulation ranges.
- Redux Updated for Live 11 Redux adds a wider range of sounds from vintage digital gear including harsh distortion, digital and aliasing artifacts, as well as warm and saturated 8-bit textures.
- MPE Control New in Live 11 Adjust Live’s response to MPE information from your MPE controller.
THE VERDICT?
yeah, man. Buy it.
Spacefood 2020