Ableton Live 4 Features:
From Sketch to Composition.
Live's specialty is composition by improvisation. Record musical ideas, combine
or create new songs, and compose on the fly. Live captures your every move
for later refinement and editing.
Introducing your musical sketchpad: Live's Session View. Each clip holds a musical
idea, phrase, melody, loop or even a complete song. Add to your Session in real
time by dragging in audio or MIDI files from Live's built-in Browser, or record
new "takes" without ever stopping the music.
Leave behind the constraints of linear composition. Each clip contains its own
play button, allowing you to "launch" them at any time and in any order. Live
assures that everything plays in sync, so you are free to improvise new arrangements,
try different loop combinations or jam with existing musical ideas. If you like
what you hear, engage Live's recording and capture your actions for later refinement
in the Arrangement View.
The Musical Hub.
Come together, right now. Live offers complete multitrack recording and editing
for any acoustic source, hardware synthesizer or software instrument.
Live's Arrangement View, shown here, is the multitrack environment where it all
comes together. Live offers unlimited 24-bit / 192 kHz multitrack hard disk recording,
full MIDI sequencing and complete automation for every mix and effect parameter
(including song tempo). Every edit is non-destructive and revertible thanks to
unlimited undo.
Live can manage any number of audio and MIDI inputs and outputs, making it the
hub of your musical studio. VST, Audio Units and ReWire support allow you to
use your favorite effects and software instruments. Flexible and intuitive signal
routing for audio and MIDI gives you the room to experiment with your signal
flow in creative ways. Layer instruments, submix tracks, record the signal from
any track or group of tracks.
Easy MIDI.
Yes, MIDI can be fun and easy. Drop a software instrument in a track and play.
Drag and drop MIDI and audio effects, layer synths, and record MIDI as audio.
Instruments and effects are a matter of drag and drop in Live. Just drop a software
instrument into a track, and you are ready to play. Add MIDI effects, such as
Scale, which forces all notes into a desired key, or audio effects like Chorus,
Auto Filter or any of Live's other creative plug-ins. Live's Track View shows
how the signal flows, with meters between the devices, and provides you with
direct access to all device controls.
Live's built-in Simpler instrument revives the art of sampling. Grab any piece
of audio, drop it into Simpler, and play it across the keyboard. Simpler is simple
to operate, yet capable of creating entirely new and complex sounds.
Pattern Mode.
Your laptop is about to turn into a groove box. Live puts an arsenal of groove-making
tools at your fingertips.
Live combines the versatility of a classic sequencer with the spontaneity of
a groove box. Create drum machine-style grooves using Live's Impulse drum sampler
and real-time pattern sequencing. However you prefer to create rhythms, be it
through MIDI input, loop overdubbing or drawing patterns, Live keeps you grooving.
Drag and drop sounds into Impulse and start building patterns. Impulse provides
filtering, time-stretching and powerful dynamic control over the sonic characteristics
of your sounds. Feeling a groove but no MIDI controller at hand? Simply use the
computer keys to trigger your samples and record your groove.
Mix and Remix.
Instantly combine jazz with house with hip hop with soul... Live synchronizes
it all in real time. This year, 58 international magazines voted Live as the
best DJ tool on the market.
Live opens up a universe of creative possibilities to DJs. Combine music of any
style and tempo, while effortlessly spinning three, four or as many tracks as
you like. Preview tracks through headphones and control the mix with Live's DJ-style
EQs and built-in crossfader. Live also creates opportunities for DJs to explore
remixing and producing new tracks.
Live's Time-Warping Engine stretches all audio in real time to match the chosen
tempo with complete flexibility and fidelity, while giving independent control
over pitch. Even a complete piece of music with fluctuating tempo can be stretched
and re-pitched in Live. To the remix artist, tedious tasks, such as aligning
vocal tracks, shrink to a matter of seconds.
On-the-Spot Sound Design.
Perform real-time sonic surgery on your sounds. Draw melodies, rhythms and effects
changes onto loops and samples while they play.
Samples and loops are great to work with... if only you could go back in time
and tell the producer to change a few things. Live puts an end to static sounds
by allowing you to "open up" your samples or loops and work from "within."
Live's "clip envelopes" enable you to draw the pitch and volume of individual
notes inside
a sample. You can also modulate the sample with effects, scramble beats, and
create LFO effects and step sequencer patterns. Even better, clip envelopes can
be drawn while the music is playing and your composition is evolving. Live's
non-destructive clip envelopes make it possible to create unlimited variations
of any sound.
Live offers a wide array of creative audio effects, bringing you even more sound
creation possibilities. Any number of effects can be placed on any track, send
or the Master track. Insert, chain and reorder effects by drag and drop, all
without interrupting the music. All Live effects, as well as VST and Audio Unit
Plug-in parameters, can be remote-controlled via MIDI and fully automated in
real time. In conjunction with Live's clip envelopes, effects can be used like
the components of a modular re-synthesizer.
Hands-on Control.
Liberate yourself from the mouse. Play your sequencer like an instrument on stage
or in the studio.
Imagine launching sound and MIDI files, controlling transport functions, tweaking
tempo, changing mixer and effects controls, and never touching the computer.
Your software has just transformed into hardware.
Almost all of Live's functions can be arbitrarily assigned to your computer keys
as well as MIDI notes and controllers. With Live and a MIDI keyboard or fader
box, you are in complete control.
Live's single-window, clutter-free surface makes creating music a joyful experience,
especially in critical situations. Every detail in Live has been carefully designed
to be intuitive and instantly accessible. The result not only looks good, it
feels good. No matter how complex your project becomes, Live remains straightforward
while retaining the simplicity and expressive power of a great musical instrument.
Features
MIDI
Complete sequencing, combination and reorganization of MIDI clips
Straightforward MIDI recording, editing and pattern creation
MIDI bank and program change settings for individual MIDI files
Graphically represented MIDI controller data for intuitive drawing and editing
Versatility- play MIDI notes anywhere with no equipment other than the computer
keyboard
Manipulation of MIDI timing through quantization and swing/groove settings
Drag and drop import of Standard MIDI files and their individual tracks
Export of MIDI tracks and patterns as Standard MIDI files
Audio
Preview and combine AIFF, WAV and SDII audio files of any sample rate, size and
bit depth with no prior conversion
Real-time time-stretching of any audio file to play in sync with the project
tempo
Sample reverse of individual audio files
Rhythm and time warping for notes and sections within audio files
Real-time swing and groove manipulation of audio files
Complete control of volume, pitch and timing for segments or notes within audio
files through drawn curves
Detailed audio file exporting
Playing - Performing
Nonlinear audio and MIDI file organization and triggering for imaginative recombination
and improvisatio
Audio and MIDI files can be mapped to MIDI keyboard ranges and computer keys
for instant triggering
Detailed control over the launch and play properties of individual files
Automatic jamming- Create groups of files that can trigger each other to generate
specific or random output
Configure groups of files that play simultaneously, store tempo changes and advance
automatically
DJ-style crossfading between any number of tracks
Hands-on control of any interface element with a MIDI controller or the computer
keyboard
Flawless recording of all aspects of a set for later in-depth editing
Recording - Sequencing
Comprehensive audio and MIDI recording and sequencing
Unlimited 24-bit/192 kHz multitrack hard disk recording
Detailed on-the-fly recording and editing of automation for mixer, effects control
movements and the song tempo as continuous breakpoint envelopes
Complete nondestructive editing with unlimited undo
Drum machine-style loop/overdub recording for building MIDI patterns
Punch-in and -out points for recording
Creation of perfectly cut samples and loops through optional record quantization
Instant resampling of audio and MIDI while the music plays
Effects - Instruments
Wide array of innovative Ableton audio and MIDI effects
New Ableton instruments: Simpler, for creative sample-based synthesis and Impulse,
for dynamic percussion sound design
Endless expansion through VST and Audio Units Plug-in instruments/effects and
ReWire
Automation and remote control of all instrument and effects parameters
Unlimited variations from single samples and loops through user-definable effects,
mixer, volume and pitch curves
Routing - I/O - Sync
Track-to-track I/O routing for complex mixes, post-effects recording, MIDI-to-audio
conversion, submixing and synth layering
Individual instrument outputs and multi-timbral instrument input and output routing
capabilities
Private cueing and previewing through separate audio outputs
Complete MIDI control of ReWire clients
Intuitive signal flow management of effects and instruments by drag and drop
Pre- or post-mixer effect grouping/bussing on up to twelve sends/return tracks
Tempo sync to any external source through MIDI Clock master or slave; MIDI Timecode
slave
Audio and transport sync through the ReWire protocol as master or slave
Unlimited audio and MIDI tracks
Unlimited audio and MIDI inputs and outputs
ASIO, MME, DirectX, Sound Manager and CoreAudio audio interface support
Also includes...
Hundreds of one-shot drum samples for use in Impulse
Selection of royalty-free loops and samples from Big Fish Audio*
Built-in program tutorials and starter sets
Printed reference manual*
Multilingual program help and PDF manual in English, Japanese, German, French
and Spanish
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