MusicRadar

The Live interface has been tweaked for version 6

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Then there’s the quality of the mixing. It’s a subjective issue, and while some users claim that Live doesn’t handle audio summing as well as other sequencers do, various unofficial tests have shown that non-warped audio is treated identically in all DAWs, as you’d expect. What’s certainly true (to our ears at least) is that Live can have a distinctive sound, and this might well be a result of its warping. Unfortunately, any signal that’s timestretched is always going to sound slightly different to one that isn’t.

Elsewhere, a definite omission is the lack of true sidechaining. Sidechained ducking and gating are two of the most used effects in modern dance music, but you can’t use them in Live.

Finally, there’s the ongoing (and still baffling) lack of a conventional toolbox in the Arrangement view. Even just a pair of virtual scissors would be nice, guys, and we’re not going to stop asking for them!

Six makes sense

In the end, though, we’re pleased to be able to say that Ableton have created another winner. As well as the major new features mentioned, there are countless other refinements: crossfader response curves; vastly improved file management systems; a huge array of MIDI controller presets (and improved learn functions); pre- or post-effects signal routing; assignment of multiple parameters to a single controller or key; tweaked ReWire functionality; rendering of individual tracks instead of just the complete mix; and resizing of multiple clips simultaneously in the Arrangement view.

Sure, you might argue that some of these features should already have been there, but the fact that Live was built from the ground up as an entirely original concept means it could be described as still in its primary development stage. The software’s total lack of legacy features means that every new addition, however small, is potentially very useful to most users if they take the trouble to learn it, and this ensures that Live is one of the most ergonomic, easy to use, stable and downright inspirational bits of software available.

We don’t want to sound too evangelical, but you could make a strong case for saying that Live is a ‘must have’ product for any creative musician, and version 6 lifts it to an entirely new level of maturity. If you aren’t yet using it, you really are all out of excuses, and if you own any previous version, upgrading is an undeniable necessity.