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Management functions have been overhauled, making libraries easier to work with

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Let's get one thing out of the way: Live is one of our favourite programs.

We've loved it since it came to market, have championed each new version and watched it grow from a promising and original niche product into a cutting-edge powerhouse. And, until now, each update has been exceptional.

In this review, we're looking at the all-encompassing Ableton Suite, which contains Live 7 and a whole range of add-ons and soundbanks (except for the new SONiVOX Orchestral ones), but as for the all-important core app, almost nothing has changed visually - Ableton clearly think they have the interface sussed now, as it's damn near identical to 6. But what about under the bonnet?

The first major improvement we come across in Live 7 is the long-overdue inclusion of true sidechaining, which is vital to modern production.

In Compressor, it's added right at the start of the chain (ie, pre-EQ), can be taken from any channel (pre- or posteffects), gain can be applied and you can even mix the balance of the sidechain source and the material to be compressed, which is a really nice innovation. It's all fantastic to work with.

Over to the Gate and Auto-Filter and it's a similar story, with tight, useable sidechain control of both. It's also pleasing to see that the aforementioned Compressor - which was previously one of Live's weakest plug-ins - has now got brass balls.

There's a knee control, a range of modes based on vintage hardware (which respond in a range of useful and substantial ways), and a nicer display to help show what's actually going on. Top marks there, then.

The next really big addition is Drum Racks. Initially, we thought these were cool but nothing really groundbreaking; however, the more we use them the more we love them. The basic idea is of a drum machine with a matrix-style interface, but it's so much more than that.

Each drum cell gets its own channel in the Drum Rack mixer (which can be hidden or displayed in the Session view mixer at the push of a button) and can host any instrument and effects chain you like, so the Drum Rack becomes an entire custom-made bus group.

When combined with the new Session Drums and Drum Machines soundbanks, Drum Racks are very powerful indeed.

REX support

Closely linked to Drum Racks is another new and stonkingly good feature - REX support. Sure, this was probably overdue, but it's here now, and works really well. You simply drop in a REX file like any other audio file, and it picks up the chop points and displays them.

We did occasionally hear the odd tiny click at the slice points, but fortunately that doesn't matter too much, thanks to an even cooler related addition: slicing.

Slicing does exactly what it says on the tin. With REX files, it slices the audio up (according to REX slice-points or Warp Markers and beat divisions), places it in a series of Simplers in a Drum Rack-style interface and creates a MIDI file.

You then have the same control over each slice as if it were a self-contained sample. Of course, this is all non-destructive.

Now, one feature that was handy in Live 6 but extremely rudimentary was video support. Sure, you could sequence the video and even warp it, should you desire, but there was no way to export the fruits of your labours.

Well, exporting is now catered for, and, basic though it may be, you can still warp the video first. Even so, we'd like to see, at the very least, some kind of video cross-fading tool, and with the proliferation of VJs out there these days - not to mention the cool effects you can get from warping video to fit your audio - we don't think that it would be an innovation too far.

As for those export options, there are so many that at a push you could use Live as a video format conversion tool, albeit a rather unwieldy one!