Feature:
the piano roll editor is simple and easy to use, but not as powerful as other programs. Reason (standalone) users will feel right at home, though. The plug-ins include everything you expect: eq, dynamics (compression), delay, reverb, and chorus. There are also a few that you might not expect, such as the "resonator" and "grain delay," that allow you to radically reshape your sound, get some lo-fi grit or do just about whatever you please. All that's missing are more mastering oriented tools, although meticulously polishing a finished piece of music is not what Live is designed for.
Quality:
I've had some issues getting VST up and running, and this has caused some crashes. For a product designed for live use, I find this a little scary. It seems that once you get it working with your particular set-up, however, Live is solid.
Value:
without the live preformance abilities, it would still be a decent value. With its unmatched preformance capabilites its a steal.
Desirability:
If you want to use a computer to improv music, nothing else will do nearly as well as live. British DJ Sasha uses it, so there's some star appeal as well.
Sound:
sounds good, supports 24 bit resolution. The included plug-ins sound good and allow the user to quickly and easily tweak or completely warp a sound. I give it 9/10 only because the effects are more geared towards fun, quick results rather than sober, precise mastering type applications.
Support:
Good support website (if this is a big deal to you, you can check out their support site before buying the product: ableton.com). I have not personally contacted their service personnel, so I can't say how good they are/aren't.
Overall:
Whether or not you should buy Ableton Live depends on a few factors. First of all, if you want to add live remixing to your DJ sets, improv beats as a part of a "livetronica" band, or preform live solo sets, you won't find a better suited product anywhere. One could use more traditional sequencing (such as Logic) or loop-based (i.e. Acid) production software, but you won't be able to record audio or sequences (midi) while playing as easily as in live (if at all). If you just need production software, and don't plan on preforming live, then the choice is more difficult. Live does a good job at allowing you to use loops, sequences, and audio all together. That said, the sequencing in Live is quite limited compared to other programs such as logic. There is no score editor and the piano roll/ matrix editor isn't as powerful as Logic's (note: logic costs about twice as much, but includes a better collection of software instruments and mastering tools). If audio editing is more important to you, then Pro Tools LE might be a better fit for a similar price (with some hardware included). That said, if you don't want to spend $1000 on production software and are not comfortable with the limitations in "lite" versions of other products, Ableton Live definitlely deserves a look. Additionally, Live's layout is similar to Acid, so I would certainly recommend Live to Acid users looking to step up to something more powerful. I give it 8/10 only 1)because of the issues I've had with VST plug-ins and 2) the piano-roll sequence editor could be much better. Other than that, it is a unique piece of software that gets the job done easily and in style. If the sequence editing improves in subsequent versions, I may replace Logic with Live
4 of 5 people (80%) found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!