Ableton Live 12 Suite

The All-in-one Music Creation and Performance DAW

Ableton Live is fast, fluid, and flexible, enabling you to tackle music creation, recording, and live performance with equal assurance. This revolutionary DAW software allows for traditional linear song creation, or you can leverage its Session View for nonlinear improvisation without the constraints of a timeline. With Live, you’ll find yourself playing with musical elements and ideas like never before, and you can do so in real time without disrupting your creative flow. And with Live 12 Suite, your options are never-ending. Whether you’re using it to trigger loops with a combination of software and hardware instruments or to loop riffs and backing tracks with your band, Live has it covered. As a creative tool, more than 71GB of content and an extensive collection of virtual instruments and effects are onboard. Plus, with Max for Live built in, anything you can’t accomplish with the included content and your favorite plug-ins are still easily within reach. Whether you use it as a music creation instrument or as the central hub for your stage show, Ableton Live 12 Suite provides you with an endlessly powerful creative toolset.

An ideal DAW for creative artists

From the beginning, Ableton Live has been as much a creative tool as a DAW. This duality essentially has to do with the way Live lets you construct tracks and play with audio in real time. There are two main parts to Live: the Arrangement View and the Session View. The Arrangement View is more or less a standard linear DAW, with time on the X axis and tracks on the Y axis. Where Live differs from other DAWs is its Session View, which puts individual tracks on the X axis and scenes on the Y axis. Each scene contains a slot on each channel for a clip. Clips are usually short pieces of audio or MIDI, a few measures longer or shorter, that loop to create grooves. Launched individually, these loops let you experiment with your arrangements, trying out various combinations of grooves and riffs.

Since everything from modern electronic music to classic rock and blues is heavily based on repeating sections, Live’s Session View makes it an ideal creative tool for all kinds of songwriters. In fact, the songwriting tools don’t stop there. In addition to launching individual clips, you can launch entire scenes, complete with automatic advancement to subsequent scenes, scene repeat instructions, and other logic options.

Using scenes makes it easy to arrange entire songs in parts (verse, chorus, etc.). When you record your progression to the linear Arrangement View, you add the possibility to record lead lines and other performances that fall outside the rest of the song structure. What’s more, all of the loop-/riff-based arrangement options are still available on the timeline, so you can continue to edit and build on your song even after you record it to the Session View.

All of the standard DAW functions you need

In addition to the standard linear Session View, Ableton Live comes loaded with every standard DAW function you need. Nondestructive multitrack recording at up to 32-bit/192kHz is the beginning. You get powerful mixing and signal-flow tools such as bussing and return tracks. VST and AU plug-in formats fit right into your workflow, right alongside the wonderful tools bundled with Live. Live’s MIDI sequencing capabilities are second to none, and easy access to automation curves, MIDI learn, and more make this a total DAW powerhouse.

More content than you could ever ask for

When you stop and consider the amount of content Ableton packed into Live 12 Suite, it’s staggering. Download all 33 content packs, and we’re talking about over 71 GB of killer sounds. You also get all 20 software instruments, 58 audio effects, and 14 MIDI effects that span things like amp emulation, acoustic resonance, and other unique effects, in addition to all of the standard effects, EQs, dynamics, and other processors. Top-notch synth and sampler instruments only add to the value. But that’s not all: Live 12 Suite also includes the flexible architecture of Max for Live built right in, unlocking a whole new dimension to its creative potential.

Make your own effects and instruments with Max for Live

In the unlikely event that you can’t find the sound you’re looking for somewhere in Ableton Live 12 Suite’s massive sound library, then you’re probably not looking hard enough. You’re going to love diving into Max for Live. It’s like a programming language; however, instead of lines of code, you use virtual boxes, gizmos, and cables to turn your ideas into original instruments and effects — right inside Ableton Live 12. And to get you rolling smoothly with Max for Live, Live 12 Suite even includes an extensive collection of excellent Max Devices that will make building more complex modules much less difficult.

Live 12 Suite augments your rig with killer new sounds

From MPE-capable sound shaping to expressive granular textures to colorful saturation, Live 12 Suite expands the kind of music you can make right out of the box. Further, you get a new modulation behavior that will turbocharge your workflows with more performance options and continuous real-time parameter control.

• Meld: a bi-timbral, MPE-capable instrument that unlocks deep sound shaping for creating experimental textures and tones with two macro oscillators
• Granulator III: an MPE-capable upgrade of Robert Henke’s granular instrument with expressive control over your parameters and real-time audio capture
• Roar: a coloration and saturation effect that ranges from subtle, mastering-grade warmth to complete sonic decimation with series, parallel, mid-side, and multiband configurations
• New Modulation Behavior: modulations are no longer taken over by the modulation source, so you can continue to tweak a modulated parameter even after assigning an LFO or other modulation source to it
• Lost and Found: a character-infused collection of sounds crafted from unusual materials, percussive trinkets, unique foley recordings, and expressive objects
• Performance Pack: a set of innovative devices from Iftah that really push Live’s boundaries by allowing you to capture snapshots of your sets and deploy them later, control multiple parameters with layered macros and curves, extend performances with looping in Arrangement View, and prearrange the structure of a performance before you record it

FEATURES

Ableton really stepped up their game with Live 12, introducing a bunch of great new features. If you’ve used previous versions of Live, then you’re definitely going to want to check these out.

• MIDI Transformations: add variations to your MIDI clips, such as creating ornamental articulations, drawing acceleration and deceleration curves, connecting successive notes and chords, and simulating strumming
• MIDI Generators: craft melodies, chords, and rhythms by using the new MIDI Generators to create engaging patterns
• Max for Live MIDI Tools: experiment with Max in completely new ways with the new MIDI Transformations and MIDI Generators
• MIDI Editing Improvements: arrange the order of a selection of notes by pitch, velocity, or duration to conjure up exciting new sonic concoctions
• Keys and Scales: set the selected clip’s scale in Live’s Control Bar to see its notes in any clip you create, then edit the clip using scale highlighting as a guide, use the clip scale to transform and generate musical ideas, or sync the scale of MIDI devices and instruments to the clip being played
• Expanded Probability: assign a single probability rule to a group of notes so that the entire group of notes is played whenever the trigger is fired
• Embrace and Explore Tunings: easily access alternate tuning systems — even those outside of the 12-note equal temperament system
• Stack Live’s Detail Views: view your devices and the Clip Editor or automation at the same time for distraction-free toggling between views
• Mixer in Arrangement: Live’s Mixer can now be viewed in the Arrangement Window instead of only in the Session Window
• Browser Tagging and Filtered Searches: search for sounds in the Browser without the constraints of Live’s built-in categorization
• Sound Similarity Search: easily find comparable sounds and instrument presets to any other sample
• Drum Rack Swapping: instantly swap out the samples in your Drum Rack for similar ones to audition new percussive textures

Ableton Live 12 Suite Features:

• Comprehensive DAW designed from the ground up for the creative studio or performing musician
• Includes 70+GB of content, unlimited tracks and scenes, 20 software instruments, 72 effects, and 33 content Packs
• Session View provides a nonlinear approach to music creation via groove/loop/riff arrangement
• Arrangement View provides quick and intuitive composition plus flexible performance and improvisation options
• Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192kHz
• Nondestructive editing with unlimited undo lets you freely create
• Powerful MIDI sequencing lets you take control of software and hardware instruments
• Convert audio to MIDI to use with virtual instruments and more
• Advanced warping and real-time time stretching provide extensive flexibility with audio files
• Get creative with unlimited Audio effects and MIDI effects per project
• Includes a comprehensive selection of built-in audio effects, including a host of creative delays, filters, distortions, studio compressors, and EQs
• Integrated Cycling 74’s Max for Live lets you make your own instruments and effects
• Full set of included Max for Live devices makes creating your own tools fun and easy
• VST and Audio Unit support lets you use all of your favorite plug-ins and virtual instruments
• Mix, match, and add effects without ever stopping the music
• Powerful creative and performing environment for DJs and mash-up artists
• Group tracks for better organization and simpler automation
• Time signature changes allow you greater flexibility when scoring to video
• Multiple automation lanes make setting up intensely dynamic mixes easy
• Track Freeze lets you free up your computer’s resources without stripping down your mix
• Automatic plug-in delay compensation minimizes phase issues and tightens up your mix
• Instantly map MIDI control to nearly any parameter for a fully customized control environment
• MIDI output and MIDI Clock/sync let you create deeply complex rigs combining hardware and software seamlessly
• REX file support and native sliced audio file creation
• Video import and export for scoring to picture or warping picture to music
• Includes built-in step-by-step tutorials
• Multicore/multiprocessor support
• WAV, AIFF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC file support