ableton needs to be half the price

[Machinesworking]

Why?

Logic studio comes with a ton of features (you could argue more than ableton) and is now under £300

True, but I personally would need to spend a lot of money on a Mac to be able to run it. It isn't a fair comparison.

and I would have to spend money on Windows for Sonar etc. In your mind then the only real comparison is between Live, and Traction, Reaper, Energy XT, and Cubase. It fares even worse when compared to those.

Ableton Live 8 Suite $800
Live 8 $500
Logic Studio $500
Cubase 5 $500
Sonar Producer Edition $500
Digital Performer 6 $500
Traction Ultimate bundle 250
Energy XT 80
Reaper 225


I really don't think it's that badly priced, but in comparison to the other DAWs, it has no real bundled goodies in the $499 version. DP has a convolution reverb, Sonar is jam packed, Cubase has plenty, XT has a great synth as well as full featured sampler. Personally what I would love to see happen is for them to bundle the basics, Sampler, and Operator into the $499 version. This way they stay in league with the rest of the big DAWs, yet still offer a ton of toys for the Suite.
The problem for them pricing wise with the Suite is that they licensed or are partnered with third party vendors, so they aren't making a straight profit like Apple does off Logic Studio. Then again Cakewalk license third party, and are $500.

[aisling]

Personally what I would love to see happen is for them to bundle the basics, Sampler, and Operator into the $499 version. This way they stay in league with the rest of the big DAWs, yet still offer a ton of toys for the Suite.
The problem for them pricing wise with the Suite is that they licensed or are partnered with third party vendors, so they aren't making a straight profit like Apple does off Logic Studio. Then again Cakewalk license third party, and are $500.

nicely mentioned.

[IP]

Not only the Sampler and Operator ... there shouldn't be live suite at all.
only live download & box (=manual, samples, stickers).
Every daw come with some instruments these days.

The cheaper daw (protools 8 m-powered) offer 70 plugins, 6 instruments and 8GB of samples! lol

But anyway this is just for the records! Live is live!
If something will change in the future will be more than welcome

[ThrowAway]

why dont you go buy one of those other programs if you think they are a better value? Obviously you want live because its different.

[sleepwalkermusic]

Live's a bargain. I won't complain if they drop the price, in fact, I'd be thrilled. That said, they've already got my money for a 7-->8 suite upgrade, so some people are buying it.

i think ableton is way over priced in the current credit crunch
neeeds to be half the price it is now i know the company needs to develop the software but i think a lot of people using ableton 7 will stay put.
a lot of potencial buyers will be put off by the price.
ableton 8 im my eyes is still a work in progress not a finished
article wonder when the first upgrade to fix bugs and the like will be available.
users who do venture to buy ableton 8 will soon be crying out for the first patch from the off im sure .
waiting for the flak which always comes when someone doesnt like what has been posted feel free bring it on.

[leedsquietman]

Also, Cubase 5 is considerably less in the USA and Canada than it is in that chart for the UK due to currency fluctuations at the present time.

You can buy Cubase 5 for 499 dollars US from Sweetwater. C5 has as much content as the Live Suite IMHO albeit in some different ways (like Logic).
Ableton Live Suite 8 costs 799 dollars from Sweetwater.

And the currency works the other way around for Samplitude which costs more in the USA and Canada than in the UK.
That would make the Cubase 5 price 369 pounds UK if you could only buy it from the USA.

The basic version of Live offere NOWHERE NEAR the plugins and features that Logic Studio 8, Cubase 5 and Sonar 8PE offer. The Suite version is comparable.
Logic - a gazillion synths of all types, ultrabeat drum module, convolution reverb, pitch correction technology, red book compliant CD burning, dedicated audio editor (soundtrack pro), amp simulators and a whole bunch more stuff.
Cubase 5 - 8 different synths of various types, groove agent one drum module, convolution reverb, melodyne style pitch correction tools, more detailed audio and MIDI fetures, loop mash tool
Sonar 8PE - lots of great synths, including the full Z3TA+, tons of great fx inc convolution reverbs, channel strips and lots of mastering plugins.

If anyone had experienced what the competition offers, they would realize fully that Ableton are overpricing Live, in spite of the brilliance of the software and the uniqueness of Session View and some of the design concepts. Ableton are the only company I know increasing upgrade prices in this time of recession. Steinberg and Apple slashed hundreds of dollars off Logic and Cubase to generate VOLUME sales. It ain't rocket science. If Ableton reduced their prices by a 3rd, they'd probably make that up and more in selling extra volume. And then more customers to spread word of mouth and buy extra goodies from the Ableton store and deter some from going the torrent route.

[leedsquietman]

And by the way, before some sarcastic weasel responds with a 'nobody is forcing you to buy' or 'go to another DAW' be aware that I own Cubase and use Logic and Protools at work.

Yet I prefer to come home and do most of my stuff in Live. Interesting how most of these comments are from people with less than a hundred posts who are registered on the board for just a few weeks or months.

Ableton usually welcome customer feedback. I have bought Live 6, upgraded to Live 7 Suite, bought several items through the Ableton store, filled out the questionnaires they sent for feature requests, beta tested Live 7 and 8. If I didn't care about Live I wouldn't waste my time voicing my opinion on this. I think it's good business sense for them to revisit their pricing and to reinstate educational upgrade discounts. I believe it would help them to sell more units and give them an even better name.

[sporkles]

Ableton Live 8 Suite $800
Live 8 $500

Is the discrepancy really that much bigger for the "full" versions as compared to the upgrade versions? (I'm getting 229 for Live 8 Suite and 189 for Live 8 - both download)

[DanMan]

Solutions for everybody

haha that's brilliant. I can't quite believe ableton is at the top of that list considering some of the names included

That comparison should be using Live 8 base, not Suite. Live is in the same price range as other DAWs.

Whatever, Ive been around since Live 1 .... and all the posts about price are valid, Its never been like this b4, personally I think Ableton might be getting a tad greedy. . Do I like Live .... indeed , Do I like the Ableton guys ... Indeed. .... but they are human and humans to sometimes get a bit greedy.

In all the time I've been around I've never seen the amount of discussions on price or the amount of posts.

A lot of good points are being made if you ask me.

[beats me]

Maybe the Abes are demand chicken shits. In the world of software there is very little tangible overhead when people can just download your software. If people want a box then fine, charge more for a box. By reducing the price they could probably get the same result with more units sold.

In a rough economy you have to gamble on the safer bet. There's more of a chance that the loyal followers will upgrade at a possibly higher rate than depending on new users pulling the weight through a new purchase at a lower price.

And as one of dozen or so posts on this topic pointed out, upgrade to 8 (either version) $$ +Max4Live more $$$ +access to sharing site more $$$$ +APC40 more $$$$$. It is getting pretty ridiculous.

[dcease]

[ThrowAway]

this thread reminds me of the great piece of american cinema "step up 2:the streets"

[LOFA]

Personally I am glad that it costs as much as it does. The Abes need to make some money, and those of us that have been steadily upgrading seem to be rewarded by this all. For someone like myself that owned 7 suite, the upgrade was only $239 (after taxes) with a coupon for the boxed upgrade. Seems completely reasonable to me.

If you haven't purchased the suite, then upgrading or starting with the suite is going to cost you. Live is not a standard DAW. It just happens to have an extensive DAW feature set on top of being what it is.

[ThrowAway]

Personally I am glad that it costs as much as it does. The Abes need to make some money, and those of us that have been steadily upgrading seem to be rewarded by this all. For someone like myself that owned 7 suite, the upgrade was only $239 (after taxes) with a coupon for the boxed upgrade. Seems completely reasonable to me.

If you haven't purchased the suite, then upgrading or starting with the suite is going to cost you. Live is not a standard DAW. It just happens to have an extensive DAW feature set on top of being what it is.

Dont disturb the whine fest!!

[kramerica]

Apple makes Logic and Apple is a huge company that can subsidize its software to gain a larger market share. I don't think the comparison to Ableton, a very small start up, is really fair or accurate. Smaller companies often make more expensive products than their larger competitors. Economy of scale, yada yada yada. Point is, that Ableton charges what the market will pay. If they lose market share and sales to competitors they'll be forced to lower their price and/or close their doors. Not buying Live 8 is your "vote" against their pricing. I already voted otherwise and I'm still late on this month's rent. Priorities.