Live 9 Pricing

[kent_sandvik]

Can you believe Apple doesn't give discounted upgrade prices to people who bought last year's MacBook Pro even though they have been buying Macs for 10 years?!?!

All they added was a stupid Retina display - hello, newsflash, I can still see fine with my current screen!!!

I am never buying an Apple machine again. The customer service was atrocious. I left a message at the Apple Store asking for half off the price of a new laptop because I'm such a good customer and they haven't called me back yet, two days later!?!?! This is absolutely unacceptable.

I will never buy Apple again. Not after they've treated me so badly.

Apple does not go around advertising wrong pricing for days and not explaining what happened until far late into the game.

[kent_sandvik]

Yes no definite response from Ableton. My wife said, why are you still doing this, just give up on Ableton.

I will get the Sugar Bytes complete set now and work with Logic. Maybe upgrade to Live 9 next summer if that product still available as I want to keep old projects around. I really don't expect much from Ableton myself. Hopefully you others get this resolved as I don't think this was handled properly for their existing customers.

[Szuumm]

You forgot to threaten to move to PC or make a Hackintosh.

Or to just steal a Mac...

[shadowdancerbnr]

Turns out I don't own Suite after all (even though the splash screen says so)....

So, I have already purchased Live 8 (upgraded from Suite 7), Operator, Sampler, Tension, Electric, Electronik Drums, Analog, Retro Synths, Drum Machines & Max for Live. My upgrade to Suite 8 is currently priced at €164....my question is: do I gain a huge amount more from an upgrade to Suite 8 (given that Amp and Collision are not that interesting to me), or should I merely treat this as a great price for the eventual Live 9 upgrade I get with it?

I only ask because Ableton have removed the previous Live 8 Standard / Live 8 Suite comparison page.

[oddstep]

You don't gain much. Collision is pretty good though. Its not just a better than average xylophone emulator.. think of it more like a better tension+electric.

[agent314]

Man - with all due respect Kent, get off your cross about this

They posted the wrong price for a couple of days. They didn't single you out just to mess with you. They screwed up, they'll admit that, the rest of the forum will certainly admit that (forcefully, at great length). Them's the breaks.

Hold onto Live 8, rock out with your new Sugar Bytes toys, maybe make some sweet tunes (LOL SUGAR-SWEET PUN) and relax. If this is the worst thing that happens to you this month, then it'll have been a good month.

The more you post about it the worse the feedback loop of negativity is going to become

[kent_sandvik]

Yes sorry about all this but I think that when mistakes happen, that's where you see the good companies bubble up from the non-good ones based on how they handle mistakes in relation to their customers.

[merges]

I'm still bummed about Ableton's response and a seeming unwillingness to just *simplify* their offerings. In a response to an inquiry from me, a rep said:

As the first post on the forum thread explains, current Suite 8 users do not have an upgrade price as of now, as Suite 9 does not exist as an actual product yet.

Which is confusing to me… because I am a Suite 8 user and I see an upgrade price. And the latter clause doesn't seem to make any sense; first because there *is* an upgrade price, and second because other users have upgrade prices too (including owners of non-Suite Live), *even though* Suite 9 does not exist as an actual product yet.

It's bad vibes from Ableton, not bad software.

Live 9 looks good, has a few badly needed core improvements and some fantastically musical innovations promised. In my case, personally, it's a DAW more than a live performance tool, and it's probably going to be a toss-up between upgrading to 9 if it features enough improvements to the DAW side (like delay compensation, MIDI editing, etc.), and buying Logic (maybe even Logic X if it appears on scene)… especially because it is so cheap relative to Live.

[ttilberg]

Yes sorry about all this but I think that when mistakes happen, that's where you see the good companies bubble up from the non-good ones based on how they handle mistakes in relation to their customers.

Kent, I know it was 36 pages ago -- but in case you missed it:

We've noticed some confusion about upgrade pricing for Live 9, and wanted to clarify things here.

To begin with, pricing in the Ableton web shop adapts according to products that a customer already owns - including versions of Live, Instruments, and Max for Live. As such, people who own different combinations will see different upgrade prices. Nevertheless, we see the confusion amongst customers, and will try to make our pricing as transparent as possible to everyone, as soon as possible.

Existing Suite 8 owners will be offered an exclusive introductory discount on upgrades to Live 9 Suite, to be made available upon release. This introductory discount is not yet shown on the website, as Live 9 Suite is not yet available. We apologize for any confusion or frustration from our oversight in not making this discount clear on ableton.com, and ask for your patience as we iron out the kinks in our new site.

There really is nothing more that needs to be said here, especially being that we are talking about the pricing of a product that isn't even out for another 3-6 months. It seems your definition of a good company is one that is willing to take it in the ass when they make a mistake.

[exper]

The more you post about it the worse the feedback loop of negativity is going to become

Yes, we don't want any negativity now, do we? We'd better not voice any dissension else we'll upset the powers that be.

Come on now. Just as you have a right to glowingly support Ableton at all cost, those who are unhappy with their decisions have the same. It's not that they posted the wrong price. Its that they decided to jack it up at the last minute almost as an aferthought. Quite a bit. If they actually planned all of this, then the old price should've never been included on the revamped website.

[beats me]

When I was a lad you needed thousands of dollars of synth equipment to make a tune, and people complain about instrument/feature bloated software packages with more content than you could dig through in a lifetime being a couple of tenners too expensive.

Some people could really do with a perspective-injection.

Are you questioning the values of the generation who feels they should never pay for a song or movie download ever and a $1 app for a phone should first be given serious scrutiny before purchasing and if not satified should publicly demand their dollar be refunded?

[H20nly]

When I was a lad you needed thousands of dollars of synth equipment to make a tune, and people complain about instrument/feature bloated software packages with more content than you could dig through in a lifetime being a couple of tenners too expensive.

Some people could really do with a perspective-injection.

Are you questioning the values of the generation who feels they should never pay for a song or movie download ever and a $1 app for a phone should first be given serious scrutiny before purchasing and if not satified should publicly demand their dollar be refunded?

i have no idea what really i want, but i want it NOW!

[shadowdancerbnr]

You don't gain much. Collision is pretty good though. Its not just a better than average xylophone emulator.. think of it more like a better tension+electric.

Ah, thanks....I thought as much. I never use Tension or Electric, so Collision would be useless to me. I may just pay the €164, assuming it could be cheaper than the eventual "upgrade to Live 9 Suite" offer next year.

[agent314]

Yes, we don't want any negativity now, do we? We'd better not voice any dissension else we'll upset the powers that be.

Come on now. Just as you have a right to glowingly support Ableton at all cost, those who are unhappy with their decisions have the same. It's not that they posted the wrong price. Its that they decided to jack it up. Quite a bit. If they actually planned all of this, then the old price should've never been included on the revamped website.

Having a negative opinion is one thing - and it definitely has its place. Ableton fucked up with the pricing and they've said as much and now they're trying to make good in a way that is also business-smart. I'm not going to pretend there haven't been problems with the pricing situation, but I'm not going to post dozens and dozens of times reiterating what a terrible company they are and how they've wronged me and how oh no I can't even use my existing license that I happily plunked down my money for because they might change something that impacts what I may want to use at some point in the future

Criticism is a good thing when it's making a point. Criticism for the sake of spewing negativity at every possible opportunity is just a waste of time and energy and goodwill.

I've noticed there have been a few posters on here who seem to have had nothing to contribute beyond shitting on Ableton for the sake of showing everyone that they're shitting on Ableton.

[Surreal]

You don't gain much. Collision is pretty good though. Its not just a better than average xylophone emulator.. think of it more like a better tension+electric.

Ah, thanks....I thought as much. I never use Tension or Electric, so Collision would be useless to me. I may just pay the €164, assuming it could be cheaper than the eventual "upgrade to Live 9 Suite" offer next year.

I actually disagree. Maybe 8 to 8 suite you don't get much, but 9 suite is pretty amazing when you consider the orchestral libraries and max for live. But that's just my opinion.