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Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 4:54 pm
by rbro
I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one. Here's the thing. I make weird sorta ambient music, have never played it live (although I'd like to at some point, but haven't found a way to play my music live in an interesting way, beyond just pushing a few buttons and staring at a laptop). I've got 3 albums out now - the people that buy my music and like it, really seem to like it and I enjoy making it. although I've been distracted and in a bit of a creative rut for the last few years.

So I've been thinking of getting a Push to hopefully inspire some new ways to create and produce music for me. I'm a guitar player and do most of my stuff with Omnisphere and other 3rd party soft synths triggered via MIDI Guitar (just bought Komplete 9 Ultimate), but I'm intrigued by Push's note mode and the ability to use something other than the guitar to create melodies with and to jam with as well as the ability to create drum tracks from scratch right from Push.

I bought an APC40 a few years back and I barely use it, so I'm a little wary of buying another expensive piece of hardware and never using it. I also own Touchable 2 which I've just barely scratched the surface of, but I can tell already that playing those "pads" doesn't really do it for me. I'm also probably going to pick up a new Macbook Pro (I've been using a desktop Mac Pro for the last 5 years for all my recording/producing) , so the possibility of taking my stuff out live inches ever closer to reality.

So whaddya think? Since I'm probably not the typical Live user, should I still take the plunge and get a Push or is my money best spent elsewhere?

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 6:00 pm
by re:dream
Hmm, it depends a bit on what the 'deciders' would be for you.

One thing I will mention is that there is no comparison between e.g. the pads on TouchAble and Push.

Push's pads have a degree of responsiveness and sensitivity that allows expressive playing. Hence all the talk about Push being an instrument rather than a midi controller. That might be a slight exaggeration, but it can be really fun to play.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Sun Dec 01, 2013 7:32 pm
by rbro
The Finn wrote:Hmm, it depends a bit on what the 'deciders' would be for you.

One thing I will mention is that there is no comparison between e.g. the pads on TouchAble and Push.

Push's pads have a degree of responsiveness and sensitivity that allows expressive playing. Hence all the talk about Push being an instrument rather than a midi controller. That might be a slight exaggeration, but it can be really fun to play.
Well I think the main deciders for me would be the ability to work with 3rd party plugs and the playability of the pads in note mode. I know there are some scripts/3rd party solutions that will allow me to load presets for Komplete 9 and Omnisphere and tweak settings too I believe, so if that works well, that would be a huge plus. I rarely use any Live devices or instruments, although I'm willing to revisit that. And if I can take the time to really learn how to jam on that thing for improvisations (apart from MIDI guitar - I don't play regular keys), then I could see falling in love with it. Being able to build drum grooves with it could be huge too......it's really hard to say until I can work with it for a few weeks and get a feel for the workflow. I suppose many places have a 30 day money back guarantee? So maybe I could get one and return it if it's not my cup of tea.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 2:23 am
by jestermgee
If you are using Omnisphere or K9 then the solutions we have put together work very well. You can browse and tweak until your heart is content. For Omnisphere I have spent a lot of time creating a good tweakable interface directly from Push and it is possible to get in and find the kinds of sounds from Push in the same way you would on the PC very easily.

If you have Omnisphere already, head on to my thread and download the template file and test it on the PC. You should see it has a lot of functionality then imagin this template file 15,000 times over for each preset. Couldn't be easier.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:35 am
by v00d00ppl
If a retailer lets you try it for 30 days no questions asked I would do that.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:24 am
by thunderkyss
I too am a guitar player. Personally, I'm tired of trying to "halfass" learn to play the piano. I bought Push, because of the note mode, which appears to be a bridge of sorts, between guitar & piano.

I was watching some videos on youtube after seeing the playability of the launchpad, I decided to get a launchpad.

A couple of days passed & I hated myself for not buying Push. So I bought Push. All this is over the internet, so I haven't even gotten the launch-pad yet, still waiting for the Push.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:24 am
by re:dream
Or buy it, and if ya don't like it, sell it on. You should be able to get a fairly good price for it.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:22 pm
by v00d00ppl
475 at jrrshop.com today only for cyber monday. If you buy it and it doesn't work out you will take less of a loss.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:12 pm
by Dr Dub
Hi, loving your Music (and binary scenes is my Goto for nice time with the wife...)

What i would do (and did myself) is ordering one with 30days return, wrap it in Plastic wrap, test it mucho
and decide then.

Personally i love it and think you will too.

For me, it s the only Controller (other than Keys) for writing Music and finding Melodies and Harmonys - all the other seem to be made for Loops or FX Tweaking and Performing already finished Music.

It is great if you are not a Keyboarder and will complement your guitar nicely.
It is fun right out of the box, with other controllers i spend all the time with setting them up, Push i just used.
You will love recording Clipautomation and the Stepsequencer is really nice, Drums, Melody, automation

If i listen to your Music, which is not very Loop Based and not very Drum centric i think if you buy a controller, Push would be a good choice.

BUT!!!: It forced me to use all native Ableton Instruments and FX - try that out for yourself.

Like you wanted us to do: BUY IT, BUY IT, BUY IT :-)

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 7:28 pm
by Dr Dub
on a sidenote: Your Post made me listening to Wintermuse and i enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you for that!

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 5:06 am
by rbro
Dr Dub wrote:on a sidenote: Your Post made me listening to Wintermuse and i enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you for that!

Thanks! Definitely leaning towards it. I think I can get one at Guitar Center with a 10 or 15% off coupon and I believe they have a 30 day money back guarantee.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2013 6:04 am
by re:dream
As they say in the classics - come on in, the water is lovely! 8)

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 9:13 am
by TomViolenz
The Finn wrote:As they say in the classics - come on in, the water is lovely! 8)
You don't mind sharks, do you?! :twisted:

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Thu Dec 05, 2013 3:17 pm
by re:dream
I am not a shark. I am a dealer in proscribed electronics.

Re: Convince me to buy PUSH (or not)

Posted: Sat Dec 07, 2013 9:43 pm
by Stevejaz
I'm a guitar player and 1/2 assed keyboardist. I bought Push about 3 or 4 months ago, mainly upgrading to Live9 Suite ( I don't use plug ins) to use Push. I have been away from Live for a while and mainly just playing guitar while travelling a bit. Downloaded the 9.1 update a couple of weeks ago and hadn't looked into it till yesterday when I ran the firmware update on Push and.......
OMG
The melodic sequencing is amazing. There is a learning curve to push. Well for a dummy like me anyway.
BUT
If you are wasting time reading this then you are wasting time you could be learning Push and opening so many new doors to inspiration.
If you can get a trial period it would be madness not to give it a go.
The only thing I would hope for now is better integration with audio files, but I am sure you can set that up using drum pads or something.
I'm just not that tech savvy, but I'm learning, and enjoying learning.