Ableton Forum

I've just finally purchased Push 2, after many years of resisting, mainly for live performance and live jam etc. Now I'm wondering to what level I should attempt to incorporate it into my day to day production and song writing.

Interested to hear if many people have strictly forced themselves to use Push for all capacities it can and only resort to mouse or arrangement with they absolutely have to, is this a worthwhile endeavour? Does it end up being faster / more enjoyable? I can imagine this might take sometime, so I wonder when and where I should use it.

On the other hand I feel like if I don't spend the time to learn every part of it back to front and always use it as my first impulse that it could easily be under appreciated.

I certainly seen my fair share of pushes just sitting about in a studio not really being utilised. Interested people thoughts and how frequently they use their push.

Push for me is basically used for the following tasks:

- Drum sequencing
- Device control (adjusting effects mainly)
- Performing a session to arrangement

When I first got Push 1 I attempted to use it for everything including loading devices, switching presets etc. I ran into too many limitations (can't load channel strips for a start) and bottlenecks and decided it was faster to do some things using mouse/keyboard and playing melodies for the most part was just more intuitive to me on a keyboard. But drums are excelent on Push and the sequencer is very easy to work with.

I probably really only use it 30% of my tasks and could easily do away with it if I needed the space. My main tool is my Komplete Kontrol keyboard as it is far better to use with VSTs than Push... Push and Live are just clunky when it comes to plugin control simply because parameters cannot be renamed.

OK that's interesting to hear your experience and in some ways does sound similar to how I have envisioned push to be. However in my case my primary interest in for live performance and free form jam etc so it's not so important to incorporate into day to day producing, however I was wondering if I should try to.

But I'm fortunate enough space to have a performance station and also a production station so perhaps I'll situate the push over in my performance station to start with and trip over there to use it that way rather than start it at my hub. In which case I'd need to move my midi keyboard and I really do like having a keyboard right out in front of me for production.

But there's that consideration that the faster way to master the push would be to have it right in front so I'm always using it...

I use my Push2 for writing and performing, and also to transfer session to arrangement, and to mix down the tracks.....

So basicly for everything

I switched from 20 yrs+ of Cubase to Live Suite because of Push2. I saw it in a Youtube movie and a month later I made the switch.

For me it's mostly about sketching out ideas early on in the process, finding sounds that work well together and playing them to create a groove I like. Once I get to the arranging or mixing phase, I switch to the laptop though as I just find it easier to use the mouse/trackpad for the detailed stuff.

And you can also use it extensively in Arrangement if you have M4L, using this device.

Valiumdupeuple wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 12, 2019 6:38 pm

And you can also use it extensively in Arrangement if you have M4L, using this device.

This looks great!

Push 2 with Live 10 came alive for sure, I use Push 2 a lot for Reaper as well.

I don't use the pads for notes that often I'm far more comfortable with my crappy keyboard playing and making up my own scales than using scales in Push with the pads etc. The Waveform integration is so cool that I've used that a lot. Personally I like interactive interfaces that aren't mice.