So what is Live still missing to make it an amazing DAW?

[The Carpet Cleaner]

You know what I want MOST in Ableton?

A way to assign THESE ARROWS to a couple midi controller knobs.

So simple, but why haven't Ableton done this yet?

I use Simpler a LOT (almost exclusively) for sample editing and drum rack use (I do a lot of hip-hop, as my name indicates). I hate moving these start/end arrows with a MOUSE. God, it drives me nuts.

How hard would this be to do, seriously?



And yes, I know the loop start/end locations can be mapped, but why not the true start/end points?

I would say
1- the thing that I've just quoted.
2- automation for clips
3- better comping (like logic)
4- more shortcut.

[headquest]

Well my top 2 FR at present are:
1) Auto-crossfades (that update when you move clips) in the Arrangement
2) MP3 export

Other than that I'm very happy with Live, although to be fair I use it for recording, and use Cubase 5 as my main multitrack audio recording software.

One reason why I still use Cubase a lot is the MP3 export. As a music teacher I like to record a student performance in my studio, or a demonstration of me playing the piece I am setting them, and then simply export it as an MP3 and email it there and then. The need to open some other software to convert to MP3 detracts from lesson time, and is unnecessary given that Cubase (and pretty much ALL DAW software, including budget stuff like REAPER and Tracktion) has MP3 export. If Live added this though.... well then I think I would be using Live a lot more than I do. It's not that MP3 export of such a big deal as a feature - but it IS a big ceal to me in terms of workflow and timesaving.

Oh... and YES, Live really needs a comping feature.

YMMV!

[Emissary]

you know i've only just noticed you cant apply midi control to the start points on simpler/sampler, whats that about? seems quite a logical and easy thing to incorporate.

[dburns]

As a new user (started on Live 7), I am disappointed in Live's handling of MIDI data. The main reason I bought Live (now upgraded to 8 Suite) was to use it live with my EWI 4000s and EWI USB horns. Sadly, they produce so much MIDI data it chokes Live. I've reported it to Live's techs, and they admit it is a flaw to be dealt with in a future upgrade.

Live seems great at handling audio. I can record the audio from my performances, but not the MIDI (in many cases). If I want to record a MIDI track longer than a half minute or so, Live chokes and locks up for a while. That's a big drawback, especially if I want to record MIDI data and change its destination to a different hard/softsynth, or patch, when I'm arranging a tune.

I really like Live with the APC40 for audio. I hope they catch up to other DAWs on the MIDI side. I use Sonar for most of my audio/MIDI anyway, and it handles anything I can throw at it. But I want to be able to do the whole project in Live.

[jOop.]

As a new user (started on Live 7), I am disappointed in Live's handling of MIDI data. The main reason I bought Live (now upgraded to 8 Suite) was to use it live with my EWI 4000s and EWI USB horns. Sadly, they produce so much MIDI data it chokes Live. I've reported it to Live's techs, and they admit it is a flaw to be dealt with in a future upgrade.

Live seems great at handling audio. I can record the audio from my performances, but not the MIDI (in many cases). If I want to record a MIDI track longer than a half minute or so, Live chokes and locks up for a while. That's a big drawback, especially if I want to record MIDI data and change its destination to a different hard/softsynth, or patch, when I'm arranging a tune.

I really like Live with the APC40 for audio. I hope they catch up to other DAWs on the MIDI side. I use Sonar for most of my audio/MIDI anyway, and it handles anything I can throw at it. But I want to be able to do the whole project in Live.

Try using a midi filter. I'm not sure what kind of "extra" data is coming down with the velocity and note information, but you can probably get more usability out of it by screening all but those two. Worse case scenario, Max for Live will easily allow you to build a filter like this. However, a free software solution must exist out there.

[zalo]

they produce so much MIDI data it chokes Live.

which version are you using, 8.0.5 produces complete midi dumps at every action

previous versions dont, if you can get your hands on 8.0.4 suite installer you might have better results if thats the case

[pepezabala]

I also made the experience that huge amounts of midi data is crashing live. We use wiimotes with osculator to control a number of parameters in effect racks, and while this works fine during performance, live hangs and crashes when trying to record that into arrangement. But I have to admit that it's probably two or three dozens of parameters with values going crazy all the time, as they come from the accelerators and never stand still.

[luddy]

But I have to admit that it's probably two or three dozens of parameters with values going crazy all the time, as they come from the accelerators and never stand still.

It's this kind of heavy-duty stuff that separates the men from the boys among sequencers. Logic can absorb enormous sysex dumps and huge amounts of controller data without choking, with or without MIDI filtering on the input. And MIDI timing in Logic 8/9 is very good; I get on the order of 1ms of MIDI jitter with a Fireface as a MIDI interface under Logic.

I'm crossing my fingers that Ableton will set their sights on their MIDI implementation and make it really robust the way it should be. M4L makes no sense without an excellent MIDI implementation.

-Luddy

[zalo]

M4L makes no sense without an excellent MIDI implementation.

my plan is to bypass it

OSC>API

[dburns]

jOop,

I've set up filters in Bome and observed the data stream in Midi-Ox. The data isn't redundant, so I want it all. If I was seeing strings of duplicate data, a filter would help, but the values are discrete, so I want them all. The problem isn't the amount of data I send, the problem is Live's inability to handle it. This was confirmed by Ableton tech support.

zalo,

The problem has persisted with all versions of Live 8. Live 7 was fine, but after paying for 8 Suite, I want to use it.

Thank you both for your replies.

I posted in this thread just to say what is missing in Live. I expect Ableton will come up with a fix eventually. It's probably not a priority though, because very few MIDI devices can overpower Live (a MIDI keyboard would not have this problem), and Live is really aimed at audio manipulation, not MIDI recording. My disappointment is that I can't use Live to the fullest until this is fixed.

Thanks.