Live Upgrade or new Logic Studio 9

[Locktopus]

Not being funny but I've been using Live since v2 and I must have handed over hundreds to Ableton over the years in upgrades. Seems like they think they can make me cough up £200+ every year.

I love Live but seriously, to upgrade my Live 7 to Live 8 (boxed because otherwise don't get the sample sets) they are asking £228.
I can get the retail version of Logic Studio 9 for just a bit more than that on ebay. To be honest the draw of trying something new is making me think of taking the Logic option this time round.

Does anyone else think their upgrade prices are totally unreasonable?

[Sage]

I'm pretty sure I paid less than than to go from Live 7 to Live 8 Suite, so yeah, that sounds extortionate.

Unless there's features in Live 8 you want, it's nice to have Logic around as well for different effects, instruments etc.

[Slightlydelic]

i payed less to go from 5 to suite 8 download, and it was worth the upgrade for suite and all the features ive gained since 5 was current. it almost feels like a new program.

i wouldnt shell out that kind of money for a 7 to 8 upgrade though.

infact im very supprised to see thats how much it would cost.

[Locktopus]

The download version is 179euro and the box is 249euro (that's for suite, not for just live
at current exchange rate that is £228 for the box

I currently have licenses for: Live 7, operator, sampler, electric, tension, analog, drum machines

Don't think it's worth upgrading this time...

[ze2be]

The download version is 179euro and the box is 249euro (that's for suite, not for just live
at current exchange rate that is £228 for the box

I currently have licenses for: Live 7, operator, sampler, electric, tension, analog, drum machines

Don't think it's worth upgrading this time...

Well, you could buy it second hand. Or if you don't need Lives special futures, why not switch? Logic is an excellent linear DAW.

[SubFunk]

i think more important then the price should be the question what do you need, what is your main work like?

if you mainly write and compose music and maybe also play live out, etc. then live8 is the choice in my opinion...

if you do more 'engineering' work, mixing, producing, maybe doing editing for film music, sound design (whereby that is pretty cool in live as well)
recording loads of mics (band tracking) and so on... most definitely i would go for logic9

[Locktopus]

Yeah, well I guess my main point is that I'd like to upgrade to Live 8 to get all the new features etc. but the actual cost of the upgrade is almost the same as a new version of Logic Studio 9 retail, so I might as well get that. It just seems prohibitive, upgrades should be about 99 euro max IMO.

[SubFunk]

hmmm, still i think a decision based purely on money... is not appropriate... logic9 is surely good (i am a serious logic lover) but if you really do only writing, composing, live playing... the more money of Live8 is better spend... or you do all the other things mainly i mentioned already and get Logic9

it should be really based on your needs... it's like buying a truck when you actually want to drive fast, or buying a sports car, when you actually want to transport fridges all day long... would you make your decision based on the truck vs the sports car price???

i basically don't get how people think they are both tools for the same tasks... they are clearly not,
therefor any type of trying to compare them is just lame.
live can't replace logic and logic can't replace live. not to a full extend, they have obviously some similarities, but are essentially very different tools for very different needs.

[photonal]

I'd go with staying with Live 7 and getting Logic Pro 9 : especially if you don't already have Logic .

I agree about the upgrade pricing - this year I finally resisted the need/hype to upgrade to Live 8, having done so each version since Live 4 and am still happy with Live 7

*Actually, another reason for not upgrading to Live 8, is that I'm fed up of buying unstable software* Live 7 (even after all the updates) still regularly crashes on me* why should I invest in new bugs?

Upgrade to Live 9 after the beta testing ends with release Live 9.0.6

[Machinesworking]

Personally I haven't liked the direction Logic is going in since 8, and am looking at upgrading a copy of Digital Performer 5 to the new 7. Torn between upgrades of Live to 8 or DP to 7. The Live looper looks good, group tracks etc. but DP7 has guitar stuff, and the jump from 5 to 7 is huge.
Logic is a great program, but I really have never cared for the way it handles multiple MIDI instruments, and Apple have been crippling it's flexibility, which was it's strong point. DP has always been very good with one hour sets, and multiple versions of the same song in one project, these are what interest me about it.

[photonal]

i wouldnt shell out that kind of money for a 7 to 8 upgrade though.

exactly! actually the upgrade pricing could be more sophisticated:

i.e. instead of having an upgrade price from versions 1-6 -> 8 and another from 7 -> 8

the upgrade price ought to take into consideration *how many* times you have already upgraded (invested in Ableton) and reduce the upgrade price accordingly!

e.g. User Upgrade Price = Upgrade Price - (Number of Times upgraded * Customer Loyalty Factor)

e.g. User Upgrade Price = €149 - (4 * 20) = €69 for someone who has already upgraded 4 times

e.g. User Upgrade Price = €149 - (2 * 20) = €109 for someone who has already upgraded 2 times

This could be further tuned, so that e.g. upgrades from a earlier version would be factored at a lower rate to reflect the difference between that older version and the current version with the newer features. This would have the additional advantage in that it could actually *encourage* customer loyalty and upgrade purchases - especially for cheap skates like me

Would be quite easy to implement I reckon

[Atomikat]

Did you mean Logic Pro 9 cause Logic Studio is only in second version.

[jukeboxgrad]

As many people have said, they are both great programs, but right now Logic looks like a nice deal.

[dstole]

I have Live 6, Digital Performer 5.13, and Logic Pro 8.
All three of these apps will cosy me about the same price to upgrade, so you are getting the same thing from each developer.

Live 6 --> Live 8 = $249 US to make it more like DP or Logic
Digital Performer 5.13 --> DP7 = $195 US to make it more like Live
Logic Pro 8 --> LP9 = $199 US to make it more like Live

Just seems ridiculous to me that I have spent thousands of dollars on each of these applications and their upgrades over the years. These days they all seem to be trying to make them more and more like each other, with time stretching, sampling, etc. I was at a Logic Pro Studio Tour event the other day and was laughing to myself as they showed how you could move the audio and into time with the other instruments...like I have been doing with live for years? Nice.

I would have to say that Ableton has pretty much lost me as a customer as I couldn't handle the almost yearly upgrade fees to keep upgrading the program, which is why I have skipped 7 and 8. However, if your motivation for buying the other software is to get out of the upgrade cycle, adding another program is just going to put you into another cycle, so unless you need them professionally I might suggest you skip with the one you have.