To those that believe Live isn't selling as well as other software, I assume you therefore wont complain at future upgrade prices because you'll agree that Ableton needs all the money it can get?
That Robert Henke quote is: "the most successful commercial music software". You define "most successful" and I'll tell you how long a piece of string is.
"most successful" doesn't necessarily equal "biggest selling".
Certainly most live performers I see with a laptop are running Live. I'd count that as being the most successful commercial music software, in the cotext of live performance.
But could we just get an answer - a top 10 best selling music software list, please? Because not knowing is stopping me from using Live. I don't feel cool enough...
This whole thread is reminding me of the interview Robert Henke did with CDM last month. To quote Robert:
"One experience I gain from reading the Ableton user forum and from talking with students is that there is a great amount of insecurity about which technology to use. It’s the abundance paradox. Which software sounds best? Which compressor do i need to use? Which plugins do I need for mastering housy dub music with a hint of pop and some acoustic guitar? Having the choice between 5000 compressor plugins whilst not understanding what makes a compressor really sound the way it does it pretty much my idea of hell. So often I have that impulse telling the world: hey, you can use the sidechain input of the compressor you already have in Live, and you can feed that sidechain with a slightly delayed version of the original signal. You could also apply saturation, filtering, or even reverb or again an instance of the compressor in that side chain signal to shape its timing and response to its input. This will have a result of the compression curve, and this means you can build anything from a very normal compressor up to the most exotic effect you can imagine. And you can store those structures for later re-use. You can automate every single aspect of it. You can use ten or twenty instances of it in a song. Are you guys aware that you have more power right in front of you than the best music producers and hardware designers just ten years ago would have dreamed off?
I simply do not want to read any more articles about new compressor, be it hardware or software, unless it provides insight into the amazing possibilities we already have. I don’t want to read anymore sound quality discussions that deal with the last bit of a 24-bit file in a world where people listen to mp3 over mobile phones and enjoy those artefacts.
The most exciting new music comes from young kids guys running some audio software in a bedroom, listening to the result over a shitty hi-fi and use Melodyne all the way wrong. Those folks do not read gear magazines, they could not care less about yet another mastering EQ, but create the most stunning beauty. If people talk too much about gear I usually do not expect too much good music. I am often trapped in this twilight zone between engineer and composer too, so I know what I am talking about here…"
Amen to that, brother!
GAFM ***
