Live Vs. Acid Pro 3.0-----Now that Live Has Been Out and Upd

[davemanning]

Dave Manning what are the complete specs of your Ibook?

I actually have a 500MHz Titanium, with a 48GB drive and 1GB of RAM, running OS X.

Dave

[Mikra]

thanks Dave, so we've got 413 readers where's everybodys responses?

[lukievan]

I have not been using Live long enough to know it as well as I know Acid, but my observations so far:

Live is easier to use, more intuitive, better suited for improvisation and generally more fun to use. The real-time aspects make it much more of an interactive tool, so you end up with a more human feel on tracks. On the downside, the interface is a little simplistic and the editing features seem to be limited as well. This may be my own ignorance talking, as I have not explored every aspect of the program. I wish that I could go back, after having recorded a session, and change the plug-in tweaks that I did during recording. As far as I know, this is not possible.

As for Acid...I\'ve been using it for so long that it\'s a little hard to be objective. It seems a little more \'professional\' to me, at least when it comes to the sheer number of options you have. The interface is good; complex but not intimidating. I like that you can set envelopes for pan/volume/fx sends, etc. Also, you can setup the audio signal in a few different ways to facilitate routing. One thing that I don\'t think you can do is to change parameters of an effect plug-in over the course of a track. So, for instance, you can gradually send more of a particular track through an fx bus, but you can\'t change the delay time incrementally during the song. Acid seems to me to be better suited for constructing songs and Live seems superior for performance. But you probably knew that...

[Mikra]

thanks lukievan, I know that for live use you can't beat live, but i'm more curious if in the studio people with both programs are more inclined
to use live or acid, you know if you are into collage composition, which we all are these days, which do you prefer when you are in the studio, minus the rewire support, just head to head sample
collage which would you pick Acid or Live?

[graincloud]

the choice is difficult!
acid supports DX plugs and vst plugs can be DXed what offers much more dsp potentialities(mainly in mastering with plugs as Waves/TC/BBE).Acid seems to have more tempo/trigger settings while the scale points adjustement in live is totally wonderfull ).Live also have only one sort of pitch shift algo wich often sounds the same.The fade system in acid is very cool.

So when i want to make dsp/expe tracks using all the stuff recorded in reaktor i prefers acid for his edition capacities.I prefer live to spice reason outpouts (and of course play live as everybody) it's a magic combo, almost everything is possible(limited by the capacities of reason more than live).
For now, i think acid win the match for track editing/arrangement.I even use loops made with live in my Acid songs.

[btester]

Hey guys-- you can automate and then edit pretty much any parameter you want in Live. Like pan, volume, send levels, effect parameters, etc. And any changes/edits you make to clips will be recorded too. It sounds like you're missing something essential.

[Mikra]

hi btester, thanx for chimming in, this isn't a debate, i just want to make that clear, everybody posting uses live and acid, this is just a comparison on using the two in the studio, to help
everybody see how everybody else is using Live and
also to see what they are still using acid for instead, you seem to be getting really into it so please give us your take on the two.

[btester]

Hey. Sorry, you read me wrong. I'm not interested in rating or comparing software. I just thought maybe you didn't realize that Live's automation was actually rather good. Much better than Logic and about like protools. Well, a little different. I use Live all the time for different things, and probably some things I'd use Acid for if I had a pc. But I still also use logic and protools a little too.

[Mikra]

now that there are many more "Livers" out there and now that live has proven itself, not to mention the addition of Acid 4.0 into the foray. Its time to update this thread and tell everybody about your tips, tricks, and how you are applying Ableton "Live" in your music, from those who are using Live soley on its own to those who use Live in conjunction with other software/hardware. we all want to know about it. How you are doing what you do with Live.

So Livers unite, and don't be shy about the details (those are the best parts) and anybody currently comparing Live to Acid 4.0 or using the to together please add your findings to the thread cause we are all very intrested.

[Deadbeat]

Okay, I've used Acid for years for arranging and I'll admit that even after starting to use Live, I was still finding myself going back to Acid to for some editing because I felt like it was fater. What I've learned over the last few months is that this is entirely untrue. The single tool editing functionality of Live is WAY faster than the tool box approach of Acid, though it will take people like me who are coming from a standard multitrack mentality some time to realize this.

Deadbeat

[Mikra]

cool deadbeat, thanks for responding.. I'm having trouble intergrating live
in my setup, I love the gram but when i'm using it I dont feel like using anything else, but reason along side it. so my two hardware samplers become stagnant. anybody else?

[C. Porcellus]

usually, when you're in a focus group you get something out of it, maybe pizza and a can of soda...

[Guest]

[atom_b]

I don't think you can compare Acid to Live. But for the above mentioned things like recording single tracks there are workarounds like the plug-in 'tapeit' wich lets you record anything at any time in any track (including sends).

I never liked the sound of Acid (didn't work much with it because of this), I do like the sound of Live, but it is far from what I need for studio work. When it comes to sound-quality the best is still Samplitude, then nothing, then PT and maybe Logic. Cubase SX has much better algorithms now too.

If I unterstood right enhancement for Live is on its way for the next major update.

So by now I do sessioning and arranging (sometimes) in Live where it is far from being comparable to any software out there. I do arranging in Samplitude wich lets me pump up the sound. (I wished there'd be some export function in Live) And I do mastering in Samp too. That's it.

As long there's no VSTi-support in Live I make use of good old cable-routing wich works out fine as long as I don't need Midi-clips. But, wait, there's this old Atari. Maybe I should... OK that's enough for making up your mind I think.

Oh, I forgot: Live isn't only looking good, its user interface DOES make sense. There's not too many companies out there wich stand for this approach. And Acid, does it have an user interface at all?

[atom_b]

Ehm... Another thing coming up may be an enhanced editing mode - heavily demanded in this forum some while ago. And we've been assured many times now that the usability of Live comes before any implementation. So maybe it will stay as pretty as it is now.

For the hardware-samplers: If you can make use of some audio breakout-box you can route anything into Live. I can't tell about the Midi-timing of Live then, I don't use it a lot, but it should work tight...