Does ableton bottleneck sound quality?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
m.nash
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Does ableton bottleneck sound quality?

Post by m.nash » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:40 am

So my friends and I were considering grabbing a UAD-1/2 card, but when we were chatting with a gent from the music store, he said we wouldn't be able to get out the quality of the plug-ins/card if we used Ableton.

That we would need Logic Pro or Pro Tools to really take advantage of it.

Any thoughts on this?

Angstrom
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Post by Angstrom » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:46 am

ha and furthermore ha

adventurepants_
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Re: Does ableton bottleneck sound quality?

Post by adventurepants_ » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:54 am

m.nash wrote:So my friends and I were considering grabbing a UAD-1/2 card, but when we were chatting with a gent from the music store, he said we wouldn't be able to get out the quality of the plug-ins/card if we used Ableton.

That we would need Logic Pro or Pro Tools to really take advantage of it.

Any thoughts on this?
i tried making some sort of amusing sarcastic comment but i just cant. The guy at the music store has no idea what he's talking about. It would have been more fun to hear his detailed explanation why it wouldnt sound as good as Logic.
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sweetjesus
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Post by sweetjesus » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:55 am

working in a music shop is like being someones first heroin dealer, ur customers often believe everything u tell them and they follow your info trail like a puppy dog. . . some salesmen take this to the next level by throwing in little mis-info to make you spend more money with them.

glitchrock-buddha
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Post by glitchrock-buddha » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:56 am

That sounds about right.

I often walk into a music shop to enquire about a certain product only to inform the person working there all about it because they tend to know fuck all about anything.
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Nick the Zombie
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Post by Nick the Zombie » Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:57 am

sweetjesus wrote:working in a music shop is like being someones first heroin dealer, ur customers often believe everything u tell them and they follow your info trail like a puppy dog. . . some salesmen take this to the next level by throwing in little mis-info to make you spend more money with them.
+ 1

Speaking with the employees at my local Guitar Center is an exercise in self-loathing.

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Post by aqua_tek » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:10 am

Image

Jekblad
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Post by Jekblad » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:15 am

i worked at a music store for several years. Not my favorite.

I pretty much was not a good salesmen, because i wanted them to get the best item for the best price. A lot of times that meant waiting and not buying anything, or buying a product we didn't carry.

I HATE going to guitar center.

It's sorta like, those who can't do, teach. Those who can't do and don't mind ripping off the parents of a 12 year old who wants to learn guitar, get into sales.

what a noob
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steve-o
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Post by steve-o » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:10 am

The last DAW I used before Ableton (1.5) was DP (2 or 3 I believe). I never really followed the sound quality issues to be honest. But I'd like to now why there is a distinct difference in sound between samples auditioned in the browser and the same sampled when imported into an Ableton set. I particularly get frustrated with kick drum sounds. In the browser they see so full and punchy with no extra processing; imported into ableton seems to thin them out.

Sorry for the thread hijack.

Tarekith
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Post by Tarekith » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:17 am

Honestly the sound quality in Live sucks ass, it's really really bad. I've been donating (selling) my blood once a week just to save up enough money to buy back Logic. It sounds SOOOO much better, like I'd be signed to a real record label in a heartbeat if I wasn't using Live instead right now :(

At least the new Live 8 version will finally output 8 bit mixdowns, dealing with 7 bit mixdowns for the last year has been killing me.

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Post by kenporter » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:30 am

Tarekith wrote:Honestly the sound quality in Live sucks ass, it's really really bad. I've been donating (selling) my blood once a week just to save up enough money to buy back Logic. It sounds SOOOO much better, like I'd be signed to a real record label in a heartbeat if I wasn't using Live instead right now :(

At least the new Live 8 version will finally output 8 bit mixdowns, dealing with 7 bit mixdowns for the last year has been killing me.
Funny you should say that. We were signed to a label using a different DAW, then we started using Live and all of the sudden the label dropped us telling us that the sound quality of our songs just wasn't not good enough to be released in the real world anymore. Now the label wants the advance back too... all because I switched to using Live as my main DAW. Live will have to move to a 512 bit mixing engine before it will sound good enough to make real music with it. I hope Ableton will consider this feature for Live 9!

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Re: Does ableton bottleneck sound quality?

Post by Amberience » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:34 am

m.nash wrote:So my friends and I were considering grabbing a UAD-1/2 card, but when we were chatting with a gent from the music store, he said we wouldn't be able to get out the quality of the plug-ins/card if we used Ableton.

That we would need Logic Pro or Pro Tools to really take advantage of it.

Any thoughts on this?
Never heard of these UAD half cards?! Are they like a budget way to become Stevie Wonder?

condra
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Post by condra » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:40 am

The real problem with the sound quality in Live is the lack of cowbell.

leedsquietman
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Post by leedsquietman » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:50 am

I was in a music shop during the Boxing week sales when I overhead a salesman in a big music retailer tell some guy that Pro Tools M-Powered was the only sequencer under 600 dollars worth considering, and that he used it 'all the time and it's awesome and the easiest to use'.

The customer then asked 'I've heard that Logic is good ...' and the assistant replied 'Logic isn't industry standard, I've heard it hard to get into and nothing is better than pro tools, which is why it's industry standard. I don't know personally though about Logic as I've never used it ....'

I mean, this is exactly the kind of dickweed that gives these stores a bad name. I also noticed, co-incidentally, they had a pile of PT M-Powered boxes piled up on a shelf (I'm talking at least 20 boxes) and only 2 copies of Logic and 3 of Cubase.
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Post by sublimelobc » Tue Feb 03, 2009 4:53 am

I find the low res audio in Live to be offset by the sense of belonging I get by feeling like I'm a part of the Ableton community. (whether I am a part of it or not is irrelevent)

My music store guy helped me open the floodgates on audio fidelity in Live by selling me a $199 donk, which basically ports legacy windows sound recorder technology into Live...it will really jazz up your mix, especially on kicks. (this doesn't solve the lack of cowbell issue though)

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