Ableton Forum

Let me first say I love using Live!!! I have been using it exclusively until recently. I also own both Logic Platinum and Cubase SX 3 with a preference for Logic even though I am still stuck on version 5.5.1. I also realise how passionate many of you are about Live, so if you have some comments to make on what I have discovered please be diplomatic.
Anyway, I have been doing a few little tests with regard to sound quality and I find that Live doesn't sound as good as either Logic or Cubase and it is quite noticeable. Anyone else find this or is it just my ears?

Some will agree, some will flame.

I'm with you, though. I think.

We've been through this a million and three times though.

-Paws

noisetonepause wrote:

We've been through this a million and three times though.

-Paws

We have? I have only just noticed . So excuse me for making the post.

do you have any sound files to demonstrate this AFM ?

PS. I don't have cubase or logic to test this myself.

Does rewiring a live track into either cubase or logic give a better rendering than live alone?

Astral Fridge Magnet wrote:

noisetonepause wrote:

We've been through this a million and three times though.

-Paws

We have? I have only just noticed . So excuse me for making the post.

Yeah. Wasn't having a go, though. I love this debate. I don't remember what the thread was called, but Robert Henke tried to kill it off with the "final word on Live's audio engine compared to other apps" and naturally failed miserably. It's tape vs harddisc all over again.

-Paws

Yeah, it's been discussed before, but the more often it's brought up, the more we see that the truth is out there. Live is great, but the summing buss isn't as clear and detailed as other sequencers (ProTools in my case). Start adding many tracks, processing & fx, and you lose definition rather quickly. Render each track from Live and mix it elsewhere and the difference is striking. More open, more detail, like lifting a veil from the monitors.

Despite all that, I can't use anything other than Live to compose with, it's just an amazing program.

Funny that. Head on over to soundonsound.com, prosoundweb.com, and probably many other hangouts for pros or semi-pros, and ask how they like ProTools and its summing buss.

-Paws

Here's the link for one of the original theads about this topic.

http://www.ableton.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2710

Monitors people. If your mix sounds muddy it's more likely the output than anything. Save your pennys/euro/yen/pocka shells and buy some kick ass monitors. Seriously.

Don't get monitors that sound too good though... one of the reasons the NS10s are so popular is cos they sound so wank that if your stuff is good on those, it's good on everything

-Paws

claiming this is down to monitors makes no sense whatsoever...

quite obviously if you A/B compare on the same monitors and A sounds better than B - how can it be the monitors?

you may well be listening through crap monitors, but if its the same crap monitors in each case then the difference must be elsewhere.

I have great monitors!!! Mackie Hr 824. So when I made the comparison it was pretty clear to me.

god i hate this subject.

One can't say what DAW sounds "better" than another.

If they sound different, then they simply sound different.
If you prefer the sound to one over the other, then use the one you prefer. Or if you prefer the workflow of what you consider to be the "worse" sounding DAW enough compared to the workflow of the "better" sounding DAW. then suck it up. learn how to compromise and you will be a healthier person.

The way I look at it, great music will sound great on an AM radio that lacks good reception, and shitty music will sound shitty on the most pristine, kick ass concert PA.

PC sound better. Always.