Seeking Honest Opinions on 'LIVE'

Lightbringerrr · Post by **Lightbringerrr** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:27 am

Greetings.

I'm in a position to make a fresh start with my choice of recording software, and I'm posting my query in this section of the forum because as we all know by now; no one application is perfect and godly in its functions and operations. Only through the trials and tribulations do we truly see how these software programs stack up. Plus, I already have a pretty good idea of what 'Live' can do exceedingly well and in some cases much better than the competition.

I'm currently using the original SONAR XL 1.31, and I could upgrade to version 4 for under $90.00. If I decided to go with 'Live', I would have to spend considerably more money because Ableton has no "cross-over" program like Cakewalk and Logic do.
I'm sure you're all well aware of what of both programs are capable of, so I ask you; would YOU make the switch in my position?

Many Thanks,
Lightbringerrr.

mr-e · Post by **mr-e** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 4:49 am

What do you mean by crossover?

Emissary · Post by **Emissary** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 2:42 pm

Hey mate

to be honest with you i would stick with cakewalk. Not because its better, but because its what you know and is alot cheaper than buying a new program. Live is great and everything, but it was the first DAW i ever bought, I think i will stick with it now until either a) i die or b) they go bust (booohooo) at the end of the day they all do pretty much the same thing anyways, no matter what some people say. If your good at writing music is doesnt matter what program you have, just use the strengths of that paticular program and your sound will develop around it.

hope i helped

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:13 pm

you may find a few things missing or badly implemented if you shift over to live for everything. I find it is great at filling a particular gap in my needs ... namely I tend to produce a lot of funky chunks and it is great for slamming them together.

But, It still doesnt handle some things too well. It's not too annoying if you have other resources to hand, but if it was my sole workspace I would be annoyed.

to try and prove this isnt flamebait, here's some things that have bugged me this morning while working on a track

handling of VST plugins: no differentiation between 'effects' and 'instruments', no management of either, if you have a lot of VSTi/fx Huuuge load times as it scans the directory
browser: which is the old version of the song? you will never know from the built in browser - no filter by date/size/bpm anything, poor differentiation between folders full of sounds and folders full of audio.
time stretch: warp is cool. but only if you like the 'warp sound' warp on guitars and vocals is very, erm , distinctive! There are no real alternatives to the base rudimentary algo for timestrtching (although there are 3 implementations of it)
no support for directX plugs: wave goodbye to trueverb et al, it's VST only here
poor use of 'sample position jump' :I edited a beat up into a long phrase in arrangement, but to use it in a session block I have to consolidate it (ie render it to a wave) seems a waste of drive space to me, surely Lives speciality is jumping back and forth in a wave.

and other stuff too.

they are fixing it all bit by bit of course, and of course the benefits still outweigh the minuses from my point of view - but like I said you might find some elements lacking.

If you wait a bit they might come out with V5 soonish ... it's about that time in the cycle. This is a total guess based on nothing

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 3:25 pm

Angstrom wrote:If you wait a bit they might come out with V5 soonish ... it's about that time in the cycle. This is a total guess based on nothing

More exciting news coming soon?

@Lightbringerrr

Choosing between Live or Logic/Sonar/...
Is like choosing between creativity or professionalism.
No doubt that other DAW's have the features to finish of a song professional.
But Live brings a whole new way of creating songs because it's so flexible.
Some stuff you would like to do in big DAW's just go more natural in Live.
In the end it's up to you to decide what your most comfortable with.
In my opinion, most people make their decision for their peace of mind. Thats wrong, base it on what feels better hands-on.

louZ · Post by **louZ** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 3:14 am

My 2 major gripes with Live:

1) no groove quantize

2) sound quality of the warp engine could be slightly better

Besides that, Live was heaven after being tormented by Cubase's interface. As a natural flowing compose/jam/live tool it's unsurpassed.

Machinesworking · Post by **Machinesworking** » Sat Apr 09, 2005 9:10 am

Personally if you never plan on performing your songs live, then Live is probably not the best choice. If you like the linear approach of the major DAWs like Sonar, then some features of Live will be useless to you. If you want a tool to drop loops you made in Sonar into, then Live is absolutely the best choice.
I just finished a song completely in Live, and honestly I love this program. A friend is selling me his 1.8Ghz G5 for peanuts, and the main reason I'm getting it is that Live will perform about twice as good as on my dual gig G4. With that said though, I'm going back to staring songs in Logic then importing loops into Live to mess with live. The midi editing features of Live just don't compare to Logic at all, and Logic is about 40% more CPU efficient than Live. I imagine Sonar is pretty good in comparison as well.

doki_pen · Post by **doki_pen** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 9:41 pm

Here's my question, have you downloaded the demo?

it works pretty much the same as the retail version, except you can't save or render. So check it out yo.

JDub

Lightbringerrr · Post by **Lightbringerrr** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 11:51 pm

mr-e wrote:What do you mean by crossover?

Both Sonar and Logic( before it went Apple )had a marketing program in which you could trade-in your current software for a substatial discount on thier software.

I've already contacted Ableton about this and the answer was "negatory".

hoffman2k · Post by **hoffman2k** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 12:24 am

Lightbringerrr wrote: I've already contacted Ableton about this and the answer was "negatory".

Yeah. Even they know how great Live is

If you really want to find out how great it is. Try to find some disgruntled users.
Most will be unable to bring up a decent point. And none will sell Live.
The few who did will regret it someday.......

Lightbringerrr · Post by **Lightbringerrr** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:07 am

All right; so I played around some more with Live and then I pulled up Sonar 4 and messed with it some more. I was able( finally ) to record my drum machine with one stereo midi channel and two audio channels panned left and right. I finally got it to work! I felt like a HAPPY technological retard! Yay!
So I pulled out the Card and I ordered the upgrade. But who's to say that I might not want to revisit Live in the future? I can definitely see its potential as a songwriting tool and a cool way to break out of a rut when creativity runs low.
To be perfectly truthful, I'd consider a program that combined the best elements of Live with the power of Sonar to be the "Greatest Program Ever Created By Man".

And for THAT I'd shell out $400.00; upgrade/cross-over be damned!

Take care y'all,
The Lightbringerrr.

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 6:02 am

Just keep playing with that Demo Version, Lightbringerrr

You'll be BAAAAK!!!

cheers
the acolytes

AndrewDuke · Post by **AndrewDuke** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 2:42 am

Lightbringerrr wrote:Greetings.

I'm in a position to make a fresh start with my choice of recording software, and I'm posting my query in this section of the forum because as we all know by now; no one application is perfect and godly in its functions and operations. Only through the trials and tribulations do we truly see how these software programs stack up. Plus, I already have a pretty good idea of what 'Live' can do exceedingly well and in some cases much better than the competition.

I'm currently using the original SONAR XL 1.31, and I could upgrade to version 4 for under $90.00. If I decided to go with 'Live', I would have to spend considerably more money because Ableton has no "cross-over" program like Cakewalk and Logic do.
I'm sure you're all well aware of what of both programs are capable of, so I ask you; would YOU make the switch in my position?

Many Thanks,
Lightbringerrr.

i would. i've found ableton live to be a joy to work with. download the demo and try it out if you haven't already. andrew

3phase · Post by **3phase** » Fri Apr 29, 2005 2:57 pm

Lightbringerrr wrote:Greetings.

I'm in a position to make a fresh start with my choice of recording software, and I'm posting my query in this section of the forum because as we all know by now; no one application is perfect and godly in its functions and operations. Only through the trials and tribulations do we truly see how these software programs stack up. Plus, I already have a pretty good idea of what 'Live' can do exceedingly well and in some cases much better than the competition.

I'm currently using the original SONAR XL 1.31, and I could upgrade to version 4 for under $90.00. If I decided to go with 'Live', I would have to spend considerably more money because Ableton has no "cross-over" program like Cakewalk and Logic do.
I'm sure you're all well aware of what of both programs are capable of, so I ask you; would YOU make the switch in my position?

Many Thanks,
Lightbringerrr.

It depends on your way of working...
If you are one of the guys that like to work in the arange view...means arranging and editing by cutting and pastig blocks on a timeline...than you should stay away from Live...even when it can do the job there are to many drawbacks... Other programms offer you a much better featuresset and soundquality for this block moving way of musicproduktion...

When you like to Jam and create arrangements on the fly..Remote control funktions and trigger audioevents with the keyboard or midicontrolers...than Live is choice for you...

You should run it in Demo mode and find out...

Its a petty ..or better said a crime, that safe is disabled in Demo mode...
I never would touch a demodisabled Demo because when i give a program a serrious try i will reach some serrious sequences i dont like to loose...
Ableton should give the demo a limited number of safes...
like 3 times safing within demomode... Would be much more musican and consumer friendly... But which software copmpany is musican friendly these days?

Its however possible to find older "demo"versions of the program somewhere..an older Live version tells you enough to make a decission that is based on real experiance without loosing your work.

Seeking Honest Opinions on 'LIVE'

Seeking Honest Opinions on 'LIVE'

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