Happy with Live 9?

[irrelevance]

...I am.
So far I've had it about a week now and been playing around here and there, and reading this forum.
I must say, it needs a bit of getting used too, if you are used to the older versions. Especially the new Midi arrangement Overdub, the Automation Arm, re-enable automation, and the session record buttons are a bit confusing in the beginning. But after messing around with it for a while it becomes clearer. I must admit I never really missed these functions before, because there was always a way to get to the end result somehow before for my uses. Sure, the new browser also needs some getting used to, but hey, it'll work (even better than before).
My favorites are the new and overdone FX and M4L. Wow, a whole new universe to explore - especially M4L. I guess it's beyond me and I am extremely grateful to those who understand how to program all these new instruments and FX with M4L and what not. I'm just a user. Keep it up. ...and share

What I find sad though, is this continuous nagging and dissing going on in this forum about Live, about Ableton, about what should have been done, the price, the marketing....
What is wrong with these people who can not have constructive arguments or opinions without getting personal and let their anger out about who knows what on this forum? Ableton and their products are great. And they are getting better all the time. Sure, good software costs money. That's the way it is. If you buy it and are unhappy with it then you bought the wrong program. Ableton has over the years always listened to reasonable wishes and constructive advice of users to make it what is now and what was possible. It can always get better, and it does. But for me personally there is no other program out there that makes music making so much fun and has so many (endless) possibilities as Live.

Abletons' service is helpful and (usually) quite fast. The hardware integration is remarkable and easy. Live is a standalone all-in-one more-than-a-studio in a box. For me, it's more than I could have ever wished for in a recording program.

Well, that's it, I just had to get rid of it.
And NO, I don't have any ties to Ableton.

Cheers, keep up the good work.
Rhino

I think live 9 and push will be the solution I've been waiting for since owning the yamaha rs7000. That unit was great to sequence and play internal or external but I was always a little frustrated with the some of the sequence and sample editing. Got a lot of love for ableton myself. Cubase still gets some use, reason on occasion but I always reach for live.

[DrWashington]

This is a buggy program. It should not have been released in this form. There are serious issues that are preventing me from using Live, live. The first thing is that the CTRL + 0, CTRL + 9, etc. quantization hotkeys do not work as stated in the dropdown, and there's no way to set quantize to "None". Sometimes, CTRL + 1 (IIRC) will let me scroll through quantize values. And then, CTRL + 4 was (I kid you not) toggling between quantize 1 bar and off. Then, it stopped after I went and played with the effects racks, which, by the way, are all screwed up. Here's how:

In Live 8 I had created a wet/dry 'knob' using effect rack chains for use with e.g. Stutter Edit, which doesn't have one of its own; very useful for live situations. Now, even though the chains are set to fade across the entire throw and were set up just like they were in Live 8 (in fact, I just opened a project created in Live 8 ), there is a huge volume spike at 50%. I thought it was maybe because it was from an old project, so I recreated the rack, and it's still doing the exact same thing. How could they possibly have missed this? Seriously, how? Oh! They didn't test their product thoroughly before releasing it, yet again!

They were too busy working on their "musical instrument". Now for all you fanboys out there who are ready to pounce, restrain yourselves, please: I've used this program for a long time, and I'm quite familiar at this point. I still like it, but I'm really upset with Ableton as a company for releasing this in turd-form, yet again, just so everyone can beta test it! It's maddening. Why the hell can't they just do a public beta? With lots of people using it in lots of different ways, you're bound to find more issues (many more) prior to release. Why hype everything up to insane levels and then infuriate your diehards with something we can't actually use live?

I mean, Cubase more than covers my bases for production, and my current musical instruments are more than sufficient for making any kind of music I can imagine. Live is unique in that it's a very powerful live sequencer: and, yet again, it's all fucked up. I'm still sore about what I went through with 8, and now here we are, yet again. Why won't they learn?

It's screwed up enough that I have to wait, and wait, and wait until they finally patch up these glaring issues that just make it feel flimsy--not like a piece of software written for professionals or aspiring professionals.

I'll say it again: I do NOT need another DAW: I need a unique sequencer I can use in live situations--I need what Live was always primarily meant to be, and I need it STABLE.

And, Ableton is not delivering.

I finally figured out the taskbar thing, by the way: for whatever reason, 109% zoom seems to be the magic number. I don't know if there are others, but 109% causes the taskbar to come right back and cut off part of the screen. WTF?

For those of you that haven't hadn't issues, I'm happy for you, I really am. I bear you no ill will. Now, please do me the courtesy of refraining from casting aspersions my way. It's juvenile, and I don't need it. I need solutions.

And, if anyone says "vote with your wallet" or the ever-condescending "Google is your friend", I will reach through the fucking Internet and choke you. With my brain.

[Blendton]

This is a buggy program. It should not have been released in this form. There are serious issues that are preventing me from using Live, live. The first thing is that the CTRL + 0, CTRL + 9, etc. quantization hotkeys do not work as stated in the dropdown, and there's no way to set quantize to "None". Sometimes, CTRL + 1 (IIRC) will let me scroll through quantize values. And then, CTRL + 4 was (I kid you not) toggling between quantize 1 bar and off. Then, it stopped after I went and played with the effects racks, which, by the way, are all screwed up. Here's how:

In Live 8 I had created a wet/dry 'knob' using effect rack chains for use with e.g. Stutter Edit, which doesn't have one of its own; very useful for live situations. Now, even though the chains are set to fade across the entire throw and were set up just like they were in Live 8 (in fact, I just opened a project created in Live 8 ), there is a huge volume spike at 50%. I thought it was maybe because it was from an old project, so I recreated the rack, and it's still doing the exact same thing. How could they possibly have missed this? Seriously, how? Oh! They didn't test their product thoroughly before releasing it, yet again!

They were too busy working on their "musical instrument". Now for all you fanboys out there who are ready to pounce, restrain yourselves, please: I've used this program for a long time, and I'm quite familiar at this point. I still like it, but I'm really upset with Ableton as a company for releasing this in turd-form, yet again, just so everyone can beta test it! It's maddening. Why the hell can't they just do a public beta? With lots of people using it in lots of different ways, you're bound to find more issues (many more) prior to release. Why hype everything up to insane levels and then infuriate your diehards with something we can't actually use live?

I mean, Cubase more than covers my bases for production, and my current musical instruments are more than sufficient for making any kind of music I can imagine. Live is unique in that it's a very powerful live sequencer: and, yet again, it's all fucked up. I'm still sore about what I went through with 8, and now here we are, yet again. Why won't they learn?

It's screwed up enough that I have to wait, and wait, and wait until they finally patch up these glaring issues that just make it feel flimsy--not like a piece of software written for professionals or aspiring professionals.

I'll say it again: I do NOT need another DAW: I need a unique sequencer I can use in live situations--I need what Live was always primarily meant to be, and I need it STABLE.

And, Ableton is not delivering.

I finally figured out the taskbar thing, by the way: for whatever reason, 109% zoom seems to be the magic number. I don't know if there are others, but 109% causes the taskbar to come right back and cut off part of the screen. WTF?

For those of you that haven't hadn't issues, I'm happy for you, I really am. I bear you no ill will. Now, please do me the courtesy of refraining from casting aspersions my way. It's juvenile, and I don't need it. I need solutions.

And, if anyone says "vote with your wallet" or the ever-condescending "Google is your friend", I will reach through the fucking Internet and choke you. With my brain.

If you perform live, then, why trying to do it using a fresh revision of your live tool ?!

>>> If I needed rock-solid reliability or if it happens someday, I would definitly perform with a custom light install of Live 8 32-bit, which became somewhat f***ing stable in 4 years...

What do you think ?

Kind regards.

[Pasha]

I have waited about a month before having 'feelings' about it.
Using 32 Bit Version on ML on stock 13" 2.5Ghz MBP 2012 with 4GB Ram.. and yes.. 5400RPM drive.

My take:

Stability : Ok. No crashes.
Novelties : I do not like all the new stuff but I have to say that it's maybe myself adapting slowly. I miss some L8 behaviors in Arrangement view (envelopes), Transpose on clips, multi clip drag and drop in session view and the way record buttons work now.
Performance : Compared to L8 on the same machine if feels slower and CPU is taxed a 2% - 5% more.
L8 Projects compatibility : Good but 20% slower, especially when loading samples. The buffering phase is longer than L8.
Browser : Sometimes slower and slows down L9 on start up. I have to learn the new categorization to be productive as I was but that can be done. The L8 + L9 Lib is a space hog but I am managing to merge all in one, little by little.
Glitches : When using sampled instruments from L8 EIC Lib I have some glitches especially the Piano. The same happens with Grand Piano in L9 but I have no comparison here...
Overall : A good upgrade. Max alone with its fx is worth it. Convolution Reverb my favorite.

Best
Pasha

[ikeaboy]

I'm still relatively happy and even though the new Ui confuses my instincts as soon as I solo a track and try to figure out the mute states of other tracks ( I'm fairly colour blind so it could be just me) i hate going back to Live 8 which just looks ugly to me now, plus there's the feeling I'm missing out on the new tools.

Yeah the browser suits Push but not me. So lets make "max4 live devices feel just like lives native devices" great! Then why hide all the new cool devices away in a live packs area filled with loads of unrelated stuff? I don't like using company presets, because the whole world knows them, so having a large part of the browser dedicated to things, that I always avoid, is annoying.

I can get over these things but what really annoys me is the slow slow buzz killing start up times. I'm getting a new Mbp leagues more powerful than my current machine, later next week. I'm really disappointed reading that someone on this forum with the same specs as my newly purchased machine, ssd etc..., is still experiencing slow start up times and browser related beach balls. Nothing snaps me out of a creative reverie than this type of thing.

[re:dream]

creative reveries never got any songs written, nor any tracks completed.

Fix yourself a cup of coffee while the thing is starting up, sit down and start working.

[Blendton]

creative reveries never got any songs written, nor any tracks completed.

Fix yourself a cup of coffee while the thing is starting up, sit down and start working.

[ikeaboy]

creative reveries never got any songs written, nor any tracks completed.

Fix yourself a cup of coffee while the thing is starting up, sit down and start working.

I like to switch between sets and set versions a lot. What I mean by creative reveries is when your right side of your brain is imagining creative options and directions, as you prob know problem solving and distractions can put you back into left brain analytical mode and for me that means losing the thread of where I was going or wanted to go with tracks.

I don't drink coffee I'm a tea man, buckets of the stuff.

[DrWashington]

If you perform live, then, why trying to do it using a fresh revision of your live tool ?!

>>> If I needed rock-solid reliability or if it happens someday, I would definitly perform with a custom light install of Live 8 32-bit, which became somewhat f***ing stable in 4 years...

What do you think ?

Kind regards.

This is kind of my whole point: Ableton has had THREE YEARS to get it right. They could have done a public beta or something and squashed a lot of these bugs, but they chose not to and to focus most of their resources on Push development. Live 8 was initially hell to work with, so I was using Live 7 for about a year after the initial Live 8 release.

By contrast, Steinberg has mostly been getting it right with their *.0 releases lately. I don't know how, but they have been, and Cubase isn't a live sequencer--it's one of the original DAWs.

My whole point is that for a program that is designed for use in a live context primarily (there is nothing else like it currently), EXTRA EMPHASIS should be placed on making major new releases suitable for live use. In other words, these simple, silly little bugs that are infuriating for live musicians and DJs that should have easily been caught somehow slip by, and god knows how long it's going to take for Ableton to squash them! I've supported this company for a long, long time and have purchased every major upgrade. I'm about at the end of my rope, though.

I'm running it on a Lenovo W530 with an i7 3820QM (3.7GHz max), 32GB CAS 9 1600MHz RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, etc. A very, very fast laptop. And yet, it still takes a while to launch. I can only imagine how bad it would be on a 5400RPM drive.

I really don't like to be negative. I've been all sunshine and rainbows on the Steinberg forums lately because I really have very little to complain about: Cubase 7, though a few very minor bugs remain, is pretty much rock-solid and just allows me to work quickly without crashing. Again, I don't use Ableton Live for composition/production, so I can't speak to that aspect of it. However, I lean on it heavily for my live work, and I was REALLY looking forward to using Max for Live with Live 9... but, it look like I gotta wait for a few months, maybe a year, maybe more (who knows?) until Ableton decides to get their act together.

It's just disappointing. Hot keys for quantize values, for instance, simply should not have been missed in the beta phase. This is incredibly basic stuff!

[XSIMan]

Loving Live 9 it's worth it just to get Cytomics the Glue and the EQ 8 remake to analog.

[pencilrocket]

Cubase is having Variaudio bug and they haven't fixed even in 7.... I don't know why you praise Stein excessively.

[timday]

So, now I've got used to the browser I like it although I would still like symlinks back. I had to find a kludgy workaround to do what I wanted to do. It also seems very slow the first time you click on a field. I still hate the new MIDI snap behaviour and live in hope that someone will find a way to turn it off on the options.txt, but others on the forum seem to like it.
Now it's pointed out, I've checked the volunme spike in audio FX chains thing and it also occurs in instrument racks. Yes, that definitely needs to be fixed. That could really screw up someone's live performance. The ctrl-0 quantise hotkey doesn't work either although the others seem fine for me, but this isn't a huge issue for me. I've put in a support request for both of them - I'm pretty sure Ableton look at support requests a lot more often than they do these forums.

I'm mostly happy now I guess. It seems very stable compared to 8, which is good, I like the new functions for the most part, I've got used to the new colour schemes, and the upgrade price seems cheap to me (compared to £200 for most DAWs I got a price of about £120 - I got it in the cheap uypgrade window, I aldeady had M4L and didn't get Push). I think if I'd paid £200 for the upgrade I'd be less happy.

[Sibanger]

And, if anyone says "vote with your wallet" or the ever-condescending "Google is your friend", I will reach through the fucking Internet and choke you. With my brain.

Only 1 crash in 24 hours. 9.0.3 PC. This is a record for me.

I have been experiencing some frustrating crash issues with Live 9. I would not play out with Live 9.

Once things settle down, I think I will be happy.

[Blendton]

If you perform live, then, why trying to do it using a fresh revision of your live tool ?!

>>> If I needed rock-solid reliability or if it happens someday, I would definitly perform with a custom light install of Live 8 32-bit, which became somewhat f***ing stable in 4 years...

What do you think ?

Kind regards.

This is kind of my whole point: Ableton has had THREE YEARS to get it right. They could have done a public beta or something and squashed a lot of these bugs, but they chose not to and to focus most of their resources on Push development. Live 8 was initially hell to work with, so I was using Live 7 for about a year after the initial Live 8 release.

By contrast, Steinberg has mostly been getting it right with their *.0 releases lately. I don't know how, but they have been, and Cubase isn't a live sequencer--it's one of the original DAWs.

My whole point is that for a program that is designed for use in a live context primarily (there is nothing else like it currently), EXTRA EMPHASIS should be placed on making major new releases suitable for live use. In other words, these simple, silly little bugs that are infuriating for live musicians and DJs that should have easily been caught somehow slip by, and god knows how long it's going to take for Ableton to squash them! I've supported this company for a long, long time and have purchased every major upgrade. I'm about at the end of my rope, though.

I'm running it on a Lenovo W530 with an i7 3820QM (3.7GHz max), 32GB CAS 9 1600MHz RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, etc. A very, very fast laptop. And yet, it still takes a while to launch. I can only imagine how bad it would be on a 5400RPM drive.

I really don't like to be negative. I've been all sunshine and rainbows on the Steinberg forums lately because I really have very little to complain about: Cubase 7, though a few very minor bugs remain, is pretty much rock-solid and just allows me to work quickly without crashing. Again, I don't use Ableton Live for composition/production, so I can't speak to that aspect of it. However, I lean on it heavily for my live work, and I was REALLY looking forward to using Max for Live with Live 9... but, it look like I gotta wait for a few months, maybe a year, maybe more (who knows?) until Ableton decides to get their act together.

It's just disappointing. Hot keys for quantize values, for instance, simply should not have been missed in the beta phase. This is incredibly basic stuff!

Well... Trying to make the looooooooooooong story short...

I learned Ableton Live by hearing the news, like a knock-out : ALEXANDER COE, I mean : SASHA, just gave up every "DJing" means to produce and perform, he (we were in 2005 if I'm accurate) now did EVERYTHING : from 6+ hours live sessions to album realeases : with 2 iMacs G4 or G5 and AZbleton Live starting with Live 4, then mosrtly relied on his unique self-designed controller called "Maven", and that fucking "Ableton" thing.

As for now, every artist I thank for keeping smart thinking about hum... "the job". Deadmau5 is right, I was even pretty gifted with 2 CDJ-1000 + all the usual stuff >>> no someone performing this way would lie if he doesn't admit that 90% of his "moves" are more for dancing and being like "DJing" from the floor's view, afterall, all that matters is the audience.

I just remember NOW that these "buyers threads or survey I won't give a shit to this kind of "masturbating mode" vision of "sharing musical mind, stuff, on the (before this garbage) right place to do it...

FROM ABLETON LIVE 1 to ABLETON LIVE 6.11 WERE NOT USED AS CREAATIVE TOOLS

The name is Live, Ableton Live. And maybe, like James Bond, by moving to the ambiguous now... BLEND OF A TON OF STUFF WE WANTED (= OR DIDN't NEED AND WORSE : if your duty is to rely on Suite 9.0.x and WTF 32/64 it' s just a choice to do and boring RAM use in Intel/IBM CPUs storys because BANG : even what we call "64-bit" computer is in fact a x86-64 based bastard and not an IA-64...

And why all this flow about a DAW ? Because it wasn't intended to be a producer choice. Just see how many innovative like the now faded Deadmau5, or Steve Duda : they say without shame Live has 90% of the workflow in charge soon or late... Both studio work & performing live...

I therefore never will recommand a product like our actual Live Suite 9.0.2/3 to perform live : PRIVATE JOKE : look at my signature's laptop description and BANG : the 5400rpm well no miracle but guess what ? No speed stories to tell : although I like my "orchestrelectro dancing sound" research in my work :

I always felt the birth of SUITE 7 as the beginning of the end for the "JUST DO IT", just think about it, at the time I already began to be reluctant to "DAWs"... Progressively giving up even with Cubase, P-Tools and FL Studio. Reason looks interesting but no money no time and no need.

Here's the real mixed feeling behind my good feelings about this 9 one, since it gave me the OIC orchestral stuff an while bringing some never asked and even shitty little things, it solved a recurrent issue with the VST I use the most so...

Pfff BTW I know for some guys here they found me disturbing or the oopposite : accuracy and insight hidden in blahhhhblahhh boring flow

I swear it's the fucking last "thread" I play with, since every repeated sterile debates and DAW Wars stuff are as music inspiring as an episode from TV Shows talking about some housewives managing being boring & stuff.

SORRRY TO THE FEW IT REALLY HURTS : LIVE HAS CHANGED. I STILL LIKE IT AND PREFER 9 TO ALL THE PREVIOUS. *** YES AND WITH A 5400rpm shitty HDD >>> I do "Live" stuff rarely since 2008+2009 AND SOMEHOW I PERFORM MY SOFT-SETUP === WTF DO SO MANY COMLAIN ABOUT ... the brower, wow, every bit of issue solved since Live 9.0b4x SO GET OUT OR DON'T MAKE ME WRITE BADLY LONG "MY OPINION & STUFF" POST ON SUCH AN IMPORTANT PLACE TO SHARE, FOR REAL, AND THE SAME FOR THOSE WHO ASK ABOUT MIDI BASICS : COME BACK WHEN YOU'll BE MUSICIANS.

AND FOR THEIR INNOVATIVE WAY TO SUCEEED by INNOVATING AND HAVING MADE LEGENDARY DUDES jusr PUT DISCS IN A CLOSET >>> I KEEP ENDLESS RESPECT TO ABLETON A.G.

[but FUCK they IMO shouldn't hav e done Live & Suite the Tom & Jerry because it changed the most anticipating feature : LIVE, sorry for you DrWashington.

See ya later on another

Regards.

[pencilrocket]

FWIW, deadmau5 uses Cubase in his studio to produce his song...