A night with push

[bytheriver]

Got mine today, played with it for a few hours tonight and thought I'd stick my feedback up in case anyone was interested. I was torn between getting Push or maschine for making techno/tech house with, went for push.. thoughts so far->

1) Its inspirational! The note/scale grid is fantastic for inspiration. I have no musical training and struggle massively to write and fit any melodic elements into tracks, messing about with push got me a sweet techy melody line, then within 5 minutes two groovy in key and very musical basslines. It really is a joy to play about with and it throws up sounds and patterns I'd never come up with any other way. Really pleased about that.

2) Browsing isn't as bad as I expected, I can get to my own samples reasonably fast, once you dial in a kick from 2-3 sub folders down, if you want to change it you start in that folder, which makes browsing a folder of kicks less of a chore.




Two things so far I'd love:

1) 'Favourites' folder or something, pushed to the top of the menu when you start browsing for drum samples.

2) As you scroll down a folder of samples, playing each one like it does with arrow keys and 'raw' selected in live.

[Citizen]

2) Browsing isn't as bad as I expected, I can get to my own samples reasonably fast, once you dial in a kick from 2-3 sub folders down, if you want to change it you start in that folder, which makes browsing a folder of kicks less of a chore.

REALLY?!

Maybe I'm not doing it right - but how do you browse your own samples?

Two things so far I'd love:

1) 'Favourites' folder or something, pushed to the top of the menu when you start browsing for drum samples.

2) As you scroll down a folder of samples, playing each one like it does with arrow keys and 'raw' selected in live.

'YES' to both. co-signed.

[bytheriver]

REALLY?!

Maybe I'm not doing it right - but how do you browse your own samples?

Add track
Drum rack ->green add button

Browse
Select the 'empty pad' with the button beneath the LCD

Browse

Shift arrow to the bottom 'places'

Navigate to 'samples' (a folder I added in places with all my own sounds)

then I have my samples in their sub folders, and I can browse through and add them, audition by tapping the pad, browse some more and add a new one etc till I get one I want.


You have to use the 'in' button sometimes depending on how many sub folders you have.

[realtrance]

I think people are going to realize over time that there is flexibility both within Live9 and Push, based on its script-based design, that is going to prove very exciting, and allow -- like M4L -- a lot of individual customization, albeit with the requirement that you take the time to learn the technical possibilities.

One long-term thing for Ableton to think about might be how to ramp-up people who fear Python scripting on ways to do so without shame, kind of the way M4L does for Max.

[kirillov]

hi there, I have a lot of fun with push,
but:
to use LIVE in its most basic way, I think its absolutely
needed to be able to browse and load audiofiles into clip slots.
like: select empty pad/ browse to "places"/ select audio file/ load.
cant get over it that its not implemented....

further big wishes:
clips visible in group tracks
copy and paste clips (and devices) (select a pad/ press copy/ select another pad)
a way to stick on the device youre currently tweaking while
pressing clips from other tracks in a session.

cheers!

[tedlogan]

hi there, I have a lot of fun with push,
but:
to use LIVE in its most basic way, I think its absolutely
needed to be able to browse and load audiofiles into clip slots.
like: select empty pad/ browse to "places"/ select audio file/ load.
cant get over it that its not implemented....

further big wishes:
clips visible in group tracks
copy and paste clips (and devices) (select a pad/ press copy/ select another pad)
a way to stick on the device youre currently tweaking while
pressing clips from other tracks in a session.

cheers!

agreed - definitely need to be able to load clips or audiofiles into tracks from Push. Very odd that this is missing. Clips should also be visible when grouped, but alas it's not. Bizarre. And yes, I'd love to not only just copy/paste clips around in session view, but also cut and paste. I'd also like to move clips up or down within their tracks by maybe SHIFT+HOLD TRACK SELECT button, move them down by SHIFT+HOLD TRACK MUTE/SOLO button.

Otherwise really enjoying this unit so far as well.

EDIT: hmm, SHIFT won't work as it'll go to the zoomed out view. Substitute SHIFT with SELECT. Or maybe neither necessary - the buttons TRACK SELECT and MUTE/SOLO TRACK buttons could just be held down to perform this function as opposed to their normal use.

[kirillov]

oh, and I forgot another big one:
browse, load and save projects!!!!

[Tarekith]

A big +100 for save from Push.

[elementv]

still debating push. i tried maschine but i feel like i still need the computer. is your experience the same?

[Starr974]

i bought push last month, but i sold it after 24hours because a lot of things i don't like (as push browser, we can't add sample, and vst, ect...)
i would like to know if Ableton fix some points on the Push?
thanks

[bytheriver]

Using push I do still need the computer, but I'm making techno/tech house music that is very programming-intensive. I'm not sure I could ever get to a point that I didn't need the computer any less than I have with push. If you were playing instruments/vocals etc I think you'd need the computer a lot less.


What I find push does give me is the ability to start ideas and jam without using the computer all that much, which is very creative for getting the basic groove for a tune. Using the pads and step seq I come up with ideas I'd never have with a mouse. Then when I have a basic groove, I can start refining it with the mouse.

It also gives me a good way to take a refined idea which I've worked on and 'play' it which is nice to get a feel for how it might go as a track, which elements/clips work well together.


I like touchable / Lemur on the Ipad is the closet you can get to going without using the computer, but really your switching one computer for another. I have Lemur livecontrol and have been using it with push, push is much more an instrument.

[Tarekith]

I really only need to turn to the computer for things like saving or naming tracks. Otherwise the lid is down and I mostly ignore it. I'm not doing full tracks, just getting the basic sounds and grooves happening, and doing a basic arrangement.

[Airyck]

I really only need to turn to the computer for things like saving or naming tracks. Otherwise the lid is down and I mostly ignore it. I'm not doing full tracks, just getting the basic sounds and grooves happening, and doing a basic arrangement.

I personally own, Maschine, Renaissance, and Push. This is the basic idea of all of these things, to get ideas out quickly and mess with some arrangement ideas.

I don't know about the rest of you but I went through a period of not being able to finish tracks (I'm sure most have.. or are going through it right now). For me, if I can get a few ideas out and get a basic arrangement done, the track is a done deal. Push, Maschine, and the MPC, all allow me to do that so in my opinion I think Push is accomplishing the job nicely and in it's own way. While each has their own strength I feel that Push has a great software backing (Ableton), plus multicore support which is important with synth heavy work like mine. I can keep it simple on just Push, get patterns and sequences out with a bunch of ideas quickly and then fine tune with the software as needed. The difference for me is that the power is there when I need it.

I'll be moving to just using Push, my girlfriend loves using Maschine, and I guess the Renaissance will get sold. I think that the Push is great and will only get better