Ableton Forum

rightio,

i was using logic on pc for quite a while, pulled my studio apart and couldn't be arsed putting it back together for a couple years! anyway i've since found the motivation to put it all back together, and as logic is old on pc now (i do have a powerbook 1.5ghz+magma but my soundcards don't work with it), i was looking at other options. so my question about live.

the way i worked with logic was record mostly live instruments (drums, guitar, bass, whistles, vocals, shouting, etc) with some softsynth stuff thrown in. i'd then create loops out of the good bits of the tracks and build up songs that way. then i'd run 16 outs to an analogue desk, mix on there (adding effects, etc) and record it back into wavelab. logic always worked perfectly for that way of working, but live seems to offer a similar sort of thing so was looking at giving it a go. plus i don't know how well logic 5.5 will work with newer vst plugins, etc.

now my question is, how easy is it to record say 2 minutes of guitar noise, go through it all quickly to find good bits, cut the loops i want and then arrange them around where i want them. also is it a simple process to record vocal takes, cut them up and arrange them to the music without major headaches? also could you essentially use live as a multitrack recorder if needed? although i do mostly loop type stuff, i also occassionally want to rock out for the kids, so doing whole takes of loud guitars and screaming banshee type vocals would also be nice.

i know the most obvious answer is "try it yourself", but i haven't set any of my gear up yet (i dont even know where i've put my soundcards), so rather than installing the live demo and not really being able to record anything, i was wondering if anyone else was doing anything similar, and how well it all worked. i hate the cubase/nuendo/protools way of working, so was hoping live might be a different approach that isn't too different from my old work methods (i'm getting old so i'm stuck in my old school ways). also upgrading to logic7 isn't an option and i'm living the life of a bum, and no way in hell i could afford to buy everything needed to upgrade to a g5 (soundcard, usb midi interface, new computer, logic7upgrade, etc).

so hit me baby, should i look elsewhere or is live the app for me?

I personally like recording in Logic better. I'm on 5.5 PC and am quite happy with the results - I use Live to trcak on my Pbook when I'm out and about but the real editing and putting together tracks happens in Logic. Live does not have nearly the same audio editing features that Logic has but you can use a third party editor.

yeah but logic kinnda sucks for editing audio as well
but

once you got those loops you are makeing into ableton....

you will find your arrangeing and mixdown process opening all kinds of new creative doos for you


but audio editing in ableon is a keystroke away ... once you have your loops selected..you can loop any selection from your track or you can also just comp the parts you want out of it (2nd is better for disk resources)

with logic its to easy to get lost in a slew of windows

While live isn't *quite* there for full-on vocal editing (splice here, slip in a word there), it's enough to meet most of my needs for nerdy editing - and it's definitely the top dawg at looping, imo.

mike holiday wrote:yeah but logic kinnda sucks for editing audio as well

you're kidding right? Logic rules in that department. I just finished a 40-minute radio montage with nearly a thousand different edits, all crossfaded and chopped - easiest work ever in Logic! I would have killed myself if I had to do it in Live,,, or (shudder) Acid... yikes.

Machinate wrote:you're kidding right? Logic rules in that department. I just finished a 40-minute radio montage with nearly a thousand different edits, all crossfaded and chopped - easiest work ever in Logic! I would have killed myself if I had to do it in Live,,, or (shudder) Acid... yikes.

after spending more then 3 years on protools LE logic is not even close in comparison for ease of editing audio..trying to do the same things in logic i can do easily in PT becomes a tiring task
I like the ease of automation in logic however.

now Ableton on the other hand...just makes me slip right into creative mode

grantmoney.. live is perfect for what your doing!

coming from (my ex beloved) logic myself Im starting to make montage in the same line as you are.

what turned me off doing this in logic was that there is no flow in efficency, I like to move quick which live paves the way with red carpets in front of you.

combine that with simpler (lives drag & drop sampler) and your off to a great start, and thats without even mentioning elastic audio!

i should hopefully set my stuff up this weekend and i'll try the demo. the warp stuff sounds great, which i guess is the main feature i'll be playing around with. just hope it holds up recording a bunch of stuff at once (say 5 or 6 mics on a drum kit). hey with the warp stuff, it might even make me sound like i can play drums!

Machinate wrote:While live isn't *quite* there for full-on vocal editing (splice here, slip in a word there), it's enough to meet most of my needs for nerdy editing - and it's definitely the top dawg at looping, imo.

mike holiday wrote:yeah but logic kinnda sucks for editing audio as well

you're kidding right? Logic rules in that department. I just finished a 40-minute radio montage with nearly a thousand different edits, all crossfaded and chopped - easiest work ever in Logic! I would have killed myself if I had to do it in Live,,, or (shudder) Acid... yikes.

try protools. seriously learn to edit on it and life will never be the same, especially for that kind of audio montage stuff.


really.. I know, been using logic since 2.6 and protools since version 4.0, I love logic for music but for editing and engineering PT is the one.

Grantmoney... Live will do everything you want and sooo easy and fun
enjoy