Ableton Forum

What do you think about the value of Live Suite vs. Live Standard and using the $250 or so difference to invest in VSTs or other loops and plugins. The "conventional wisdom" on the 'net is that my current DAW (Logic) has better stock plugins than Live -- if there's some truth to this, is investing in 3rd party stuff the better option? If so, what are the top contenders??

patzer wrote:What do you think about the value of Live Suite vs. Live Standard and using the $250 or so difference to invest in VSTs or other loops and plugins. The "conventional wisdom" on the 'net is that my current DAW (Logic) has better stock plugins than Live -- if there's some truth to this, is investing in 3rd party stuff the better option? If so, what are the top contenders??

That depends on your taste, really. I dislike most of the Live synths, but I find some to be great tools.
Specifically I think these synths and tools below, alone are worth the Suite license, especially now when it's 20% off:

• Sampler
• Electric
• Max for Live
• Corpus separatus, a virtual resonator. I have also warmed up to Collision that you can read about in that link.

Max For Live tools I don't want to give up

• Dub Machines by Surreal Machines
• Convolution Reverb (Comes free with Suite)
• Envelope Follower (Suite native)
• Autobeat (Commercial pack)
• Clip Mapper (Commercial pack)
• DENPA Oscilloscope 2.0 (Free)
• Numerous different MIDI devices

(Most are free)

Here are a few previous discussions on the Live synths with some alternatives and different opinions:

• VSTi advice
• Getting a full synth sound in Ableton Live 9 Suite
• your favorite plugins/bundles
• Synthesizer

I feel the same as Stromkraft. It depends on your taste and what you want to do, but if you don't already have a lot of 3rd party stuff then Suite offers a lot of options and material, and Max For Live really adds a ton of value and utility.

If you're going to go the other route you can buy Max For Live à la carte, I think it's like $150 when on sale, and get something like Reaktor, which is currently on sale for $99.

I bought Live Standard when I first started 3+ years ago, and don't feel I missed much with Suite, but that could be because I have more of a hardware-based studio. Live is my multi-track recorder, arranger, production environment. I filled the gaps with some nice 3rd-party stuff, and at one point, I sprang for Sampler when it was on sale because I like how easy it is to create your own sample-based instruments with it.

I think it's probably different for everyone. If you're more ITB or you're a Push fan, Suite might be the better choice.

Depends, I like electric mostly, and I also use m4l Dubmachines a lot. But I can live without operator and analog, my favorite synth is u.he DIva and Live doesn't offer such a good analog modeling synth.

Thanks for the thoughts and links to other threads. Any other input welcome!

patzer wrote:What do you think about the value of Live Suite vs. Live Standard and using the $250 or so difference to invest in VSTs or other loops and plugins. The "conventional wisdom" on the 'net is that my current DAW (Logic) has better stock plugins than Live -- if there's some truth to this, is investing in 3rd party stuff the better option? If so, what are the top contenders??

I'd say Live Standard + Komplete is better than Live Suite especially if you just need sounds and Synths.

That said Suite shines in some areas namely Max4Live, the extra audio effects, and Operator. Suite also has a decent Orchestral Library that's better in some areas than what comes with Kontakt but Kontakt is no slouch either.

A lot depends on genre though. The Suite package sounds seems more experimental but a lot of Komplete is as well.


There are other alternatives to Komplete as well but Komplete is probably the best well rounded package.

I also think Komplete beats suite unless you really want max4live.

ABsynth, Massive, Monark, FM8, Prism and reaktor will cover your synth needs quite well and beyond what live has to offer, and guitar rig is far better than the amp effect included in Live.

One thing that can beat this 250$ is Modulation plugins that comes with M4L. They are essential in production work (at least for me). And that's the reason why we never see in-build LFO (and Envelope) modulators in Live. But... If you don't need this stuff and already have a good sampler - don't buy it. For 250$ you can buy much more interesting plugins on KVR Marketplace Or... If modulation is on a first place for you - buy Bitwig (for 150$ on KVR Marketplace). This DAW is a champion on this side of a coin.

The more I learn and the more I discover, the more I feel at home with the instruments and processors included with Live Suite. The only thing I was lacking in software terms (a wavetable semi-modular) was recently covered by Bengal from Max for Cats.

If you are just starting, exposing yourself to stuff like Max for Live can make a real difference, not only in tangible value but by developing a functional perspective. Getting the fundamentals right is priceless.

Another option to consider is if you're going to use Push eventually or not. There's a lot of deeper integration with the Suite effects and instruments than with 3rd party options.

Tarekith wrote:Another option to consider is if you're going to use Push eventually or not. There's a lot of deeper integration with the Suite effects and instruments than with 3rd party options.

I think you should open a separate discussion on that. I haven't noticed this "deeper integration". Feels more or less the same to me.

3rd party plug ins don't display graphics for things like operator routings, filter types, etc. Some of the parameter pages aren't laid out as logically as well.

Tarekith wrote:3rd party plug ins don't display graphics for things like operator routings, filter types, etc. Some of the parameter pages aren't laid out as logically as well.

I realize this is likely a Push 2 display thing. I'm still on the original.

I'd go:

Standard + 3rd party
OR
Suite + 3rd party.

Even if you listen to Ableton wizards on youtube, all the ableton instruments sound bad. But as soon as they use 3rd party instruments, it sounds good. I regret spending a lot of time with Ableton instruments. Too hard to go back and swap all those instruments out, so it was a waste of time.