Ableton Push 3 standalone is buggy and crashes
Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2023 11:49 am
I've bought the Push 3 standalone with Live Suite. This was my first purchase of any product from Ableton. I only had Ableton Live Lite which came with some hardware I've bought.
I was very excited when the Push 3 standalone arrived. I was looking forward to setting it up and using it to make music.
It took a while for it to boot. It crashed with an error which said the default set has failed to load and Live crashed. This didn't bother me too much at this point. I was aware that the first steps are the installation of the software update and the authorization.
The software update package took a while to download and prepare for installation. The Push 3 standalone rebooted. It told me that the update was complete. The screen went dark. I thought it was booting again to start normally. Instead, it repeated the blank screen to "update is complete" cycle a few more times.
It booted in the end. The Push 3 needs to be on the same network to be able to authorize software on it. This was an inconvenience for me. I did grab an ethernet adapter to put it on the wired network. The wifi network was deactivated. I was able to authorize it.
The Push 3 crashed again several times when loading sets even with the latest software and firmware. This isn't what I expected.
I wanted to try those packs included in the Live Suite license I've paid for. I started to download packs from the "available packs menu" since I already had the ethernet adapter connected via USB. The downloads seemed to be rather slow. This was certainly not putting the high speed Internet connection to good use. It didn't seem to go above 10 MB/s or so, based on how long a 2-3 GB pack took to download.
The "available packs" menu entry disappeared after several pack installations. I thought that I forgot where the menu entry was. I checked the manuals and other materials from Ableton. It was really gone. Was my authorization somehow messed up? No, I checked that as well. I figured out this might be yet another kind of issue fixed with a power cycle.
The "available packs" option returned after a shutdown and a fresh boot. I was able to install packs.
Some cool packs for Max 4 Live are out there. I should try those. The Arduino device from the Connection Kit was one I really wanted to try on the push. I had a nice error on the screen which was being shown as an overlay on top of the analog device. I get it that it's not yet compatible or that it might never be compatible because nobody cares. The error handling and the UI handling don't seem to be working properly.
I gave up on the experiments with Max 4 Live after seeing those errors with a few devices. I went back to playing with Analog and other instruments. Audio stopped working all of a sudden. I thought that the whole device froze at first. The audio settings menu was inaccessible. It was as if it didn't exist at all. I turned the Push 3 off and on again. I had sound again.
Seeing how unstable and buggy this thing was, I decided to test features while I wait for bugs to be sorted out. I tried to add notes of odd lengths. The snapping of the note editor was strange. A note which snapped to 0.0.3 in coarse mode wasn't the same length as an actual note which had a length of 0.0.3. At least this issue wasn't something which took down the device's sound system until it booted again.
I opened some of the demo sets from the packs. I hit play on the left side. Some sets would play. Others would play only when some clips were triggered in the session view. I had the impression that this was a bug at first. It occurred to me that the sets which played when the play button was hit were sets put together in arrangement mode. The session view of Push 3 standalone was all but worthless for such sets. This makes the Push 3 standalone experience a very poor one.
I filed a ticket on Sunday to report the issues which were bugs to Ableton. The crash logs were included. I had a fully charged battery at that point. I turned the device on yesterday evening to check if there are any updates. It had only 88% battery available when it booted and when I shut it off again.
The device had 85% battery this morning. The battery went to 80% after 2-3 minutes had passed from the moment it booted. I haven't played a single note or clip. The power management seems to be broken. It's that, the software burning CPU cycles for no good reason, the battery is faulty or a combination of these issues.
Class compliant USB audio devices don't seem to work with Push 3 standalone either. It's a Linux based OS running on regular x86_64 Intel i3 11th gen CPU which is on a small compute module. What's making it difficult to support audio over USB? Even this Push 3 standalone can be used as an audio interface.
Ableton support hasn't replied. Nobody from Ableton is answering. I've tried to reach out to contact@ableton.com earlier. This got me a new ticket.
What about Ableton Live on the PC? I told myself I could learn that while I wait for the standalone mode thing to be fixed.
Ableton Live Suite's window has that white overlay unresponsive apps have for a while on startup. It seems slow. It has some weird behavior when it comes to audio and midi. I'm not sure what happened to Live or why it's so buggy. I notice it stutter or not working. It seems to recover. Audio stopped working for a clip in session view. I was able to try a few features and instruments. It wasn't like this when I was using Live Lite.
I decided that I'm not going to authorize Live Suite on my PC. I might request a return and a refund for Push 3 standalone and Live Suite based on the experience I had. I wouldn't want Ableton to say I've got Live Suite authorized somewhere and they can't process the refund due to that reason.
The experience I've had makes me see Ableton Push 3 standalone as an unfinished and overpriced product. The NUC element compute with an i3 11th gen and 8GB of RAM costs about 280 euros for end users, not large scale manufacturers with steep discounts. The upgrade from Push 3 to Push 3 standalone is 1000 euros. The battery, the SSD and the heatsink aren't worth the difference. Nobody can argue that the software also costs money because it's something paid separately. The hardware is sold with the basic license of the software in the base price of 1899 euros.
The combination of hardware which costs 1899 euros and the software which costs 449 euros now isn't worth it. It's too buggy at this point. It's not what I expect from a hardware device which costs 1899 euros. Ableton Live Suite 11.3.2 is also not performing as I'd expect from a software which costs 449 euros with a discount.
This was my first purchase from Ableton. It's likely to be my last one. I'll probably return and refund it. It really depends on Ableton's support and if they fix the products in a timely manner or not.
I was very excited when the Push 3 standalone arrived. I was looking forward to setting it up and using it to make music.
It took a while for it to boot. It crashed with an error which said the default set has failed to load and Live crashed. This didn't bother me too much at this point. I was aware that the first steps are the installation of the software update and the authorization.
The software update package took a while to download and prepare for installation. The Push 3 standalone rebooted. It told me that the update was complete. The screen went dark. I thought it was booting again to start normally. Instead, it repeated the blank screen to "update is complete" cycle a few more times.
It booted in the end. The Push 3 needs to be on the same network to be able to authorize software on it. This was an inconvenience for me. I did grab an ethernet adapter to put it on the wired network. The wifi network was deactivated. I was able to authorize it.
The Push 3 crashed again several times when loading sets even with the latest software and firmware. This isn't what I expected.
I wanted to try those packs included in the Live Suite license I've paid for. I started to download packs from the "available packs menu" since I already had the ethernet adapter connected via USB. The downloads seemed to be rather slow. This was certainly not putting the high speed Internet connection to good use. It didn't seem to go above 10 MB/s or so, based on how long a 2-3 GB pack took to download.
The "available packs" menu entry disappeared after several pack installations. I thought that I forgot where the menu entry was. I checked the manuals and other materials from Ableton. It was really gone. Was my authorization somehow messed up? No, I checked that as well. I figured out this might be yet another kind of issue fixed with a power cycle.
The "available packs" option returned after a shutdown and a fresh boot. I was able to install packs.
Some cool packs for Max 4 Live are out there. I should try those. The Arduino device from the Connection Kit was one I really wanted to try on the push. I had a nice error on the screen which was being shown as an overlay on top of the analog device. I get it that it's not yet compatible or that it might never be compatible because nobody cares. The error handling and the UI handling don't seem to be working properly.
I gave up on the experiments with Max 4 Live after seeing those errors with a few devices. I went back to playing with Analog and other instruments. Audio stopped working all of a sudden. I thought that the whole device froze at first. The audio settings menu was inaccessible. It was as if it didn't exist at all. I turned the Push 3 off and on again. I had sound again.
Seeing how unstable and buggy this thing was, I decided to test features while I wait for bugs to be sorted out. I tried to add notes of odd lengths. The snapping of the note editor was strange. A note which snapped to 0.0.3 in coarse mode wasn't the same length as an actual note which had a length of 0.0.3. At least this issue wasn't something which took down the device's sound system until it booted again.
I opened some of the demo sets from the packs. I hit play on the left side. Some sets would play. Others would play only when some clips were triggered in the session view. I had the impression that this was a bug at first. It occurred to me that the sets which played when the play button was hit were sets put together in arrangement mode. The session view of Push 3 standalone was all but worthless for such sets. This makes the Push 3 standalone experience a very poor one.
I filed a ticket on Sunday to report the issues which were bugs to Ableton. The crash logs were included. I had a fully charged battery at that point. I turned the device on yesterday evening to check if there are any updates. It had only 88% battery available when it booted and when I shut it off again.
The device had 85% battery this morning. The battery went to 80% after 2-3 minutes had passed from the moment it booted. I haven't played a single note or clip. The power management seems to be broken. It's that, the software burning CPU cycles for no good reason, the battery is faulty or a combination of these issues.
Class compliant USB audio devices don't seem to work with Push 3 standalone either. It's a Linux based OS running on regular x86_64 Intel i3 11th gen CPU which is on a small compute module. What's making it difficult to support audio over USB? Even this Push 3 standalone can be used as an audio interface.
Ableton support hasn't replied. Nobody from Ableton is answering. I've tried to reach out to contact@ableton.com earlier. This got me a new ticket.
What about Ableton Live on the PC? I told myself I could learn that while I wait for the standalone mode thing to be fixed.
Ableton Live Suite's window has that white overlay unresponsive apps have for a while on startup. It seems slow. It has some weird behavior when it comes to audio and midi. I'm not sure what happened to Live or why it's so buggy. I notice it stutter or not working. It seems to recover. Audio stopped working for a clip in session view. I was able to try a few features and instruments. It wasn't like this when I was using Live Lite.
I decided that I'm not going to authorize Live Suite on my PC. I might request a return and a refund for Push 3 standalone and Live Suite based on the experience I had. I wouldn't want Ableton to say I've got Live Suite authorized somewhere and they can't process the refund due to that reason.
The experience I've had makes me see Ableton Push 3 standalone as an unfinished and overpriced product. The NUC element compute with an i3 11th gen and 8GB of RAM costs about 280 euros for end users, not large scale manufacturers with steep discounts. The upgrade from Push 3 to Push 3 standalone is 1000 euros. The battery, the SSD and the heatsink aren't worth the difference. Nobody can argue that the software also costs money because it's something paid separately. The hardware is sold with the basic license of the software in the base price of 1899 euros.
The combination of hardware which costs 1899 euros and the software which costs 449 euros now isn't worth it. It's too buggy at this point. It's not what I expect from a hardware device which costs 1899 euros. Ableton Live Suite 11.3.2 is also not performing as I'd expect from a software which costs 449 euros with a discount.
This was my first purchase from Ableton. It's likely to be my last one. I'll probably return and refund it. It really depends on Ableton's support and if they fix the products in a timely manner or not.