Thoughts on Push 3 standalone with just Live Intro from a DAWless user's perspective
Posted: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:40 pm
Ableton, I've never used Live before. Push 3 Standalone is the first product of yours I've owned or used.
I typically stay away from DAWs, because I don't really enjoy using a keyboard and mouse and big screens when making music. It's just not my happy place. For the last 20+ years, whenever I've needed to record stems or produce a track, I've used a DAW, and it's been fine, but DAWs aren't really my jam. I've thought about Live, but always in the context of "well, if I was a different person, maybe I'd enjoy using Live."
Over the years, I've used a number of grooveboxes and DAWs-in-a-box like Deluge, MC-707 and AKAI Force, and I've always loved the idea of having a single box that can be both the brain of my studio as well as the brain of my music on the go, but for one reason or another, they've all fallen short for me. So I've been using a hardware MIDI sequencer + audio looper (most recently, Hapax and RC-505 mk2, but I've used many sequencers and audio loopers before those).
When Push 3 Standalone was announced, I immediately ordered it. I figured, if anyone can do this right, it would be you. And for the last few days, I've been trying to evaluate the Push 3 Standalone hardware with the "Intro" version of Live that it comes with, to try to figure out if Push 3 is for me. And I'm not going to lie, it's been rough.
Sure, my Push has crashed _many_ times, and I've encountered a bunch of weird glitches (all of which I've reported to your support and am waiting for responses to), but even if I were to ignore those issues, the Push experience has felt a bit underwhelming to me. I mean, it's designed by a leader in the industry with a top-notch interface and powerful hardware, but when I've looked for inspiration by browsing instrument devices, it's felt pretty... lacking. Like, I went looking for a halfway decent electric piano sound, a grand piano, a guitar, some horns, and I couldn't find anything. Sure, it comes with a collection of Drift sounds, but overall, that's a pretty limited sonic palette.
And then, today, a friend gifted me a Live Suite license. And what a difference that made.
Ableton, you're doing yourselves and any customer who doesn't already have a Live Suite license a huge disservice by letting them use Push 3 Standalone without all the extra devices that come with Suite. Especially since Push 3 Standalone can't run VST instruments. I'm afraid that people are going to feel like I did and struggle to justify $2000 for a very fancy MIDI sequencer + audio looper that has, franky, a relatively disappointing selection of built-in instrument devices. After using Suite for just a few hours, I feel like you've missed a huge opportunity, and I hope that you reconsider how you present Push 3 Standalone to new users of your products.
Separately, I do feel like having to buy Live Standard or Suite on top of the $2,000 spent for the Push 3 Standalone hardware is a bit extortative, but remember that I'm not already invested in the Live ecosystem. I wasn't expecting to buy Suite when I bought Push 3 Standalone, but Push with just Intro seemed like a half-baked device, whereas Push with Suite feels like a fullly featured device (albeit with a lot of unlocked potential that will come in time).
Before I had Suite, I'm not sure I would have kept Push. Especially since the Live Trial doesn't work with Push 3 Standalone. Now that I have Suite, I'll almost certainly keep Push (provided that you fix the crashing issues and hardware glitches I'm experiencing, of course). I don't expect anyone else buying Push 3 Standalone will luck into a Suite license like I did, however, and they may very well come away from the experience feeling disappointed.
With Love,
"Cowboy" Ben Alman
[Edit: updated to fix references to "Suite" which I had mistakenly called "Studio"]
I typically stay away from DAWs, because I don't really enjoy using a keyboard and mouse and big screens when making music. It's just not my happy place. For the last 20+ years, whenever I've needed to record stems or produce a track, I've used a DAW, and it's been fine, but DAWs aren't really my jam. I've thought about Live, but always in the context of "well, if I was a different person, maybe I'd enjoy using Live."
Over the years, I've used a number of grooveboxes and DAWs-in-a-box like Deluge, MC-707 and AKAI Force, and I've always loved the idea of having a single box that can be both the brain of my studio as well as the brain of my music on the go, but for one reason or another, they've all fallen short for me. So I've been using a hardware MIDI sequencer + audio looper (most recently, Hapax and RC-505 mk2, but I've used many sequencers and audio loopers before those).
When Push 3 Standalone was announced, I immediately ordered it. I figured, if anyone can do this right, it would be you. And for the last few days, I've been trying to evaluate the Push 3 Standalone hardware with the "Intro" version of Live that it comes with, to try to figure out if Push 3 is for me. And I'm not going to lie, it's been rough.
Sure, my Push has crashed _many_ times, and I've encountered a bunch of weird glitches (all of which I've reported to your support and am waiting for responses to), but even if I were to ignore those issues, the Push experience has felt a bit underwhelming to me. I mean, it's designed by a leader in the industry with a top-notch interface and powerful hardware, but when I've looked for inspiration by browsing instrument devices, it's felt pretty... lacking. Like, I went looking for a halfway decent electric piano sound, a grand piano, a guitar, some horns, and I couldn't find anything. Sure, it comes with a collection of Drift sounds, but overall, that's a pretty limited sonic palette.
And then, today, a friend gifted me a Live Suite license. And what a difference that made.
Ableton, you're doing yourselves and any customer who doesn't already have a Live Suite license a huge disservice by letting them use Push 3 Standalone without all the extra devices that come with Suite. Especially since Push 3 Standalone can't run VST instruments. I'm afraid that people are going to feel like I did and struggle to justify $2000 for a very fancy MIDI sequencer + audio looper that has, franky, a relatively disappointing selection of built-in instrument devices. After using Suite for just a few hours, I feel like you've missed a huge opportunity, and I hope that you reconsider how you present Push 3 Standalone to new users of your products.
Separately, I do feel like having to buy Live Standard or Suite on top of the $2,000 spent for the Push 3 Standalone hardware is a bit extortative, but remember that I'm not already invested in the Live ecosystem. I wasn't expecting to buy Suite when I bought Push 3 Standalone, but Push with just Intro seemed like a half-baked device, whereas Push with Suite feels like a fullly featured device (albeit with a lot of unlocked potential that will come in time).
Before I had Suite, I'm not sure I would have kept Push. Especially since the Live Trial doesn't work with Push 3 Standalone. Now that I have Suite, I'll almost certainly keep Push (provided that you fix the crashing issues and hardware glitches I'm experiencing, of course). I don't expect anyone else buying Push 3 Standalone will luck into a Suite license like I did, however, and they may very well come away from the experience feeling disappointed.
With Love,
"Cowboy" Ben Alman
[Edit: updated to fix references to "Suite" which I had mistakenly called "Studio"]