Ableton Forum

So I searched for this but didn’t find conclusive information. If this has already been answered please post the links to the respective threads.

For ages now I use Live as my idea recorder and for playing live and Studio One as my mixing/mastering tool. It’s perfect for me and I won’t change that. While this isn’t a studio one question this is a workflow question to simplify my setup and shift everything Ableton to the Push 3 standalone and give the new Push 3 another chance to be integrated into my workflow.

My questions are basically:
1 - is the push 3 standalone audio interface seen by any daw other than Live via USB? And how many channels can I route over usb? I know it has ADAT but I currently am only interested in routing to and from push tracks. Objective is to jam and build on the Push and track out to Studio One for arrangement and mixing/mastering. Or record something from Studio one into the simpler for example. Is that possible or would I have to go via the I/O Jacks for that?
2 - is the Midi I/O visible to any daw other than Live? So can I set up the push as a midi device with 16 channels and send midi to Studio One or receive midi from it via let's say the default 16 channels? Should be possible via plain old midi cables sure. But is it possible via USB, too? Objective here is to for example use the 8x8 grid like a midi keyboard to play a vst in Studio One or play a midi track I have in Studio One that triggers a patch on some track on the Push?
I hope someone has tried any of this out and I am very thankful for conclusive answers.

The simple answer is no, you will need to explore ADAT options and other MIDI options in order to digitally connect the standalone Push to your computer.

This is because when running as standalone, the computer built into the Push 3 is connected to the built in audio interface and MIDI connections and USB host port, in much the same way that a normal computer would. This means that those internal devices cannot also be connected to another computer over USB, they are exclusively under the control of the computer built into the Push 3 standalone.

This mirrors how most other audio interfaces work, you can only connect them to one computer at once. For example I have a MOTU that has both USB and Thunderbolt connections, but only one of those can be used at once, I cannot digitally connect the audio interface to 2 computers by using both of those connectors at the same time. If I want to do that, I have to use other forms of connectivity, eg the ADAT or the AVB network audio that interface happens to provide. There are one or two exceptions to this rule such as certain devices made by iConnectivity that have been specifically engineered to support more than one USB connection, but those are special exceptions to the rule that had to be designed with special features and bus design to enable that, they are unusual and the audio interface in the Push 3 has not gone down that rare path.

None of this applies when you put the Push 3 into controller mode instead, because then the built in computer is not connected to the audio and midi, the built in computer is largely idle and irrelevant in this scenario. Things are switched so that the USB connection to your normal computer gets access to the built in audio and MIDI hardware instead, and even the USB host port becomes like a tiny 1 port USB hub and your computer can access stuff connected to it.

That was conclusive and what I thought would be the case (unfortunately). Technically it is possible to use the device standalone but still to route certain audio tracks via USB but you would need to implement it. Working with digital mixers and consoles that do exactly this often. That's why I asked. But feared it's like you described. Alright, thank you that helped a lot

The new X8 OUT and X8 IN from Arturia help a Ton with flexibility in standalone mode... $299 new. They are rad little ADAT boxes.