Ableton Forum

seeing as i've used live since version 1

would i benefit? is it a good read?

i should imagine i'd learn a couple of new tricks but

mosca

I'd say it's definitelty worth a look & remember when you've finished with it, you'll always get a good price for it on Ebay.

good point

mo

well, i know the live 4 powerbook was rockin. learned a lot, but on a borrowed copy. just ordered my own copy of the live 5 power book. should be here by mon or tues, so i will let ya know!

So what's a good book for Ableton? I've got some Amazon gift certificate $ to blow. Printing out the manual would probably be a good start.

FWIW I've been a user since Live 3 but I'm still finding new ways to use it.


Happy Friday!!!

Then you'll pretty much see the same material, except they added stuff about "OPERATOR". Plus it has a CSI dvd that comes with it.


But that's not to say it isn't a good read.... The book is pretty much awesome...



DREW¹

if you don't already have the live 4 power book, this is a sweet buy. i found it for 25 including shipping, and have already found some nifty tricks.

Finally got it today. First impression not good - sheesh, could have at least updated the screenshots. For example the "Getting Live Up and Running" chapter has the text describe Live 5 but all the Preferences screens are from v4. Even the About box with its big prominent "4"... and a forum screen grab from August 2004.

Had a skim at the Operator section, as it is one of the few reasons I bought this updated book. Another was that it is pretty cheap (at least at Amazon.com) and comes with the CSi CD. So far it looks like I won't be totally regretting this, but it's close.

Cone,

I'd be definitely interested in a review after you've finished reading the whole thing. Also,

What is on the CSi CD?

And did you already read Live 4 Power?

I have both 4 and 5 and i dont think 5 is as good, i suppose it covers the same ground the ony new chapters about the operator are helpful.

I particularly dont like the little subsections which are articles about the bands/artists who are using lives which seem ripped straight of the ableton web site. better use could have been made of the space,it just feels like a filler.

my advice is if you already have 4 dont bother cos its mostly the same, but that just my opinion

the csi cd is pure basic and contains about 4-5chapters covering the absolute basics that most people would know.

if you have used live for longer than a month you wont need it

I got the Live 4 Power book not long before Live 5 came out, so I was kind of mentally adjusting to L5 as I read it, wishing that I had already had a similar book exactly about the new features of Live 5. Now that there is one, I'm not too thrilled as it is obviously something of a rush job.

I'm not saying it is bad, not at all. It's about the only book on Live and even so it is above average. I just think that there should be more of the actual "power" stuff and less of that "the manual in other words" fluff. There are some great tips for sure, but this forum offers even better ones from time to time. I don't care for the humour attempts, there are spelling mistakes, I already mentioned the old screenshots etc.

I was most interested in the Operator section, but I'll pass the final judgement about it when I have actually sat down and tried everything. At least it looks dull, and some detail pics of the actual knob settings and envelopes for a sound would go a long way making it clearer.

I don't know about the CSi CD-ROM - maybe towards the end of the week.

The CSi videos are pretty basic, but if you are a new user they do cover a lot in the few minutes each one runs. There are 7 videos but two of them are duplicates of each other; as someone pointed out; book was a rush job. The screenshots in all these books look awful; an artifact of the paper, printing process and converting a color image to grayscale, I suppose.

The author supplies a number of sets of his own as tutorals to exemplify material in several of the chapters. I would like to hear others' takes on those.

The operator section is very extensive; ironically it will just be a waste for people who haven't bought that option.

One thing that I did like was that - even though some of the screenshots may have been old, he did have Live 5.0.2 before the book went to press, so it's pretty up to date in that respect.

I also liked that it explained little tiny buttons in some of the effects that aren't documented ANYWHERE (that I could tell)...like the little "F" (freeze) button on one of the delays, or the little button next to the voices selector in the Simpler...

I think I said it in a post in another thread, but I think if you could only buy one, buy this instead of Ableton's (plus it's cheaper).

r.