Ableton Forum

How impressed are you with Live 7 ??


Will you be upgrading?

Do you feel Ableton have listened to the requests of us, their sponsors?

Does the upgrade offer value for money?

i had to go with option 7.


I probably won't buy any of the content, cause i just don't really care that much. I mean, i like to roll my own, y'know? Although some tight drum roms could be useful.

the add on instruments? Shit, i don't know, i'll have to try em first. I actually have lounge lizard and really like it, but i don't think i need a specifically live version.



but check it, i don't have to buy that stuff. It's optional. And everything in the core program update is great. I don't really give a shit about the 64 bit business, and am a little worried it will bump up the cpu usage, but who knows, maybe there will be an audible difference in quality, which would be cool. I'm fine with the results i get in that department now though.

everything else looks amazing though, and is all straight from the requests on this very forum. good times man.




.lm.

For me, yes. definatley upgrading.

I can put Cubase to bed for the most part with rex support, multiple automation lanes, automation for variable time signatures, sidechaining, drum racks etc, better audio, better MIDI, video export, etc.

It's a worthy upgrade for me and my needs. I wouldn't have expected much more, I think it is more of an upgrade than Live 5 to 6, where racks were the only major thing that excited me (although that was enough to make me jump in and buy Live for the first time).

Of course, there are still more features to be added gradually and maybe more evidence of the collab with cycling 74 in Live 8 when they've had time to get from the drawing board and media to programming and testing.

condra wrote:Will you be upgrading?

Yes. I will. I still have to decide for Suite download or Boxed.

condra wrote:Do you feel Ableton have listened to the requests of us, their sponsors?

Yes even if not 100%. There was alot of requests about sidechaining, audio engine, MIDI engine, new racks, new instruments. I think the great missing point might be No Mixer Groups.

condra wrote:Does the upgrade offer value for money?

I think the upgrade is especially worth the upgrade. Last year from 5 to 6 I spent 199 Euros. Live 6 to Live 7 is 79 Euros more but I get new three instruments + Live 7 enhancements and Drum Machines.
Its not a big deal for the newcomers. They get less value for the money with only EIC included in the Box. It seems the price has been made with the User Base in mind and maybe to avoid disappointment they didn't offer Sampler and Operator bundled for the newcomers. Hopefully they will rethink the newcomers price. An expanded user base is what a software company needs to put on its objectives.

- Best
- Pasha

I'll definately upgrade, there's loads there that'll be useful to me. Not the instruments though, I have instruments if I need them. Actually, the most interesting instrument to me is the new drum rack, I've never run out of possibilities with Simpler alone so I'm looking forward to that.

The automation lane improvement and native sidechaining are two of my biggest wishes, add the slicing and midi timing and it's a no brainer for me.

I'm not at all interested in any of the content because I roll my own too, but if Ableton make some money from it and use that to keep on making Live better then I'm all for it.

64 bit engine
rex file support
drum racks
slicing
more integrated instruments


I'm impressed!

I'll most definitely be upgrading to 7, hell the drum rack alone got me going and i like the external hardware integration, improved MIDI Timing, audio Engine improvements, notes for tracks and the fact that they put the bloody edit button back!! and like a number of people here the instruments don't really interest me either i have way to many as it is.

And yes there are some things i would have liked to have seen in this update, but i'm in no hurry, as i'm sure these thing's will be added in due time.
Over all for me i'm pleased with the update and can't wait to start making music with it.

To me, this is a better update than Sonar and Reason.

Live is the top of the food chain right now.

Wow. That's a lot of choices. And, like any poll, I'm a little bit of more than one of the options. (4 and 5 look like the same basic choice, IMHO)

For 4 (Underwhelmed. I might just upgrade Live. that's all though.):
- I'm underwhelmed by the Studio package, since I have enough instruments, really. Not to mention that I don't see these as new, just new for Ableton: covering bases that are already well-covered by existing plugins... (maybe they'll just be crazy good, we'll see)
$399 to upgrade to Studio, in addition to upgrading to 6 for $120 and getting 7 "free" (but no discount on the studio version, yet anyway)? It doesn't make sense. That would be $399 for the instruments, basically... nah, I'll pass. I'll just upgrade to 6 and get 7 free and use my instruments, and add Komplete Synths for the $399.
However, I'm NOT underwhelmed by Live 7 itself. Coming from 5, its a no-brainer.

For 6 (I'm impressed. Drum racks! Automation lanes!):
- Coming from 5, like I said, I'm impressed. It's quite significant taken in that light.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
I wish companies would not release every year. It makes the releases smallish to many (me included), and they end up coming up with convoluted upgrade "packages" to make up for what they know should be a bigger release.

Do more to the application, even if it takes 18 months instead of 12-14.
I'm skipping Sonar 7 for this very reason, though I agree with kb420 that Live 7 looks to be a better upgrade than Sonar 7.

I'm now quite solidly on an "every-other-release" schedule. I'm done with 12 month release cycles. That'll teach 'em!!!

I also think that some of the instruments in Studio should be in Live 7's core. Simpler and Impulse alone seems a bit silly to me.
Of course, if they did that, they'd have to lower the Studio price a bit since it has a smaller NUMBER of extras (I know, it's not quantity, but marketing departments think like that).

But, not everyone will agree with my observations, and enough will upgrade every year to keep companies in these "mini-releases-as-full-releases" habits.

In any event, I'm upgrading, and if people seem sufficiently impressed with the Studio package, I might break down and go for it.

We'll see,
- zevo

A bit disappointed with this update. The focus seems to have been on 3 new instruments instead of usability. When you compare the amount of development basic UI/MIDI functionality would have required, you're left asking why havent they worked on these things??

These are requests that have been made for years and Ableton just doesn't seem to be interested. Surely they should be focussing on innovating the way people use their (unique) product? I don't think it's as worthwhile for them to spend their time competing with a million other (and more experienced) plugin/synth developers.

For me, the only useful things I've seen so far are built in slicing and the drum kit. Notes *may* be useful, but it sounds like this is a hamstrung implementation of metadata, when a full reader/editor was wanted. I was really hoping for multiple loops (with midi control) and better ways to set loops on the fly. Also, it would have been nice to be able to colour/annotate sections of tracks.

Let's hope they get it right with 8.

J

So sidechaining, multiple automation lanes, video export, automatable timing sigs (the last 2 items especially useful for sound to picture or for those who don't just produce four on the floor dum dum dum dum beats for the dancefloor), better MIDI, better audio, slicer, better EQ8 and compressor, drum racks, rex support, slicer and high quality modes are totally unusable then ?? Better remember to take them out for Live 8

Multiple people have been requesting better MIDI, slicer, sidechaining and multiple automation lanes in particular for some time, so Abes are totally deaf to their users ??

I am confused by some of these criticisms, and I wasn't the only guy wanting movie export and automatable timing signatures either....

leedsquietman wrote:So sidechaining, multiple automation lanes, video export, automatable timing sigs (the last 2 items especially useful for sound to picture or for those who don't just produce four on the floor dum dum dum dum beats for the dancefloor), better MIDI, better audio, slicer, better EQ8 and compressor, drum racks, rex support, slicer and high quality modes are totally unusable then ?? Better remember to take them out for Live 8 :roll:

Multiple people have been requesting better MIDI, slicer, sidechaining and multiple automation lanes in particular for some time, so Abes are totally deaf to their users ??

I am confused by some of these criticisms, and I wasn't the only guy wanting movie export and automatable timing signatures either....

The theme for these new features are mostly for advanced DAW scoring and production work, so if Live performance users complain, maybe there's a reason behind it...

--Kent

I appreciate that.

Live already has a gazillion more features for Live performance than most of it's competitors, but the features I mentioned are useful for studio production and when not gigging Live as a Dj tool, it is nice to be able to compose, arrange and mix with the software. IN this age of youtube, some might even film their performances and now they can score to video more effectively as a promotional tool.

After all, it does cost significantly more than project 5 and other loop based/deckadance type tools that include some performance tools.

Some of these features also have the potential to enhance live performance, such as slicer, rex support, better MIDI and audio etc. Maybe Live 8 will look after performers better, who knows?

You hit it, Kent. Spot on.

THAT'S my reason for wanting longer release cycles:
- releases tend to become good for one or two groups, and meaningless to others

I'm extremely opposed to that trend.
When one group of people says "this release is filled with user-requested features," while another groups says "this release lacks all these user-requested features," then BOTH groups are correct, from their point of view... and, it's a symptom of time-scheduled release cycles, as opposed to feature-scheduled release cycles.

Time-scheduled release cycles ALWAYS leads to feature cuts. It always does.
I genuinely think companies PLAN on getting more in to each release, but reality happens, and scope-creep happens, and bugs happen, and features get cut until the next version.

I've seen it at every time-scheduled release cycle company I've ever worked for.

I truly wish that software companies would focus on across-the-board updates of user-requested features, release it when its done, and adjust the cost accordingly.

That last bit is why it doesn't happen: 18 month (for example) upgrades have to cost around 50% more to break even with 12 month upgrades IF the same number of users upgrade each time: $120 becomes $180, $220 becomes $330.

With that logic, its hard to convince management that enough people will still upgrade, and they'll generally believe that fewer users will upgrade.

I actually see it quite differently. I see it as more-or-less a wash. With yearly releases, not everyone is going to upgrade because they view the upgrade as not significant, so they skip a version (or two). With 18 month release cycles and an increased cost, many of those will get every version, but some of the 12-monthers won't do it, for monetary reasons among other things. I doubt the number of upgraders would go down. I'd like to think it would go up if the releases were meaningful to a broader userbase, but the money part makes me think that's unlikely.
It'll probably be the same number (for apps on this level, anyway).

Ahh... I love the software industry.
Where's my credit card again?

- zevo

I dont know.

I dont feel the need for the upgrade.

I don't mind they release new instruments but really i would like to see the DAW improved and the Live Concept solidified.

At least, i only bought live 6 a year ago, it doesn't seem right to be shelling out more cash for the next version.