Ableton Forum

http://www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=7327#

Look at that beauty!!! I'd love this for Live. No I'm not switching to Cakewalk, eh Sonar.

get a Mackie Control or M-Audio project mix, they both look and perform similarly to this.

Nice idea from Cakewalk, although I would say the audio interface is a weakness.

djsynchro wrote:Look at that beauty!!! I'd love this for Live.

+1 - if we're talking revenue stream I wonder why the Abe's don't put some resources into a dedicated hardware control system given I'm sure there'd be plenty of takers - possibly even just licence the idea? Got to be better than just attempting to accommodate everybody else's generic controllers with mappings - and could include app specific functionality other manufacturers don't support anyway?

Of course some will undoubtedly want more than 128 parameter knobs - so it'd better be modular as well

$4000 is ridiculous IMO. You could probably wing a deal where you got a Mackie Control, RME Fireface 800, and a Prophet 08 or Evolver etc. for that price. Plus the Mackie and Fireface would work with any DAW. [/i]

Plus it probably doesn't have ANY OSX support whatsoever..... not even an audio driver.

Wait for the Apple touch tablet and we'll be throwing our MCUs and this thing out the window, and rocking our DAWs lemur style.

One reason Ableton doen't get into marketing hardware controllers is because they remembered Steinberg's Houston controller and how that story ended

Another is that their collective expertise lies in software development, most would not have the sufficient hardware experience.

Finally, the market is saturated with controllers and already has established leaders such as Mackie's control. I don't think it is profitable, and unless they brought out a truly stellar product and continued to support and develop it for a number of years minimum, it would not sell. There might be initial interest, but if the product turned out to be a lemon like Houston was for Steinberg, that is a situation best avoided.

PS - Finally 2 - The cost of development and marketing would detract from support of Live.

beats me wrote:Wait for the Apple touch tablet and we'll be throwing our MCUs and this thing out the window, and rocking our DAWs lemur style.

That day couldn't come sooner IMO

I didn't know you could rock an emo hair cut with a grizzled beard like that. Looks good man.

condra wrote:

beats me wrote:Wait for the Apple touch tablet and we'll be throwing our MCUs and this thing out the window, and rocking our DAWs lemur style.

That day couldn't come sooner IMO

Do you know if there is a release date set yet? I can't find any info online...

Prediction: Next upgrade of this unit = new device costing more, same functionality + bug fixes. Some new features and a new layout.
And once it gets really popular and has a good reputation, it'll be discontinued.

Gotta love Roland...

Deft Deuce wrote: Do you know if there is a release date set yet? I can't find any info online...

I've no idea but I reckon touch screens are finally going to put an end to most of the bullshit we musicians have to put up with concerning hardware and software integration, not to mention doing away with the most evil of all things, the mouse.

I hope Ableton will have their software optimised for touch screens early and I expect they will considering they were one of the first to adapt mac Universal Binary support.

Just like softsynths and harddrive recording made a huge impact on the industry, I think affordable touchscreens will do the same. It's gonna be huge, and it's gonna rock.

I'm convinced no hardware company will ever come out with a controller that is Live specific that isn't DJ-centric and limiting. For one thing a major feature would have to be some kind of button grid like a monome or Ohm, and both of those are limited in other ways.

Touch screens will be the savior of Live. I don't know a release date for Apple's either but if they don't announce it today then I would say it wouldn't be until the summer at the earliest.

beats me wrote:I'm convinced no hardware company will ever come out with a controller that is Live specific that isn't DJ-centric and limiting. For one thing a major feature would have to be some kind of button grid like a monome or Ohm, and both of those are limited in other ways.

Touch screens will be the savior of Live. I don't know a release date for Apple's either but if they don't announce it today then I would say it wouldn't be until the summer at the earliest.

Or the summer after that.. Or the summer after that..
Where's my G5 powerbook?
Its inevitable, but I've grown many beards since the newton project.

Yeah I'm not holding my breath waiting for touchscreen mac, but it is inevitable, and it will give me great reason to rejoice, and get a loan.