Likelihood to Recommend Ableton Live is a perfect fit for loop-based music like electronic music of all varieties. It is especially suited to minimal techno and IDM, but is really suitable for any style of music that relies extensively on loops and samples. Ableton Live is also well-suited for sequencing out loop-based music through its Live view, while the Composer view allows for enough arranging features that you can take a song from concept to completion fairly easily. Ableton Live is less well-suited for fully recorded music that has no sample-based or looping components. It is less well-suited for non-electronic genres, although it is perfectly fine, but many of the features would not be useful or necessary in these cases.
Read full review Thanks to this software we have been able to achieve that all the management of quality control and product life cycle, is carried in a more organized way, in a simple to use system, which does not have such a high learning curve and that everyone in the department knows how to handle it. One of the best software in its category.
Read full review Pros Session View: This is the biggest advantage of Ableton. It provides you this view in which you can create different tracks for the same part of the song. For example:- If you are making the chorus of the song, you can save one thread. Now if you want to try and listen to a different drum set in a new thread, you can simply do that and listen to the new track while preserving the older one. Once you are satisfied with what you're listening, simple record the same in arrangement view and you are done. You can switch to the arrangement view and listen to the final song. Pre-installed instruments and loops:- Ableton's library which is included with the software itself while you purchase it is amazing. I bet you will ever need third-party plugins for it. It comes loaded with hundreds of loops and number of instruments which are completely professional and free to use. Amazing Graphical User Interface:- Even if you're a beginner in this field, Ableton can be learned within a few hours. The basic functionality of this software is very easy to understand and use. Of course, advanced stuff comes with practice but the basic functioning can be learned and within a few hours you are producing your own music. Read full review Huge variety of sounds Easy to jump in Works on it's own, so you don't need another DAW Read full review Cons Version 10 chews up all my CPU but prior versions didn't Midi channel automation isn't intuitive, have to make an instrument group New version install should overwrite older versions Read full review The software is very complete, but it can become saturated with the many tools it has. If you have experience with Salesforce, it will be much easier for you to learn the program. I would find it very useful if the system allowed to integrate other software, apart from Salesforce, so that we could have all the information from the same platform. If the platform would allow local hosting or offline access to its control panel, it would make our work much easier, because sometimes the connection fails, and entering the system is impossible. Read full review Support Rating I haven't had to reach out to support yet, but they're great at keeping me abreast with updates, compatibility issues, new features, and tons of videos on how to use the software. I feel like they're helping me success by giving me tools I can use in my daily work.
Read full review I've had to reach out to them very few times over the years, but Propellerhead is prompt and professional when they provide support. The manual and videos for using the product are top notch, and that goes a long way in helping you learn how to use it to its full capacity
Read full review Alternatives Considered I cannot say that the other programs listed aren't capable. They surely are. But for what I do and my workflow environment, Ableton suits my needs better. I know a lot of people that use
Pro Tools and Logic Pro. They are both very powerful programs. I have knowledge of how to use them all. Going into different studios and collaborating with people, you need to know at least the basics of them all. But for me and my studio, we will continue to primarily use Ableton for the foreseeable future.
Eric Fox producer/engineer/mastering engineer
Read full review One thing that sets Reason apart from other DAWs is its ability to be both a DAW and a sampler. Most other DAWs, Ableton included, need a third part sampler in order to actually write music, something akin to Kontakt, for example. Reason is all-in-one - you can do everything with one product and a single purchase.
Read full review Return on Investment Ableton Live allows me to rapidly sequence multitrack music as needed, without getting stuck at any step of the process. Ableton Live also allows me to quickly export or upload to SoundCloud for easy sharing. This is a big time-saver. The only negative ROI I can think of is the cost. There are competitors like Reaper that are much more affordable and have many of the same features. Read full review This software has allowed us to be much more efficient in the quality control and production department, as we were able to create quality products for our customers, with easy-to-use tools and automating tasks, so that the entire process is executed more quickly and efficiently. Read full review ScreenShots