Ableton headquartered in Berlin offers Ableton Live, the company's flagship digital audio workstation and audio editing suite.
$79
Riverside.fm
Score 5.3 out of 10
N/A
Riverside.fm headquartered in Tel Aviv offers a remote recording solution for enterprise teams. It is presented as an easy way for teams to record professional-grade video content and podcasts, from anywhere.
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.
Riverside.fm is well suited for video content that you are recording ahead of time in order to edit and release where you are inviting people to participate that are not part of your organization. You can send them a link and they just have to go to the website and be in the conversation. There is no software to download and they do not have to worry about handling their video files after they are done.
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.
I have had some times where there are video glitches, and I have been told that it could be because of other software running. It would be good if the software were more robust and able to more consistently get smooth video.
I have had a couple instances of people being kicked off and their video files were not recoverable.
When you get to the platform, it's unclear where to start. You're driven to join your "studio" and invite someone to interview...but if that's not the kind of show you're creating, it's not easy to figure out the next steps.
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.
I have not needed to use the Riverside.fm support that much, which in itself is a good sign of how good their product is, but when I have had to use their support it was prompt, and helpful, and the people were very kind. I am glad to know there is someone there to help quickly if I am having a problem.
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.
StreamYard may have fewer capabilities than Riverside.fm, but it knows exactly what it is: a place to record/stream video conversations. Riverside.fm, in trying to be all things to all users, may need to improve its UI to serve all constituents.