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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Ableton Live

    Score9.2 out of 10
    N/AAbleton headquartered in Berlin offers Ableton Live, the company's flagship digital audio workstation and audio editing suite.

    $79

    WavePad

    Score10 out of 10
    N/AWavePad is an audio editing application from NCH Software headquartered Greenwood Village, Colorado.

    $39.95

    per user

    Pricing
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Editions & Modules
    Live 10 Intro
    $79
    Max for Live - Crossgrade
    $79
    Live 11 Intro
    $99
    Max for Live
    $159
    Live 10 Standard - Students & Teachers
    $269
    Live 10 Standard
    $359
    Live 11 Standard
    $449
    Live 10 Suite - Students & Teachers
    $449
    Live 10 Suite
    $599
    Live 11 Suite
    $749
    Live 10 Intro - Push
    $799
    Push + Live 10 Standard - Students & Teachers
    1,068
    Live 10 Standard - Push
    1,078
    Push + Live 10 Suite - Students & Teachers
    1,248
    Live 10 Suite - Push
    1,278
    Standard Edition
    $39.95
    per user
    Master's Edition
    $69.95
    per user
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Considered Both Products
    Ableton
    No answer on this topic
    NCH Software
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    100%
    Would buy again
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    100%
    Happy with the feature set
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    6 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    5 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Small Businesses
    Descript
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Descript
    Score8.5 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    Adobe Audition
    Score9 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (7 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Usability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    9.6
    (3 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Ableton LiveWavePad
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Ableton
    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.
    Incentivized
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    NCH Software
    Highly recommended for voice over recording and editing. Great for splicing together several different recorded files to create a final track. Our voice over talent typically sends us their unedited recordings with multiple recordings of the script. Then we can listen to the different versions to select the best fit for our client. We just select the sections we like and copy them into a new file, then continue to add the sections until we have the final voice over. It is easy to tighten up or stretch out the recording to better fit our timeline.
    We have not used WavePad for recording live music so not sure how well it is suited for that. If you need multi-track editing you will need another product. MixPad makes a nice companion.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Ableton
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    NCH Software
    • Voice recording is our most used function. It is simple and straight forward. We have trained non-technical voice over talent to use it.
    • The cleanup tools have saved us from having to go out and rerecord some bad original recordings.
    • Being able to cut out sections of recordings and insert a different audio piece is a great time saver.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Ableton
    • 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
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    NCH Software
    • WavePad only works with a single audio track. NCH does offer MixPad for multi-track editing. We also use MixPad occasionally to mix background music with voice.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Ableton
    No answers on this topic
    NCH Software
    An important product for our production of customer ads.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Ableton
    No answers on this topic
    NCH Software
    Easily handles basic audio recording and editing. Advanced editing features are there but if you don't already understand audio editing you will need to watch some of the provided videos to learn how to use the tools.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Ableton
    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.
    Incentivized
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    NCH Software
    Phone support is not available.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Ableton
    No answers on this topic
    NCH Software
    It is a simple product to start using.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Ableton
    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.
    Read full review
    NCH Software
    We ran across WavePad years ago and used it for some simple music file edits. Cutting out some parts to make it fit better into the time slot. Audacity was recommended by a friend and we installed it and give it a brief try. We didn't find anything bad about it but came back to WavePad.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Ableton
    • 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.
    Incentivized
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    NCH Software
    • We are able to work with local voice-over talent and amateurs and that allows us to keep our cost low to our clients.
    • WavePad is so inexpensive that is pays for itself on the first project. The Master's edition is less than $100 and the standard edition is less than $50.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    WavePad Screenshots

    Screenshot of WavePad includes a sound recorder that supports auto-trim and voice activated recording.Screenshot of The full Sound Effects Library comes with WavePad Master's edition and gives you access to 800 SFX files and 200 music files that you can add to ringtones, podcasts, movie soundtracks, and more.Screenshot of Audio Effects include Amplify, Normalize, Equalizer, Envelope, Reverb, Echo, Reverse, Noise Reduction, Sample Rate Conversion and more.