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Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2010 10:25 pm
by wormcode
I collabed with a couple of people on their Ableton Live setup, and it was my first time using it to produce/engineer. I had only used it for a couple of things before and that was the free one that came with some hardware. It was easy to use, and the effects and instruments are pretty nice. If you're using 3rd party plugins there shouldn't be an issue. The only thing I didn't like was the workflow and having instruments, effects and samples open at the bottom of the app (which probably can be changed), but honestly after a couple of months it wouldn't be a problem. I just didn't have a reason to switch DAWs, but if I did I would consider Live.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:37 am
by thierry_le_dj
hey thanks everyone!
hmm will muck around with my sound more
but had my mind set on switching DAW's but will see from now.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 6:14 am
by tylerblue
Benga makes his beats in FL Studio, bounces them to audio, and imports them into Logic. Skream swears by FL Studio as well. Nothing wrong with FL mate. 8)

That being said, I have to agree with Basic. A sequencer is a sequencer. Once you're happy with your workflow around a particular interface, there really is no reason to change. Your tunes are large, but if you feel they need to change, have a go with parallel compression/distortion/eq'ing/etc. This board is full of good ideas.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 8:44 am
by Promise One
Ableton is great for production of electronic music but I find that with every release it gets more and more unstable. I'm running it on a Mac too, don't trust it for actually using in a live situation anymore. Version 6 was the most stable imo. Just thought I'd point out Ableton need to address stability issues.
(Yes I have a legit copy with the latest OSX patch running) I also have a Virus TI and that is a buggy piece of shit, having to run an older version of the TI OS so using the two together often ends up with lots of :u: Macs and hardware are overrated.....

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:13 am
by thierry_le_dj
tylerblue wrote:Benga makes his beats in FL Studio, bounces them to audio, and imports them into Logic. Skream swears by FL Studio as well. Nothing wrong with FL mate. 8)

That being said, I have to agree with Basic. A sequencer is a sequencer. Once you're happy with your workflow around a particular interface, there really is no reason to change. Your tunes are large, but if you feel they need to change, have a go with parallel compression/distortion/eq'ing/etc. This board is full of good ideas.

Cheers dude!
will play around with those fx

by the way really feeling that tune in your sig!! beautiful melodies kind of remind's me of early deadmau5 progressive house but dubstep sound's so good.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:14 am
by thierry_le_dj
Promise One wrote:Ableton is great for production of electronic music but I find that with every release it gets more and more unstable. I'm running it on a Mac too, don't trust it for actually using in a live situation anymore. Version 6 was the most stable imo. Just thought I'd point out Ableton need to address stability issues.
(Yes I have a legit copy with the latest OSX patch running) I also have a Virus TI and that is a buggy piece of shit, having to run an older version of the TI OS so using the two together often ends up with lots of :u: Macs and hardware are overrated.....
sweet mate!
cheers.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 2:59 pm
by lowahn
I've been using Ableton for about 2 months now and it's pretty incredible. The flexibility between the conversions is very well done, and ReWire can be great if you use other systems (I do not, however). As an above poster mentioned though, it does seem to crash a pretty good amount; I use three different machines and have issues on all of them. Not game breakers, but I usually don't make it a day without crashing at least once...

Then again, I like to have about ~15 sylenths loaded and a couple Omnispheres/Trillians >.>

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:48 pm
by tylerblue
thierry_le_dj wrote:Cheers dude!
will play around with those fx

by the way really feeling that tune in your sig!! beautiful melodies kind of remind's me of early deadmau5 progressive house but dubstep sound's so good.

Cheers man! Appreciate it!

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:20 pm
by Promise One
Sorry I should have pointed out that when Live does crash, on the next launch of the program you can recover your work so its never too bad in terms of you losing ideas and progress just annoying.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 5:27 pm
by lowahn
Promise One wrote:Sorry I should have pointed out that when Live does crash, on the next launch of the program you can recover your work so its never too bad in terms of you losing ideas and progress just annoying.
True, but it also only records what you did inside Ableton; it does not save, for instance, Synth work and programming :? Like the adjustments in a Sylenth1 VST.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 6:59 pm
by staticcast
lowahn wrote:I've been using Ableton for about 2 months now and it's pretty incredible. The flexibility between the conversions is very well done, and ReWire can be great if you use other systems (I do not, however). As an above poster mentioned though, it does seem to crash a pretty good amount; I use three different machines and have issues on all of them. Not game breakers, but I usually don't make it a day without crashing at least once...

Then again, I like to have about ~15 sylenths loaded and a couple Omnispheres/Trillians >.>
What version are you using? I'm on 8.1.5 (I think) and on the whole it seems pretty stable on my 2008 MBP.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:01 pm
by lowahn
On 8.1.4 right now. Sad part is I just got a beast of a Lenovo to run this thing (8gigs with an i7, etc etc) and it's still crashing. May have to do with Win7 x64. Damn it all if I shouldn't have just stayed with XP! :u: :lol:

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:04 pm
by egoless
If i were starting now, I would pick Ableton... I like the whole concept of layering ideas to the cells, then playing with them live, and then arranging them. With decent controller you can even record the tune live without even looking at the timeline. I like that idea as sometimes I just hate the timeline and would like to do the tune live, by feeling and ableton is surely the best tool for that...

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:06 pm
by egoless
lowahn wrote:On 8.1.4 right now. Sad part is I just got a beast of a Lenovo to run this thing (8gigs with an i7, etc etc) and it's still crashing. May have to do with Win7 x64. Damn it all if I shouldn't have just stayed with XP! :u: :lol:
Don't know about that... But from my experience I can tall that win7 x64 is the most stabile OS I've ever worked on. I use it for few months now and it never crashed, but absolutely never. Wich is pretty much amazing due to reputation winOS got through the years :)

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 7:07 pm
by egoless
lowahn wrote:True, but it also only records what you did inside Ableton; it does not save, for instance, Synth work and programming :? Like the adjustments in a Sylenth1 VST.
Really? Well that's shit...

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:04 pm
by Mad_EP
Promise One wrote: don't trust it for actually using in a live situation anymore. Version 6 was the most stable imo. Just thought I'd point out Ableton need to address stability issues.
(Yes I have a legit copy with the latest OSX patch running) I also have a Virus TI and that is a buggy piece of shit, having to run an older version of the TI OS so using the two together often ends up with lots of :u: Macs and hardware are overrated.....
That is quite odd... as I have found Ableton to be the most stable live platform I have ever come across. I think it is your hardware synths mucking things up, not the Mac or the software.

I am currently using an Intel Macbook, but I played over 60 shows using a G3 800 mHz iBook with no issues whatsoever.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:40 am
by Promise One
Mad EP wrote:
Promise One wrote: don't trust it for actually using in a live situation anymore. Version 6 was the most stable imo. Just thought I'd point out Ableton need to address stability issues.
(Yes I have a legit copy with the latest OSX patch running) I also have a Virus TI and that is a buggy piece of shit, having to run an older version of the TI OS so using the two together often ends up with lots of :u: Macs and hardware are overrated.....
That is quite odd... as I have found Ableton to be the most stable live platform I have ever come across. I think it is your hardware synths mucking things up, not the Mac or the software.

I am currently using an Intel Macbook, but I played over 60 shows using a G3 800 mHz iBook with no issues whatsoever.
Your probably right, the Virus TI has a AU/VST plug in to control the hardware via USB (you can use either the hardware or plugin or both to control it) so it could be that. I seem to notice that Live is more prone to crashing after opening 3 or more different projects. As I use the Virus for every project, never really get chance to make a project without it and test that theory. I could use purely midi to control the Virus and not use the plug in, hmmmm might try that just shouldn't really have to use it the old skool way you know?!

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 7:45 am
by jaydot
I like it a lot, I'm kind of too used to it now though and am scared to try others.

Re: what do you think about ableton for making beats?

Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 4:03 pm
by jsills
if your already proficient with FL and your concern is the final sound quality you really need to focus on the quality of you mix and not the daw. any daw will sound shit if your not massaging it right. That said i totally disagree with that opinion as i find your music quite nice. :e:

personally, i love ableton and wouldnt use anything else to sequence.