“Ableton Live 11 will be available in early 2021.” – is all the company is saying. While it may be playing catch-up in certain aspects, Ableton has visibly taken care to ensure Live stays within the top 3 DAW choices for a good number of years to come. Overall, that’s an appropriate amount of nips and tucks to warrant a major update. Finally, Clip editing and Clip Detail view improvements allow for simultaneous editing of multiple clips and a clearer overview of audio and MIDI clip properties. Keys and scales have been added to the MIDI editor to be used as guides or reference. You will also catch the improved CPU metering with current and average CPU usage along with per-track CPU meters. In addition, all Live devices get a boost with expanded ranges and new modes. Core library and functionality improvementsįor Live 11, Ableton has also updated and expanded the Core Library and select sample packs with more content focused on modern music production. As for Follow Actions, they can be linked to clip length, be set to jump to specific clips, and follow Scenes to come up with evolving arrangements. The option to set the probability of a note or drum hit playing will be great for randomizing or borking up a stale pattern while velocity probability could be big for humanising or creatively imperfecting drums. Live 11 is also getting a taste of the unknown with Note chance, Velocity chance, and improved Follow Actions. I assume this works like the Scenes feature you may know from modern Elektron gear. This could very well liven up a backing track or accompaniment! Macro Snapshots, meanwhile, let you store the state of Macros for instant recall. Live tempo following employs Live’s trusty time-stretching to automatically match the project tempo to incoming audio in real time. Live 11 adds Live tempo following, Macro snapshots and racks of up to 16 macros each. Hybrid Reverb, for example, combines convolution and algorithmic engines while the Spectral stuff breaks audio into partials to shift and shape them into oblivion.Īdded to these are six new sound banks – Voice Box (playable vocal samples with effects racks), Mood Reel (synthetic textures), Drone Lab (probably goes BURRR), and three treats from Spitfire Audio – Upright Piano, Brass Quartet, and String Quartet. Their descriptions are very promising and these devices will surely help further Live’s tremendous out-of-the-box sound design potential. These are Hybrid Reverb, Spectral Resonator, Spectral Time, Inspired by Nature, and PitchLoop89. Live 11 will introduce at least 5 new devices to play with. The Wavetable, Sampler, and Arpeggiator devices are MPE-ready, and so is the new Expression View where you’ll be able to edit the pitch, slide, and pressure envelopes of each note. MPE support unlocks per-note parameter editing for even more powerful expression possibilities.
We’ll have to see how this plays out, but I assume Ableton will do it right and provide a meaningful upgrade to Live’s editing facilities. Additionally, two or more tracks can be linked for simultaneous editing.
It’s also a great approach to layering and distressing audio for sound design purposes. Multiple passes of your audio and MIDI performances will be recorded as individual takes to let you compile them into one successful take.
Version 11 brings Ableton’s take on the track comping functionality present in competing DAWs like Logic Pro X.