Ableton Push!

@vinceprice ...

I like your idea of separating Standalone and VST. I'd love to have Maschine open as a multi channel VST sound source. When I'm running Live, I only want to use Live's sequencer anyway. Makes a lot sense to me ... a simplified 'sound source mode' that acts like a standard VSTi. Great idea!
Then the hardware can work as part Kore, part MIDI control (a huge plus for Komplete users). I have found working with one sequencer inside another sequencer pointlessly complicated and rectrictive anyway. Would much rather just sequence MIDI with Live. As for Push ... a VST/sound source mode like this would make Maschine a very useful part of a Push/Live setup ...

Also... I'm reading suggestions in this thread that Live doesn't slice. I'd suggest give it a try sometime. Every slice gets it's own channel strip, independent FXchains/sends , EQ, routing, randomization etc (& whatever you can think of)... it just doesn't get better than this AFAIC. What you can do with sliced loop in Live is astounding.

 

If the same bug is reported 20 times...it is still one bug. :lol:

I am certainly no fan of Ableton. But this product does look nice and I may try it out. I am still in search of a DAW to use alongside the Ren. A DAW with a dedicated controller would be the one I lean towards.

 

Jahrome & Noiserot on the same thread This should be fun

 

I don't think anyone suggested that Live doesn't slice. I think you misread the part about not being able to slice from the Push controller and how it wasn't made for hands-on sample chopping on the hardware like Maschine where the waveforms and slices show up on the hardware's LCD display and how you can quickly duplicate pads from the hardware.

 

yes quite possibly misread the meaning ...

I don't know what Push can do really, but I'd presume it will be able to control everything that can be controlled in Live by any other controller, which is almost everything.

 

It doesn't do everything that Touchable does.

 

How do you know? I haven't seen a feature list for it, or anything other than the preview videos and couple of responces from the project manager on the Ableton forum...

 

There are some obvious differences such as xy pads and other features unique to Touchable.

 

Ah well yes, no xy pad for sure.

The thing is I don't think the idea for this controller is to fit every feature from every other controller on the market. It would make a pretty unusable controller and would be a futile task.

Ableton Live is an incredibly open system. Anyone proficient with Python scripting or Maxx can create a workable midi controller for it. So for Ableton to try and cram in every function that anyone had come up with is foolish really (although I'm sure they considered an xy pad and probably decided against because of the physical footprint).

What Push appears to be to me, is a controller that is tailored for Abletons well established workflow, the session view. It seems to be designed to build the basics of a track from scratch using the session view with control over useful and relevant parameters along the way.

Obviously we'll have to wait until it is released to see how well they have executed it.

 

As days go by I'm having second thoughts whether to ask for a refund on Suite 8 upgrade (couldn't resist the hype) and wait patiently for Bitwig. One thing that has me lusting for bitwig except it's beautiful NI inspired UI is Javascript Midi remote control.

I'm a web designer / developer and I know JS pretty well. I would be nice for me to use my skills and build a killer Maschine template

 

+1

and yet, 19 pages later......................sigh

 

Well hopefully one huge difference between touchAble and Live with be stability, I've had Touchable crash or do weird things on occasion that happen more often than I'd like.

I certainly do not want them to take away the sequencer in Maschine as a VST, I use it. I use the controls on the pads for quickly changing things in the sequence. While I agree that some things make sense in and out of the VST as opposed to the stand-alone, some duplication of functionality of the host is welcome. I'd like a full featured ARP in Maschine.

All that said, what Maschine isn't able to do for me right now is be efficient on CPU resources. This is why I use it in Live to do mostly percussion, which for me, it HIGHLY excels at. While theoretically you can have a million plugins running in it, on a 4 core i7 3Gz, I was surprised at 8 instances of massive being unable to run at 512 buffer size stand-alone without hiccuping. In Live, I surpass the plugin usage by a huge amount and have no issue. Now Live is NOT as efficient as Logic in terms of plugin load, Maschine really needs some optimization as it's pretty far away.

Yet, I knew this before I bought it, and I knew that what I wanted was a hands on percussion solution with resampling capability. For this, it's just really really fun to work with.

The other thing too is Push isn't in anyones hands, so the breadth of what it can do is unknown. It might be awesome, it might be the worst thing ever.

I will say this. All this talk about the encoders above or below. Last night I realized that I cannot see the displays on the Maschine when I am changing parameters. Since the knobs are below and my Maschine sits at an angle away from me, my hand blocks the display. I worked with my hand as if to pretend my hand was above the display and at least under where the knob would be, my hand didn't block that area. So, in the end, I agree with the Ableton assessment, I think they made a better call on knob placement. Sure, it's opinion, it's highly dependent on how you use the device in front of you, but in the end, it's absolutely subjective to the user. In the end, the knob placement is not the deciding factor on EITHER controller for me.

I think what will be the big decider is if you like Live or not. I love using Live on the whole, so this just extends Live in ways I want. And now, I am gonna have my 16 pads PLUS 64 pads. I can have my melodic stuff AND my percussive stuff separated out and I like that.

The other thing I want to know is what access Ableton allows us to have with Push through MaxForLive. Could be some really fun stuff with that.

 

It must just be me...

I'm more excited about Live 9 than the Push controller

The Push does look like a great bit of kit but it remains to be seen, and what turn out to be its best features will be there because they are features of Ableton Live.

 

If bitwig is > $300 then i doubt ill upgrade...everything 9 offers i pretty much have, including " humming detection" lol

I really wanted dual monitor support or a mix view on the arrangement page at least...i dont mix in Live but it would help in tracking...so wait and see whats goes down

 

+1 thats exactly how I have been feeling and thinking...
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I can tell you are a Ableton Live fan and user...
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Really? What have you been smoking... Can I please have some?
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thankyou! thankyou!
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LOL please....
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yes very true there... and one thing id like to just settle for the people is that AKAI have had no input on this controller...

Push is a total ableton design...

People need to not talk **** if its not true...

 

it is not just you :lol:

also, if i want to play chords and melodies i will just use a keyboard.

sowari

 

It's nice to have an alternative though.

I'm pretty excited about the melodic element of the pads in Push. I put a feature request here a couple of years ago to be able to have the pads tuned to scales and keys. I also like the idea of being able to learn patterns and shapes when playing melodies and chords, much like guitarists do (although you can probably do that already but, because of the 16 pads, in a much more limited way) .

Edit: Oh and i'm excited by Live 9 too, i just got a letter yesterday telling me i had a Live 9 Suite license waiting for me on release.

 

you can dual monitor anything man...
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yes that's what sane people do

 

You know... not all the people are proficient on keyboards. For instance, I play guitar and I'm a mediocre kb player. Isomorphic layouts, or better... iPad keyboards that morph to whatever key are very helpful for me.

At the moment I use my iPad for everything via Bluetooth Midi (MAC). I control knobs & stuff, and I also play chords and melodies using the awesome Soundprism.

 

does your guitar strum itself?