Ableton proudly presents Live's most significant release to date: Live 4. This release extends Live's real-time music-making approach to the complete range of today's music production techniques.

Extended information

In Live 4, you will find a complete and inspiring approach to MIDI sequencing, pattern recording, drag-and-drop sampling, virtual instruments and MIDI hardware support. We have also made substantial extensions and enhancements to existing functionality, including such features as swing/groove for audio and MIDI clips, a powerful new channel-routing scheme, simplified recording, sample reverse, and several exciting new creative options for the Session View.

In creating Live 4, we faced the challenge of adding our most requested features while keeping Live simple, solid and inspiring to use. The new functionality simultaneously widens Live's scope and strengthens the qualities that make the program stand out. We would like to express our gratitude to the Live users who urged us to make this happen, and to make it happen in the right way.

MIDI Tracks, Effects, and Instruments

MIDI sequencing in Live has been designed to get the user started within seconds. Software instruments appear in Live's built-in browser. Dragging an instrument from the browser into the mixer creates a MIDI track with that instrument, ready to play and record. MIDI effects and audio effects can be instantly dragged into the same track, without dealing with menus or abstract routing concepts. The signal flow within the track is intuitively set up by drag-and-drop. The Track View provides instant access to all controls of the instrument and the effects in the track.

Live 4 also includes the 'Simpler' sampling instrument which allows for instant sampling, polyphonic playback and creative exploration of any sound dragged into its display. 'Impulse' is a polyphonic percussion sampler with drag-and-drop sample import and powerful and innovative sound-shaping controls. In addition, Live hosts any VSTi or Audio Units (Mac OS X only) plug-in instrument. MIDI tracks with no software instrument deliver MIDI to external hardware synthesizers, ReWire client programs, or other MIDI tracks in Live. Live 4 also comes with 5 MIDI effects. The 'Scale' effect, for instance, forces incoming notes onto a chosen musical scale and fits well with 'Random', which creates specified random pitch deviations.

MIDI Clips

MIDI clips are created by recording or by dragging in standard MIDI files from Live's browser. Notes can be viewed, created and edited in the Clip View's note editor. When draw mode is engaged, the note editor behaves like a drum pattern interface, where a pattern step is set or cleared by a single click, and flams are crated by dragging across multiple steps. Unlike static drum grid or step sequencer interfaces, Live's flexible grid allows the user to change the step resolution at any time, for instance from straight to triplet notes.

MIDI clips, as audio clips, have their own loop settings. MIDI controller movements are represented as clip envelopes, which can be unlocked from the notes for creating independent movement. The same real-time options apply to MIDI clips as to audio clips: one can launch MIDI clips at any time, with real-time quantization preventing rhythmical error. MIDI clips can be assigned to computer keys or MIDI note ranges for jamming with musical phrases. MIDI clips can also be exported from Live as Standard MIDI files.

Patterns can be built-up on the fly by overdubbing MIDI onto clips while they play in a loop. In conjunction with the integrated new 'Impulse' percussion-sampling instrument, Live exhibits the spontaneous creation options that are normally associated with hardware groove boxes. One can in fact use the computer keyboard to play Impulse's percussions and create grooves from the laptop alone. Standard multitrack linear-Arrangement MIDI recording and overdubbing is available as well.

Flexible Routing

New monitoring, track routing, and view navigation avail non-disruptive track setup and recording. Any track can feed and tap other tracks for submixes or layering as well as be routed to eight auxiliary sends per Live Set.

More new Features

Swing and Groove: Audio and MIDI clips support variable real-time swing and individual groove parameters.
Automatic Jamming. Audio and MIDI clips can be set to produce customized or even random sequences of loops or samples in Live's Session View. Great for generating new ideas, beat making, or advance preparation of a DJ performance.
Sample Reverse: single button can reverse any audio clip in real-time.
Session View scenes can change the project tempo.
Session View scenes can be set to advance automatically.
Audio performance has been optimized for Macintosh computers.

Technical specifications

Recording - Editing

24 bit / 192 kHz multitrack hard disk recording
Complete MIDI and audio sequencing with non-destructive editing, unlimited undo
Instant capturing and resampling of audio signals while the music is playing
Real-time loop / overdub MIDI recording for pattern build-up
Unlimited audio and MIDI tracks

Non-linear Sequencing

Audio and MIDI files can be mapped to MIDI keyboard ranges and computer keys for instant triggering
Records all actions as arrangements and automations for later in-depth editing
Scene concept for non-linear organization of audio and MIDI files for live and jamming purposes
Customized and random sequencing of audio and MIDI files for generating ideas and preparing performances
Actions can be set up to allow for automatic jamming and generative music

Time and Pitch Manipulation

Real-time time-stretching to play any audio file in sync with the project tempo, even if original tempo fluctuates
Real-time pitch shifting for the individual notes in a sample
Real-time groove and swing manipulations for MIDI and audio
Tempo automation via continous breakpoint envelopes

Instruments - Effects

Includes a wide array of innovative Ableton audio and MIDI effects
'Simpler' instrument for polyphonic playback and creative exploration of any sound recorded or dragged into Live
'Impulse' percussion sampler instrument for dynamic drum sound design
Endless expansion via VST, Audio Units, and ReWire Plug-in support
Free assignment of effects, mixer, tempo and transport functions to MIDI controllers
Complete and easy automation recording and editing for all instrument and effects parameters

Browsing - Import - Export

Built-in browsers for previewing WAV, AIFF and SDII audio files in sync with the project tempo
Audio tracks play mono and stereo audio files of any sample rate, bit depth, length with no prior conversion
Drag-and-drop MIDI file import
Exports MIDI and audio files

Routing - I/O - Sync

Drag-and-drop signal flow management for MIDI effects, instruments and audio effects
Unlimited bussing for audio and MIDI signals for mix grouping, synth layering, post-effects recording, MIDI to audio
Supports previewing and cuing via separate audio outs
Up to 8 send / return tracks
Supports ASIO, MME, DirectX, Sound Manager and CoreAudio audio interfaces
Manages unlimited number of MIDI ins and outs
Acts as MIDI clock master or slave; MIDI timecode slave
Acts as ReWire master or slave

Macintosh System Requirements

Any G3 or faster
256 MB RAM
Mac OS 9.2 or later / Mac OS X 10.1.5 or later

PC System Requirements

600 MHz CPU or faster
256 MB RAM
Windows 98/2000/XP
Windows-compatible soundcard