Should I buy Ableton Live 'intro', 'standard' or 'suite' ?

[Dextroze]

Hello guys,

 

There is a 30% discount on Ableton Live until tomorrow, I think I want to buy it (mostly to sequence my hardware stuff but also to compose my music).

Wich bundle should I take ? Do you think Max for Live is interesting for stuff I might do ? (Live concerts with tons of vst synths, synths, loops etc.).

Nowing I already have : Keyscape, Arturia V-Collection 7, Omnisphere 2, and Stylus RMX (which I regret a bit byingâ¦).

 

Thanks in advance !

 

Here"s a little jam I made recently with a friend of me (the drummer) : https://www.instagram.com/p/B_7t3Bhgvba/ 2

Sorry the jam is not entirely here !

[johnchop]

intro has very limited track count (16), so I'd say consider Standard at least.

 

In fact, I'd say only Standard, especially with the plugins you have.

 

You can upgrade to suite later, however, I'll note that as someone who upgraded to Suite and also has a crapton of other instrument and effects plugins, I regret it.

 

You will get a TON of use out of Standard.

 

 

See https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

 

-John

[Dr Mike Metlay]

I have Suite. There are a few things I get a lot of use out of, that I would miss if they were gone. However, if I had never known about them or had access to them, my life would probably not be significantly poorer for it.

 

Get Standard to start with. If you read up on Max For Live and feel you really really need it, you can upgrade to Suite later... and then all the built-in instruments become available, some of which are rather nice but none of which is a killer IMO.

[Dextroze]

Thank you guys )

I think I'll go for the standard version then

What do you think about Max for Live ?

Do I need it ? What do you use it for ?

[johnchop]

Haven't found a compelling need for Max for Live yet.

[ProfD]

I have recently taken the Ableton Live plunge. It came bundled with my Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface.

 

Also in the bundle was one instrument from XLN Addictive Keys. Of course, I picked the Mark One. It's not too bad for my 1st soft Rhodes.

 

The jury is still out on whether or not I'll need to upgrade to Ableton Live Standard or Suite but I definitely will never buy another KB workstation.

[konaboy]

for me, Intro, is the pick of the bunch.  Much more affordable, the track count is ample for the stuff most of us are doing. I find that limitations can be creative, the staggering number of instruments, effects and presets in Suite can lead to too much choice.

 

In fact, I've made a lot of decent music on the free version that you get bundled withj some hardware devices. If you use external instrument and effects plugins it's fine, and I see you have a lot of them, so you might not be using the ableton instruments you get in the more expensive versions.

 

Whatever you choose, download and try out the demo first. I wouldn't want you to buy expensive software and then end up not using it for any reason.

[RABid]

On 5/19/2020 at 5:58 PM, johnchop said:

You can upgrade to suite later, however, I'll note that as someone who upgraded to Suite and also has a crapton of other instrument and effects plugins, I regret it.

Same for me. I have suite, but hardly use it. Use that money towards Komplete. Max for Live seems great on paper and I have bought a few expansions for it, but I find I never use it. To me a lot of the Max stuff is comparable to those one note wonder patches on Korg synths. Impressive, but not something you would put into a song.

[miden]

I suggest you have a CLOSE look at what you DON'T get in the intro  (and even the standard) versions....no WAV,FLAC,MP3, AIFF,Ogg Vorbis support ; No MIDI sequencing of hardware software instruments ; no Time signature changes ;  no track freeze ....these are just a couple that jumped out at me when I had a look at the link provided by johnchop....  https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/

 

I should point out I do not even have a demo version, but the OP got me thinking with the discount it might be time to finally have a look at it...but for what I do I'd have to buy the suite version.

 

That is a LOT of "crippling" by Ableton for lesser versions imo.

[Docbop]

2 hours ago, miden said:

That is a LOT of "crippling" by Ableton for lesser versions imo.

That's the old Drug Dealer approach... The first taste is free... (okay reasonably priced)

[ElmerJFudd]

Start at the Intro level. See if you like it, get on with it, if it does enough for your needs.  There’s always an upgrade path for this stuff and you can spread out its cost over time working your way up if you even need it.  
 

Another DAW a lot of younger producers are into is FL Studio.  You can try it for free.  https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-download/
 

And don’t forget Reaper is free to try, very affordable if you buy a license.  
https://www.reaper.fm

 

There’s a free version of Waveform or Tracktion. 
https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

BandLab offers Calewalk for free.  https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk?lang=en
 

So lots of options.  

 

 

 

[miden]

24 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

Start at the Intro level. See if you like it, get on with it, if it does enough for your needs.  There’s always an upgrade path for this stuff and you can spread out its cost over time working your way up if you even need it.  
 

Another DAW a lot of younger producers are into is FL Studio.  You can try it for free.  https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-download/
 

And don’t forget Reaper is free to try, very affordable if you buy a license.  
https://www.reaper.fm

 

There’s a free version of Waveform or Tracktion. 
https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

BandLab offers Calewalk for free.  https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk?lang=en
 

So lots of options.  

 

 

 

 

Probs FL is closest to Live Elmer.... the others are DAW's which are a different "beast" , albeit with a couple of similarities. They work in different ways.

 

And that is why I have always struggled with apps like FL and Live (coming from a totally DAW historical workflow and experience) ...I have the full FL Studio Package but I've never really been able to get my head around it, and with Live, just a few "instructional" YT videos turned me off with just soooo much to learn and adapt to!

 

Not saying the OP will have such a battle, far from it, just posting my experience

[Bill H.]

Just an FWIW - I drop MP3 and WAV files all the time into Live 10 Intro for remixing purposes, and the program accepts them. Tracks 1 and 2 are labeled MIDI tracks, but I've never used them so don't know their limitations. My uses for Live is different than most of you, so I'm just gonna leave it there. 

[miden]

59 minutes ago, Bill H. said:

Just an FWIW - I drop MP3 and FLAC files all the time into Live 10 Intro for remixing purposes, and the program accepts them. Tracks 1 and 2 are labeled MIDI tracks, but I've never used them so don't know their limitations. My uses for Live is different than most of you, so I'm just gonna leave it there. 

 

Hmm, thanks, I wonder why the Ableton sites lists them as not supported?  Perhaps they have a different meaning to support...it might mean creating them? Not actually using them...something to check for sure!

[Bill H.]

My guess is that it's a features list that hasn't been updated. Every new version of Intro contains some new stuff from the other editions, and I'm on 10 now. That list says Live Intro doesn't include advanced warping, but it definitely does because I use it a lot.