Heading the main new features in Ableton Live 11 is the new Comping capability, allowing users to organize multiple passes of an audio or MIDI performance into individual takes. Then, the best parts of these takes can be stitched together for the final result. Next up is linked-track editing, allowing to link two or more tracks to edit their content simultaneously.
Musicians and composers will be particularly pleased with the new MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE) tools, adding bends, slides and pressure for each individual note in a chord. This enables subtle expression variations, morphing between chords and creating evolving sonic textures more easily. A great feature for sound designers and soundtrack composers.
This is complemented with the new Expression View, which allows editing the pitch, slide and pressure envelopes of each note to refine expression. And Live 11 now supports new MPE-capable native devices, with Wavetable, Sampler and Arpeggiator, now updated to support MPE. There are many new devices in this version including Hybrid Reverb, combining convolution and algorithmic reverbs, which makes it possible to create any space, from accurate real-life environments to those that defy physical reality; or Spectral Resonator, allowing users to break the spectrum of an incoming audio signal into partials, then stretches, shifts and blurs the result by a frequency or a note in subtle or radical ways.
Other new devices in Live 11 include Spectral Time, transforming sound into partials and feeding them into a frequency-based delay, resulting in metallic echoes, frequency-shifted and reverb-like effects. And there's also Inspired by Nature, with six playful instruments and effects that use nature and physics as their inspiration; and PitchLoop89 for effects with delays and vibrato.
The new version also expands on features for the stage, with Live Tempo Following, which adjusts the tempo based on incoming
audio in real time; Macro Snapshots for later recall, and much more that is fully detail with entertaining videos on the Ableton website.
Ableton Live 11 also brings new functionality to Ableton’s Push hardware instrument, reflecting visualizations of key parameters in the new devices when controlling them directly from the surface; new Key and Scale features; polyphonic aftertouch support; and access up to 16 Macros.
Max for Live also gets major updates in Live 11. Among the many improvements are MIDI Channel Routings, new API additions, performance improvements, improvements for Device creators, and much more.
Ableton Live 11 is now available at Ableton.com and at local retailers worldwide. The Live 11 Suite trial includes all the features of the full version, including saving and exporting and can be used alongside the previous version of Live. Ableton Live 11 costs 79 EUR / 99 USD for the Live Intro version; 349 EUR / 449 USD for Live Standard; and 599 EUR / 749 USD for Live Suite. Existing Ableton Live owners should log into their accounts to check upgrade pricing.
Ableton products include Live; Push, a hardware instrument for hands-on playing and composing with Live; and Link, a technology that allows multiple devices to play in time together over a wireless connection. Ableton was founded in 1999, and the first version of Live was released in 2001. The company is led by its founders from its headquarters in Berlin, and has additional offices in Los Angeles and Tokyo.
www.ableton.com
