Ableton Live 9 Announced Officially – Here Are The Details

Ableton today officially announced Live 9 – the long-awaited update to its popular performance DAW.

Updates include:

  • Session automation
  • New browser
  • New sounds
  • New studio effects
  • You can now extract musical information from samples
  • Improved editing tools
  • Max for Live is now included in Live Suite.

These features are common to all versions of Ableton Live 9:

  • Unique Session View for quick, intuitive composition, flexible performance and improvisation
  • Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192 kHz
  • Nondestructive editing with unlimited undo
  • Powerful MIDI sequencing of software and hardware instruments
  • Advanced warping and real-time time-stretching
  • Unlimited Instruments, Audio effects and MIDI effects per project
  • Group tracks
  • VST and Audio Unit support
  • Time signature changes
  • Multiple automation lanes
  • Track Freeze
  • Automatic plug-in delay compensation
  • MIDI remote control instant mapping
  • MIDI output to hardware synths
  • MIDI Clock/sync
  • ReWire
  • Multicore/multiprocessor support
  • WAV, AIFF, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC file support

Here’s an overview of what’s new:

Check out the details on Ableton Live 9 below – and let us know what you think!!

Session View automation lets you capture your performance or add movement to your loops. Use curves to make automation more musical. Live’s unique Session View makes it easy to improvise with musical ideas.

In Live 9, you can now record parameter changes directly into Session View for even more flexibility. Edit automation curves with the mouse to create smooth mix transitions or radical parameter changes in your clips.

Live’s new browser is designed to let you spend less time finding sounds and more time making music. Live’s new browser puts all of your instruments and effects, samples, Packs and VST/Audio Units plug-ins in one easy-to-navigate view. Drag and drop folders into the browser from anywhere on your computer. Search as you type, navigate from the keyboard and sort items by various categories.

New sound library – Live’s library includes new Instrument Racks and sounds to get you going fast. Live 9 Suite comes with more than 3000 production-ready sounds that give you the full range of vintage synthesizers, drum kits and one-shot samples, acoustic instruments and loops – all powered by Live’s built-in synthesizers and effects so they can be tweaked and personalized.

All sounds are organized for Live 9’s new browser and work seamlessly with all common hardware controllers. See the full list of Packs included with Live 9.

Improved effects. The new analog-modeled Glue Compressor and redesigned studio effects help you get a better sound in less time. Live’s new Glue Compressor, developed in collaboration with Cytomic, is modeled on a classic 80s console bus compressor, both for its great sound and also to provide musical results with a simple set of controls.

Live’s studio effects – Compressor, Gate and EQ Eight – have been improved with new displays, enhanced controls and better sound, making it easier to see and hear your changes.

New Audio to MIDI tools – Live 9’s new tools for converting audio to MIDI give you unprecedented flexibility to extract musical ideas from your samples and build upon them. Convert your favorite drum break with the Drums-to-MIDI feature and reuse it with your own sounds.

Speed up your remixing work by using Harmony-to-MIDI to get the notes and chords from the original audio stems. Or simply seed your creativity with inspiring, natural-feeling MIDI grabbed directly from the most exciting parts of your music collection. Use the rhythm from a sampled break with new sounds

See the possibilities Harmony, Melody and Drums to MIDI creates.
…or sing the music in your head. Sketch out ideas quickly by singing (or beatboxing) into Live and converting your recording to MIDI.

Powerful MIDI note manipulation tools and an improved editing workflow help you create new musical ideas fast.

  • Transform MIDI notes – New controls in the MIDI editor let you quickly invert, reverse, transpose and speed up or slow down selected MIDI notes in a single click.
  • Move notes on and off the grid – Beats are easier to see when editing, and editing grids are now “sticky,” allowing notes to be freely moved and resized while still snapping when close to grid lines.
  • Stretch MIDI notes – MIDI Note Stretch markers let you speed up, slow down – or even reverse – selected MIDI notes.
  • Warp clip automation – Audio clip automation is warped alongside the audio itself. Envelopes in MIDI clips can be stretched using MIDI stretch markers.
  • Edit automation more easily – Add or remove breakpoints with a single click. Hover the mouse near envelope segments to select and drag them without using a modifier.
  • Add curves to automation – Hold a modifier while dragging to create and edit curves in automation envelopes.

Max for Live is now included in Suite. Expand and extend your musical possibilities with Max for Live. Max for Live, based on Cycling 74’s Max 6, is now included with Live 9 Suite. Get access to all of the 900+ devices built by the Max for Live community. Get 24 new instruments and effects with Max for Live – including a convolution reverb.

Ableton Live 9 will be available in the first quarter of 2013.

Pricing:

  • $99 USD/79 EUR (Live 9 Intro download version)
  • 449 USD/349 EUR (Live 9 Standard download version)
  • $749 USD/599 EUR (Live 9 Suite download version).
  • Upgrades to Live 9 Standard / Live 9 Suite depend on the version you own. See the site for details.

72 thoughts on “Ableton Live 9 Announced Officially – Here Are The Details”

      1. Yeah errr tried reading the site and it is as confusing as hell. Don’t vote my post down just because the Ableton site is confusing.

            2. I spoke with Ableton about how upset I was that they expected me to pay $299.00 for an upgrade from Suite 8 to Suite 9 when it’s released. When, you have people able to buy Live Suite 8 at a 25% discount and get a free upgrade to Suite 9. Wth? LOL – that’s not right, is it? I gave them all my money $600.00 6 months ago and I get the shaft?

              So, they said, sorry and we will have an INTRODUCTORY offer for Suite 8 owners when it’s released, but we won’t see that offer until they release the software.

              I sure hope it’s the same as 25% off of Suite 8 as well 🙂

              Rob

    2. I just bought Live 8 and they were having a special that if you buy 8 now you get the upgrade to 9 free when it comes out. Plus 25% off! Just checked the site, offer is still up there. (no, I don’t work for them.)

  4. No mention of multi-monitor support? Or floating resizable device windows? Multiple midi track overlays would be nice too. Maybe “cue point” markers which could essentially be colored warp markers? Nested groups? Plus a host of various feature requests everyone else has been mentioning for a while? I’m happy for some of the new features they have included, but I feel like some of the biggest improvements they could make are seemingly minor tweaks on their part. And unless I missed something it doesn’t look like these things have been addressed. Did I miss something? Here’s hoping I did, haha.

    1. agreed on all counts! how about a scissor tool? customizable layouts? improved / optional zoom commands? the new stuff is amazing but yes pls address the tweaks!!!!!

  5. Push is $499 according to their new not-so-elegantly laid out (IMO) website. Upgrade from Suite 8 seems to be about $250

  7. I have the feeling Ableton rushed Live 9 since they know about Bitwig… They just added a few features, these could have been added to 8 in a couple of updates.
    Hey Bitwig, out of beta you go now. NOW !

      1. I really like the new site. Scrolling down for discovering all the gems of ableton 9.
        Click for sounds and videos are clear.
        Very rich and well structure with big buttons and very nice shoots.
        Clearly a step in a new trend of web design.

  14. while this is quite exciting, it seems there are few new features and still, many users’ long-standing demands for certain aspects of the software to be improved haven’t been addressed.

    this really should have been a point update, like 8.5…paying 250$ to get the Glue compressor and a bunch of new sounds seems a bit silly….:( and so many other effects could have been updated! like the auto-filter (new filter modes like formant, comb, etc.), beat repeat ( pitching repeats up, reverse repeats, etc.), a re-designed Amp that doesn’t sound like poop…

  15. Interesting. This adds a lot of features I felt were missing that kept me, as a musician, from moving to Live. It’s going to be a nice slug match between this and bigwig. Expect huge price drops soon!

    1. I think Bitwig bit off more than they can chew, trying to build a mature, Live-killer, on three different OS’s.

      They should get Mac or PC done well, and then look at expanding to other platforms.

  16. I just taped a small compressor to the mouthpiece of my Melodica. No more puffing and wheezing like an asthmatic bear. Now THAT’S an upgrade.

  17. 299 to upgrade from my live suite 8 to 9 . for some sample packs i never ever used.
    laaame. m4L should just be included (not just in the suite) , period . people who are into what m4L has to offer aren’t usually into using samples anyway (speaking for myself at least). so people who use samples can have their suite is what i am saying but for me to pay $299 just for M4L is a ripoff.

    bitwig where art thou ??

      2. What I mean is you have to log in- it depends what you own already, for example, owning M4L knocks another 50 E of be cost (my upgrade cost is 199E). Also note there was a bug on the site (now corrected) making it cheaper for non suit owners to upgrade to 9 than suit owners…. If you missed this bug you missed out (assuming they honour the purchases made)

        1. Ableton. Have now officially posted on the forum that there will be a very special upgrade price for live 8 suit owners closer to he actual release date.

      1. Well on the whole it got left out of the loop when Ableton gave Operator all those extra oscillators and other routing options like pitch envelope and editing the waveform table. Those are pretty extensive properties for the FM synthesis and make it quite the favorite of mine because the timbres are very new and cool. Analog needs more modulation – not the same as Operator – but like being able to play with the individual voices more and making some more controlled feedback and sync options would be a start

  21. In my opinion the upgrade to 9 is mild. I feel like since the important people left for Bitwig, Ableton has been suffering ever since. I love the flow of ableton, but the lack of support compared to other DAWs have lost its touch. Cool upgrades here, but not worth buying a whole new suite for. Looking forward to BitWig way more.

  22. Although Ableton may have missed a few much needed updates, they have certainly given us a glance into the future of music production with the announcement of Live 9. Live 9 will open the music production field to a whole new audience. While features such as “Harmony to MIDI” and “Melody to MIDI” will undoubtedly ease the workflow of those who already have a grasp on music theory and are otherwise musically “versed,” they will also encourage people who know little of music theory or do not play an instrument to dip their feet into music production. Same goes for the “Push” controller, which incorporates the composition, improvisation, and performance aspects of the APC40 and 20 into a new dedicated piece of hardware that caters to musical performance on its touch and velocity sensitive pads. The ability to organize these pads into particular scales will again encourage people who know little of music theory or instruments to experiment with music production by providing them with a way to shorten the learning curve associated with virtually every instrument. Granted these ideas are nothing new in principle, Ableton is delivering their manifestations in packages centered around Live, making the benefits of these concepts more accessible. Undoubtedly, this increased accessibility will precede a barrage of unoriginal or otherwise “bad” music, but it will simultaneously open the door for new and interesting sounds, perhaps from people who would otherwise not be able to produce music for some reason or another. While I look forwards to seeing all of Live’s issues addressed in full, I’m excited by the new features which they’ve introduced in Live 9, and I’m excited to see what people will create with it.

  23. Wait, will it be compatible with 10.6.8 Mac OS X, or will I go through the same crap that Sony’s Sound Forge for Mac gave me about it not working under Snow Leopard? The only reason I run 10.6.8 is because I doubt the stability of Reason 5 under Lion (let alone Mountain Lion).

  24. the current version of live 8 is totally compatible with mountain lion, i’m running it and the 64bit beta no problem….

    imo the only major compatibility issues with live i’ve ever heard are from people who have cracks of it…

  27. don’t forget that ableton 9 has been completely reprogrammed from scratch. so you will get a program that actually should work without all the bugs from ableton 8. concerning other requested features here is what ableton says on their website:

    “Why is the feature I wished for not included in Live 9?”
    We decided to focus on some of the most often wished features in Live 9, such as Session Automation recording, Automation curves, 64-bit support and a better MIDI editor. Some other features couldn’t be implemented at this point, but rest assured, we keep track of them in our internal wishlist.

    so don’t panic everything is gonna be alright 😉

    1. How do you equate “reprogrammed from scratch” with “all bugs squashed”? If it’s reprogrammed from scratch that means they start testing from scratch. For all we know, we might get old bugs AND brand new ones too.

      Along those lines, I can interpret what Ableton’s reply to missing features really meant: “Live 8’s bugs have been running circles around us for years and we didn’t have time to cook up anything but a couple popular features. But we need money, so here’s a new version of the suite.”

      Slim upgrade but it will probably get better after a few more feature updates. If not, the competition will really eat Ableton up. I love Live, but this is not enticing me to cough up.

    2. SOOO why not give us a price indicative of a regular upgrade if new features are moderate and mostly bug fixes are addressed and MAX for Live is really not essential to most people (although helpful as it may be)?? This Push thing with an upgrade is $850 – this is out of this world =0

  29. It’s funny how Logic Pro will release something worse than Ableton Live 9 and fanatics will go Ooh…Aaah… I luve the new Ableton. Just give us MULTI SCREEN SUPPORT & TAKE MY MONEY & SHUT UP!!! lol

  32. I bought Suite in June, and this pisses me off. Abelton has been in version 8 for three YEARS. I should have known this was coming, but still. I don’t wanna give them another $300 which is 50% the cost of Live in the first place! Session automation though, is well worth the price.

    Note, ableton, sell your features modularly, like your sound packs, you’ll make way more money.

  33. I wish companies would quit bundling loops I’ll never use and passing the cost on. Ableton should sell the regular version and give you either all the loops or Max. If you want both, pay for “suite”.

  35. Still mired in the cesspool of western tuning I see with no MIDI Tuning Standard support. You’d think options outside european intonation were some impossible challenge.

  37. um.i am being objective here…
    LogicPro is by far, by wayyy far,lol, NOT “worse”. lol.
    You could BUILD a clone of Live in Logic’s Environment window, complete with launchable clips and all.
    There are a very many things that are very basic that Live doesn’t even have at all.
    I mean EXTREMELY BASIC, like merge two regions or clips. you cant edit them at the same time, you cant Bounce in place. hide tracks. a MIXER, unlimited sends.
    Dude seriously? Logic comes with an ORGANIZED library of about 5,000 instruments and synths.
    I wont go on, seriously though too many to list, NO COMPARISON DUDE. Logic destroys the shit out of Live.

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