24 thoughts on “Ableton Live 11 Now Available, With New Comping Tools, MPE Support & More”

1. Has it been optimized for M1 macs?

   1. Supported but Not native. Rosetta so efficient that it may not matter much

2. Not yet.

3. Still no support for Ara2. I really wish they had included that + something similar to the chord track of studio one.
   I also like the signal splitting of Studio One (notation and mastering features as well, but those aren’t perhaps the type of features the target audience of Live are looking for).
   And there are some areas where bitwig has the upper hand.
   And cubase 11 and reaper as far as I know have better track export, something that is really useful in this multi daw age, and for sending more than just two tracks for mastering (an approach that will probably become common).
   And I do wish Ableton had support for surround, as some like to use multi channel as a creative tool, and then support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X is practical as the decoding is flexible and adopts to the number of channels accessible at the playback.

   1. to your point about surround, i think that’s another case of simply not being a matter of target audience. that strikes as quite a highly peripheral concern for most Live users.

      With export, do you mean something better for “printing” stems management? that would be sensible!

      I’ve straight up never heard of Ara2 and been doing just fine. kinda niche concern if everything floats along as well as it does without that.

      1. ara2 is certainly not a niche feature for anyone working with melodyne.
         Anyone who has ever experienced the difference would prefer to never have to go back to a DAW without it.

         Yes, reaper and cubase 11, have smart features when it comes to naming and handling tracks, when exporting to stems.

         I have seen several of artists working with ableton and multi channel performances. Atmos and DTS:X, open ups multi channel creativity, as the decoder will deal with the audio in the best way it can, from 2 up to 30+ channels. So I think we would see a lot of creative use of it, if it was supported.

         Real surround support, also open ups for more realistic reverbs.

         I have also seen a lot of videos of media composers using ableton. Being able to explore surround when composing can make a difference to what the end result will be.

   2. You have to pay licensing royalties to use DTS or Dolby products, plus go through certification to use Dolby, which can be a multi-year process. This is a way more complex ask than I think you realize.

   3. I see a lot requests for ARA2 and other generic DAW functions in many of the facebook ableton groups. I think many of these requests are coming from fairly new users of live. Live just isn’t particularly aimed at guitarists who have recognised the limitations of their instrument and have decided to dabble in production. When live first came on the scene all those years ago it filled a gap in the live electronic performance/production market. It was a game changer and a liberation for many electronic musicians. Ableton has built on that rubric and expanded Live into what it is today. Perfect for many, misunderstood by some.

      1. As a guitarist who moved from Logic to Ableton a few years ago I’ve found it to be an amazingly creative beast, but it took me a few months to get away from the
         concept of a “tape rell” DAW,

4. This amp goes to 11

   1. Still, no surround support.. Disappointing, considering that it’s 2021

5. Damn, I just missed the $200 off upgrade deal.

6. 3% different than Ableton Live 10 for the small price of $749

   1. 3% seems optimistic. But I’m pretty sure the upgrade price from 10 is a lot less than $749.

   2. My upgrade price was less than $300.

   3. My upgrade for full Suite version was $180USD.

7. 40% differant from ableton 10, and $230 upgrade price, cant wait to see what m4live devices will be in the future, great update!

8. I’d be interested to know how the new follow tempo feature measures up…. my band had untold grief trying to get the Beatseeker add-on to work… it was so hit and miss that we lost all confidence in it… it was perfect for one song and then completely off for the next … in the end we resorted to old faithful ie. sending an audio click track from Live to our drummer who strapped a pair of headphones on and held on for dear life.

   Other than that, L11 looks OK… some of the new features aren’t useful to me at this time but I’ll upgrade in time.

   1. The follow tempo feature is very weak (unless its just a simple drum and no other sounds!) but all of the other features such as comping, MPE, probability and the new packs, instruments and FX are great. It was a very good update (and decent value, especially with 20% off). Normally you will get even more free updates and stuff for the life of 11….no paid 0.5 updates! So all in all I am more than happy to upgrade (11 suite)

      1. I haven’t used this feature yet (might not ever have the occasion to do so), but I suspect that one would need a separate mic capable of handling high SPL (can handle being close to source) along with fairly surgical application of EQ to isolate the principal frequency of the trigger. I’m wondering how good a syncopated trigger would be.

9. Dunno. I’m a bit underwhelmed.

10. I pre-ordered, I am somewhat happy but…

    Did Live try to install itself into c:\ProgramData\ for you too? If so: BEWARE, you are in DANGER!

    See: c:\program files\ is protected by the OS against tampering, even it that comes from you. c:\programdata on the other hand is not, it’s also not meant for program files but for data. You know? Stuff you can’t run to take over a computer?

    At the time of writing I installed Live 11, and it ended up in programdata, which I cannot believe. This is a HUGE problem due to software security. As mentioned: anyone can infect your software, ‘programdata’ was’t even MEANT for software!

    What are these idiots doing?!

11. MPE is long needed, so good.

    Right now Bitwig’s the better play though.

    Adding MPE now is going to stop some Live diehards from switching away. But it’s not going to bring new users in because if you’re a new user you’ll go with Bitwig if you have the cash, or Reaper if you don’t.

    Everybody else is just … !?!??

    1. yeah… i really do *not* think that’s the case lol. there aren’t even *that* many MPE controllers, and with Push now being MPE enabled. i don’t see why this would somehow be splitting the ticket.

       I respect and admire Bitwig for what it is, but i really don’t thing there’s some kind of trend of even quite casual (non-pirating) users somehow jumping platforms from Live just because… uh… Live had an update? really doesn’t follow.

       MPE is great and extremely valuable, but i also really don’t think it’s the deal-breaker/maker that a lot of ppl seem to think it is. i do look forward to making use of it… when i can get my hands on an MPE enabled controller lol