Ableton Live 12.1 is now in public beta. This free update for Ableton’s music performance and production software comes with significant additions and improvements to all editions of Live, including Live Lite, plus Push.

Live 12.1 introduces auto-tagging, making it easier to find the right sound in your user library. New tags are automatically assigned to all samples in the library less than a minute long, as well as to VST3 and AU plugins.

Auto Shift, Live’s new pitch correction and harmonization device, lets you manipulate and extract harmonies from vocals in real time. Choose a scale for Auto Shift to follow, and play and make harmonies from any monophonic signal with the dedicated sidechain.

Drum Sampler, Live’s new compact sample player, lets you tweak and enhance drum sounds on the fly. Limiter and Saturator have been redesigned, and the MIDI Editor now allows you to filter and select notes by time, pitch, or a number of other criteria. Two new MPE-specific MIDI Transformations – Glissando and LFO – let you create curves for the MPE parameters of selected notes.

Auto-tagging for all your samples. You can now search your entire user library faster with filters – and there’s no need to tag the samples yourself. Live 12.1 automatically assigns new tags to any sample in your library less than a minute long. VST3 plugins will also be assigned tags based on metadata.

Improved Limiter and Saturator. Limiter gets a complete overhaul – with a smoother release curve making for less distortion, better metering with the improved UI, and the addition of Mid/Side routing, True Peak, Soft Clip, and Maximize modes.

Along with a more focused front panel, Saturator sees the addition of a Bass Shaper curve ideal for low end processing. Drive 808 kicks and sub basses as hard as you like and let Saturator keep the frequencies in check.

MIDI improvements. You can now filter and select MIDI notes by time, pitch, velocity, chance, duration or by a number of other dimensions using a new toolbar in the MIDI Editor. 12.1 also introduces two new MPE-specific MIDI Transformations – Glissando and LFO – allowing you to create curves for the MPE parameters of selected notes.

Ableton Live 12.1 and Push. Live 12.1 comes with a host of updates to Push. With Push 2 and 3 you can now design sounds with more detail and control by mapping Macros, and experiment with a range of different sounds using Macro Variations. Push 3 now also lets you add groove instantly to all the MIDI clips in your Set with a single twist of an encoder.

The new update also brings Live 12’s filtering system to the browser on Push 2 and 3, as well as auto-tagging for samples on Push 3 standalone. Plus, you can now save Default Sets and Template Sets on Push 2 and 3, and organize your Sets by moving tracks and scenes.

For a full list of what’s new, check out the release notes.
If you own a Live 12 license, you can join the beta program to test Live 12.1.

Pricing and availability. Once the beta testing period is over, Ableton Live 12.1 will be free for all owners of a Live 12 license. Ableton Live 12 is available for purchase from Ableton.com and, in some countries, through local retailers.

Ableton Live 12 costs €79 / $99 / £69 for Intro, €279 / $439 / £259 for Standard and €599 / $749 / £539 for Suite. Owners of previous versions of Live can log in to their accounts to check upgrade pricing.

Ableton Push is also available through Ableton.com. Push costs $999 / €949 / £879, and Push (standalone version) costs $1999 / €1899 / £1669.   Upgrade Kits are also now available and cost $1049 / €999 / £879.