It's been a pleasure to work at Ableton and to be at Loop. Gerhard as a co-founder always had an open ear, and the company deeply cared about its employees. And Robert provided valuable guidance from an artistic perspective.
I think the way Ableton works is responsible for a good part of Live's success: Treat people with respect, as something valuable and unique, and they will create an awesome product. There's a lot of attention to detail, a lot of dedication towards the artists that use Live every day. I mean, in the end, Live should not only enable very different people to create their own unique sound and music, but also work reliably, on stage, in real time, on a desktop OS. There isn't much talk about that, but DAWs are pretty complex, tightly coupled pieces of software, due to those requirements. There's a lot of unsung heroes.
Anyway, I'm grateful for all the lovely people I met at Ableton, for what I learnt, on a technical and social level, and the trust that was put into me, by giving me quite a free hand over a few subsystems of the software.
It's really nice (as a very long term user - and lover! - of Ableton) to hear that they're a great company as well as a company that makes great software. This makes me happy. Thanks for posting :-)
I like how Ableton brought a breath of fresh air into traditional DAWs. If you use Reaper, but want it to be more like Ableton there is Playtime[1]. From what I understand it is currently rewritten in Rust with a new release expected in 2024.
Interesting, thanks for posting. I was looking for something similar although aimed primarily at drum patterns programming and later arranging them into a song, not unlike the older drum machines allowed, but more modern with visual representation of patterns as objects on screen and the ability to create variations just by cloning them for example by drag&drop then applying the needed changes, then link them together. This could be also used live, possibly creating different paths according to MIDI signals from external devices (pads? - pedalboard?) for example to choose to continue a song for a few more bars, or a different ending, a song variation based on the audience mood, etc.
When I was looking for a DAW a couple of years ago, the sheer amount of helpful content and tutorials stood out, both from the company and the community they built. I also like their creator-focused events (Loop) and the one-thing series which reminds me to try something new.
Does anyone have recommendations for a DAW that's more for jamming - playing along to a song, or making stuff up on top of on a premade drum loop & bass line?
I found that most DAWs seem to be aimed at music creation instead. Camelot is close, but it can't take in a drum loop.
Disclaimer: I haven't tried (or put in effort into learning) many DAWs.
in 2019 bought a serious amount of hardware. As an FL user - i tried to make it work in FL - it was a miserable experience. FF to a few months ago - bought an RME AES midi card - connect my physical synths to it....grab an ableton demo - fire up ableton - and with an extra piece of magic - the Novation Launchpad MK3 - im jamming, looping, combining patterns - all screen free...its the best of "dawless" and computer music production i've ever experienced.
I get the whole Live fanboying. It's really great for open ended production - and perfectly suites the fluidity and separation of "audio finger painting" - and "song finishing".
I have many gripes about it - which both FL and Reaper address - but i highly recommend it as a DAW for people who want to "play"/"bash stuff out".
While Live certainly isn't perfect and there are other DAWs out there that are quite feature-rich and offer a different & interesting workflow, I keep coming back to Live as my main DAW. It's just so versatile. Keep up the great work, Ableton!
Useful reminder that even if all you can see is differences, you probably have a lot of commonalities with others:
> So from the moment you met, did you know you wanted to work together and make music?
> GB: No! We hated each other!
> RH: We came from a very different background and, actually it’s a good question because later we figured out we have a lot of things in common. But on first sight we only saw the differences.
> RH: To paint a totally cliche picture, I was at that time the kind of totally lost goth punk person. And Gerhard pretty much looked the same as he did now [...] nice white scarf and a very stable demeanor. Like the type of people I hated at school.
> RH: Right after noticing that the other was there too, we ran up the auditorium to the exit and said: “What the fuck are you doing here?” And well the next thing you do is you decide you need to have some coffee to discuss that problem.
> Ok, so that’s basically where everything stems from. You became friends through mutual hatred of each other, and how did that become music? Like were you making electronic music already?
> RH: Yes.
And then they both went on to collaborate and create one of the most popular DAWs out there :)
v1ne|2 years ago
I think the way Ableton works is responsible for a good part of Live's success: Treat people with respect, as something valuable and unique, and they will create an awesome product. There's a lot of attention to detail, a lot of dedication towards the artists that use Live every day. I mean, in the end, Live should not only enable very different people to create their own unique sound and music, but also work reliably, on stage, in real time, on a desktop OS. There isn't much talk about that, but DAWs are pretty complex, tightly coupled pieces of software, due to those requirements. There's a lot of unsung heroes.
Anyway, I'm grateful for all the lovely people I met at Ableton, for what I learnt, on a technical and social level, and the trust that was put into me, by giving me quite a free hand over a few subsystems of the software.
dmje|2 years ago
weinzierl|2 years ago
[1] https://www.helgoboss.org/projects/playtime/
squarefoot|2 years ago
ano-ther|2 years ago
They also have been very good at marketing.
When I was looking for a DAW a couple of years ago, the sheer amount of helpful content and tutorials stood out, both from the company and the community they built. I also like their creator-focused events (Loop) and the one-thing series which reminds me to try something new.
Scene_Cast2|2 years ago
I found that most DAWs seem to be aimed at music creation instead. Camelot is close, but it can't take in a drum loop.
Disclaimer: I haven't tried (or put in effort into learning) many DAWs.
Philpax|2 years ago
parenthesis|2 years ago
roddylindsay|2 years ago
an_aparallel|2 years ago
I get the whole Live fanboying. It's really great for open ended production - and perfectly suites the fluidity and separation of "audio finger painting" - and "song finishing".
I have many gripes about it - which both FL and Reaper address - but i highly recommend it as a DAW for people who want to "play"/"bash stuff out".
NickC25|2 years ago
While Live certainly isn't perfect and there are other DAWs out there that are quite feature-rich and offer a different & interesting workflow, I keep coming back to Live as my main DAW. It's just so versatile. Keep up the great work, Ableton!
uxcolumbo|2 years ago
diggan|2 years ago
> So from the moment you met, did you know you wanted to work together and make music?
> GB: No! We hated each other!
> RH: We came from a very different background and, actually it’s a good question because later we figured out we have a lot of things in common. But on first sight we only saw the differences.
> RH: To paint a totally cliche picture, I was at that time the kind of totally lost goth punk person. And Gerhard pretty much looked the same as he did now [...] nice white scarf and a very stable demeanor. Like the type of people I hated at school.
> RH: Right after noticing that the other was there too, we ran up the auditorium to the exit and said: “What the fuck are you doing here?” And well the next thing you do is you decide you need to have some coffee to discuss that problem.
> Ok, so that’s basically where everything stems from. You became friends through mutual hatred of each other, and how did that become music? Like were you making electronic music already?
> RH: Yes.
And then they both went on to collaborate and create one of the most popular DAWs out there :)
chris_st|2 years ago
glimshe|2 years ago
IAmGraydon|2 years ago