Ableton? worth a shot?

[0bleak]

I was thinking about messing around with ableton.
Is it worth someone with mental disabilities trying to give it a go?
It looks pretty wild, and the way you "write" music in it is kind of... oblique
I haven't done any music production in decades (besides messing around with the limits of what someone can do with a dj program), but regular step sequencing - I understood that.
It also looks like I could get lost in the woods pretty easily considering all of the infinite things you can do with it from sound design, effects, sampling, etc. etc. etc.
I'm _really_ interested in ableton's warping and stretching capabiities - the stuff you can do with it is insane! It's like the key to unlocking the multiverse.
Perhaps it would be easier for me to use a bit of kit with it like Push.
Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale ends Tuesday.

 

[0bleak]

forgive me if this stuff is all extremely old hat to everyone but me, but for me it's pretty amazing what you can do these days - that's why i'm so interested (again, I haven't really produced music in 30+ years)


"slicing to midi" - mindblowing!

Taking a song, or part of a song or vocal and so easily and effortlessly making a new "drum rack" out of the slices...


although I know all of this stuff will be harder for me, but perhaps worth a shot

 

[versh]

You should ask @wektor about it. He recently offered his services in this department.

I'm a freelancer now

ADMINS REMOVE IF NOT ALLOWED Properly back in The Netherlands and broke now which means that I should make use of my registration with the chamber of commerce. Hence, it is time to return to freelance business of electronic music consulting and education: If you ever wanted to learn a thing or...

www.dissensus.com

 

[Mr. Tea]

I bloody love it, although the laptop I had it loaded on sadly died about 18 months ago and so far I've only replaced it with a very basic work laptop that probably wouldn't run it (or would be unusably slow). I've not used any comparable SW so I have no way of saying it's better or worse than other programs of a similar price. That said, I got my copy as an illegal rip on Pirate Bay years ago...

Some of its features are pretty intuitive but the way it saves song files that use samples you've loaded in is an absolute pig. There are workarounds but it takes some getting used to.

 

[0bleak]

You should ask @wektor about it. He recently offered his services in this department.

I'm a freelancer now

ADMINS REMOVE IF NOT ALLOWED Properly back in The Netherlands and broke now which means that I should make use of my registration with the chamber of commerce. Hence, it is time to return to freelance business of electronic music consulting and education: If you ever wanted to learn a thing or...

www.dissensus.com

Yeah, I just don't know if I could afford paid tutoring along with buying it and hardware (I definitely don't want to be tied to the keyboard for everything).

 

[Mr. Tea]

@0bleak I don't know if 'serious' users would make as much use of the drum machines and soft-synths that come with the program as I do, but I made this mainly using stuff that came with Ableton:



There might be some bits and pieces in there made using some third-party plug-ins I downloaded for free, and there's a bass guitar sample I recorded myself, but I think 90% of the track is probably native Ableton sounds.

 

[0bleak]

@0bleak I don't know if 'serious' users would make as much use of the drum machines and soft-synths that come with the program

That's weird because a lot of the stuff that comes with it or the other stuff that you can download, in addition, for free (a lot of it) looks and sounds like serious stuff.

 

[yyaldrin]

why would you buy it? you can just download it for free

 

[0bleak]

the trial version is only for 30 days - and i don't like to use cracked stuff (call me weird)

 

[0bleak]

I'm also wondering if I would be able to easily download all of the free stuff (and there is a ton of free stuff, and not even just sound packs, but synths and other programmable stuff) if I used a cracked version because I've downloaded a trial version and it keeps checking that I'm legit.

 

[william_kent]

the trial version is only for 30 days - and i don't like to use cracked stuff (call me weird)

oh...

the last copy I had was from a friend who had access to a "top site"... my PC blew up so this is all in the past but it was great - I could hook up my AKAI and MASCHINE and some other funny hardware and spend hours and hours messing around, but I don't smoke weed nowadays so maybe I wouldn't be so engaged, but when I was in a band and we performed for the one and only time ( or twice? was 10 years ago and I was doing a lot of MDMA at the time ) we were using Ableton as the, I'm not allowed to say master or controller because those words have connotations, maybe CONDUCTOR is a better word, all the hardware and mics ran into Ableton and we triggered the samples through it and used it as virtual mixing desk... although I hated playing live, I will never do that again, although I will play records in public if I'm asked ( but no one does these days, zero networking because coke gives me a headache, never liked it )

I'm not sure you need it though, you're doing fine with your current setup - there is an 'ableton' sound that people who use it can spot instantly and will then just sneer 'oh, they are running operator through the Berlin preset filter, etc., ' ( err, I'm, talking about myself here obviously )

but yeah, try out a copy and see if it suits you, it's easy to use but there is so much choice it is easy to never finish a tune because you can spend hours and days seeking perfection through tweaking ( err, I'm, talking about myself here obviously, again )

 

[0bleak]

I'm not sure you need it though, you're doing fine with your current setup

There are some things that I can't do with just my mixer and a dj program that I see people do in ableton that I'd really like to try.

 

[william_kent]

There are some things that I can't do with just my mixer and a dj program that I see people do in ableton that I'd really like to try.

go for it then

 

[0bleak]

I'm gonna try.......

 

[wektor]

Curious what you’ll make of learning the interface - imo what got me into it is that it’s quite clear tree view for instruments/effects etc. which is easy to get rather quickly, and then you find out what an XYZ effect means in practice.

Not a physical controller person here, imo the push is a little overrated and i just stick to the laptop keyboard midi, but it can be nice for jamming if you’re struggling to focus while looking at the computer screen.
If you have a dj controller already, you can most probably map some of the controls in ableton to that!

 

[0bleak]

Curious what you’ll make of learning the interface - imo what got me into it is that it’s quite clear tree view for instruments/effects etc. which is easy to get rather quickly, and then you find out what an XYZ effect means in practice.

It's kind of strange to me based on how I'm used to programming things in the past
It looks like you sequence a bunch of tiny one or two bar sequences for each instrument, effect or whatever - and then you sequence all of those little parts in the "arranger view".
I mean, I guess it makes sense and is probably a more efficient way of doing things.

Not a physical controller person here, imo the push is a little overrated and i just stick to the laptop keyboard midi, but it can be nice for jamming if you’re struggling to focus while looking at the computer screen.

I feel a bit cramped on the keyboard.
Having pads that are a even just a bit bigger than keys on a keyboard would help me out if I'm jamming or live sequencing.

If you have a dj controller already, you can most probably map some of the controls in ableton to that!

I was thinking of that as a possibility, but, hmm - I've seen people doing things with a push, as far as real time jamming with manipulating and morphing sounds and effects, that I'm not sure I could do with mapped buttons on my mixer.

 

[Goth Feet ASMR]

I was thinking about messing around with ableton.
Is it worth someone with mental disabilities trying to give it a go?
It looks pretty wild, and the way you "write" music in it is kind of... oblique
I haven't done any music production in decades (besides messing around with the limits of what someone can do with a dj program), but regular step sequencing - I understood that.
It also looks like I could get lost in the woods pretty easily considering all of the infinite things you can do with it from sound design, effects, sampling, etc. etc. etc.
I'm _really_ interested in ableton's warping and stretching capabiities - the stuff you can do with it is insane! It's like the key to unlocking the multiverse.
Perhaps it would be easier for me to use a bit of kit with it like Push.
Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale ends Tuesday.

I've been using Ableton since 2002, though almost entirely for live performance/djing, rather than composition. Would strongly recommend FL Studio over Ableton if you're primarily interested writing tracks, as it's MUCH easier to learn and only costs 99 USD, besides. Please feel free to DM me if you require any guidance regarding either of them!

 

[0bleak]

I've been using Ableton since 2002, though almost entirely for live performance/djing, rather than composition. Would strongly recommend FL Studio over Ableton if you're primarily interested writing tracks, as it's MUCH easier to learn and only costs 99 USD, besides. Please feel free to DM me if you require any guidance regarding either of them!

I'm kind of interested in a number of things besides just writing.
The warping and timestretching interests me a lot because of the way you can (seemingly) very easily tighten the timing on stuff that isn't electronic (and also turning individual sounds into parts of a "drum rack" (seemingly) so easily), and just all of the different effects in general that are available, and all of the free stuff like the sound packs and other effects and plug-ins.
and I might have already taken the plunge while I could get the best price
I do definitely appreciate the advice and offer for guidance - if I get to the point where I've hit a wall for days on end, i'll reach out!