Comments about:

Ableton Live 4 Review

HI
I would like to see a discussion about the quality of the audio output in comparison to Logic and Pro-tools. What do you think of the quality of the sum mix in Live, and the way it handles audio in general.
/mr.biobas

That is a good question. Summing in the box is a hot topic that many people feel is best left to analogue gear -hence the popularity of an analogue summing device like the Dangerous 2 Bus. I remember a few years back when the summing bus in ProTools was regarded as worse than native systems like Nuendo and DP. The new HD systems seem to have a very good reputation for improving this.

Hope this isn't to long of a post -but the short answer is I have no problem with the "sound" of Live and I really like the routing scheme in Live 4. Some details below.

I have to confess, I haven't compared different summing busses for different software -but I have used DP, Logic, Live, and Cubase for mixing. Personally I don't find too much of a difference between all the major DAW apps today. Both Nuendo (and now Cubase) as well as Samplitude on the PC had an early reputation for a great summing buss (I think they even shared some of the same technology).

As for Live -it has two possible "strikes" againts it. First, the summing bus may not be up to the same level as Logic, DP, etc. I didn't see any specific specs on Abletons website but will hunt around for some. To my ears though -some of my best mixes have come straight out of Ableton. Another "strike" is that if you are using the Warp Engine in Live you are going to degrade the audio quality a bit the further you move away from the loops original tempo -wether it is a loop of a guitar part you recorded or a drum loop from a sample cd. Of course if you are just recording your tracks straight in like a traditional DAW setup you can remove the Warp Engine.

Overall, the mixes I get out of Live haven't caused my ears to perk and say "something's wrong here". Granted, I am just a bedroom producer and most stuff goes no further than being heard by my own ears -but all in all I think Live sounds great.

Interestingly, we are going to be having an event at audioMIDI focusing on ProTools with Ableton Live as many acts -like Crystal Method and the Dust Brothers use this type of setup -flying between PT and Live depending on were they are in the composition process. I try to do everything in Live as I love the interface and the flexibility -but for some this type of ReWire setup (especially if you can include Reason in the Mix) is the ultimate answer.

I'd say let your ears be the judge, and if you don't trust them ask someone you do trust. I take my mixes over to a freind who is an engineer to see if anything blares out at him. Mostly it is the EQ and Compression that he points out as problems -not the DAW Summing. Personally, I don't feel I have mastered EQ or Compression well enough yet and that will have more of an effect than the summing.

As a side note, check out the Sonalksis plug-ins for EQ and Compression. We don't sell it (yet) as it is download only, but they sound great and compete with more expensive plug-ins. The guys coding this stuff have got some chops.

-Doug
www.audiomidi.com/apple