Ableton Live 10 – Why Upgrade and All you Need to Know

Live 10 is out! I have been using the Beta for 6 months now and am stoked to see the full upgrade out in the world. In this article, I am going to be sharing a bunch of resources for learning Ableton Live 10. From linking to videos, sharing my thoughts, and giving an overview of Live 10.

Looking at Live 10’s Features

First off… lets start with a trailer from Ableton.

Ok… After seeing that I was pretty stoked. There are 3 BIG reasons why I was so excited.

1. Wavetable and new Devices

This new synth is awesome and I love seeing these new devices. Overall all the new devices seem to have a really easy interface and unique aspect they add to Live. I am obsessed with sound design with Wavetable and will be making weekly videos on presets at my youtube channel, so check it out and subscribe.

Here is an overview video of Wavetable and below that is a playlist made by a musician friend, DJ of Cryonaut Media, in Portland that gives you a rundown of all the new devices in Live 10.

Youtube Playlist on the new Ableton 10 devices

2. Capture

Capture is awesome! It has totally changed how I first grab an idea with Ableton Live. Here is a quote on what Capture does taken from Ableton.com

Turn your most spontaneous ideas into music, without thinking about recording. Starting a song? Just arm a MIDI track and play. When an idea emerges, press Capture after you played it. Live will match your tempo and timing, and start your melody or groove in a perfect loop. You can also use Capture to progress your songs: add new parts or overdub MIDI into existing clips without breaking your flow—just press Capture after you’ve played it right.

PRO TIP: Have you ever wanted to just play the keyboard and get in the groove and not want to turn on the metronom to start? But… after you turn on the metronome it’s a little confusing how fast or slow you can go? Capture lets you stay in the grove by automaticly changing the BPM to whatever I played it last. This is HUGE!

This can help you with a live set where you start playing a beat without a metronome, hit the capture button, and start the rest of your track from the BPM you were playing off. Thus making the program bend to your will, and not the other way around.

3. Multi-Clip Editing

I’ll be honest… I first saw this in Bitwig and was a little jealous.When Live announced it with there new update, I was stoked. Multi-Clip Editing lets me select two clips and see both of there MIDI and edit them. Freaking lifesaver when it comes to Drum’s and Bass, or in many instances. I love this new tool. Check out this video by AfroDJMac to learn more about it.

Why Upgrade from Live 9?

I get this question all the time about 8-9 and now Live 9 to 10. So… Let me give you the number one reasons to upgrade, even if you don’t want the fancy new features.

The number one reason is Collaborations!

I work with a lot of musicians from around the world and whenever we have different versions of live, things got really hard. Because of this, I have to keep Live 9.1, 9.7, and Live 10 on my computer just in case of one of these headaches. If you want to easily collaborate with musicians you got to be on your game and the new version. I have stopped working with some musicians because I was just tired of not being able to use my current toolset.

Here are some other reasons: