Ableton have finally announced Ableton Live 9.5 as well as a new iteration of their Push hardware.

Ableton Live is one of the most popular Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) out there with its simplistic design camouflaging it’s plethora of mixing and editing tools. Ableton Live 9.5 brings a host of new features to the DAW.

Here’s a breakdown of the main new features:

  • Get more from your samples with the overhauled Simpler
    Simpler, Live’s powerful but easy-to-use sampling instrument, has been completely overhauled with a new interface, warping, slicing, and new analog-modeled filters built-in conjunction with Cytomic.
  • Improved waveforms, meters, and coloring
    New waveforms show more detail and scroll smoothly. To help keep your Sets organized, new clips take their track’s color, and tracks are now automatically colored by default. Updated meters show both peak and RMS, to indicate both sudden changes in level as well as perceived loudness. This makes it easier to control the dynamics of both individual tracks and your overall mix.
  • Great sounding analog-modeled filters
    Live 9.5 introduces new analog-modeled filters based on classic vintage hardware models that will self-resonate, feedback, and distort beautifully. These filters were built-in collaboration with Cytomic and are included in Simpler, Sampler, Operator, and Auto Filter.
  • More sounds, samples, and drums
    The library of included sounds has been updated for Live 9.5 to get you making music even faster. This includes new drum kits, presets using the new analog-modeled filters, hundreds more one shots, and new audio clips.
  • Play inspiring new instruments
    The new Max Essentials Pack includes three stunning new synthesizers with wide-ranging sound design possibilities and a streamlined set of controls.
  • Play with others, in perfect sync
    Jam with multiple instances of Live and a growing collection of iOS apps – Link is a new technology that keeps you in a time over a wireless network.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjb4U-cUGSE?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=640&h=360]

 

Onto the Ableton Push 2, follow-up to the popular MIDI controller ‘Ableton Push’ the Push 2 provides the most streamlined experience with better design and enhanced features. “It’s a powerful, expressive instrument that gives you hands-on control of an unlimited palette of sounds, without needing to look at a computer.”

Here are the main features of the Ableton Push 2:

  • Capture your music
    Play or step sequence all of your musical ideas. Whether playing drums or pitched instruments, Push adapts to your musical need, with great feeling pads and controls that keep you in the flow.
  • Play and tweak samples. Slice beats, play one shots, or mangle samples with warping
    Push gives you a range of ways to play and manipulate your samples. Slice samples across the pads, play single hits, or warp long samples so that they always stay in time with your song.
  • All of your sounds, at your fingertips
    Access all of Live’s devices, your third-party plug-ins, and samples. Use Push to browse, preview, and load your sounds. Get fast hands-on access to Live’s built-in devices, VST or Audio Units plug-ins, and your sample library.
  • Tweak instruments, samples, and effects
    The color display shows your sample or device parameters, enabling intuitive but powerful sound design from the touch-sensitive encoders.
  • Create your song
    Record everything you play. Create variations and try out new combinations to play with song structure. Push captures every move you make into musical ideas that you can recombine to create your song.
  • Mix and refine
    Get hands-on with your mix using the encoders and adjust levels, pans, and sends with immediate feedback on the display.
  • Play and perform
    Push 2 is equally at home in the studio or on stage. Keep your performances in-the-moment by switching between improvising with loops and playing drums, notes, and chords – all from the same expressive grid of pads.
  • Playable and beautiful
    Push is designed and engineered by Ableton to be elegant, inviting, and most of all – playable.
  • Finish your song
    When you’re ready to get into detailed arranging, editing, and exporting your finished song, switch from Push to your computer to find your music already laid out in Ableton Live – the software that was powering your work the whole time.
    Push gives you the best of both worlds for making music: inspiring hardware for hands-on control at the beginning and full-featured music creation software for fine-tuning the details at the end.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CdMvkBOUgs?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=640&h=360]

 

You can find many more videos on the Push 2 and Live 9.5 on Ableton’s YouTube channel here.