Ableton Live 9.7 – the final stable download – is available today. (A public beta was released over the summer.) It’s got a host of improvements for the latest Push hardware, but there are advantages for everyone.
We did a preview of the slicing and beatmaking features in Live 9.7 previously:
Ableton Live 9.7 in beta, with slicing and beatmaking news
But let’s quickly run down what’s in 9.7 depending on which hardware you’re using (or not).
For everybody
Actually, I think this is the most important. You can now slice in different ways:
By beat division
By region
By transient
Manually
All of this works in Simpler. So yes, it’s mapped to Push 1 and Push 2. But you can also use it if you’re on easyJet working on a laptop, with your trackpad. Or you can map it to custom controllers. Or if you’re McRorie, you could set up a custom workflow mapped to your pants. (Slap those Lederhosen, slice that track!)
Also, this is actually huge for people doing serious live performance – Link support is significantly enhanced if you use Tap Tempo or set tempo with the Looper. Quoting the release notes:
The beat time of connected apps in a Link session will be aligned when starting Live’s playback with Tap Tempo or via Looper.
Since the point of Link synchronization is jamming, that’s a big deal.
Everyone also gets a long, long list of tweaks and fixes – see the release notes for full details.
If you’ve got Push 2
Push 2 is mapped to that slicing, but you also get:
A new drum layout with 16 pre-defined velocity levels:
Select and arm audio and MIDI inputs from the hardware:
Visual feedback with clip phase and count-in so you can see where you are without looking at the screen:
Plus:
Color pads, tracks, and clips via Push (and not only with the mouse)
Pad sensitivity tweaks based on context to “improve playability” (this is actually pretty subtle, but … well, if it works you won’t notice it, you’ll just be happier)
Also, there are numerous improvements to the display, including color matching.
If you’ve got Push 2 or Push 1…
Push 1 also works with slicing mapped.
Also, both devices have a more sensible way to treat Fixed Length recordings – that’s when you set the length of a recording in advance, then play:
By default, Fixed Length now respects the Launch Quantization setting. Its previous behavior can be toggled on via the ‘Phrase Sync’ option in the Fixed Length menu. This works with Push 1 and 2.
So, have at it:
https://www.ableton.com/en/help/article/live-9-release-notes/
Live 9.7 will download automatically, or if you’re set to manual updates, you can grab it on your account page.
Photos courtesy Ableton.