Play together with Ableton Live, pt. 1: playing in tune

Feeling the need to make music making a little less solitary? In this multi-part series, we’ll be exploring some resources for adapting Ableton Live to playing with others — playing in tune, in sync, sharing ideas, and producing together. So let’s start as instrumental ensembles do: by tuning up.

Panel: liberating music technology for Arabic music and beyond

Against the backdrop of AL.FESTIVAL, the Berlin festival centering music from the Arabic world and diasporic communities, we gathered an expert group to discuss liberating technology from some of its Western biases and exclusionary design. Now you can listen back (and read more), with artists ABADIR and Basel Naouri plus Ableton’s Dr. Laurel Pardue, as chatter ranged from critical views of futurism to ways software can mesh with Indonesian gamelan.

Peter Kirn - October 21, 2025

Live round-up: 12.2 is out, vids, a free Grain Slicer Rack, tuner, and more

Ableton Live 12.2 went from beta to public yesterday. And there’s more for all Live users – Iftah has an accessible tuner device called Pitch Pipe and Side Brain has an awesome free instrument rack for performing granular tricks, among other new add-ons. You don’t have time to wade through hours of videos; let’s put everything in one place and get bouncing tracks/spectral resonating/granulating.

Peter Kirn - June 12, 2025