3D World magazine reviews Ableton Live 5. They talk a lot about the general features in previous versions of Live and how they are useful to various types of musician — live performer, DJ, studio musician — and also mention their favourite new features: “DAW features have been added to Live 5 enabling audio professionals to access high-end studio effects and processors such as clip-freeze and compression. This is a fantastic addition to Live as in the past I have found many Live users still using other sequencing software to master a Live mix.”

Live’s interface tweaks also get a boost: “Artists can now make parameter changes to a whole group of samples as opposed to individually — and clip browsing and navigation have also been improved for faster and easier access.” The Live tutorials also get a mention. Previous versions (at least Live 4) had tutorials too, but this feature didn’t get as much attention in reviews as the music production features. Here they do get their due. “New software is never easy to learn, but Ableton has made it as simple as turning on your Mac or PC. Live 5 comes packed with a host of tutorials and samples to learn your way around the myriad of features included. Titles such as ‘DJ with Live’, ‘Acoustic and Voice Recording’ and even ‘Setting up latency compensation’ are included all with easy-to-follow interactive steps.”

The conclusion follows on from the rest of the review. Simply put: buy this software. “Live 5 is not just an upgrade, it contains way too many new features to call it that. It is a total music solution for the garage, bedroom, studio or stage. The only way to really see what I mean is by grabbing a copy and testing it yourself.”

Buy Live at SameDayMusic.com