Ableton Push: Integrated, Touch-Sensitive Hardware Control for Live

[zestoi]

wow.... a heap load of velocity sensitive with after touch drum pads with knobs and lcd's damn this looks cool... guess i've been out of the loop for a while as i didn't even know they had announced a live9

[Nikefutbolero]

Not too familiar with Ableton. Is this geared towards producing or DJing?

[botstein]

Both

[ApplianceTyrant]

Mostly production.

Notice all the new features in version 9. Notice how many would directly benefit the DJ...

Not too many, maybe the enhanced browser.

But back on topic, Push looks like a really well thought out controller/instrument. IMO, it blows away Maschine, especially considering the fully featured DAW it's driving.

[RockingClub]

IMO, it blows away Maschine.

I'm still thinking if it also does for me. I still like the workflow of Maschine and its sound library a lot! I think it wouldn't be easy to abstain from this.
On the other hand, I am not really happy with the integration of Maschine in the DAW. Having to bounce out all the elements and midi clips (seperately) to be able to rearrange everything in the DAW really interrupts my creative workflow...

[dfinch805]

Man, that is actually a really good job from Ableton, they're stepping up. I guess this one will battle the Maschine if it all works well. Not sure if I want to ditch my Maschine for it though. And the combined price of €778,00 for Push + Live isn't that bad either. Too bad new stuff gets released every other day, making it hard for us to pick one & stick to it without regretting our decisions.

I'm really really considering this!

Also really interested in some mad mappings people will make with this piece of kit.

Considering the product is coming from akai I'm not super surprised that it came out so nice. The APC 40 is a real solid piece.

[Scaper7]

I'm still thinking if it also does for me. I still like the workflow of Maschine and its sound library a lot! I think it wouldn't be easy to abstain from this.
On the other hand, I am not really happy with the integration of Maschine in the DAW. Having to bounce out all the elements and midi clips (seperately) to be able to rearrange everything in the DAW really interrupts my creative workflow...

Yes Maschine is nice, but I suspect Push has the potential to easily cover the same ground. Same as you, I find restrictions working within the Maschine architecture. It wouldn't take much ... a nice collection of Maschine-esque kits in a Live Pack a few clever M4L patches and I suspect my Maschine will be relegated to Traktor MIDI control duties. While a lot is made of Maschine's workflow I find the sequencer tedious compared to working in Live. Piecing arrangements together out of scenes, where every one bar fill requires creating a seperate scene and pattern is not my idea of creative workflow at all.

[RockingClub]

While a lot is made of Maschine's workflow I find the sequencer tedious compared to working in Live. Piecing arrangements together out of scenes, where every one bar fill requires creating a seperate scene and pattern is not my idea of creative workflow at all.

Exactly, that's the point. In the music stuff I produce a lot of uplifter, downshifter FX and special FX are used. To work with them in Maschine and getting them integrated into the musical arrangement is quite hard with Maschine's pattern based kind of working. Some (let's say 4) additional audio tracks (e.g. as additional groups I to L) would really be a game-changer!

[botstein]

IMO, it blows away Maschine.

I'm not too quick to defend Maschine. I have templates and such up on here for it, most of which use Live to overcome Maschine's shortcomings.

The pads on Push are much lower resolution, have no poly aftertouch, and are significantly smaller. The mkii's pads are really fantastic. Push looks beautiful but I'm not put at ease by its being engineered by Akai. The MPC Renaissance made me sad, and I'm afraid I won't be playing any MPCs this decade. I honestly think that one needs to play and instrument before he or she can decide which blows away which.

One detail that applies to about seven percent of men (including myself) is just how well any colour-feedback device works for those with deuteranomaly or other types anomalous trichromatic vision. Because of the way the lights on the mkII happen to be implemented, I can distinguish between 11 different colours (it must be out of 16) on it, and the original Maschine is just orange blue (for once). I was surprised, as the ads on NI's website appeared (to me) to have only four colours. The APC40, which I also have, is miserable - the lights all appear white to me. The Ren is even worse - with the lights off, it appears the same as the APC to me, and with the lights on, it doesn't seem to have any feedback at all.

[mostapha]

That thing looks incredible. I'm going to have to play one at some point………I really like Maschine+Pro Tools, but if I get a chance to play on one, I could see this being an upgrade (and moving to Live+PT……'cuz I just can't give up PT for audio).

found this on the ableton forums in response to encoder/lcd screen placement:
We thought a lot about this, and had many debates. You can't win completely either way -- when the encoders are under the screen, you can't see the screen when sitting down, because the encoder and your hand block the viewing angle to the display. We mocked up both and took the one we thought did best in both sitting and standing positions.

A second influence was that we wanted the buttons beneath the display to interact with the display (i.e. the buttons are used to select devices, mute tracks, etc.). We could have put the buttons above the display, but this would have lead to a much larger unit, as you'd need a PCB above the display, and below, and a PCB board requires room above/below it. As is, we were able to make sure Push fits in your backpack.

Jesse
(Project Manager for Push)

That's actually really well thought out, and I agree with their design decision.

I'm not too quick to defend Maschine. I have templates and such up on here for it, most of which use Live to overcome Maschine's shortcomings.

Agreed. Maschine does have it's shortcomings. Using it with any DAW overcomes them pretty much completely. And Live is a great choice because of how it interacts with controllers. Despite their marketing, I don't think anyone at NI actually intended for tracks to be finished using only Maschine.

The pads on Push are much lower resolution, have no poly aftertouch, and are significantly smaller. The mkii's pads are really fantastic. Push looks beautiful but I'm not put at ease by its being engineered by Akai. The MPC Renaissance made me sad, and I'm afraid I won't be playing any MPCs this decade. I honestly think that one needs to play and instrument before he or she can decide which blows away which.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly. I know of a few working producers who started using Maschine as a coaster when the MPC Renaissance was annoucned. To my knowledge, they also hosted Akai events to play with the thing before it was released. And none of them have bought it.