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Suite 8 Full Version

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Overview

Live 8 plus 10 virtual instruments ideal for live performances as well as composing and arranging.

Ableton Suite 8 is a software package that gives you a rich world of sound, perfectly complementing the music production tools and features in Live 8, including 10 virtual synthesizers and a huge collection of multi-sample instruments and drums. These include Sampler (sampler), Operator (frequency modulation synth), Electric (classic electronic piano emulator), Collision (physical modeling instrument for authentic mallet sounds and creative percussion Tension (physical modeling string synth), Analog (vintage analog synth emulator), Drum Machines (classic drum machine sounds), Session Drums (acoustic drums), and Essential Instrument Collection 2 (wide range of acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, bass, drums, orchestral instruments, and more), and Latin Percussion (Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and African acoustic percussion instruments).

New for Suite 8
World-class Sample Library
With the creative professional in mind, Ableton has put together a well-balanced and comprehensive tool set, including synthesis, real-world "Sound Objects," presets, grooves, templates and, above all, a wide-ranging set of beautiful sounds into the Ableton Suite 8 library. They worked with some of the world's top sound designers to create a comprehensive set of truly useful, high-end sounds, each one an instrument in its own right, for a total of 1,600 expressive sounds that are new to the line. The sounds are provided as instrument Racks with a finely calibrated combination of instruments and effects. No need to be quiet in this library.

Collision
Collision is a unique virtual instrument for authentic mallet sounds and creative percussion. Co-developed with AAS, it uses physical modeling technology to reproduce real-world instruments such as xylophones, marimbas, and glockenspiels, but also provides enough depth to create truly dramatic new instruments and sounds.

Latin Percussion
Latin Percussion is a collection of acoustic percussion instruments such as congas, bongos, timbales, claves, shakers, tambourines, and bells from the worlds of Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and African music. It also comes with clips and grooves, so you don't just get the drums, you also get the drummer.

More Operator, more power
Operator, Ableton's renowned do-it-all synthesizer, has been given a major overhaul. Ableton opened up the hood, took a long hard look inside and did some serious hot-rod stuff. New filter types, more modulation routing options, and additive wavetable synthesis with drawable partials make the Operator soft synth more powerful and flexible than ever.

Ableton Live 8

One of the ways Ableton Live software is an advantage to you, especially in the live setting, is its two main views which allow you to do all your work within a single application. The Session View is essentially a musical scratch pad. You can work out new ideas and improvise in a free and easy environment. Each cell in the Session View grid can hold a recording, MIDI file, or any other musical idea, whether they're recorded on the spot or dragged in from the browser. Then you can play your ideas in any order or any time you wish. The Arrangement View takes a more traditional, timeline-based approach to multitrack recording, MIDI sequencing, and other music production tasks. It will record all your actions as you improvise in the Session View, allowing you to edit them whenever you like. Either view you use is simple and basic enough to make your tasks simple and efficient, which is especially useful during a live performance. This makes it a perfect tool for studios, beat creators, DJs, sound designers, and anyone who wants to make music in a fun and easy way.

Live 8 enhances the Ableton vision of creative, real-time digital music with a wealth of new or improved techniques, effects, and workflow improvements:

Dynamite Groove Engine
Groove patterns can add life and swing to straight sequences. Live 8's groove engine lets you apply groove patterns in real time, extract grooves from audio or MIDI sources, and quantize audio and MIDI in real time. It also comes with a new groove library.

Warping Engine
Ableton Live 8 introduces a more direct way of working with warping and some important Warp Mode enhancements. You can now warp audio events by adjusting the events themselves on the timeline. Beats Mode has been updated, and there's also a Complex Warp Mode. Plus, you can slice audio files to MIDI tracks based on transients.

Looper
A much-requested feature, the Ableton Looper effect gives you classic sound-on-sound looping without the limitations of a hardware device. Looper is set up for remote operation, so you can record, overdub, undo, and more without touching the computer.

New effects
Live 8 includes five powerful new effects: Vocoder, Multiband Dynamics, Overdrive, Limiter, and Frequency Shifter. These effects cover all the well-known aspects of these devices, but really shine due to some innovative features and enhancements from the Ableton labs.

Features

New for Suite 8

Library

1,600 expressive sounds new to the series
Library Info Texts: many resources now have descriptive Info Texts explaining the characteristics and structure of the sound or Rack, so you know what the sound is before you load it
Versatile configuration options: all instrument racks feature thoughtfully mapped Macro controls for both subtle and dramatic adjustments without the confusion of too much detail
New Effect Racks for professional-grade mastering, mixing, and creative sound processing
Construction kits: flexible song kits containing loops and phrases in a number of styles
Sound Objects Lite: to complement and extend the synthesized sounds, Ableton and SonArte have worked together to produce a tool kit of real-world object recordings for advanced sound design
440 MB of abstract, experimental loops from renowned music software pioneers Cycling '74
Over 400 loops and samples from Zero-G in a wide range of styles, including smooth '70s grooves, gritty Hip-Hop and edgy, abstract weirdness
Thousands of single-device presets: simple components for making new sounds and exploring synthesis
Clearly organized library: all resources organized pragmatically and sensibly
Song templates: practical templates for different recording scenarios (e.g. 8-track recording), with pre-configured tracks and routing

Collision

Comprehensive preset collection includes xylophone, glockenspiel, marimba, balaphone, vibraphone and toms
Physical modeling synthesis allows you to tweak Collision's parameters in real time
Exciter section has two oscillators. The first models the "beater," or whatever is used to hit the playing surface, The second is a noise oscillator with envelope and multimode filter controls
Resonator section features two polyphonic resonators arranged in series or parallel which model the playing surface and any additional resonating body
Choose from the following resonator models: beam, marimba, string,
membrane, plate, pipe, tube
Control hitting and listening positions, decay, brightness, and inharmonics
Each resonator type has its own parameters for controlling the virtual shape and size of the resonator, including ratio, opening, and radius
Resonators have pitch envelopes featuring two LFOs with multiple modulation types
Many parameters can be modulated via key tracking, velocity, and MIDI controllers for expressive, dynamic playing

Latin Percussion

1 GB of carefully sampled percussion covering 107 instruments in 24-bit/48kHz stereo
8 multi-articulation kits and 32 instrument groups provide variety and plenty of potential for customization
Kits and instruments are configured as Drum Racks, so it's easy to hook up your hardware and start playing
50 clips of patterns and phrases demonstrating and providing authentic use of the sounds
A set of grooves to add some Latin feel to your drum patterns
Up to 8 articulations per instrument including Slap, Mute, Flam, Heel, Stick, and Shake
Up to 20 velocity layers and up to 4 alternating hits per instrument for dynamic and authentic playing

Operator

Now you can draw your own waveforms by adjusting the amplitudes of each oscillator's harmonics and edit the built-in waveforms
Feedback is now available for all oscillators that are not being modulated by another oscillator
New ladder modes and SVF filters bring the total number of Operator's filter types to 14
Added a frequency response curve view in the filter display and an integrated waveshaper in the filter, featuring an adjustable drive amount and four curve shapes
The filter, LFO, and pitch envelopes now feature adjustable slopes, like those found in Sampler
New MIDI modulation section in the global display with multiple destination and amount settings for five MIDI control sources
New modulation options for the LFO and pitch envelope

New for Live 8

New Groove Engine

Apply groove patterns to any audio or MIDI clips in real time
Change the feel of the whole piece or just selected clips
Choose from an extensive library of groove patterns, captured from songs played by some of music's most original, expressive, and soulful drummers
Extract groove patterns from any audio or MIDI source to build your own groove library from your favorite tracks
Quantize audio and MIDI in real time: non-destructive velocity and timing adjustments for rhythmic correction
Randomize audio and MIDI timing for a more human feel

New Warping Engine

Intuitive warping allows you to adjust events on the timeline instead of stretching and squeezing the timeline around the events
Transient handles analyze and assign handles to the transients in audio files automatically
Slice by transient: slice audio to MIDI-based on Live 8's new transient analysis
Enhanced Beats Warp Mode for improved warping of percussive material and new control options
Improved Complex Warp Mode using lastique Pro for warping complex, polyphonic material with fewer artifacts

Looper

Set up for remote operation so you can record, overdub, undo, and more using a single footswitch (not included) and without touching the computer
Endless overdubs, tape-loop style for infinite improv jams
First loop sync: Live reads the tempo from the length of the first loop you record and automatically syncs up to eliminate timing issues and let you record without the click
Simple loop management: drag-and-drop a loop from Looper into a clip slot to make a clip; drag a clip back again to reload it into Looper
Multiple Looper sync lets you run as many Loopers as you want without any synchronization headaches

5 New Effects

Vocoder is classic vocoding plus advanced, intricate control for flexibility and rich sound design
Multiband Dynamics: effective processing plus a refreshing approach to visualizing the dynamics involved lets you really see and hear what's going on
Overdrive: models the circuits found in legendary stompboxes and forms a perfect complement to Saturator and Dynamic Tube
Limiter: an effective brick-wall limiter that will keep your peaks in check
Frequency Shifter: frequency shifting and ring modulation for flange effects, atonal harmonics, and the sound of 50s science fiction

Workflow enhancements

Crossfades in Arrangement View for real-time, non-destructive crossfades, neatly integrated into Live's familiar workflow.
The enhanced MIDI editor now features step recording, an insert marker, and editing improvements.
Group tracks let you group selected tracks (e.g. a group for drum tracks or a group for all backing vocals), and each group works like a separate mix buss with its own effects and routing settings
Collapse grouped tracks to preserve screen real estate.
Multi-parameter manipulation
Magnify the user interface for optimal visibility on dark stages or hi-res screens and zoom out for the big picture
Browser waveform display: Audio and MIDI browser preview now with waveform display and scrubbing for more informed browsing and file selection
Improved configuration and control for plug-ins with numerous parameters.

Other features

Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192kHz
Complete nondestructive editing with unlimited undo
Powerful and creative MIDI sequencing of software and hardware instruments
Real-time time-stretching and warping of AIFF, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and MP3 files for improvisation and instant remixing
A comprehensive selection of built-in audio effects, including a host of creative delays, filters, distortions, studio compressors, and EQs
Built-in software instruments: Simpler for creative sample-based synthesis, Impulse for sampled drums
Instrument-, Drum-, Effect Racks for creating and managing complex performance setups, drum kits, and multi-effects
VST and AU effects and instruments support; automatic plug-in delay compensation
REX file support and native sliced audio file creation
Video import and export for scoring to picture or warping picture to music
Realtime control of parameters with any MIDI controller”just MIDI-map it or choose from a list of popular supported controllers for instant mapping
Full ReWire support
Single-screen user interface for simple, creativity-focused operation
Multicore and multiprocessor support
Extensive built-in step-by-step tutorials
Localized software menus, tutorials, and PDF reference manuals available in English, Spanish, French, German, and Japanese
Printed reference manual in English, Spanish, French, German, or Japanese

Other Included Instruments

Sampler: for powerful multisample playback and import
Operator: frequency modulation synthesizer
Electric: classic electric piano emulator using physical modeling synthesis
Tension: physical modeling string synthesizer
Analog: vintage analog synth emulator
Drum Machines: a choice collection of reproduced classic drum machines
Session Drums: multisampled library of acoustic drums
Essential Instrument Collection 2: acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, bass, drums, orchestral instruments, and more

Specs