INTRODUCTION.
I have personally used Ableton (Suite) as my sole production DAW for over eight years, starting from Ableton 9 to the newest 11th rendition in 2021. From my personal experience, I really like the linear workflow and cleanliness of the single-page setup of the DAW. Everything from your mixer, master channel, individual tracks, effect channels, and files is accessible from a single interface.
Having been an avid user so for many years, I thought it’s about time that I share my thoughts and provide a review to help you decide if this is the right software for you.
PRICING.
Ableton 11 comes in three editions, starting from Live Intro at $99, Live Standard at $449, and Live Suite at $749. The intro version is limited to 16 Audio and MIDI tracks, whilst the standard and suite allow unlimited tracks. The only difference between these two upper tiers is that the suite comes with all the native plugins and effects. This price is considered steeper than the competition, such as FL Studio and Cubase, but that depends on which feature sets you are willing to sacrifice (eg. limited track counts in FL Studio or the number of stock plugins).
Compared with other popular DAWs, such as FL Studio, the pricing is fairly similar to the competition. FL Studio is currently priced at 99$ for the entry edition, and goes up to 499$ with more included plugins.
COMPATIBILITY.
Unlike some versions of FL Studio and similar DAWs, Ableton has native support for Apple Silicon, in addition to Intel-based MacOS devices and Windows 10 & 11. Ableton also has the distinctive lead in hardware compatibility, supporting its unique lineup of devices from companies like Novation and external MIDI devices. It is truly the most compatible program for both live performance and studio production, hence its name ‘Live’.
STOCK PLUGINS AND SOUNDS.
For the Suite version of Ableton 11 ($749,) you are getting some of the most extensive and high-quality stock plugins out of any DAW. I often find it unnecessary to rely on 3rd party plugins for many production processes, as the stock plugins are more efficient, less power-demanding, and give you much more control over your effects. Ableton also has a great feature that allows you to save a chain of effects you have applied on a track for future projects. This makes it very convinient to import saved components, making the production process more efficient. For both MIDI and Audio effects, Ableton offers over 24 categories of plugins, including Dynamics, Reverb & Resonance, EQ & Filters, and much more. If you find yourself short of an effect, you could also explore the millions of user-created plugins through Max for Live.
WORKFLOW.
Ableton offers two different workflows that are easily interchangeable (TAB key). The main linear workspace is similar to your usual DAWs, but with easy access to midi editing and effects processing. Each track can be expanded to show the effect bus and midi clip selection, and accessing the Sidechain panel overlays the track itself (‘A’ key). The modular workspace is more suited for live performance and loop recording. You can drag individual clips into a grid-like interface and interact with them through buttons or a physical controller. You can then record your composition through the program’s recording tool located at the top. The modular workspace could also be used as a digital mixer, as it has the controls of each track positioned vertically.
STABILITY.
Ableton is one of the most stable DAWs I’ve used; I’ve experienced less than ten crashes in 4 years using the DAW, which is also entirely due to incompatible 3rd-party plugins. As a failsafe, Ableton also has an auto-recovery feature, which attempts to recover your unsaved projects on launch. In my experience, it worked flawlessly every time and recovered my project up to my very last activity. This is a very good safeguard in the case of a unexpected software crash.
Recommended: How To Recover Ableton Projects
DISADVANTAGES.
As with most DAWs and software, there are always some disadvatanges and areas of possible improvement.
One minor disadvantage with Ableton, per se, is the aesthetics. Some may argue that this is not a factor to consider when evaluating a DAW, as it does not affect your tracks’ overall production. However, the lack of personalization in Ableton may put off some users because they cannot personalize the program to suit their own creative identity, unlike other popular DAWs. One simple example is adding a personalized background, such as in FL studio. The only real customization you get in Ableton is to change the color scheme. In addition to customization, the interface is also quite rigid and snappy. There are no animations, making the user experience feel quite outdated and unoptimized. Navigation such as scrolling (SHIFT+MWHEEL) and expanding tracks (ALT+MWHEEL) are sometimes laggy and inconsistent.
SUMMARY.
Overall, Ableton is a solid DAW feature-packed with the best linear workflows and compatibility. Sacrificing aesthetics and user intuition for utility, Ableton aims to be a professional and direct program that can allow anyone to create any genre of music.
Ableton currently offers a 90-day free trial for their software. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in trying out the software before committing to a paid version.
