The seven days of Ableton Live 9 : 6 days to go

All being well, and Ableton stick to that 5^th March release date they’ve promised us, it’s six days to go until we get to see Ableton Live 9 and Push. While Push is on a lot of wishlists -and already ordered lists- you don’t just have to stick to the one controller, or remain entirely in the box. Take a look at this downtempo/ambient Ableton Live jam where Live is taking care of the looping, but everything is created using iOS apps, with Live control being controlled by Liine’s Lemur app running on an iPad.

Of course, you don’t have to use 3 iPads, you could create your own dream Live-control setup by taking advantage of all the available options. Maybe a keyboard controller with some drum pads (and/or pad controller) for the bread and butter controls, a grid controller such as Push or an Akai APC or Novation Launchpad for triggering all those clips, something like a Novation Zero SL to give you some knobs and faders if you need them, and then your iPad for your bespoke, esoteric requirements! You might rely on the computer, but you don’t necessarily need to touch it…

For today’s free way to spice up your Live sets, we’ve gone for this handy rack of 8 ‘one knob’ effects from Ableton Live certified trainer Yehezkel Raqz. Perfect for assigning to the 8 knobs on your MIDI controller, put this rack on your master channel and you’ve got all the instant hands-on ear candy trickery for building the tension in the crowd and quickly adding interest to your live sets.