# Ableton Ableton is a Berlin-based company that makes music software and hardware. Its flagship product, **Ableton Live**, is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW): the software you use to compose, record, arrange, mix, and perform music on a computer. The company was founded in 1999 by Gerhard Behles, Robert Henke, and Bernd Roggendorf. Live 1.0 shipped in 2001. What made it stand out back then (and still does) is that it was designed for **live performance** as much as for studio work. Most DAWs are built around a tape-like timeline. Live isn't. ## Why Live is different Live has two views on the same project: - **Session View**: a grid of clips you can launch, loop, and combine in real time. Great for jamming, sketching ideas, and performing on stage without stopping the music - **Arrangement View**: the classic left-to-right timeline, where you turn those ideas into a finished track You can record a Session View performance straight into the Arrangement. That back-and-forth between "play" and "structure" is the reason so many electronic producers and DJs picked Live over the alternatives. Other notable parts: - **Warping**: stretch audio to any tempo without changing its pitch. Drop a sample in, and it follows the project tempo - **Stock devices**: instruments (Wavetable, Drift, Operator, Simpler, Drum Sampler, etc.) and effects (Delay, Chorus-Ensemble, Erosion, etc.) - **Stem Separation**: split a mixed audio file into vocals, drums, bass, and other parts - **Max for Live**: build or download your own instruments, effects, and MIDI tools. Built on Max, from Cycling '74 (which Ableton acquired in 2017) - **Ableton Link**: syncs tempo between apps and devices over a local network Live comes in three editions: Intro, Standard, and Suite. Suite includes everything, including Max for Live. It runs on macOS and Windows. ## Live 12 Live 12 was released in March 2024. Updates are free for Live 12 license owners. As of September 2026: - **Live 12.4** (May 2026) added **Link Audio**, which streams audio between compatible devices over the local network, without extra hardware or manual latency compensation. It also reworked Erosion, Chorus-Ensemble, and Delay, improved Stem Separation, and added a Learn View - **Live 12.4.5** (August 26, 2026) is the current stable release - The **Extensions SDK** is in public beta: a JavaScript toolkit for Live 12 Suite that lets you build custom tools to analyze, automate, and extend Sets ## The hardware and mobile family Ableton isn't only software anymore: - **Push** (Push 3 since 2023): a pad controller for Live. The standalone version runs without a computer - **Move** (2024): a compact, battery-powered groovebox for sketching ideas anywhere. Move 2.0 added audio tracks, Link Audio, and sample loading. Sets made on Move open directly in Live - **Note**: an iOS app for capturing beats and melodies on the go, which also opens in Live The idea is simple: start a track wherever you are, then finish it in Live. It's the same capture-then-refine loop I care about in knowledge work, applied to music. ## Learning resources Ableton offers two free interactive sites that teach music basics in the browser. No DAW needed: - Learning Music: beats, notes, chords, song structure - Learning Synths: how synthesizers shape sound ## References - Official website: https://www.ableton.com - What's new in Live 12: https://www.ableton.com/en/live/ - Live 12.4 announcement: https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/live-12-4-is-out-now/ - Latest Live version: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/6003767793436-Latest-Live-Version - Push release notes: https://www.ableton.com/en/release-notes/push-12/ - Move release notes: https://www.ableton.com/en/release-notes/move-1/ - Learning Music: https://learningmusic.ableton.com - Learning Synths: https://learningsynths.ableton.com - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableton_Live ## Related - [[Audio quality levels]] - [[Audio Compressor]] - [[Sound balancing]]