So, is Ableton inferior to other DAWS?

tokensunrise · Post by **tokensunrise** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:08 am

After using Ableton 5 as my main DAW for the past year I have begun to wonder if the quality of the software is in anyway inferior to that of Logic. I use a lot of NI plugs as well as Reason 3 and a handful of EQ and warming plugs. Granted I am still learning and haven't been to pro audio school, but I cant seem to get my tunes to sound as clear or warm as those from producers known to use logic.

will someone with some FINISHED(eqed,mixed,mastered) tunes please tell me that Ableton is a sufficient piece of software for making legitimate tracks and not just a loop playing DJ sequencer?

please clear this up for me.

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:08 am

your'e the bestest!!

wreas my drink

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:13 am

tokensunrise wrote:After using Ableton 5 as my main DAW for the past year I have begun to wonder if the quality of the software is in anyway inferior to that of Logic. I use a lot of NI plugs as well as Reason 3 and a handful of EQ and warming plugs. Granted I am still learning and haven't been to pro audio school, but I cant seem to get my tunes to sound as clear or warm as those from producers known to use logic.

will someone with some FINISHED(eqed,mixed,mastered) tunes please tell me that Ableton is a sufficient piece of software for making legitimate tracks and not just a loop playing DJ sequencer?

please clear this up for me.

ableton is a sufficient piece of software for making legitimate tracks and not just a loop playing DJ sequencer.

FSTZ1 · Post by **FSTZ1** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 5:59 am

sapphic_beats wrote:
tokensunrise wrote:After using Ableton 5 as my main DAW for the past year I have begun to wonder if the quality of the software is in anyway inferior to that of Logic. I use a lot of NI plugs as well as Reason 3 and a handful of EQ and warming plugs. Granted I am still learning and haven't been to pro audio school, but I cant seem to get my tunes to sound as clear or warm as those from producers known to use logic.

will someone with some FINISHED(eqed,mixed,mastered) tunes please tell me that Ableton is a sufficient piece of software for making legitimate tracks and not just a loop playing DJ sequencer?

please clear this up for me.
ableton is a sufficient piece of software for making legitimate tracks and not just a loop playing DJ sequencer.

you're no fun

tokensunrise · Post by **tokensunrise** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:23 am

i struggle to find any established producers that use it as a primary DAW. prove me otherwise.

djshiva · Post by **djshiva** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:47 am

tokensunrise wrote:i struggle to find any established producers that use it as a primary DAW. prove me otherwise.

ROTFL.

no offense, but you obviously are not looking hard enough.

http://www.ableton.com/pages/artists/list

and that's just the "official" list. there are plenty other people using it. some use it just for loops and sampling, some use it as a rewire addition, some use it as their primary daw. there are many ways to use it.

i personally have been using it since version 1.5 and i love it.

2 things:

1) the sound quality from 5 to the current version has drastically improved. that said,

2) perhaps if your tunes don't sound as good as producers who use logic, the problem is not with the software.

doomstep · Post by **doomstep** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 6:56 am

tokensunrise wrote:After using Ableton 5 as my main DAW for the past year

tokensunrise wrote:pro audio school

tokensunrise wrote:I cant seem to get my tunes to sound as clear or warm as those from producers known to use logic.

tokensunrise wrote:pro audio school

tokensunrise wrote:please clear this up for me.

tokensunrise wrote:pro audio school

tokensunrise wrote:clear or warm

I have nothing to add here, just wanted to highlight a bunch of funny shit from the orig. post.

but,

are you comparing your tunes to producers that are also known to have had tunes mastered? are we talking released music?

Full Sail awaits your genius!

yeager · Post by **yeager** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:02 am

i have used them all. ableton is by far my favorite.
it is superior in every way. daft punk uses it. nuff said.....

tokensunrise · Post by **tokensunrise** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:35 am

glad i could bring a smile to the faces of DSF.

maybe someone who has used multiple softwares can weigh in on Abletons shortcomings? surely there must be some criticisms of it. i know in 5 that there is no true wav editor. did they ever attempt to address that?

i also find some of the included audio effects to sound "plasticy" or grainy, whereas Logic is somewhat known for having higher- quality components?

also, im a professor at full sail on the weekends brah! i can sign you up!

Disco Nutter · Post by **Disco Nutter** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 8:39 am

If you think it's inferior don't use it, it's as simple as that!
Download demos of the other softwares and try stuff out.

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:42 am

you may want to try upgrading to Live 7 as the audio engine and native plugs have been reworked
you may also want to learn the software
you may also want to listen to Involver2, Richie Hawtin, Elemental and Coldcut
you may also want to avoid using the word brah to gain integrity as a professor at full sail.

legend4ry · Post by **legend4ry** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 9:44 am

Speaking of clean mixdowns on Ableton - Djake makes some of the cleanest shit ive ever heard - its up there with Headhunter on the clean-ness meter... Maybe you're trying to hard?

jblake · Post by **jblake** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 11:21 am

I use logic for writing, mixing and mastering, and I can tell you that the only reason that is the case is that I had no second thoughts about whether to learn another DAW. I just got on with it and now I know how to create a finished track.
Recently I started using ableton to DJ and create a fully live set, where I play the piano parts in my tunes live etc, and it's been fantastic for that. From the start i'd said I wasn't going to make it my standard DAW for everything else, because I had initial prejudices about it being loop based and my music generally isn't, but to tell you the truth it's probably because I know virtually nothing about it, especially not the editing and composing side of it. I would say though that the people on that ableton list on the whole seem to write loop based dance music. The other thing is, dubstep is loop based, whether you like that term or not.

If you're worried about how musically deep and varied your music is, and you need to escape from looping so much, tbh thats just a matter of making more effort to vary things, and not the fault of ableton. If you're worried about the sound quality, then upgrade to version 7 of live. Sounds like you're having second thoughts about it based on hearsay and worried you might get further into a piece of software that will hinder you.
I would say give logic/pro tools LE a try to see if you're comfortable with them, or maybe Renoise. But my bet is you will try them, feel uncomfortable, and get a warm feeling when you load up live thinking "I know this software so well, i'm just going to learn how to mix and master properly". Try downloading Izotope Ozone btw

Make sure you know what you're comfortable with and look around at features and the sort of place you want to be with production. It really is worth losing a month learning a software to improve your production, but it might not be Ableton that is the problem.

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:14 pm

If you have a look through the features of Ableton 7 on their website, what has been upgraded etc then I think you'll be pleasantly suprised

I like it when people think Live is just for Live use also, When it's a really nice DAW to use generally.

If you like the feel of live 5, download the 7 demo and give it a go!

jheri · Post by **jheri** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:03 pm

Headhunter told me he preferred Ableton to Logic so...must be alright.

doomstep · Post by **doomstep** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:17 pm

tokensunrise wrote:im a professor at full sail on the weekends brah! i can sign you up!

I want this shit on a T Shirt!!!!

Your whole line is just daft mate, I don't get where you are coming from or what you intend to get out of this disscussion.

tokensunrise wrote:prove me otherwise.

But yeah, congrats. You clocked that Live doesn't include a 'full wave editor' - even tho anyone who uses it knows you can chop / dissect audio to your hearts content in it, sure you don't have some of the features like in a full fledged, dedicated editor like Sound Forge, but Ableton never said it did, no-one did.

Good luck editing audio w/ sample accuracy in the arrange page of Logic tho (or have they fixed that since V.7?)

I prefer the sound of Live to Logic, but I don't stick 50 plugins on every channel & I mix inside my Metric Halo DSP. The two programs are so differant its really not worth disscussing which one is "inferior" or "legitimate" Use whatever suits you best & crack on.

ELLFIVEDEE · Post by **ELLFIVEDEE** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:26 pm

doomstep wrote: its really not worth disscussing which one is "inferior" or "legitimate" Use whatever suits you best & crack on.

word.

yeager · Post by **yeager** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:40 pm

as far as the native plugins go, yhey are more than capable.
i dont really know of anyone who solely relies on just native plugs
in any daw. as far as editing it is more streamlined. just get with the program man. pun intended.

abZ · Post by **abZ** » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:44 pm

Pretty much every app on the market (even some free ones) are capable of high quality productions... it's really up to how good the user is. I am so amazed at what producers like Breakage and paradox can do on fucking Octamed on the Amiga. If they can make banging tunes on that I have to think even the lowliest of apps from today will suffice.

Personally I love me some Ableton

It's funny to me that it was mentioned that Ableton doesn't have a full featured wav editor because it is the first prog I have used that virtually eliminated the the use of wav editors. I basically just need a prog to convert to MP3 and that is about it.

So, is Ableton inferior to other DAWS?

So, is Ableton inferior to other DAWS?

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