Instruments, Audio Effects, Midi Effects - but of course, this is not all of the cake. Imagine you can create user-interface elements however you please and also assign MIDI to that interface parts. This brings Ableton Live huge steps forward: the possibility to extend ableton to include a full featured audiovisual prototyping environment and to interface with the world: be it sensors, webservices or other Ableton Live installations.

1. Installation and Setup

Ableton Live Suite 8.1 (1.4GB download size!) and max/msp 5.1. are out in final versions as of today. As a happy Ableton and max/msp owner, the crossgrade was only 79€ for me (including VAT).

Right after Live starts up it has to be authorized, so all the extensions would be usable. After everything is set up, the following popup should be visible:

2. Overview

There are 3 different ways to include Max for Live patches into Ableton.

a) Instruments
Instruments would be a Synthesizer, a Sampler, etc.
Input: MIDI, Output: Audio

b) Audio Effects
Imagine any Audio Effect you can build here - let's say a Reverb for now.
Input: Audio, Output: Audio

c) MIDI Effects
Controlling and modifying the MIDI flow - like arpeggiators, mathematical functions, midi-sequencers, whatever.
Input: MIDI (or controller values), Output: MIDI

Of course, the whole bandwidth of max/msp is much more than only that. With Max for Live, now it is possible to use sensoric interfaces directly with Ableton Live: such as the i-cube, the arduino microcontroller board and so much else (for example the wireless MIDI Glove).

Interfacing to the "outside world" is also quite easy with max/msp: the netsend and netreceive objects let you connect via socket to e.g. a webservice, RSS-feed, whatever.
See also: Max for Live and twitter integration, the shoutcast~ and netsend~ objects for sending your audio stream around.

3. First Steps

In the screenshot above you see where the "Max Instrument" can be found in Ableton Live. In the right corner you can also see the first Instrument example I built: a sine wave oscillator.

a) Example: Sine Wave Oscillator Instrument with Signal Oscilloscope [download the patch]

This is a very basic patch: notein gets the MIDI note played, ddg.mono simplifies monosynth creation by dealing with last-note priority and note-on/note-off pairing, mtof (MIDI to frequency) translates the MIDI note to a frequency which is pushed to the cycle~ object (sine wave generator). The cycle~ then sends its audio-output to plugout~ which gets routed back to Ableton Live. Play the Sine Wave Oscillator as you would play any other instrument in Ableton Live: either via keyboard or via MIDI tracks.

b) Example: Simple Delay [download the patch]

This is also a rather simple patch. The incoming signal is delayed for a specific amount of time using the tapin~ and tapout~ objects. The tapin~ object is a continually updated buffer that stores the most recent signal it has received, and tapout~ accesses that buffer at one or more specific points in the past. The sound is mixed with its delayed version to create a sort of reflection.

What you can see in the screenshot below is how to implement images in patches that get loaded also to Ableton (using the fpic object) and which part is actually displayed in Live: everything below the black line is "invisible".
Test out the patch with the presets and also try to change the tapin~ and tapout~ values (use it as an audio effect on any soundfile. percussion or drums may be the best to hear the difference).

c) Example: 8-Step-MIDI-Repeat [download the patch]

The patch is also really simple: a line object counts from 1 to 9, resetting itself to 1 when it reaches 9 (=8 step), the select object checks for values between 1 and 8 and sends the according bang messages to the lights on top. the lights also trigger the int object, that saves values and outputs them on demand. this int objects are used to save the state of the checkboxes.
everytime an int object outputs a 1 (checkbox=checked), the select object on the right side sends the last notein event to a noteout object, causing the last note to be played again.

The difference between the two above screenshots is: hidden objects. Objects that you don't want to be visible in your Ableton Live surface you can hide with Object -> Hide on Lock (Apple+K).

Patch No.3 repeats your last played note in a step-sequencer style: however you checked your checkboxes, every time the light is active over a checked box, the last note will be played again. Test the 3 different presets and also the freestyle option (entering numbers on your own). Be careful with too low and negative numbers.

3. Conclusion

Max for Live is not only a very huge extension to Ableton Live (as stated above, a lot is possible now, from interfacing with hardware to webservices) but also finally a step in the right direction for the said to be lazy "ableton users": while the mainstream of ableton users use similar effects and instruments, this will change from now on. Instrument-directories such as on maxforlive.com feature lots of already available patches.
Another positive point is since max/msp is there much longer than Ableton Live and there is lots of educational content, tutorials etc. around. This could bring more people to look and learn about DSP and sound engineering als well as the physics behind audio.

Max for Live has still a few bugs - but what is there already is really something! Maybe one has to see it like this: in the end max/msp got a really cool sequencer ;)

4. Ressources

* ableton.com maxforlive product page
* cycling74 product page for max/msp
* maxforlive.com
* cycling74: the edit button has been pressed
* max 5 help and documentation

Technorati Tags: ableton, max msp, live, max for live, sound, review

• Updated manuals
• Updated Help Pages

Bugfixes:

• Surface controller support for the Oxygen 3rd generation
• Using the Axiom Pro as controller surface would not work properly with certain effects and instruments
• Under certain conditions, a volume automation would not work properly [6005]
• The mouse handling of certain Sampler parameters would not work properly [5961]

Changes from Live 8.0.5 to Live 8.0.8

Improvements:

• Updated manuals
• Updated Help Pages
• Control Surface support for Novation Launchpad
• Several improvements for the AxiomPro Controllers

Bugfixes:

• Using the double/halve tempo buttons of the Looper could introduce an audible offset [5857]
• Playing MIDI could crash Live when multi-core support is enabled [5608]
• If the slot button below a disabled Session clip has been removed, the disabled clip would not respect this and act as stop button [5872]
• In the Arranger, auto scrolling would not work properly when dragging tracks [5865]
• On Mac OS X, open the application menu would not close an open context menu [5768]
• On Mac OS X, using a Remote SL and loading a particular Live set with a Fab Filter Twin 2 would crash Live
• On Mac OS X, the Key stroke handling for AudioUnits using Cocoa views would not work properly
• On Mac OS X 10.6.x, starting Live with a template set that contains audio clips, and with another CoreAudio client running at the same time (e.g. iTunes), would freeze Live. Also, changing sample rates in Live would not work properly
• Replacing a Macro mapping with a Key mapping could crash Live [5913]
• Return track header selection would not work properly [5677]
• On Mac OS X, Audio Units, wrapped by Novation Automap, would not appear in the right folders [5752]
• Setting an MTC start offset to a negative value would not show the value properly [5456]
• Grabbing and moving the left edge of an Arranger loop while the loop start is out of the view would not behave properly [5216]
• In the Arranger, scrolling would not work properly when dragging or moving tracks [5139]
• Under certain conditions, the LFO of the Sampler would not work properly
• Switching banks via remote script would not be indicated in the status bar [5969]
• Switching on track-solo would not work properly in exclusive mode when switching via the APC controller [5838]
• Unsupported multi channel audio files would crash Live [5995]
• When exporting an video file, the resulting video file would grow on each export instead to be replaced [5996]
• On Mac OS X, when typing the name of an existing file, but without the extension, Live would overwrite the existing file without asking for confirmation

Native Instruments Komplete 6

Native Instruments Komplete 6 was announced some days ago. As a proud owner of Komplete 5 i am looking forward for the update. The previous Komplete Version was a total bargain for me, since i got it within the Kompletely INSANE Sale for just 399€. Since the new Komplete will be €499, it is even cheaper for people to get the new version as to upgrade from version 5. (damn, I should have waited. but who cares, I love my FM8[?])

Key features of NI Komplete 6 are: Kontakt 4, Absynth 5 and Guitar Rig 4 Pro. (See the Native Instruments Page on Komplete 6 for all news regarding version 6). I will post an in-depth review when i received my update.