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Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

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Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#61

Post by yzzxy »

fenomas wrote: post #60

Presumably an unintended consequence, but if I ever found myself needing this software, after watching this video I can't imagine myself pirating it . Ditto for games whose developers I've seen in documentaries (like Indie Games The Movie). I guess this video is mainly for recruiting, but showing users the people behind the software seems like it would have lots of side benefits. (I mean I haven't pirated anything in…

I think you've hit on something here, whether it was an intentional motive for the video or not. Piracy occupies a weird place in the world of music production - most DJs probably torrented more than a few of their gigantic collections of songs before getting into record pools or onto promo lists. And piracy seems to be the default route for aspiring producers who need expensive software or plugins. Yet musicians, at least historically, depend on intellectual property sales for a significant portion of their income.

There is an attitude of "I'll pay for it once I start getting gigs" I've seen in more than a few people. I'm not going to debate whether this attitude is justified (the most basic full-featured editions of Ableton and most other pro DAWs start around $600 and go up from there) or not (Developers gotta eat). But it is certainly a viewpoint that is extremely common in the community.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#62

Post by fnord42 »

thirdsun wrote: post #3

While this video is of course a giant job ad, it's still pretty interesting - Ableton seems like a great company and Live is an outstanding product. Really, even if music production isn't anything you'd see as a hobby for yourself, Live and Max might still offer lots of fun and a welcome change of setting for any curious developer.

Tbh, if Ableton were such a great place to work at and live a great product, several core devs wouldnt have left to start Bitwig. I dont have any insights in the internas, but I would take the movie with a grain of salt. It is advertising, after all, not a documentary.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#63

Post by thirdsun »

fnord42 wrote: post #62
thirdsun wrote: post #3

While this video is of course a giant job ad, it's still pretty interesting - Ableton seems like a great company and Live is an outstanding product. Really, even if music production isn't anything you'd see as a hobby for yourself, Live and Max might still offer lots of fun and a welcome change of setting for any curious developer.

Tbh, if Ableton were such a great place to work at and live a great product, several core devs wouldnt have left to start Bitwig. I dont have any insights in the internas, but I would take the movie with a grain of salt. It is advertising, after all, not a documentary.

By that logic any company and product isn't that great - did anyone ever leave Apple, Google and others to start their own thing? They sure did.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#64

Post by dylanz »

I've been an Ableton user for the last year, but running on a pirated copy. I usually pirate until I know I'm going to buy, and just the other week, wrote myself a note to finally throw down the cash (If you're listening Ableton team, congrats on 9.2 beta release. Impressive!).

That said, this was a fantastic video and you've got my money. Keep up the great work on an amazing product.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#65

Post by zerr »

bobcostas55 wrote: post #28
twohearted wrote: post #15

Wonderful video. I am a white man of european descent so it looks like I would be a great fit to work here.

This will shock the average HN reader, but not every place is like SF. In fact, most of the world is radically unlike SF, and that's fine.

> but not every place is like SF

Yep. You might also notice quite a lot of 40s/50s/60s years old devs (unlike SF cliche). And that is great, of course.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#66

Post by fit2rule »

cjbprime wrote: post #25
twohearted wrote: post #15

Wonderful video. I am a white man of european descent so it looks like I would be a great fit to work here.

You're getting downvoted for the throwaway, but I had the same thought. Amazing to see such a complete lack of diversity, and sad to see it being ignored by almost everyone in their responses.

That's Europe, though. If you want diversity, go for a drive and cross a few borders.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#67

Post by Kiro »

kentt wrote: post #47
fern4lvarez wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably many people would quit if _you_ were in their office.

Perhaps, but I've never shit on the floor, so I've got that going for me.

If you think dogs just randomly poops on the floor you really don't know much about dogs.

I really don't understand people who hate animals. To be honest they are sociopaths in my eyes.

Re: Ableton Live Developers at Work [video]

#70

Post by crucialfelix »

I worked there for a bit in 2006 (Live 6/7) when there were only 13 programmers. That's an important threshold where you need to change from just having casual discussions to having a formalized structure. At the time it was frustrating and they really needed to make some changes. They knew that and they were open to it, but it takes time.

I've been in touch over the years with Gerhard, Stefan and others and its been good to hear how they did solve those growing pains. I think its more than a hundred developers now.

Native Instruments had at one point 300, but they have a much larger product line. Always fascinating to talk with those guys about how they coordinate that.

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