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Ableton Push 3

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Re: Ableton Push 3

#211

Post by Gordonjcp »

jtode wrote: post #36
vemv wrote: post #21

I own a Push 1 and 2, although at hobbyist level. The standalone Push 3 seems a great step forward. macOS has increasingly become user-hostile when it comes to audio (and other pro) users. For instance I have an expensive sound card that became useless with after a minor OS upgrade. I never got to troubleshoot it or find an official solution. That was incredibly discouraging - enough to move on to other hobbies. And…

Musician here, most of us (the ones that aren't also programmers) just have to pay up the arse every time for every thing. I've been teaching myself keys the last few years and had been planning to one day get myself a big $6k stage keyboard, when I felt that I had sufficiently developed to warrant it. I have since tried out Zynthian, and my conclusion was that with a pianoteq license and a good controller, I can hav…

> I have since tried out Zynthian, and my conclusion was that with a pianoteq license and a good controller, I can have way more functionality and sounds and every thing for a small fraction of the price of that Nord.

Yes, but also buy yourself a big old 90s ROMpler workstation for a couple of hundred quid, and keep it around for when you need something, I don't know, just *different*. Or if you need to do an impromptu gig and don't want to cart your super-expensive controller and super-delicate laptop to a pub.

Think of it as the musical equivalent of your gardening boots.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#212

Post by rewgs »

pier25 wrote: post #203
rewgs wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is...completely missing the point. It honestly blows my mind how often exemplars of the Dunning-Kruger effect make it to the top on HN. You know that feeling you get as a programmer watching, like, two people code on the same keyboard on CSI or whatever? That's the feeling anyone with expertise in a domain other than programming gets when reading comments on HN regarding said domain. The most fundamental appeal…

Obviously I meant replacing the computer part with an iPad, not the controller. > No one cares what CPU it has Good luck running a dozen instances of Diva if you don't care about the CPU :)

> Obviously I meant replacing the computer part with an iPad, not the controller.

> Good luck running a dozen instances of Diva if you don't care about the CPU

Good luck running...most plugins, u-he or otherwise, on an iPad.

That said, the question of which plugins will/won't work running directly on the Push is an interesting question. It runs Linux, no? u-he is one of the few "big" plugin devs that supports Linux, but if I had to guess, the standalone Push 3 will run first-party Ableton plugins only.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#214

Post by squeaky-clean »

I've been rocking the Push 1 since near the launch date, and didn't really feel compelled by the Push 2 to upgrade. The Push 1 is so well designed and pleasure to play with, it feels as much like an instrument as my guitar, and less like a tech object that can become obsolete. But looks like I'll be buying a Push 3.

"Send your Live sets to Push to work without a computer, then back again."

That's a killer feature for me. I bought an Akai Force about a year ago so that I could play my solo electronic stuff at open mics without needing to bring a laptop and audio interface as well as my Push 1. But after spending a good amount of time with it, the Force just doesn't feel as well thought out for live gigs as the Push. A lot of functions I want to perform live require 2 hands on the force (so I can't play notes with my right hand and manage the controller with my left), or require doing a long-press which effectively means a big latency on enabling the function. I need to watch some demo videos to make sure they haven't ditched any of the focus on live performance without pauses, but this looks like what I hoped the Force would be.

Looks like they've already updated the online manual to include Push 3, will have to dig through that later, but some initial thoughts from the photos: I like some of the new button placement, undo is far away from anything, Double is no longer right next to Quantize. Solo and Mute being smaller might be an issue, it might not be. I wonder what the lock and square buttons do. New "Convert" button makes me think they've added a dedicated button for audio->MIDI conversion which seems great. Looks like there's a new metronome button? I like it, but I might just continue using a hidden track with a custom metronome loop.

MPE and CV-capable output are also nice bonuses.

The specs are a bit weak, but more than capable for a live set with several synthesizers and samplers. I bet you can swap out the SSD for a bigger one, I wonder if you could swap out the RAM or CPU as well, since you can purchase the non-standalone device and buy their upgrade kit to manually install the PC components.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#215

Post by seanp2k2 »

TremendousJudge wrote: post #209
Jagerbizzle wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought one. I'm a hobbyist that's been using Ableton in a hobbyist manner since 2005 or so. As a software developer that works remotely, I have extremely limited desire to sit in front of my computer when work is over, and thus I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) much less than I'd like to. The appeal of a product like this is that I can take it into a different room…

>I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) Same here, I like to think of it as my studio , a place where I do creative things. Same crammed room but it sounds a lot more romantic.

Same, and these days my music desk is about half filled with half a dozen cases worth of modular synths, with a bread rack perpendicular to that housing some rack gear, too many effects pedals, and also too many standalone synths. I refuse to own synths that include their own full keyboards, talk about A LOT of space.

Push 3 looks awesome and I’m glad to see them jumping onto the standalone game like NI have with Maschine along with many others. The Polyend Play and Tracker are lots of fun too.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#217

Post by slackpad »

Did anybody find any references to the materials on the outside of the Push 3?

I loved the Push 2 but if it got any amount of sunlight on it the rubber outer shell would sweat and become this sticky rubber mess. I don't have a fully protected area to keep the device in and it became so gross it was unpleasant to use and I stopped using it. A lot of people complained but they didn't deal with it very well, and directed you to hope for the best by scrubbing it with orange oil products. I hope they sorted this out because otherwise Push 2 was amazing and this looks like a very nice set of improvements.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#218

Post by seanp2k2 »

sayrer wrote: post #199
dubcanada wrote: post #197

This thread is super hackernews-y, people complaining about the performance of the PC that runs it compared to equally priced specs, some comments about source code and APIs, some comments about copying a open source product, a few about when AI can make music?? Doesn't really seem to be much talk about the actual product, I must say I haven't owned either, but it looks super cool! The video was very well done showca…

If you really want one of these things, and you use Ableton, get this one. I've used a Native Instruments Maschine and and Akai APC, and they just don't integrate that well with Ableton. But I've found I end up using a keyboard (Native Instruments Komplete) most of the time, even for drums, and that does integrate well.

I picked up an MPC X for a great deal some years ago but I find that using it feels like using a limited DAW instead of inspiring much creativity. As an engineer as well, I always have the urge to try to preserve and record my noodling with the ability to recreate it and perhaps change out synths, so the MPC works decently well as a midi and CV hub / router that can record, but I can’t say I’ve ever had tons of fun with it. That’s probably more on me for never finishing the MPC Bible ebooks.

On the other hand, the Linnstrument is fantastic for bringing out creative ideas, and it plays well with the many MPE instruments available for iPads. Add in an iConnectivity interface that can simultaneously hook up with a laptop to record everything including the resulting audio and that’s a powerful machine.

My only regret in modern music creation is now that I can afford all the fun toys and now that we have nearly limitless potential to create any sound we could never imagine, I don’t have nearly as much time as when I was a kid with an Alesis Ion and a pirated copy of Reason, so I end up creating a quarter of the music with 20x more gear :/

Re: Ableton Push 3

#219

Post by davepeck »

r9295 wrote: post #134
tibbon wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a GitHub repo or similar effort where people have been working on this?

Here's a repo with all "built-in" scripts for MIDI controllers decompiled. https://github.com/gluon/AbletonLive10.1_MIDIRemoteScripts/ Have a look at pushbase and Push2 to look at Push source code. A starter kit I use when bootstrapping projects: https://github.com/R9295/ableton-live-control-surface-starte... To the best of my knowledge, this is as far as it goes. The blogs and articles I found are mostly out of date…

I don't know about the Push 3, but my impression with the Push 2 was that python code bundled with Ableton Live rendered the actual screen contents seen on the Push.

Does that seem correct to you? And if so, with some amount of reverse engineering work, shouldn't it be possible to send those same pixels over to an iPad app that pretends to be a Push?

(It wouldn't be the same without real pads/touch controls, of course, but it might form the spine of a pretty good remote control app?)

Re: Ableton Push 3

#220

Post by seanp2k2 »

bbx wrote: post #210

The Push 1 looked like a prototype. The Push 2 is such a massive improvement. It’s visually and functionally perfect. It was hard to find fault in its design and workflow (if you are a Live aficionado of course). If you don’t like the uniqueness of Live, you can’t like the Push. (But you can still like Live without liking the Push). Obviously, a lot (if not all) of the Push UX is only possible and satisfying because…

Honestly for live stuff, you don’t want plugins generating in real-time anyway. You want tight recordings / loops, samples at most, or a couple of external synths. There are so dang many compact “desktop” synths that are massively powerful these days that it’s hard to recommend any above the others, but I do really love the PreenFM 2 and 3, and the developer is amazing. It’s basically the pinnacle of open source FM synthesis if you’re ever interested in that.
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