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Ableton Push 3

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Re: Ableton Push 3

#41

Post by timrichard »

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 a feeling of unease too.

OSX occasionally warns me about third party kernel extensions, and that's not an encouraging direction of travel.

I bought my audio interface precisely because RME have a reputation for writing reliable and performant drivers.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#42

Post by pabs3 »

wheels wrote: post #29
capableweb wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was wondering this too. Considering Ableton itself doesn't support Linux out-of-the-box, wonder if the device runs some sort of Windows on it, or if Ableton for Linux might be coming in the future. Maschine+ by Native Instruments (basically the same device but by another company) runs Linux although Maschine desktop software does not support Linux, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.

I used to work for NI, and at that time (15 years ago) almost everything worked on Linux. But it wasn't shipped because of packaging and support. Now that I'm back to the audio software business, our current product has shipped on Linux so far, but we're dropping support in the next version because of the disproportionate support costs. To a first approximation, Linux support a bit more expensive than supporting macO…

By support do you mean that Linux users have more questions than macOS/Windows users? Or that porting/writing/updating/building the code takes more time?

Re: Ableton Push 3

#43

Post by wheels »

pabs3 wrote: post #42
wheels wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work for NI, and at that time (15 years ago) almost everything worked on Linux. But it wasn't shipped because of packaging and support. Now that I'm back to the audio software business, our current product has shipped on Linux so far, but we're dropping support in the next version because of the disproportionate support costs. To a first approximation, Linux support a bit more expensive than supporting macO…

By support do you mean that Linux users have more questions than macOS/Windows users? Or that porting/writing/updating/building the code takes more time?

It's a bunch of stuff.

- Standard libraries for audio software are less tested on Linux and tend to be buggier there, and we have to chase down those bugs.

- There are a bajillion versions of Linux, and even if you say you only support some subset of those, Linux users will ignore that and still write to support when it doesn't work on their distro / version. Sometimes that even extends to writing bad reviews online.

- Packaging on Linux is annoying since there are a bunch of different formats, and nothing will make everyone happy.

Because of those issues, we probably get almost as much support mail for Linux as for macOS or Windows, despite Linux being 1% of our user base. From a cost perspective, it just doesn't make sense to keep supporting it. Ironically, we'll keep developing it, because we do some of the development on Linux, and often test on Linux before Windows. From what I know of other companies: we're not unique there, and I thought some of this might be interesting info for pro-audio Linux users.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#45

Post by dottjt »

Personally, I don't really like the Push platform, having previously owned a Push 2.

I can understand the value of it if you're performing live, however the hard reality is that it's a really inefficient way to create electronic music. The mouse and keyboard are simply a lot faster to use.

With that said, maybe that's for you. But if you're trying to make advanced productions as quickly as possible, then I really see no value in the Push. You could of course use it as a MIDI controller, but it's a damn expensive one if your sole purpose is to use it as a MIDI controller.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#46

Post by 6r17 »

I'm a hobbyist music "producer" ; an Ableton user for short, and also a programmer.

I cannot express how happy i'm to finally be able to let go of OSX & Windows forever.

This is what i'm realizing writing these lines.

I'm so happy right now.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#47

Post by prmoustache »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #24

I understand why it's expensive, but as a hobbyist who'd want this for some fun at home, I do wish there were a cheaper standalone device without some of the fancy things like MPE and a battery.

As a hobbyist you can hook up your existing laptop to one of the Novation launchpad models (price ranging from 110€ to 350€) which come with an Ableton Live Lite license.

If you want something standalone, well as said in a previous comment, the Novation Circuit or any of the other grooveboxes in the market can offer interesting workflows.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#48

Post by drcongo »

6r17 wrote: post #46

I'm a hobbyist music "producer" ; an Ableton user for short, and also a programmer. I cannot express how happy i'm to finally be able to let go of OSX & Windows forever. This is what i'm realizing writing these lines. I'm so happy right now.

Get an iPad. You can do all this and a ton more.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#49

Post by wellanyway »

capableweb wrote: post #11
nologic01 wrote: post #4

I wonder what kind of software it is running on standalone mode

Was wondering this too. Considering Ableton itself doesn't support Linux out-of-the-box, wonder if the device runs some sort of Windows on it, or if Ableton for Linux might be coming in the future. Maschine+ by Native Instruments (basically the same device but by another company) runs Linux although Maschine desktop software does not support Linux, so maybe I shouldn't get my hopes up.

You should not buy just in case anyone at Ableton is watching, I'm buying the fuck out of your offering the day it has linux support.

Re: Ableton Push 3

#50

Post by laratied »

jacquesm wrote: post #9
grafzhl wrote: post #2

Been making electronic music for well over a decade, but always in the classic DAW arrangement view, at most using MIDI keyboards in terms of haptic input devices but relying on mouse and keyboard 95% of the time. I look at devices like Push or Maschine and my immediate thought is how tedious it seems to get anything done with them. I find the different approaches to manifesting musical ideas endlessly fascinating.

It's a 'barrier to entry' thing. To get the kind of skills that you need for good keyboard work is a lifetime of dedication, but once you've got it it is very quick and easy compared to something like the Ableton Push and other such devices. But that initial barrier is such that a beginner will be able to get much more mileage out of such a device. They might never even run into the limitations though it may limit th…

I think it is also a huge issue that there is no methodology or virtuoso pieces to aim at in order to spend hours a day practicing on the Push.

I grew up playing classical guitar and use to own a Ztar and this was the issue I had with it. My guitar chops transferred to it pretty nicely but it is still its own instrument. Own instrument with no music or practice material, no transcriptions of anything other than what you come up with yourself.

How far would anyone get learning piano if they had to also come up with the music and practice material outside of drilling scales concurrently with learning the instrument itself? It would just be a nearly useless gimmicky instrument.

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