Ableton is already one of the industry’s top DAWs for music production. It’s unique features and workflow set it apart as the top pick for EDM/pop/hip-hop production. 2021 marks the debut of Ableton 11, full of impressive updates, brand new features, and more.
All New Features in Ableton 11
Ableton Live 11 gets a host of powerful new features, many of which expand upon the DAW’s strengths. Some new features, like playlisting/comping, make it more versatile and competitive with the other major DAWs on the market.
Ableton users will be excited to see their favorite software get a massive facelift in 2021!
Take Recording & Comping
Live now organizes multiple passes of an audio or MIDI performance into individual takes, much like the automatic playlisting feature in Pro Tools, for example.
Pick the best moments of each performance and comp them to create your perfect take. Or approach sound design in a new way by splicing together random samples from your library.
Linked-Track Editing
Link two or more tracks to edit their content simultaneously.
This makes editing multi-tracked instruments or performances with multiple musicians easy and fast whilst keeping everything in time across tracks. This feature also works for MIDI tracks.
MPE Support
MPE stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression. This way of using MIDI allows MPE-capable devices to control multiple parameters of every note in real-time for more expressive instrumental performances.
Plug in your MPE-capable controller and immediately add bends, slides, and pressure for each individual note in a chord. Add subtle expression variations, morph between chords and create evolving sonic textures.
Wavetable, Sampler, and Arpeggiator are all updated to support MPE. And Live comes with MPE presets for each device that bring new dimensions of interaction and playability to your sound. The new expressive possibilities also enable polyphonic aftertouch on Push.
- Related: Using MIDI Controllers
- Related: Ableton vs Pro Tools | Choosing a DAW
Live Tempo Following
Live now listens to and adjusts its tempo based on incoming audio in real-time, making it a dynamic part of the band instead of the tempo source that everyone has to follow.
New Devices & Effects
Hybrid Reverb
Combines convolution and algorithmic reverbs, making it possible to create any space, from accurate real-life environments to those that defy physical reality.
Spectral Resonator
Breaks the spectrum of an incoming audio signal into partials, then stretches, shifts and blurs the result by a frequency or a note in subtle or radical ways. Play it like an instrument with MIDI.
Spectral Time
Transforms sound into partials and feeds them into a frequency-based delay, resulting in metallic echoes, frequency-shifted and reverb-like effects. The Freeze function captures and holds audio.
Inspired by Nature
Six playful instruments and effects that use natural and physical processes as their inspiration. Created in collaboration with Dillon Bastan.
PitchLoop89
Based on an early digital effects processor, this device creates jittery glitch effects, delayed digital shimmers and outlandish vibrato to add character to sounds in the studio or onstage. Created in collaboration with Robert Henke.
Updated Devices
Chorus-Ensemble
The updated version of Chorus now has a wider range of sound shaping capabilities – add vibrato, spread the left and right channels of the signal across the stereo field, and add thick 3-delay line chorus.
Redux
Redux adds a wider range of sounds from vintage digital gear including harsh distortion, digital and aliasing artifacts, as well as warm and saturated 8-bit textures.
Phaser-Flanger
Phaser and Flanger have been combined and now feature a new, lusher sound with increased frequency and modulation ranges, expressive improvements on existing modes, and a new Doubler mode for short modulatable delay.
New Sounds
Voice Box
A comprehensive collection of contemporary vocal samples from multiple voices, a set of playable vocal instruments, and Effect Racks designed for vocal processing.
Drone Lab
Sustained tonal and textural samples, generative noise, multisampled instruments, plus devices and Effect Racks designed for experimentation.
Brass Quartet
This instrument highlights the natural breathiness, range of expression and broad tonality of the brass quartet. Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.
Mood Reel
Evocative layered instruments that combine organic and synthetic sounds with textural elements to add mood, space and movement to productions.
Upright Piano
String Quartet
This combination of two violins, viola, and cello has a sound that is immediately intimate, and is also a great starting point for sonic exploration. Created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio.
Ableton 11 Release Date
Ableton 11 is coming February 23! You can opt in to beta test the current build of Live 11 before its official release.