Ableton Suite is a complete software studio. Suite 8 gives you all of the features in Live 8 plus sound, with a radically new Library packed with beautiful new sounds and a wealth of useful resources. Suite 8 contains 11 Ableton instruments and effects including synths, a sampler, electric and acoustic drums, mallets, numerous sampled instruments, the new, reworked Operator and amp modeling effects. Two completely new instruments, Collision and Latin Percussion, round off the set. Ableton Suite 8 is a complete package: the tools and the sounds.

The tools

Ableton Live 8 provides a comprehensive environment for writing, producing and performing music.

Session View

Live is the only music production software with the "Session View": a unique grid for recording and playing musical ideas and phrases. The Session View is non-linear, so you can record and play back your ideas in any order you want. When you're working on a new track, this is a smart, flexible way to write and record. If you're performing music live, it gives you complete flexibility and freedom to improvise.

Arrangement View

Live also has a second view: the "Arrangement View," a complete music production environment. This is the linear counterpart to the Session View and is well-suited to "traditional" recording, arranging and mixing. These two views interact with one another, each with its own strengths and intricacies. Both views are based on the single principle of creative, intuitive music-making.

Uninterrupted creative flow

In Live, you never have to stop the music. Record audio and MIDI on the fly, drop in loops and samples, add effects and swap sounds without ever hitting the stop button: everything happens in real time. You're free to improvise and the computer actually becomes a musical instrument--an expressive and creative tool, perfectly at home on stage or in the studio.

Beats made easy

Live's unique Drum Rack combines drag-and-drop simplicity in a familiar pad-style interface. Each of the 128 drum pads can have its own instrument or sample plus effects. Slice beats, loops or REX files to MIDI for additional control options and use the new groove feature (which includes grooves from the legendary MPC and SP1200 machines) to add swing to your beats.

Creative expression for DJs

Mix and match tracks and loops automatically, remix on the fly, capture audio loops in real time from decks and other external sources, incorporate your own productions into the mix, and much more. Whether it's the centerpiece of the DJ rig or just a creative sidearm, Live gives DJs entirely new worlds of creative expression.

Looping with Live

Not only for guitarists, the Ableton Looper gives you classic sound-on-sound looping without the limitations of a hardware device. Looper is set up for remote operation, so you can record, overdub, undo and more without touching the computer.

Totally compatible

Live works seamlessly with controller hardware and assigning custom MIDI controls is simple. Live supports AIFF, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files, VST and AU effects and instruments. Live can handle REX files and runs as a ReWire Master or Slave, so it works nicely alongside other DAWs like Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase or Reason. And if you have a multicore or multiprocessor system, Live supports that, too.

The sounds

Ableton Suite 8's library is a well-balanced and comprehensive collection of sounds and resources including synthesis, real-world "Sound Objects", presets, grooves, templates and, above all, a wide-ranging set of beautiful sounds.

Sound examples

Andromeda Trip (Featuring Operator, Tension, Electric, Sound Objects Lite)

A La Mode (Featuring Tension, Cycling '74 Loops, Operator)

Massive Decay (Featuring Operator, Sound Objects Lite, Analog, Electric, Tension)

Morphanology (Featuring Operator, Vocoder)

Loosely Flow (Featuring Operator, Analog, Sound Objects Lite, Latin Percussion)

Gate Code (Featuring Sound Objects Lite, Operator, Vocoder)

London Calling (Featuring Operator, Sound Objects Lite)

Freeway Drifting (From Zero-G Sounds of the Seventies)

Long Life (From Zero-G Pure Trip Hop)

Kreuzberg Sunrise (Construction Kit)

Transit Hold (Construction Kit)

Ableton instruments and effects

Ableton Suite 8 includes six powerful synthesizers, a selection of authentic sample-based instruments and a collection of rich effects devices: an arsenal of tools for serious sound design.

Amp

Amp is an Ableton effect that accurately delivers the sound and simplicity of legendary amplifiers and cabinets.

Sampler

Sampler is a sampling instrument that brings powerful multisample playback and import, as well as profound sound design capabilities to Ableton Live.

Operator

Operator is a frequency modulation synthesizer that delivers an eclectic spectrum of sonic possibilities and musical inspiration.

Collision

Collision is a unique physical modeling instrument for authentic mallet sounds and creative percussion.

Electric

Electric offers the sounds of classic electric pianos through physical modeling synthesis, allowing you to dive inside and play with the guts of the instrument.

Tension

Tension is a physical modeling string synthesizer capable of creating incredibly accurate reproductions of real stringed instruments or otherworldly hybrids.

Analog

Analog emulates the unique circuitry and irresistible tweakability of vintage analog synthesizers. Able to produce everything from silky pad sweeps to earth-shaking bass.

Essential Instrument Collection 2 *

A choice selection of acoustic and electric pianos, guitars, bass, drums, orchestral instruments and more.

Session Drums *

Session Drums is a meticulously multisampled library of acoustic drums that reproduces the nuances of a recording session and puts you in the engineer's seat.

Drum Machines

Drum Machines offers a choice selection of classic drum machines, meticulously sampled to faithfully reproduce the original sounds.

Latin Percussion

Latin Percussion is a collection of acoustic percussion instruments such as congas, bongos, timbales, claves, shakers, tambourines and bells from the worlds of Brazilian, Afro-Cuban and African music.

*Boxed version only.

Key features

• Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192 kHz
• Nondestructive editing with unlimited undo
• Powerful MIDI sequencing of software and hardware instruments
• Advanced warping and real-time time-stretching
• Library with over 1600 expressive sounds, each with versatile control options
• A comprehensive selection of built-in audio and MIDI effects
• A wide range of software instruments
• Instrument Racks for simple management of complex instrument setups
• Drum Racks for intuitive and responsive beat-making
• Effect Racks for professional-grade mastering, mixing and creative sound processing
• New groove engine; apply and extract grooves in real time
• Construction kits containing loops and phrases in a number of styles
• Sound Objects Lite, from SonArte: a toolkit of real world object recordings
• 440 MB of abstract, experimental loops from renowned music software pioneersCycling '74 *
• Over 400 loops and samples from Zero-G *
• 1000s of single-device presets: simple components for making new sounds and exploring synthesis
• Song templates with pre-configured tracks and routing
• Supports AIFF, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files
• VST and AU support; automatic plug-in delay compensation
• REX file support plus built-in audio to MIDI slicing
• Video import and export for scoring, video warping
• Simple MIDI mapping plus instant mapping for selected hardware
• Full ReWire support; runs as Slave or Master
• Multicore and multiprocessor support
• Support for The Bridge, Ableton's collaboration with Serato

*Boxed version only.

Also includes

• Printed reference manual in English, French, German or Japanese (box only)
• Built-in interactive lessons
• Localized software menus, tutorials and PDF reference manuals in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese and Italian.

System requirements

The installation size of the boxed version of Ableton Suite 8 is 48 GB. The downloadable version requires 4.6 GB of hard drive space.

Mac: 1.8 GHz G4/G5 or faster (Intel® Mac recommended), 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended, if supported by your computer), Mac OS X 10.4.11 (10.5 or later recommended), DVD-ROM drive

Windows: 2 GHz Pentium® 4 or Celeron® compatible CPU or faster (multicore CPU recommended), 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended on Windows Vista and Windows 7), Windows XP (home or Pro), Windows Vista or Windows 7, sound card (ASIO driver support recommended), DVD-ROM drive, QuickTime recommended