Is Ableton Move a must-have Live accessory? Review & developer interview 

Especially since ableton is known to come with improvements and updates months down the line. A year or so later a new push mini comes or updates on features we would appreciate the day of release

@@donnytheflow If this gets an update to have 8 tracks, similar to the Circuit Tracks, it would become the King of the sub-$500 Grooveboxes, in my opinion.

Great for making your own personal soundtrack to a posh vacation

These plant comments are getting pathetic

@@nobodyhome3753 ???

You could record instruments on portastudio. OP-1 is more portastudio. This is not.

@@gepardek you can record audio though via mic or 3.5mm, more sampler like workflow admittedly

@@aliveintech Making little samples in drum racks doesn't make it a portastudio

@@gepardek I'm referring to the ethos of the whole thing rather than it literally being a porta-studio :)

@@aliveintech That dude is just here for an argument. I totally get where you're coming from because I was thinking the same thing. You want to record some guitars? Drum Rack is nothing if not a rack of samplers. I can't wait to get playing with this.

😂

more like half a circuit

@@mathiasrain674 Naah .

with jog wheel😅

Thanks. Depth of the control is a bit mixed. With devices you get eight assigned parameters (so for example, with the compressor you can control threshold, ratio, compressor type, attack, release, knee, output gain and dry/wet). It’s enough to make adjustments to the main elements of most devices, but not exhaustive. The pain appeal in controller mode is probably as a lightweight playing surface with poly aftertouch pads and a step sequencer.

True. Since I got Push 3 I hardly use Live or plugins. I just embrace the limitations of that, the lack of all the DAW is liberating. The only thing that I don't like with the Push is the mobility. You can carry it around, but you wouldn't want to carry it all day, or on a bike, on the off chance you get to jam. This solves that for me.

Your comment makes me think they should have gone with Ableton Book and embrace the marketing shenanigans of notebook for all your sketches

My thoughts as well

They already do that product, it's called a Push 3.

@@watercolourmark the push 3 is too big to fit on your desktop as a controller; that's way I'm never getting one. this on the other hand is the perfect size.

nobody making music outside unless its for a youtube video but its handy to pack all your gear into 1 bag and move it over to a friends house.

I started urban sketching. And doing art outside gave me the confidence to do music outside. I think more people would do it, but we care what others think of us - and we don't even care for these random people. It is why you see vids of people in the woods making music, they don't like the people watching in the situation but are OK to upload it. We are strange people. But doing art or music outside is a social passport, you have some great encounters.

This is my issue with it as well. Most of the features rely upon the idea that you're going to do what the people in the ads do, and you're just not. It's more like a physical phone app than a cut-down Push. Maybe if they'd at least put the full MPE pads into Push it would be interesting but for this price you could get, say, a Dreadbox Typhon and a Launchkey MK4.

@@chatbury or on the street at night like they're not expecting to get robbed at knifepoint. That said I live in Manchester. Maybe that's ok in Berlin..

Im weird but I do it. I quite often sit on a train for multiple hours on a day and I always pack my laptop + audio interface and Ive made alot of tunes this way.

You could be jamming out for 6 months rather than save $50. Bad economics.

@@watercolourmark nah, someone WILL buy it, hate it, and sell a perfectly mint unit for 100-125 less. Reasonably priced but I’m cheap lol

@@officialbestkeptsecret - Good luck, but it is very multi functional and relatively cheap. It will take some time before someone says they don't like it for sketching out ideas, taking it to friends for jam, using it as a controller or 2nd controller for Live, use it with Note, take it on a biz trip or holiday in summer.

@@officialbestkeptsecret Can confirm: bought a Polyend Play Plus day one, sold it a month later $100+ off, used that money to buy an MPC One, very happy with that purchase.

I recently watched a RU-vid video from Woody and he goes over the actual cost of an instrument based on the purchase price, later down the road, the selling price, and how much that instrument really cost during ownership. Although I’m all for saving a little bit money when possible, assuming this device is purchased at retail and is used for only two years, that equals about $.68 a day to own this device not even considering how much on the end one could recover from selling it. But with your statement, be patient and you will be able to save yourself a little bit of money. I only bring this up because watching Woody’s video made me think of things a little bit differently in regards to musical gear. I buy used cars because I don’t wanna take the initial hit of depreciation, but I also know in the end after owning your vehicle for however many years, we are typically not coming out ahead.

It's a standalone device. It doesnt need anything plugged in...

@@cleanboy2k are you aware about the very simple and essential fact that people are going to use this "standalone" device on stage as well, or with headphones?

@@envo I do...I am not sure what you mean by that or how it is relevant haha....or maybe I just dont understand your initial post? You dont need anything plugged in but it has ports so you can plug headphones in if you want?

That’s correct, you could resample in chunks, or load the same loop across multiple pads and manually adjust the start/end points. As you say, hopefully some kind of automated ‘slice to drum rack’ feature might be added in a future update

Or a Roland SP-404MKII, or a MV-1.

same here.... also no proper midi out

I’ve owned all of those (MC,SP, Circuit 1 and Tracks) - For melodic sequence building and playing it looks a lot more powerful than the MC-101. Compared to the tracks, it’s missing the MIDI, but gains quite a bit of sampling, which although not as powerful as the SP-404mk2, occupies a happy middle ground, for a hundred or so less than the SP and MC, and about $50 more than the circuit.

@@djkanyon I mean, the USB Midi will work though, won't it? What's the big limitation of Midi over USB-A?

@@burtcocain1986 well... most of my other synthesizer do not support usb over midi.... what's the big idea was leaving regular 3.5 jack out of the equation? I don't get it

It has an audio input also. So what's the freq response of your mics, that is the question.

You're not in the minority. There are people who really like the idea of making music on the go, but I don't think they are a majority and they are overrepresented among content creators.

it would be great to have possibility to add max4live devices:) but im worried its rather not in plans for Move

I was thinking this would be a killer device if it has M4L, as it could be anything. Obviously M4L would need to be custom but it would be great. Sadly it is Arm based so I guess it will never happen. But they have RNBO.

i bought SP404mk2 to have Koala sampler controller/audio interface but Move looks like better combo for it

@@bonwowo better in what? i mean.. it can load 6 samples vs 16x10

Yeah you can sample but do nothing with it, so easy to implement, auto chop grid, set start end for each chop, play any chop in scale with time stretch… sounds like these guys have no idea about producing. Just get koala sampler on your phone or iPad and you can go miles beyond this Move thing for 10 bucks. And if you really need pads get a launchpad mini. Anyway this thing have no MPE pads

No time stretch?

Because it would canibalise Push 3. Simple.

@@gepardek no it won’t just add simpler device..

but u can play any of drum samples in chromatic so it makes like 16 sounds simpler? also while sampling (so i believe in resampling) u can make chops by hand so its also possible to slice but in different way. dont know about timestretching exactly, but i remember guy from Tmobile beats mentioned timestretching as option.

No. I wish

yea, at first it seems like a nice device till you dive deeper

It wasn't designed for sequencing synths.

for who tho

@@TheChameleon2008 For anyone (including me) who likes to capture music ideas in different locations and later finish them in Ableton.. Right now I just use apps but a portable hardware device will be so much better.

Yes you can

We'll watch the video for you, yes.

@@watercolourmark Well, it seemed like it, as it said it would work when it is hooked up to a computer. I was just double checking. It was a lot about editing functions and ways to create which I am less interested in. I just need a simple device to trigger scenes.

@@norenttv_ Thank you.

If not, you can load your own samples

No audio tracks

no audio tracks but seems like sample memory limited to 64gb so u could record loops and put them in drum track.

It does, yes. It's worth noting though that there's only one 3.5mm audio output, so it's not ideal for hooking up to monitors, etc.

@@MusicRadarTech hey thanks. Thats all I need 👍🏻

@@MusicRadarTech you could use an audio splitter cable

@@fxdaly An audio splitter from a 3.5mm to drive monitors? No.

The synth sounds come from Live’s Drift and Wavetable synths. When you open a Move project in Live you get full access to the synths themselves

@@MusicRadarTech ok so the move itself does not offer manipulating the synthesis.

​@@eta-fc1dx- You have 8 preset knobs to tinker the preset, and inputting presets from Live is an update away.

@@watercolourmark ya sure, the question was for me if there is synthesis in it like in live so...

@@eta-fc1dx - It can be done, just not implemented, maybe in an update

Yes it can control other midi hardware

The USB-A output will send MIDI to anything that can receive MIDI over USB, so in theory yes, but we haven't tested this with an Electron device specifically yet

If you touch any of the encoders the screen changes to display the relevant parameter info, so it's easy to keep track of

Oh so they're touch sensitive? Good to know

404 runs laps around this one... even the p6 not even worth it now that you have great apps on mobile device that you can pair with the 404 makes it a all round beast

What synth engines do you get on the 404

Word, Bill.... this is not even discussable, next to any Roland SP!

It's more Roland MC-101 territory imho. OP-1 thingy can record stems at last and loop audio.

I pity your Secret Santa.

Right? I would rather just buy another OP-1 Field or an iPhone with GarageBand on it. Both are better looking and have even more capabilities than this.

But… are they as fast at grooving?

​@@robertjamesonmusic- If you are spending that sort of money you could get a Push 3, and wouldn't need to pretend.

Oh wow, is that what thing goes for!? I was thinking like 200 bucks. Oh I see 449 US dollars.

That’s still a lot I was hoping for 299 at best your talking close to 500 , you can get a used digitakt for that , too bad they didn’t put a SD card to load your own sounds maybe Move 2

​@@georgerivera7193- It has WiFi and a 64gb harddrive - you just can't please everyone with limited features.

They already released what you are asking for. It's called Push (3)

Are you too poor for the Push 3?

@@Johnny-Hash Push 3 is too big to be portable.

@@billB101 Then make beats on your phone?

@@Johnny-Hash I have a 404 mk2 thanks.

It’s definitely more desk friendly than push.

I don’t want an mixer

Watch this go on to become a cult classic.

Why do we need a mixer?

Huh why do you want a mixer

@@HammyHavocall hate and skepticism aside: why would it? Push3 already exists. This is just a trimmed down version of it.

Maybe that is their move (no pun intended). Be underwhelmed to buy Push 3

@@gepardek Ha! Maybe

You can literally have mine. Replacing it with the move. Push 3 is not ergonomic and doesn’t fit well on a desk.

Its standalone capabilities are definitely the main selling point. It's handy as a controller, but if you only want to control Live, you can get more for your money elsewhere

@@MusicRadarTech One advantage of this over any other controller seems to be the mix of pads and encoders. Launchpads don't have any and the faders on the APC64 seem to get a mixed reaction. I imagine the sequencer on the Launchpad is a bit more intuitive maybe though? The more I read the manual though, seems like it can do quite a bit. For example "Hold the Delete button and tap an encoder to delete the automation for the corresponding parameter." That's pretty nifty, especially since this is v1.

Not in this form factor you can't

Yes I'm yearning for a small desktop controller with encoders and a few pads, and a nice interface with a screen. Novation has something with their keylaunch mk4 but sadly it comes with a keyboard attached (a shitty keyboard I might add for the smqller version)

...for that making music on a coffee table feel. It's an expressive tactile instrument and not a computer.

@@watercolourmark its a sketch pad not an all in one, you will have to get on a computer to finish whatever you started on here. You could finish your song on the ipad.

@@TonySmith79 - You could do that. What can I do on an iPad that I can't on Move? You can resample and layer. You may not want to, you could also build a master effects chain on the audio output while going into a recorder. Or, into a mixer - play out single tracks or play those tracks live. Endless ways without using a computer. In the same way someone could make an album with just an OP-1.

No probability in more ways than one for you