Ableton releases Max for Live
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 23, 2009 at 2:12pm
Ableton and Cycling ‘74 have released Max for Live, which puts the “power and potential” of Max/MSP inside Live. Co-developed by Ableton and Cycling ‘74 over a period of more than two years, Max for Live effectively opens up the Live platform, allowing users to create and edit their own devices.
Users are free to create whatever they can think of. Devices created with Max for Live are integrated into Live’s interface and workflow, just like the “home-grown” Ableton instruments and effects. Max for Live includes:
° A Step Sequencer, which lets you play up to four concurrent sequences, each with up to 16 steps. It also features adjustable step size and step probability, sequence shift buttons (up, down, left, right), a “random” mode and real-time MIDI options.
° Buffer Shuffler: this audio effect “shuffles” incoming audio by buffering the audio, then replaying it in whatever order you’ve specified. Each channel of the stereo signal can be shuffled with different patterns (unlike Beat Repeat), and there’s also a “dice” mode that randomizes the shuffle pattern at each bar crossing.
° The Loop Shifter creative loop playback device. It uses MIDI notes as triggers for playback states, each MIDI note representing one such “state”: a combination of playback rate, loop points and filter settings. Plus “morphing” transition between states, auto-mapping system and “auto-play” mode that randomly chooses MIDI notes for automatic state selection.
° Pluggo for Live, which offers more than 40 devices from the Pluggo collection. These include audio effects and instruments, all re-built and optimized for use within Live.
° Numerous new MIDI and audio effects, ranging from common studio utilities like graphic EQs to creative MIDI utilities such as humanizers.
° A button matrix step sequencer that turns the button matrix of the APC40 or Launchpad into a hardware interface for programming MIDI sequences.
° An API (application programming interface) that provides programmers with access to some of the inner workings of Live, including tracks, clips, notes, names and values, selection states and more. This API also provides access to controller hardware via Live, for creating new mappings that can completely repurpose a hardware device.
Max for Live requires Ableton Live 8. It’s available from the Ableton web shop and from selected music retailers for US$29. Users who already own Max 5 can buy Max for Live at a discounted price of $99. Product bundles of Max for Live plus Ableton Live 8/Suite 8 are also available.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 10,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
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