ABLETON RELEASES LIVE 3 AT AES CONVENTION 2003 IN NEW YORK

Live 3 adds another audio sequencing breakthrough by allowing users to enter their samples.

Berlin, Germany - October 2, 2003 - Ableton is excited to unveil the release of Live 3 at this year's AES Convention in New York, taking place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from October 10 - 13, 2003.

Where the previous versions of Live provided the revolutionary ability to easily and cohesively mix and match samples of any tempo and pitch, Live 3 is now the first integrated audio sequencing tool that also gives users control "inside" of the sample. Live 3 offers sound designers and musicians a whole new world in which they can easily and flexibly animate their samples. In Live 3, changes in volume, pitch, pan, effects controls and more can be drawn onto any section of a sample as clip envelopes-thus adding unlimited dynamic musical expression to previously static samples. Live 3 allows the user to create infinite variations from just one sample in real-time-anything from subtle corrections to entirely new and exciting sounds.

"We are very proud to release the first audio sequencer that will allow you to 'get into the loop'," says Gerhard Behles, CEO and founder of Ableton. "As we know, making music with samples and loops is fast and fun. To a lot of people though, an annoying problem has been that samples always sound the same. Live 3 now ends this problem and allows you to 'open up' or 'unfold' your samples and work 'from within'. In Live 3 you will be able to reveal the millions of sounds a sample can make as you draw volume, pitch and effect curves onto it. With Live's new clip envelopes, an arsenal of built-in effects and all VST Plug-in effects become the building blocks of a dream (re-)synthesizer."

Clip envelopes extend Live's "elastic" approach to audio by allowing the musician to achieve endless variations of a sample. Every clip in Live 3 contains independent envelopes to draw pitch, volume, warping, mixer and effects parameters. The sample is processed non-destructively and in real-time.

New features of Live 3 include:

Clip Envelopes: Clip envelopes extend Live's "elastic" approach to audio by allowing musicians to achieve endless variation of a sample. Every clip in Live 3 contain independent envelopes to draw pitch, volume, warping, mixer and effects parameters. The sample is processed non-destructively and in real time.
MIDI Key Mapping and Velocity Sensitivity: In conjunction with Live's beat-synchronized playback and real-time quantization, the MIDI keyboard becomes a powerful song arrangement aid. Improvise new melodies over vocal phrases or spoken passages, or play variations of an instrumental solo on the fly-and capture it all in the Arrangement for further editing. With MIDI key mapping, velocity sensitivity, clip envelopes and the new Legato Mode, Live 3 has become even more of a musical instrument.
Consolidate: Live 3 has a new Consolidate command which turns each track within a selected time range of the Arrangement into a new clip, ready to be looped or dragged into the Session View for instant use.
New Effects: Resonators, Compressor II, EQ Three, Utility
Insert Captured Scene: The Insert Captured Scene command captures all running clips as a new Session View scene.
New Quantization Values: The Quantization menus now include triplet note values; the global Quantization setting includes values greater than one bar.
VST Plug-In Improvements: View multiple VST Plug-in editor windows; new VST Plug-in program and bank handling; Mach-O VST Plug-in support for Mac OS X.
Recording Improvements: Automatic handling of audio input monitoring; automatic thinning of recorded automation data.
New Clip Settings and Features: Clips can individually be set to play from RAM instead of from disk; dropping a sample from the File Browsers onto the Clip View replaces the clip's sample while retaining all other clip settings; increased ranges for clip volume and transposition; Session View clips keep playing when dragged to other clip slots; all clip Launch Modes are now available for the computer keyboard.

Live 3 Release Party

To celebrate the release of Live 3, Ableton and their distributor for USA, Canada, Latin-America and the UK, M-Audio, will host a party on October 10 in New York. Everyone is invited to party with Ableton, chat with each other, and listen to the futuristic techno made by Monolake aka Robert Henke, one of the first developers at Ableton. Monolake is just about to release his new album "momentum" which was produced entirely with Live.

Anyone with an AES badge gets in to the party free. There will be a $10 cover for those without a badge. Doors will open at 7 PM in the Glass Lounge, 287 Tenth Ave., www.glassloungenyc.com

Live 3 Pricing and Availability

Live 3 for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X, and Windows will be available in stores worldwide and in the Ableton web shop at www.ableton.com/shop for EUR/USD 399 (MSRP) on October 10, 2003. Upgrades from previous Live versions will be available online at www.ableton.com/upgrade. Upgrades from LIVE 2.x are EUR/USD 69 for the download version and EUR/USD 99 for the boxed version. Upgrades from LIVE 1.x are EUR/USD 99 for the download version and EUR/USD 129 for the boxed version. Users that buy or unlock Live 2.x for the first time after August 1st 2003 will be eligible to receive a free upgrade to Live 3. (Ableton uses a challenge-response copy protection. When running Live the first time, the user will need to unlock the program).

About Live

Live is the real-time audio production solution that eliminates the boundaries between composition, performance, recording and sound design. Easily combine loops, phrases and songs from diverse origins. Create music on the fly, without being bound to a fixed timeline. Improvise song arrangements, instantly drop samples on cue, interact with other performers, musicians or DJs. Record multi-track audio or real-time loops. Instantly change the tempo, melody, groove and sonic signature of your sounds at any time. Enter your samples and work 'from within' to create endless variations. Live combines all of these possibilities in a simple and friendly environment that lets your creativity flow without limitations.

About Ableton

Ableton's function is to develop modern software technology that empowers and inspires creative people. Since the company started in 1999, more than twenty developers and business professionals have joined Ableton-many of them active musicians or DJs. The company has received outstanding press and customer feedback since the launch of Live in October 2001.

Images and Live Demo Version available on our website: www.ableton.com

For more information, contact:

Claudia Weidner, Public Relations
Ableton
Schönhauser Allee 6/7
10119 Berlin, Germany
ph: +49-(0)30 288763-211
fax: +49-(0)30 288763-11
press@ableton.com
www.ableton.com