Tools of the Trade: Ableton Live

I have used just about every professional DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on the market:

• Ableton Live

• Logic Pro

• Pro Tools

• Cubase

• Reason

• Fruity Loops (FL Studio)

I started with a very basic version of Fruity Loops back in the day (much like everyone else in early 2000). At the time it was like an audio sketchpad for music ideas.

Actually, that’s a lie. There was a PlayStation game called MTV Music Generator. Very limited in function, but extremely fun for learning about music production.

I eventually moved to Reason which was like a virtual studio DAW, meaning you would plug in virtual audio cables between audio elements. It’s a cool concept, but not entirely efficient for long-term audio production efforts.

Today, I exclusively use Ableton Live (whatever the latest version at the time tends to be). I believe it’s one of the best-developed DAW’s on the market for its intuitive and flexible nature. You can use it both in production and live performance, which makes it extremely valuable as a software tool. The suite also comes loaded with incredibly useful plugins and samples making it easy to get right to work.

Today, I exclusively use Ableton Live (whatever the latest version at the time tends to be). I believe it’s one of the best developed DAW’s on the market for its intuitive and flexible nature. You can use it both in production and live performance, which makes it extremely valuable as software tool. The suite also comes loaded with incredibly useful plugins and samples making it easy to get right to work.