On Wednesday, May 21st, IAR hosted a demonstration by Ableton of their popular music production and performance software, Live, version 7. Ableton Live has become a full-service production tool for making music with the computer. The affordable package includes a variety of creative elements, such as multi-track recording, MIDI sequencing, many built in instruments and effects, and video capabilities. Ableton first explained the basic setup to run the program and what external gear is needed. Students participated in the demonstration by tracking vocals and guitar into Live, and then were taught to use functions such as warping and automation in real time. They were then shown the seemingly endless options for editing, effects, processing, and producing and Dave Hill, Ableton USA General Manager, said, “You’re collecting bits of audio and arranging it later. This is like pre-production work.”

Ableton Live has lessons and tutorials built into the program so a user can learn or refresh on any tool while using the program. Students were also shown how DJs use Ableton Live for their gigs. Dave Hill and Sam Walker of Ableton provided advice for best use with Apple and PC computers and were impressed with the depth of questions IAR students had covering sampling and chopping and comparisons to Reason software. Tekserve was also at the session and offers great deals to IAR students on the ‘latest and greatest’ hardware and software products including Ableton Live, and each student left with a free trial version of Ableton Live to explore.