Ableton has dropped Live 12.3, and we’ve got a whole heap of new features, including some real major changes and some pretty minor quality-of-life fixes. It was already the go-to for electronic music production, but now Ableton is looking to further expand its creative toolbox to let you more easily explore new sounds and get ideas out of your head quicker.
Let’s dive right into some of the new updates and how they affect producers like you.
Stems built directly into Live Suite
Live Suite (the most premium version of Ableton) now lets you split vocals, drums and bass from any audio clip. It’s fast and easy, and crucially sits right inside Ableton so you don’t have to dive in and out of other tools to extract stems. From what we’ve heard so far, the sound quality is great and more than good enough for things like DJ edits or mashups.
Splice is now in the Browser
Splice – the super popular sound library for producers – now lives directly in Live’s Browser. That means you can now browse their whole library and sort for what’s in time or in key with your current project.
This is a major workflow boost for any producer who uses Splice, as you’ll save so much time by not having to constantly switch between apps to find and audition the sounds you want. The Search With Sound feature is a bonus, too, since it lets you find sounds that actually match the energy of the project.
Faster bouncing and resampling
Live 12.3 makes it easier to commit ideas quickly.
Bounce Groups
You can now bounce entire groups in one step. This is a straightforward way to print things like drum racks or layered sounds when you want them as audio.
Paste Bounced Audio
This lets you bounce a selection and paste it straight back into the project. It is useful for creating quick variations without building extra tracks.
Auto Pan
The Auto Pan effect now includes tremolo and extra rhythmic control. This makes it much more versatile than before and is an easy way to add a bit of life and movement to pretty much any part.
A/B for quick decisions
Device A/B is a small update that makes a big difference when you are shaping sounds. You can now fllick between two versions, hear what actually works, and move on. That just gives you that extra bit of confidence to play around with your sounds, knowing you can always return to how you had it before.
New tools to spark ideas
Ableton has added a few extra tools that help when you want to move quickly.
The Generators pack includes Sting for acid-style patterns and Patterns for instant rhythmic ideas.
The Sequencers pack now builds reproducible arrangements.
Expressive Chords has a new mode that makes chord edits and quick harmony ideas easier to try.
The Rhythm Generator is an algorithmic generator that lets you create and edit drum and percussion patterns.
Updates for Push
Push picks up a useful set of improvements that make it feel more expressive.
The new XYZ layout lets part of the pad grid react to movement and pressure, giving you hands-on control over effects and instruments.
Push Standalone can now split stems directly on the device.
Class-compliant audio interfaces are now supported, allowing for more flexible recording and live setups.
Pressure-based punch-in effects make quick performance tweaks easier.
Move 1.8
Move gets the new Auto Pan-Tremolo device and a set of presets built around rhythmic motion. There are also two new hybrid drum kits with a modern, bright character.
How to update
Live 12.3 installs automatically for Live 12 users. If you have auto-update turned off, you can download the update from your Ableton account.
