Ableton+Live+7.0

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INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE REVIEWS

1. CITATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION • Ableton Live 7.0 • Gerhard Behles (CEO), Bernd Roggendorf (CTO) and Jan Bohl (COO/CFO) • www.ableton.com • 1999-2009 • Mac & Wintel Compatible • This software would be most suitable for high school, collegiate or adult education • This would be used in a composition or music technology class.

2. TEACHER SUPPORT Ableton offers a series of tutorial videos available at their website and youtube.com. There are certification courses available at specified institutions internationally as well as online courses available through Berklee online.

3. INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT This software has compositional tools complete with loops and sounds as well as an integrated Digital Audio Workstation to record new sounds. Through creative use of the MIDI controller the software can also be used to improvise using prerecorded sounds. This software can be used to address MENC Standards for Composition and Improvisation.

4. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND PEDAGOGICAL SOUNDNESS

Many of the functions in ableton can be accessed through keystroke combinations. Video tutorials available through their website detail beginning procedures for new users of ableton. The program also comes complete with an integrated lesson dock that will walk you through the basic steps of different aspects of the program such as DJing, Creating Beats, Using Software Instruments, Recording in Live, Setting up MIDI interfaces and Audio Input/Output.

The program is not based to be instructional, it is designed to guide you through the beginning and then encourages you to explore the different aspects of the software on your own. The pace of instruction can be fast for beginners, but it is designed to be watched more than once. They are reminders for users who are unable to remember how to get started.

Users will need a midi interface to compensate for latency, but can use a computer keyboard to control most of the functions in ableton.

5. RECORD KEEPING

Although there is no record keeping, this software allows students to export works as .wav files as well as save the work they have done as an ableton specific folder (.als). Each folder contains the recorded audio samples for the file so that students don't have to search to reenter the sounds that they recorded. The file system makes it convenient to transfer between workstations, something that tends to be problematic historically for most DAW.

6. OVERALL EVALUATION Albeton is a powerful and useful piece of software for any musician. It has a number of potential uses in the educational enviroment. With competitve pricing for a professional level software, whatever emphasis Ableton lacks on music notation, it more than makes up for in creative usefullness and accessibility.

Rating +++ 1/2

7. Elijah Vazquez 11/2009