Ableton has announced Live 6, a major new version of its music creation, production and performance software for Mac OS X and Windows. Scheduled for release in September, 2006, Live 6 will cost $599. A beta test version is expected to be released in late July.
New to this version of Live is QuickTime video support, enabling users to drop movie’s into Live’s Arrangement View then align music to visuals and process audio from within Live.
The Essential Instrument Collection adds multisampled instruments including orchestral strings and brasses, classic guitars and electric keyboards and more. Users can create, save and control customized groupings of multiple instruments, effects and plug-ins using Instrument and Effect Racks.
Live 6 adds multicore and multiprocessor support in this new release. Deep Freeze temporarily “freezes” tracks to free up system resources and allows you to cut, copy, paste, duplicate and consolidate clips without having to “unfreeze” them first.
New and improved devices on Live’s palette of creative tools include EQ Eight, a replacement for EQ Four that adds sound-shaping and mastering tools and Dynamic Tube, an analog distortion effects creator. Saturator has been improved with new capabilities, MIDI notes can be automated and played using Note Length, and Operator has been enhanced with a set of 24 decibel filter modes and more.
Users who buy Live 5 now will be upgraded to 6 for free.
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