I'm a songwriter/guitarist looking to delve into Ableton Live (haven't spend any $$$ yet, but I have the Lite version and I'm diggin' it). I've read it's great for DJ's, but that it's also very helpful for creative sesssions for musicians/instrumentalists.

Should I look into other DAW's first (SONAR or Cubase) or is exploring first Ableton Live worthwile?

Ignacio

Live is *definitely* worth looking into. It's great for composition and sketching ideas as well as creating beats and riffs. Biggest weakness IMO is some of the plugins (reverb, compressor and EQ in particular) aren't up to the same level as say Logic's. But as far as ease of use, quickly getting ideas hammered out, Ableton is pretty unique. Plus as far as the plugins go, you can always get 3rd party plugins to replace them and the new Max for Live expansion for Ableton brings a lot of other possibilities too.

Bottom line is Live is very flexible and can be used in a lot of different ways by a lot of different types of users. (Producers, DJs, bands). Check out Zoe Keating. She's a cellist that uses Ableton for all of her composing, recording and even live performances.

Regards,
Bill

Thank a lot! I'll definitely take your insight into account and look into everything. I also have a demo version of Pro Tools M-Powered but haven't delved into it as much as Live.

Do you use Live more than other DAW's?

Thank again,
Ignacio

I used Live for quite a few years exclusively. In the last year or so I've moved to Logic for about 75% of my production since I don't gig much at this point. Both have their strong points, but the learning curve on Live is definitely lower than Logic (or Cubase which I used to use before Live. I would assume the curve for Pro Tools is also similar).

One of the nice things about Live that nothing else touches is the ease of converting a project into something you could actually use during a gig on stage.

Regards,
Bill

live is rediculously cool for being able to drag audio straight in, and most times have it be lined up with your project ready to go, the sampler is very usable for newbs and pros. the instruments leave something to be desired for me, but vst support makes up for that. DRUM RACKS DRUM RACKS DRUM RACKS. lots of great built in plugins, that really do sound good. and lastly (just here, there is so much ableton will do) rewire is a snap.

live is rediculously cool for being able to drag audio straight in, and most times have it be lined up with your project ready to go, the sampler is very usable for newbs and pros. the instruments leave something to be desired for me, but vst support makes up for that. DRUM RACKS DRUM RACKS DRUM RACKS. lots of great built in plugins, that really do sound good. and lastly (just here, there is so much ableton will do) rewire is a snap.