Ableton Live is a type of music production software commonly referred to
as a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW you can purchase three different tiers
of Ableton Live: Intro, Standard, and Suite each unlocking more features than the
last there is also however a fourth form of Ableton called Ableton Live Lite
which is a special version made specifically to be bundled with music
hardware such as MIDI controllers or audio interfaces
this is a basic lightweight variant of Ableton but can be quite powerful once
you learn how to use it so in this video I just wanted to take
some time and break down what all it is you can do in each version of Ableton
real quick I wanted to give a shout out to this video sponsor Skillshare they
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to learn more details but for now let's break down what all it is you can do
with each version of Ableton so once you receive your license to Ableton you can
go to their website and you can download install and register your product from
here if you open up your DAW you're faced with a window that looks like this
if you're looking to learn the interface and get started with arranging your own
music consider checking out this tutorial I made a few months ago where I
explained how to use this software starting from opening it for the very
first time and ending with clicking export on your first song since that's
already out there in the world the direction I'd like to take with this
video is moreso explaining the features in Ableton Live Lite and comparing that
to Ableton Live intro standard and sweet for all intents and purposes Ableton
Live Lite is most similar to Ableton Live intro so firstly let's go down the
list of what features Ableton Live Lite has to offer if you'd like to follow
along and view this page for yourself I'll leave a link in the description
below in addition you can also go through and compare the other versions
of Ableton by going to Ableton's website clicking on the live tab and then
compare editions and we should soon see a list of bullet points that looks
familiar as I mentioned earlier for the most part Ableton Live Lite is most
similar to intro you can compare the key features side-by-side to see the
differences for yourself but I believe the main differences are the number of
layers you can use and we'll explain more of this later and you do get a few
more audio effects in Ableton intro the main thing to remember is light was
bundled with hardware that you bought and Ableton intro would be a standalone
software that you buy anyways going through the list of key features there
are plenty of bullet points that use fancy vernacular to explain what it is
each version can do for the most part the bullet points at the top of this
list are the same across all versions and there's breaking down what it is you
can do in Ableton Live in short it's a dog you can arrange layers slice samples
and export music cool where the main differences start to come in however are
about midway through when we hit audio and MIDI tracks these are the maximum
number of combined audio and MIDI layers you can use simultaneously in any given
Ableton Live project you can see in Ableton intro the number is capped at 16
which means you can't use any more than 16 layers of instruments or audio tracks
combined it's worth noting this is one of the differences between Ableton light
and intro because in Ableton Live Lite you are instead limited to a maximum
number of eight combined tracks in any given Ableton session now this is more
than enough if you're using your music hardware to play live sessions say as an
instrument for a jam session but yes if you are planning to go beyond and use
Ableton to arrange your music 8 layer maximum starts to become a hurdle you
can see in Ableton standard and suite there is no cap for the number of layers
you can use similarly the number of scenes is kept for Ableton Lite and
intro to 8 these are used to loop MIDI clips or audio samples on repeats
intended for live performances send and return tracks are used if you find
yourself using a common set of audio effects on every single layer you can
instead place all the audio effects on a send track and then route all your
desired layers to that processing bus you can see Ableton light and intro are
limited to a maximum of 2 send and return tracks where as standard and
sweet have a cap of 12 you are also limited to a maximum of 8 audio inputs
and outputs in light and intro but can go up to 256
in standard and sweet and finally you can see you don't have access to max for
live in any version except for sweet this is a powerful jack-of-all-trades
software you can use to customize or build your own devices in Ableton from
here you can see there are now only key features available to standard and suite
these are features such as being able to use complex warp modes audio to MIDI is
pretty cool this lets you drag an audio sample onto a MIDI track and then
Ableton will convert the sound adheres into MIDI notes there are also plenty of
other cool features I suggest you look into yourself but for the most part
that's it on the features so click recap so far essentially all the versions of
Ableton do the same thing they're all built on the same exact software the
main differences are that light and intro are generally limited on the
number of tracks you can use and standard and suite have a few more cool
bells and whistles so now we get into more of the bigger differences being the
tools that are provided with each version in Ableton Live Lite you're
given access to four built-in software instruments these are what power our
MIDI layers in Ableton intro you're also given access to the same four
instruments but in standard and sweet you unlock much more this provides a
greater variety of sounds light and intro get the job done but having more
instruments to play around with allows you to better customize your sounds as
we go down the list you see a pattern of the different tools available in the
different versions of Ableton suite provides you with a bunch more sample
packs this gives you access to a larger library of audio samples you can
download from Ableton site suite and standard also give you access to more
audio effects these allow you to modify any layer of audio or MIDI to tweak your
sounds to your liking at the time of recording this video ableton light gives
you 12 audio effects intro gives you 21 standard 34 and suite gives you 55
similarly you get more MIDI effects with the higher versions of Ableton these
allow you to alter your MIDI notes directly to create more unique sounds if
you're curious all versions ableton give you the same eight
fundamental midi effects then Ableton suite goes above and beyond providing
you with 17 and that does it for comparing the different versions of
Ableton now on to the big question I'm sure most of you may be thinking which
version of Ableton should I get and the honest to goodness objective truth
it depends as much of a cop-out answer that is it's really the truth depending
on what you plan on using this software for you should only ever get able to
enlighten through purchasing some type of music hardware say a MIDI controller
if you only ever plan on using the software to power your controllers and
use this as a lightweight tool to amp up your live jam sessions I'd recommend
keeping it the features given to you by the higher paid tiers of Ableton won't
add much to your workflow and may not be worth it however if you didn't purchase
any music hardware and are looking at which version of Ableton to use as an
independent software maybe that gets a little trickier if this is the case
you're most likely interested in pursuing music production and the
limiting amount of tracks you can use in Ableton intro are gonna be a major
roadblock in your work Ableton standard and sweet are perfect
for music production with Ableton suite coming out on top ever so slightly now
the differences between standard and sweet are minor in terms of features but
sweet grants you a significant amount more sounds and effects out of the gate
sweet is probably the best call for you if you know for an absolute fact that
you will use the software and the tools provided a crazy amount otherwise if
music production is a more of a casual hobby and you want all the features
without being held back but don't want to spend all the money on sweet my
personal opinion is you should go with Ableton Standard for the record I
personally own sweet and I don't regret it one last thing it's worth mentioning
if you're a student or a teacher you can get a pretty significant discount so
consider looking into that and there you have it that's the
breakdown between the different versions of Ableton lite intro standard and sweet
if you want to keep the ball rolling and learn more about music production
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