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Ableton released Live 8 and Suite 8 together with two new instruments, Collision and Latin Percussion, both included in Suite 8.
Live 8 and Suite 8 added features, effects, and workflow improvements for real-time digital-music production. These included a new groove engine, improved warping, live looping, five effects including Ableton Vocoder, Arrangement View crossfades, grouped tracks, and a revised MIDI editor.
Suite 8 also offered a new sound library and a collection of instruments including synthesizers, a sampler, electronic and acoustic drums, Latin Percussion, the Collision mallet instrument, sampled instruments, and an expanded Operator.
New in Ableton Live 8
• Groove engine with a new library, extraction from audio or MIDI, real-time groove quantization, and grooves from Akai MPC and E-MU SP-1200 machines
• Warp engine with dynamic alignment to the timeline, a revised Beats mode, a new Complex warping mode, transient-based slicing, and conversion to MIDI tracks
• Looper with sound-on-sound recording, overdub, undo, hands-free operation, first-loop synchronization, and loop management
• Vocoder, Multiband Dynamics, Overdrive, Limiter, and Frequency Shifter effects
• Real-time Arrangement View crossfades, improved MIDI editing, grouped tracks, multiple-track selection, and interface zooming
New in Ableton Suite 8
• A new sound library with sound objects, presets, grooves, template sets, and more than 1,600 sounds
• Collision physical-modeling synthesizer for mallet instruments and percussion, plus its Corpus resonator as a separate effect
• Latin Percussion with acoustic Brazilian and Afro-Cuban instruments, clips, and grooves
• A redesigned Operator with new filters, expanded modulation routing, and additive wavetable synthesis
Suite 8 also included Sampler, Electric, Tension, Analog, Drum Machines, Session Drums, and Essential Instrument Collection 2. Collision and Corpus were also available separately; Session Drums and Essential Instrument Collection 2 were included only with boxed editions.
Prices and Availability
Live 8 and Suite 8 were immediately available from retailers and http://www.ableton.com.
Ableton Suite 8 boxed edition: €699
Ableton Suite 8 download: €549
Ableton Live 8 boxed edition: €449
Ableton Live 8 download: €349
Collision: €129
Latin Percussion: €79