They updated Live to v12.2 with new interesting features but the main missing one has still not been introduced.

 

They will probably add it right after they fix PDC.

 

@clone Thank you for giving me hope.

 

yeah, they gotta address that and a few other things that are big.... but they have been pushing back dealing with some problematic issues with their engine for awhile, and I can see them completely ignoring ARA as well as proper pdc.

 

Can someone post the direct download link of the new beta from Ableton servers?

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2025

Audio PDC in Live has been fixed in 9.7.5 IIRC. Transport synced FXs are not compensated and you should use MIDI triggers to compensate. LFOtool or vsts like Volume Shaper can do this

 

its not really fixed. parallel processing is still messed up, and there are transport dependent plugins that do not accept midi triggers.

 

Correct, I suggested some that do it.

Are you sure? In which cases?

 

It's important to people who see other DAWs that have it already, and want to do every little thing in the DAW without ever having to do any sort of offline processing. Izotope plugins can sometimes give nasty popup messages about choosing the correct ARA or Non-ARA instances to load.
It is a convenience with it in the DAW, not a necessity. But like fixing PDC, it can be symptomatic of a developer who would rather put out new versions of their software without fixing issues they already know about and promising things that will be in update versions which never seem to happen.

 

Ableton still don't have a PLUGIN MANAGER showing skipped/crashed plugins during scan ... and still crashing version after version on some of my plugins.
And you expect ARA ?

Not going to happen.

 

It's free for them to implement ArticStorm, developed by Presonus and Celemony iirc, and is an open API. Logic can use it (intel only, or Rosetta in ARM versions)... there are some issues with some of the security protocols on macOS, in that they don't like anything jacking into their stream etc, (and this more effects au's but...) but hopefully with solutions found by Rogue Amoeba etc to do what they do, that can be figured out.

I think with Ableton it is more symptomatic of (as I said above), that they really have to redo their audio engine to my understanding, and they have been putting that off for so long... given that, the apple issues on au's (but I think bitwig and whatnot got it done so... little fuzzy on that right now, sorry..it's been a minute) and there are probably some other issues under the hood making it difficult where it should be easier for some daws to implement, should they negotiate something on the Apple front that satisfies certain things, and should be on other windows daws regardless to my understanding...

But I think there is more demand for ARA2 and whatnot, as not only does Melodyne use it, but Spectralayers, RipXDaw and new Waves vocal stuff and down the line, and it does provide some workflow improvements that it is stupid to ignore for the sake of some new stupid effect or something they are insistent on tossing in (which I'm good with but I want some of the functionality other daws have that they ignore, and no, their new tuning modules is not Melodyne...)

 

Last edited: Mar 13, 2025

What's crashing for you? (not that I think they shouldn't report what is, I guess I haven't had that problem though..)

 

The one in Logic works great and it's very helpful to figure out why plugins that do not work are problems. Sometimes things are not [k] correctly, but most often they just need to be codesigned correctly, or permissions fixed on either the plugin or the content. Some may be working for Intel users, but only in Rosetta2 for Apple SIlicon users. Most old plugins can be force validated, but some very few actually just need the machine to be rebooted before AUValtool even sees them. The Plugin Manager makes all that stuff rather easy to see what is going on with problems.

You can also make the DAW only load what you want to see without uninstalling stuff you "may need someday". This is perfect for Waves installations, because they want a mono and stereo version of the plugin to both populate your menus. So maybe stuff for bass, like RBass you decide you do want the mono copy also; but the other 200 mono plugins not in your menus. With Waves especially, altering the installation too much can easily break the whole thing with the bundles and waveshells. Instead, you uncheck all the mono versions and your menu is immediately decluttered of them. Just an example.

 

Just goes to prove that there isn't an one single DAW that appeals or caters to everybody, to me ARA is hardly a main feature.

ARA support for me is one of those "would be nice to have" things, but wouldn't affect my work that much. Whereas the new shit they've added is absolutely fucking fantastic: Ableton's DSP in Max (ok, that's a Max 9 feature, but it's now in M4L as well)? You gotta be kidding me. Absolutely a gamechanger. New MIDI manglers? Sign me the fuck up! Microtuning support for resonators? Oh yeah, that's the shit.

I'm liking the new tagging stuff, but it hasn't sold it to me yet completely.

In short: it's a great update, at least for me.

 

Last edited: Mar 14, 2025

Also plugin collections are one of very useful features that I use to categorize my plugins based on different use case scenarios on Cubase.

After using Ableton Live almost 2 years exclusively I had to switch at least for studio production since it lacks many features like ARA, no proper mixer view with plugins(there's a trick but still not as intuitive as other DAWs), No proper bounce in place(Finally here after a decade), Broken PDC.

But finally after switching to Cubase I discovered features that I never even thought of using like mixer zones, multiple sidechain input handling, the chord/scale tools in piano roll, Track versions, Robust clip gain tools, Audio alignment panel, Advanced warping and the stock plugins provides much more value tbh. The only doubt that I had was the workflow speed since Ableton really feels more fast to work with but after actually using and learning Cubase I realized that those features it provides make the process much simpler and faster.

 

there might be some issues with the code if they have not implemented it yet. for example, i asked if they are ever gonna fix the meter delay compensation (like compressor meters are not aligned with actual sound when you have really high latency - pro tools has this for example) and the support said it needs A LOT of work.