Ableton Live 12 is released

Ableton has just launched Ableton 12, a major update designed to spark musical creativity – introducing playful MIDI tools for generating unexpected ideas, new devices and sounds with surprising capabilities, and improvements that let you work more intuitively.

MIDI Transformations and Generators
Create a variety of simple or complex variations to your MIDI clips. Add ornaments, connect successive notes and chords, simulate guitar strums, or pick from a set of generative algorithms to conjure up melodies, rhythms and chords that follow constraints you define.

MIDI Editor improvements
Rearrange the order of a selection of notes by pitch, velocity or duration. Stretch, split, chop or join notes in new ways; shape the velocity of notes more easily; transpose them into a scale; or add intervals chromatically or in key.

Keys and Scales
Choose a key in Live’s Control Bar to see its notes in any clip you create. Then edit clips using scale highlighting as a guide, use the clip scale to transform and generate musical ideas, or sync the scale of MIDI devices and instruments to the clip being played.

Tuning Systems
Work in tunings outside the 12-tone equal temperament system, and access them with Live’s devices as well as any MPE-capable plugin.

Meld
A bi-timbral, MPE-capable instrument designed for deep sound-shaping that generates a wide array of textural and experimental sounds with two easy-to-use macro oscillators.

Roar
Create everything from subtle and precise mastering-grade warmth to wild and unpredictable sound degradation with Live’s new coloring and saturation effect. Roar’s three saturation stages can be used in series, parallel, or even in mid/side and multiband configurations – and it comes equipped with an extensive modulation matrix.

Granulator III
The latest iteration of Robert Henke’s granular instrument now has MPE capability, giving you expressive control over parameters like note bend, vibrato and glissando. Plus, you can now capture audio in real time and start manipulating it immediately.

New Packs
Find new tricks for performing on the fly with the four Max for Live devices of Performance Pack. And explore unlikely instruments and unique foley recordings with the Lost and Found collection.

Stacked Detail Views
Get an overview of everything a track is doing at a glance: see your devices and the Clip Editor at the same time, as well as automation and device parameters, so you can focus on the track you’re working on without repeatedly switching between views.

View styling
Stay in the flow with Live 12’s cleaner, more modern look that removes visual complexity and keeps the focus on your music.

Mixer improvements
Live’s Mixer, previously available only in Session View, can now be used in Arrangement View. It also comes with improvements that make it more accurate for detailed mixing decisions, and easier to read and control.

Browser tagging
Use the included tags or custom ones to search for sounds without the constraints of the browser’s built-in categories.

Sound Similarity Search
Start with a sample and tell Live’s browser to find comparable sounds and instrument presets related to timbre.

Accessibility and navigation improvements
Control core workflows in Live 12 using assistive technologies like screen readers, and use new keyboard shortcuts to navigate to nearly every part of Live.