Which means that, technically, Ableton Live 11 has been ported to Linux. A few intriguing things to note at the top, the Push is running Linux. Hardware is all well and good, but what is really going to make or break the experience here is the software and, well, so far so good. But it’s actually been great to sit down on my couch at night, after the kids go to bed and chip away at this review without an elaborate setup or being tied to an outlet. The Push is kinda big and heavy at 8.7 pounds, I wouldn’t exactly call it portable. Ableton estimates that Push can get two to two and a half hours out of the battery, which lines up with my anecdotal experience so far. That Intel NUC Compute Element does chew through the battery pretty quickly, however. If you’re concerned about your $2,000 MIDI controller / groovebox becoming obsolete, though, Ableton says it expects to make processor upgrades available in the future. In fact, I noticed far less latency working with live audio on the Push directly than I do on my XPS 15 with a 8th-gen Core i7 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a second-generation Focusrite Scarlett interface. That might not sound like much, but it’s plenty of power to handle most audio processing, especially without the overhead of trying to handle a windowing system and security software and those 16 Firefox tabs you haven’t closed in about three months. If you opt for the Push with a processor you’ll find an 11th Core i3 inside, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive. It is now truly capable of being the centerpiece of a recording studio. But if you’ve got another audio interface already with ADAT you can connect it to the Push and then suddenly you’ve got eight or 12 or however many inputs to work with. Granted it only has ¼” jacks (switchable between balanced and unbalanced), so it's not ideal if you’re recording vocals and need an XLR jack with phantom power. See, the new Push – even without a processor in it – is also an audio interface. More importantly, there are two audio ins and two audio outs, plus a headphone jack and two ADAT jacks for connecting to other audio gear. You’ll also find ⅛” MIDI in and out ports. There’s also a USB-A port for connecting class compliant MIDI controllers, so if pads aren’t your thing you can connect a keyboard, or play one instrument with the keyboard while knocking out drum tracks on the Push directly. But those pedal jacks can also send CV now, so you can control modular gear. There’s USB-C for connecting to a computer to control Live, a 12v DC connector, and two jacks for connecting sustain pedals just like on a Push 2. Which you should probably do anyway to tweak the responsiveness to your liking since MPE can be fickle and unforgiving at times.Īround back you’ll notice you’ll find a bunch of new connections too. But that can easily be fixed by going into the settings. I think I still have a slight preference for the feel of an MPC’s larger pads but, those aren’t MPE capable so, Ableton wins? My only complaint about the hardware really is that the pads might be too sensitive. They’re the first I’ve encountered that truly give Akai’s a run for their money. (Another fun feature Push borrows from Tracker is auto generated project names, which comes in handy.) And the pads. It’s reminiscent of the one on Polyend’s Tracker, but more noticeable detents. One of the new additions to the controls is a large jog wheel to the right of the screen that is a delight. The knobs, buttons and pads all feel great. There’s no unnecessary graphics or anything, just clean lines and text. The UI itself is simple and intuitive but attractive. It refreshes fast enough that you actually watch your MIDI notes scroll by in real time as you record them. It’s a large, reasonably high-resolution LCD with excellent viewing angles. The screen appears to be exactly the same. They’re both hulking black slabs that seem like they were ripped out of the control panel of an alien spaceship. Physically the new Push and the Push 2 are very similar.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |