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Now Ableton has launched a new firmware update for Move, which looks to be its most significant update yet. Ableton Move v1.5 Major Update Adds Sample Slicing, Auto-Filter Device & Enhances MIDI I/O.

When Move launched, one of the most common complaints from potential users was its lack of automatic sample slicing. Although Move allows users to sample using its audio input, onboard mic or internal routing – and lets users manually spread a recording across different pads – at launch it lacked the ability to automatically slice a loop to be triggered across different Drum Rack pads, in the way Live allows.

With the 1.5 update, Move now offers that option to slice a sample into equal regions, with the amount of slices set by the user. Users can then adjust the individual slice points in order to fine tune the process.

Move 1.5 also significantly enhances the device’s MIDI capabilities. Move can now simultaneously send and receive MIDI across its four tracks, which can each be configured with its own MIDI in and out settings. Move can also now receive MIDI clock settings from external devices.

It’s worth noting that Move uses its USB port for MIDI I/O, and doesn’t have conventional MIDI input and output ports.

Live’s newly overhauled Auto-Filter device also comes to Move 1.5, along with a range of presets. The update also adds some refinements to how Move functions when controlling Live, along with a variety of bug fixes.

These new updates join several other enhancements to the Move workflow that have been added since launch. These include the ability to sample using the device’s USB port, as well as improvements to the arpeggitor and quantize modes.

The 1.5 firmware is currently in public beta, head to the Ableton beta program site to find out how to join.

Move itself is available now, priced at £399/€449/$449, also available at Amazon site. For more info visit the main Ableton site.

With its latest free update, Ableton has finally turned Note into the app we all always wanted it to be.

With its Offline MIDI editing makes Ableton’s iPhone and iPad app more of a must-have iOS companion for Live users.

Ableton Note launched in late 2022 has always been an app with a lot of potential. Based around a similar workflow to Ableton Live’s clip-launching Session View, Note is designed as a simple platform for sketching musical ideas.

Its minimalist interface and limited selection of instruments and effects are a far cry from being a full DAW for your phone, but with staple Live devices under the hood and a simple app-to-Live workflow, Note arrived looking like it could be the perfect tool for Live users to capture ideas away from the studio.

The early version Of Note – the combination of synths and sampled instruments offers a broad sound selection, which can be expanded by importing your own sounds or sampling directly using your phone or iPad.

Crucially, Ableton offers several simple ways to quickly import ideas into Live, where they can be opened in fully editable form, meaning that those rough melodies or drum patterns you sketched out on the bus can really form the basis of a fully fledged tune.

Given that Apple has removed headphone ports from most of its devices, being unable to work with wireless headphones is a pretty significant hindrance for a tool designed to be used on-the-go.

Moreover, while playing parts in real time is all well and good, it’s not a workflow that suits Live users more used to inputting patterns via a step sequencer or ‘offline’ MIDI editing – i.e., using a mouse and keyboard.

With the release of version 1.3 this month, Ableton has rectified this. The major update, which is free for existing users, introduces offline MIDI input and editing, allowing users to create empty MIDI clips and then tap to input notes, drum patterns or chords. The editing functionality is really nicely implemented.

Holding a note input brings up a menu allowing it to be moved, transposed, quantised or to alter the velocity. Users can pinch to zoom in on the MIDI grid, or turn their device into portrait orientation in order to use the MIDI editor in full screen mode, which is particularly handy on iPhone.

The update also adds the 16 Pitches feature that Ableton introduced with its Note-adjacent hardware device, Move. This lets Drum Sampler instruments be sequenced melodically, allowing 16-pad drum instruments to sequence multiple melodic parts at once.

Ableton has also significantly improved the range of effects in the app.

Note 1.3 is available now on the Apple App Store priced at £8.99/$8.99 and it’s free for all Note users.

Head to the Ableton site for full details.

Producer Tim Exile (Timothy Charles Shaw) lets us know that he has introduced PTNSHIFT, a generative music performance instrument for Ableton Push and Native Instruments Reaktor.

He says that it’s inspired by Autechre’s generative live performances, and combines the “deep sonic universe of modular synthesis” with DJ-style interactions, like pattern-launching, mixing, blending and FX.

The official intro video:

Here’s a deep dive into PTNSHIFT:

*Note: PTNSHIFT requires a full license of Native Instruments’ Reaktor to run without restrictions.

PTNSHIFT is available now for $59 + tax and includes a Reaktor file and a MacOS and Windows companion app for capturing the Reaktor interface and displaying it on Push 2’s screen. Additionally, PTNSHIFT and Scapeshift are now available as a bundle for $99 + tax.