Since its release in 2009, Max for Live has given rise to an active community of users who have been building and sharing all sorts of ingenious customized instruments, effects and devices, extending Ableton Live in a wide variety of exciting ways. The Ableton team has been continually impressed by the creativity of the Max for Live users and their devices.
Since its release in 2009, Max for Live has given rise to an active community of users who have been building and sharing all sorts of ingenious customized instruments, effects and devices, extending Ableton Live in a wide variety of exciting ways. The Ableton team has been continually impressed by the creativity of the Max for Live users and their devices. To salute these fine efforts, Ableton is highlighting some of its favorite community creations at ableton.com, with a brand-new Max for Live showcase. The showcase includes a collection of devices from seven different artists and also features a background story on each device and its creator. All devices are available to Max for Live users for free.
The featured devices come from both established artists and Max for Live enthusiasts. Created by, among others, Robert Henke (Monolake), producer Alexkid and the collaborative effort of Gareth Williams and Richie Hawtin, the devices include custom-made synthesizers, instruments and effects, a step sequencer for the Akai APC40/20 and a preset management tool for Live Sets. They are accompanied by detailed stories about the motivation behind them and the functional extension they provide for Ableton Live.
Max for Live, an environment for expanding and customizing Ableton Live, has received a warm reception from the artist community. "It's not only about the big things no one has done before, it's also about being able to solve a very personal problem...” says Robert Henke. “You want to assign song tempo to one axis of your iPad and the decay of all reverbs in your set to the other axis? Do it, or find someone who has already done it and download it. With the addition of Max, Ableton Live becomes more and more a big modular system and this is very exciting!"
In addition to the free devices, there is also a software update of Max for Live available for users to download. This update brings the number of ready-made Max for Live devices to over 100. The new devices include common user requests such as LFOs, envelope followers and multichannel routing devices.