6 ms·

This thread is super hackernews-y, people complaining about the performance of the PC that runs it compared to equally priced specs, some comments about source

This thread is super hackernews-y, people complaining about the performance of the PC that runs it compared to equally priced specs, some comments about source code and APIs, some comments about copying a open source product, a few about when AI can make music?? Doesn't really seem to be much talk about the actual product, I must say I haven't owned either, but it looks super cool! The video was very well done showcasing the product and in/out with the guitar. I am still not a 100% sure who the target market is, hobby musicians? Professional DJs? I also wonder how easy it is to repeat an action, on a guitar a C major sounds like a C major on that same guitar. But you can't really remember did I move my finger 4 blocks and 3/4th of the other block of 5 blocks and a half?

sayrer 3y ago
If you really want one of these things, and you use Ableton, get this one. I've used a Native Instruments Maschine and and Akai APC, and they just don't integrate that well with Ableton. But I've found I end up using a keyboard (Native Instruments Komplete) most of the time, even for drums, and that does integrate well.
- seanp2k2 3y ago
  I picked up an MPC X for a great deal some years ago but I find that using it feels like using a limited DAW instead of inspiring much creativity. As an engineer as well, I always have the urge to try to preserve and record my noodling with the ability to recreate it and perhaps change out synths, so the MPC works decently well as a midi and CV hub / router that can record, but I can’t say I’ve ever had tons of fun with it. That’s probably more on me for never finishing the MPC Bible ebooks. On the other hand, the Linnstrument is fantastic for bringing out creative ideas, and it plays well with the many MPE instruments available for iPads. Add in an iConnectivity interface that can simultaneously hook up with a laptop to record everything including the resulting audio and that’s a powerful machine. My only regret in modern music creation is now that I can afford all the fun toys and now that we have nearly limitless potential to create any sound we could never imagine, I don’t have nearly as much time as when I was a kid with an Alesis Ion and a pirated copy of Reason, so I end up creating a quarter of the music with 20x more gear :/
  - ben174 3y ago
    I strongly feel that with the more year that I acquire, the less creative I become. I don’t think it’s an age thing that slowed me down, it’s an over abundance of options. The few times I’ve been stuck with just my laptop and a copy of FL studio, the old creative me comes back.
Jagerbizzle 3y ago
I bought one. I'm a hobbyist that's been using Ableton in a hobbyist manner since 2005 or so. As a software developer that works remotely, I have extremely limited desire to sit in front of my computer when work is over, and thus I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) much less than I'd like to. The appeal of a product like this is that I can take it into a different room and scratch the music production itch when I have it without feeling like I'm sitting at my work office all day.
- TremendousJudge 3y ago
  >I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) Same here, I like to think of it as my studio, a place where I do creative things. Same crammed room but it sounds a lot more romantic.
  - seanp2k2 3y ago
    Same, and these days my music desk is about half filled with half a dozen cases worth of modular synths, with a bread rack perpendicular to that housing some rack gear, too many effects pedals, and also too many standalone synths. I refuse to own synths that include their own full keyboards, talk about A LOT of space. Push 3 looks awesome and I’m glad to see them jumping onto the standalone game like NI have with Maschine along with many others. The Polyend Play and Tracker are lots of fun too.
- smcnally 3y ago
  Going analog after long stretches of being digital is a good forcing function to take breaks and get physical. Even just strumming and knob twisting is enough change-up to get different juices flowing. This Push looks even more fun with controls beyond pads. And this is a page out of Framework — atypical in DAWs and music gear: > You can add the standalone components later using the Upgrade Kit, and replace your processor, battery or hard drive to keep up with advances in technology.
- arvinsim 3y ago
  I have the same workspace for work and making music. But I can totally understand the desire to make them separate. For some reason, it just seems that I am forcing myself to make music. If I take a mini MIDI keyboard and make music somewhere else, it's much easier to do.
S_A_P 3y ago
Ableton live enthusiast here. I went all in on ableton after finding a push 2 second hand for cheap enough that I was willing to switch from Logic Pro. That was in 2018 and haven’t looked back. From my perspective I see this as a mixed bag. I don’t think i would want to use the push as a lap device while sitting on the couch. This looks to be about the same dimensions as the push 2. It’s a squareish device that is about 14” or ~35cm wide and tall and about an inch and a half thick. I have and have had several other stand alone devices and they have to be much smaller than the push to tempt me away from my music pc desk. That said maybe as a desktop device for traveling etc I could see it. The other thing is that stand alone mode doesn’t allow both “views” in Ableton. One is the linear arrangement view (unavailable in standalone mode) and one is the session view that is more for clip launching and attaching musical phrases to a button on the push grid. This is the view that standalone mode allows. Here is the link to the manual for that https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/session-view/ https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/session-view/ In my opinion this mode is great for remixing and spinning up new ideas but I typically use live as I would a hardware sampler back in the day. Layer up ideas in arrangement view record everything and then go back and chop. To me, that is what I would rather do on a couch than remix clips. The hardware running live is adequate but I see why they may have limited the standalone functionality. I run live on an iMac Pro with 32gb ram and the 8core Xeon standard cpu. Live 11 can really tax this machine especially with plugins in the mix. This is the other limitation that I understand but don’t really like. No external plugins. I’m not sure if max will be available but suspect that the built in efx and max live edition will be there(I haven’t watched all the videos yet) @dubcanada - the push is super cool and can be assigned scales/modes so that the buttons play scales up and down the octave range. Or if it’s controlling a drum machine you get the familiar 16 pad interface x4 You can use it for step sequencing, playing chords with polyphonic expression (also in the push 2 but 3 looks to be improved) or just sit there and launch clips with 1 finger. As I read what I have written I think I’m going to stick with my push 2 but if you use live and want a push the 3 is the one I would buy today, but probably the upgradable one that acts like push 2. Then I would see if I could upgrade it myself and not with the ableton kit. They hint that it will be.

sayrer 3y ago

If you really want one of these things, and you use Ableton, get this one. I've used a Native Instruments Maschine and and Akai APC, and they just don't integrate that well with Ableton. But I've found I end up using a keyboard (Native Instruments Komplete) most of the time, even for drums, and that does integrate well.

seanp2k2 3y ago
I picked up an MPC X for a great deal some years ago but I find that using it feels like using a limited DAW instead of inspiring much creativity. As an engineer as well, I always have the urge to try to preserve and record my noodling with the ability to recreate it and perhaps change out synths, so the MPC works decently well as a midi and CV hub / router that can record, but I can’t say I’ve ever had tons of fun with it. That’s probably more on me for never finishing the MPC Bible ebooks. On the other hand, the Linnstrument is fantastic for bringing out creative ideas, and it plays well with the many MPE instruments available for iPads. Add in an iConnectivity interface that can simultaneously hook up with a laptop to record everything including the resulting audio and that’s a powerful machine. My only regret in modern music creation is now that I can afford all the fun toys and now that we have nearly limitless potential to create any sound we could never imagine, I don’t have nearly as much time as when I was a kid with an Alesis Ion and a pirated copy of Reason, so I end up creating a quarter of the music with 20x more gear :/
- ben174 3y ago
  I strongly feel that with the more year that I acquire, the less creative I become. I don’t think it’s an age thing that slowed me down, it’s an over abundance of options. The few times I’ve been stuck with just my laptop and a copy of FL studio, the old creative me comes back.

Jagerbizzle 3y ago

I bought one. I'm a hobbyist that's been using Ableton in a hobbyist manner since 2005 or so. As a software developer that works remotely, I have extremely limited desire to sit in front of my computer when work is over, and thus I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) much less than I'd like to. The appeal of a product like this is that I can take it into a different room and scratch the music production itch when I have it without feeling like I'm sitting at my work office all day.

TremendousJudge 3y ago
>I end up using my music gear (which is unfortunately all crammed in my home office) Same here, I like to think of it as my studio, a place where I do creative things. Same crammed room but it sounds a lot more romantic.
- seanp2k2 3y ago
  Same, and these days my music desk is about half filled with half a dozen cases worth of modular synths, with a bread rack perpendicular to that housing some rack gear, too many effects pedals, and also too many standalone synths. I refuse to own synths that include their own full keyboards, talk about A LOT of space. Push 3 looks awesome and I’m glad to see them jumping onto the standalone game like NI have with Maschine along with many others. The Polyend Play and Tracker are lots of fun too.
smcnally 3y ago
Going analog after long stretches of being digital is a good forcing function to take breaks and get physical. Even just strumming and knob twisting is enough change-up to get different juices flowing. This Push looks even more fun with controls beyond pads. And this is a page out of Framework — atypical in DAWs and music gear: > You can add the standalone components later using the Upgrade Kit, and replace your processor, battery or hard drive to keep up with advances in technology.
arvinsim 3y ago
I have the same workspace for work and making music. But I can totally understand the desire to make them separate. For some reason, it just seems that I am forcing myself to make music. If I take a mini MIDI keyboard and make music somewhere else, it's much easier to do.

S_A_P 3y ago

Ableton live enthusiast here. I went all in on ableton after finding a push 2 second hand for cheap enough that I was willing to switch from Logic Pro. That was in 2018 and haven’t looked back. From my perspective I see this as a mixed bag. I don’t think i would want to use the push as a lap device while sitting on the couch. This looks to be about the same dimensions as the push 2. It’s a squareish device that is about 14” or ~35cm wide and tall and about an inch and a half thick. I have and have had several other stand alone devices and they have to be much smaller than the push to tempt me away from my music pc desk. That said maybe as a desktop device for traveling etc I could see it. The other thing is that stand alone mode doesn’t allow both “views” in Ableton. One is the linear arrangement view (unavailable in standalone mode) and one is the session view that is more for clip launching and attaching musical phrases to a button on the push grid. This is the view that standalone mode allows. Here is the link to the manual for that https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/session-view/ https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/session-view/ In my opinion this mode is great for remixing and spinning up new ideas but I typically use live as I would a hardware sampler back in the day. Layer up ideas in arrangement view record everything and then go back and chop. To me, that is what I would rather do on a couch than remix clips. The hardware running live is adequate but I see why they may have limited the standalone functionality. I run live on an iMac Pro with 32gb ram and the 8core Xeon standard cpu. Live 11 can really tax this machine especially with plugins in the mix. This is the other limitation that I understand but don’t really like. No external plugins. I’m not sure if max will be available but suspect that the built in efx and max live edition will be there(I haven’t watched all the videos yet) @dubcanada - the push is super cool and can be assigned scales/modes so that the buttons play scales up and down the octave range. Or if it’s controlling a drum machine you get the familiar 16 pad interface x4 You can use it for step sequencing, playing chords with polyphonic expression (also in the push 2 but 3 looks to be improved) or just sit there and launch clips with 1 finger. As I read what I have written I think I’m going to stick with my push 2 but if you use live and want a push the 3 is the one I would buy today, but probably the upgradable one that acts like push 2. Then I would see if I could upgrade it myself and not with the ableton kit. They hint that it will be.