Ableton have today released Note, a playable iOS app designed specifically for the early stages of the music making process. Note offers multiple musical starting points and is equipped with a selection of Ableton Live’s drum kits, instruments and synth sounds. Users are also able to create their own sound palette by recording the world around them into Note’s sampler instruments. For those wishing to develop their ideas further, integration with Ableton Cloud allows sessions to be sent directly to Ableton Live’s browser.
Note features 56 Drum Sampler kits which can be played directly via a 16-pad grid on the device’s touchscreen, with quantise and nudge tools available to tidy up loose timings. 261 synth sounds and 36 Melodic Sampler instruments are also included, which can be played polyphonically using either a 25-pad grid or a piano roll. Additional layers of instruments can be added, and a range of parameters and effects are available for users to shape their sounds.
Note’s Drum Sampler and Melodic Sampler allow users to create their own bespoke drum kits and instruments by recording percussive or tonal sounds directly onto their device. Samples can then be manipulated through cutting, filtering or re-pitching, and further transformed by adding effects. A Capture button also provides a retrospective recording function, and upon being pressed will detect the tempo and length of a recently played phrase and automatically create a new loop.
A grid-based Session View layout allows users to experiment with different layer combinations and song structures, create variations within their clips, and try out different versions of their ideas. Session View can then be exported as an audio file for listening and sharing with friends or collaborators. Sessions created in Note (referred to as Note Sets) can then be sent from the app directly to Ableton Live, where they will appear in the browser with all sounds, samples and effects in place and fully editable.
Pricing & Availability
Ableton Note is available now for iPhone and iPad, and can be downloaded though the App Store for $5.99£4.99 including VAT / €6.99.
