# Page 2 | Live Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 2 - Is Live the right Audio Editing solution for you? Explore 125 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/186429/Live/reviews --- Live 4.8 (125) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/186429/Live/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated December 15th, 2025 # Page 2 - Reviews of Live ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 26-50 of 125 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use aK ayham K. Electronic Music Producer Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The first DAW but not the last" November 28, 2024 5.0 Mostly positive although I found myself more at home with other DAWs Pros Live is full of cutting edge features and the most popular among electronic music producers so it makes collaboration was simpler. Cons How clunky and unappealing the user interface is. Also, I find myself often getting lost in understanding what the virtual devices do and how they can be used. Review Source AB Ashley B. Education Design E-Learning Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "A creative’s dream software" October 25, 2025 5.0 I love the the ability to create such dynamic and highly customized work. The software itself is creative and different tools can be used in so many ways. I think it caters to a variety of different user skills, which is a plus. Pros There is nothing you can’t create in this software! As a newer user, I love that the preloaded library is so rich. I also love that I can do simple audio cuts. Cons There’s so much to learn and it’s very complex. That comes with the territory, so it’s not at the fault of the software, but it would be super cool if there were some in app tutorials. Review Source DC Derek C. Sales Agent Real Estate Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Staple for Music Production" January 15, 2025 5.0 Although difficult at first, it has been fruitful to learn how to use Live over the past few years, and I'm very pleased with purchasing ableton live suite Pros Ableton provides every feature needed to create music and design sounds for a variety of purposes Cons The user interface is not as intuitive as some other music production software, and includes fewer features on the basic version of Live Review Source RT Rafael T. Business development specialist AET Pharmaceuticals Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Meilleur logiciel de production musicale" June 22, 2023 5.0 Pros Ableton Live est comme son nom l’indique, un logiciel de production à destination de set live. Il est d’autant plus efficace dans la création musicale que dans la performance live. Je recommande vivement Cons Pour le moment, je ne vois aucun inconvénient notable si ce n’est le manque d’information concernant les pratiques de Mix et Mastering. Review Source RB Riccardo B. Venditore Wholesale Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Recensione da utente Live " April 13, 2023 5.0 Utilizzo Live da circa 10 anni a livello discografico. Mi permette sempre di trovare idee nuove solo giocando con i suoi parametri. Riaprire i progetti è semplicissimo anche dopo anni e versioni precedenti, ripartendo da lì per creare qualcosa di nuovo. Non utilizzo i virtual instruments di Live in quanto li trovo troppo "finti", prediligo VST di terze parte. Invece i processori audio integrati sono tra i migliori paragonati a quelli proprietari di altri software. Pros Live è il software più utilizzato per la produzione musicale, la facilità con la quale si possano generare e manipolare suoni non ha paragoni. Ottimo per chi è un creativo e si lascia trasportare dall'ispirazione avendo tutto sotto mano in pochi secondi e ottimo per chi è alla ricerca dell'ispirazione, randomizzando parametri anche dei plugin proprietari si può sempre generare qualcosa di piacevole e inaspettato.Inoltre è il software più utilizzato da chi suona in live, ma anche semplicemente per chi lo utilizza per mandare in play sequenze live. Cons La gestione del mixer integrato è scomoda se non lo si utilizza per live session. Infatti potrebbero implementare una gestione a blocchi attivabile o disattivabile all'occorrenza e, quando disattivata, utilizzare ampliare le funzioni del mixer.Questo attirerebbe anche chi preferisce mixare i propri brani su altri software. Switched from [FL Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/214598/FL-Studio/) FL Studio è sempre stato troppo macchinoso, complicato fare le operazioni basilari tipo registrare. Ogni opzione viene aperta su un pop-up nuovo rischiando di avere pagine e sotto pagine aperte in continuazione. Ableton ha quasi tutto visibile sempre sulla schermata principale, anche le varie opzioni. Review Source CR Carlos R. Sofware Engineer Consumer Goods Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great instrument, not a great mixing software" November 23, 2021 5.0 Pros In the context of music production Live is unbeatable. Features like "Audio-to-midi" conversions and almost perfect speed/pitch manipulation make it easy to experiment with sound in a way that no other DAW comes close. Its set of midi effects lets you lock in to the key of the song you are writing as well as automate stuff like synth layering for a particular melody. It also helps with writing songs since it's ALWAYS recording what you play, no lost melodies because you forgot to play record. The "Live" grid is also a big help when trying to figure out the structure of your song but its mostly useful for heavy loop-based stuff like house music. The "piano roll" for a lack of a better word, where you edit your midi, is excellent. Both for recording from a midi instrument as well as for building stuff from scratch with a keyboard and mouse. It has a great set of features for transforming that midi like doubling/halving the time or flipping it upside down. Cons There's no M1 support, at least at the time of writing this review (About 1 year after release). Also, most "good" updates only come to the newest version which is a paid update, not particularly bad but it is something to consider. Feature wise it's got everything you need for music production, although it lacks some features for mixing. For example, you can't do vocal pitch correction very easily, you will most likely need to get a plugin for that. It's also not that great for recording, it lacks features like vocal comping that other DAWs do have, which is not a big deal since you can do it manually but it's something you'd expect to be there coming from other DAWs. In conclusion, it feels like an instrument, it's excellent for making demos and working out ideas and it CAN be used for building the final product but you'll need the help of some plugins. Review Source DB Davide B. Manager Newspapers Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Great software, if that’s what you’re looking for" February 6, 2023 5.0 Live is indeed a great tool, but be sure to understand beforehand it’s philosophy (use a demo or look on YouTube videos). If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s an amazing tool used by many professionals. If you’re looking for a more classic audio editing, recording and mixing app, I would personally look elsewhere, especially since Live middle and top tier are priced as much Pros Live’s best features, other than it’s reliability, are all catered towards live performances and real time playing and editing. This is a really unique way of operating, if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s powerful, effective and funny to use. Instead, if you’re looking for a more traditional audio editing application, in my opinion it is still lacking a few notable features and the interface is clunkier and less pleasant than other alternatives, especially at the beginning Cons Pretty much the other side of the pro’s: Live is catered towards live performances of electronic music, which it does in a pretty unique and creative way (look for live track creation videos with Live on YouTube!), but is lacking behind when it come to more usual audio recording and editing on a track by track basis. To each his own, and it very much depends on your activity and objective Alternatives considered [Logic Pro](https://www.capterra.com/p/214597/Logic-Pro/)[FL Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/214598/FL-Studio/) Review Source Omar E. Music Producer/DJ and Mix Engineer Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ableton Live is worth it." June 23, 2019 5.0 Live is my go to performance tool, when it comes to Djing, looping and liver performance. It's my secondary recording tool when I'm looking for inspiration, or a different work space. Pros Ableton Live is an amazing and intuitive tool for music creation. Something it does differently than other digital audio workstations on the market is the 'session view.' Creating clips and testing them on the fly feels a lot more like a performance instead of the tedious music creation process of working in a linear view that most other DAWs employ. Other things that make Live work well for me: - Easy sidechaining and routing options within the native plugins - Unlimited input channels for effects and signal processing. - The ability to route audio and record into another empty audio channel from a channel that has a vst or synth on it. - Very in depth Dj and performance tool. - Lives built in effects, synths and samplers are top notch. - It's among the most popular DAWs on the market, so there's tons of tutorials available all over the web to help you learn Live quickly! Cons There are a few complaints I have about Live, as a whole: - I wish they could set up better sidechaining for third party vst plugins. As it is now, sidechains are easy to set up with Live's native plugins but you need to complete a strange work around for any third party plugins. - The mixer could have a bit more functionality added to it such as, mixer snapshots so you can A/B mixes, VCA channels, and different panning modes. - Ableton Live recording could be better. Things like recording lanes and audio comping could improve the workflow. - Deeper midi would be great too. - One of the most expensive DAWs on the market. Review Source IB Ivor B. CEO Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Swiss Army Knife of DAW's and why you should consider getting one!" November 17, 2021 5.0 I started using Live in 2017 and use it as my primary DAW till this day for both Music Production and Audio Engineering. Pros As an Audio Engineer and a Producer the most important features I'm looking for in a DAW are it's design and versatility. Not only does Ableton Live meet those requirements it impresses with it's complexity and diversity. What I mean by that is I use Ableton when it comes to Music Production but also prefer it for Mixing and Mastering tasks. For instance when I prefer to go tunnel vision into ''console'' overview, I can switch to Live's Session View and do my balancing and panning from another angle. Of course those are the basics but regarding the basics of the design, Session and Arrangement Views are the first thing you start to discover that are making your workflow much more flexible and intuitive. Ableton Live comes with the best stock Plugins on the market with access to even to more features such as Max for Live which hosts one of my favorite Convolution/IR Reverbs ever. The Live team also provides you with multiple Kits, Sound Packs and Instruments which allow you to start making music right from the moment you install it. It's an enormous feature packed DAW so I could talk about it for hours..anyway, what I like most about this software? It's the ratio between amazing features and the price!! It blows my mind that such a beast of a DAW with all it's features is cheaper than some of it's competitors. Cons Cons of getting into Ableton Live are it's complexity. But fear not, you can find multiple free and paid resources online on how to get into knowing the software better and reaching the ''second nature'' flow you strive for. The basics are super easy to master but if you want to do difficult stuff you need to have knowledge of the basics of sound design and learn each parameter and function the software offers. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer IT Specialist Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Powerful partner for live performance" December 15, 2022 5.0 Overall Ableton capabilities for live performance are outstanding and few DAWs can come close to it. However, as most of work goes into session’s preparation within the software, some tools are not as polished and can easily slow one down. Pros I have been using Ableton Live for about 5 years. I picked it up as a performance assistance for our Live performance mainly for triggering tracks using midi Mapped Akai APC. As a new user to Ableton, I found that the clip editing tools offer a high degree of control for multitrack recordings and making it possible to create professional-sounding results. These tools are user friendly and intuitive to use as they allow users to make precise and detailed edits to individual clips for adjusting timing of individual clips, slicing and rearranging clips to create new and interesting sounds. Additionally, it is possible to layer multiple clips together and create dynamic arrangements. I would also use the Warp and Time Stretching which allows me to adjust the timing and pitch of audio clips, making it easy to match the tempo of different tracks and even create some special effects embellishing our overall music performance. Cons I think some of the drawbacks, in my experience, of using the Warp Tool in Ableton Live is that in some cases it can result in artifacts or unwanted changes to the sound. Additionally, it is difficult to use it for certain types of audio. Case in point is if the audio in the clip contains complex rhythms or sudden changes in tempo. It can be difficult to adjust the timing of the clip mostly without affecting the overall sound of the audio. The warp tool can be time-consuming, especially if you are working with a large number of clips. It can easily slow down the workflow. Switched from [Serato Studio](https://www.capterra.com/p/214604/Serato-Studio/) Perfect for Live Performance Review Source Cristhian Josue J. CEO Design Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Ableton live, the ideal daw for your hybrid studio" August 25, 2021 4.0 Pros "Ableton Live" is an industry-standard, Ableton is for both beatmakers and more elaborate bands, Live's ability to allow external hardware leaves you to create very diverse compositions to what its direct competition offers, Live 11 added characteristics that position this daw as a very attractive alternative for both beginners and more advanced users. Cons "Live" can be very distinct daw in its category, it looks different, has a distinctive approach, and has a really distinct workflow than most of the alternatives it is normally compared to. Sometimes it can be intimidating to use this DAW, or just... maybe isn't focused on what you're looking for Review Source Matthew S. Entreprenur Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The Industry Standard that Keeps Improving (despite minor bugs and high price)" December 11, 2020 4.0 I have used a few music production programs before Ableton Live and now after 2+ years of using Ableton almost on a daily basis, I can confidently say that there is no other music software that I would use. Ableton meets all of my needs with ease of use with plugins and midi, live recording, and collaborating with other artists. Despite the minor bugs that are here and there, Ableton keeps improving and I'm looking forward to Ableton Live 11 when it releases. Pros Ableton Live's ease of use with a variety of genres and production processes is one of the most impactful features. Some DAWs such as FL Studio are great for techno/hip hop music, while others like Garage Band are great for singer/songwriters, but Ableton Live is the DAW for anything. Recording instruments and vocals can be seamless and the same goes for anything MIDI related. Ableton Live is very convenient in relation to collaborating with other artists and producers since it is an industry standard. Cons There are not many things I dislike about Ableton, but the biggest problem I have that I deal with on a regular basis is something very simple: my audio input and output glitch to the point where I have to save and exit out of the program to fix it. If I switch from my headphones to my studio monitors, Ableton will say it doesn't recognize my monitors. I exit the application, open it back up and it recognizes my monitors. It's a minor bug but extremely inconvenient if you're in the middle of some creative energy. The most negative aspect of Ableton Live would be the price. There are many free music production software that are half the price or free that offer many features that Ableton has, but still nothing comes close to Ableton. I understand the price difference but I hope in the future the company takes their extremely high prices into consideration, especially since it is the most popular production software and an industry standard. Review Source CA Christopher A. Freelancer Media Production Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ableton Live - High performance DAW" December 1, 2022 5.0 From audio design to performing live music, recording, and editing, this software has been my favorite platform for over a decade now. I do not plan on changing any time soon. Pros What I like the most about Ableton Live, is the ability to switch between the arrangement and session view. This allows a workflow that is fast and efficient. The software is fully expandable thanks to its 3rd party plugin integration and its rewire function. Cons I would like to see an improvement in the mixer section. A more "old school" or analog approach would allow different ways to mix down a project. Although this can be achieved in its current state, it would be nice to see some more routing, bus, and group options. Switched from [Logic Pro](https://www.capterra.com/p/214597/Logic-Pro/) Ableton is a lot more versatile when it comes to live performing and manipulating audio in real-time. Review Source Simon M. Producer Media Production Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A must have for producers, regardless of how small or BIG their production needs are!" April 5, 2022 5.0 While I have used multiple other DAWs for recording, none of them were able to provide the flexibility to use in a live performance environment. This is where Ableton Live comes in. It has one of the most useful sets of built-in features and instruments that taking production to a whole new level. Not only does it take care of the audio side of things, but it also helps us automate/live-sync multiple other devices - in live video production, lighting, lyrics and cues. Overall, it replaces the need for multiple pieces of software which for our use case, is a BIG WIN! Pros Our biggest advantage is in terms of automation. Instead of having 6 different people-dependant processes, taking up manpower and adding points of failure, we now need only person to take care of the entire production. It's not just cutting down on wasted resources but also helps streamline the entire process of live media production. Cons The biggest con with Live is that it has a steep learning curve. After having used multiple DAWs over the last couple of decades, it still took a while to catch up and use Live to its full potential. There are however tons of resources online to help along the way. Review Source JF James F. Singer/songwriter Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ableton live review " May 14, 2023 5.0 Pros I love tracking in live I’ve been using it as an artist for over two years now. I’ve learned so much using live about mixing music Cons Personally I think live would be a big recommendation for EDM or hiphop music Switched from [BandLab](https://www.capterra.com/p/10004016/BandLab/) It’s industry standard and amongst one the most used pro daws out there Review Source German Liber L. Music Producer Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "One of the masters of music production" December 31, 2020 4.0 Live is great. It was my first DAW, and it helped me to start my way on music production/mixing. The fact that you have a lot of sounds and effects in the software without leaving it is amazing. I worked a lot of times only using Live built-in effects/plugins and synths. I would keep using this software a lot of years, and i look forward to experiencing some new versions.  Pros Ableton Live is easy to use and the learning curve is really fast. The timeline format really stands as against other DAWs. One of the best things about Live is the extent list of built-in CPU-efficient  plugins and effects, i'ts a fact that you can do an entire album without third party plugins and only using the Live ones. Since the last versions VST2 and VST3 plugins compatibility helps you to run everything on the software, without leaving the Live session not even once. The Max 4 Live environment helps you to maintain on  the experimental side, testing some apps and tools made by other users.  You are free to use Live however you want, changing the view style between session and arrangement (I used arrangement more, but session is superb for playing live instruments or just DJing/mixing). Overall, Live is one of the masters of music production and deservers all the high praise.  Cons The tool to replace moved/erased WAVs doesn't work as it should, usually i end up replacing the audio files by myself. Live price is really expensive, i think it is one of the most expensive DAWs out there, you can try the free demo version or use the lite version, but if you want the complete experience you will have to pay a lot. Since Live 10 i experienced some lag and computer freezing while working, the PC specs are really high, so consider this before buying the software, you should have a pretty good build to mix more than 10/15 tracks on a session. Review Source RP Redley P. Network Engineer/Freelancer/Student Computer Networking Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Able Live overall review" November 30, 2022 4.0 Pros The management! Most especially with organizing instruments/Vsts/plug-ins is quiet easy to navigate through and even categorize. I like that it can detect new plug-ins as a posed to some other DAWs where it's a hassle to even detect something new. The audio quality and being able to stack many plug-ins is awesome and does fairly decent with my current CPU. Cons The piano roll is quiet a pain for beginners. Almost everyone I know gives up after trying so hard to navigate through the piano roll. Also a few good instrumental plug-ins would be nice. The price can be difficult sometimes especially from third world countries like mine. Accessibility to Ableton is almost impossible. Review Source Jose P. Engineer Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "LIVE excellent option for a DAW" September 8, 2022 5.0 LIVE is an excellent option for setting up a home or professional studio, it allows you to bring any project to life! Pros One of the great virtues of LIVE is that it has a large community of users! This allows you to find information on the WEB about any functionality or trick that is necessary. Regarding the functionalities, it has everything, surely much more than what we use on a daily basis. It is an excellent option! Cons Although I do not mention it as a con, LIVE is designed as its name indicates for a LIVE execution, the user interface is designed to fulfill that objective. In my specific case I use a DAW to make planned recordings with which I feel more comfortable with a traditional recording console style interface. Review Source BH Bridgett H. Owner Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Average producer/dj Ableton Live Review" May 18, 2023 5.0 I use ableton for quick remix edits and to master my dj mixes as well as compose songs. Pros Ableton has made producing and remixing super easy and fast for me. I has allowed me to quickly write my ideas in steps and arrange them into full songs. Cons My least favorite thing about ableton live is the initial learning curve. Most DAW has a linear view and a piano roll that is parallel to the layout. Although I love the Ableton pattern view, it can be a little intimidating at first-glance. Review Source RG Rob G. Producer Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Cutting Edge Creativity, Workflow Catching Up" May 24, 2021 4.0 Overall, when I do reach for Live it’s for compatibility with others’ projects and its sound design capabilities. For this it is excellent. Also it’s live show elements and integration with creatively-oriented controllers. Live is like a fun modular synth with a lot of quick patching and patterns on hand. The downside is that it is a fairly basic mixing, editing, and composition experience, but it’s hard to specialize in everything so that’s only a downside if those functions (think Pro Tools, Cubase, and Studio One) are important to you. Pros In Live, there is no shortage of features that have a creative and inspirational application. The control surface application is great (the caveat being that the feature set is geared towards performance, not mixing). The included plug-ins are wonderful and easy to deploy, as well as stable, and all of the features related to on-the-fly manipulation of patterns are very developed. The software has a great feel of cohesion about it. Horizontal inspectors (effects racks) aren’t totally my thing but you can’t deny that they have really streamlined the sound design / midi effects / pattern manipulation parts of the program (the “live show” element is included in that). Cons The program is fairly underdeveloped in the realm of mixing, audio editing, assisted music composition, and audio export. Also I’ve never really enjoyed their approach to the browser and especially searching in the browser. Alternatives considered [Studio One](https://www.capterra.com/p/214600/Studio-One/) Reason for choosing Live I did not choose Live solely over Studio One. In fact, I have both and use Studio One much more frequently due to its better feature set in editing, mixing, and exporting. I found song creation happens fairly quickly in most DAWs (Live has the benefit of lots of fun creative sound design possibilities integrate beautifully) but where I really need the features to be present and streamlined is in the mixing and editing phase and Live is still a little short there. Review Source HR Hervé R. Regisseur genral Fine Art Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pour les musiques électroniques et pas que..." February 6, 2023 4.0 Pros Les fonctions de Warp font de Live le logiciel des DJ et des musiciens électroniques. Je l'utilise aussi en regie de spectacle de part sa souplesse d'utilisation et la gestion des flux entrants et sortants. Cons Je n'aime pas l'interface. Les fonctions de montage sont réduites et imprécises. C'est compliqué de mixer avec. Un DAW classique type Logic, Cubase, Protools couplé avec Live font une arme redoutable. Switched from [QLAB](https://www.capterra.com/p/146969/QLAB/) Pour compléter Review Source LB Luca B. Musicista Music Used the software for: 1-2 years ### ""Ableton Live: Esperienza creativa amplificata"" January 9, 2024 4.0 Pros Ableton Live è un'innovativa piattaforma musicale con un'interfaccia intuitiva e strumenti creativi rivoluzionari che ispirano la composizione e il live performance. Cons Ableton Live, nonostante la sua creatività, può risultare limitato in opzioni avanzate di editing audio e mixer più complessi, deludendo gli utenti con esigenze particolarmente dettagliate. Review Source AM Andrew M. Web Designer and Composer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Live is for Serious Musicians" December 9, 2023 5.0 Totally fascinates me even after a few years how easy it is to make a track. Essentially it works in a way which makes composition much easier than other existing software programs. Pros Live provides 2 direct recording views including clip view and arrangement view. This suits those who prefer to multi-track conventionally or those who build up loop tracks. Cons Live is a very big piece of software and the learning curve is steep. However, as you get to learn shortcuts on the keyboard then managing this beast becomes much easier. Reason for choosing Live I prefer Live's inteface over FL Studio. Review Source MS Michael S. Student Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ableton Live Review" January 4, 2024 5.0 Overall a great DAW to use, can be polyvalent, specially in Live set, where Ableton Live shines the most. With the integration of MPE, it can be a really good value paired with Roli keyboard for example. Pros One of the most used DAW, a lot of documentation and videos to help Integration with home company hardware (Ableton Push) Has the ability to be used in Live sessions Really great workflow Session view Cons Can be CPU consuming VST integration can be hard sometimes A lot of good features block behind Suite version Switched from [Logic Pro](https://www.capterra.com/p/214597/Logic-Pro/) Can be use on Mac AND Windows A lot me intuitive for Live sessions compared to Logic Pro Review Source DC Dorian C. Producer Music Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Ableton Live - preferred DAW" May 2, 2023 5.0 Pros I find Live and extremely intuitive DAW, features are where I expect them to be. It emphasises creatively and is hands down the best DAW for composition. Cons I have very few complaints, but some of the live audio manipulation struggles to live up to Pro Tools counterparts. Review Source Similar Products Featured