Ableton Live is about making music; for composition, songwriting, recording, production, remixing and live performance. Live's nonlinear, intuitive flow, alongside powerful real-time editing and flexible performance options, make it a unique studio tool and a favorite with live performers. If you'd rather be "making music" than just "using music software," Ableton Live is for you. Live 8, the latest version, includes a wealth of new techniques and improvements with a new groove engine, revamped warping, live looping, new effects, crossfades in the Arrangement View and a reworked MIDI editor.

Key features:

Multitrack recording up to 32-bit/192 kHz

Nondestructive editing with unlimited undo

Powerful and creative MIDI sequencing of software and hardware instruments

Advanced warping and real-time time-stretching

Supports AIFF, WAV, MP3, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC files

A comprehensive selection of built-in audio and MIDI effects

Built-in instruments: Simpler for sample-based synthesis, Impulse for sampled drums

Instrument, Drum and Effect Racks

New groove engine; apply and extract grooves in real time

VST and AU support; automatic plug-in delay compensation

REX file support plus built-in audio to MIDI slicing

Video import and export for scoring, video warping

Simple MIDI mapping plus instant mapping for selected hardware

Full ReWire support; runs as Slave or Master

Single-screen user interface for simple, creativity-focused operation

Multicore and multiprocessor support

Support for The Bridge, Ableton's collaboration with Serato