Ableton’s Live 12 software is coming sometime early next year, according to a company announcement this past week, with a public beta expected to be available for users soon. The latest version of the software focuses heavily on MIDI tools and abilities, as well as an updated and more intuitive program layout.

Key features

The program comes with a swath of new features and tools, including:

• New MIDI abilities and AI-generated sound tools – Live 12’s MIDI Transformations and Generators allow producers to create and add a number of simple and complex variations to your MIDI clips, or use the program’s generative algorithms to create beats, chords, and melodies within the constraints you set
• Improvements to MIDI editor – you can now rearrange the order of notes by velocity, pitch, and duration, use new routes to chop, split, stretch, or join notes, and more easily shape their velocity
• New instruments and sound customizations: Meld, Roar, Granulator III, and four new Performance Packs
• An updated UI for a more intuitive workflow – Live 12’s interface gets an update with this edition as well. The Mixer tool can now be used in both Arrangement and Session View. You can also use tags – either the included ones or your own custom ones – to search within your library, and utilize the new Sound Similarity Search tool to find sounds similar to a sample you choose.  

Even with the update comes concerns from users over unaddressed feedback, missing features

On Ableton’s announcement video posted to YouTube, however, the comments section quickly filled with numerous users who expressed disappointment that the company still has not addressed much of their feedback and feature requests.

Take a look at just a few of the over 1,000 comments:

Upgrading to Live 12 and pricing

If you’re still on an older edition of Ableton – 10 or earlier – you can upgrade to Live 11 right now for 20% off, then get Live 12 for free once it’s released.

The Ableton 12 program will be available for 79 EUR / 99 USD for Live Intro, 279 EUR / 439 USD for Live Standard and 599 EUR / 749 USD for Live Suite.

For more details on the forthcoming Ableton 12 software, check out the program’s website – and keep an eye out for a more official release date.