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Ableton Push 3 Standalone released !!!

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Comments

  • @nerVe said:
    Why not add an HDMI out on the Standalone? it’s running Live, right?

    because the point on standalone is not relying on screen and keaboard/mouse , you could use the controller with a laptop/desktop instead

  • @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    Ah ok, that’s a shame. Though I can see it could cause me to start looking around for hardware synths to go with it, when I get one!

    Yeah, I’m probably missing something as I’ve been so just sucked into using it that I haven’t watched every tutorial, mostly just using it in standalone, or with the laptop and finally playing all those mpe things I’ve had for years without being able to fully enjoy them! I’ve also been able to route the audio and MIDI to/from the iPad through the laptop and ICA 4, so it’s all doable, just be nice to have a direct connection… I kinda feel like they’ll make some sort of app for iOS, or just add support to note maybe…

  • @Krupa said:

    @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    Ah ok, that’s a shame. Though I can see it could cause me to start looking around for hardware synths to go with it, when I get one!

    Yeah, I’m probably missing something as I’ve been so just sucked into using it that I haven’t watched every tutorial, mostly just using it in standalone, or with the laptop and finally playing all those mpe things I’ve had for years without being able to fully enjoy them!

    Yeah that’s what I’m looking forward to using it for, a proper, expressive instrument in its own right.

  • @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:

    @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    Ah ok, that’s a shame. Though I can see it could cause me to start looking around for hardware synths to go with it, when I get one!

    Yeah, I’m probably missing something as I’ve been so just sucked into using it that I haven’t watched every tutorial, mostly just using it in standalone, or with the laptop and finally playing all those mpe things I’ve had for years without being able to fully enjoy them!

    Yeah that’s what I’m looking forward to using it for, a proper, expressive instrument in its own right.

    Definitely this ^^^

    I’m also thinking it’ll get me back into making some m4l things I started, so much of everything in this beast…

  • @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:

    @monz0id said:

    @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    Ah ok, that’s a shame. Though I can see it could cause me to start looking around for hardware synths to go with it, when I get one!

    Yeah, I’m probably missing something as I’ve been so just sucked into using it that I haven’t watched every tutorial, mostly just using it in standalone, or with the laptop and finally playing all those mpe things I’ve had for years without being able to fully enjoy them!

    Yeah that’s what I’m looking forward to using it for, a proper, expressive instrument in its own right.

    you can control push via the USB A port with midi devices direct (also by power hub so six Midi devices) and I believe it is technically possible to make that USB A port received audio if Ableton decide to go that way. Ableton could make it accept Audio devices via USB A if they want to.

    here is push sending MPE midi to a hardware synth and audio back into push (audio inputs) so MPE out is working nicely already.

    https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsmESHbpmZL/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&data=05|01||49405fb56fe74291c6e308db673fc3b5|84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa|1|0|638217295777261540|Unknown|TWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0=|3000|||&sdata=qwwq5s0joGV2EMhAoC1U29wEW6A78xh7SyeQ9M2ILy8=&reserved=0

    plus thing on pads

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cs3_SpuOdnX/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

  • @Danny_Mammy said:
    you can control push via the USB A port with midi devices direct (also by power hub so six Midi devices) and I believe it is technically possible to make that USB A port received audio if Ableton decide to go that way. Ableton could make it accept Audio devices via USB A if they want to.

    here is push sending MPE midi to a hardware synth and audio back into push (audio inputs) so MPE out is working nicely already.

    Yeah I’ve seen those - I think it might fuel a bit of hardware synth buying when I get one!

    The icing on the cake for me would be IDAM-like integration with the iPad. So audio in from the iPad via USB, so it can be sampled directly in high quality. It can already be done via an iPad audio interface, then into the Push audio-ins, it’d just be nice to have a more direct option. Not a deal breaker though.

  • @monz0id said:

    @Danny_Mammy said:
    you can control push via the USB A port with midi devices direct (also by power hub so six Midi devices) and I believe it is technically possible to make that USB A port received audio if Ableton decide to go that way. Ableton could make it accept Audio devices via USB A if they want to.

    here is push sending MPE midi to a hardware synth and audio back into push (audio inputs) so MPE out is working nicely already.

    Yeah I’ve seen those - I think it might fuel a bit of hardware synth buying when I get one!

    The icing on the cake for me would be IDAM-like integration with the iPad. So audio in from the iPad via USB, so it can be sampled directly in high quality. It can already be done via an iPad audio interface, then into the Push audio-ins, it’d just be nice to have a more direct option. Not a deal breaker though.

    Yeah that’s the juice I’m after, long term, but as you say, no deal breaker, just icing 🧁

  • @monz0id said:

    Yeah that’s what I’m looking forward to using it for, a proper, expressive instrument in its own right.

    It’s pretty impressive how much more expressive the new pads are compared to Push 2. To the point where I need to relearn a new technique for playing, my previous muscle memory doesn’t work too well. Too many accidental pad presses. ;)

  • @nerVe said:
    Why not add an HDMI out on the Standalone? it’s running Live, right?

    It’s important to remember this isn’t Ableton Live standalone, it’s Ableton Push standalone. People keep assuming that there’s a full version of Live in this box, and that’s not the case.

  • edited June 2023

    @Tarekith said:

    @monz0id said:

    Yeah that’s what I’m looking forward to using it for, a proper, expressive instrument in its own right.

    It’s pretty impressive how much more expressive the new pads are compared to Push 2. To the point where I need to relearn a new technique for playing, my previous muscle memory doesn’t work too well. Too many accidental pad presses. ;)

    I haven't had a Push controller before, nearly bought one in last years sale but my usual fence-sitting meant I missed the boat. Glad I did though, as the new one is ticking a lot more of my workflow boxes.

    I keep refreshing the store page, but it's not budging from "Back in stock in 8+ weeks" :(

  • @Tarekith said:

    @nerVe said:
    Why not add an HDMI out on the Standalone? it’s running Live, right?

    It’s important to remember this isn’t Ableton Live standalone, it’s Ableton Push standalone. People keep assuming that there’s a full version of Live in this box, and that’s not the case.

    Yeah…I’m not really assuming anything at this point…

    I had watched the loopop video and he does say there is a ’version’ of live running inside the standalone unit…

    Anyways, it would be cool is there was an actual Push app… as all that menu diving does scare me…the ADAT feature is of interest to me… especially if it’s on the controller version and especially if they release a PUSH app on iOS…

  • I would not hold your breath waiting for any sort of Push app I’m afraid.

  • edited June 2023

    As a P3 (controller) owner I have to be honest and say my initial impression of this thing has been fairly mixed. While the pads and MPE capabilities are fantastic, the bugs are super frustrating and while I fully understand devices like this have teething problems, the variety and frequency of the bugs is definitely concerning. The Modwheel/Pitchbend bugs out about 70% of the time I use it. I have had issues with laggy display/encoders, one case where it froze on boot up, one case where it wouldn’t establish connection after rebooting due the Modwheel issue. Ableton support seem floored at the moment too because everyone seems to be waiting for a long time to even get an initial response let alone a fix.

    As a long time Ableton user I really want to love the P3 but I’m honestly debating if I should return my unit and wait to see how things look once they address all the major bugs. If support can at least confirm the Pitchbend/Modwheel freaking out is a software issue and not a hardware one, I might just ride it out and trust Ableton will eventually get this thing to a decent state.

    Edited to remove silly rant

    Hope they can manage to address the issues as I do think P3 will be amazing, eventually..

  • Very nice little tune...

  • @ronnieb said:
    As a P3 (controller) owner I have to be honest and say my initial impression of this thing been fairly mixed. While the pads and MPE capabilities are fantastic, the bugs are super frustrating and while I fully understand devices like this have teething problems, the variety and frequency of the bugs is definitely concerning. The Modwheel/Pitchbend bugs out about 70% of the time I use it. I have had issues with laggy display/encoders, one case where it froze on boot up, one case where it wouldn’t establish connection after rebooting due the Modwheel issue. Ableton support seem floored at the moment too because everyone seems to be waiting for a long time to even get an initial response let alone a fix.

    As a long time Ableton user I really want to love the P3 but I’m honestly debating if I should return my unit and wait to see how things look once they address all the major bugs. If support can at least confirm the Pitchbend/Modwheel freaking out is a software issue and not a hardware one, I might just ride it out and trust Ableton will eventually get this thing to a decent state.

    Hmmm...I've read about issues with the standalone, but didn't realise the controller version was also affected. Hope your issues get fixed in a software update.

  • edited June 2023

    @drez said:
    Very nice little tune...

    This is my favourite so far, really shows off its performance potential.

  • edited June 2023

    I have a controller version, working like a dream. no issues. I'm sure there are bugs but no latency/crashing. I have a decent PC though.

    only thing was the set-up, there was a conflict between my audio device and push audio device when opening the Ableton live, soon as i figured out to just turn off my audio device it connected and did the updates. since then, no issues.

    the USB C powering the device is a bit unclear in the initial manual IMO but now i understand what power you need coming from your port and what power the cable needs to provide. i don't have the juice on my PC ports unfortunately.

  • @Danny_Mammy said:
    I have a controller version, working like a dream. no issues. I'm sure there are bugs but no latency/crashing. I have a decent PC though.

    Do you know if there's a minimum OS requirement for the controller version listed anywhere? I've searched the documentation, but can't see anything mentioned.

    I'm running the V11 Suite without any issues on my M1 Mac, but still on Big Sur.

  • Maybe if this carries on, Push 2 prices will recover and I can sell mine :smile:

  • @monz0id said:

    @Danny_Mammy said:
    I have a controller version, working like a dream. no issues. I'm sure there are bugs but no latency/crashing. I have a decent PC though.

    Do you know if there's a minimum OS requirement for the controller version listed anywhere? I've searched the documentation, but can't see anything mentioned.

    I'm running the V11 Suite without any issues on my M1 Mac, but still on Big Sur.

    yeah i don't know about mac, as for Ableton live it will work with any edition of Live 11.3.2 or later.

  • @Danny_Mammy said:

    @monz0id said:

    @Danny_Mammy said:
    I have a controller version, working like a dream. no issues. I'm sure there are bugs but no latency/crashing. I have a decent PC though.

    Do you know if there's a minimum OS requirement for the controller version listed anywhere? I've searched the documentation, but can't see anything mentioned.

    I'm running the V11 Suite without any issues on my M1 Mac, but still on Big Sur.

    yeah i don't know about mac, as for Ableton live it will work with any edition of Live 11.3.2 or later.

    Ah ok cheers, should be alright then.

    @mistercharlie said:
    Maybe if this carries on, Push 2 prices will recover and I can sell mine :smile:

    I haven’t noticed much of a price drop here in the UK to be honest - maybe limited availability of the new one is keeping prices high.

  • I should add, I’ve never had to deal with Ableton from a support standpoint but I do fully trust they are doing their best to fix everything as quick as possible. I’ve only ever heard good things and let’s be real, I can’t imagine it’s a fun time to be an Ableton dev 🫨

  • @ronnieb said:
    I should add, I’ve never had to deal with Ableton from a support standpoint but I do fully trust they are doing their best to fix everything as quick as possible. I’ve only ever heard good things and let’s be real, I can’t imagine it’s a fun time to be an Ableton dev 🫨

    I hear what you're saying, but this is probably the most ambitious AIO device we've seen. I don't think there's any way they can test everything that people do, or systems people have, etc. I fear analysis paralysis would set in and they would never release it. IMO, this is a bit of a buyer beware situation, knowing that they are bringing ableton to a new platform and kinks will be there. You obviously have seen more of the P3 than I have because mine hasn't shipped yet, but I'm going in knowing there will be problems because of the depth of it.

    I will say that the speed at which Ableton has worked on their beta's and released fixes is very good, so I would expect that they are ready to go. They've been preparing this for a long time (I'd say years) so I'm sure they are ramped out for the rollout to try to fix as quick (and as safely) as they can. I look forward to helping out and influencing the future with feedback I give them as an early adopter.

  • There are definitely quite a few bugs at the moment sadly, but you’re right a lot of work is happening to get things rectified asap.

  • @Tarekith btw, I mentioned to Matt S over on twitter that it would be pretty cool to be able to have Note on your iDevice be able to setup as a server on the WiFi and share projects directly to the Push3 standalone just like you do from Ableton on the PC. Would be pretty dope to cut out the PC as the middle man :)

  • edited June 2023

    I'm pretty amazed about how little bugs there are on release. (although the bricking bug/reports are pretty bad). Unlike the Maschine+ or any AKAI MPC's in the past (going way back!) that were unusable for over a year. Don't get me wrong I love the M+ but it's incredibly frustrating to have all the kontakt and reaktor libraries out there, and not have official ports of them because they haven't sold enough devices to carry on investing in development, mainly due to youTubers not understanding (or just being click bait bitches) how to manage CPU and bounce to sample. Abelton on the other hand learnt this lesson, didn't release a convolution reverb / complex algorithms as stock, and spent years in beta with lots of users.

  • @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    In that mode its open for other developers to play with just like the Push 2 was. The stuff in documentation for the Push 2 also apples to thee Push 3, except there are additional sysex commands to put the pads in MPE mode and set the various MPE settings. I dont think those have been officially documented yet but I already figured out what they are.

    So anyone could write an app to do that side of things. However they would also need to take care of scales, and figuring out the proper MIDI bend values for bending between notes on scaled pads in MPE mode, themselves.

    The Push 2 documentation for how to write to the screen also works on the Push 3, I have tried this. However whether that can actually be done from an iPad rather than a normal computer is not something I have figured out yet, Apple might not allow enough USB access to developers for that, and if they do it may still cause complications for getting apps approved on the app store.

    (Push 2 documentation that I mentioned for this stuff is at https://github.com/Ableton/push-interface )

  • So it’s been a little over 24 hours since I got my Push 3 Standalone, and thought I’d share some thoughts as someone who uses a Push 2 A LOT. It’s pretty much my main interaction with Live these days, so I’ve spent a good number of hours putting the new one through it’s paces over the last two days.

    The Good:

    It’s solid AF. No more slimy plastic, encoders feels more consistent, all the buttons are still soft to touch but way more firm to press. It weighs a f**king ton now. It can get warm, but not crazy hot (so far).

    The improvements to the button layout I enjoy more than I thought I would. Things like adding a hot swap button makes what you’re trying to do so much easier. One of my favorite upgrades going from Push 1 to 2 was the new button layout, and here again they’ve made it easier to use based on how people are actually making music on Push.

    A SAVE BUTTON!!! Hallelujah, my number one wish fulfilled at last. Also, loading songs is faster than I expected, more like 5-10 seconds versus 45-60. Guessing more complex songs than mine take longer to load though, but for me that’s fine.

    Editing Clips feels a lot easier. The jog wheel is something I usually ignore on gear when there’s other options (cough MC707 cough), but here it’s intuitive and actually does make things like selecting notes a bit simpler most of the time. Not perfect but a good bit better anyway.

    Charging is quicker than expected. I know some people were a little upset the battery life is only about 2.5 hours, but I do find that it charges back up pretty quick. At over 8lbs it’s not the kind of portable device I’m going to take backpacking or mountain biking, so I don’t mind that I need to be closer to power to top it up. Speaking of that…

    IT’S A PORTABLE PUSH! So great to be able to just grab the Push 3 and some headphones and go sit on my deck to make music. No messing about with power cables or PSUs, no USB cables, just grab the unit and some cans and start making music. As a long time groovebox musician, blows my mind in use to see how much power you can just take with you to the couch or some park nearby to make music. Love it. The Standalone version is well worth it IMVHO, easier to make music means I’m more likely to make music and not play TOTK these days…

    Integration with Live on the laptop has been flawless so far. The set up steps worked fine right away, and since then it’s been easy to transfer sets back and forth as needed. Except for one thing, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

    The Undecided:

    The new MPE pads. Don’t get me wrong, they are WAY, WAY more sensitive now and you can definitely get a lot of expression out of them you couldn’t on Push 2. Aftertouch is so easy to fade into compared to before where you had to press pretty hard to trigger it. But now the pads have almost no springiness to them, it’s a much shorter amount of travel each of them has. Doesn’t affect how it reacts to your playing (like I said, huge improvement here actually), but it does mean you don’t get as much ‘bounce’ from the pads. It’s hard to describe, but even though the pads size and layout is the same, I feel like little of my usual Push 2 technique is transferring and I have to learn a new instrument. Not a bad thing, just a little unexpected when you keep going to play in a certain way you’re use to and it doesn’t react the way you expect.

    Slide and PB sensitivity per pad is great though, those aspects work just like you’d expect. At the same time, I can’t see myself ever wanting to slide across multiple pads for long pitchbends, so…..

    Speaking of MPE, there’s not actually a ton of MPE patches that come on Push 3, even with Suite, maybe just 2-3 dozen? Let’s hope more arrive soon, as I think there’s a lot more that can be done to show off how expressive the MPE capabilities are on Push 3.

    Oh yeah, the white in between the pads is growing on me. At first I was annoyed as I thought the black looked better, but in person it’s a little more appealing.

    The Bad:

    Took me 4 hours to get it actually to turn on, then update the software, and finally authorize everything properly. No idea what the issue was, but it would refuse to turn on, then it would turn on but kept crashing and rebooting trying to load the default Set it ships with. Eventually it all worked, but it took a lot of trying to get there. Bleh.

    It definitely feels a bit buggy in places, but not as bad as I was expecting reading some other user comments. I’ve had a couple weird issues now and then, but no crashes and for the most part I’ve been able to just get my ideas down with no issues.

    The touch strip went from being under-sensitive in places on Push 2, to being way too over-sensitive on Push 3. You don’t even need to touch it, hovering your finger a few mm above it will cause it to snap to your finger. I’ve accidentally trigger pitchbend a few times due to this, so hopefully some kind of threshold can be implemented.

    Pack support. I wish saving Sets on the Push 3 standalone would also collect samples from any Packs you’re using. I didn’t have a pack on my laptop that was installed on Push, and it took me awhile to track down which pack it was, download, install on laptop, resave the project, then transfer back to Push. Also, installing Packs is incredibly tedious as you have to do them one by one. Let us select all the Packs we want to install in one go.

    The TL:DR Verdict:

    The fact that I can easily take this much power and all these great sounds anywhere I want now to make music is pretty wild. The Standalone version is a good bit of money, but for me it’s a no brainer and is well worth it. The hardware itself is a step up in quality yet again, and the new pads are likely going to be a big improvement for most people.

    But, it’s important to remember this is not the full Ableton Live application running on a hardware box. You’re getting the exact same Push experience as with Push 2 (plus a few new minor additions like the tuner and clip view), just without the laptop running it all. If you didn’t get on with the Push workflow in Push 2, I don’t think there’s anything about Push 3 that would change your mind.

    That said, there’s obviously a lot of room for improvement and a lot of good ideas floating around already. So I’m curious to see where this all heads going forward.

  • @SteveElbows said:

    @Krupa said:
    Right now not much; with the USB C connection in controller mode, the Push shoots out simple MIDI with no indication of what octave or any options - it’s only set up to work with live I guess… I’m hoping it’ll open up over time…

    In that mode its open for other developers to play with just like the Push 2 was. The stuff in documentation for the Push 2 also apples to thee Push 3, except there are additional sysex commands to put the pads in MPE mode and set the various MPE settings. I dont think those have been officially documented yet but I already figured out what they are.

    So anyone could write an app to do that side of things. However they would also need to take care of scales, and figuring out the proper MIDI bend values for bending between notes on scaled pads in MPE mode, themselves.

    The Push 2 documentation for how to write to the screen also works on the Push 3, I have tried this. However whether that can actually be done from an iPad rather than a normal computer is not something I have figured out yet, Apple might not allow enough USB access to developers for that, and if they do it may still cause complications for getting apps approved on the app store.

    (Push 2 documentation that I mentioned for this stuff is at https://github.com/Ableton/push-interface )

    Oh that’s really good to know, this is just going to get better and better! 🤘

  • @Tarekith said:
    So it’s been a little over 24 hours since I got my Push 3 Standalone, and thought I’d share some thoughts as someone who uses a Push 2 A LOT. It’s pretty much my main interaction with Live these days, so I’ve spent a good number of hours putting the new one through it’s paces over the last two days.

    The Good:

    It’s solid AF. No more slimy plastic, encoders feels more consistent, all the buttons are still soft to touch but way more firm to press. It weighs a f**king ton now. It can get warm, but not crazy hot (so far).

    The improvements to the button layout I enjoy more than I thought I would. Things like adding a hot swap button makes what you’re trying to do so much easier. One of my favorite upgrades going from Push 1 to 2 was the new button layout, and here again they’ve made it easier to use based on how people are actually making music on Push.

    A SAVE BUTTON!!! Hallelujah, my number one wish fulfilled at last. Also, loading songs is faster than I expected, more like 5-10 seconds versus 45-60. Guessing more complex songs than mine take longer to load though, but for me that’s fine.

    Editing Clips feels a lot easier. The jog wheel is something I usually ignore on gear when there’s other options (cough MC707 cough), but here it’s intuitive and actually does make things like selecting notes a bit simpler most of the time. Not perfect but a good bit better anyway.

    Charging is quicker than expected. I know some people were a little upset the battery life is only about 2.5 hours, but I do find that it charges back up pretty quick. At over 8lbs it’s not the kind of portable device I’m going to take backpacking or mountain biking, so I don’t mind that I need to be closer to power to top it up. Speaking of that…

    IT’S A PORTABLE PUSH! So great to be able to just grab the Push 3 and some headphones and go sit on my deck to make music. No messing about with power cables or PSUs, no USB cables, just grab the unit and some cans and start making music. As a long time groovebox musician, blows my mind in use to see how much power you can just take with you to the couch or some park nearby to make music. Love it. The Standalone version is well worth it IMVHO, easier to make music means I’m more likely to make music and not play TOTK these days…

    Integration with Live on the laptop has been flawless so far. The set up steps worked fine right away, and since then it’s been easy to transfer sets back and forth as needed. Except for one thing, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

    The Undecided:

    The new MPE pads. Don’t get me wrong, they are WAY, WAY more sensitive now and you can definitely get a lot of expression out of them you couldn’t on Push 2. Aftertouch is so easy to fade into compared to before where you had to press pretty hard to trigger it. But now the pads have almost no springiness to them, it’s a much shorter amount of travel each of them has. Doesn’t affect how it reacts to your playing (like I said, huge improvement here actually), but it does mean you don’t get as much ‘bounce’ from the pads. It’s hard to describe, but even though the pads size and layout is the same, I feel like little of my usual Push 2 technique is transferring and I have to learn a new instrument. Not a bad thing, just a little unexpected when you keep going to play in a certain way you’re use to and it doesn’t react the way you expect.

    Slide and PB sensitivity per pad is great though, those aspects work just like you’d expect. At the same time, I can’t see myself ever wanting to slide across multiple pads for long pitchbends, so…..

    Speaking of MPE, there’s not actually a ton of MPE patches that come on Push 3, even with Suite, maybe just 2-3 dozen? Let’s hope more arrive soon, as I think there’s a lot more that can be done to show off how expressive the MPE capabilities are on Push 3.

    Oh yeah, the white in between the pads is growing on me. At first I was annoyed as I thought the black looked better, but in person it’s a little more appealing.

    The Bad:

    Took me 4 hours to get it actually to turn on, then update the software, and finally authorize everything properly. No idea what the issue was, but it would refuse to turn on, then it would turn on but kept crashing and rebooting trying to load the default Set it ships with. Eventually it all worked, but it took a lot of trying to get there. Bleh.

    It definitely feels a bit buggy in places, but not as bad as I was expecting reading some other user comments. I’ve had a couple weird issues now and then, but no crashes and for the most part I’ve been able to just get my ideas down with no issues.

    The touch strip went from being under-sensitive in places on Push 2, to being way too over-sensitive on Push 3. You don’t even need to touch it, hovering your finger a few mm above it will cause it to snap to your finger. I’ve accidentally trigger pitchbend a few times due to this, so hopefully some kind of threshold can be implemented.

    Pack support. I wish saving Sets on the Push 3 standalone would also collect samples from any Packs you’re using. I didn’t have a pack on my laptop that was installed on Push, and it took me awhile to track down which pack it was, download, install on laptop, resave the project, then transfer back to Push. Also, installing Packs is incredibly tedious as you have to do them one by one. Let us select all the Packs we want to install in one go.

    The TL:DR Verdict:

    The fact that I can easily take this much power and all these great sounds anywhere I want now to make music is pretty wild. The Standalone version is a good bit of money, but for me it’s a no brainer and is well worth it. The hardware itself is a step up in quality yet again, and the new pads are likely going to be a big improvement for most people.

    But, it’s important to remember this is not the full Ableton Live application running on a hardware box. You’re getting the exact same Push experience as with Push 2 (plus a few new minor additions like the tuner and clip view), just without the laptop running it all. If you didn’t get on with the Push workflow in Push 2, I don’t think there’s anything about Push 3 that would change your mind.

    That said, there’s obviously a lot of room for improvement and a lot of good ideas floating around already. So I’m curious to see where this all heads going forward.

    Thanks for this, a lot of great info there.

    I setup my Maschine Mk3 last night as a controller for Ableton - frustratingly I can either use it as MIDI out to trigger Live VST’s and record the MIDI notes, or record Maschine loaded VST’s as audio into Live, but not a mixture of both (playing Live VST’s via the Mk3 controller, and capturing the MIDI in Live).

    The appeal of a Push is I can do the whole shebang.

    The Push 3 bonus is the MPE functionality, but it sounds like there’s not a great deal of choice when it comes to patches. The other bonus is the built-in audio interface, which still appeals.

    Probably just as well they’re not available at present, as it’ll give me some fence-sitting time, and maybe a better option would be to grab a cheap Push 2 instead.

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