Ableton have this morning launched Live 9.6, a free update to their DAW incorporating the company’s new technology, Link which is designed to help electronic musicians play together in time.
Link, released in beta form in November, is a new technology that is designed to make playing electronic instruments in time together a much easier process. According to Ableton it synchronises the beat, phase and tempo of any Link-enabled iOS apps or Live session over a wireless or ethernet connection. What’s perhaps more exciting is that these various apps make it possible to sync to MIDI-enabled hardware devices as well.
The benefit for performers is that synchronisation should now be as simple as connecting to a local network. Then, Ableton say you’ll be able to play multiple devices together with the same freedom as a live band. Anyone can change the tempo and all the other devices will follow the change.
This technology isn’t exclusive to Ableton Live, although they have developed it. It is currently available on various iOS apps including Akai iMPC, Audiobus, Fugue Machine and Korg apps including Gadget for iPad and SyncKontrol for syncing up Volca series boxes that might you have. The Link to MIDI app will be particularly useful for anyone running other hardware, with the ability to make any MIDI device Link-enabled.
In the couple of months since the beta was introduced, several developers have got involved, and we expect this number to rise thanks to the free availability of the Link SDK.
