Ableton Live The European alternative to FL Studio / Pro Tools

Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Ableton AG in Berlin. It is used both for studio music production and for live performances and has been available since its first release in 2001. Live combines conventional audio and MIDI recording with a workflow that supports nonlinear, clip-based arrangement. The software is available in three editions, Intro, Standard, and Suite, which differ in feature set, instruments, and effects. It is used by electronic music producers, bands, film composers, and sound designers.

Ableton Live is downloadable software that runs locally on the user's machine and does not require a permanent cloud connection. The developer Ableton AG is headquartered in Berlin, where a large part of the team is based. Account and licence services are operated through the company's own infrastructure in Germany. Sample packs and software updates are delivered through Ableton's official systems as well. Additional offices in Los Angeles and Tokyo mainly cover support and distribution for those regions.

The Session View is the nonlinear working environment in Ableton Live and is one of the features that sets the program apart from many other DAWs. Audio and MIDI clips are arranged in a grid of columns (tracks) and rows (scenes) and can be launched in any order. This structure makes it possible to improvise arrangements on the fly and to combine ideas flexibly. In parallel, the Arrangement View offers conventional linear editing on a timeline. Both views are linked, so recordings from the Session View can be transferred directly into a finished arrangement.