So Mote started vey weak for an Ableton product. I played with it for a week to learn all the quirks then set it down. Now everytime I see an update I pull it out and play again. The app is 100% better than when it was first released but it’s got a long way to go. I’m trying to keep it simple they’ve made it awkward. There are plenty of iOS daws for them to get ideas for useabilty but it is still not precise nor easy to sketch an idea which is what I think they were going for. It lacks a synth engine!!! There is nothing worse than having a musical idea and get stonewalled because lack of things we need to bring idea to life. They have weird stabs and chords and the Notes section in the instrument is lacking more than any musical app I’ve seen. We need a synth engine that we can play. No one cares about the cool stylistic look of the app. We App want functionality!! Make this more feature packed and then give full integration to Ableton Desktop and you’ve got the perfect app. Gave it 4 stars to motivate the developers but it’s really a 3 star at best app. It is getting better though. Please keep the updates coming! Thank you
Hi! Love this little DAW its such a masterpiece from you all and it is so versatile and well put together. The buttons are where my thumbs like and the fluidity of it all makes it very admirable to use on the phone. My one problem is that I use bluetooth headphones on the go, and of course there will be delay because of the bluetooth. Was hoping maybe there could be a step sequencer setting to turn on depending on how the notes are quantitized? The pads given only show a set of notes and im sure it would be easy to have a scroll like function on the left side to scroll through all of the notes through the octaves. And a set of drums would be very easy with the little amount of sounds each kit gives you. And on the right side could select the measures throughout the time selected on the sequencer. Plopping and killing notes with a press of a button would be a million times better than having to only play it live dozens of times to try and get it right. I do love to play how its supposed to when I’m at home and can hear it in real time, but that delay when I’m at work or something really kills the motivation. Having some sort of step sequencing option would be absolutely amazing and I really hope you consider this elaborately-mad idea and or respond to this. Thank you!!
This app has changed the game. I haven’t touched anything else on my I pad, my vast arsenal of hardware synths, samplers are getting neglected due to the ease and speed of using this app. Once you get past the tiny learning curve you will start to discover features you thought were absent but are in fact hidden in the UI. Each instruments clip can be automated independently! This blew my mind. Saves so much time/work when you import your project into Ableton live. Importing your whole project into Ableton could not be any easier. Just save your project from Note to Ableton cloud and everything is there. Grab the complete project file from your Ableton browser from Ableton Cloud onto your current project and it’s all there fully automated ready for production. If you get creative you can work outside of Ableton Live as well as an instrument, or for loops. Connect to an interface and record your projects/clips into logic syncing time with Ableton link. This is the fastest workflow I’ve ever experienced and my vote for best music making app for 2022 and all time. A must have! My number one recommendation is please please pretty please with cash on top, add midi controller support. Oh please now MIDI out to complete its perfection. Would love to live sequence external gear/vst’s with this super fast workflow.
Easy to use, intuitive and quite nice visual aspect, it would seem that it could be better than FLMobile but I consider that there are 3 things that hold back its true potential to be better than FLMobile (which I have and use) and I wish that these recommendations could be heard!. 1. Manual draw notes and visual midi editor: It's really frustrating to have to record and record to get a sound right, it would be easier to just take that sound and drag it to a specific note on the midi piano (all already quantized to our shape). In other words, like in “Live” if we could have a visual midi piano in which we can capture notes just by pressing said note, add loops and that their duration depends on the duration of the note placed on the midi piano, that would be great. 2. Moving the pad rack or midi piano: If we could have the option to move on the midi piano or the pad rack itself to select the 8th we want, that would save us a lot of time! It would also help a lot if we could activate the option to see the labels or name of the notes on the piano or rack (C,D,E, Kick, Snare, Clap, etc...) 3. Add more than one effect or plugin: maybe for performance reasons this is not possible but if it is not, it would be great to have the opportunity to add more than one effect to individual pads and sound kits, like “ I want to add max 5 or 8 effects or effects plugin (reverb, sat, EQ) at the same time in a single sound and also to the sound kit.
Finally!!!!! This is the update I’ve been waiting for. Tbh the novelty of using the iPad screen got old pretty fast because I couldn’t play real chords the way I heard them without losing my inspiration, now I can plug my Korg Microkey Air 37 into my IPad and play real chord progressions and melodies in ways I just couldn’t using the IPad screen. It would be nice if I didn’t have to set up midi input every time I open the app but I can live with it. I like the new editing features too. It would be very cool in a future update to be able to export stems but it’s not a big deal for me because I export projects to Ableton Suite 11 and develop it further there, but I’m sure users who don’t have Ableton Live would appreciate it. Anyway midi controller support is a major game changer for me. I wouldn’t mind more presets even if it’s via iap’s or even more instruments as well, but for now much thanks for this update!! Edit: No pitch bend or modulation? Oh well, I guess we take what we can get 🤷🏽♂️
This is perfect for what I want. A super easy way to start making ideas , melodies and drum patterns quickly. Then they can be imported into ableton later. I’ve been producing since 2006 and using ableton since 2011. The bad reviews want this to be an intricate sound design tool with lots of plugins and devices. They are missing the point and need to stick with Korg Gadget etc which focus more on that. Note can very quickly create chord progressions and record musical ideas (which can still be very complex and involved). There are tons of instruments and sounds, which can be manipulated with macros which can even be automated. All I would request is an option to turn on the ability to see note names in the sequencer, as well as improved sampler abilities. They seem to be putting a lot of work into this so I am confident it will continue to grow, but it already is my favorite app and nothing is faster in terms of putting down an idea instantly.
I read a review when I first downloaded the app, and I didn’t understand what he was saying until it happened to me. Beware! This app has a major flaw in saving data if you have connected your device to ableton cloud. If you have connected your device and already saved a copy it will automatically erase all work you have created, when you connect to the Internet and open the app. Abelton, this is rookie behavior and should be corrected immediately. People are losing hours if not days of work because your developers are moving like amateurs when it comes to making sure that the save does not erase any current work we have created. We expect more from you. I am completely disappointed. I have been using abelton for at least seven or more years and this is the most disappointing feature I’ve ever experienced. I lost so much work and time all I could do was quit using your app out of anger and frustration. Abelton, I have never given you a bad review because I always enjoyed your products. And the truth is I was enjoying this app until it erased days of my work. this is just poor programming. Step your game up.
Most intuitive music creation app by far (but missing some features)
Ableton has knocked it out of the park with this app. The UI is easy to understand and everything makes sense but I believe the app is still in its infancy. The sounds included are great but the sampler leaves something to be desired. There is no easy way to change the stop and start points of a sample. I was hoping for an easy drag from the far right side of the sample in the sample window to change the end point and drag from the far left side to change the start point. However I cannot figure out for the life of me to change this. Keep in mind I didn't take the tour I like to discover things for myself. It's still one of the great joys of learning new software. In my opinion tho what makes a great app is if the end user thinks something should happen when you do something than that thing (swipe to change sample start and endpoints) should most definitely happen.
Absolutely fantastic app that quickly gets your ideas recorded
This is really a superb app. I have many apps that try to do what Note does but I find Note by far the most intuitive and straightforward. I didn’t watch any of the videos at first or read anything about it but I was recording sets within moments. No hidden menus or any such thing, everything is right there where you need it. And you don’t have to know Live to use it. If anything, I think Note is quite a bit more intuitive than the Session view in Live on which it is based. I do hope for two things though: First, that they increase the maximum number of bars per clip from 8 to 16. 8 bars is really very restrictive. And second, I hope they’ll increase the number of sets one can save in the Ableton Cloud from 5 to at least 10. Having to constantly remove sets from the cloud to be able to add new ones is irritating.
There is so much that is great about this app. Workflow is simple and makes sense. It’s fun, has most of the features and things you need to start a track on the go. Couple of points for improvement… there doesn’t seem to be a way to change the length of a note, maybe I’m missing it, but that is super frustrating. If I want to make it longer I have to re-record it which seems like a bit much. Also would be great if the notes on the piano roll were labeled, it’s hard to know what you played since lines that don’t have notes are skipped. And lastly, the sounds, many of them are feeling a bit dated, that might just be how it goes with a default pack, but would be cool to have some more genre specific sounds, even if there is a small IAP for the expansions. Or better yet, maybe unlock stuff you own from your ableton account… just an idea. Over all it’s a great app, probably one of the best for writing stuff on the go.
Something is happening. First I have to say, as a person who doesn’t have the money to afford a computer, Ableton Note has been the one musical app to scratch my creative itch. It’s amazing. HOWEVER, lately my ideas haven’t been getting saved automatically. I worked on a project for more than an hour and as I tried to rename it to send to my band, the app wouldn’t allow me to make the name change. Did I mention that it did not save all of my hard work? I was so distraught! I don’t know if it’s my iPad or a software issue, but I loved the convenience of Ableton Note automatically saving my projects. It isn’t doing that for me anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
First off, I worked on a piece for two hours, and I had it in a really good spot that I was really proud of. I tried, pressing the back button, which is apparently the only way you can save a document, and nothing happened. He tried over and over again, nothing. Tried exporting it. No dice. Button was greyed out. So, I closed down the app, hoping that it would auto save my progress. Opened it back up, and all of my work was gone. It’s really frustrating, because I was really looking forward to it. The other things that bother me are when you’re editing notes there are absolutely no markers anywhere to see where you’re lining up your notes on the beat. There’s no way to drag and swap parts. Like, if I like the part on the third beat, and I want to swap it out with the part on the first bed there’s just no way for me to do that. There are a few other minor annoyances like that as well. Editing anything is its weakest trait. Actually, scratch that, the lack of a continuous auto save is quite ridiculous.
As a Logic user, I have to say that the quality of this app tempts me over to Ableton. It’s a fantastic sketchpad which lets you jot down ideas so intuitively with your fingers on the screen, it’s hard for even a very fine keyboard or pad-based MIDI controller to match. Ideas can thus pour-out quick and dirty, aided by a well-curated batch of proprietary samples, then groomed with surprisingly precise tools from there. In about 40 minutes you can have something resembling a song ready to hit the desktop. I love it. Though simplicity is a strength in its design, there is some room for added depth via updates, and I welcome those which might learn from other excellent software out there, like Koala. But as it exists now, it’s an elegant and powerful app which is recommended to anyone looking for an excellent electronic music sketchpad. Many thanks to the devs for this
Firstly, I love Ableton. Im a huge fan, and I’ve been using Ableton Live for many years. In fact, it’s all I’ve ever used to create my music. With Note im able to quickly formulate a beat and come up with new arrangements on the go. So far I have no experienced a single problem and everything is as fluid and precise as you’d expect from Ableton. The price tag is absolutely perfect, and I’d even have paid more especially being developed by the gods themselves. One feature I’d like to see is somehow the ability to synchronize with LIVE 11. Taking things one step further it would be beyond insane to be able to utilize the plugins we have connected with the desktop DAW… but that’s wishful thinking I’m sure. Beyond the daydreams, this is an amazing app and I highly encourage any and all Ableton Live creators to give it a shot!
This app is really good with what it provides but at the same time I don’t take it seriously enough for professional use. Koala Sampler has everything this lacks. I love the idea of note but there just aren’t enough options to use for a satisfactory sampling workflow or idea generator. It seems very behind the times as far as mobile music production goes aside from the in-app sounds and instrument controls. I do like the midi recording approach but find myself dead in my tracks when I go to double the sequence and turn my 1 bar loop into a 4 bar then and 8 bar loop with continuous audio. I like the nudge feature but would prefer to also be able to manually move notes in a labeled piano roll. A couple of tweaks to this app and it could be a quick intuitive workflow but as of right now it’s just limiting enough to push me into other apps, however, as an ableton live user I watch App Store for updates.. hope this becomes something great.
. How does Ableton not have the ability to record audio tracks in Note??? This seems totally absurd that a digital audio workstation doesn’t have audio tracks, even if it is just on your iPhone. You cannot record any vocals or record any instruments IRL via the microphone with this app, like what??? I bought the app with the intention of being able to layer ideas quickly while they’re fresh and record rough guitar tracks so I can have those ideas in Studio on my computer to re-record, but this is not possible with this app!!! I wanted a step up from recording ideas with Voice Memos but this app can’t even do that! If Voice Memos was able to play multiple tracks simultaneously it would be better than Note. The FREE Garageband app has audio tracks but I wanted to have the consistency of Ableton’s cloud for Studio that I just bought. It cannot be that difficult to add this function and I’d be shocked if I was the only one thinking this. The lack of audio tracks completely ruins the app.
Not Compatible with My Process of Producing Ambient Music
Gee, guys, I want my money back. Ableton Note is not what I expected at all. I’m an amateur ambient music creator. I go by the moniker “The Somber Kiosk” on SoundCloud and some other sites. The content I create is solely for my own self-indulgence.I have a handful of followers but I’m not looking for an audience. I just record and post. I like Ableton Live because it, closely enough, simulates recording on tape. I can process live sounds with found sounds and rhythms and go back and later add guitar and keyboard tracks. I pay no respect to time measures and beats. I’m building atmospheres, nothing more than passing clouds. This program “Ableton Note” is stiff and clunky. It reminds of those “Tracker Sequencer” programs of the 90’s. Very rigid. It won’t work with my process. There’s better ways for me to get where I want to go. Like I said, I use a fluid ambient process not controlled by standard music signature. This is not a good tool for that. But maybe it’s good for producing tightly crafted pop and rock songs. I dunno. I just want my money back. The Somber Kiosk.
This is a nice little production tool. Maybe more feature-limited than I expected, like no drag-and-drop on midi notes, just basically a d-pad to move them by ticks. The exporting is my real beef though. You’d think that, if you make a 20-second loop, your wav or m4a is gonna be 20 seconds long. Nah. Try 90 seconds. It doesn’t just play the take you’ve selected, it plays all the takes, in sequence. I tried just moving all the extra takes to a new track and muting it: this idiot just left like a minute of silence as the muted track went through all its takes. Feels like they put an actual space alien, who doesn’t understand human interest in music, in charge of export design. Or it’s just an appalling bug that they don’t care to fix. Oh, and it doesn’t have an option to upload right to soundcloud, I have to export to google drive and then upload from there. What a mess.
This is a great little sketch app by Ableton that allows you to easily bang out ideas and decide whether you want to keep them or not. There are plenty of sound and clip editing capabilities for you to work with. You’re not going to make a full-blown track with this app - that’s not the point, and there isn’t an Arrangement View to lay things out anyway, but it’s a fun, fully capable app for getting things going, and getting ideas out of your head. Uploading from the app to the cloud works really well. Once you’ve signed up for Ableton’s Cloud service (a free, painless signup), just select the set to be uploaded to the cloud, and then open the set in Ableton’s Browser (under Places in the new 11.2.5 update). I guess the biggest downside is that you can’t use your own plugins in the app, but that’s not that big a deal really. The sounds that are included are fine for getting ideas out, and you can record your own samples directly into the app. Overall, Ableton Note is well worth the $5.99 price tag. Thanks Ableton! It’s about time you brought the Live experience to the phones of the world. Better late than never!
10-year ableton Live veteran here. The geniuses at Ableton finally gave us an intuitive app that works well. I messed with it for the past hour, can’t wait to come up with ideas on my flights now. Super easy to use, great sounds as well. The pads and scale functions are super cool. One thing I wish it had was a way to record your voice without using a sampler. I’m so tired of beatboxing ideas into my Voice Memos, so I was hoping this app would let me directly record my voice on a audio track. But it’s a loop-based app so I understand if impossible. Devs, I think a lot of people are looking to be able to record their voice ideas like an elevated memo app. Otherwise this is well worth the money!
Love playing with this app and trying out new rhythms that I normally would not try on desktop or with Push. The fact that I'm using an iPhone to create means there's a decent built in microphone that I'm already used to using. It works great with the sampler device, but one thing I love to use on desktop is the "audio to midi" function in Ableton. Note feels like such an obvious place to infuse that function on a mobile device. It would be great to be able to hum in new instruments and use the note editor (even in the limited fashion that already exists in the app) to edit the notes if needed. Ableton is all about knocking down barriers for creating. This would be great.
Over all I think the note app is great, however I think it is important to remember that it’s purpose is not to make full songs but to make musical sketches. Its definitely not the ableton your used too. It’s hard to tell what things will sound like on your real monitors vs your phone speakers. I’m not sure if an I phone can use midi information but it would be super cool to be able to plug in a small midi controller. More than two fx spaces per instrument would be cool too. Over all I think it could be a super useful app when more features are added but for now it’s kind of just a dumbed down session view. It’s still a lot of fun I can’t really imagine taking something I made on it and competing it though.
This app has helped me get used to doing more with less and is a nearly perfect creation. It has reinvigorated my love for producing music after taking a year off and having enormous trouble getting my muscle memory back. Ableton Live is incredible and I have only scratched the surface of what it can do after 10 years of producing as a hobby. The philosophy of doing more with less is nurtured so sublimely in this app, it is single-handedly helping me become a better producer AND it translates to Ableton Live with the content parity. Not to mention the cloud integration. This app is a game changer for music creation, and even more so if you’re familiar with ableton already. I can’t believe how nice this app feels to use.
Honestly, if they would just add Piano roll from the start instead of strictly live playing I would probably like this. The whole focus is around playing live which is something I don’t like on iPad (plus I’m just not good at it). With BT headphones there is a delay in the app and if I wanted to set up all this gear like the latest update implies, I would just go use my computer with ableton. Apps like BeatMaker(though complicated) and Koala have a much better experience and fleshed out process. Even bouncing ideas from koala to Ableton is super easy. I can tell work is being put into this and the UI looks great, but I think smaller companies are doing way better than ableton is here and that really disappoints me to say. I would easily pay much much more to have a slimmed down version of ableton on my iPad, that I can continue with or sync with my PC later.
⭐️Message to the user- Best app, from “this is your mild hobby” to “you plan on evolving your creations later” this has it, I made a synth wave bop, lofi beat, and a Drum and Bass style song in no time just messing around. 10/10. Would love more added but as is I’m stoked and LOVING it. ⭐️ Message to the developers - You guys created something amazing here. I can be in the relaxed mind set messing around in song writing and then come back to it with a technical ear later. That alone to me is priceless. ✨ •Some notes if I may, the ability to play chords within the selected key with one note push would be nice, along with the ability to change inversions (maybe even record in the inversion changes as you are playing and/or after the chords are put down too) ✨ •I wish the link play was a little different. It’s so cool how it works but I wish when my friends connected they could add patterns that I could see and edit. Almost like a shared project file that we are both listening/adding too. This would be next level. Thank you so much, this is amazing.
Great app but… Ableton owns your music on the cloud!
I’m a long time Ableton user and I just read through the fine print. And it says… As between You and Ableton, You retain all ownership of any intellectual property rights that You hold in Your Sets. You are solely responsible for any Sets You upload, share, or otherwise utilize on Ableton Cloud. Solely for the purpose of enabling Ableton to provide the Ableton Cloud services as contemplated herein, You grant Ableton (and its Authorized Third-Parties) a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable and sublicensable, license to use, store, distribute, copy, modify, adapt, transform, reproduce, host, perform, display and communicate Your Sets including all contents and materials contained in Your Sets, without any compensation or obligation to You. You can still share the sets over WiFi so I changed my rating from 1 to 3 because it’s a great app
Good concept, but I was very disappointed to find I can’t add or duplicate notes in a clip. Can’t change note lengths or choose start/end note quantization. Workarounds like spamming several notes just to have something to nudge around and delete is not fun. Clips need more granular options like time sig and lengths need to be able to be independent of each other outside of multiples of 1 bar. The resolution you can delete in a recorded clip needs to be much smaller, I can’t figure out how to trim just like the first 1/4 bar of a clip, it’s gotta be a full bar to trim? Hopefully updates can make this more usable, as is, I don’t see myself using this for more than a way to create desktop drum racks from live sampling with the iPhone’s mic (which can sound surprisingly good)
I have a ton of audio apps and I also beta test a ton of apps-so I know a good app from a bad or just OK app. I will tell you when I first opened it up I was not impressed. I thought it looked a little similar to that horrible Reason Compact app until I used it and realized that this app is fabulous. I didn’t know it even had all the features it has until I watched some demo videos and was pretty impressed. This app goes deeper than you think-it will pleasantly surprise you. I have a feeling the devs will keep up with updates and making this app even better. To the devs-Thank you for making a great iOS app at a wonderful price!’
I’ve played with many different iPhone music making apps over the past 10+ years I’ve been producing music. Of course nothing can replace a full fledged DAW on your desktop, but this comes about as close as you can get without it getting too cluttered. Maybe an iPad allows even more complex apps like Logic to function well on mobile, but on an iPhone, Ableton wins with this one. And they keep improving it. Starting a project on here is super fun, and then syncing it to Ableton’s free cloud to immediately take it further on the desktop version of Live when I’m back in the studio is game changing. Love this app!
I am a long time iOS musician and recently purchased Ableton live after using NI software for the past couple of years. I finally made the jump. Note looks to be very exciting! I’m always having musical ideas at work and it’s really a lot to bring my laptop and MIDI gear. It sounds like Note on my iPhone will be the perfect tool to capture my ideas away from my computer. And the iPhone is an incredible sampler. So the ability to record and import samples(and from video!!) is massive to me. And to share in Ableton Cloud? Wow!! Wow!!! Happy to see the dev just updated this app. Shows there is care about this community and the product.
First off, fantastic job to the team. So far I have had no crashes, and playback is crisp and seamless. I LOVEEE the way the sampler works, absolute perfect for creative flow. I honestly wish i had the simple "zoom to crop" thing in desktop ableton. Instruments sound great, and the effects and basically the same as desktop. I realize this is a sketchbook app so i am keeping this in mind, but here are some thing thats would make it a game changer for me. Suggestions: - multiple effects for instruments, (at least 3, especially on the drums too!) one spot is usually immediately taken up by an EQ for most - left / right panning in the mixer - midi note editor needs to be expanded a bit, really the largest area lacking. just an option to click in notes after you make a clip would be hugeeee - master effects would be a nice addition but i could understand not doing it to save on cpu and it is a sketch app. - please add one synth, anything. just one operator option would change my life. THANK U TO THE TEAM YOU ARE AMAZING
Decent first attempt, missing a step sequencer and linear track editing
I use Ableton 11 everyday to produce and I love it so I had high hopes for this app. The concept is good, make a mobile daw for sketching ideas, similar to Andrew Huang’s flip, that can be ported onto ableton, but, the execution leaves something to desire. For starters when sketching out Ideas I want to at the very least be able to record an audio track, something notably lacking. To add Insult their is no easy way to sequence midi, instead you must play in every note and then go back to edit it. The app however is not all bad, the sounds are high quality and there is a decent selection for effects. This app could be great but it’s not so when sketching out ideas on my phone I will continue to use fl mobile.
Workflow is intuitive and fast, but missing some very necessary features
Update: I was so excited to open the app recently and literally see everything I asked for added to the new update. Thank you Ableton team! Great job continuing to find fun and fresh ways to innovate in this space. Original Review: I think the workflow of this app is awesome. It reminds me so much of why I fell in love with Ableton the DAW in the first place. Some suggestions that I hope to see sooner than later. 1) Adjusting note lengths. 2) more audio effect options. 3) and most importantly for me is it allowing you to play via midi keyboard (works for GarageBand). I hope Ableton continues to develop this further, best of luck!
First of all I will say I am a hardcore Ableton user who has been using the desktop app for a few years. This is a great slimmed down version of session view with choice Ableton instruments and effects included. With what you get for the price I think it’s a good deal. However there are some features that are missing that make creation a lot more difficult than it should be. First of all, I’d like to be able to adjust the length of notes in clips. Also it’s weird that you can’t create a note manually, you have to play everything in which gets really annoying. Finally I think this should have audio track support. It’s weird they left this out, as Ableton originally started as a way to manipulate audio. I’m hoping this will come in another update, as I’d love to be able to play or sing something and have it in my song. I know I can use sampler, but I’d also like just straight up audio tracks to make things more convenient.
Feels like I’ve been waiting for this app for a decade. Every single mobile music app I’ve ever used has some sticking points that keep me from truly integrating it into my workflow. Not this. First day with it and I started a track, moved it to Ableton Live and finished it without any fuss. That’s never happened to me. Everything about this is so clear and intuitive. It feels like second nature. I hope it stays that way with future updates. It could use a few things, but please not at the expense of the perfect immediacy this app currently offers! A few first impressions- It would be nice if you could double-tap to reset knob parameters. They can be a bit fiddly. The ability to duplicate entire tracks and not just clips would also be useful. Not sure if there’s a way to change the volume of individual samples on the drum rack (maybe I missed it?) but if not, that would be great as well. Overall so excited about this app!! Thanks for all your hard work on this.
The sounds are actually good. The interface is not bad at all. One critical thing missing makes this app less than helpful in creating new music and that is the inability of the user to manually enter notes into the sequencer. Because all melodies have to be “played” in real time in order to be entered, I can’t really make use of this app. I cannot understand why the creators of this app would hobble it to such a degree. Yes, they have added the ability to change the length of the notes but that is not enough for me to stick with this. I’m really dissapointed with the absence of this (what I regard as) essential ability. If they add this then I will gladly download it again and use it. Thanks
You can’t resize existing notes. My touches are often ignored. The tap and hod in session view is flakey. Cant change metronome volume. Cant change interval or octave of most synths. No master effects. No follow actions. Very limited effects. No dynamics or pitch effects. No arp. No MIDI input (yes, really). No copy/paste clips (only duplicate and move). The Ableton cloud only lets you store 5 sets. I know, it’s a great start with loads of potential. I trust Ableton to address all this stuff. Limited to 8 device tracks and 8 scenes. There are other iOS apps that can export as liveset that are a lot more complete, responsive, and capable. I will say the design is fantastic, just needs a lot more work and features and responsiveness to my touches.
As soon as I heard about an Ableton app (being an Ableton boi myself) I couldn’t wait to get it! If you are considering buying this app as a musical sketch pad, this is the way to go! This is not a mobile DAW, however you can make some 1:30ish songs on here that sound pretty dang good. Some suggestions for the devs, MPE support would be so sick. Keep it up, this app works so well honestly I could go on and on. This is also a great option for special needs, as well as young beatmakers, while also being super in-depth and professional. Seriously this app should have at least 4.7!
As someone who uses Live for music production, I find that Ableton has intuitively implemented the workflow from Session View into a compact daw that could easily be used on an iPhone. HOWEVER, I find that it’s missing quite a few features if it were to compete with GarageBand and FL Studio Mobile. I find that every DAW on the market has some sort of piano roll to draw in notes on a clip. Although Ableton’s idea for the app might’ve been to perform everything into the tracks, if someone were to be using AirPods for example, the latency would just make the process a lot more challenging than it needs to be. GarageBand also has their version of the arrangement view, making it a lot easier to put ideas together into a full track. If Ableton were to implement that alongside a proper piano roll, that would make this already fun DAW even more capable. And one final gripe is the inability to pick and use additional effects like in Live. I hope Ableton continues to build upon this app as this could potentially be the best daw on iOS. <3
Updated review 4/21: I’ll start off by saying that it’s so quick and easy to get my ideas out with Ableton Note that no other iOS can beat imo. I love the way I can collaborate with friends easily and move to my Ableton Live in a breeze. The included sounds sound great and high quality. The UI is what you would expect from Ableton and it makes navigating a snap. What I would like to see: -More than 8 scenes or recording session view jams to a simplified arrangement view. -Time stretching samples, even just a simplified version of what we get in Live. -Master track effects -Mobile ports of Operator,Analog, and Wavetable.
This is easily the most accessible way to really practice making music, as well as being a literal musical sketch pad for all your ideas. PLEASE I beg of you make an optional switch to turn on or off automation quickly. This would improve workflow so much because it’s always a feature in the way when I tweaking but it’s amazing when I want to experiment with different elements of the track. I just think it would be better out of the way sometimes. Thanks for the amazing product! I can’t recommend this enough.
Very cool app from Ableton. The more I dig into it the more I like it, it’s not a replacement for a DAW, but kind of like a little sketchbook that you can carry around and make ideas with. The main feature that it’s lacking badly for me is the ability to record an audio track that isn’t inside Sampler. As a songwriter it’s really helpful for me to be able to record melody or lyrical ideas with the music. Even a very basic audio track function would make this app my absolute go to for idea creation. As it stands it’s fun, but I will keep using my voice memo app for 90% of my songwriting.
I think this app was meant to be a companion for musical ideas in the wild. Unfortunately really bad Bluetooth lag is kind of a dealbreaker, especially without a step sequencer. If you use AirPods, you won’t be able to actually tap out a beat, the lag is worse than any other music app I’ve used. I want to use this all the time, right now even as I am out at a coffee shop , but I am not going to bring a pair of wired headphones with me just for that. I hope they adjust, otherwise I feel a little miffed about the execution here.
I like to just launch a new session and see where it goes with the random presets Note picks. I wind up creating ideas that are completely different than what I produce in any other environment. Then the idea can move seamlessly to Live for further refinement. I’m a Logic user, but TBH I’ve been having so much fun with Live Lite that I just upgraded to Live Standard to take it even further! One thing I would like to see is the ability to save more than 5 sessions to Ableton Cloud. Or maybe offer iCloud-based sync?
I use ableton live for my music production and i always wish I could have a way to put down ideas on the go or just get something to spark my inspiration when I'm not in the studio. This app does exactly that! I really like the ableton cloud syncing so that if i do create a little idea i can work on it later. Super cool concept and i think it works really well. Obviously it is very limited to just creating ideas and not exactly a full fleshed out track, but that is perfectly fine! Good stuff ableton!
I cannot say enough how good this app is. It’s simplicity is its greatest strength. With that said, there are some things that could take it to the next level. I would love to be able to record into a block with vocals instead of needing to make a sample then trigger it. The other thing is some folders would be good as I make a ton of sketches and want to find the keepers more easily. Lastly some more instrument options over time could be nice. Overall though fantastic app!
I really like what the app is trying to do, and I appreciate that it is more focus on quick ideas. Though, I really would like to be able to edit the individual Mitty notes. Sometimes the timing does not work well when I try to use quantization, so it would be useful to be able to move the specific note into the correct location. This would be an update. I would really appreciate to use, and would make me use the app almost almost all the time.
Dear Ableton, I am one of many who have asked for Ableton to be ported to iOS, and Ableton Note is definitely off to a good start. I noticed that the instruments don’t seem to respond to pitch bend from what I can tell when using a Akai MPK Mini controller. I did check pitch bend on the Arturia iOS Mini (Moog), and the pitch (x-axis joystick) works fine there, as does mapping the mod wheel (y-axis joystick). Is there a way to implement pitch bend in Ableton Note? Suggestions: * An option to edit notes by grid. * Add a soft keyboard as an option to the Push-style interface. * Add a small border edge to beginning and end of clip. Midi notes can move right up to the edge, and past the edge, but it is hard to tell where 1.1.1 is. Overall, very good app, love the default sounds, instruments, and sampler. Please, please, please keep updating this app! Thank you!
I’m really starting to get a workflow down and I appreciate the simplicity and getting to a point where it’s intuitive to make music with… which is the goal yea?? More than 8 scenes would make this a real work horse. Endless scenes would be epic, since the export feature plays your set in order and then it’s over. Could formulate whole song structures and arrangements with out being limited to 8 sections that only play once through on export. Please add as many scenes as you possible can!!! Edit: two nights in a row app glitches out and my work is inaccessible. Tried to save to the cloud the second time to avoid it but still happened.
This is the only app I’ve reviewed. This is such a great tool for when you’re in a slump, I don’t feel bad about making something really stupid on this. It’s so simple to use, and once you find the sounds you like and the way you like using it, you’re able to crank out ideas. And then after you’ve made like 60-70 stupid things/songs, all you gotta do is filter out which you like and then flesh them out on your computer, so fun!
Note is a place to form ideas, experiment with sounds and find direction. Get your ideas out or play until inspiration hits using a selection of Ableton Live’s drum kits, synths and melodic instruments. Or create your own sound palette by recording the sounds around you into Note’s sampler instruments using your phone’s microphone. If you want to take your ideas further, use Ableton Cloud to send your projects to Live (version 11.2.5 or later) without leaving the app. Open your project from Live’s browser, then keep working – you can edit all your MIDI notes, and all your samples and sounds from Note are exactly the same. Begin with a beat: • Choose from 56 Drum Sampler kits • Tap out a beat using the 16-pad grid • Quantize your beat to fix any loose timing • Nudge notes to correct mistakes • Add more layers of rhythm • Create beat repetitions with Note Repeat • Change parameters to shape your sound • Experiment with effects Start with a melody: • Choose from 261 synth sounds and 36 Melodic Sampler instruments • Play your melody or chord progression with either the 25-pad grid or the piano roll • Set a key and scale to get instantly harmonic results, or leave your options open • Overdub more layers of harmony • Change parameters to shape your sound • Add effects to experiment with sound design Sample your environment: • Create your own kits by recording percussive sounds into Note’s Drum Sampler • Record tonal sounds to create your own Melodic Sampler instruments • Manipulate your samples by cutting, filtering or repitching them • Shape or transform your sounds with effects Capture improvisations: • Play something, then tap the Capture button to keep it • Play at the tempo that feels comfortable and Note will detect it • Note will recognize the length of the phrase • A loop is created automatically • Quantize it, add to it, or change the sound Create variations: • Note features a grid-based Session View layout • Double your loops to create variation within clips • Duplicate your clips and create different versions of your ideas • Create eight tracks with up to eight clips on eight scenes • Try different layer combinations and song structures • Export your work in Session View as an audio file to listen and share
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