Recording - June 2013 - 23

Push
Ableton Push

populated clips and change color and intensity based on
what’s playing back or being recorded.
One of the most intriguing aspects of Push is that it can act as
a keyboard as well. The 64 pads can form an isomorphic key
array with up to a 4-octave range. You choose a key and scale
type, then choose to play chromatically (with keys in the scale
lit and ones not in the key/scale unlit—think white vs. black
keys in C Major), or with only notes in the chosen key/scale
showing, with all keys lit and root notes in blue. Each row of
pads is a fourth higher than the one underneath it, like the
strings on a bass, and as on a guitar or bass fretboard the same

A lot of the fanfare around Live 9 has centered on
Ableton’s new Push instrument ($599). Designed by
Ableton and built in conjunction with Akai
Professional, Push is intended to provide a completely integrated music creation platform for use with Live
9. I could take pages and pages to describe everything Push can do, but here’s a rundown of the basics.
Push is a big, solid, heavy beast, nearly 7 pounds,
nicely wrapped in a hand-friendly black rubberized
finish. It has 64 large silicone-rubber drum pads with
multicolor LED backlighting, plus 16 smaller switches
of the same material below a custom LCD with nine touch-sensitive
soft knobs—eight that change their functions as needed, and a
ninth Master Volume knob.
Framing the pad array are a variety of dedicated buttons for
many common Live features as well as Grid Buttons for setting time
divisions from 1/4 notes to 1/32-note triplets, touch-sensitive
Tempo and Swing knobs, transport controls, and a long touchstrip
that offers pitch bend control or selecting banks in a multi-bank
Drum Rack. My only criticism of Push’s build lies here—the backlit
function names in each button are almost impossible to read in a
brightly lit room or in sunlight (yes, some of us play outdoor festivals), and the pads are washed-out as well. Push was made for
darkened stages!
The rear panel offers two 1/4" footswitch inputs, USB, and a
power supply connection (it’s not necessary but provides more
powerful LED illumination when in use). The entire device feels like
a real musical instrument, well-made and reliable... it’s not cheap
and it doesn’t feel or work cheap.
Push offers a lot of tactile and visual feedback for working in Live
9; it’s intended to allow a user that’s practiced a bit and gotten into
its workflow to be able to compose, assemble, and mix tracks while
never looking at Live, leaving the DAW’s computer-based interface
for finer tasks like editing automation curves (you can lay down freehand automation directly from Push) or working in detail with the
Arrangement View. You can select instruments, play them, lay down
drum tracks, add and tweak effects, mix 8 Tracks at a time with control over volume, pan, and send amounts, and create Arrangements
by firing Clips and Scenes in Session View, all from Push.
This becomes feasible because the pads on Push take on different roles in different modes, and it’s obvious at a glance which
mode you’re working in. For example, when playing a Drum Rack,
the 64 pads divide into a standard Akai Professional MPC 4 x 4
array for playing sounds, a 4 x 4 array to decide how many steps
the loop you’re building will be, and an 8 x 4 step sequencer
where you can place drum hits. In Session View, the pads show

note may appear two or even three times on the array (and
when you hit one instance of a note, all the identical ones light
up too).
What does “isomorphic” mean? It means that since all the
pads are the same size and pitch relationships between pads
don’t change when you change scale or key, once you learn
a fingering for a scale or chord, it works the same way in all
keys just by moving your hand a little. No more learning
when to hit the white or black keys for C Major vs. Ab Dorian!
This takes a fair bit of adjustment, especially for players used
to a traditional keyboard, but it’s surprising how quickly you
find your way around and can start playing melodies, bass
lines, and chords. The pads don’t move when hit, but they’re
nicely squishy to the touch and very sensitive to velocity and
pressure (aftertouch), making Push a very expressive and
playable surface.
As you jump from playing notes to playing drums to editing
effects to firing Clips, the LCD constantly reconfigures to show
you relevant data that relates to what you’re doing right now,
and the buttons and soft knobs provide relevant tweaks to
parameters in Live. If you call up a third-party plug-in directly
(rather than as part of an Instrument Rack), Push may not provide any controls at all, but for most plug-ins it will give you a
soft knob to control whatever parameter you clicked on last.
If you’re way into Live 9 as a composing environment, Push
is a natural extension of the program and makes working with
the DAW a very seamless and tactile experience, giving you
a way to “put your hands” on parameters and settings you
use all the time without having to reach for a mouse. Push
can’t be all things to all people, but for the common workflow
of Live as a means of creating beats, melodies, harmonies,
and Clip arrangements, it’s a remarkable representation of a
software program in physical form, and it’s going to win a lot
of adherents. Visit ableton.com/push and ableton.com/learnpush to learn more.—MM
RECORDING June 2013

http://www.ableton.com/push http://www.ableton.com/learn-push http://www.ableton.com/learn-push

Recording - June 2013

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