Midiman to Distribute Ableton in UK, US, Canada

Midiman and Ableton have announced that Midiman will assume exclusive distribution rights of the company's software products in the US, Canada, and the UK. Ableton's software program Live, the company's first offering, has been greatly anticipated since it's preview at the 2001 Winter NAMM show and Musik Messe in Frankfurt .

Live is an audio sequencer that is played like an instrument. Live allows the user to improvise in real time with a palette of audio clips; clips can be turned on/off, manipulated, looped, reordered, combined, effected, and re-recorded on the fly. All the samples used are adjusted to the tempo of the song in real time and without changing the pitch.

Live records 24-bit audio, in addition to all actions made during a session so that everything can be saved and post-edited in detail. All clips and parameters within Live can be triggered via MIDI, computer keyboard or mouse. The program supports both Mac and PC, uses the Rewire and VST protocols, and syncs to MIDI clock and MIDI time code .

"We are very pleased to be working with Midiman," says Ableton CEO, Gerhard Behles. "Live is finally going to fill a void that has always existed in audio software, and Midiman is strategically placed to help us fuel this next stage in the evolution of music production."

"When people see Live 1.0 the typical reaction is 'why has no one ever come up with this before?' " says Rutger de Groot, Commercial Director for Ableton AG. "No other audio sequencer has been developed from the perspective of improvising and live use. Ableton is proud to make available a one of a kind program that is intelligently conceptualised and developed, intuitive and powerful."