2008 Summer NAMM Show: Alesis has announced that it is including Ableton Live Lite 7 with its USB and FireWire mixers and audio interfaces:
Alesis is now bundling Ableton Live Lite 7 with the following mixers and interfaces:
iO|2, iO|26, iMultiMix 8 USB, iMultiMix 16 USB, MultiMix 8 USB, MultiMix 8 USB 2.0, MultiMix 8 FireWire, MultiMix [...]

This video, from Ableton, is an intro to the new Orchestral Instrument Collection for Live.
It’s a little cheesy - but it’s also cool to see it working within Live.

Ableton has released of Live 7 LE, a cheaper “lite” version of Ableton Live 7. Live LE is limited to two simultaneous stereo audio inputs and outputs, twelve built-in audio effects, eight built-in instruments, two AU/VST effects and two AU/VST instruments per project.
Live 7 LE Features:

Studio-quality recording up to 32-bit/192 kHz
Sixty-four audio tracks and unlimited [...]

The iPhone seems to becoming the new “because it was there” controller for Ableton Live.

Ableton has released Orchestral Instruments - four sampled instrument collections representing the four sections of an orchestra. The instrument collections are available individually or as a bundle.
The Orchestral Instruments are seamlessly integrated into the Ableton Live environment and use a technology called SmartPriming to manage system resources efficiently, providing big symphonic sound with a minimum [...]

Oxide Kits Volume One was included as bonus content in the original release of Bitword’s WaveFront Library. Now in Ableton Live 6 Impulse, NI Battery 3, Reason ReDrum, and .WAV format, the funky space station junkyard vibe is available to all.
Each format is pre-mapped using all of the sample content. For those interested [...]

Puremagnetik has released Mutations, a collection of over 100 racks specifically designed for Ableton’s Operator Synth.
Programmed by some of Ableton’s own sound designers exclusively for Puremagnetik, Mutations fully explores the sonic possibilities of Ableton’s Rack format and FM synthesis. Best of all…. it’s free!

Puremagnetik has released Retroputer, a collection of tonal sequencing racks for Ableton Live 6. Heavily influenced by Elektron’s Monomachine, Retroputer comes packed with crunchy digital waveforms, all categorized into 10 individual “Machines.”
Over 60 included Live Clips come complete with customized Macro controls that emphasize the charm of these classic digital sounds. Retroputer also contains over [...]

 
Defective Records Software has announced Major Malfunction version 1.5, a new version of its Mac OS X realtime audio plugin for Ableton Live. Major Malfunction is designed to let you “mangle, glitch and FSU”.
You can preview what MM’s FSU sounds like below; more examples at the Defective site.
Major Malfunction is US $15; a demo version [...]

 

 Major Malfunction version 1.5 [0:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Ableton has announced that Live Lite to Full, the upgrade from all Lite versions to the full version of Live 6, is now available.
All users of Live Lite (as bundled with products from M-Audio, Digidesign, Korg, Line 6, E-MU, Focusrite, Novation, Tascam, Allen & Heath, Behringer and TC Electronic) can now purchase an upgrade to [...]

Puremagnetik has just released Test Run - a free Live Ready sound library, with over 100MB of sound content.
Test Run contains a collection of the best sounds from past Puremagnetik packs and is available for immediate download. Test Run is compatible with Ableton Live 6.0.5 and higher.
Puremagnetik is a subscription service for Ableton Live [...]

Peter Kirn at the always awesome Create Digital Music reports that a reader has Ableton Live running successfully on Apple TV.
Apple TV is a new peripheral that effectively turns your HDTV into a giant iPod, letting you listen to or view iTunes content on your home theater system. Apple TV has also become a hot [...]

Musikmesse: Ableton and Cycling ’74 today announced a strategic partnership. The two will join forces to create new software products for the creative community, leveraging their skills, technologies and combined thirty years of experience.
“We are excited to team up with our friends at Cycling ’74,” said Ableton CEO and cofounder Gerhard Behles. “David Zicarelli has [...]

Puremagnetik has released Microdrum, a unique groove sequencing pack for Ableton Live 6. Microdrum comes loaded with 5 banks of drum kits, over 50 preset Groovetracks and 30 percussion menus.
Based on the Magnetik Step16 rack, Microdrum employs 16 steps of rhythmic phrasing in individual sequencers for each drum voice. Any Live 6 user can easily [...]

Kid Beyond is a singer/songwriter, beatboxer and looper. He uses Ableton Live to loop and multitrack his voice onstage to create his own live backing tracks
In this video, sponsored by Ableton, he talks about how he creates his tracks and demonstrates using a pedalboard and live to create complex, multi-layered grooves.

 

 Kid Beyond On Ableton Live [6:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download