touchAble Could Make Your Ableton Live Hardware Controller Redundant

iPad Music Software: Phil Bilsby of AudioNewsRoom has taken an early look at the new touchAble iPad controller for Ableton Live, and came away impressed:

touchAble is a serious contender for the best iPad app for controlling Ableton currently and the most competent attempt so far. It is easy to setup, has flexibility with respect to access to multiple controls and so far seems very stable.

Having used this for approximately a week, I am already boxing up my Launchpad ready for Ebay, as touchAble has already made this dedicated hardware device redundant, even at this early stage of development.

I think this app could be improved with better control of the clip start and length and if they could add a separate page whereby users could build there own control surface, especially for live performance situations (much like TouchOSC).  This would definitely make it the iPad Ableton controller to beat by a long way.

touchAble is now available in the App Store for $16.99.

If you’ve used touchAble, leave a comment and let us know if you think it will make dedicated hardware controllers redundant, too.

22 thoughts on “touchAble Could Make Your Ableton Live Hardware Controller Redundant

  1. While the functionality of this app is high, I will always prefer a tactile response over touching a glass screen.
    Buttons and knobs for life!

  2. do what you want guys, but I' ve been using touchAble with my iPad since 24 hours, and it is just fucking awesome! And i own an APC40! touchAble gives you just more control and you don't have to look at your computer all the time, it is magic! I don't know how they made that gem, but it worth the few euros!!!

  3. I doubt on redundancy. As ableton does not have separate session/clip views possibility for use in two screen you can easily remain with your HW and use the iPad as some sort of "second screen"

  4. there is no comparaison between the both, touchAble is miles away better, cause griid has no mre than 1/20 of the touchAble features, and griid is more expensive.

  5. i think their for different people, Touchable has more feature and seems a bit more hobbyist, grid seems a bit more.. well, pro. depends what you need

  6. Seems like there are pros and cons to the iPad vs a hardware controller.

    I always like dedicated knobs and switches – they feel more immediate.

    But that video with of the guy with 6 Novation Launchpads points out that software controllers scale a lot better than hardware ones.

  7. It seems to me that the iPad is going to stifle development of certain types of hardware. Want to buy a Monome? Well there is an app that does the same thing for 10 bucks. There is an Electribe for 30 bucks and all of these blinky light button Live boxes just got consigned to the scrap heap. Most of them cost nearly as much as an iPad and you you can't surf the web with them.

    I was actually going to produce a piece of hardware with a friend and he pointed this out to me. "Yes, we could do it and it would be cool. But we would only sell a hand full before someone copies it to an iPad app that sells for 10 bucks.

    So long innovation. There's an app for that.

  8. I'd say the opposite – touchAble for the Pros and Griid for the hobbyists! With Griid all you can do it activate/inactivate clips and sounds. With touchAble you can do a hell of a lot more …

  9. then produce the iPad app and not the sloppy tinbox with wobbly knobs. A whole lot more progressive than overpriced elitist Hardware.

  10. I reckon people comments on my review are fair. I still stand by touchAble making the launchpad redundant. The launchpad in terms of clip launching demands the user to look at Ableton plus for many colour blind users the LED colours are by no means user friendly. TouchAble doesn’t have this constraint at all plus gives pertinent information at your finger tips.
    With respect to dedicated hardware controllers I would still use for example a behringer BCR2000 for knobs along side touchAble. I can never understand the binary point of view of having to choose one or the other. I see no conflit of using both hardware & software together.

  11. i tried both. touchable and griid. i will still use my hardware but i cant wait to control ableton wireless so i can move around on stage. even for my logic studio setup with all those dinosaur synths the ipad is a hell of controller cause for simply one reason. no cables. i would like to use touchable cause it has so much nice features that i probably will not use after havin 5 wodka red bull and the lemur is to expens. to be let on stage with all those dust. and i like the griid cause the overview function is helpful if you have 180 scenes and 30 tracks like me. i just dont know if both systems are able to be connected at the same time ??? does anybody ever tried that??

  12. i tried both. bothare not perfect. i love the ipad touse it as a cable free remote for my studio. even with all this dinosaur synths it makes sense. to play live griid has one nice function. but thats it. touchable does the same job well and any ipad is better than an overpriced lemur with its plastic touchpad. but after 5 wodka i prefer a big fat analog button.

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