Ableton Push - Music at your fingertips
Push is an instrument that puts everything you need to make music in one place—at your fingertips.
Making music is hard. To stay in the flow, you need to be able to capture your ideas quickly, and you need technology to stay out of the way. Computers make it possible for one person to create whole worlds of sound. But instruments are where inspiration comes from. Push gives you the best of everything. It’s a powerful, expressive instrument that gives you hands-on control of an unlimited palette of sounds, without needing to look at a computer.
Find out what's new with Push
Capture your music
Play or step sequence all of your musical ideas. Whether playing drums or pitched instruments, Push adapts to your musical needs, with great feeling pads and controls that keep you in the flow.
Play and tweak samples. Slice beats, play one shots , or mangle samples with warping
Push gives you a range of ways to play and manipulate your samples. Slice samples across the pads, play single hits, or warp long samples so that they always stay in time with your song.
All of your sounds, at your fingertips
Access all of Live’s devices, your third-party plug-ins, and samples. Use Push to browse, preview, and load your sounds. Get fast hands-on access to Live’s built-in devices, VST or Audio Units plug-ins, and your sample library.
Tweak instruments, samples, and effects
The color display shows your sample or device parameters, enabling intuitive but powerful sound design from the touch-sensitive encoders.
Create your song
Record everything you play. Create variations and try out new combinations to play with song structure. Push captures every move you make into musical ideas that you can recombine to create your song.
Mix and refine
Get hands-on with your mix using the encoders and adjust levels, pans, and sends with immediate feedback on the display.
Play and perform
Push 2 is equally at home in the studio or on stage. Keep your performances in-the-moment by switching between improvising with loops and playing drums, notes, and chords—all from the same expressive grid of pads.
Playable and beautiful
Push is designed and engineered by Ableton to be elegant, inviting, and—most of all—playable.
Finish your song
When you’re ready to get into detailed arranging, editing, and exporting your finished song, switch from Push to your computer to find your music already laid out in Ableton Live—the software that was powering your work the whole time.
Push gives you the best of both worlds for making music: inspiring hardware for hands-on control at the beginning, and full-featured music creation software for fine-tuning the details at the end.
Push - Making beats
Play or program beats, melodies, and harmonies with Push’s 64 pads.
When playing drums, Push’s grid of 64 pads is divided into three sections, allowing you to play in real time, step sequence, and adjust the length of your loop, all at the same time.
Play drums
Play beats live with velocity sensitive pads and adjust sounds and kits while you play with eight touch-sensitive endless encoders. Hold a pad to repeat notes in time with your track and adjust the repeat divisions or swing in real time.
Step sequence beats
Step sequence beats directly using the pads for precise control. Select any step and tweak timing, velocity, and parameter values individually for each cell. See velocity and accents for each step shown on Push’s pads.
Adjust your loop
Select which bar of your loop you want to sequence or adjust the length of the loop.
Play more
Optionally, use the whole grid of 64 pads for real-time playing. Then quickly switch between layouts to step sequence or change your loop length again.
Push - Playing notes and chords
When playing melodic instruments, Push’s pads correspond to pitches, allowing you to play notes and chords.
Play notes on the grid
When playing instruments, Push “folds” a keyboard’s worth of notes to its 64 pads. Pad colors show key center, other notes in the key, and any notes you’ve recorded. Push’s condensed layout means large intervals can be reached easily, and patterns can be played with the same fingerings in all keys. Use Push’s touch slider for pitch bend or modulation.
Choose a scale
Select a key and scale with the touch of a button and the pads light to show you the notes in that scale. Other notes are unlit - or can be hidden altogether for purely diatonic playing.
Step sequencing notes and chords
Step sequence melodies and harmonies. Edit or delete notes to fix mistakes or create variations. Nudge single notes or chords for precise timing changes or adjust note length and velocity.
Step sequencing automation
Hold a step while adjusting an encoder to record a parameter's value for only that step. Create rhythmic, quantized parameter changes that are locked to specific notes in your loop.
Push - Working with samples
Working with samples on Push is flexible and fast. Use one of three separate workflows, depending on the type of sample you’re using and how you’d like to play it. Play rhythmic samples back in tempo with your song by enabling warping.
Chop beats across Push’s pads
In Slicing mode, each pad plays back a different slice of a long sample. Adjust the Sensitivity to control how many slices are available, or tap an empty pad to manually insert your own slices as the sample plays back. Slicing mode is ideal for rearranging loops on the fly or for creating drum kits from recorded grooves. You can even convert your sliced sample into a Drum Rack.
Turn melodic samples into playable instruments
In Classic mode, you have full control of the attack, decay, sustain, and release of the sample, as well as playback start, end, and loop controls, directly from Push’s encoders. This mode is ideal for traditional sampler uses such as turning melodic samples into pitched instruments.
Play one-shot drum or melodic samples
In One Shot mode, samples play back monophonically, and play all the way through no matter how long you hold the pad. This is perfect for playing drums. By enabling Glide and playing legato, you can transpose a playing sample without retriggering it, allowing you to transform melodic phrases into whole new melodies. Your sample collection just got a lot deeper.
Design:
Push - Beautiful and playable
Everything about Push has been carefully reconsidered to make creating music as elegant and effortless as possible.
A bright, colorful display
The multicolor display is constantly adapting to show you exactly what you need. It provides enough information to keep you in the creative flow without adding distraction.
Improved buttons and pads
Push’s pads are carefully made to feel just right for musicians of all kinds. The control buttons are seamless, nearly flush with the surface, and provide a subtle “click” when pressed.
Less is more
Push is slightly thinner and a little lighter than its predecessor, making it easier to transport from studio to stage.
Designed and engineered by Ableton
From the initial planning to the final engineering, Push is an instrument made with Ableton’s careful attention to detail.
Specifications:
Everything about Push has been carefully reconsidered to make creating music as elegant and effortless as possible.
Push hardware
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Universal Power Supply
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100-240VAC, 50/60Hz with interchangeable heads for North/Central America & Japan (Type A), China (Type A & I), Europe (Type C), UK (Type G), Australia & New Zealand (Type I)
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USB cable 1.40m (55.12 inches)
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Quick Start Guide + Download version of Live 10 Intro
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Standard or Suite (depending on which edition you choose to purchase)
Dimensions
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Width: 378mm (14.88 inches)
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Depth: 304mm (11.96 inches)
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Height (body): 26mm (1.02 inches), (body + encoders): 42mm (1.65 inches)
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Weight: 2710g (6.0 pounds)
Connections
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External Power: 12V DC 1.25A
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USB Power: 5V/0.5A
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Two pedal inputs
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Kensington Lock
Shell
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The upper shell is a thick but lightweight plate of anodized aluminum
Pads
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Soft silicone pads, carefully calibrated to respond perfectly at any velocity
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RGB backlighting
Encoders
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High-resolution endless encoders that respond to touch
Buttons
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The control buttons gently click and are lit with white or multi-colored LEDs to indicate a variety of states
Display
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The high-resolution RGB display is bright and clear at any viewing angle and under any lighting
Touchstrip
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17cm touch strip for pitch bend/scrolling
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31 LEDs for navigation