This post is available as a video or in written form. Watch the video below, or scroll down if you prefer to read.
Max For Live Is Awesome
Max For Live is an incredible tool for expanding the capabilities of Ableton Live. There are hundreds of developers making thousand of devices that do all sorts of weird and wonderful things; from simple synths and effects to vastly complex tools that let you create and warp sound in ways you’d never imagined.
But Max For Live has a problem.
The Problem
The open, community driven approach to development means that devices are spread across many different websites, blogs and YouTube channels, making it difficult to find things that stand out.
Websites like maxforlive.com do a good job of collecting the thousands of available tools in one place, but the quality is inconsistent and there are so many things to sift through its impossible to know what’s good or what even works the way its supposed to.
This is where the Max For Live Curated Collection comes in.
The Curated Collection
The Max For Live Curated Collection brings together the best Max For Live devices around into a simple, easy to browse location.
As the name suggests, its a collection of Max devices for Ableton Live that I’ve curated based on certain standards of usability, creativity and reliability. These aren’t devices that I’ve made, but rather devices from around the internet that I’ve discovered in my hunt for creative tools to use in my own music making.
In The Collection you’ll find a list of devices, organised into useful categories. Each entry contains an image, price, a brief description and a link to download or buy the device directly from the developer.
Just to be transparent here, some of the links may be affiliate links where I earn a portion of the sale. These affiliate sales are a really helpful way to keep The Collection sustainable and cover costs.
What's Included?
For a device to be included in The Collection I will use it in my own music making for as long as I need to determine that it meets the standards to be included. I’m generally pretty minimalist in the tools I use, so a device really has to stand out for me to consider it.
All of the devices currently in The Collection are things I use frequently and have been using for some time. I’ll regularly update the devices included in The Collection, adding new devices I discover, but also removing devices that no longer make the cut, perhaps because I’ve discovered a bug, the device is no longer getting updates or even just because I found something I think does the same job better.
The Future
As well as adding new devices I also plan to create additional content around the tools included in The Collection like articles and videos. Most of the devices in The Collection are well documented by the developers, so I’d recommend reading the included guides to learn how to use them, but if I feel I could make things clearer or demonstrate some cool workflows, expect a more in-depth video.
Get Inspired
So, all that’s left is for you to go check out The Max For Live Curated Collection and find some new tools to inspire your next music making session.