Today, we proudly announce the worldwide release of Operator, a powerful new software synthesizer instrument optimized for your use inside Live 4.
Operator brings an eclectic spectrum of sonic possibilities and musical inspiration to Ableton Live users. True to Ableton's philosophy, Operator invites creativity through the fusion of depth and usability, allowing even the most complex sounds to be created quickly. Whether you
long for evolving synthetic textures, rich expressive leads, gritty
percussion, rhythmic atmospheres or anything in between, Operator has
the cure.
Describing the vision and research behind Operator, Ableton
conceptualist Robert Henke explains, "Our aim was to create a truly
unique and inspiring instrument that combined the sonic richness and
character of hardware synthesizers with the power of Ableton Live. By
integrating Operator with Live, we were able to give users the
flexibility and power of clip envelopes, hands-on control and zero
latency. More importantly, Operator sounds amazing!"
Easy to Operate
Like Live, Operator's design is geared toward promoting creativity and
maximizing workflow efficiency. A set of highly varied and musical
presets, sorted by category, is provided for quick access to Operator's
sonic spectrum. At the next level, two intuitive macro controls called
"Time" and "Tone" can be used to modify the overall characteristics
of
the sound, handling complex operations through a single action. The most
essential parameters of Operator's synthesis engine are individually
represented on the front panel. Musicians who enjoy detailed sonic
surgery can use Operator's central display to access the instrument's
graphic envelope editors and other advanced controls.
Hearing is believing
The core of Operator's voice architecture consists of four oscillators
and a resonant multimode filter. This setup allows for both subtractive
and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. In addition to a wide selection
of sine waveforms, which faithfully emulate the aliasing artifacts of
classic hardware FM synthesizers, each of Operator's oscillators can
also generate "virtual analog" synthesis waveforms such as saw, square,
triangle and noise. Each oscillator can either deliver audio signals to
the output or modulate other oscillators. To allow further dissection of
your sound, Operator's filter section, LFO and pitch envelope add great
flexibility and expressive modulation possibilities.
Integration
Following Live's refreshing design philosophy, Operator is powerful
without demanding screen real estate. Every parameter of Operator can be
automated or remote-controlled via MIDI, allowing you to get completely
hands on. Parameters can also be controlled via Live's clip envelopes.
Learn to Operate
To learn Operator is to love it. Operator includes several integrated
lessons, complete with screenshots and sound examples, so that you can
quickly discover the power of Operator's flexible sound design ability.
The Operator lessons even take you through creating a variety of sounds
from scratch. Each lesson is accessible via the Live 4 Help menu.
Operator Pricing and Availability
To purchase or try Operator, simply download the 4.1 update of Live from
the Ableton website www.ableton.com. An activation code for Operator can
be purchased online for 129 Euro 149 USD.
Please check our website at www.ableton.com
for more info, the Live 4.1
demo version (incl. Operator Demo) and a fully updated tour.
