Ableton Live started out as a huge Max/Msp patch

This evening I attended a fascinating lecture by Robert Henke ( Musician/Programmer/Monolake ) and Gerhard Behles ( Co-founder of Ableton). The talk was about the concept of computer music, the challenges, the advantages but also the traps and problems that arise from this new world of technology for music.

I will post my thoughts of the lecture in a later post, but one of the things I’ve heard there confirmed a rumor that I heard going around about the early days of Ableton. It seems that Ableton (Founded 1999) first started out as a huge max/msp patch, which was made by Henke and Behles as they were searching for a new way to improvise with recorded material. They were trying to break out of the linear “traditional” way of making music.

Robert Henke and Gerhard Behles

Robert Henke (Centre) and Gerhard Behles (Right)

That concept truly revolutionized the world of music production, DJ’s and performers. So max/Msp, which is basically a computer language used for the creation of music programmes, was the first tool used to create Ableton Live.

Here is the Max patch that Henke showed at the lecture:

Ableton live as a max patch

Ableton live early version as a max patch

And here is an interesting short interview with Behles about Ableton’s concept :

And a profile of Robert Henke

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