Ableton Push 2

Incredible offer, just don't look under the rug.

TLDR

It's a great controller for home / studio use. For serious professional live performances, be smart and invest in top end hardware. This is a toy.

SCORING

I'm not following any kind of logic here, just going by feels. I'm very picky about my stuff so I'm taking away points where I've been hurt:

# Look & Feel: 9/10

It feels premium. It's great to touch, use, and look at.

# Overall Quality: 6/10

-- Has a lot of rough edges

-- Ableton should charge more and put only the best of the best in hardware.

-- Normal playing will sometimes fire a note at full velocity. Velocity detection range is that great either it works against you when trying to be expressive.

-- The touch slider indicator light is not centered which often causes me to press where the light is and the detection there isn't good.

-- Inconsistent twist feel / force on FX modulator knobs.

# Features 8/10

-- Lacks support for arrangement mode, but the potential is there, you just need to program it yourself. I'd take away another point here, but I purchased it knowing that fact.

-- Lacks support for programming it, requires third party solutions for more control.

-- Would've appreciated a more open software stack.

# Fun factor: 11/10

-- So much fun!

# Push Community: 11/10

-- A lot of cool tricks, apps, hacks, the community is really involved.

FINAL VERDICT

Would I buy again if I could go back in time? Yes.

Would I go play a big show in front of thousands with this? Hell no!

Nothing else gives you this many features; in this small form factor and at this price. Yes I know it's big, but compare it to a fully decked out 61 keys keyboard and you'll be glad to have a device this small you can place and play anywhere.

Ableton Push 2

The most useful digital tool that a musician or a student can acquire. It offers a unique "hands-on" experience over writing and editing MIDI instruments and lets the user extend their creativity with really interesting digital tools and features.

Feeling wise, the rotary knobs, the multicolour display and the button pads make the user feel the sturdiness of the device as the engineering and user structure provided by Ableton allows the artist to expand and understand their targets better. It has a great sense for velocity and touch response and also is really helpful with understanding music theory issues as scales and rhythm. The lights of the touch pads give a helpful experience over understanding scales and chords, as they also accommodate greatly a communication between editing clips or triggers.

I enjoy the most the versatility between custom midi mappings and taking control over your external instruments and gear.

To conclude, Ableton Push 2 is an absolute game changer and a real value for money for anyone interested in digital media

The ultimate Ableton controller

IMO the best Ableton controller and the coolest one.

With 3rd party upgrades and "hacks" you can get even more out of it and it's super awesome. I recommend it. There are many cool controllers out there and I cannot tell you if this is "the best" for everyone or if there even such a thing but..

I am very satisfied and don't regret my purchase, and I think if you're an ableton "guy", it's hard to hate on it. ;)

I've had a lot of joy and fun with the push2 already and look forward to having a lot more.

Good device for Ableton users

One thing I didn't know before I bought - is that Push is not so good with 3rd party instruments, I mean for example presets switch in some vsts, but you can map 90% of controls and use it with comfort, also arrangement and mixing better to do without it, but anyway:

it is very good tool for creative part of music creation or performance.

PS: 4 starts for handling is about a bit late delivery and some troubles with payment, all other was good.

Fantastic tool, but quality control leaves a lot to be desired

The Push 2 has a lot of functionality, and I really loved its workflow, but I've just sent back my second one and both have had build quality issues.

The first one had problems with the touch strip, meaning pitch bends were very inconsistent, and the second had 2 touch pads on the main grid that would get stuck on a note sometimes, and sometimes even trigger randomly. Both of these issues really took you out of the groove when playing, and not what I would expect out of a £500 luxury midi controller.

If you get lucky and get one without any manufacturing problems however, it's a great little box!