Steve...
The plugins with live6 are mainly efx......
you can purchase there sampler....no need though..
Live6 is what it say's on the box... Live.
You can bounce/render midi within live6...
But you can do all your Recording in PT..
Get it sounding how you want it [eq/pan/efx etc] then export into Live 6..
Then arrange into scene's track's what ever...
the beauty is that you can control from a small midi controller [like Oxygen 8..or whatever]
so no f..k..g around with a mouse/pad etc..
It can all be controlled on the fly/realtime..
Sends for a click to the drummer or other members.
Just output from the Laptop into the PA...and away you go...!
Portable as well....
Also if you Laptop is set up for just Audio , and has no other programme's on it....
Live 6 is very very stable.and not a CPU hog.
You are not limited to set orders either...if you get to a gig and want to change the set list...
it can be done in minutes...can even change as you go...when you know what you are doing....!!
Just think keyboard's played as you want,,,strings..percussion...extra backing vox..even double you
Bass with some Bass synth...
I mentioned this, because the other night here in a club in Berlin..i saw it all in action with a band.
just a trio with no keyboards....and it worked a treat..
I will be seeing these guys over the weekend.so i will find out the set up...
I am back next week...so will report more....
But seems like a sound investment to me...[no humping modules and [Top Ten hit] around]
You can even get midi files from the net[tons of free stuff]...this will make the first work load a lot easier...but once done you are laughing
I have collected tons of these files over the years..some great ..some not so good..
But even the ones that are not so good,can be used as templates ,,then tweeked to taste...
You are welcome to copy the midi disc's i have...but you will have to sift through them.....!
Check out the Ableton live site....
Garry