Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Ableton Live VS Surge XT

Compare Ableton Live VS Surge XT and see what are their differences

Ableton Live logo Ableton Live

Ableton makes Push and Live, hardware and software for music production, creation and performance. Ableton´s products are made to inspire creative music-making.

Surge XT logo Surge XT

Open-source subtractive-hybrid synthesizer formerly sold commercially as Vember Audio Surge.
  • Ableton Live Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-13
  • Surge XT Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-31

Surge XT is an open-source hybrid synthesizer and the synth which started the Surge Synth Team project!

Ableton Live videos

Ableton Live 10 Review - The Best DAW For DJ/Producers?

More videos:

  • Review - Ableton Live 10: Intro vs. Standard vs. Suite vs. Lite - Which Should You Buy?
  • Review - ABLETON LIVE 10!!!!

Surge XT videos

Free VST - Surge Synthesizer plugin

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Ableton Live and Surge XT)
Audio & Music
70 70%
30% 30
Email Marketing
0 0%
100% 100
Audio
100 100%
0% 0
Work Management
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Ableton Live and Surge XT

Ableton Live Reviews

  1. Sounds good

    Crafting music in Ableton Live has been an exciting and efficient experience. The software's powerful features and intuitive layout truly stand out. Loading samples and loops onto the interface is as easy as drag-and-drop, allowing for quick and easy experimentation. The session view is perfect for improvisation, and the arrangement view is ideal for fine-tuning. The automation feature is a gem, enabling the creation of dynamic soundscapes. Exporting the final track is straightforward, too. All in all, Ableton Live has revolutionized my music-making process. A top-notch tool for any music creator!

    🏁 Competitors: Reason

Top 18 Free Music Making Software for Beginners [2023]
Ableton Live 11 Lite is a lightweight DAW with all the basic workflows, effects, and instruments you need to thrive with music production at the entry level. It is the free version of Ableton Live 11. However, the developers are fairly generous with its built-in features.
Expand Your Arsenal of Music Creation Tools With BandLab Alternatives
Ableton Live is a popular digital audio workstation (DAW) for creating music and soundscapes on Mac and Windows PCs. It has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to create professional-sounding projects quickly. With its extensive library of samples, built-in effects, and support for MIDI controllers, Ableton Live is one of the most powerful DAWs available today.
Source: bandlabwin.com
9 Adobe Audition Alternatives That Do More Than Cleaning
Do you often edit live performances? If so, you need Ableton Live. This DAW adjusts tempo based on your audio in real-time.
Best FL Studio Alternatives In 2022
Ableton Live is one of my personal favorite DAWs. My band used this extensively on two different laptops each and every night. Ableton Live is built for those who desire to perform their songs live to their true form.
Top 12 Audacity Alternatives You Could Use
For the audio editors who are looking for a powerful yet highly intuitive substitute for Audacity, Ableton Live could be the right answer. Designed for live use, the software features a clean and snappier user-interface that is a bit easier to get a hang of. As it’s fully customizable, you can fine-tune the whole UI to keep everything in sync with your workflow. That aside,...
Source: beebom.com

Surge XT Reviews

We have no reviews of Surge XT yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Surge XT should be more popular than Ableton Live. It has been mentiond 178 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Ableton Live mentions (39)

  • Anyone know the system requirements (macOS) for Live 12?
    I'm considering pre-ordering the Live 12 upgrade from 11, but I can't find any info on ableton.com that lists Live 12's system requirements. The pre-order page for Live 12 lists Live 11's system requirements. Source: 6 months ago
  • Push 3 Expressive Choir
    Open Live, go to Help/User account and licences/authorize at ableton.com. Source: 12 months ago
  • Free Ableton live lite 11 and lite 10 license
    Hi, I'd like to giveaway Ableton live lite (10+11) license for free. The license is currently linked to my account, so I need to transfer ownership to someone who has an account on ableton.com . You can dm me your email address you have an account with. I can give it to only one person first come first serve basis. Source: about 1 year ago
  • I just purchased Ableton Live suite and never received a license.
    Did you order direct from ableton.com, or from somewhere else? Source: about 1 year ago
  • I'm using a cracked ableton live 11, where can I get the plugins that it supposed to have?
    You're not going to get access to most of the packs, as you need an account with a product key on ableton.com in order to download them. As for plugins, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're talking about Max for Live, you might be able to find a separate crack for that but again, many of the devices are on the Ableton website and require you to be holding a product key. Source: about 1 year ago
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Surge XT mentions (178)

  • Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment
    Good stuff! I started getting in to this at the start of the year. Already had an old, dusty MicroKORG and MIDI interface to use it as a controller, but recently splashed out on a bigger controller as the Korg's tiny keys were hurting me - plus, I wanted something bigger to get better at piano! A couple of free soft synths I'd recommend are Surge XT, and Vital. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Obsolete (or not) DAW recommendations for windows 8?
    Https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ and https://asb2m10.github.io/dexed/ should work like a charm. Source: 10 months ago
  • Hi, I'm new
    To get the equivalent of a symphonic orchestra in your computer, the solution is basically money; you buy the instruments you need. In the case of synthesizers, things are much cheaper - if you put in the effort yourself. https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ is excellent and could even be used if you wanted to make a more retro-style soundtrack. Source: 10 months ago
  • So is serum worth the money? Can someone ELI5 why I should buy it rather than use a free synth like synth one?
    Instead of Synth1, try https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ . It's pretty much better in every aspect except for the UI which is going to look a lot more daunting to you ;). Source: 11 months ago
  • These just appeared in my Facebook, anything to be excited about? I’m waiting on prices.
    For the DW-8000, check https://www.fullbucket.de/music/fb7999.html . Alternatively, https://surge-synthesizer.github.io/ can use single-cycle waveforms (basically wavetables that don't change) which can get you close. Source: 11 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Ableton Live and Surge XT, you can also consider the following products

Reaper - Reaper is a focused digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Cockos. In the creation of the software, the digital audio technology company intended to make audio editing accessible to the masses.

Vital - Vital is a spectral warping wavetable synthesizer with drag'n'drop modulation workflow and animated preview of the synth's inner workings where needed. Comes with many modulation sources (including audio-rate), MPE support and FX chain.

Audacity - Audacity is a free and open-source audio production software suite that includes a surprising array of editing tools and recording systems.

Serum - VST for FL Studio, Ableton Live, and many other VST supported DAWs. Heavily utilized in EDM.

FL Studio - Image-Line's FL Studio, now on it's 12th version, is a well-known music production suite and the most popular beat processor on the market, due no doubt to its longevity. Read more about FL Studio.

ZynAddSubFX - ZynAddSubFX is an open source software synthesizer for Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.