I’m ramping up my Ableton Live skills. Being somewhat old fashioned, I like to have a good print manual or guide by my side. Recently, I had a chance to compare two books, both worthy of recommendation:

• Ableton Live 9 Power! The Comprehensive Guide by Jon Margulies (publisher: Cengage Learning, 2014)
• Ableton Live 9: Create, Produce, Perform by Keith Robinson (publisher: Focal Press, 2014)

Each book is quite comprehensive and a little bit behind the latest version 9 features. (The hazards of print.) I don’t think you can go wrong with either book, but here are a few comments that might guide your choice.

Both volumes go through the Session and Arrangement views, tracks, scenes, clips, automation and warping in great detail. These topics are bread and butter. Here, I favor the book by Keith Robinson. Keith better describes how Live fits into the composition or production process. This context provides a bit of “Why” not just “How.” One on-line reviewer didn’t like this approach, but I appreciate it. For example, I didn’t how or why I would want to translate my tracks from the linear Arrangement view back to the Session view. Now I get the to-and-fro of Live as a tool.

Both books give you the complete rundown (circa 2014) on Live’s instruments, chaining and audio effects. For these topics, I give the book by Jon Margulies the edge. Jon does a better job describing the individual controls. His treatment of MIDI effects, in particular, is more thorough.

Both books cover MIDI control. Neither book has anything to say about using a Novation Launchpad. Push (version 1) barely wins much more than a mention. Both volumes need to be updated for the Ableton Push 2.

Jon Margulies’ book has a short chapter on using Live for live performance. Much of this chapter is devoted to track preparation and warping, material which is better covered by Keith Robinson’s book. Just having a chapter on performance isn’t reason enough to shy away from Keith Robinson’s book even if you intend to use Live mainly for performance, however.

Keith’s book uses color screenshots throughout. It’s easier to understand certain kinds of figures when they are presented in color. Please consider scans of an Arrangement view taken from each book.

The difference is striking and doesn’t need further comment!

In the end, I decided to buy Ableton Live 9: Create, Produce, Perform by Keith Robinson. I definitely prefered the use of color illustrations and his exposition placing Live within the writing process.