Ableton Live 13 announced with a step sequencer, new drum synth, and more

is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for over 18 years and knows a thing or two about synths.

Today, Ableton announced Live 13, which is expected to arrive in early 2027 with a slew of new features. Most of the changes are seemingly minor on paper, but when combined, they make for the biggest update to the digital audio workstation (DAW) in years.

The feature most likely to draw attention is the addition of a proper step sequencer. While Ableton’s Push controller had a dedicated step sequencer, and you could effectively use the piano roll as one, the desktop app never included one. Ableton didn’t phone this feature in either — it’s a powerful sequencer. You can change velocity, timing, chance, length, and repeats for each step in the grid. Each track can have its own length, playback rate, and direction, letting you create something complex and evolving.

The addition of ARA plugin support will also likely excite pro producers and vocalists. This means compatible plugins can now be used directly on audio in the DAW. For example, pitch correction and time-stretching tool Melodyne previously required you to import audio from Ableton into Melodyne, then render it back out to a track in your DAW. Now it can clean up messy vocal takes directly in Live’s UI.

Ableton has also added a new mixer view that lets you see all the loaded devices on a track in a compact vertical view. Here you can drag and drop them between tracks, or copy and paste them. It also makes it much easier to navigate a sprawling 30-track session quickly at a glance.

My personal favorite new addition is Looplet, an experimental looping instrument with four playheads and a ton of options for manipulating your audio. It offers granular processing, filtering, pitch and speed control, and each playhead can be routed to individual tracks for additional processing. It’s a powerful tool for ambient and soundtrack work.

The full list of new features is sprawling, so here are just a few more highlights:

• A new drum synth with more than 20 different models across nine categories spanning classic drum machines and experimental abstract percussion.
• Capture now includes not just MIDI notes but automation as well.
• Contextual browsing lets you swap instruments and presets directly in the device view, reducing the need to open the main browser.
• Multiband racks for processing different frequencies through different effect chains.
• A bread-and-butter transient shaper for tightening up drum sounds.
• Envelope clips on return tracks for automating effects.
• Racks can now have up to 32 macros and custom mapping curves.
• Custom layouts on Push 3 for combining mixers, note grids, step sequencers, and more.

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