The Ableton Move is a portable and fully standalone groovebox and workstation, designed for music creation anywhere. Measuring just 313.5 × 146.3 × 34mm, and weighing under 1kg, it houses an internal processor and 64GB SSD running a streamlined version of Ableton Live. Its four-track engine draws on three of Live’s desktop-class instruments—Drift, Wavetable and the Drum/Melodic Sampler—delivering the synthesis, sampling and drum programming of Live itself, complete with full sequencing and editing functions. 32 velocity-sensitive pads with aftertouch, nine endless encoders, mapped function buttons, and a clear OLED display provide hands-on control. More than a sketchpad, Move connects seamlessly with Ableton’s wider ecosystem, with projects transferable to Live and Note for further development. A built-in speaker, microphone and rechargeable battery further reinforce its nomadic nature.
Despite its minimal footprint, the Ableton Move is a far more serious instrument than it first appears, offering a production environment on par with a full DAW. Each track can function as a drum kit, sampler or synth, drawing from over 1500 sounds and presets created by Ableton’s sound design team and collaborators such as BNYX, DECAP and Sound Oracle. Up to two effects per track can be chosen from a suite including reverb, delay, saturator, chorus-ensemble, phaser-flanger, Redux and dynamics, with parameters mapped directly to the encoders. The step sequencer spans up to 16 bars with quantisation, groove templates and per-step automation. Capture recalls unrecorded performances, while sampling is equally direct: Material can be recorded via the built-in mic, audio input, USB-C or through internal resampling, and then mapped to pads or pitched into melodic instruments.
The ultimate portable design, the Ableton Move sits comfortably on any lap, train table, or snuck between a computer screen and a keyboard. While producers and beatmakers will value its immediacy for sketching ideas on the go, sound designers can just as easily capture and transform field recordings without extra gear. Fully autonomous, it runs on its internal rechargeable battery for up to four hours, or even longer using high-wattage USB-C power banks. The integrated microphone and speaker make spontaneous sampling and playback effortless, whether on the street, in a park or while travelling. Its pad grid responds with great subtlety, offering an uncommon level of articulation for a portable device, with integration so intuitive that, with headphones on, it is easy to forget the Move is even portable at all, until the next idea is captured mid-journey.
Ableton was founded in 1999 in Berlin, by former Native Instruments employees Gerhard Behles and Bernd Roggendorf. Ableton AG now employs around 350 people worldwide and has since expanded to Los Angeles and Tokyo. Ableton is famous for “Live”, their flagship software DAW/sequencer. Live is a market-leading application in the field of music production. Live is performance-oriented, allows real-time processing of samples and synthesizers, instrument-like flexibility for improvisation on stage and also provides renowned music production tools. Ableton is famous and used worldwide for its creative possibilities, in the both sound design and music production.
The Ableton Move is designed as part of a broader creative workflow. Sets can be transferred via Wi-Fi using Ableton Cloud or Move Manager, ensuring ideas captured away from the studio are instantly available in Live or Note for refinement. When connected via USB to a Live DAW, Move enters Live Control mode, and its pad grid, encoders and buttons provide integration on par with the renowned Push controllers. Projects created on Move can be expanded into full productions. Note and Session Modes are available locally for performance and clip-based composition, with 16 Pitches for turning single hits into melodic instruments, and Arpeggiator and Repeat functions for evolving patterns in real time. Together these features position the Ableton Move as both a self-contained groovebox and a portable gateway into the wider Ableton ecosystem.