Ableton Live had plenty to announce at this year’s Winter NAMM conference. First, of course, they’re announcing Ableton Live 8 and Ableton Suite 8. With a great new intuative warping engine. They’ve also announced a dedicated controller for Live from Akai, the APC40 (Ableton Performance Controller), as well as Max For Live, a collaboration with Cycling ’74 that allows you to do Max programming within Ableton’s sequencer. Basically, allowing you to build and create your own effects and instruments from scratch, leaving Ableton Live even more limitless.

Akai APC40

Max for Live Patching

Word is the Rothbury Festival is on for 2009, 4th of July weekend. Plans are to continue the event at the Double JJ resort even though it is currently in bankruptcy court and will be searching for new ownership. Double JJ is located in southern Oceana County,  near Muskegon Michigan. Last years inaugural environmentally themed, camp-in event drew 40,000 fans and more than 70 artists including: Thievery Corporation, Modest Mouse, STS9, The Black Keys, The Dresden Dolls, Of Montreal, The Crystal Method, Bassnectar, Primus…and better known acts I could give a shit about like Dave Mathews, John Meyer, Snoop and 311. I heard last year was great…I missed it and will probably not dare miss it again.

View the Official Press Release for the website.