Ruso wrote:ableton can do everything better except for the slice....
Bullshit. Even using the ESX as a controller will not give you the hands-on, real-time squencing abilities that the Electribe can. Granted, Ableton can do plenty of things that you can't do with an ESX, but then I never said you shouldn't use Ableton. In fact, I think Ableton is one of the most versatile tools on the market, for live or studio use. I just think that the ESX is more versatile for a live tool. For instance...
If you are using a sequence with a looping sample and you want to *instantly* reverse the sample, how would Ableton do this? What if you wanted to instantly change the effects it is routed too, and also link three effects at the same time? And I'm talking INSTANTLY, it can't take more than the push of a button. How about if you are using seven or eight samples and you want to change the pitch of ALL of them gradually. Then, and this is the important part, you want them ALL to snap back to original pitch with the start of the next pattern? What if you wanted to mute all of them, one by one, add effects to them real-time, reverse two of them, add a sample-and-hold LFO to one that modulates amplitude, modulate pan on another and tweak delay timing, PLUS have everything snap back to normal with the start of the next pattern?!
There are countless other ways that the ESX shines out against the Ableton software in the area of playability.
