The Fascinating Story Of Ableton Live

Ableton Live continues to sustain its reputation for being one of the best DAWs on the market, being integral to live performance and composition for so many artists. In this article from THUMP, Ableton co-founders Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke share fascinating insight into the DAW’s initial developments.

Describing an encounter with a man at their first trade show with the first version of Live,

After that demo, he just said, “Do you have a card, do you have information material?” So I handed him my material and only then did I get to read his name tag, and it was Hans Zimmer. Hans told us, “you have something interesting here,” and I really believe he was the first one who understood this piece of software could actually work in a completely different area than what we were assuming.

Gerhard Behles and Robert Henke (Photo by Maya-Roisin Slater)

The interview is certainly revealing into specific aspects Ableton Live’s initial inception. For instance, we had no idea that Live was originally intended to be solely for their own, personal use. Being one of the hottest DAW’s on the market, it’s incredible how things turned around.