why did you choose ableton when you describe yourself as not their typical user?...
Because I wanted a program that could extend the songs on stage, mainly for people dancing. Ableton Live does that better than any other program I know of. I end up using Ableton Live and QMIdi at the same time live. If Ableton was $300 then QMidi should be $3000, but it's $15. QMidi is a program that no one gets, they think "ya, it plays MIDI files, so what?", but that is an incredible live app, the best, least-fucked up music program I have ever seen.
... your description doesnt sound like typical German efficiency...must have been their New York office ...
No, all my contact with them has been in Germany. There was one point where they wouldn't answer the phone for about 3 days, other times they answered the phone right away. They have always been very nice on the phone, except they won't live up to what they've been telling me that they would do over a year ago.
It's pretty lame that a music app that claims to be MIDI compatible is only partially MIDI compatible. I know of no other music app that picks and chooses which MIDI commands it will comply with, all the other programs comply with the 1983 standard that every program on my Commodore 64 complied with!
Ableton Live has the potential capability to comply with the 1983 MIDI standard, they just haven't paid a programmer to write it. They freely admit that and every month tell me "ya, we're gonna do it on the next version" but so far zero results.
I do not see MIDI the way anyone else does. I see it as a robotics/artificial intelligence program that has not seen it's potential in the slightest, kinda like a Stratocaster before Hendrix came a long. Also, it solves the problem the Beatles had when they stopped playing live because their songs were made in the studio and they couldn't really play them live.
Someday someone like Hendrix will come a long and say "no, you idiots, this is what you do with MIDI" and everyone will go "Oh... I thought it sucked!".