Most of my software, I don't upgrade every time a new version is offered. Usually I'll buy maybe every 2nd or 3rd upgrade, either because the new version offers something special, or because the old version seems not to work so well any more.
I think it's about time for me to upgrade to Ableton Live 9. In the past, I've always bought the "Standard" version of Live, not the "Suite" version with all the extra instruments and samples, but this time I'm thinking of upgrading all the way to Live 9 Suite. The inclusion of Max for Live is interesting to me. I feel like it's something I might use for crafting my own effects and pseudo-instruments.
Anybody out there using a recent enough version of Ableton Live to have an opinion on this? Anyone using Max for Live?
For a few years, I've had an Akai APC20 controller that I almost sold, because it was ridiculously hard to set up with earlier versions of Live. I just tried it with the demo version of 9, and the software recognized it and self-configured the interface, no problem at all. That alone is reason enough for me to want to upgrade. I love the idea of having external hardware with buttons, knobs and sliders to control Live, rather than trying to do everything with a mouse.
This is the thing I'm talking about:

Anyway, at the very least I'll upgrade to Live Standard, and I'm kind of leaning toward getting Studio. Just hoping someone will have some experience with this and let me know whether they think it's worth it.