Comping: combine the best of multiple passes of an audio or MIDI performance into your perfect take. Or approach sound design in a new way by splicing together random samples from your library.

MPE compatibility: get your hands on an MPE controller and add bends, slides and pressure for each individual note in a chord, make subtle expression variations, morph between chords, and create evolving sonic textures.

New devices: stretch, shift and blur signals with Spectral Resonator and Spectral Time. Put sounds in any real or unreal space with the Hybrid Reverb. Generate ideas with Inspired by Nature – six devices based on natural and physical processes – or add jittery glitches, delayed digital shimmers and more with Pitch Loop89.

Features for the stage: with tempo following, Live adjusts its tempo in real time based on incoming audio, making it a dynamic part of your band. Create builds, drops and instant variations to sounds during a performance using Macro Snapshots. Racks now offer between 1 and 16 Macros, and you can randomise their states with the push of a button.

Tools to add chance: note chance and velocity chance features let you define probability of notes and velocity values, generating surprising variations to your patterns, or humanised variation in their dynamics.

New sound packs: Voice Box for experimental vocal manipulation, Mood Reel for modern narrative-setting, and Drone Lab for sustained tones and textures. Plus the three new Upright Piano, String- and Brass Quartet Packs – created in collaboration with Spitfire Audio – capture popular orchestral instrument combinations in intimate, expressive detail.