Ableton Live Lite 7: MIDI Disabled for Most Outboard Gear

For several days ran myself in circles trying to get my Moog Slim Phatty, Arturia and Ableton Live Lite 7 synced to the same MIDI clock. Eventually I realized that MIDI clock Sync along with many of the other MIDI IO features for outboard gear are disabled. I feel kind of silly but I doubt I'm the only one who took a while to realize this, Ableton indicates that these MIDI features are disabled by greying out the selections and not removing or disabling the button.

So for now I will probably switch over to GarageBand until I can afford a pricey upgrade to my Ableton software. Even with Ableton offering upgrade discounts, an upgrade to Ableton Live Standard will cost at least $300 USD and Ableton Live Suite around $520 USD. I love Ableton and think the Session view is great for creativity but the cost is on the high side, and I know I'm not the only one who finds the Ableton Standard offering a little lack luster with regard to software offerings, while Ableton Suite's included packages as overkill. I would love to see the Ableton prices come down by about 20% across the board, and a price point between Standard and Suite including Max with maybe two or three more instrument packages. Also a price point between the Intro and Standard versions, with the session and scene restrictions removed, would be great for those of us to have outboard gear, and maybe don't want all of the software effects and instruments that come with the Standard version (which I'm not impressed with Standard's selection for the most part.)

I think I might be on to something here, Ableton could revamp their offers based on how you want to use Ableton, either has a hardware integration controller or as a full sound production suite. Maybe even offer some custom performer packages based on how artists integrate Ableton Live into their setup. My opinion is that the current array of license offering don't match how I want to use Ableton which is more as an integrated hardware controller with some sound processing using software effects. I don't have a great need for software instrument packages, though some of the pads sound great to me, and would like to also experiment with Max for Live. Again I think Ableton is a great company and really love their products, but I believe I see a way for Ableton to make their products more appealing to a wider range of users.