At the NAMM 2010 Conference in Anaheim, CA, Ableton has made two announcements that are bound to shape the way electronic music is produced and performed for the foreseeable future. The first announcement is perhaps the most exciting, as it involves what is being called The Bridge, a program that promises to span the gap between music production and DJing, creating a natural link between Ableton Live and Serato Scratch Live/ITCH. More details after the jump! Going from Ableton to Serato, The Bridge provides Ableton Transport Control (ATC), giving DJs turntable-style control of their own multitrack productions. DJs can simply drag an Ableton Live set onto one of the decks in Scratch Live or ITCH and use their turntables, CDJs, or ITCH controller to control the transport. From Serato to Ableton, The Bridge provides the ultimate mixtape creation tool, too, allowing DJs to perform mixes in Serato Scratch Live or ITCH and save them as an Ableton Live set. Though no official release date is set as of yet, interested parties can follow developments here.

As though the announcement of this program wasn’t enough, Ableton also gave notice that it has teamed up with Akai Professional once again to create a new, more affordable, and more streamlined controller. The APC20, the successor to the eminently popular APC40, includes many of the same features as its ‘big brother,’ but is built especially for those who are working on a budget, already use multiple controllers, or have very limited studio space. More info about the APC20, including photos, can be found here.