Best Practices for Collaborating Remotely

Live Versions: All

Operating System: All

Making music with other Ableton Live users can be a challenging experience. However, here are a few tips and techniques for collaborating with other users remotely.

General Advice

Before starting a collaboration, please make sure that all participants are using the same edition of Live (Intro/Standard/Suite). If they are not, use the guidelines shown in this help article to create a Live Set that is accessible from all versions. (If that is too prohibitive, however, consider sending each other audio stems). If you receive a Live Set from your partner that immediately displays the "Media Files Are Missing" error, try sending this article to your partner, and ask that they send it to you again. Always use the steps shown in "Scenario 1" of this help article to ensure that your Live Set is ready to transfer to another computer. When syncing a single Live Project across multiple systems, it is important to only open it from one system at a time. Always double-check that your partner has finished uploading their version of the Project Folder (and that you have fully downloaded the updated version) before opening it on your computer.

Method 1: Syncing via Splice Studio

Splice Studio is a cloud storage platform designed specifically for musicians. In our experience, it is the most simple, cheap, and reliable option on the market for musicians looking to collaborate remotely.

For more details, please refer to the following article from Splice:

Splice Studio Tour: Your DAW meets the Cloud

Method 2: Sending Files Back and Forth

In many cases, sending your work back and forth is the most practical option. However, the average Live Project is generally too large to attach to an email. In this case, you can send files to your partner using one of the services below.

WeTransfer [The free version has a maximum 2gb upload limit]

upload limit] pCloud Transfer [The free version has a maximum 5gb upload limit]

Method 3: Sending/Syncing Files via Cloud Storage

While this is often the simplest method of collaboration, it is also the most likely to cause errors in performance and file-indexing. For more details on what the inherent risks (and how to avoid them!), we kindly refer you to our Cloud Storage Best Practices.

Method 4: "In the DAW" Collaboration Tools

Some developers have been hard at work creating devices for remote collaboration that work directly within the DAW.

Method 5: Collaborating via Screen Share

Some users with especially fast internet connections are able to successfully routing audio from Live into through a screen-sharing application such as TeamViewer, Skype, or *Zoom. This can be a wonderful way to work on Projects in tandem, but comes with a host of challenges (such as latency, complex routing issues, etcetera). So, while it is certainly worth trying, such uses cases are beyond our range of Support.

* Tip: Here's a handy guide on enabling stereo audio in Zoom.