Link Troubleshooting

  • Live Versions: 9.6 and later
  • Operating System: Windows 7, 8, 10; Mac 10.7.5 and higher; iOS; Android

Link troubleshooting menu

How to sync apps with Live

In order to sync their apps with Live, app developers must first integrate Link into their apps before they can connect with Live. For a listing of apps that currently contain Link, see our Link Website.

Certain apps have different methods for enabling Link:

Issues which can prevent Live from seeing other link-enabled apps

Though Link allows you to immediately connect to other apps on the network once activated, this can be hindered in certain situations:

  • too much other traffic on the network
  • some routers block Multicast, which is necessary for Link to function properly.  Modern routers do not have this issue, but some older models can block Multicast.
  • active firewalls on both Mac and Windows computers can stop Link from working.  You may need to ensure that Port 20808 is not blocked.
  • Live has not been allowed to receive network connections. This can happen also due to third-party apps such as Little Snitch.

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Allow incoming network connections (Mac)

How to set up an ad hoc network

Adjusting the offset of the sync between Live and other apps

Though Live and therefore Link, compensates audio latency, there can be certain situations where Live is not able to compensate all latency. In addition, third party apps and devices may handle latency in different ways. If there is a constant offset, you can correct this in the following ways:

  1. If the offset is between Live and a connected app(s), you can adjust the Master track's Track Delay in Live to adjust the sync between Link peers. 
  2. If the offset is between third party apps, there may be a Latency compensation or Synchronization offset slider available, which will allow you to adjust the offset.
  3. In the above cases, it may be helpful to enable a metronome or play similar rhythmic sounds in order to help you adjust the offset.

Other things to check are Live's Time Signature and Global Quantization settings.  To ensure a tight sync, these should be set the same. When these settings are different between computers or apps, you can experience your music playing in sync but off-beat - of course this can also be entirely intentional and lead to interesting combinations!

Apps keeps disconnecting or losing sync

If the network gets too crowded, apps can lose connection. However, it would take an extreme amount of Link users to cause this to happen.

Link doesn't appear in Live's Transport Bar even though it's toggled in MIDI Preferences

Windows: As of Live 9.7.1, Link usage is only possible with ASIO drivers. If Direct X/MME is selected in Audio Preferences, Link will be automatically disabled and therefore not show up in the Live Transport Bar. Make sure to select an ASIO driver (e.g. the one which you would use with your external audio interface) in Live's Audio Preferences. In case you do not use an external interface or your interface doesn't include its own ASIO driver, install ASIO4ALL, a free ASIO driver. Find out how to install and set up ASIO4ALL with Live here.

Mac: If you select "no audio" in Live's audio preferences, then Link won't appear

Further support for Link

If you have issues with Live and Link, contact Ableton Support.

If you have issues with Link within third-party iOS or desktop apps, please contact the developer of the app for support.

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