Corrupt Sets

• Live Versions: All
• Operating System: All

If a Live Set has become corrupted, it will open with the error message "The document [...] is corrupted",  followed by another message giving a more specific reason for the corruption, such as:

• First automation event has invalid time
• Track grouping corrupt
• Non-unique list IDs
• Unknown Compound Stream Type
• Invalid Pointee ID
• Not well-formed (invalid token)
• Unexpected node "Default Color"
• Member "Track Device" of Class PreHearTrackDeviceChain is missing

There are different reasons that can lead to a broken Live Set, e.g. a crash, power cut, hardware failure, software bug, etc. The best way to avoid broken sets is by maintaining a clean and up-to-date system. It's also recommended to create back-ups regularly.

Some corrupted Live Sets can be repaired by us. Please send the affected file (.als) to Ableton Support. We cannot guarantee anything but we will do our best to try and recover the set.

In certain cases it might be possible to restore a temporary copy of the Project file in one of Live's crash report folders. The temporary file is often an older version, generated without any problems, and this can help when the original Project file is completely corrupted and irreparable.

Windows

\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live Reports\Temp\Live Run[…]\
\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live x.x.x\Preferences\Crash\

Mac

/Users/[Username]/Library/Application Support/Ableton/Live Reports/Temp/Live Run[…]/
/Users/[Username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live x.x.x/Crash/

Note: These folders are hidden by default.

In this folder there may be several Live Set files, generically named, so please open the files in Live to check if a copy of the lost Project file is among them.

If you've found a copy of the Project file, please do the following:

• Note down the file name of the corrupted file and rename it, for example adding "_corrupt" to the file name.
• Move the temporary Live Set .als file into the Project folder of the corrupted file.
• Rename the temporary .als file to the name of the original Project.
• Open the file in Live.
• If you get a missing files message, please click on the orange Status Bar at the bottom of Live's program window.
• In the appearing File Manager select the Project folder or the location where you use to store audio files.

If you cannot retrieve your work using the above methods, please then contact our Technical Support with the corrupt Live Set .als, along with any Crash Reports.