Can Plan2Live build my set into my own Ableton template?
The short answer
Yes, with Custom Templates. If you already have a rig, your own Ableton Live template with your tracks, groups, colours and routing, Plan2Live builds the new set into it, in Arrangement View, and puts each song's stems on your own tracks.
Custom Templates are in beta and open on every plan. It has been tested on a limited set of rigs so far, so try it with your rig well before a show. The beta has no end date.
Mac only (macOS 14.6 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel) · Ableton Live Standard or Suite
How Plan2Live does it
What your template needs
- An Ableton Live 12 set whose songs sit on the timeline (Arrangement View). A template built around Session View scenes is refused, and nothing is changed.
- Its own media, in its project folder. Plan2Live reads your lanes, colours and routing from a real set, so use one with audio in it, like last week's set.
- On this Mac. If the set lives in iCloud, Dropbox or OneDrive, download it to the Mac first.
- Not too big: the .als file can be up to 64 MB.
Pick your template
Plan2Live then reviews the template, and the Ableton Version menu says "Set by your template".
- On Confirm + Edit, in the Output Style card, click Custom Template.
- Press Choose Template Folder and choose your Ableton project folder: the one that holds the .als and its audio. Nothing in it is changed.
- If the folder holds more than one set, pick the one to build from and press Use This Set.
What the review tells you
- Song slots: if your template has a group for each song, Plan2Live fills them in your set's order, and tells you when it adds or removes slots.
- Lanes it leaves alone: buses, Monitor In lanes and other pass-through lanes are recognized and left untouched.
- Click and Guide: for each song, where they went, or why one couldn't go somewhere.
- Missing lanes: if your template has no lane for some stems, Plan2Live offers Add Plan2Live Stem Lanes, or Use Plan2Live Default Layout for the whole set.
When a template can't be used
Some templates can't be built into yet. Then Plan2Live says why, names the file, and changes nothing. If a build into your template fails, Plan2Live can build the same songs into its default template instead, so you still get a set, and the finished card says so. Your template file isn't changed.
What it doesn't do
- Custom Templates are a beta, tested on a limited set of rigs so far.
- Your template must be an Ableton Live 12 set in Arrangement View.
- Plan2Live is a Mac app (macOS 14.6 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel).