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Ableton: options.txt

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Ableton: options.txt

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If you’re using Ableton Live’s hidden options. txt file to access extended features, functions, workflows, hacks, which experimental feature is your favorite? Mine?

It’s probably Arm-on-Selection. Enabling this forces Live to mimic the workflow that I’m used to in Logic. It’s neither better nor worse.

For me, it’s more of an annoyance, but I prefer to be able to play instruments as I switch between channels. Am I that lazy that I don’t want to just hit the Arm button? Yeah.

If you’re unfamiliar with the options. txt file, it’s a living document, and you have to tread a little carefully. I’m pretty sure it was a development tool that got released into the wild.

Sometimes features come and go mysteriously. It’s a plain text file with no formatting, and you have to create it yourself. Name it as shown with a capital O, and you’ll need to reveal hidden files and folders in Windows or Mac, so you can drop it into the locations shown below.

Live will read this file on opening. Any system tweaks must be formatted exactly, otherwise they won’t work. You can take advantage of that by prefacing them with an X to bypass them.

Just remember to save. There are lots and lots of these available, and they tend to be undocumented. Which do you have enabled, and what do they do?

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