Ableton Offline Renderer

Batch export Ableton Live projects to audio files without manual interaction. Point it at a folder of .als files, and it renders them one by one — parsing content length, setting loop boundaries, triggering export, and monitoring progress.

Beta — This tool is under active development. Please read the following before use:

• Work on copies. The tool is read-only on your .als files (patched copies are temporary and cleaned up automatically), but you should still run it on copies of your projects until you're confident in the results.
• Missing plugins cannot be resolved. If a project relies on plugins that are no longer available (e.g. VST2 migrated to VST3, discontinued plugins), Ableton will show a missing-plugin dialog that the tool cannot dismiss. The render will stall.
• Use a clean export directory. If an exported file already exists, Ableton shows an "overwrite" confirmation sheet. This prompt is not handled automatically to prevent accidental data loss — the script will idle indefinitely waiting for the render to finish. Make sure the export folder you configure in Ableton is empty or doesn't contain files with the same names as your projects.

How It Works

The tool has two parts:

1. RenderMonitor — A MIDI Remote Script that runs inside Ableton Live. It opens a TCP server on localhost:9877 and exposes Ableton's internal state (dialog messages, file paths, transport settings) to external tools.

2. CLI — A Python script that parses .als files (gzipped XML) to determine content length, then automates the export workflow: open project, set loop boundaries, trigger Cmd+Shift+R, confirm dialogs, wait for render, verify output.

┌─────────────────────────┐     TCP 9877     ┌──────────────────────────┐
│                         │ ◄──────────────► │                          │
│   CLI (Python)          │   GET/SET/STATUS │   Ableton Live           │
│                         │                  │   + RenderMonitor        │
│   • Parse .als XML      │                  │     Remote Script        │
│   • Resolve samples     │ ◄──────────────► │                          │
│   • Send keystrokes     │   JXA/osascript  │   • Dialog state         │
│   • Monitor progress    │                  │   • Transport control    │
│                         │                  │   • File path reporting  │
└─────────────────────────┘                  └──────────────────────────┘

Prerequisites

• macOS (uses JXA/osascript for keyboard automation)
• Ableton Live 12 Suite
• Python 3.11+
• ripgrep (optional, recommended) — used for fast sample resolution; falls back to BSD find if not installed

brew install ripgrep

Setup

1. Install the Remote Script

Copy or symlink remote_script/RenderMonitor/ to your Ableton Remote Scripts folder:

ln -s "$(pwd)/remote_script/RenderMonitor" \
  ~/Music/Ableton/User\ Library/Remote\ Scripts/RenderMonitor

Then in Ableton: Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Control Surface → RenderMonitor

2. Install Python dependencies

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

3. Configure sample search paths (optional)

If your projects reference samples that have moved, create a config.json:

cp config.json.template config.json
# Edit config.json with your sample library paths

4. Configure Ableton export settings

Before running, set your preferred export format and output folder in Ableton's export dialog (Cmd+Shift+R). The tool uses whatever settings are already configured.

Usage

Render a single project:

python main.py path/to/project.als

Batch render all projects in a directory:

python main.py path/to/projects/ --export-dir ~/Music/Exports

The --export-dir flag does not set the export directory — that must be configured in Ableton's export dialog (see Setup step 4). This flag only tells the CLI where to look for the exported file so it can verify the render succeeded.

Remote Script Protocol

The RenderMonitor Remote Script speaks a simple newline-delimited TCP protocol:

Command	Response	Description
PING	PONG	Health check
STATUS	IDLE / RENDERING:<msg> / EXPORT_DIALOG	Current state
GET:<path>	OK:<value>	Read property (e.g. song.file_path)
SET:<path>=<value>	OK:<path>=<value>	Set property (e.g. song.loop_start=0.0)

Limitations

• macOS only — keyboard automation uses JXA (JavaScript for Automation)
• Requires foreground — Ableton must be the active application for keystrokes to register
• Ableton Live 12 Suite — tested on this version only
• Export settings — format, quality, and output folder must be pre-configured in Ableton

Running Tests

pytest -v