Logic Pro 10.7.7 Master & Ableton Live 11.2.11 Rewire Slave Alternatives (Ableton Link)

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Logic Pro 10.7.7 Master & Ableton Live 11.2.11 Rewire Slave Alternatives (Ableton Link)

For the past 15 years or so, I've used two DAWs simultaneously. I always ran Logic Pro as the Master DAW and then ran Ableton Live as a Rewire Slave DAW into Logic. I do this because I'm not a fan of Logic Pro's Flex Pitch feature and (in my opinion) Ableton has an easier, more intuitive audio beat mapping process. I run the audio in Ableton to a ReWire Aux track in Logic and do the rest in Logic.

I upgraded to Ableton Live 11 this past weekend but I was unaware Ableton stopped supporting ReWire. This is because Propellerhead Reason abandoned ReWire support when it changed to Reason Studios. Ableton has a few methods to combat this in Live 11. One of them is Ableton Link. I tried messing around with the settings in "Live>Preferences>Link Tempo MIDI" but it sounds like it's more for instruments/midi devices that are on the same network and not other DAWs (I could be wrong, of course).

How can I get Link to work in the same manner I was operating before? I assume I would have to change/reroute the channel strips and rewire auxiliaries but is there a way to do this? If not, does Logic have any other way of doing this?

Thank you in advance!

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.6

Posted on Apr 10, 2023 11:25 AM

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Answer 1

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Stunads Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 26, 2023 8:06 PM in response to Stunads

I found out how to address my original issue and enable Rewire in Ableton 11. I don't need to use Ableton Link (for now, at least). As I said earlier, Ableton said in a press release/knowledgeable article that Rewire is no longer supported in Live 11 since Propellerhead Reason changed to Reason Studios and I took its word for it. However, you can still install/enable the rewire engine by creating and editing the "Options.txt" file. I totally forgot about this feature as it's been a while since I touched it.

Simply navigate to:

/Users/[username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live 11.x.x (for me it's 11.2.11)/

Next, open TextEdit and create a plain text file called "Options.txt"

In the file, type "-EnableRewire" (without quotes) and click Save. Put the Options.txt file into the Live 11 directory listed above and then restart Ableton 11. When it restarts, it looks for the Options.txt file and automatically installs the rewire engine (even though it's supposedly unsupported). And voila. Not sure how long this hack will continue to work as far as rewire but glad it still does.

Note: There's a ton of other command options available online that allow you to customize Ableton even further that you can find after a quick Google search.

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Answer 2

ewm

Level 1

9 points

Apr 26, 2023 5:59 AM in response to Stunads

Hello,

Same problem here... Link does work if you set it up in both logic and live but it is JUST a beat sync. If you want a loop, you have to set it up in both DAWs, and say if you play at bar 10 in logic and live is set at bar 5; they'll both play in beat sync but at their own bars sync... VERY annoying. I'm investigating since yesterday and did not find yet a satisfying alternative. Please let me know if you do as I will if I do ;-)

Good luck!

E

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Answer 3

ewm

Level 1

9 points

Apr 29, 2023 1:25 AM in response to Stunads

Yes! I found that too - just yesterday ;)

But - I don't understand why -it doesn't work with Live 11: Live says command not valid... But I found a way around it using Live 10. The draw back being to be obliged to use Logic in Rosetta mode... I hope that someone in this world will develop something as the only other solutions (beside 'link') that I found until now are Midi Clock or MTC via IAC bus for sync + amoeba software for audio routing; and that means "hic ups" in cycle mode... not good :(

I'm gonna post on Ableton Forums. as I think they are the only ones who might 'enhance' Link giving it options to do what Rewire was doing. Apple won't move a finger. and Propellerheads has made his.

Cheers

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Answer 4

Stunads Author

Level 1

8 points

Apr 29, 2023 11:01 AM in response to ewm

The Rewire feature doesn't work in Live 11 or Ableton Link doesn't work in Live 11? Are you using the Ableton MacOS Universal 11.2.11 download or the MacOS Intel Only 11.2.11 download? I have an Intel MacBook Pro but downloaded the Universal version and the Options.txt file works for me. Allows me to run Logic as the Master and Ableton Live 11 as the ReWire Slave like I did previously.

I'm kind of angry Propellerhead didn't make ReWire open source before abandoning it. Would be interested to see what the Ableton forums come up with. Before the Options.txt file, I was not a fan of Ableton Link. I tried it but it was also not great with cycle/loop mode. Then I ran into issues where I stopped playback it in Logic but it was still playing in Ableton. It was unnecessarily complicated.

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Answer 5

yoyoBen

Level 4

2,777 points

Apr 10, 2023 12:46 PM in response to Stunads

I've never synced Logic to Ableton Link.

Ableton Link in Logic Pro - Apple Support

You can find video tutorials as well.

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Logic Pro 10.7.7 Master & Ableton Live 11.2.11 Rewire Slave Alternatives (Ableton Link)

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