CCD.SCHOOL
0xp
Performance
Mission 53 · World 6

Ableton Link in Practice

Network-sync your Lives, iOS apps, hardware.

Wireless tempo sync between every device on your network. No master, no slave.

+70 XP🏅 Linked

// WHAT IT DOES

Ableton Link is a network protocol that keeps every Link-enabled app on the same WiFi in tempo sync. Click Link in Live, click Link in another Live (or an iOS app, or Maschine, or Reason), and they share tempo + downbeat phase.

There's no leader — every peer is equal. Anyone can change tempo and the rest follow. Anyone can leave or join without disrupting the others.

Think of it like → Like a band where everyone hears the same click in their head — nobody's the conductor.
▸ WHY YOU CARE
  • Two laptops jamming on a phone hotspot, no cables.
  • Sync iPad apps to Live without MIDI.

// SEE & HEAR IT

BAR 1/4
SCENEDRUMSBASSCHORDSLEAD
▸ HOW IT WORKS

Each peer broadcasts tempo + beat-phase estimates → consensus algorithm → shared timeline.

▸ Signal flow — watch the dot
▸ SIGNAL FLOW
Peer A ↔ WiFi ↔…OUT
Glowing dot = your signal travelling through Live.
▸ LISTEN FOR
  • Tempo lock across devices.
  • Phase lock at the bar level.
▸ WALKTHROUGH (3 steps)
  1. 1. DO: Enable Link in Live. Open another Link-enabled app on the same WiFi.
    ▸ LISTEN: Peer count appears.
  2. 2. DO: Change tempo on either side.
    ▸ LISTEN: Both move together.
  3. 3. DO: Enable Start Stop sync. Press play on one.
    ▸ LISTEN: Other transport follows.
▸ COMMON MISTAKES
  • Different subnets — Link can't see across.
  • Forgetting Start Stop sync is separate from tempo sync.

// QUIZ (QUICK)

Question 1 / 30 correct
Link uses…
🎧 Headphones recommended — click to enable audio (each device & sim has its own ▶ play button)