Ableton Link (a.k.a. The Sync Shizzle)

Ableton Link keeps OnSong's tempo & beat vibin' in sync with Ableton Live & other Link-enabled apps & devices on the same Wi-Fi network. Plot twist: zero pairing, zero cables. Apps just... find each other like magic & yeet themselves into a shared session automatically. Once you're in, literally everything in the OnSong^® app that follows the beat clock — your metronome, your drum machine, your tempo-synced delays, your arpeggios — is countin' the exact same beat as everyone else tryna play together. Chaotic? Maybe. Cool? Totes.

Turnin' It On

Ableton Link lives in Settings ▸ MIDI ▸ Ableton Link. The screen's got three whole parts:

• Ableton Link — the actual on/off switch, hangin' out on Ableton's own panel. It tells you how many apps are in the room once y'all connect.
• Sync Mode — how OnSong's tempo vibes with everyone else's. Scroll down, we got u.
• Status — what's actually happenin' with the connection, like Connected when there's at least one other app, Searching… while Ableton Link is screamin' into the void alone, & Off when you finally gave up.

Lazy? Hit up the AuxDock & toggle Beat Sync on any panel & boom — Ableton Link… shortcut appears like magic.

Sync Mode

Ableton Link itself has zero chill about hierarchy — there ain't no master, & literally anyone can change the shared tempo. Sync Mode is OnSong's own chaos policy:

• Both — shares tempo in both directions. Change it in OnSong^® & everyone feels it. Someone else changes it? OnSong feels that too. The default, & the actual peer-to-peer flex.
• Lead — OnSong^® app is the BOSS. It pushes its tempo to everyone else, & if someone tries to nudge the session, OnSong's like "nope" & re-asserts itself. Use this when OnSong is literally drivin' the band's heartbeat.
• Follow — OnSong stays chill & never pushes its tempo around. It just accepts whatever the session's doin'. Use this when someone else owns the beat & OnSong's just vibin' along for the ride.

The mode sticks around even after you disconnect, so your Follow rig stays Follow next week. We remember. We always remember.

What Gets Weird While You're Connected

• The shared timeline runs everything. A Link session keeps OnSong's beat clock pumpin' even when nothin' local is playin', which is why beat-sync LEDs be pulstin' the second you connect.
• Tempo changes go everywhere. In Both or Lead, change OnSong's tempo — tap it, load a song with its own tempo, use a section's {tempo:} — & the entire session feels it.
• In Follow, the song's tempo gets ghosted in favor of the session's vibe. That's literally the whole point, but heads up: if you open a chart & the metronome ain't playin' at the tempo written on it, now u know y.

The Boring Stuff You Gotta Know

• Every device's gotta be on the same Wi-Fi network, & that network's gotta let devices actually see each other. Guest networks & a lot of venue networks? They're like "nope" & block that exact thing. Classic reason sessions never find each other.
• Plot twist: no internet needed. Link works on a local network with zero router uplink — which makes a travel router your secret weapon for a stage setup.
• Link is peer-to-peer, so there's no "host" device u gotta start first. Literally any order works.

If Status is just sittin' there on Searching… & another Link app is clearly runnin', the network is *almost always the problem, not the apps. Slap both devices on the same access point — or an ad-hoc one u control — before u start blamein' anything else.*