Options.txt file for Live

With the "Options.txt" file we offer a way to change some of Live's options for special circumstances. These options are mainly used for developing and internal testing. However, some of you may find them useful as well.

If you have questions, please contact support@ableton.com

How to use Options.txt

First you have to create a text file called "Options.txt" in the same folder where Live's Preferences.cfg file is located.

OS X: User/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live [version]/Options.txt
Win XP: C:/Documents and Settings/yourusername/Application Data/Ableton/Live/Preferences/Options.txt
Win Vista/Win 7: C:/users/username/appdata/roaming/ableton/live/preferences/Options.txt

Beachten Sie, dass der Anwendungsdaten-Ordner in Windows standardmäßig versteckt sein kann. So machen Sie ihn sichtbar:

Windows XP/2000

Starten Sie Windows Explorer.
Wählen Sie „Extras/Ordneroptionen/Ansicht“.
Check "Select hidden files and folders."

You can activate several options in the Options.txt file but use only one per line. The syntax is very simple; each option begins with a hyphen (See examples below). If you use the wrong syntax you will get an error message when opening Live. You need to restart Live to activate the option. The file format of the Options.txt must be plain text.

"ReWireMasterOff"

Disables Live's ReWire master functionality.

Example: -ReWireMasterOff

"ReWireChannels"

Number of ReWire channels appearing in the ReWire master when Live runs as ReWire slave.

Default = 16
Min = 0
Max = 64

You must choose an even number of channels.

Example: -ReWireChannels=32

"ReWireMasterBufferSize"

This could be interesting to Project5 users. This option can be use to change the buffer size that is passed to a ReWire slave application. Currently Live use a fixed size of 256 samples. Some ReWire slaves have performance problems with such a small buffer, so you can use this option to increase the buffer.

Note: Be careful, a higher buffer size will also increment the latency of the ReWire slave.

Default= 256
Min= 64
Max= 4096

Example: -ReWireMasterBufferSize=1024

"StrictDelayCompensation"

This disables Live's play-through optimization.

When delay compensation is on, don't play-through optimize (favor exact sync over low latency).

Example: -StrictDelayCompensation

"PluginAutoPopulateThreshold"

Auto-populates the plugin parameter list if a plugin has a number of less or equal than X parameters

Min = 1, max = 128, default = 32

"-1" will always populate the list with max. 128 parameters, regardless how many parameters the plugin has (= similar to Live 7 behaviour)

Supported since: 8.0.9 / "-1" works since 8.1.1

Example: -_PluginAutoPopulateThreshold=32

"ThinningAggressiveness"

When recording automation data, Live smoothes the recorded data with a pre-defined value. The default value is = 0.45

Higher value = more breakpoints eliminated.

Example: -ThinningAggressiveness=0.1

"DontcombineAPCs"

Deactivate the APC combination mode: don't align and sync the session rings of multiple APCs so they can be moved independently.

Supported since: 8.1.4 - still valid

Example: -DontCombineAPCs

"AbsoluteMouseMode"

Alternative mouse mode without resetting mouse position - useful for tablets, touch screens, remote desk etc.

Supported since Live 8.1

Example: -AbsoluteMouseMode

"EnsureKeyMessagesforPlugins"

This option solves a problem with certain VST Plugins (such as NI's Reaktor), where keyboard data did not reach the plugin.

Supported since: 7.0.2b3

Note: PC ONLY!

Example: -_EnsureKeyMessagesForPlugins