The Fancy Sync Thingy

Ableton Link keeps OnSong's tempo & beat vibin' in lockstep with Ableton Live & other Link-enabled apps & devices on the same Wi-Fi network. ZERO setup, ZERO cables, ZERO chill required: apps on the network find each other & join a shared session automatically. ZOMG. Once you're in a session, literally everything in the OnSong^® app that follows the beat clock — the metronome, the drum machine, tempo-synced delays, arpeggios — is countin' the exact same beat as everyone else in the room. Y'all are finally on the same page. Plot twist: it's the same tempo.

Turnin' It On

Ableton Link lives in Settings ▸ MIDI ▸ Ableton Link. The screen's got three sections, & honestly, that's it:

• Ableton Link — the switch itself, straight outta Ableton's own panel. It tells you how many apps are in the session once you're connected. RIVETING.
• Sync Mode — how OnSong's tempo relates to everyone else's. Peep below, bestie.
• Status — the current connection mood, such as Connected when there's at least one peer (congrats, you're not alone!), Searching… while Ableton Link is on but lonely, & Off when it's not even tryin'.

You can also yeet to it from the AuxDock by togglein' Beat Sync on any panel & the chip that pops up offers Ableton Link… as a shortcut. Lazy? We got u.

Sync Mode

Ableton Link itself is leaderless — there is NO master, & literally any participant can change the shared tempo. Plot twist again. Sync Mode is OnSong's personal policy about that chaos:

• Both — shares the tempo both ways like a healthy relationship. Changin' tempo in the OnSong^® app changes it for everyone, & a change made elsewhere gets adopted here too. The default, & the only mode with actual vibes. True peer-to-peer, baby.
• Lead — OnSong^® app is pushin' its tempo to everyone else, & if a peer tries to ninja-change the session, OnSong's like "nope" & re-asserts its own tempo & phase. Use this when the OnSong^® app is basically the dictator drivin' the band. No democracy here.
• Follow — OnSong never pushes nothin', just accepts whatever the session is doin'. ZERO opinions. Use this when someone else owns the beat & OnSong is just along for the ride, vibin', collectin' a paycheck.

The mode is remembered across disconnects, so a rig set to Follow stays that way next week. Muscle memory for your music gear. How cute.

What Changes While You're Connected

• The shared timeline runs the clock. A Link session keeps OnSong's beat clock alive even when nothin' local is playin', which is why beat-sync LEDs pulse the SECOND you connect. It's like magic, except it's just math.
• Tempo changes travel. In Both or Lead, changin' OnSong's tempo — by tappin' it, loadin' a song with its own tempo, or a section's {tempo:} — moves the whole bleepin' session. Congratulations, you're influential.
• In Follow, the song's tempo is ignored in favor of the session's. That's literally the whole point of the mode, but hey, it's worth knowin' when you open a chart & the metronome doesn't play at the tempo written on it. Surprise! It won't.

Requirements

• Every device has to be on the same Wi-Fi network, & the network has to allow devices to see each other. Guest networks & like 99% of venue networks block exactly that, which is why your session never finds a peer. It's not us. It's them. (It's the network.)
• No internet connection needed — Link works on a local network with zero router uplink, which makes an isolated travel router a reliable option for a stage. Told ya.
• Link is peer-to-peer, so there's no "host" device to start first. Any order works. Democracy in action, peeps.

If Status's stuck on Searching… with another Link app clearly runnin', the network is basically always the culprit, not either app. (Sorry, not sorry.) Slap both devices on the same access point — or an ad-hoc one you control — before troubleshootin' anything else. Trust us. We've been there.