Troubleshooting
Most problems come down to the Live script, the Control Surface, or where your clips are. Start here.
It says Not linked to Live
The window lists what's missing, in order:
- If the Live script isn't installed, click Install the Live script.
- Open Ableton Live 12, or restart it after installing.
- In Live > Settings > Tempo & MIDI, set a Control Surface to TranceToolsArrange. If it isn't in the list, restart Live.
If it was linked and says The link to Live was lost., Live was closed or its script stopped. Arrange links again by itself when Live is back.
It says Put your loop in Session View
Arrange can't find a clip to arrange. The amber line says why:
- This set has no tracks yet.
- None of its tracks have a clip in Session View yet. Put a clip on each track, in one row.
- This set only has group tracks. Arrange uses the tracks inside a group, so put your clips on those.
Clips in the Arrangement don't count: Arrange works from Session View.
Write to Live is greyed out
Hover over it for the reason. Link Live first, put a loop in Session View, or switch on some cells in the grid if every track is off everywhere.
It's using the wrong clip
Check the Scene menu. Selected scene follows whichever scene is selected in Live; choose your loop's row instead. A track with no clip in that row uses its first clip.
A track plays in the wrong sections
Check its role, and change it if the name misled Arrange. Or click the cells to switch them yourself.
I hear my loop, not the arrangement
Session clips that are still playing take over from the Arrangement on their tracks. Stop them, or click Live's orange Back to Arrangement button.
I can't hear the reverb throws
They turn up send A. Put a reverb on return track A, and check the track's send A isn't routed somewhere else.
Build riser is greyed out, or Live reported a problem
The Build riser needs the free TranceTools Build plug-in in Live. Install it, check it's on in Live > Settings > Plug-Ins, and restart Live. If it disappears while you write, the footer says Live reported a problem with the reason.
It couldn't write the extras' sounds
Arrange makes the sweep, roll and crash in your Live User Library, in Samples/TranceTools Arrange. If it says it couldn't write them there, check that the folder isn't locked and your disk has room.
A Phrasemap file won't open
Use Phrasemap's MIDI export with markers (.mid) or its Ableton set (.als). Other MIDI files work if they have marker events; other Ableton sets work if they have locators. A layout can have up to 64 sections.
How do I undo it?
Press Cmd+Z in Live. The first undoes the whole write; a second removes the devices and tracks Arrange added. If you stopped a write part-way, Cmd+Z removes what was written.
Questions
Does it change my Session clips?
No. It copies them into the Arrangement and leaves them, and their sounds, as they were.
Does it automate my synths' own controls?
No. Live only lets a script automate a third-party plug-in once you've set up its parameters, so Arrange adds Live's own Auto Filter and Utility and automates those.
Does it change my tempo?
No. The song plays at your set's tempo. The genre layouts say the tempo the style is usually played at, as a guide.
Does it work with Bitwig, Logic or FL Studio?
No. Arrange works through a Live script, and other DAWs don't allow this kind of writing to their arrangement.
Is it random?
No. The layouts use the section lengths each style is built on, each role plays where that part belongs, and the moves are the ones trance producers make by hand. The same settings always write the same arrangement.