Ableton Link (Yeah, We're Fancy)

Ableton Link keeps OnSong's tempo & beat vibin' in perfect sync with Ableton Live & other Link-enabled apps & devices chillin' on the same Wi-Fi network. Zero pairing drama, zero cables, zero freakin' setup: apps just... find each other & join the party automatically. Once y'all are locked in, everything in the OnSong^® app that dances to the beat clock — the metronome, the drum machine, tempo-synced delays, arpeggios — is groovin' to the exact same beat as every other bandmate sweatin' in your room.

Fire It Up

Ableton Link hangs out in Settings ▸ MIDI ▸ Ableton Link. The screen's got three tasty bits:

• Ableton Link — the on/off switch itself, straight from Ableton's own playground. Shows how many other apps crashed the party once you're connected.
• Sync Mode — how OnSong's tempo decides to play nice (or not) with everyone else's. Peep below.
• Status — the tea on your connection: Connected when at least one other app showed up, Searching… while Ableton Link is screamin' into the void alone, & Off when it's nappin'.

You can also snag it from the AuxDock by flippin' Beat Sync on any panel & that lil chip that pops up offers Ableton Link… as a shortcut.

Sync Mode

Ableton Link itself is totally leaderless — no dictator, no king, & literally any participant can yeet the tempo to a new BPM. Sync Mode is OnSong's own manifesto about how that goes down:

• Both — tempo flows both ways like a beautiful two-way street. You change OnSong^®'s tempo, everyone gets it. Someone else nudges the session, OnSong rolls with it. The default, & the way democracy should actually work.
• Lead — OnSong^® app flexes its tempo on everyone else & if a peer tries to change it, OnSong's like "nope" & reasserts control. Use this when the OnSong^® app is the undisputed tempo god drivin' your whole band's life choices.
• Follow — OnSong^® politely shuts up & lets the session's tempo be the truth. Use this when someone else is the real hero & OnSong is just vibin' along for the ride.

The mode remembers itself even after you bail, so a rig set to Follow stays Follow next week. Totes reliable.

What Gets Weird While You're Hooked Up

• The shared timeline is the boss. A Link session keeps OnSong's beat clock pumpin' even when nothin' local is playin', which is why all those beat-sync LEDs start blinkin' the second you connect. Kinda magical, ngl.
• Tempo changes go everywhere. In Both or Lead, hittin' OnSong's tempo — by tappin' it, loadin' a song with its own tempo, or a section's {tempo:} — nukes the tempo for the entire session.
• In Follow, the song's tempo gets ghosted in favor of whatever the session says. That's the whole point of Follow mode, but it's wild to load a chart & hear the metronome playin' at some random BPM instead of what's written.

The 411

• Every device's gotta be on the same Wi-Fi network, & that network has to be chill enough to let devices actually see each other. Guest networks & sketchy venue networks love blockin' that exact thing, which is why your session can't find anyone like 99% of the time.
• You don't need internet — Link works on a local network with zero router involvement, which makes a janky travel router a surprisingly solid play for stage setups.
• Link is peer-to-peer, so there's no "host" you gotta boot up first. Start in any order. Chaos? Nah. Freedom.

If Status is stuck on Searching… & there's clearly another Link app runnin' somewhere, it's basically always the network bein' a jerk instead of either app bein' broken. Chuck both devices on the same access point — or a DIY one you control — before you start yellin' at your phone.