The Fancy Sync Thingy

Ableton Link keeps OnSong's tempo & beat locked in with Ableton Live & other Link-enabled apps & devices on the same Wi-Fi network. Zero pairin', zero cables: apps just... find each other & vibe together automatically. Once y'all're in a session, everything in the OnSong^® app that follows the beat clock — the metronome, the drum machine, tempo-synced delays, arpeggios — is countin' the same beat as literally everyone else in the room. ZOMG, teamwork!

Fire It Up

Ableton Link hangs out in Uhhh... Settings? ▸ MIDI ▸ Ableton Link. The screen's got three parts:

• Ableton Link — the on/off switch thingy, straight from Ableton's own panel. It shows how many apps are vibin' in the session once you're connected.
• Sync Mode — how OnSong's tempo relates to everyone else's vibe. Peep below.
• Status — the real-time tea on your connection: Connected when there's at least one other peep, Searching… while Ableton Link is on but y'all are lonely, & Off when it's nappin'.

You can also yeet yourself there from the AuxDock by togglelin' Beat Sync on any panel & clickin' the Ableton Link… shortcut that pops up.

Sync Mode (aka Who's the Boss?)

Ableton Link itself has zero leaders — there's no master, & any participant can totally change the shared tempo. Sync Mode is OnSong's own opinion about that:

• Both — shares the tempo both ways. Change tempo in the OnSong^® app? Everyone feels it. Someone else tweaks it? OnSong eats it too. The default, & totes peer-to-peer vibes.
• Lead — OnSong^® app pushes its tempo to the squad, & if someone else tries to nudge the session, OnSong's like "nah fam" & re-asserts dominance. Use this when OnSong^® is literally drivin' the band's beat.
• Follow — OnSong never pushes nothin', just accepts whatever the session's doin'. Use this when someone cooler owns the tempo & OnSong's just along for the ride.

The mode sticks around after you disconnect, so a rig set to Follow? Still Follow next week. Srsly.

What Gets Weird While You're Plugged In

• The shared timeline runs the show. A Link session keeps OnSong's beat clock alive even when nothin' local is playin', which is why those beat-sync LEDs pulse the second you connect.
• Tempo changes go viral. In Both or Lead, change OnSong's tempo — tap it, load a song with its own tempo, or hit a section's {tempo:} — & the whole session moves with y'all.
• In Follow, the song's tempo? Who cares. The session owns the tempo now. That's the whole point of Follow mode, but heads up if you open a chart & the metronome ain't playin' at the tempo written on it. LOL.

The 411 (aka What You Actually Need)

• Every device's gotta be on the same Wi-Fi network, & that network's gotta let devices actually see each other. Guest networks & venue networks? They block that on purpose, which is 99% why your session never finds a homie.
• No internet needed — Link works on a local network with zero router uplink, which makes an isolated travel router your stage's new bestie.
• Link's peer-to-peer, so there's no "host" device y'all gotta start first. Any order, any time.

If Status's stuck on Searching… & another Link app's obviously runnin', the network's the problem like 99% of the time, not the apps. Throw both devices on the same access point — or an ad-hoc one you control — before you start diggin' into other stuff.