10 Hidden Features in Ableton Live with Options.txt

It’s been quite a while since I made these video tutorial about all the extra features you can unlock with the help of the Options.txt in Ableton Live. Back then they made a huge splash. You may already know them, but could do with a refresher, or this may be the first time you come across them and have your mind blown.

The playlist includes the following:

  1. Introduction to the Options.txt File & Show Device Slots (Unoffical & Undocumented)
  2. New Features for a Faster Workflow in Racks
  3. Commands for Working with VST Plugins
  4. Adjust Automation Curves
  5. No Auto Arming
  6. Working with ReWire
  7. Track Arming Behaviour

English Version:

Deutsche Version:

Download the Options.txt file with the commands from all the video tutorials (Right-click and choose Save Link as) Don’t forget to only keep either -NoAutoArming or -EnableArmOnSelection as they conflict with each other.

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26 responses

  1. Here full list of options:

    AbsoluteMouseMode

    AcceptanceTestsIgnoreAssertions

    AcceptanceTestsPort

    AcceptanceTestsRecording

    AdditionalLatencyForPlaythrough

    AnimatedScrollBarAlphaDelta

    AnimatedScrollBarVisibleTime

    AsioDisableMultiClient

    AsioNoClockSource

    AsioNoSampleRateCheck

    AsioNoSetSampleRate

    AsioSupportProcessNow

    AudioDropOutDisplay

    AudioNoThreadReNew

    AudioQuantizeFixedWarpMarker

    AutoAdjustMacroMappingRange

    AutoShowPythonShellOnError

    BrowserPageSize

    BuiltinLessons

    ChallengeMethod

    CheckAllLanguageFiles

    CheckCast

    CheckForUnlinkedComponents

    ClipFireWillContinueSong

    ControlSurfaceDisplayUpdateRate

    CopySampleFiles

    DebugKeys

    DecodeDirectShowMediaFiles

    DevicesLegacyLive5

    DirectAssert

    DisableAutoBugReporting

    DisableFileRefMapping

    DisableSchedulerPerDevice

    DisableUpdateOverviews

    DontAskForAdminRights

    DontLogExceptions

    DontRetriggerSessionClips

    DontStoreCompoundPaths

    DontUseHardcodedLibraryPath

    DrawDirectlyToScreen

    DrawRandomBackground

    DriveEngineTiming

    DrumPadSelectionDelay

    DumpAddControlled

    DumpAppViewOnQuit

    DumpDocumentOnQuit

    DumpUsfLibOutput

    EditorDontSnapOnMarkers

    EditorFoldMore

    EditorMagneticWidth

    EditorNoteResizeSnapsOnGridOnly

    EditorResnapRangeFactor

    EditorResnapTimeoutOnMouseUp

    EditorSnapTimeout

    EnableGMIForVideo

    EnableHotSwapOnSelection

    EnableMapToSiblings

    EnablePseudoDevice

    EventRecorderIgnoreCache

    EventRecorderPauseMs

    EventRecorderPlaybackDir

    EventRecorderRecordingDir

    EventRecorderTempDir

    ExtendedDeviceOptions

    ForceDirectDraw

    ForceGDI

    Halion3BugWorkaround

    HotKeyForCaptureAndInsertScene

    HotKeyForKitPad

    HotKeyForSet

    IgnorePrefs

    IgnoreTemplateSet

    ImpulseIgnoreOmega

    InitialDocument

    KeepUnresolvedRelativeRoutings

    LayoutCheckFrequency

    LocalFilesDir

    LogFolderConfigErrors

    LogPluginPerformance

    LogPseudoMidiOutDataSizeSent

    LogRemoteScriptCapabilityInfo

    LogTimeConversionVariation

    LoopJumpContinuationActivationWindowSizeMs

    LoopJumpContinuationWindowSizeMs

    MaxAudioThreads

    MaxChainViewsToCache

    MemoryBasedUndo

    MemoryLeaksFile

    MidiClockSlave

    MidiEventThinning

    NoMidiEventFiltering

    NoMidiFromReWire

    NoMidiJitterCorrection

    NoMidiMonitorLatencyCompensation

    NoMidiServer

    NoSCurves

    NoVstGesturesRequired

    NoVstStartupScan

    Patch

    RemoveFolderWithSingleClick

    ReportZeroLengthClips

    ReWireChannels

    ReWireLogic

    ReWireMasterOff

    ReWireSonar

    SafetyAreaAroundMarkers

    SampleTimeOverflowScale

    Sandbox

    SelectNoAudioAsDefault

    SendSPPInArrangerLoops

    SetAssertMode

    SetSatisfactionSurveyActive

    SharedMemStoragePath

    ShowBackToArrangementOnMasterTrack

    ShowChunkLoadTime

    ShowDeviceSlots

    ShowFullVersionInTitle

    ShowPeakCpuLoad

    ShowToolsMenu

    SoundManagerBufferSize

    StackTraces

    SuppressCheckSynchronousInvariant

    TempoFineControlRange

    TestDir

    TestLibraryRootDir

    Trace

    UndoSplashScreenFixOsX

    UndoStepsAtMouseUp

    UnitTestsAssertOnFailure

    UnitTestsDontCleanup

    UnitTestsLetDummyTestPass

    UnitTestsQuitAfter

    UnitTestsReportFormat

    UnitTestsRunDefaultOff

    UnitTestsRunStreamServiceTests

    UnitTestsTraces

    UpdateTest

    UseDebugPrefs

    UseFileSystemCacheForReading

    UseFileSystemCacheForWriting

    UseOwnGeneratedMidiTimeStamps

    ViewIdCheckFrequency

    VirtualAudioIn

    VstNoLocalDir

    VstNoScanSkip

    WipeoutProtectionAccidentWindowSizeMs

    WipeoutProtectionActivationWindowSizeMs

    WipeoutProtectionDecisionWindowSizeMs

    WriteLanguageCommentFile

    1. Hi Alex, I think you will get this a lot but is there anyway I can find a list with what the commands do? If not, no problem! Could be a very funny night finding out what is what! Thanks for sharing.

      1. Most of them are just commands used in development. That’s what the Options.txt file was originally created for. I haven’t found a list explaining all the commands. Trial and error is the only option, afaik.

    2. Wow thank you so much for this! 🙂 Is there an option that allows me to assign a keybinding to “Legato”? 🙂

      Thank you!

  2. Really appreciate the cool tips you’ve shared here…this will definitely smooth en my workflow in my workflow.Thank you

  3. Thanks a lot for the options.txt tips and your cool skins 🙂 The whole site and help you offer is really generous. Im gonna link to your site on my Ableton Push vst Group 🙂 Best wishes

  4. Thank you for your knowledge, I though I new abelton, after seeing your tips, you are taking me to a new level in abelton. Again thank you

  5. Thank you for sharing your knowledge! This solves a lot of my routing troubles and pretty much everything I do in Ableton now. Can I ask why this isn’t more common knowledge or something to have as options in the preference screen? I love this kind of stuff , but was wondering. 🙂

    And thanks Madelein for the great tutorials here and everywhere for that matter!

    1. Ableton never intended to make these features part of Live. The Options.txt originated as a developer tool, which we now can use as well. They don’t make it a secret, but you gotta know what you’re looking for to find it.

  6. Shame there isn’t a way to have “Track Zoom” or “auto zoom” for the vertical so you don’t have to keep scrolling constantly when you have a large amount of tracks.

  7. Thanks for doing this. I’m using Live Suite 9.7.4 and it does not recognize
    -EnableArmOnSelection.
    I also deleted the -NoAutoArming.
    But I get a specific message when I start up Live and it tries to read the Options.txt file.
    It says that is ignoring the unknown -EnableArmOnSelection command.

    Do you think I’m doing something wrong?

    Thanks.

  8. Looks like they got rid of -ShowClipSyncButtons just as I was getting really excited for it :,( Looks like I need another solution. I will endeavour.

  9. I’m trying to have Ableton auto-load on a headless Windows 10 box. I can make Ableton start when Windows loads and I can set the default project to what I need for my setup but the one thing I cannot do is get External Sync to be enabled by default.

    I was hoping that the MidiClockSlave option might solve this problem but I don’t know if it requires arguments like:

    -MidiClockSlave=true or -MidiClockSlave=yes

    Do you know anything about this option? Or do you know of any way to have Ableton launch with External sync already enabled? I don’t even think Max can solution for this problem. It’s the one thing I need to get working so I can run a headless Ableton box for hosting synths and effects for a live setup.

    Thanks in advance!

    1. I’ve never heard of this command. Usually Live will complain if you get something wrong with an error message. Have you tried it out?

      Often Live will keep settings if you shut it down first, before turning off the audio or MIDI interface, then turn on interface first and only after this launch Live. Not sure if this works for external sync, but it might be worth trying.

  10. Hi! Thanks so much for these tutorials! I’m wondering if there is a way to keep the macro controls on a pad in a drum rack even when a new sample is dropped into it. I know I can use Sampler to keep the macros mapped, but I like to grab samples in large groups and drop them onto a drum rack. I’d like to be able to do that and keep macros mapped across each pad of the drum rack. Thanks!

  11. Hello,
    I found the preferences folder for windows 10. It is C:\Users\”Username”\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live 11.2.7\Preferences
    I placed the suggested options file with -ShowDeviceSlots and nothing happens. Am I missing something or is there a different way to do it for windows 10?

    1. Is the text file called Options.txt with a capital O? Otherwise try the file on this article and simply delete all the other commands and save before adding it to the path.

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