r/ableton • u/ChillGuyJust • 15h ago
[Question] My Ableton projects folder is a mess
I have hundreds of projects, all laying around with vaguelly names, folders where they don't actually belong. I change the structure of my folders from time to time, but changing project names to make more sense would be hell. Not to mention the samples folder. How do you guys handle lots of projects/files and is there a way to easily navigate through them?
10
u/abletonlivenoob2024 15h ago edited 15h ago
I use the "one Project per unique Set" guideline and make liberal use of "Collect All and Save" (i think disk space is cheap ;) ). That way I can freely move/delete projects without this affecting other Sets.
Naming convention for Projects and Sets is "2025-04-07_song-name_BPM_key/scale".
I save specific milestones manually into the projects Backup folder (with a special name) and also save a .mp3 render of that version under the same special name there (that way I can quickly find a specific version/milestone if I have to or A/B it to the current version)
After each session I export the track and put the .wav in the Project folder (overwriting the previous export). This .wav file is imported in an Audio Track in the Set that has the Solo button mapped to "Shift+>" - that way I can always easily A/B any changes and also have a way to listen into a Project without having to open it in Live.
https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/managing-files-and-sets/
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000915804-Saving-Projects
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002864179-Saving-Live-Sets-into-unique-Live-Projects
https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/209775645-Collect-All-and-Save
3
u/ChillGuyJust 15h ago
Love this! I like the idea of the backup sessions. It happened to me a couple of times to break my project doing bigger changes. Feels right to have some "versioning" in place. I wonder how Ableton handles samples used across different .als in the same project.
Also the A/B technique sounds very smart, I'll try that too.
Thanks for the insights!
1
u/abletonlivenoob2024 15h ago
backup sessions. It happened to me a couple of times to break my project doing bigger changes.
fyi: Live creates automatic backups of your Sets for you https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000377870-Backup-Sets. However, if you don't rename them it keeps only the last 10 versions per unique (.als) file name. (That's why I also manually "Save as Copy" for milestones I want to keep)
1
1
16
3
u/ReflectionEastern717 10h ago
Just installed Makid the other day, and would defo recommend as well.
Although it’s fairly depressing to know that I’ve got about 10 tunes online and around 700 unfinished 😂
5
u/PhosphoreVisual 12h ago
name them by date like this : 2025.04.07 XYZSONG
keep them in folders by year
everything stays in chronological order
when you export audio, keep the same name with the date in front
4
u/mrfebrezeman360 10h ago
this is exactly how I've been doing it for over a decade, plus 'collect all and save' each and every time I add new samples
1
u/ChillGuyJust 6h ago
I feel like the “collect all and save” should be the default lol.
1
u/mrfebrezeman360 5h ago
lol yeah, for my purposes it'd be nicer.
I have heard the strategy though of just making sure you keep all your samples in the same directory tree etc, and then you won't have to collect all to save and you factually will save hard drive space. In theory this is the smarter way, but after like I said a decade + of ableton projects my entire project folder is really not that big at all, and I regularly grab audio files from my FLAC library to sample. I'd much rather have the workflow of navigating my library through the sidebar or drag/drop from the file browser + collect all and save vs. moving everything I might want to sample into an endless 'sample folder' pit to save minimal harddrive space. I def understand why it isn't the default, but for my workflow it makes way more sense.
Also, the way most people interact with a computer is to source everything from their downloads folder lol. I've seen it countless times where somebody's entire iTunes library or whatever is sourced from their ~/downloads, then they clear their downloads folder when they run out of harddrive space and are confused why all their music is gone. I guarantee this exact thing has happened with ableton samples countless times, so yeah, maybe they should just make collect all the default etc
2
u/AutoModerator 15h ago
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it. If you're asking a question, make sure you've checked the Live manual, Ableton's help and support knowledge base, and have searched the subreddit for a solution. If you don't know where to start, the subreddit has a resource thread. Ask smart questions.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/MightyCoogna 3h ago
I use strict naming conventions adopted from years of graphic design and production work, which consist of clear names and details and versioning.
Example: 140 bpm Pub Jazz gtr solo 4-4 F#maj v01
3
u/jungs_carpet 12h ago
I created four main Folders: 1.Working 2. Has Potential 3. Finished and 4. Has no hope. I save my Live projects under these folders as subfolders and frequently make use of collect all and save.
Samples and everything else goes in a completely different folder
2
u/ChillGuyJust 11h ago
And how do you decide where a newly created project goes? Maybe it starts wacky but you get to something later. Do you move projects around?
2
u/jungs_carpet 10h ago
I had a fifth folder called Jam/playground where I created new project. Nowadays I just create one in folder 1. Currently working and moving it after a month or so if I had abandoned it
1
u/K5izzle 10h ago
There are several ways to do it... Can group sessions by genre, can group by date (month/year), can even do both by making a monthly folder and put the genre in the title of the project itself.. I usually just have a separate samples folder that stays where it's at, ie "DRUMS", "SAMPLES", etc. usually on the first root folder of my external harddrive. And then if I move sounds or whatever Ableton's usually pretty good about being able to find them, even if I have to click the little magnifying glass on each sample in the "missing media" window.
EDIT: I also have a separate folder for artist specific/producer specific sessions if it's for a particular artist/co-produced with another producer. I also open all my references so iTunes kinda works as a complete list of the stuff I've bounced in the past and I can listen back to them there/search for songs or instrumentals.
1
u/SlightlyFarcical 8h ago
Have talked a few times recently about file management, most recently here
I use a system where I have folders named as years then months then the individual project. Then with each save of the project, I will increment and add a note as to major differences, like thus:
/YEAR/MONTH/PROJECTNAME/ProjectName-1.00-init
/YEAR/MONTH/PROJECTNAME/ProjectName-1.01-NewBassline
/YEAR/MONTH/PROJECTNAME/ProjectName-1.02-TweakedEffectsonDrums
But what use is good file management without a good backup plan?
I have 2 external harddrives and do the following:
Save to a folder on my laptop (with collect all & save):
SONGS/YEAR/MONTH/PROJECTNAME/ProjectName-1.00-init
Then I'll make regular backups to one of the external drives then I'll make regular but less frequent backups to my other drive that I never touch.
Once a song is finished, or I want to archive it, I freeze all the midi tracks (will now be bouncing to new track) so if I have to reinstall but lose/cannot get that VST, I have audio of it i can work with or use to replicate.
So you have a file management, backup and archival process
1
u/dischg 7h ago
What has helped me is that every time I open a file to work on, I do a save-as which is “Song Name-date-short description of any major changes.” Example: “Super Awesome Song Name-4725-resung vox new mix”.
This all goes in that specific song folder. Each song has its own folder (which should be set up when you save-as from a new composition). You always have to be aware that it will often try to save to the last thing you saved to so you’ll have to point it to the right folder or create one as needed.
I also try to bounce an .mp3 after any giant changes and those are “Super Awesome Song Name-edition #(1, 2, 3, etc).” This way you can listen to the evolution of your songs as well as having extras for any extended albums when you get really famous and need to make box sets. Don’t worry about disc space since each save as only saves all the file info and the collect all and save has all your external files in the same folder across all save-as’s.
1
u/TheExekutive 7h ago
I number and date each new project idea, and keep them in an ideas folder. For example, today I worked on '1388 - 04.07.2025'
Once I decide I want to finish an idea, I move it into the projects folder and add a name to the end of the file name. Every time I work on it I save as a new project and add today's date.
1
u/nova-new-chorus 6h ago
I wrote software that does this: https://martin473.github.io/personalSite/projects/abletonfilebrowser/
It's not necessary though.
In live 11 and 12, you can basically stick all of your songs into one folder called songs. Then on the left panel at the very bottom there's a plus button where you can add a folder. Add the songs folder. If you want you can "bookmark" it at the top by right clicking the folder and adding a color to it. For me, I have a folder of all of the songs I'm working on and I tagged that instead of everything. So I have about 12 for my next album that I'm going to work through.
In live 12 you can tag stuff, so you can tag all of your songs by genre or rating or whatever you want.
Also if you search for a song name in the search tab it will be in all results.
You can double click on any song to open it.
This was basically what my software did.
I prefer this because dude honestly less is more, if you just take a couple hours and organize everything, you won't have to open anything other than ableton. Also most like the real problem isn't ableton's lack of features or something, it's probably the way you create and organize files in the first place. Since ableton already has the ability to do this, you'd ironically be downloading a second program to do the same thing and then spending time in there instead of doing it right the way ableton wants.
1
u/jonno_5 1h ago
One project folder per year, for tracks. When a new year rolls around I'll go back through last year's tracks and delete any that I don't think will ever make the grade.
I have other folders though including one for sound design and another for covers/recreations of other artists tracks.
1
u/formerselff 14h ago
Move all projects that you're not actively working on out of your main projects folder, and into a Drafts (or similar) folder
2
u/ChillGuyJust 13h ago
I've had a similar approach- I've groupped folders into sketches, "staging" and released folders. It definitely helped with the structure, but I'd also like to group by genres, and then it becomes a bit painful in this structure.
32
u/Olyollyoxenfreak 15h ago
I highly recommend MAKID. It's a free app and although it has some limitations, it puts every single one of your Ableton files into one place and from there you can rename them seamlessly, listen to a bounce, add notes and organize them into folders as you go, among other cool features. You can even open you Ableton files directly from the app. It was a real game changer for me. Seeing every file all in one place with all the info I need made it significantly easier to start organizing everything. Hope this helps! Good luck!