MAKID Session Workspace

MAKID Session Workspace lets you inspect and preview an .als without opening Ableton Live. MAKID reads the set when you open the workspace, press Play, or choose Refresh.

Open the workspace

Use any of these entry points:

• Click the Session button in the project table
• Open Arrangement from a project’s right-click menu
• Open Arrangement beside a set in Project Details → Sessions

Use the set selector in the workspace header to move between versions.

Arrangement

Arrangement is the default view. It shows tracks, clips, Ableton locators, and comments for the selected set revision.

• Scroll vertically through tracks and horizontally through time
• Pinch on a trackpad or use the Zoom control to change timeline scale
• Use Focus clips to jump to the part of the set containing activity
• Use Fit arrangement to see the full timeline and Follow to keep the playhead visible
• Search track and clip names, fold groups, and use M / S to mute or solo tracks in the preview
• Turn on Loop range, then Shift-drag the timeline or edit its beat boundaries
• Read bar numbers in the set’s time signature, including meter changes
• Click a track or clip to inspect timing, devices, warp markers, and media
• Hover or focus a clip and use its play button to audition only that clip
• Use Workspace options → Hide inspector to give the timeline more room, then choose Show inspector to restore it
• Click an external media reference’s folder button to reveal it in Finder or File Explorer

Clips show MIDI notes or available waveforms. Selecting an audio clip also loads a detailed waveform when its source has not been indexed. The inspector shows the nested device chains, transpose, gain, fades, and source and loop timing. Use a sample’s play button to audition it or Locate sample to choose its current location. Relocation is local to MAKID and does not change the .als.

Session

Session shows scenes and Session View clips. Empty cells mean the set has no clip in that track and scene. If the set has no Session View clips, MAKID shows an explicit empty state and a shortcut back to Arrangement.

Approximate playback

Press Play to hear a MAKID Session Preview built from available source audio, frozen tracks, and MIDI notes. Supported Simpler, Sampler, and Drum Rack sample regions use their sample files and note mappings. For supported VST3 instruments, MAKID loads the matching installed plugin and its saved patch, renders the MIDI clips, and plays that audio. Other MIDI sounds use basic drum, bass, or keyboard preview instruments.

Playback follows scene tempo for scene auditions and the arrangement’s tempo events for full playback. It respects source offsets, loop boundaries, transpose, and warp-marker intervals. Warped clips use approximate pitch-preserving stretching; Re-Pitch mode changes pitch with speed. Tempo curves are approximated with linear ramps. Stretching can add a small processing delay.

VST3 preview currently supports one enabled instrument outside a rack per track, with a constant tempo and meter, and clips under ten minutes including their two-second release tail. The plugin must be installed, activated, and compatible with the app architecture. Clips render separately, so instrument state resets between clips. Missing, unsupported, or failed plugins keep the basic preview; the player shows how many tracks use VST3 audio and explains fallbacks.

MAKID does not reproduce effect chains, routing, mixer automation, Ableton instruments, AU/VST2 plugins, MIDI expression, sample sustain loops, or slicing mode. Export from Ableton when you need the original sound. Preview mute, solo, and range-loop controls leave the saved set unchanged.

The player shows an activity overview. Click it to seek. Playback details lists each track’s audio source, fallback instruments, missing files, and decode failures. Use Locate to repair a reference, then restart the preview. The player reports incomplete coverage and sources that fail to decode.

MAKID plays source audio as needed in a rolling window. The first plugin preview shows a preparation message and caches rendered audio in MAKID’s local app data. Changing the set, saved patch, or installed plugin invalidates that cache. Preview playback leaves the project folder unchanged.

Compare and export

Compare revisions compares the current set with other ALS files in the same project, listed by filename and modification date. Select a file to load it for comparison; you do not need to have opened it in MAKID before. Files in excluded folders follow the same visibility rules as the project’s session list.

Saved history of the current file is also available when MAKID has inspected earlier versions. Comparison identifies changes to track settings, clip placement, locators, tempo, and meter. It does not compare plug-in parameters or individual notes.

Export preview as bounce renders the full arrangement with the current preview mute and solo settings to a stereo WAV in the project’s MAKID previews folder. Range looping does not limit the export. The new bounce uses MAKID’s existing sharing and mobile sync workflows. It remains an approximate preview.

Comments and locators

Ableton locators are imported per set revision. They are visible, seekable, and read-only.

MAKID comments keep their existing cloud sync and editing behavior. A comment created in the workspace targets the exact parsed .als revision, so comments from another version do not appear on the current timeline.

The audio player shows its timed-comment composer for full Arrangement playback, but not while auditioning an isolated clip or scene.

Refresh and stale data

Choose Refresh after changing a set on disk. If a new parse fails, MAKID keeps the last usable revision visible and marks it as stale.