Workflow1 min read
Back up Ableton projects without losing a sample
A copy of the .als file isn’t a backup. What a complete project backup includes, three ways to make one, and how version history saves you from your own edits.
Jordan ReyesHead of Product
Most project backups fail the same way. The project folder gets copied, but the samples it uses live somewhere else, so the restored set opens with half its audio missing. A complete backup is the set plus every file it references.
What to back up
- The project folder, including its Samples and Backup subfolders
- Every sample the set references from outside the project folder
- Presets for third-party plugins, since Live only stores each plugin’s state
- Frozen or bounced tracks, if the project has to play on a machine without your plugins
Three ways to do it
The quickest is Collect All and Save before each backup, then copying the project folder. It works, but it duplicates shared samples into every project. Time Machine on an external drive covers everything, but only while the drive is plugged in. The third is cloud storage that understands projects and keeps their samples with them.
Version history
Backups protect you from a dead drive. They don’t protect you from yourself: saving over the arrangement that worked, or bouncing over a finished stem. Prod Crate keeps earlier versions of every file, from 7 days on Free to a year on Studio, so last Tuesday’s set is always one click from today’s.
“I saved over a finished mix the night before a delivery. Getting it back took two minutes.”