Sync Live across computers?

[bytheriver]

Has anyone got a method to sync live that works well? I'd like to use some kind of cloud storage on my laptop and desktop so that I can seamlessly move between them but continue to work on the same projects.

What do I need to move to the cloud syncing folders and does it work?

[jestermgee]

I've seen people mention using Dropbox for this kind of thing but I would probably split your library content into stuff that can simply sit on your drive and custom stuff that needs to be synched to save on having multi GB of data to sync.

Next thing is there can sometimes be an issue with the way things like Dropbox sync newly changed files. Sometimes when saving directly to the dropbox folder it may start trying to sync files while they are being saved and prevent the save from working so I would suggest doing some small scale tests to start with.

[tumuch132]

Splice?

[jonljacobi]

I keep all my songs and user library on a NAS box. Works like a charm the vast majority of the time. You do have to deal with some lag before the library appears and be careful to explicitly save (don’t save as you quit). This allows me to work from several computers and as the NAS box is mirrored and backed up nightly, more securely.

[jonljacobi]

BTW. Live and Studio One are the only DAWs I haven’t had major issues with working this way.

[jlgrimes]

Isn't this what Ableton Link supposed to help with?

[jlgrimes]

Has anyone got a method to sync live that works well? I'd like to use some kind of cloud storage on my laptop and desktop so that I can seamlessly move between them but continue to work on the same projects.

What do I need to move to the cloud syncing folders and does it work?

What I just did was share a folder on one of my Computers which made it available on my home wifi network. It takes a little work setting up (Mainly just sharing a folder on your Windows machine, then connecting to it from your other computer by typing in the PC name on the network, entering the PC password and it usually takes you to the folder).


Just be sure to Collect All and Save on your project if you have different samples on different computers (and freeze any VSTs that aren't available on the other machine).

I just did this yesterday to finish a track I made on my laptop Windows 10 PC and sent it to my IMac to make further refinements.

There are Youtube videos on this.


IMO, I think is probably would be the easiest way as not having to upload your files to the Internet (you just stay on your home local network). If your computers are away from each other (in different locations) something like Google Drive which I have been using for years works good as well. Google Drive, Microsoft Skydrive, Dropbox are all pretty similar. I think Google Drive gives you more free space though and have higher limits for sending large files via email. This way though be sure to compress files into a zip file (which is a built in function now on both PC and Mac). Not only it saves space but, it can take a big project with many separate individual files and make it just one easy manageable file.