Questions about file type ,and folder organization in LIVE 8

[kringe]

hi. new to LIVE and loving it. but, i was coming from REASON and PRO TOOLS and i simply put 'everything' in my REASON folder and would just hunt for what i needed. LIVE has these different file types associated with its library and i am not quite sure where they all go. (by the way i use mac not pc), here are the files that i am having trouble finding how to organize in LIVE: .alc .ico .alp .mid .adv .adg .als

to know once and for all where to store these in the LIVE library would be awesome. THANKS!

[Ableton_David]

Have you tried looking through the Live Library in Finder? This is a great way to see which file types are associated with which kinds of files.

[salatspinatra]

Like Protool's earlier manuals, Live could definitely benefit from a diagram view-a tree-of all the file types that are juggling around now. The tree would be a graphic of each of the icons for the major platforms and the extensions to look out for. There's .rax too. What else would it need to be complete? Maybe I can make it.

[longjohns]

.alc .ico .alp .mid .adv .adg .als

to know once and for all where to store these in the LIVE library would be awesome. THANKS!

In the broadest terms, and this is a hard thing to accept... you probably will have the best luck by not worrying about how to organize things. What I mean to say is that you will have limited luck in bending Ableton file management to your will, but you should learn how it works and either roll with it, or at least keep it in mind while you do your thing. That said,

.alc means "ableton live clip" - a "live clip" means either a MIDI pattern, or audio recording, which is associated with Live devices. e.g. it references not only a sample, but the reverb and delay devices through which it plays. etc.

.ico is nothing to think about. Icon

.alp means "ableton live pack" - a "pack" is content which has been (ahem) packed.. the result is a single file which can be clicked on by another user, and automatically install content of various types into their library, or other location. to my mind, not something you would organize per se, but something you would occasionally create to facilitate sharing / distribution. also note that bug reporting involves creation of .alp files which are sent to support.

.mid is a midi file. not used much internally in Live. you may import or export a .mid file for use in conjunction with another program. anything internal is covered by .alc files.

.adv means "ableton device" - this is a preset for a native Ableton device, which exists on its own, as opposed to...

.adg which means "ableton device group" - these are groups of multiple devices, including racks

.als means "ableton live set" - this includes Sets in the broad term - a song you are working on, but also is the file type which represents a track or groups of tracks which can exist in the browser. IOW if you drag a track, complete with its clips and devices, to the browser, you'll get an .als file.

also please understand "projects". When you open Live, you're seeing a Set, which at first does not belong to a project, but to remain on your computer, it must eventually belong to a project.

If you save the Set manually, it will either become an .als file within a project which existed already (you navigated inside an existing project during the save) or Live will automatically create a project folder at the location you specified, and put the .als file inside that.