Ableton Forum

After I learned about the hidden options text file in Live I was really excited about the Device Slots.
I use the device slots te get some overview for my mix. It's really helpful! The problem is that it doesn't work properly. The names won't show up until you resize the tracks or re-open the project. And if you managed to make Live show the names, you can't read them if you highlight them because the letters will stay white even when the background is light blue. And I expected it to open 3d party plugins by double-clicking on it. That would be really helpful!

So please fix it!!?? I don't think it's a lot of work and it will make mixing in Ableton soooo much better!!

Or give us a Mixing window that will show and hide by hitting Ctrl-Tab.

I imagine bigger faders so it's easy to grab on. And VCA tracks were we can drag and drop highlighted tracks on to control them by the track. And instead of the device slots on the VCA (because you don't need them there.) We have buttons that switch on and off what we want to control. Like Volume, Mute, Solo, etc.
The device slots in the mixing window will work perfectly. By double-clicking, it opens and closes the plugin windows. And of course, we can rename and change the colors of the slots.

I would advise great caution in relying on anything which is Options.txt based.
The device slots feature was one which they traid and bailed on, it's not new and going to get improved ... it's old and likely to get removed.
It first surfaced around 2013 after Madeleine Bloom did a tutorial using her insider knowledge. We can assume it was in place for a few years prior to that.

There have been several tests and trials of features by Ableton through the years like this.
The device slots idea pre-dates Racks - which have a parallel and multi branching tree-like structure so the device slots never worked and that was probably the reason it got abandoned.

in short, do not expect this feature to develop.
They are more likely to remove it in favour of an entirely different paradigm

Well, this sucks. I just learnt about this feature through Reddit and when I tried it was broken. I think it would be great if Ableton continued to develop and finally incorporate this feature officially. It would make Live a better tool for mixing, as it places devices one click away. Just my 2c.

Definitely agree, I was so excited when I learned about this feature and then found out that it doesn't work in Live 11. It would make mixing so much easier in Ableton!

tomgulbinas wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:13 am

Definitely agree, I was so excited when I learned about this feature and then found out that it doesn't work in Live 11. It would make mixing so much easier in Ableton!

Absolutely. It would put every plugin in the project one click away, no scrolling needed. One miracle at a time...

Plus one.