How we test

Racks

Every rack is built in Live, not written by hand and hoped for. Once it is built, we read every setting back out of Live and compare it with what we meant to set, so a typo in a value can't slip through. Then we sweep each knob across its range to check it does what its label says, with no jumps and no dead spots, and play a test clip through the rack while watching the meters. A rack ships only when the levels make sense at every knob position.

Before and after clips on this site are matched in loudness. A louder clip always sounds better at first, so we level-match both versions before we let you compare them, and check that neither one clips.

Settings

Every setting in our guides is checked against our device atlas. Tim measured all 85 stock devices in Live 12, recording each parameter's name, range and default. When a guide says to set Channel EQ's Mid Freq to 320 Hz, the atlas confirms that the control exists, that it reaches that value, and how it is labeled in Live. That catches settings that look right on paper but can't be dialed in.

The atlas also tells us when a device can't do a move. Channel EQ has one sweepable mid band, so where a guide needs two mid moves on Lite or Intro, it says to add a second Channel EQ instead of pretending one device can do both.

Edition facts

Facts about which edition includes what, and the price of each one, come from ableton.com. We record the date we checked them on every edition page, so you know how fresh the numbers are. The current figures were checked on 2026-10-10, and Lite's figures and device list on 2026-10-11.

We recheck them each time we add a new phase of guides to the site. Where ableton.com doesn't make a fact clear, we leave it out rather than guess. For a while that meant our guides didn't claim Lite support for any EQ. Once Ableton's Lite features page confirmed Channel EQ and EQ Three, we added Lite to every Channel EQ setting.

Corrections

If you find a mistake, a setting that doesn't work in your edition, or a fact that has changed, email hello@sendandreturnaudio.com. Tell us the page and what you found. We check every report and fix the page if it is wrong.