Radia for Live / Live Enhancement Suite alternatives for Ableton Live 12

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Live Enhancement Suite alternatives for Ableton Live 12

Live Enhancement Suite gave a lot of producers their first fast plugin menu in Ableton: double right-click, pick a device, done. It has now been discontinued, and its makers say it won't be updated for Live 12. This page goes through what Live 12 can already do on its own, then the add-ons that fill the gap: Quick Launcher, ALFIL, ALFIL Max and Radia. For each one you get what it does, what it needs, which systems it runs on and what it costs, so you can pick the one that suits how you work.

What Live Enhancement Suite did well

Live Enhancement Suite (LES) was a free set of workflow add-ons for Live 10 and 11, on Windows and Mac. The part most people remember is the device menu: double right-click anywhere in Live and a menu of your devices pops up, with submenus for each category. You chose what went in it by editing a config file, and the same config worked on both systems. It also added extras such as quick versioned saves, a project timer, a shortcut to close all plugin windows and piano roll helpers.

The source code was released under the MIT licence, so it cost nothing and anyone could change it.

Why people look for an alternative

• It's discontinued. The LES site says the suite has been discontinued and won't be updated for Live 12. Both GitHub repositories are now archived. Some people still run it, and the source is open for anyone to fork, but nobody is maintaining the official version.
• Live 12 support. The site lists Live 10 and 11. On Live 12 you're on your own.
• Setting up the menu. Changing the menu meant editing a text file by hand. That suits some people, but plenty would rather click to add a device.

The discontinuation notice points out that most of the suite's other features are now built into Live 12. The quick device menu and the timers are the exceptions, and the menu is what most people miss.

Start with what Live 12 already does

Before you install anything, it's worth knowing how far Live's own browser gets you. From Ableton's manual:

• Search from the keyboard. Cmd+F on a Mac or Ctrl+F on Windows switches the browser to the All label and puts the cursor in the search field. Type, press Down to reach the results, then Enter or a double-click loads the device onto the selected track.
• Saved searches. After a search, Add Label saves the results as a label of your own in the sidebar.
• Collections. Select an item and press 1 to 7 to give it a colour (0 clears it). Each colour is a Collection, so your favourite EQs, compressors and synths can sit one click away.
• Tags. Live 12 lets you tag items and search by tag with #, for example #Drums.

For many people that's enough, and it's free. Live has no built-in way to give a single device its own key, though, and loading still means moving your eyes and the mouse to the browser. That is the gap the tools below fill. There's more on this in how to load plugins faster in Ableton Live 12.

Quick Launcher (Live Workflow Tools)

Quick Launcher is a Max for Live device that opens a small floating launcher at your cursor. You map its Launch button to a key or a MIDI control, then click a slot or press 1 to 9 to load a preset. It loads Live and Max for Live device presets, racks, VST3 presets and Audio Unit presets on macOS, sorted into folder tabs. It needs Live 10 or later with Max for Live, which comes with Live Suite and is a paid add-on for Live Standard (it isn't available for Intro). At launch it was about €12.

It suits you if you already have Max for Live and think in presets rather than plugins.

ALFIL and ALFIL Max (Killihu)

ALFIL (Ableton Live Fast Item Loader) is a Windows app. A hotkey shows a floating window of up to 44 buttons while Live is in front. Each button runs a search in Live's browser and loads the first result, and you can give each button a key. It's listed for Live 10, 11 and 12 (Intro, Standard or Suite) at about $5.

ALFIL Max is the Max for Live version, for Mac and Windows. It loads device, rack and plugin preset files straight from disk into a floating window, and you click or drag them in. The listing notes that one-click loading is slow on Windows, so dragging is recommended there. It's about $8 and needs Max for Live.

ALFIL suits Windows users who like a fixed panel of buttons and don't mind setting each one up.

Radia for Live

Radia is the one we make, so take this section with that in mind. It does one job: getting devices onto your track quickly. It doesn't replace the other LES extras such as versioned saves or piano roll tools.

• A wheel under your cursor. Double-tap Shift and a radial menu of your devices, plugins and racks opens where your mouse is. Click one, or press its number, and it's on the track. If you miss the LES gesture, you can set it to open with a double right-click instead, or with another modifier key.
• Built from what you use. One click reads what you load most in Live and builds the wheel from it. You change it with clicks and drags, not a config file.
• Search over everything installed. Start typing on the wheel to search Live's devices, your VST3, VST and AU plugins, and the racks and Max for Live devices in your User Library.
• Typed shortcuts. hp200 loads EQ Eight with a 200 Hz high-pass, and verb35 loads Hybrid Reverb at 35% wet.
• Hotkeys. Give any device its own key. See keyboard shortcuts to load plugins in Ableton Live.
• Mac and Windows. It runs on macOS 13 or later and Windows 10 and 11, with one licence for both. It's made for Live 12. Live 11 mostly works, but a few features need 12.

It doesn't need Max for Live: a small helper script inside Live loads devices through Live's own browser. On a Mac it needs Accessibility permission to notice the double-tap.

Side by side

• Live Enhancement Suite: free (MIT). Windows and Mac. Built for Live 10 and 11 and no longer maintained. You set the menu up in a config file and open it with a double right-click.
• Quick Launcher: about €12 at launch. Mac and Windows. Needs Live 10 or later with Max for Live. You set it up with folders of presets and open it with a key or MIDI control you map.
• ALFIL: about $5. Windows only. Listed for Live 10 to 12, with no Max for Live needed. You type in the text for each button and open the window with a hotkey.
• ALFIL Max: about $8. Mac and Windows. Needs Live 10 to 12 with Max for Live. It loads preset files from disk and opens with a key mapping.
• Radia for Live: £6.50, one-off. Mac and Windows. Made for Live 12, with no Max for Live needed. The wheel is built from what you use, and you open it by double-tapping a modifier key, with a double right-click, or with a hotkey for a single device.

Prices change, so check each product's own page before you buy.

Which one to pick

• If you only need a faster browser, learn the Cmd/Ctrl+F routine and Collections first. They cost nothing.
• If you're on Live 10 or 11 and LES still works for you, there's no rush to change.
• If you have Max for Live and work with presets, look at Quick Launcher or ALFIL Max.
• If you're on Windows and want a cheap panel of buttons, ALFIL does that.
• If you want the LES-style menu on Live 12, on Mac or Windows, without Max for Live or a config file, try Radia. The free download is the full app, with 30 opens of the wheel, so you can test it in your own sets before you decide.

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