Newbe Help Installing SL in Ableton Live 8

[Stevee00]

Sorry if I'm asking a dumb question, but can anybody tell me how to get SL installed in Live? I'm a keyboard player, fairly new to Live, and totally new to plugins, VST's, softsynths. SooperLooper is the first, and so far only, plug-in so far that I think is worth venturing into this new world of software complexity. I've been using the Echoplex for a few years, but am migrating my setup to my laptop.

I searched here and in the Ableton forum, and in Google, and can't find any basic instructions. Of course I read the SL documentation and explored the website, but I don't understand enough of the terminology. I have the Live manual opened to try to figure out where to put VST and AU files (I guess they're different, right?)

SooperLooper was recommended to me in a workshop at last year's Electro-Music Conference, where I performed. (Great website, community, and annual music conference in northern New Jersey for electronic music of all sorts: http://www.electro-music.com/.) From what I've seen, it's exactly what I need. The new looper in Live is good, but doesn't have all the features I'm used to in my Echoplex.

I have Ableton Suite 8.1.4. I just downloaded SL and have it unzipped on my desktop. Now what?

Steve
Thin Air Music
Delicate Monster
Media, PA

[Stevee00]

Ok, it's been a couple of weeks since I asked for help, and I see that more than 50 people have viewed my request, but nobody has responded. I'm assuming that either all those people viewing think my question is too elementary and I'm unworthy of help, or they're newbies and have the same question. Probably both.

I've done some more work to answer my own question, but I still can't get SL to work in Ableton. Hopefully this will help any lurkers who have the same question. Any maybe it will help SL people improve the documentation so we don't have to ask here just to get SL working in Live.

Here's what I did:

I found the help .txt file "README_AudioUnit.txt. It says:

INSTALLATION-- Just copy the SooperLooperAU.component file to the
Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ folder beneath your home directory
or your system disk. If it doesn't show up in your plugin host, you
might need to log out then back in.

I found the .component file and moved it to that directory. Fired up Live and tried it. No luck.

Went to Live Preferences | File and turned on "Use Audio Units." Also did a Rescan Plug-Ins. No luck.

I opened up the Live manual to see what it said about AU installation.

Audio Units presets have an .aupreset extension and are stored in the following directory
according to their manufacturer’s name:
[Home]/Library/Audio/Presets/[Manufacturer Name]/[Plug-in Name]

Ok, so Live is looking for .aupreset files, and SL comes with a .component file and an .app file. I put both in the /Presets directory, and to be safe in about 3 other places under the Audio folder, including the Apple folder. No luck. Rescanned Plug-ins in Preferences. No luck. Exited Live and re-started. No luck.

When I say "no luck," what I'm doing is clicking on the Plug-in Device Browser and looking for anything that might be Sooper Looper. The Apple AU devices work. Aha! I'll see where the Apple devices are stored. Did a Spotlight search for "AUBandPass," the first Plug-in. Nothing. Did a search for the extension ".aupreset." Nothing. So now we have two mysteries--how to get SL to install, and where are the AU presets installed by Live on my computer. I dragged some the Apple AU devices into a track, and they are there and work.

Please, somebody who knows the answer give me some clues. Obviously I'm not lazy and I'm willing to dig in. But I've tried everything the manuals say to do, and can't install SL. I've heard some very good things about Sooper Looper and saw it in action. I really want to install it, because I love looping with my Echoplex, but now I'm migrating everything to Live. That's what a support forum like this is for, right?

I'm running Live 8.1.4 on a fairly recent Macbook. I've gotten everything else to work, though this is first time I've tried a plug-in.

Steve

[jesse]

Sorry for the lack of response. Putting the component file in your Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components/ is the right place. Plugins are organized by manufacturer in Live, so SooperLooper will be under essej.net as SooperLooperAU. I don't have Live v8, but I know others use it with no problems.

[juliaviolin]

Hey, have you tried enabling your AU plug-ins?

(instructions from the ableton Live manual - Section 16.5 on Audio Unit Plug-Ins)

"The rst time you open Live, Audio Units Plug-ins will not appear in the Plug-In Device
Browser. In order to activate your Audio Units as a plug-in source, please press the Activate
button in the Plug-In Device Browser, or go to the File/Folder Preferences by pressing
Ctrl , (PC) / , (Mac). There you will nd the Plug-In Sources section. Turning
on the Use Audio Units option activates Audio Units Plug-ins so that they appear in Live’s
Plug-In Device Browser.
Note that you can always turn this option off later if you decide not to use Audio Units."

[Stevee00]

Thank you for the advice. I did have Ableton scan plugins. One of the pieces that made a difference is to know to look under "essej.net." I did get it to work.

But in the meantime, I've integrated the Ableton looper into my setup, and that works very well. I'm still learning, and my plan is to go back to Sooper Looper when I can appreciate its extra features and power.

Thanks,

Steve