velkajelka/ableton-linux

This project repackages the Linux build of Ableton Live 12 that ships inside Ableton's Push 3 recovery image into a normal desktop application, using a preloaded shim library for windows, menus, file dialogs, plug-in editors, PipeWire audio and mixed-scale monitors. The repository contains none of Ableton's files; you supply both the Push 3 recovery image and the Windows Suite installer, and the installer copies the missing content from the latter.

What you get and what you must supply

The shim supplies the desktop plumbing, while the Core Library, lessons, stem models, cursors and icon come from the Windows Suite installer through tools/import-windows-content.sh. Live's files are not modified, and licensing is unchanged: Live starts unauthorized and you authorize it with your own Ableton account. Saving and exporting stay disabled until you do.

The documented version pairing is Push 3 recovery image 2.4.7 and Live 12.4.7 Suite (README). The Ubuntu-style prerequisites can be installed with one listed command per distribution; innoextract does not need to be installed because a bundled development build reads this installer (innoextract notes).

Hardware and system requirements

This is the main constraint: the binary was compiled for Push 3's 11th Gen Intel CPU and requires AVX-512, which the README limits to AMD Ryzen 7000 series and above and Intel Core 10th and 11th Gen (requirements). You also need an x86-64 PC with PipeWire, glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Mint 21, Debian 12, Fedora 36 or newer), and an X11 session or Xwayland. Installing needs about 25 GB free and leaves about 7 GB after.

On Debian-family systems the installer may offer to create the program loader link at /lib/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 with sudo; this is the only change outside your home folder, and skipping it means Live will not start until the link exists. The install path must not contain spaces or quotes, because Live registers itself through an unquoted command. Install and uninstall scripts refuse to act while Live is running.

Documented gaps and recovery boundaries

The build is not feature-complete: the README lists REX loops, VST2 (VST3 works), EXS24/SoundFont/Kontakt import, web views, video export, Push 2 display, Pack downloads, screen-reader support and media keys as unavailable. Windows plug-ins work through yabridge.

Installation is resumable: re-running install.sh continues after the last finished step. Uninstall removes the program, Core Library and menu entry but deliberately keeps your User Library, recordings and projects in <Music>/Ableton; only --purge deletes settings and licence. The project is GPL-3.0 for its own code, is unaffiliated with Ableton, and includes third-party components under their own licences (innoextract under zlib, xkbcommon under MIT).