Published 2025-04-10.
Time to read: 1 minutes.
This page is part of the
av_studio collection.
Ableton Live uses an SQLite3 database.
For Windows, the database is found in %LocalAppData%/Ableton/Live Database.
The incantation to change to that directory from WSL/Ubuntu is:
Shell
$ cd "$( wslpath "$( cmd.exe /c echo %localAppData% 2>/dev/null | tr -d '\r' )" )"
$ pwd /mnt/c/Users/Mike Slinn/AppData/Local
$ cd 'Ableton/Live Database'
Ableton Live v11 uses a file called Live-files-53.db,
while Live v12 uses a file called Live-files-1218.db.
Shell
$ ls *.db Live-files-1218.db Live-files-53.db
Let's look at the v12 tables:
Shell
$ sqlite3 Live-files-1218.db SQLite version 3.42.0 2023-05-16 12:36:15 Enter ".help" for usage hints. sqlite> .headers on
sqlite> .mode column
sqlite> .tables ancestors plugin_modules devices plugins fe_values search_aggregation fe_values_record search_aggregation_content file_devices search_aggregation_docsize files search_aggregation_segdir keywords search_aggregation_segments metadata search_aggregation_stat metadata_values version places vfolder_patterns plugin_domains vfolders
Here is the schema for the files table:
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> pragma table_info('files'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- --------------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 file_id INTEGER 0 1 1 parent_id INTEGER 0 0 2 file_type INTEGER 0 0 3 subtype INTEGER 0 0 0 4 file_kind INTEGER 0 0 0 5 mod_date INTEGER 0 0 6 file_size INTEGER 0 0 7 aggr_id INTEGER 0 0 8 name TEXT 0 0 9 colors INTEGER 0 1 0 10 md_version INTEGER 0 0 0 11 scanner_version INTEGER 0 0 0 12 use_count INTEGER 0 0 0 13 place_id INTEGER 1 0 0 14 flags INTEGER 0 3 0 15 device_type INTEGER 0 0 0 16 device_arch INTEGER 0 0 0 17 device_id TEXT 0 0 18 edit_source TEXT 0 0 19 edit_date INTEGER 0 0 20 fe_version INTEGER 0 0 0
Here are the rows for the first 10 .adg files.
ADG stands for Ableton Device Group.
These files contain presets of virtual instruments or audio effect racks.
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> select * from files where name like '%.adg' limit 10; file_id parent_id file_type subtype file_kind mod_date file_size aggr_id name colors md_version scanner_version use_count place_id flags device_type device_arch device_id edit_source edit_date fe_version ------- --------- ---------- ------- --------- ---------- --------- ------- ----------------------- ------ ---------- --------------- --------- -------- ----- ----------- ----------- ------------------------------------------- ----------- --------- ---------- 9067 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 4689 94118 Keys & Scales.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9068 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 6575 94119 MIDI to MPE.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9069 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3675 94120 MPE Invert.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9070 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3701 94121 MPE Note PB Range.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9072 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 4648 94122 Arp Autobahn.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9073 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3192 94123 Arp Chance.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9074 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3111 94124 Arp Chord.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9075 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 5729 94125 Arp Descending Note.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9076 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3179 94126 Arp Double.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0
Here is the schema and the first 5 rows of the places table:
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> pragma table_info('places'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ----------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 file_id INTEGER 0 0 1 folder_kind INTEGER 0 0 2 level INTEGER 1 0 0 3 name TEXT 0 0
sqlite> select * from places limit 5; file_id folder_kind level name ------- ----------- ----- ------------------ 79005 0 0 Drum Machines 78999 0 0 Digicussion 2 79011 0 0 Guitar and Bass 79027 0 0 Konkrete Breaks 79031 0 0 M4L Building Tools
Although there is an entry for User Library in the places table,
it seems that Push and Packs places are hard-coded,
because they do not have entries in this table.
Here is the schema for the plugins table:
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> pragma table_info('plugins'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ----------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 plugin_id INTEGER 0 1 1 module_id INTEGER 0 0 0 2 dev_identifier TEXT 0 0 3 name TEXT 0 0 4 vendor TEXT 0 0 5 version TEXT 0 0 6 sdk_version TEXT 0 0 7 flags INTEGER 0 0 0 8 scanstate INTEGER 0 0 0 9 enabled INTEGER 0 0 0
Here is the schema and the single row of the version table:
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> pragma table_info('version'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- -------- ---- ------- ---------- -- 0 version INT 0 0 1 platform INT 0 0
sqlite> select * from version; version platform ------- -------- 1218 1
Here is the schema and the first 10 rows of the vfolders table:
sqlite3 continued
sqlite> pragma table_info('vfolders'); cid name type notnull dflt_value pk --- ---------- ------- ------- ---------- -- 0 vfolder_id INTEGER 0 1 1 group_id INTEGER 0 0 2 name TEXT 0 0
sqlite> select * from vfolders where name like '%.adg' limit 10; file_id parent_id file_type subtype file_kind mod_date file_size aggr_id name colors md_version scanner_version use_count place_id flags device_type device_arch device_id edit_source edit_date fe_version ------- --------- ---------- ------- --------- ---------- --------- ------- ----------------------- ------ ---------- --------------- --------- -------- ----- ----------- ----------- ------------------------------------------- ----------- --------- ---------- 9067 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 4689 94118 Keys & Scales.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9068 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 6575 94119 MIDI to MPE.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9069 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3675 94120 MPE Invert.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9070 9066 1633969965 0 32 1686173542 3701 94121 MPE Note PB Range.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9072 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 4648 94122 Arp Autobahn.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9073 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3192 94123 Arp Chance.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9074 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3111 94124 Arp Chord.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9075 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 5729 94125 Arp Descending Note.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0 9076 9071 1633969965 0 32 1686173540 3179 94126 Arp Double.adg 1 3 10 0 5403 3 4 1 device:ableton:midifx:MidiEffectGroupDevice 0
