Here’s a straight-to-the-point guide to creating an Ableton ALP (Ableton Live Pack) file for your project:

1. Organize Your Project

• Open your Ableton Live project.
• Remove any unused tracks, samples, and effects to keep it clean.
• Save the project (File → Save Live Set As...) in a dedicated folder.

2. Collect All Files

• Go to File → Collect All and Save.
• In the dialog box, check all options to include external samples and files.
• Click OK.

3. Export as an ALP File

• Go to File → Manage Files → Manage Project.
• Click Create Live Pack.
• Choose a destination folder and name your .ALP file.
• Click Save, and Ableton will package everything.

Done. Now you have an ALP file ready for sharing or backup. - chatGPT

 

yes, but how to find your ALP installed files, for example I have 10 drum kits each with samples collected and saved in project, then saved as ALP.
I load the ALP after and I don't find my installed files anywhere.

 

default on windows should be %my documents%\ableton\library

 

bump

 

Creating the pack:

1. Open a new Live set.
2. Go to the "Analog" folder in Live's device browser, where you should find a subfolder with the name "current project (project name)".
3. Copy your preset(s) into this "current project" folder. [*]
4. Select "collect all and save" from the "file" menu to save a self-contained project, e.g. on the desktop.
5. Now go to the "file" menu -> manage files -> manage project. It should display the total number of exported preset files under "project contents".
6. Under "packing", click "create Live Pack" and save the Live Pack anywhere you want.

[*] you could also create some sub-folders inside the "current project" folder. This will extract your presets into the respective subfolder when you install the finished pack on another computer.

Installing the pack:

1. Go to the "file" menu and select "install Live Pack".
2. Live will prompt you to select a location where you want to install the pack. You can install it anywhere you want (except directly into Live's library) and you can also delete this installed pack afterwards, so the easiest way might be to install it on the desktop.
3. Once the pack has been installed, open one of Live's file browsers and locate the installed pack (the installed pack will appear as a Live project folder).
4. Right-click on the project folder and select "manage project".
5. In the file manager at the right, go to "export to library" and click the "export" button. This will copy the presets into your library.

Once this is done, you can delete both, the Live Pack (the .alp file) as well as the installed pack (the project folder).

 

There are two kinds of ALP packs in Ableton Live. User and self-installing. You cannot create the latter kind without some special juju contract with Ableton. Also, since Live 10 or so it's no longer possible to "export to library" to install projects as if they are self-installing packs from Ableton. All the info you read above from ChatGPT is for old versions of Live. Even if you extract a user pack to the (factory) packs install location, Live won't "see" it as a properly installed pack because it's missing the "Ableton Folder Info". The crucial file in the latter is probably Properties.cfg which contains the vendor info, including the product id for a self-installing pack.

If you doubt this

https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=128333#p1014509
https://forum.ableton.com/viewtopic.php?t=240181

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2025

To follow

 

It turns that making a project folder be accepted as an installed pack isn't too hard. Instructions here

https://www.reddit.com/r/abletonliv...ed_out_how_to_make_previews_that_work_in_the/

I just tried it with a pack posted on AZ as user ALP. Added just a Properties.cfg in an "Ableton Folder Info", https://pastebin.com/KNBQhtPd (used some bogus id on the PackUniqueID line that's high enough not to conflict with anything that Ableton currently sells) restarted Live and sure enough it registers as if installed after a short re-scan that is auto-triggered by Live restart. https://imgur.com/a/X8usfRK

So possibly, all you have to do is to have that Properties.cfg in an "Ableton Folder Info" in your project before you create the "user" ALP file, to make it self-installing. Live might delete the properties.cfg though when it packs that. To be tested!

I tested it now, but alas even if you have that Properties.cfg in an "Ableton Folder Info" in your project the ALP that Live12 creates is still not self-installing, i.e. will prompt for a location. So, there's probably some extra juju that it needs before it creates self-installing ALPs. But it doesn't strip the Properties.cfg from the user ALP if there was such a file in your project. So you can point Live straight to your installed packs location on extraction of such a pack. So, the process can be made almost automatic, except for the nuisance location prompt.

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2025