How to use SpectraLayers in Ableton Live

SpectraLayers works with Ableton Live, but not as an ARA plug-in: Live does not host ARA, and Steinberg lists Live among the programs that use SpectraLayers as an external editor. So there are two ways to clean up or edit a vocal with SpectraLayers from Live: send the clip's file to SpectraLayers as Live's sample editor, or use a companion tool that opens the clip in SpectraLayers with ARA next to Live. This guide walks through both and what each one costs.

The short version

	External sample editor	Clip-based (null.audio EDIT)
Getting audio into SpectraLayers	Instant	Instant
Hearing edits in the Live mix	No, SpectraLayers plays the file on its own	Yes, through the EDIT Bridge
Effects after SpectraLayers	Only once you're back in Live	Live, if the Bridge is first on the track
What changes the clip	Updating overwrites the sample file	Commit writes a new file; Revert restores
Cost	Your SpectraLayers licence	Your SpectraLayers licence + EDIT

Option 1: SpectraLayers as Live's external sample editor

This is the route Steinberg documents for Live.

1. In Live's Settings → File & Folder, set the Sample Editor to the SpectraLayers application.
2. Consolidate the clip first, so it has a file of its own.
3. Open Clip View, right-click the sample, choose Manage Sample File, and click Edit. The file opens in SpectraLayers straight away.
4. Edit in SpectraLayers, then choose File → Update.
5. Back in Live, click Edit again to bring your edits in.

What it costs: Ableton's manual calls this destructive sample editing. Updating changes the sample file itself, so every clip that plays the same file changes too, which is why you consolidate first. And while you edit, SpectraLayers plays the vocal on its own: you don't hear a de-noise or a removed breath against the beat or through your vocal chain until you go back to Live.

Option 2: open the clip in SpectraLayers from Live (null.audio EDIT)

null.audio EDIT runs the ARA host that Live doesn't have, next to Live, and connects it to your Arrangement clips. SpectraLayers runs as the ARA plug-in Steinberg built it to be.

1. Put the null.audio EDIT Bridge first on the vocal track, ahead of your vocal chain.
2. Choose SpectraLayers in the EDITOR menu on the EDIT panel.
3. Select the clip in Arrangement View and press EDIT. The clip opens in SpectraLayers.
4. Press play in Live. The Bridge plays your edit with the rest of the mix, in real time, and through every effect after it.
5. Press Commit. Only the edited audio goes back to Arrangement View as a new file; your vocal chain stays live on the track. Revert puts the original clip back.

What it costs: EDIT is a separate purchase, and you still need your own SpectraLayers licence. It works in Arrangement View, on one clip at a time, with Ableton Live 12.3 or later on macOS or Windows. We test it with SpectraLayers 10. The EDIT guide shows each step with screenshots.

Which one should you use?

• A quick fix on one file, and you don't need to hear it in the song yet: the external sample editor. Consolidate first.
• Cleanup you want to judge in the mix, on clips you keep coming back to: that's the case EDIT was built for.

Why Live works this way

In Cubase, Studio One, REAPER and other ARA hosts, SpectraLayers reads the clip and stays in sync with the timeline. Live does not implement ARA, and users have been asking for it on the Ableton forum for years. The background is in Does Ableton Live support ARA?, and there's a sourced list of which DAWs support ARA.