10 Reasons You Can't Hear Audio in Ableton Live

Did you just record audio in Ableton Live and when you hit play you don't hear anything? Maybe you're running tracks on stage and when you press play your tracks are greyed out and you can't hear audio. Or maybe you're using your MIDI Controller with Live to record parts and you can't hear anything.

In this video, I'm going to share 10 possible reasons why you can't hear audio in Ableton Live. If you're struggling to hear your audio-you'll find the solution in this video.

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[AroundtheBendBand-iwjy]

Another reason which should be noted is that if you have a Plug-in turned on which does not have an active license or is not installed on your computer, the track on which that plugin is assigned will not play any audio. This issue drove me crazy! A bandmate put an EQ plugin on the master track and then sent me the session to work on. I opened it up on my computer (which was running the same Live 11 Suite) and everything was looking great. All the routing was correct, all inputs were active etc. Basically went through your 11 troubleshoots and could not figure it out. Finally I started to remove plugins to see if that would help and WALLA! While the plugin was still assigned to the track, I simply turned it off and the audio started to route to the master track again. Im sure others have had this issue so I wanted to share and hopefully save someone some time!

[jimpurcell]

You have been lifted up to life-saver status!!! Coming over to Ableton from Logic Pro for a family project. My frustration level was high. Thanks for solving problems for me today!!!

[jdstewart]

after watching numerous videos..yours was expert and accurate..got my audio issues completely fixed..thanks again Man!

[pablofranciscodelamotatori]

One week full frustration because of back to arrange button was not disabled. Huge thanks for putting out this content!!

[jeffreyconboy]

i never sub on youtube but you solved two of my problems on two different videos in 5 minutes without wasting time with some cheeky banter. cheers you got a new sub

[benjaminmcelwain]

I'm still having issues. I am receiving sound from Ableton, I can hear the metronome when I play it, but each track lacks sound. They are not muted and I am seeing no green in the mixer section on the right side of the screen. Instead, the mute button is grey as are the bars in the mixer section. I also do not have an audio effects window that pops up at all when I click on any track, the bottom area is an empty grey square. Any help would be appreciated. I am new to Ableton (I have lite) and probably hit the wrong button somewhere along the road.

[PallomaIzidio]

You helped me a lot, I was starting to feel overwhelmed and frustrated with this problem. Thank you very much!!!!

[zlrichardson]

New user to Ableton Live and the "Back to Arrangement" button was the culprit preventing playback for me, thanks so much for posting this!

[piposanchez]

I've recently started having an issue where sound will randomly cut out. I don't touch anything and it just stops until I relaunch. Then it works again. VERY FRUSTRATING and I can't seem to find any answers/solutions, other than restarting, which really slows down my workflow. Any ideas what this could be? Once it cuts out, I've tried choosing different output settings / audio devices, but nothing works. I still get a signal from my guitar but nothing out of the speakers (sound works fine in other apps).

[VideoGeo]

Excellent video! Very helpful. Thanks very much!

[K_wood]

I made a audio loop yesterday and was working fine but now when i jump back into the session im getting no sound what so ever from anywhere? My audio track wont play back and i cant hear any midi examples playing when i click on a set of drums or anything:(

[DJStatusss]

i added a completed wave file with instruments and vocal on it already mixed and now i want to remix loaded in bottom and i cant play it tried all here.

[DamonZenDrummer]

I love your videos. Amazing job . Much respect and love

[enonu]

Downloaded Ableton Live Lite and opened for the first time. Recorded from mic. Played back nothing. Google searched. Found this vid. Thank you.

[Kayb]

Thank you very much... simple solution was right in front of my eyes.🙏

[daveo]

I'm still having issues, I've been told to use asio4all on Windoows 10 but it isn't giving me any sound back, I can see the sudio going in and recording but no sound is getting returned, but if i use MME/Directx I can see and hear my recorded audio

[chrisw]

Mute and Solo are even more insidious when they're hidden in the chain of an Instrument Rack / Effects Rack. Make sure to put everything back to normal before going on to another section (or worse, saving it that way, and wonder why it doesn't sound right when you load it back in the next day...).

[AndresonChikusebenzmusic]

Thank you so much for this video. My issue was different but it helped me solve my audio input problem. I was getting a signal but it was distorted. I don't know how, but I had managed to change the Mic settings to isolation instead of standard. I was so confused because it was only affecting Live. if you are having this issue as well, click the icon with orange light (not sure what it's called) at the top right corner. The menu has an icon called mic mode. If the mic icon is orange then it's in isolation mode. click the icon, change it to standard and the mic will be grey. I hope that it makes sense and that it helps someone else. I almost lost my mind.😆

[mmacak]

You are great, and I am silly. Thank you for helping to realise I didn't load the MIDI sound, cause my sound was recorded, but not playing. Liked and Subscribed.

[DefektiveEnvy]

I’m still having trouble even when my audio output device is set as my focus right Scarlet. Ableton doesn’t seem to recognize it. There’s no green light indicating it’s hearing audio. I’ve played with settings on the audio page, but it’s just not working and I don’t know where to go from here.