"Save Session" / "Save Inputs" Ableton Plugin

Within the plugin, the current session cannot be saved directly. The “Save Session” option is always greyed out, so the only available command is “Save Session As…”, which forces creating a new file or overwriting the old one every time.

The same applies to Inputs. After adjusting sensor input settings, there is no way to update the existing input file. There is no “Save Input” or “Update Input” function. The only option is “Save Input As…”, which again forces new files or manual overwriting.

This results in a triple-save workflow every time changes are made: update the session via “Save As…”, update each input via “Save As…”, and then save the Ableton project. This creates unnecessary friction during iterative editing.

Request: enable a functional “Save Session” command within the plugin and add a “Save Input” or “Update Input” option. This would allow updating existing files without duplication and would streamline the workflow when using the plugin inside Ableton.

Oooor I am missing something, in which case please enlighten me :slight_smile:

Hi @effectual!

The Sensory Percussion 2 Ableton Plugin save menu is designed intentionally to make it difficult to overwrite your standalone sessions and inputs. This guardrail is in place to stop users from accidentally overwriting work.

Once sessions or inputs are loaded into the Sensory Percussion 2 Ableton Plugin, saving actions default to the Ableton session itself. So when you hit command/cntrl + S your work is saved: you will not lose it by quitting Ableton, but it is saved within the Ableton session, and doesn’t overwrite any Sensory Percussion 2 session file you have saved elsewhere on your computer.

Saving as... from the plugin, is essentially an export action, and it probably means that you intentionally now want to access either your .sp2 (session) or .spi (inputs) from the standalone, or save them somewhere else on your hard drive so that you can load them into a different Ableton session with the Sensory Percussion 2 Plugin.


This saving workflow is also in place to protect the ability to run your sensor audio back through the plugin and edit your set later on (which is a really fun use-case for the plugin):

If the standalone was set up to overwrite .spi files in the plugin, and you recorded a performance three months ago, the tuning of your drums will have changed and you would not be able to recreate the performance and edit sounds in the kit by re-running your sensor audio back through the plugin.

Since the .spi and .sp2 (and also .spo) files are neatly saved in the Ableton session when you save using the Ableton file menu (or simply by pressing command/cntrl + S), you don’t need to worry about accidentally overwriting work you did using the standalone app.

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So you’re saying I can just save the Ableton Session and any changes within the VST will be saved as well, but only within said Ableton Session?

I’m pretty sure I did this in the beginning and lost a pile of SP programming (which lead to my post in the first place). But I’ll try again with some less sophisticated changes.

Thank you for clarifying! :slight_smile: