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General support information

COLLECT & SAVE in ABLETON LIVE

We want to highlight an important limitation when using Xp for Live with Ableton: Xp does not support “Collect & Save” .

Here is why:

When you use Collect & Save in Ableton Live, the software gathers all project dependencies into a single location, including plugins and Max for Live devices. This is generally a safe operation for most tools.

However, due to behavior internal to Max/MSP, this process triggers an unexpected sequence:

  • a closebang is fired,

  • followed by a new initialization bang via live.thisdevice.

For most plugins, this has little to no consequence. But Xp is not a typical plugin. Xp devices rely on a structured initialization process when they are loaded. This process sets up a number of underlying mechanisms that ensure the system behaves coherently and transparently during use.

When an additional, unintended initialization cycle is triggered, as happens during Collect & Save, this breaks the internal initialization chain. As a result, projects saved using this function may no longer work correctly when reopened. This issue is not caused by Xp itself, but by how Max/MSP currently handles device lifecycle events in this specific context.

We have reported the behavior, including the fact that: Performing Collect & Save triggers a closebang, followed by a new initialization via live.thisdevice, which disrupts LiveAPI based processes.

Recommendation:

Until this behavior changes, we strongly advise avoiding Collect & Save when working with Xp-based projects.

Thanks for your understanding.

Xp

MACOS TAHOE SUPPORT (April 2026)

There is currently an issue in Max 9 under Tahoe affecting one of the externals used in Xp. This means the bug is not originating from Xp itself, but from the Max/MSP environment.

We’ve implemented a temporary fix directly in the devices, which should allow you to continue working for now while we prepare a more comprehensive update. If needed, feel free to reach out to us to get access to this fix, as we are unlikely to release a dedicated version for it.

Please note that the current version of Xp will not officially support macOS Tahoe. As stated on our website, Xp is currently supported up to macOS Sequoia. Rather than extending support incrementally, we plan to address compatibility more globally in a future update.

That said, this situation also raises broader compatibility challenges between Max and Ableton Live versions. Due to this increasing complexity, it is likely that the next version of Xp will require Ableton Live 12.3 or higher.

We’ll keep you informed as things evolve. In the meantime, we wanted to share this early so you can anticipate potential updates on your system.