Turn Ableton into a live loop station.
Five loopers, sixteen FX, one window that shows everything. Play a phrase, let it loop, then stack the next layer on top. Drop the template into your set and you're looping in ten minutes.
Making loops isn't the same as looping live.
Session view is brilliant for crafting loops. Live looping is a different game: audio stacked on audio, kept the moment you play it. Here's where Ableton actually stands, piece by piece:
MIDI overdubs beautifully. Audio can't overdub at all.
MIDI clips are built for layering. Session Record and Arrangement Overdub mix new notes into the clip instead of replacing them. But in an audio clip, Session Record overdubs automation only, never sound. Your voice, guitar, hardware, resampled FX: you can record them into a clip, but you can't stack onto it. Not in session view, not in arrangement.
Enter the Looper device. It's genuinely good.
Ableton's Looper is the real answer: true audio-on-audio overdub, record x bars then play, feedback, half/double speed, reverse. It even sets and follows your song tempo. One Looper on one track is a great time.
Run five, and they all disappear.
Device view shows one track at a time. Put the Loopers in a rack and you still see one chain at a time. Pop them out as floating windows and they vanish the moment you click anywhere else. Mid-groove, you're guessing which loop is recording and where the downbeat is. Five loopers you can't see isn't an instrument. It's guesswork.
Ouroboros is the missing window.
All five loopers, with state, position and level, plus 16 FX, on screen at once, in one HUD that stays put. Built on Live's own Looper engine, so every loop syncs to your tempo automatically. Nothing to route, nothing to hunt for. You just play.
I wanted to loop like Marc Rebillet. All I had was Ableton.
No RC-505, no loop pedal. Just a laptop, a mic, a MIDI keyboard, and no desire to buy hardware when I already owned the most powerful DAW on earth.
And here's the thing: Ableton's Looper device is genuinely good. It even sets and follows your global tempo. But run five of them and they disappear: racks can only show one device at a time, floating windows vanish the second you click away, and mid-groove you're guessing which loop is recording and where the downbeat is.
So I built the window I wanted: every looper visible at once, FX under my fingers, one click to save the whole jam. Like a hardware loop station, living inside Live.
Now I can't imagine going back to squinting at track headers. I open one window and play. That's the entire idea.
Watch it loop.
Sixty seconds. Five loopers. Zero routing.
What's inside
A full performance instrument, shipped as one Ableton Pack.
5 Parallel Loopers
Rec, overdub, play, stop, hold-to-clear. Undo/redo, reverse, half/double speed and length, feedback control, quick stop, per-looper quantization, and a 3-band post-recording EQ on every loop.
16 FX × 3 Stages
The same 16-effect bank runs three times: on the input, the tracks, and the master output. Each stage comes with its own dry/wet knob and kill switch, plus an All-FX-Off panic button and resampling through the output chain.
Loop-Length Sync
Lock loopers 2–5 to 1×, 2×, 4× or 8× of looper 1 with automatic recording stop, or set them free with ∞.
One-Click Save
All five loops save as clips across five tracks in a single scene. Auto-finds the next empty row. No dragging, no hunting.
Session Recorder
Capture the entire performance straight to an audio file on disk, independent of Ableton's transport. Never lose a jam again.
Instrument Selector
Scan a hundred-plus sounds by category, randomize, and swap instruments mid-performance without leaving the HUD. Ships with a customizable rack.
16 External Inputs
Mics, synths, hardware: toggle each input in and out of the loopers on the fly, each with independent gain.
Strict MIDI Learn + Low Latency
Per-channel MIDI mapping that never detaches mid-set, FX racks that auto-bypass at zero, and a reduce-latency mode for the tightest possible loops.
The 16-FX bank × 3
These 16 effects load three times over: one bank on the input, one on the tracks, one on the master output. Each stage has its own dry/wet knob to set how hard the effects hit the final mix, and every slot is a standard Ableton device you can swap for anything you like.
One HUD. The whole show.
A floating performance window that sits on top of Ableton. Every loop state, effect and input visible at once. Tap the screenshot to zoom.
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Hear it loop.
Two unedited art-jam sessions, looped live with Ouroboros. No post-production.
More sessions on the YouTube channel →
This isn't for everyone. That's kind of the point.
Everyone has their own way of making music in Ableton. If you love your workflow and don't want to change it, great. Genuinely: don't change it.
But here's what I noticed. Everyone mentions the Looper device. Almost nobody performs with it. I bought a whole course on looping and live performance, and the Looper video was pure theory: you "could" use it, you "could" chain two together. It wasn't the method they actually used for anything.
Live looping inside Ableton is genuinely underdeveloped territory. Ouroboros is my attempt to make it feel like an instrument. If that sounds like fun, come play.
Skip it if
- You love your current workflow and it's already making music you're proud of
- Your loops live in session clips and you like crafting them there
- You want grid-perfect, quantized results every time
Come play if
- You want to stack audio live and keep what happens
- You've watched loop artists build songs from nothing and wanted in
- You'd rather spend tonight playing than arranging
Get Ouroboros ∞
Why $27? It's the beta price, and it goes up at v1. Early loopers get in cheapest and shape the roadmap.
- Ouroboros Ableton Pack: one-click install (File → Install Pack)
- The HUD: the floating performance window that runs everything
- 5 pre-routed parallel loopers with full transport control
- 16-FX bank × 3: input, track and output stages, each with its own dry/wet
- Customizable instrument rack + live instrument selector
- 16 external input senders for mics and hardware
- Session recorder: capture whole jams to disk
- Setup walkthrough video
If Ouroboros doesn't change how you loop in Ableton, email [email protected] for a full refund. No questions asked. I built this because nothing else existed. If it doesn't work for you, I don't want your money.
Questions, answered.
Doesn't Ableton already have a Looper?
Yes, and it's good. Ouroboros actually builds on it, which is how loops auto-sync to your global tempo. What Ableton doesn't give you is five loopers you can see and control at once: racks show one device at a time, and floating windows disappear when you click away. Ouroboros is the missing window.
Can't I just loop with Session View clips?
For MIDI, absolutely: session and arrangement overdub mix new notes into existing clips, and it's great. Audio is the wall: in an audio clip, Session Record overdubs automation only, never sound. Stacking audio on audio in real time needs Looper devices, and that's the instrument Ouroboros turns them into. Plenty of people do both.
Does it quantize my audio?
No. Like a hardware looper, it records what you play, when you play it. Looper 1 sets your tempo, the others sync their lengths automatically, and a reduce-latency mode keeps tracking tight. You get one level of undo per loop; after that, it's part of the song. With a little practice you get tight, and that's the fun.
Which versions of Ableton does it work with?
Ableton Live 12: either Suite (Max for Live included) or Standard with the Max for Live add-on. Intro doesn't support Max for Live, so it won't work there.
Mac or Windows?
Built and tested on macOS. Windows should work but is untested so far. If you hit a bug, email [email protected] and I'll fix it or refund you, your choice.
How does it install?
It ships as an Ableton Pack. In Live: File → Install Pack, select the download, done. The included walkthrough video covers first-time setup in a few minutes.
Do I need a MIDI controller?
No. Everything works from the HUD with a mouse or trackpad. If you have a controller, the built-in strict MIDI Learn maps any knob, encoder or pad per channel, and unlike Ableton's native mapping it doesn't detach mid-set.
Can I use my own instruments and plugins?
Yes. The instrument rack is yours to fill: drop in any Live instruments or VSTs and the selector scans them by category. Around a hundred sounds stays snappy on a modern machine.
Can I loop external gear or a microphone?
Yes: 16 external input senders let you toggle mics, synths and hardware in and out of the loopers, each with its own gain.
What about latency?
There's a dedicated reduce-latency mode that bypasses FX chains during initial recording, and every FX rack auto-bypasses when it's at zero. This is the thing that makes software looping viable live.
How do I get the files?
Instant download after purchase.
Can I use it in my shows and releases?
Yes: unlimited personal and commercial use: perform with it, stream with it, and release music made with it, no attribution needed. The only thing you can't do is resell, share or redistribute the template and devices themselves.
What's the refund policy?
30 days, full refund, no questions asked. Email [email protected]. If it doesn't change how you loop, I don't want your money.