questions,
answered.
Common questions about tonee. Don't see yours? Email [email protected]. We read every message.
the basics
What is tonee?
An AI assistant that works inside Ableton Live. It reads your open set, makes the change you ask for, and tells you what it did. Voice or text. A permanent free tier, no card. Like any AI, it gets things wrong sometimes. Check its work.
How does it work?
tonee talks to Live over OSC, Ableton's own protocol for remote control. When you ask for something, it reads the current state of your set, works out the moves, and sends them back into the open session.
plans & pricing
Is tonee free?
There is a free plan with no card and no end date: the whole assistant, text and voice, up to 60 messages a month. Paid plans are $9.99, $14.99 and $29.99 a month, or two months free if you pay yearly, though card payments are not open yet, so everyone is on the free plan for now.
When can I pay for a plan?
Not yet. Card payments are closed while tonee is in early access, which is why every plan carries a notify button instead of a buy button. Leave your email on the pricing page, name the plan you want, and tonee will send one message when payments open.
How often does tonee change?
Often. It's in active development, so expect frequent updates and the occasional feature that moves under you. We read every bug report that comes in.
How do I report a bug?
Email [email protected] with what you asked tonee to do, what happened instead, and your tonee and Live versions. We read every report.
Will Free always be free?
Yes, the free plan is permanent, not a trial that expires. The allowance is raised to 60 messages a month during early access and settles at 25 when card payments open. That is published here now, in advance, which is the commitment: the number never drops without being posted first.
system & setup
Which Ableton versions are supported?
Live 11 and Live 12, on Intro, Standard, or Suite. A few of the newer device features need Live 12. Install Live first, then tonee.
What OS do I need?
macOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer, or Windows 10/11. 4 GB RAM min, 1.5 GB free disk, stable internet for the AI backend.
Do I need internet?
Yes, for the model. On the desktop app, voice-to-text runs on your machine, so your microphone audio never leaves it. The phone app has no on-device speech model, so a voice message there is uploaded and transcribed on our servers. What does go out is text: your message, plus the structure of your set (track names, device chains, parameter values), because the model needs that to answer. Your project file and your samples stay where they are. The one exception is if you ask tonee to listen to something you play. See Can tonee hear my music? below.
Does tonee start with my system?
No. It only runs when you open it, and it only connects to Live when Live is also running. Quit either and the connection drops.
features & usage
What can it actually do?
Adjust tempo and volume, create and rename tracks, fire clips, load devices and effects, edit MIDI notes, manage scenes, arm tracks for record, and most things in between.
Can tonee hear my music?
Only if you play it to it. It can't hear your set from the structure alone, so when it needs to hear something it asks, a red recording bar appears, you play, and you press Stop. It then measures what came out of your speakers (frequency balance, dynamics, stereo width) and answers from that. Nothing is recorded into your project. It can't start listening on its own and it can't listen without the indicator on screen.
Voice or text?
Both. Push-to-talk on ⌘. for hands-on-instrument moments. Type when you need precision.
Does it understand production lingo?
Mostly, yes: sidechain, reverb tails, Q values, swing, send routing, comping. It also knows Ableton's device and parameter names, so "open the filter on the pad" lands on the right control. It handles the unit conversion too: you talk in dB, Hz and ms, not in Live's internal 0 to 1 scale.
Can I undo a tonee move?
Usually, yes. tonee keeps a record of what it changed and can reverse it. Just tell it to undo, and a batch of changes comes back out together. The exception is deletions: if it removed a track, a clip, or a device, tonee can't rebuild those, so you undo them in Live with Cmd+Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows). Do that before making other edits in Live, or the history moves past it.
privacy & security
What is the encrypted authentication key?
Your login token, the thing that keeps you signed in between sessions. On login, it's encrypted with your OS's own keystore (DPAPI on Windows, Keychain on macOS, libsecret on Linux) before it touches disk. Your OS holds the key. We don't. It's also isolated from the renderer process, so a UI bug can't reach it.
How is tonee installed and what does it put on my computer?
It's a regular Electron app, same framework as VS Code, Slack, Discord. During setup it installs one script, AbletonOSC, into Documents/Ableton/User Library/Remote Scripts. That's Ableton's own official path for remote control. It also runs a small local server for voice processing, so speech-to-text happens on-device.
What can tonee control? Can it access my files?
It talks to Ableton through OSC, Ableton's official protocol for this, so its reach is whatever Live exposes there: play and stop, tempo, tracks, clips, devices, MIDI notes. That's the scope. On disk it writes exactly one thing, the AbletonOSC script in Live's Remote Scripts folder. It doesn't change your samples or your project file, control other apps, or run in the background once you close it. It does read an audio clip's file on your computer, to draw its waveform or to measure it when you ask, but that audio is not uploaded. No admin permissions. It can capture the audio coming out of your speakers, but only when it has asked and you press Stop.
troubleshooting
tonee won't connect to Ableton.
Open Ableton first, then tonee. Verify AbletonOSC is selected in an empty Control Surface slot under Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI (Preferences in Live 11). Leave any controller in its own slot. First launch may need mic and network permission.
The AI is stuck.
Usually network or backend load. Restart the session. If it persists, check the status badge on the download page for outage notes.
Voice isn't picking me up.
Confirm mic permission was granted. tonee uses the OS's default input. Switch it in your sound settings, then restart the app to pick up the change.
Where else can I get help?
Docs at the docs. Bugs, feature requests and everything else to [email protected].
can't find it?
write to us.
One inbox handles support, privacy questions, and data-deletion requests. Replies in 1-2 business days. We actually read these.