Export every MIDI clip from a Live Set at once

Why Live cannot do this itself

A Standard MIDI File comes in two shapes. Type 0 holds one track; Type 1 holds many, each with its own name. Live imports both and writes only Type 0 — which is why Export MIDI Clip is singular, and why there is no menu item for the whole song. The usual workaround is to consolidate every track by hand, export them one at a time, and merge the files in something else. For a project with twenty parts that is an evening.

Your .als is a gzipped XML file, so the whole arrangement is already sitting on your disk: every clip, every note, every position. This reads it and writes the Type 1 file Live will not.

What it gets right, because it would be easy to get wrong

A note's time in the file is counted from its clip's start, not the song's. And a clip is a window onto looping content — a four-bar loop dropped across sixteen bars sounds four times, but the notes are stored once. Read that naively and you get a bag of loops all starting at bar one. This expands each loop across the span it actually occupies, then cuts it to the window, so what you get is the arrangement you hear.

• Every MIDI clip in the Arrangement, at its real position
• Looped clips expanded across their full span, trimmed to where they stop
• Track names carried through, so parts arrive labelled rather than as "Track 1, Track 2"
• Tempo and time signature, in a conductor track, so it opens at the right speed
• Note velocity and length; muted notes left out, because they do not sound

What it leaves alone, and why

Session view clips are not exported. Only clips in the Arrangement have a position in the song. A Session clip is one you have deliberately parked; putting it somewhere in the timeline would be inventing an arrangement you did not write. If your music is in Session view, drag it into the Arrangement first.

Audio, devices and automation are not exported. A MIDI file holds notes. Your instruments, effects, automation curves and audio clips are not notes and cannot travel in one — that is a limit of the format, not of this tool, and anything claiming otherwise is rendering audio rather than converting MIDI.

Common questions

Is my project uploaded?

No, and it cannot be. The page is a static file and the set is ungzipped and parsed in your tab by your own browser. Disconnect from the internet and convert one — it still works.

What is a MIDI file, exactly?

Instructions rather than sound — which note, when, how hard, how long. There are two kinds, and which one your software writes is the whole reason this tool exists: the difference between Type 0 and Type 1, explained.

Which versions of Live does it read?

The Live Set format has been gzipped XML for many years; sets from Live 8 through Live 12 have been read successfully. If yours is refused, the message says why.

I got "the MIDI tracks in this set are empty".

Your clips are most likely in Session view rather than the Arrangement. Drag them into the Arrangement and save, then try again. The tool refuses rather than handing you an empty file, because an empty .mid looks exactly like a successful export.

Where is the .als?

Inside your Project folder, next to the Samples folder. It is the file with your song's name and a .als extension — not the folder itself.