Sessionist isn't connecting to Ableton

If Sessionist's status bar shows Ableton offline, work through these checks in order. Most issues come down to Ableton not having loaded the Sessionist Remote control surface yet.

(If the status bar shows Disconnected instead, that's a different problem — the Sessionist app itself isn't running its background process. Quit and reopen Sessionist.)

1. Is Ableton Live open?

Sessionist only connects to a running Ableton process. Open Ableton first, then check Sessionist again.

2. Is the Sessionist Remote selected in Ableton's Preferences?

Sessionist talks to Ableton through a control surface script called Sessionist Remote. Ableton has to know to load it.

1. In Ableton: Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI.
2. Under Control Surface, make sure one of the dropdowns is set to Sessionist Remote.

You don't need to set the Input or Output rows next to it — the Sessionist Remote uses a local TCP connection, not MIDI.

3. Did you restart Ableton after Sessionist installed the Remote?

Ableton only scans for control surface scripts at startup. If you installed Sessionist while Ableton was already running, the dropdown in step 2 won't list Sessionist Remote yet. Fully quit Ableton and reopen it.

4. Is the Sessionist_Remote folder actually there?

Sessionist installs the script to your Ableton User Library on first launch. Check that this folder exists:

~/Music/Ableton/User Library/Remote Scripts/Sessionist_Remote/

If it's missing, restart Sessionist — it reinstalls the script on launch if it's not present.

5. Restart both apps

If the dropdown shows Sessionist Remote but the status still says Ableton offline, close Sessionist, close Ableton, then open Ableton first followed by Sessionist. This resolves most stuck-state issues.

6. Check for a port conflict

The Sessionist Remote listens on TCP port 9999. If another app is holding that port, the connection will fail. From Terminal:

lsof -iTCP:9999 -sTCP:LISTEN

You should see a Python process (Ableton's). If you see a different app there, quit that app and then restart Ableton.

7. Check the logs

Connection errors are logged at ~/.sessionist/agent.log. The last lines usually point at the problem.

Still stuck?

Email support@sessionist.ai with:

• Your Ableton version (Help → About in Ableton).
• Your Sessionist version (visible in Sessionist's settings).
• The last 20 lines of ~/.sessionist/agent.log.

We usually reply within a business day.