Install on your Mac

Installing the app, getting past macOS's first-run warning, and connecting it to Live.

Downstage 0.9.0 · updated 13 Oct 2026

Put Downstage in Applications

Open the .dmg file and drag Downstage onto the Applications folder.

There are two builds. Apple menu › About This Mac tells you which is yours: a Mac whose Chip is "Apple M…" needs the arm64 build; one that lists an Intel Processor needs x64.

Open it, and get past the warning

Open Downstage from Applications. The beta is not yet signed by Apple, so macOS stops it and says it could not check the app.

Open System Settings › Privacy & Security.
Scroll to the bottom. Beside "Downstage was blocked…" press Open Anyway, and confirm.

You only do this once per version. If macOS instead says the app is damaged, it is the same check in a different mood. Open Terminal and run:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Downstage.app

If macOS asks whether Downstage may accept incoming connections, or find devices on your local network, say Allow. That is how the iPad reaches it.

Install the connector

Downstage talks to Live through a small control-surface script. Open Backstage (top right), choose the Live set tab and press Install the connector.

This copies one folder, named Downstage, into Live's User Library:

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

Then quit Ableton Live and open it again — Live only looks for new control surfaces when it starts.

The connector is AbletonOSC, an open-source project by Daniel Jones, installed under our name so it is easy to find. If you already use AbletonOSC with another tool, see the note about two copies.

Choose it in Live

In Live, open Settings › Link, Tempo & MIDI. In any free Control Surface slot, choose Downstage. Leave Input and Output on None — it does not use MIDI.

Live's status bar briefly says AbletonOSC: Listening for OSC on port 11000. That line belongs to the script itself, and it means it worked.

Back in Downstage, the dot at the top left turns green and the label changes from Waiting for Live to Live.

Tell it which Live set this is

Still in Backstage › Live set, pick your show's set from the list. Downstage needs this so it has somewhere to save your setlists — in a folder beside the set, never in it. You can play without choosing one; you just cannot save a setlist yet. More in Live set and the connector.

Updating

To install a newer version, quit Downstage (from its menu-bar icon), open the new .dmg and drag it over the old one. Your setlists, your license and your settings stay.

Next steps

Connect your iPadOpening Downstage on an iPad or phone, making it full screen, and keeping it awake.LicenseHow Downstage is licensed, how to add your license, and what happens without one.Live set & connectorTelling Downstage which Live set it is looking at, and installing the script that connects it to Live.