The menu bar
Downstage's icon in the Mac's menu bar — the address for the iPad, Live's status, and the way back in.
Downstage 0.9.0 · updated 13 Oct 2026While Downstage is running, its mark sits in the menu bar at the top right of the Mac's screen. Click it for the things you need without finding the window.
What it shows
| Connected to Live / Waiting for Live… | Whether Downstage and Ableton are talking. |
| Playing: YELLOW · bar 41 | What Live is doing right now. |
| Open Downstage | Brings the window back, or opens it again if you closed it. |
| Open in Browser | Opens the show in your default browser instead. |
| On an iPad or phone, open: | Every address that will reach this Mac — http://downstage.local and the numeric ones. Click one to copy it. |
| Licensed to… / Trial — 12 min left | Where the license stands, with Add a License… if you need one. |
| Install the Ableton Connector… | Shown only while Live is not connected, which is when you need it. |
| Backstage… | Straight to setlists and settings. |
| Version | Which Downstage this is. |
| Quit Downstage | The only thing that actually quits. |
Closing the window does not quit
You can close the Downstage window on the Mac and the show carries on: the iPad stays connected, and Live is not affected. The menu-bar icon is how you get the window back, and how you quit.
To quit properly, use Quit Downstage in this menu, or ⌘Q with the window in front. Quitting disconnects the iPad; Live keeps playing regardless.
The addresses
The list under On an iPad or phone, open: is the quickest way to answer "what do I type?".
http://downstage.localis the one to use. It stays the same on every network.- The numeric addresses are the fallback for networks that do not pass
.localnames around. There is one for each network the Mac is on. - If the address ends in a number after a colon —
http://downstage.local:7070— something else on the Mac was already using the normal web port, and Downstage has taken the next free one. Type it exactly as shown.
If you cannot see the icon
On a Mac with a notch, a crowded menu bar can push icons out of sight behind it. Quit a few other menu-bar apps, or hold ⌘ and drag icons to rearrange them. Downstage's window and the Dock icon work whether or not the menu-bar icon is visible.