Frequently Asked Questions

beatspark is a macOS app that runs alongside Ableton Live and teaches you music production inside your own copy of Ableton. It highlights the exact button, knob, or grid cell to use next, then watches Ableton to confirm you actually did it before moving on — no split-screen video tutorials, no pausing and rewinding.

No. Every lesson starts as a real producer's real session, and every step is authored and tested by a human. The techniques, sounds, and decisions you're learning are a real producer's, not a model's. None of the lesson content is AI-generated, and it never will be.

Nothing is AI while you learn, either. beatspark follows a fixed, human-made lesson script and verifies your actions by reading your Ableton session directly through Ableton's own control-surface API. There's no chatbot, and nothing is improvised by a model on the fly.

• Ableton Live 12 Suite, version 12.4.2 or later. Lessons use instruments and devices included with Suite.
• macOS — beatspark runs on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. There is no Windows version yet.

beatspark only works with Ableton Live. It doesn't support FL Studio, Logic, or other DAWs.

Not reliably. For now, run Ableton in US-English while using beatspark for best results.

Switching is quick and only changes Live's menu language — your projects, sounds, and settings are untouched, and your Mac's language stays as-is:

1. In Live, open Settings → Display & Input
2. Set Language to US-English
3. Quit and reopen Ableton

You can switch back anytime when you're not using beatspark.

1. Open Ableton Live and go to Live → Settings (⌘,)
2. Click the Link, Tempo & MIDI tab
3. Under Control Surfaces, open an empty dropdown and select beatspark
4. Close Settings — the status dot in beatspark turns green once connected

You only have to do this once; Ableton remembers the setting.

beatspark draws its highlights on top of Ableton, so it needs to know exactly where Ableton's buttons, knobs, and MIDI grid are on your screen:

• Accessibility lets beatspark read the position of Ableton's on-screen controls so highlights land on the right element.
• Screen Recording lets beatspark read the bar numbers and note labels in the MIDI editor (Ableton doesn't expose those any other way), so highlights can point at the right beat and pitch.

Everything read this way is processed locally on your Mac — see the next question.

No. The screen captures beatspark takes to position highlights are analyzed on your Mac and immediately discarded — they are never uploaded, stored, or used for anything except placing the highlight you see.

The only image that ever leaves your device is the screenshot of the beatspark overlay attached when you click the in-app Feedback button and submit a report. Beyond that, beatspark sends only basic telemetry (lesson ID, step number, app version) so we can fix broken lesson steps. Details are in our Privacy Policy.

Work through these in order:

1. Check permissions. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and confirm beatspark is enabled under both Accessibility and Screen Recording. Then quit and reopen beatspark.
2. Just upgraded macOS? A major macOS update can silently invalidate a permission that still shows as granted. In both panes, remove beatspark from the list (− button), re-add it, and restart beatspark.
3. Make sure Ableton is the frontmost app. The overlay hides itself whenever you switch to another app; click back into Ableton and it fades back in.
4. Exit fullscreen. If Ableton is in macOS fullscreen mode, some highlights can't position correctly. Press Ctrl + ⌘ + F in Ableton to exit fullscreen.
5. Check the connection dot. If the dot in the beatspark panel is red, Ableton isn't connected — see connecting beatspark to Ableton.

Still stuck? Use the in-app Feedback button — it attaches the diagnostics we need to figure out what happened.

Ableton only scans for control surfaces when it starts. If Ableton was already running the first time you launched beatspark, it won't see the newly installed script until it restarts:

1. Quit Ableton Live completely (⌘Q)
2. Reopen Ableton
3. Check Live → Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Control Surfaces again

If it's still missing after a restart, quit and reopen beatspark too (it reinstalls the script on launch), then restart Ableton once more.

Still missing? Check whether your User Library has moved. beatspark installs its script to the default location — Music → Ableton → User Library → Remote Scripts in your home folder — but Ableton only looks in the User Library it's currently pointed at. If you've ever moved yours (say, to an external drive), Ableton will never see the script there. To fix it:

1. In Live, open Settings → Library and look at Location of User Library. If it's not /Users/<you>/Music/Ableton/User Library, this is your issue.
2. In Finder, open that folder. If it doesn't contain a folder called Remote Scripts, create one (named exactly that).
3. Copy the beatspark folder from Music → Ableton → User Library → Remote Scripts into it.
4. Quit and reopen Ableton, then check the Control Surfaces list again.

beatspark verifies each action against your actual Ableton session, and the check is precise — track number, beat position, and exact value all matter. Most "stuck" steps are the action landing in a slightly different spot than the lesson expected, so undo and redo it exactly as written. Also check that the connection dot in the beatspark panel is green.

If you're sure you did it right, wait a moment — an "I did this →" button appears in the instruction bubble after about 30 seconds on a stuck step. Click it to continue the lesson anyway.

If you find yourself needing that button repeatedly, something is likely wrong with detection on your setup — tap Feedback and describe what you did. That report reaches us with the context we need, and we fix broken steps in app updates.

The overlay only captures the mouse when the cursor is over the instruction bubble — everywhere else, clicks pass straight through to Ableton. The bubble itself is draggable: grab it and move it out of the way. If clicks ever seem blocked outside the bubble, quit and reopen beatspark and tell us via Feedback.

The app is a free download. Some lessons are free, and premium lesson courses are one-time purchases — no subscription. You keep every lesson you buy, and every purchase is covered by our no-questions-asked refund policy.

No questions asked. Email underbelly@beatspark.com with your receipt and we'll refund your purchase.

No. When you quit a lesson, beatspark offers to save your progress — both your place in the lesson and your Ableton project. Next time, the lesson card shows a Resume option that reopens your project and picks up where you left off.

Email underbelly@beatspark.com and we'll delete everything we hold about you. See the Privacy Policy for exactly what we store.

The fastest route is the Feedback button inside the app — it reaches us with context attached. You can also email underbelly@beatspark.com.