How to Use ARA in Ableton Live 🎤

ableton live home studio music production

A woman in headphones works a small controller beside open sheet music and two screens showing a music session in a loft home studio at night.

What Is ARA in Ableton Live 13?

ARA lets a plug-in like Melodyne edit the audio in your clip directly.

ARA stands for Audio Random Access.

Ableton Live 13 is the first version of Ableton Live with ARA 2 support.

It's in public beta now, and the full release is coming in early 2027.

Here's how to use it, in five steps.

Quick Summary

👉 What it does: puts Melodyne, or another ARA 2 plug-in, right inside Clip View

👉 Where it works: on audio clips in Arrangement View

👉 How you finish: choose Bounce ARA Edits and your fixes become audio

👉 What you need: an ARA 2 plug-in in VST3 format. Ableton Live 13 Suite comes with Melodyne essential

👉 The limit: one ARA plug-in at a time

It's a beta.

Things can still change before the release.

Also read: How to Record Great Sounding Vocals in a Home Studio

🤔 Life Before ARA

Before ARA, Melodyne sat on the track like any other effect.

It couldn't see your audio.

So you had to play the whole vocal into it, in real time.

A four-minute song took four minutes.

With ARA, the plug-in reads the clip right away.

No waiting.

1. 🔌 Turn On VST3 Plug-Ins

ARA plug-ins run as VST3.

Open Settings and go to Plug-Ins.

Make sure VST3 plug-in sources are turned on.

2. 🎬 Go to Arrangement View

In the beta, ARA works in Arrangement View only.

Click the audio clip you want to fix.

One warning.

If you copy a clip to Session View before you bounce, the plug-in and its edits are removed.

So stay in Arrangement View until you're done.

Also read: Ableton Live Session View vs. Arrangement View: What’s the Difference?

3. 🎤 Load Melodyne on the Clip

Look at the top right of Clip View.

There's a new ARA browser there.

Pick your ARA plug-in.

Melodyne opens with your audio already in it.

Fix the notes, keep the feeling... A woman in headphones works on a laptop beside a screen showing a music session and a camera on a tripod in a warm home studio. ⭐️ Download my Free Music Production Guides or take my free Ableton Live Course ⭐️

4. 🎯 Fix the Pitch and the Timing

Melodyne shows every note as a blob.

Drag a blob up or down to fix the pitch.

Drag it left or right to fix the timing.

Fix the notes that bother you.

Leave the rest alone.

5. ✅ Bounce ARA Edits

When you're happy, choose Bounce ARA Edits.

Your fixes become audio on that clip, and the plug-in unloads.

Changed your mind?

Choose Remove ARA Plug-in.

That takes the plug-in off and drops any edits you didn't bounce.

Undo brings them back.

🧩 Which Plug-Ins Work?

Most ARA 2 plug-ins work with Ableton Live 13, including Melodyne.

A few aren't supported yet in the beta: iZotope RX, Celemony Tonalic and IK ReSing.

You can use one ARA plug-in at a time.

That one plug-in can be on many clips and tracks.

Apple Logic Pro, Avid Pro Tools and Steinberg Cubase have had ARA for years.

If you learned Melodyne in one of those, the editing is the same.

⚔️ Before ARA vs. With ARA

	Before ARA	With ARA 2
Getting audio into Melodyne	Play it in, in real time	It's there right away
Where you edit	A separate plug-in window	Clip View
How you finish	Leave the plug-in on the track	Bounce ARA Edits