Pliris Docs

The Pliris Loop

Every set goes around the same five steps: Upload, Edit, Export, Update in Ableton, Re-Import.

Getting Started

• Drop Files, Analyze When Ready, Right-Click to Edit — Drop stems (upload starts immediately) or an Ableton project (Import to finish). Analyze is two checkboxes; each one you check is its own credit charge. Then right-click to fix key, tempo, stems, and sections.
• Managing Members and Access — Invite band members and crew as members of specific bands or as account admins, choose View (stream), Download or Manage access, and change, demote or remove anyone from Account → Members.
• The Pliris Loop — Every song in Pliris follows the same four steps: upload and import, edit, export to Ableton Live, then update and re-import when rehearsal changes things.
• Ways to Get Songs into Pliris — Upload and import is step one of the Pliris loop. There's no wrong way to upload, but the right path for your files saves analysis credits and editing time.
• What Is Pliris? — The big-picture mental model — what Pliris is, who it's for, and the four nouns that hold your whole live rig together.
• Signing In to Pliris — Where to sign in, how the magic-link flow works, and how one sign-in carries across every From Studio to Stage app — there is no separate Pliris login page.
• Magic Link Sign-In Troubleshooting — What to do when the sign-in email does not arrive, the link loops, or Safari says it expired.
• Bands, Songs, Arrangements, and Setlists — The full data model — how bands hold songs, songs hold arrangements, arrangements hold your show, and setlists put it all in order.
• Creating Your First Band — Add your first band, set its name and profile image, and understand what a band actually holds — the front door to everything in Pliris.
• Renamed Band Links Still Work — Changing a band's name shouldn't break old shared links — slug redirects keep the previous URL working.
• Credits Explained — What the two Analyze options do, how credits work, why each option is its own per-minute charge, and why re-importing an Ableton file never costs you anything.
• The Pliris Account Menu — The same avatar menu in every Pliris app — your profile, credit and storage meters, and account links that open already signed in.
• Finding Course Downloads and Templates — Where lesson downloads live, free vs paid templates, and what to do when a Downloads tab is empty.

Songs & Setlists

• Building a Set and Updating It from Ableton — Build a setlist three ways, export it as one Ableton Live Set with samples in Chrome, edit it in Ableton, then drop the .als back on the setlist to update each song: new arrangement, overwrite, or leave unchanged.
• Changing a Song's Key — Right-click the Key in an arrangement's header, type the right key, and click Save. Use it when analysis picks the relative minor or major, or when you skipped analysis.
• Exporting Your Songs for AbleSet, LIOBOX and TAZ — Choose your setlist tool in Settings → Setlist management and every Ableton export comes out with that tool's stop locators, section locators and song metadata, plus an AbleSet lyrics track. Switch tools and export again; nothing to reprogram.
• Fixing a Wrong Tempo (Half Time, Double Time and Tempo Changes) — If the click feels half or double speed, right-click the tempo and use ×2 or ÷2. If it drifts, type the exact tempo. For songs with tempo changes, edit points in Pro mode's Tempo lane and roll back with Undo or History. Your stems never change speed.
• Fixing a Wrong Time Signature — When analysis reports a bar of 6/4 (or another odd meter) that isn't really there, find it in Pro mode's Meter lane, right-click it, and pick the right time signature. The fix carries straight into your Ableton export.
• Fixing Song Sections After Analysis — Analysis guesses your song sections. Right-click a section to rename, split at the playhead, merge with previous or next, loop or delete it, and drag its edge to resize. Cues follow your sections automatically.
• Making Rehearsal Edits in Ableton — Change an exported Pliris song in Ableton Live: rename, split or add sections, trim an intro, deactivate clips, and swap the click sound or cue voice. Then re-import the .als so Pliris picks up the changes.
• Moving and Renaming Stems on the Song Page — Shift-click to open every stem group, then right-click a stem to Move to group or Rename stem. Renaming changes how the stem appears. The underlying file is not changed.
• Preparing Stems Before Upload — Drop exported stems in a DAW unwarped. If they play in time together — including the click — they are ready. Pliris puts files on the timeline as they are.
• Re-importing Your Ableton Edits — Edited a song in Ableton Live after exporting it from Pliris? Drag the .als onto the song page, review the Update arrangement summary, and your sections, trims and deactivated clips are back in Pliris. No re-upload. Download again to take the edits back to Ableton.
• Uploading a Stereo Recording — Upload a single stereo mix (a rehearsal recording or demo) to a song, analyze it for key, tempo, sections, lyrics and chords, and set it as the reference. A stereo mix is one file: it isn't split into stems.
• Uploading an Ableton Project Folder — Already programmed the song in Ableton Live? Choose the project folder in the uploader (Chrome), leave analysis unticked, and Pliris reads your stems, sections, tempo and time signature changes. No zip needed.
• Uploading and Analyzing Your Stems — Drop stems and they upload immediately. Analyze offers two checkboxes — Key, Tempo, Time Signature and Sections, and Lyrics and Chords — and each selected option is its own credit charge.
• Uploading Raw Stems or a Zip of Stems — Add a song, drop in your stems (WAV, MP3, or a .zip), pick the analysis you want, and stay on the page until it says Analyzing audio. You never need to zip stems first.
• How to Use the Song Arrangement Page — The arrangement page is where you rehearse and build a song — stems, sections, tempo, count-in, MIDI cues, lyrics, and playback all live here.
• How to Edit Songs in Pliris — Rename a song, change cover art, and right-click on an arrangement to update key, tempo, sections, stems, and more — without touching the audio file itself unless you mean to.
• Move or Duplicate a Song to Another Band — Send a song to another band on the same account, or make a separate copy there, each with its own files.
• Setting the Tempo of a Song — Tell Pliris what tempo the song is — for click, count-in, the grid, and Ableton export. This does not speed up or slow down your stems.
• How to Rename Song Sections — Right-click a section on the arrangement timeline to rename it — the label updates on the player and in Ableton exports.
• How to Change Cues in Pliris — Edit MIDI cues that fire external gear, record them live, drag them in Pro view, and map section cues for Ableton templates — all from the arrangement page.
• How to Change Count-In — Set how many bars of click roll in before the downbeat — per arrangement, or inherit the band's global Count-in length.
• Editing the Grid — Tempo, Meter and Sections — Pro mode adds a Measures, Meter and Tempo grid above the waveform. Right-click a bar to change its time signature, drag a tempo point, and right-click a section to rename, split, merge, loop or delete it. These edits change the GRID — the bar lines, meter and click — and never the audio: your stems are not time-stretched, re-rendered or sped up. ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows) undoes the last edit; History keeps version snapshots on save / leave edit / .als update.
• How to Change the Length of a Song Section — Drag the boundary between two sections on the arrangement timeline in Pro mode — it snaps to the beat grid and ticks as you cross each beat. You can still do it in Ableton by moving locators and dropping the updated .als, if the set is where you work.
• Adding and Changing Song Sections — Rename, split, merge, delete and loop sections directly in Pliris — right-click any section on the arrangement timeline. Resizing is a Pro-mode boundary drag, not a right-click action. Reordering still happens in Ableton. Every edit is undoable and lands in History.
• Old Stems Play but Won't Download as WAV — Stems uploaded before March 2025 may only have MP3 versions — re-upload the original WAV to restore full-quality export.
• Importing a Song from Ableton Live — Bring a song in from Ableton in one drop. Collect All and Save, zip the project folder, drop it on the uploader — Pliris reads your tempo, sections, and arrangement AND pulls in your stems together. (A bare .als is structure-only.)
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Verified Pliris™ playback keys, right-click and click actions, and setlist shortcuts — a checked list, not every key in the app.
• Using Your Own Click and Cue Sounds — Bands' built-in Click & Cues uses stock sounds — use stem uploads or a custom Ableton template when you need your own samples.
• Building and Sharing a Setlist — Create a setlist, add and reorder songs, share it public or private, print it to PDF, and assign LTC timecode values.
• The Setlist Navigation Panel — Open a song from a setlist and a floating panel follows you — jump back to the set, skip to the next song, or leap anywhere in the list.
• Why Does My Stem Show “Processing”? — What happens after upload, how long processing usually takes, and what to do when a stem is stuck.
• Replacing Stems and Re-analyzing a Song — How to swap files on an existing song, avoid duplicates, and get a clean re-analysis.
• Exporting Your Show Back to Ableton — Export a whole setlist as one Ableton Live Set with every arrangement in order and LTC timecode tracks pre-configured.
• What’s in an Exported Ableton Project? — Stems, click, LTC, tempo automation, section markers, MIDI cues, and multi-song layout.
• Large Ableton Exports and Browsers — Large Ableton set exports with samples need Chrome or Edge. Safari cannot finish big folder writes — switch browsers for the full sample export.
• Updating an Arrangement from Ableton — Change a song in Ableton — mutes, deactivated clips, a duplicated chorus — drop the .als on its arrangement, and the on-page player updates in place. No re-upload.
• Updating Your Set's Arrangements from Ableton — Export your set, rehearse and edit it in Ableton, drop the one file back on the setlist — and update each arrangement or spin up new versions, your call, song by song.
• What Gets Imported When You Update from Ableton — Dropping an .als on an arrangement updates structure, tempo, mix, and clip alignment — not your stem audio. Here's exactly what Pliris reads.
• Lyrics Text vs Timing (and AbleSet) — Pasting lyrics fixes the words only. Timed lyrics and chords come from the Lyrics and Chords option, not from Key, Tempo, Time Signature and Sections. AbleSet needs that timed pass plus vocal audio.
• Snapshot History — Every Version of Your Work — Pliris saves a version every time you change an arrangement or setlist. See exactly what changed, and restore any version — safely, because restoring is itself undoable.
• Exporting a ChordPro Chart — Download your song's lyrics and chords as a .cho file. Those come from the Lyrics and Chords option, or from hand entry — not from Key, Tempo, Time Signature and Sections.

Files App

• Bulk Uploading a Folder of Songs — Put each song's stems in its own folder, then in Files choose Upload, Bulk import, Folder of songs. Pliris creates one song and arrangement per folder, with optional analysis. Keep the page open until it finishes.
• Importing a Whole Ableton Live Set — Import a multi-song Ableton Live set in one go from Files: Upload, Bulk import, Ableton Live set. Each locator becomes a song, with its stems, tempo, sections, lyrics and MIDI cues, plus the key when it's in the song's name. Analysis is usually unnecessary.
• Importing Stems from Cloud Storage — Paste a Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, SharePoint, or iCloud Drive share link into Files and Pliris pulls the stems in server-side. Nothing uploads over your internet. Then send the drop to a song with Add to arrangement.
• Requesting Files with an Invite Link — Create an invite link in your Files Inbox and send it to a producer, engineer, or artist. They upload on their own connection, with no Pliris account, and the files land in your Inbox as a drop.
• The Files App — Files is cloud storage built into Pliris at files.fromstudiotostage.com. Upload stems, bulk import songs or a Live Set, request files with an invite link, and share songs for timecoded comments. Everything lands in your Inbox until you send it to a song with Add to arrangement.

Settings

• Finding Your Way Around Settings — The Settings rail is split by how far a change reaches: Band, Account, You, and Labs. Here is what lives where, who can change it, and which pages to open for routing, exports, timing, and your own profile.
• Organizing Stems with Custom Stem Groups — Split a crowded group (like nine guitar parts in Guitar) into custom stem groups: rename stems everywhere, pre-route names before they're uploaded, create and hide groups, and route each stem to its group. Future uploads sort themselves.
• Routing Global Tracks in Your Ableton Export — Global tracks are the header tracks at the top of every exported song and set. Choose each one's output, whether it loads on or muted, set its color or a shared color, use Sends only, and feed global tracks into return tracks.
• Setting Up Return Tracks for Your Ableton Export — Stems go into stem groups and stem groups go into return tracks. On Settings → Returns, color and rename each return, route unrouted groups, add global tracks or single stems, set outputs, and check the result in Ableton Live.
• Switching Your Ableton Export Template — Pick Intro, Standard, Pro or Custom as the Ableton template for a band, check what it ships on Returns and Global tracks, and use Reset to defaults to clear your routing overrides. Your songs and stems don't change when you switch.
• Uploading a Custom Ableton Template — Use your own Ableton Live set as a band's export template: Collect All and Save, upload it under Settings → Template → Custom, confirm track roles, map stem groups to returns, and every export comes out in your template.
• Settings and Routing — How stems become stem groups, how stem groups land on return tracks, and how to set the whole thing up before you upload a single file.
• Settings → Template — Pick the Ableton Live Set your songs are exported into (Intro, Standard, Pro, or your own Custom template), understand which routing is saved per template, and reset a template's routing to its defaults.
• Settings → Stems — Every stem name across your band's uploads, how many files use it, and the stem group it routes by. Change a name's group for every song at once, pre-define names before you upload, and rename a stem across the whole band.
• Settings → Stem groups — Create custom stem groups, change their colors, and set Routes to for the primary return track (or global track) each group lands on. Multi-return sends are set on the Returns page.
• Settings → Returns — One row per return track in your export: its letter, color, name, the stem groups, stems and tracks that feed it, whether it loads on or muted, and where it outputs. Rename, recolor, add and remove sources, turn returns on or mute them, change outputs, and remove or restore returns.
• Settings → Global tracks — The header tracks at the top of every song and every set (SONG, SECTIONS, TEMPO, CLICK, CUES, LTC, REF TRACK and the rest): where each one outputs, whether it loads on or muted, and its Ableton color.
• Settings → Set options — How songs are laid out when a whole set is built: the gap left between them, and the color sequence songs cycle through.
• Settings → Setlist management — Pick the setlist system your exports are written for (None, Setlist, AbleSet, LIOBOX, Conductor or TAZ) and switch its stop locators, section locators, song metadata, guide cues and lyrics track on or off.
• Settings → Song defaults — Band-level defaults for how Pliris prepares every song: auto-aligning stems to Live's grid, generating click, cues and slate automatically, and how many bars of count-in roll before the downbeat.
• Settings → LTC — How LTC timecode values are assigned to your songs: automatically per arrangement, automatically per setlist, or by hand.
• Settings → App view — Show or hide Lyrics, MIDI cues, Chord charts and Timecode on this band's arrangement pages, so the song page only shows what your band uses.
• Settings → Account, You and Labs — The settings that reach beyond one band: Members and Plan & billing for the whole account, your own Profile, and the Beta features you can opt a band into.
• How to Create Custom Stem Groups — Make a stem group of your own (Tim's Guitar, Programmed Drums, Tracks), give it a color, put stems in it, and set Routes to for where it lands. Groups are per band, and a stem is in exactly one group at a time.
• How to Change a Stem's Group on a Song — Right-click a stem on the song page and choose Move to group to change which bucket that one stem sits in. Where the group lands in Ableton is Routes to on Settings → Stem groups. Use Settings → Stems when every song with that stem name should change.
• How to Pre-Route Stems to Groups — Add your stem names to Settings → Stems before you upload, each pointed at a group, so every matching file lands routed the moment it arrives. Names match as keywords, longest wins, custom groups first.
• How to Route One Stem to Multiple Return Tracks — A stem is in exactly one stem group, but it can land on as many return tracks as you like. Add the group, or the stem by name, as a source on a second return in Settings → Returns.
• How to Route Return Tracks — Return tracks can receive stem groups, individual stems, and header tracks. Here is how to change what feeds a return, send one thing to several returns, change a return's output, and remove or restore returns.

Hardware & Setup

• Sending LTC / SMPTE Timecode to External Gear — Generate SMPTE LTC audio to sync lighting consoles, DAWs, and timecode readers — from the free generator or straight from an arrangement.
• Programming MIDI Cues for External Gear — Fire MIDI at external gear at exact timecodes — add cues with C, set channel and command, route to a WebMIDI output, or record them live.
• Who Can Edit MIDI Cues — MIDI cues are owned by the person who created them — only that owner or a band admin can edit or delete someone else's cue.

Troubleshooting

• Stems Won't Play or Are Silent — A practical checklist for when audio won't start, a stem is silent, or your stems never uploaded — upload, analysis, browser, and output.
• My song didn't analyze right — Key, tempo, and sections from Key, Tempo, Time Signature and Sections are a best guess — fix them on the page. Lyrics and chords come from Lyrics and Chords. You usually do not need to re-run either option.
• Supported Browsers for Pliris — Use Chrome or Edge for Pliris — especially for large Ableton set exports. Safari works for day-to-day use but cannot complete large set exports with samples.

Account & Billing

• Plans, Credits, and Billing — What the free tier includes, what a Pliris subscription unlocks, how credits work, and where to manage your plan.
• Credits: What They Cost, and Buying More — How many credits each plan gets per month, what analysis costs per minute, what is free, and how to buy one-time credit packs when a big week needs more than your grant.
• Trial and Paid Limits — What free/trial accounts can do vs paid — songs, arrangements, setlists, templates, and credits.
• I Paid but Still See Trial Limits or “Get All-Access” — Why pricing CTAs still show after you subscribe, how access refreshes, and how to confirm your plan.