How to freeze group tracks in Ableton Live

Ableton’s long-missing group freezing option is finally here, at least in a test phase on version 12.1.

I switched to Reaper mainly because of features like this, but it’s great to see that Ableton is experimenting with something so handy.

Since this feature is still in testing, there’s no official documentation, and it might change in the near future.

How to enable it

For now, you can activate it by adding this line:

-_GroupTrackFreeze

to your “Options.txt” file, which you should place in Ableton’s main folder.

As I tested it, one issue did pop up: sidechains within groups are disabled when freezing, which could be a problem depending on your setup.

Also, some people reported issues with return channels. But it’s still in beta, so fingers crossed for updates.

The old workaround

If you don’t have Ableton 12.1 and are running an older version, freezing groups in Ableton requires a little trickery. Here’s how you can make it happen:

1. Add Ableton Live’s Compressor to an empty MIDI track. In the Compressor, select the group you want to “freeze” as the sidechain input.
2. Solo the sidechain in the compressor device.
3. Add an empty MIDI clip to the compressor track for the length you want to bounce.
4. Freeze the compressor track. This saves the audio from the group.

It isn’t elegant, but it gets the job done. Hopefully the native freezing feature becomes fully operational soon, making things a lot smoother for group-based workflows.

Thanks to the Reddit user jgk87 for the tip.