Lives in the menu bar
Backup status at a glance, how much is left to upload, and a pause switch for when you need the bandwidth.
For Ableton Live producers
Retake is backup for producers. It keeps your Live projects and sample library safe in the cloud, moves finished projects off your drive when you need the space, and shares projects and sounds with the people you make music with.
Free for 14 days · macOS 13 or later · Live 11 & 12 · Windows on the way
| Project | Status | Last activity |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday Service 128 | up to date | 3m ago |
| Midnight Rinse | backing up… | 45m ago |
| Deptford Skank | up to date | 5h ago |
| Blue Hour Dub | cloud only · 2.4 GB | 1 Sept |
| Sample Library library | 312 samples | — |
Backup
Point Retake at your projects folder and your sample library. Every save of a set, and every file in the project, is copied to your studio's private cloud workspace. No schedule to set, nothing to remember.
The same sample used in ten projects is uploaded once. Big files resume where they left off. Pause from the menu bar when you need the bandwidth.
Back up your first project →Offload
Move a project to cloud only and its folder leaves your Mac. Before anything moves, Retake reads every file again and checks it against the cloud copy. If a single file is not safely backed up, nothing is touched. Need the project again? Download it and carry on.
Ready to offload. All 212 files (2.4 GB) were read again and match the cloud copy.
The folder moves to the Trash and the project stays in the cloud. Download it again whenever you need it.
Move folder to Trash Keep it here
"The drive that died was the one with the album on it."
Sample library
Retake listens to every sample once and works out its tempo, key and what it is. Kicks between 124 and 128. Anything in F minor. Preview it, see which sets use it, then drag it straight into Live.
Think of it as Plex for your sounds: one library, every Mac in the studio. Samples that are not on this Mac yet download the moment you use them. Bought a pack? Drop the folder in and it is filed, tagged and backed up.
Also in the box
Backup status at a glance, how much is left to upload, and a pause switch for when you need the bandwidth.
A file deleted on another Mac moves to a trash folder inside your project. Recently deleted files restore from the project page.
One click checks that every file in a project has its bytes in the cloud and that they match what is on your disk.
By default Retake uploads the library samples your sets actually reference. Switch to full mirror to back up the whole folder.
A sample dragged in from your desktop is captured into the library and sorted by what it sounds like: kicks, loops, vocals.
Invite by email. Owners, admins and members. Keep separate workspaces for separate bands, labels or clients.
Files are encrypted on your Mac with AES-256-GCM, under a key that belongs to your workspace, before they leave it. Only members of the workspace can open them.
Every file is checked against its SHA-256 fingerprint when it goes up and when it comes down. What you saved is what you get back.
Your projects are normal folders on your disk. Cancel any time and everything stays exactly where it is.
Pricing
Producers work in twos and threes. So Retake is priced per workspace, not per person.
Prices in euro, billed monthly. See the pilot terms for what happens to your data if you cancel.
Download, sign in, point it at your projects folder. The first backup starts on its own.
Download for MacOne build for Apple Silicon, one for Intel. Free for 14 days, then €20 a month for the workspace.
No. Retake only watches your files. The one thing it touches is a set that arrives from a collaborator, where it points the samples to the right place on your Mac so Live opens it clean. Your own saves are never edited.
Retake backs up anything still pending, reads every file in the folder again and compares it with the cloud copy, and confirms the cloud has the bytes. Only then does the folder move to your Trash, so it is still recoverable until you empty it. The project stays listed as cloud only and downloads again with one click.
Your copy stays. Theirs is saved next to it with their name and the time on it. Nothing is merged, nothing is lost.
Not in the strict sense. Files are encrypted on your Mac before upload and stored as ciphertext, and only workspace members can fetch the key through the app. The key service is run by Retake so that a collaborator you invite can open your files without you exchanging keys by hand. File contents are what is encrypted this way; file names, project names and activity are ordinary database records, protected by access rules that limit them to workspace members.
Fine. By default Retake only uploads the samples your sets actually use, so 200 GB of packs costs nothing until a set touches a file. Turn on full mirror if you want the whole library backed up.
Nothing on your Mac changes. The workspace stays writable for 14 days after a failed payment, then becomes read-only: you can still sign in and download everything. Cloud data is kept for 90 days before it is deleted. The date is shown in the app.
Retake syncs project folders as ordinary files, including FL Studio and other DAWs. Ableton Live currently has extra sample-aware path repair; deeper integrations for other DAWs are planned.