Logic Pro Setlist Plugin: Navigate Your Playback Session Without Rearranging the Timeline
The Navigation Problem with Live Playback in Logic Pro
Running backing tracks live in Logic Pro means working from a single session file. Every song, its stems, click, cues, and MIDI automation, lives somewhere on the timeline. The arrangement is built for production: songs laid out in whatever order they were added, edited, or programmed.
The show, however, rarely runs in that order.
A setlist changes between soundcheck and downbeat. A song gets cut mid-show because the set is running long. The band leader calls an audible and pulls a song from the back of the set to the front. In all of these cases, the performer or playback engineer needs to get to the right position in the session file immediately, accurately, and without scrubbing through a timeline full of markers that were placed for studio work, not stage navigation.
The common workarounds are well-known:
Rearrange the regions in the timeline to match the set order. This works until the set changes, which it will. Every reorder means moving audio regions, adjusting markers, and verifying that nothing shifted or overlapped. Do this enough times and the session becomes fragile.
Manually scrub to the right marker during the show. This means interacting with the DAW's arrange window under stage lighting, locating a small marker name in a dense timeline, and positioning the playhead precisely while the audience waits between songs.
Create new playback files for each set. Rather than reorder songs within a single session, some musicians build an entirely new file for every set with the songs arranged in the correct performance order from the start. This avoids the reordering problem but multiplies the number of files to maintain. Every song addition, routing change, or stem update needs to be applied across every set file that includes it.
None of these approaches decouple the performance order from the file order. The set is bound to the timeline layout, and every change to one requires a change to the other.
What Playback Navigation Actually Requires
The problem is specific: a performer needs to play songs from a single session file in an arbitrary, changeable order without modifying the session structure.
That means the tool needs to:
Read the session's marker data directly. Song positions in the file should be detected automatically from existing markers, with no manual re-entry of song names and no separate database.
Present the available songs independently of their timeline position. The performer sees a library of songs, not a horizontal timeline.
Allow setlist construction in any order. Drag a song from the library into a performance order. Change the order at any time. The file stays untouched.
Jump the playhead to the correct position on command. Selecting a song in the setlist navigates the session to that song's start point automatically. No scrubbing, no marker hunting.
Handle continuous transitions when needed. Some song pairs need to flow without a gap. The tool should support back-to-back playback without requiring the songs to be physically adjacent in the timeline.
DOWNBEAT: Session Navigation for Logic Pro and Ableton Live
DOWNBEAT is a plugin developed by Hefty Sound Works that runs inside Logic Pro and Ableton Live sessions on macOS. It reads marker data directly from the session file and presents it as a navigable setlist interface, decoupling the performance order from the file layout.
How It Works
In Logic Pro, DOWNBEAT parses marker data from the .logicx file. Each marked song section is detected and populated into the plugin's Library, a complete inventory of every song in the session, regardless of where it sits on the timeline.
From the Library, the performer drags songs into the Active Set in whatever order the show requires. Selecting a song in the Active Set moves the playhead to that song's position in the file. The timeline arrangement stays exactly as it was. No regions moved, no markers edited.
If the set order changes five minutes before the show, the performer reorders the Active Set. If a song gets cut, it gets removed from the Active Set but remains in the Library for later. If a request comes in mid-show, the song gets pulled from the Library into the Active Set and played from its original position in the file.
The Play Through Feature
For songs that need to run back-to-back without a pause (medleys, continuous set sections, or transitions where dead air would break the energy) DOWNBEAT supports Play Through. Command-click two adjacent songs in the Active Set, and DOWNBEAT transitions directly from one to the next without stopping playback.
This is the feature that eliminates the need to physically arrange songs next to each other in the timeline for continuous playback. The songs can be anywhere in the file. Play Through handles the navigation between them automatically.
Stage Interface
DOWNBEAT's interface is built for stage conditions, not studio editing:
Now Playing displays the active song with maximum visual weight, confirming what is running at a glance from a distance.
Active Set shows the current performance order in high-contrast, scannable rows.
Library keeps all available songs visible alongside the Active Set for on-the-fly additions.
Set Remaining provides a cumulative countdown of the remaining Active Set duration.
Transport Controls are oversized and styled after physical stage hardware.
Tempo Display is treated as stage information, with green color-coding reserved for play-state confidence.
Compatibility and Licensing
Supported DAWs: Logic Pro, Ableton Live
Supported OS: macOS (Windows planned for a future release)
License: $50 USD, includes up to 3 activated devices. Devices can be deactivated directly within the plugin to free an activation for another machine, including emergency replacement of a failed performance computer.
Status: Paid public beta (Version 0.2.0). Fully functional for live use.
Getting Started
DOWNBEAT is available from heftysoundworks.com. There is some initial setup involved; Hefty Sound Works has published a video walkthrough covering the process. Once configured, the plugin reads your existing marker data automatically and populates the Library for setlist building.
For performers who need session routing, click and cue track configuration, or multi-channel output setup beyond setlist navigation, Hefty Sound Works also offers playback programming services and custom playback rig design and assembly.
