Eirik Kamelku

I assumed this would be an easy question to search for, but couldn't find anything useful. I'm running Max 7 through my authorized Ableton Live, opening it through the "Max device editor" button in the Max for Live devices, but lately I've been getting the "trial not started - saving disabled" message. This is strange, as it has worked fine before. I've tried reinstalling and updating Max, and reauthorizing Ableton, but to no avail. Might there be something I've overlooked? Windows 10 user.

I assumed this would be an easy question to search for, but couldn't find anything useful. I'm running Max 7 through my authorized Ableton Live, opening it through the "Max device editor" button in the Max for Live devices, but lately I've been getting the "trial not started - saving disabled" message. This is strange, as it has worked fine before.  I've tried reinstalling and updating Max, and reauthorizing Ableton, but to no avail. Might there be something I've overlooked? Windows 10 user.


running-from-authorized-ableton-live-suite-still-cant-save

Maybe try redesignating the Max installation path in Live and make sure everything is up to date

Yeh, I tried moving Max to a different drive and changed the installation path accordingly, didn't help. Tried updating Ableton from 9.7 to 9.71, didn't help. Tried downdating Max to an earlier version, didn't help. Tried running 32-bit Max, didn't work at all.

Same issue here. Very annoying to have to deal with this. On the ableton forums is quite a bit of discussion about this but I couldn't find any statement of cycling or ableton. 

Please resolve this, I am unable to use Max4Live at the moment and I am not alone it seems.

Same issue here. Very annoying to have to deal with this. On the ableton forums is quite a bit of discussion about this but I couldn't find any statement of cycling or ableton. 
Please resolve this, I am unable to use Max4Live at the moment and I am not alone it seems.


So for me the problem seems to be related to the max toolbox.

Thats sad, especially since I find the max toolbox much more intuitive than the max7 patching mechanics.

So for me the problem seems to be related to the max toolbox.
Thats sad, especially since I find the max toolbox much more intuitive than the max7 patching mechanics.


still running into this issue. extremely annoying,. Im a long time max user, this program really tought me a lot and I really like max. I even teach it at a university. This licencing stuff is the first time I feel really unnecessarily frustrated. would be great to get some official reaction here cycling..

still running into this issue.  extremely annoying,. Im a long time max user, this program really tought me a lot and I really like max. I even teach it at a university. This licencing stuff is the first time I feel really unnecessarily frustrated. would be great to get some official reaction here cycling..

i feel that this copyprotection stuff is unneccesary since 1990, when i had three dongles on my atari workstation for three different programs and could not add another one because of no more free slots for dongles.

today everyone has a bunch of programs installed which he never paid for, and and the same time most people also paid for alot of stuff which still doesnt work (or stopped working for some reason)

the practice of "licensing" executables through copy protection is 50% fraud from one side and 50% fraud from the other side.

 This licencing stuff is the first time I feel really unnecessarily frustrated.


i feel that this copyprotection stuff is unneccesary since 1990, when  i had three dongles on my atari workstation for three different programs and could not add another one because of no more free slots for dongles.

today everyone has a bunch of programs installed which he never paid for, and and the same time most people also paid for alot of stuff which still doesnt work (or stopped working for some reason)

the practice of "licensing" executables  through copy protection is 50% fraud from one side and 50% fraud from the other side.


...did you ever found out what exactly in maxtoolbox could cause this?

Hi roman, thanks for taking the time to think about this.

Well yes. But with max 6 I was pretty happy actually. I had a dongle and for me that was a great solution (although of course dongles may not be the solution for the bigger picture)

The max tool box seems to be only part of the problem. I deactivated (or uninstalled, cant remember) it. I read somewhere that these issues might be related to externals and this was the only thing I had installed.

Also, deactivating it seemed to help for some time.

I havent tested this a lot and cannot say the following happens every time the same way but at the moment the situation looks to me like this:

I now suspect internet connection. My production PC is typically not connected to the internet (I do everything internet related on a linux machine [yay linux, make max for linux])

So I start my machine, start live, make a new device and it says trial mode. I close out of max and Live. Activate the internet connection, start live again, make a new device, cross my fingers and am lucky most of the time.

I say most of the time since with the toolbox activated, this internet connectivity thing did not seem to help. Also I am not sure if it helps now every time.

I somewhere read that max needs to connect to the cycling licensing servers once in a while, thats why I came to that idea in the first place. While i find this necessity extremely bad (i can't emphasize this enough), I could live with this being the case every two months or so (and I think thats the way it is intended)

Anyway, these are just assumptions, maybe it helps someone out there, maybe it helps cycling to figure out the problem.

Hi roman, thanks for taking the time to think about this.
Well yes. But with max 6 I was pretty happy actually. I had  a dongle and for me that was a great solution (although of course dongles may not be the solution for the bigger picture)
The max tool box seems to be only part of the problem. I deactivated (or uninstalled, cant remember) it. I read somewhere that these issues might be related to externals and this was the only thing I had installed.
Also, deactivating it seemed to help for some time.

I now suspect internet connection. My production PC is typically  not connected to the internet (I do everything internet related on a linux machine [yay linux, make max for linux])
So I start my machine, start live, make a new device and it says trial mode. I close out of max and Live. Activate the internet connection, start live again, make a new device, cross my fingers and am lucky most of the time.
I say most of the time since with the toolbox activated, this internet connectivity thing did not seem to help. Also I am not sure if it helps now every time.
I somewhere read that max needs to connect to the cycling licensing servers once in a while, thats why I came to that idea in the first place. While i find this necessity extremely bad (i can't emphasize this enough), I could live with this being the case every two months or so (and I think thats the way it is intended)

@WOYTEG AFAIK iLok is still implemented/available for Max 7 even though it's not documented. If your main machine has no internet connection maybe you want to ask suport if they can still put you on an iLok dongle.

I didnt buy Max 7 itself though, so I don't think thats an option... I wrote an email to support yesterday. 

I guess if I had a full max license, this problem would disappear anyway. Why?

Because I think this is all related to the fact that every long time max and max4live user at some point found out that you can make normal max patches using max 4 live and edit normal max patches using max 4 live. And you can run them without live using the runtime. So basically when you have max 4 live you have max. This obviously is a problem for cycling since it does not fit their pricing/licensing model (yet). My humble assumption is that the problems i am facing come from the attempt to control this loophole. But I don't know.

uh! That sounds interesting!
I didnt buy Max 7 itself though, so I don't think thats an option... I wrote an email to support yesterday. 
I guess if I had a full max license, this problem would disappear anyway. Why?
Because I think this is all related to the fact that every long time max and max4live user at some point found out that you can make normal max patches using max 4 live and edit normal max patches using max 4 live. And you can run them without live using the runtime. So basically when you have max 4 live you have max. This obviously is a problem for cycling since it does not fit their pricing/licensing model (yet). My humble assumption is that the problems i am facing  come from the attempt to control this loophole. But I don't know.


Opened a Max device from the MIDIInOut lesson and see the "Trial Not Started - Saving Disabled" Click on that and get the message " 

Max for Live users: Please start the Max for Live editor by editing a device in Live

 " But that is of course what I just did. I believe that this is an intermittant problem. Any word on a fix on the way?

Opened a Max device from the MIDIInOut lesson and see the "Trial Not Started - Saving Disabled"   Click on that and get the message " Max for Live users: Please start the Max for Live editor by editing a device in Live "  But that is of course what I just did.    I believe that this is an intermittant problem.  Any word on a fix on the way?

Same problem here on windoze 10 (and 8), so no dongles or ilocks whatever those are. I'm using Max 7.0.6 on live 9.7.1 because later versions take about 25 minutes total to start max4live and then start the editor.

I have no idea if I have the "max toolbox", it would seem like I probably don't. Unless its part of the standard installation, in which case it shouldn't be a problem (but of course, it probably is).

My computer is always online. A while ago, I clicked on the "Saving Disabled" message and it told me to register at cycling '74, so i did. After that, it started counting down the days of the trial period and now its back to the "Saving Disabled" message. When i click on it, it says "max 7 (demo) expired on 7/6/2017" and asks me to "Buy Now".

I have more success (than simply restarting ableton, rebooting and everything else I've tried) getting it to work with this stupid process:

Close out Ableton before quitting the max editor and then quit the max editor and then start the whole thing back up again. When I open a max device for editing it will usually say something like "Recover Edits? ... Yes or No". It doesn't matter which you select, more often than not it opens back up normally.

Same problem here on windoze 10 (and 8), so no dongles or ilocks whatever those are.  I'm using Max 7.0.6 on live 9.7.1 because later versions take about  25 minutes  total to start max4live and then start the editor.  

I have no idea if I have the "max toolbox", it would seem like I probably don't.  Unless its part of the standard installation, in which case it shouldn't be a problem (but of course, it probably is). 

My computer is always online.  A while ago, I clicked on the "Saving Disabled" message and it told me to register at cycling '74, so i did.   After that, it started counting down the days of the trial period and now its back to the "Saving Disabled" message. When i click on it, it says "max 7 (demo) expired on 7/6/2017" and asks me to "Buy Now".

I have more  success (than simply restarting ableton, rebooting and everything else I've tried) getting it to work with this stupid process: 

Close out Ableton before quitting the max editor and then quit the max editor and then start the whole thing back up again. When I open a max device for editing it will usually say something like "Recover Edits?  ... Yes or No". It doesn't matter which you select, more often than not it opens back up normally.

Do something cycling/ableton! We bought your products and often can't use them, that's kind of a problem.

Are you guys fixing this or do you prefer me buying the new versions of ableton and live? As I said, I really like max, but I find it kind of unacceptable if the idea is that this will be fixed in a paid major update. Why is there no official response to this thread?

Do something cycling/ableton! We bought your products and often can't use them, that's kind of a problem.
Are you guys fixing this or do you prefer me buying the new versions of ableton and live? As I said, I really like max, but I find it kind of unacceptable if the idea is that this will be fixed in a paid major update. Why is there no official response to this thread?


I also am having this problem. I bought Ableton Live 9 Suite about a year ago. I have been using max 4 live devices for the past year with no problem. I just started creating my own devices in max a couple of days ago (and I have been enjoying it immensely). But now max is saying that i am on a trial version with 29 days remaining.

I also am having this problem. I bought Ableton Live 9 Suite about a year ago. I have been using max  4 live devices for the past year with no problem. I just started creating my own devices in max a couple of days ago (and I have been enjoying it immensely). But now max is saying that i am on a trial version with 29 days remaining. 

I can't understand why they still do not fix this issue. I did tried everything they suggested, but still no progress...

Hi Everyone, Max authorization in the Max for Live context is handled by Live. Unauthorized Max is usually the result of launching Max before Live. This is not always the case, but it is definitely the most common reason. If you do so and authorize Max by starting a trial, you will see the trial banner in the Live context as well. Once the trial expires, you will revert to the standard behavior where Live authorizes Max for use as the Max for Live editor.

The other thing that typically fixes the issue is re-authorizing Live (from Prefrences > Licenses and maintenance).

If you run into this issue and are not able to resolve it by reauthorizing Live and/or quitting and restarting Max, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@cycling74.com and we will be more than happy to help you get it sorted.

Hi Everyone, Max authorization in the Max for Live context is handled by Live. Unauthorized Max is usually the result of launching Max before Live. This is not always the case, but it is definitely the most common reason.  If you do so and authorize Max by starting a trial, you will see the trial banner in the Live context as well. Once the trial expires, you will revert to the standard behavior where Live authorizes Max for use as the Max for Live editor.

The other thing that typically fixes the issue is re-authorizing Live (from Prefrences > Licenses and maintenance). 

Running from authorized Ableton Live (Suite), still can't save