# Wires

> Run Ableton Live and Max on Linux without abandoning your creative practice.

Wires provides an open-source, Wine-based runtime and installers for Windows creative applications on Linux, beginning with Ableton Live and Max. Its published compatibility work includes audio, MIDI reconnection, Push hardware support, pointer gestures, text rendering, and Linux desktop integration.

The project connects practical application compatibility with research into technological dependence and cultural preservation. Individual financial contributions fund compatibility investigations, source and authorship checks, testing of creative workflows and hardware, installation tools, and continued maintenance. They also fund support for more creative applications and research into keeping creative work usable over time.

Wires is a Para-Real Ltd. project maintained by Cade Diehm, Lucas Gillingham, and Sebastian Thümmel.

## Project and support

- [Project brief](https://wires.sh/project.md): The political and economic argument, working applications, research background, and what individual contributions fund.
- [Individual support](mailto:hello@parare.al?subject=Wires%20support): Contact the project about contributing financially to application support and preservation research.

## Research background

- [Who Will Remember Us When The Servers Go Dark?](https://newdesigncongress.org/en/pub/who-will-remember-us-when-the-servers-go-dark/): Cade Diehm's research on dependence on digital infrastructure and continued access to cultural work.
- [The Coming Game Engine Inflection Point](https://newdesigncongress.org/en/note/2022/the-coming-game-engine-inflection-point/): Cade Diehm's research on creative-tool infrastructure and the practical costs of leaving proprietary systems.
- [Memory in Uncertainty](https://newdesigncongress.org/en/report/2022/memory-in-uncertainty/): Cade Diehm and Benjamin Royer's preservation research for Webrecorder, examining software environments, interoperability, maintenance, and access to digital work.

## Software and community

- [Wires](https://wires.sh/): The project homepage.
- [Runtime downloads](https://cdn.wires.sh/runtimes): Published Wires Runtime builds.
- [Application installers](https://cdn.wires.sh/install): Wires application installers.
- [Application support and implementation](https://github.com/shibco/ableton-linux): Published compatibility work for Ableton Live and Max, including investigations, patches, and provenance records.
- [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/wires.sh): Project updates.
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/BvceeGqeRE): Community discussions and support.