ALLEN & HEATH DLIVE · .TAR.GZ

The dLive archive, patched field by field.

Import a Director show archive, build the plot, and export a copy with a real, field-specific writeback surface — and an equally specific list of what's not promoted yet.

Open load·in See what it won't touch

01 — The format

A compressed archive, managed through Director

A dLive show is a .tar.gz archive — a compressed bundle of StageBox and Surface scene files, not a single flat scene the way X32 works. Shows live in Allen & Heath Director, the offline/online control software, and move by the same paths Director already uses to manage them.

File Format

.tar.gz

Compressed archive of StageBox/Surface scene DATs

Surfaces

C1500–C3500

DM32/DM48/DM64 stage racks, both surface bases tested against real captures

Input Channels

Up to 128

Scales with surface and rack configuration

Editor

A&H Director

Reads/writes the same archive the surface does

02 — What load·in reads

Names, color, and the current scene state

Import a show and load·in reads channel names, colors, icons where the workflow exposes them, stereo channel ganging, and named mix bus labels off the archive's current-scene data — the same slot that carries whatever you last stacked on the desk.

03 — What load·in writes

Real per-field writes, verified one setting at a time

Every field below was proven the hard way: a founder-captured pair of real dLive archives that differ in exactly one setting, compared to isolate exactly what changed, then a writer built to reproduce that exact change.

✓Channel names, colors, icons where supported, stereo links, mix bus labels

✓Mute, fader level, pan

✓HPF and EQ values, plus gate and comp on/off — verified filter and EQ settings write their values; gate and compressor stay on/off only for now

✓Aux sends 1–10 on/off and level — the verified block of the desk's larger send bank; an unrecognized send layout refuses the write outright rather than guessing

✓DCA group membership — same fail-closed behavior: an unrecognized layout is refused, never written speculatively

04 — What load·in leaves alone

Untouched means untouched — and refusal is a feature

load·in patches the marker-guarded regions for the fields above and leaves the rest of every StageBox and Surface scene DAT exactly as it found it. If a write would land somewhere load·in can't positively identify — an unfamiliar send layout, a DCA table shape it doesn't recognize — it refuses the whole write rather than guess. A refusal you can see beats a corrupted archive you can't.

05 — What load·in won't claim

The honest edges

—Phantom power (48V) is not yet write-verified for dLive — it reads fine, it doesn't patch back out yet.

—Same-console strip reorder isn't promoted for dLive yet. Moving a channel and expecting its full opaque processing state to travel with it is not a claim load·in makes on dLive today.

—Gate depth and compressor threshold are preserved, not written — set those specific values on the desk.

—Aux sends 1–10 are the verified block — sends higher on the desk's own up-to-62-bus mix engine are read and preserved, not authored.

06 — Before the show

Verify it before it's the desk's problem

Open the exported archive in Director and confirm names, colors, and mix labels before it reaches the surface.
Load it into a spare show, never straight over one that's running.
Check DCA membership and Aux 1–10 send state on the surface against your plot.
Confirm 48V phantom manually on any channel that needs it — load·in didn't write that field.
If load·in refuses an export outright, that's the fail-closed behavior working — it means the archive's layout didn't match what the writer can positively verify. Don't force it; check the source file.

Other supported workflows: Allen & Heath SQ · DiGiCo SD · Avid VENUE S6L · the full list is on the console support page.

A real writeback surface, and an honest edge to it.

Import your dLive show. Build the plot. Export a patched copy.

Try load·in free →

No signup required to plan. Console-file import, export and account features need a connection.