A .adg file is an Ableton Device Group — Live's format for saving a whole device chain as a single preset. When it holds a Drum Rack, it stores the pad layout, the devices on each pad and links to your samples, so dragging one file onto a MIDI track loads a complete, playable kit.
ADG is short for Ableton Device Group. Live writes a .adg file whenever you save a Rack — a Drum Rack, an Instrument Rack, or an Audio or MIDI Effect Rack. The extension does not mean "drum kit" on its own; a Drum Rack is simply the most common thing people save as one.
Under the hood a .adg is a compressed XML file. It describes the chain: which devices sit on which pad, how every parameter is set, what each pad is called, and where each sample lives on your drive.
That last point matters more than anything else here: a .adg does not contain your audio. It points at it. Move, rename or delete the samples and Live will open the rack with the pads intact but the sounds missing.
A .adg is a preset, not a document — you load it into a track rather than opening it as a file.
Saving a rack with the small disk icon in its title bar puts the .adg in your User Library, under Presets. From there it is browsable like any factory preset.
On macOS the User Library sits at Music/Ableton/User Library, on Windows under Documents/Ableton/User Library. The drum racks that ship with Live live in Packs instead and are easiest to reach through the browser's Drums tab.
You can also keep .adg files anywhere you like and drag them in when needed — the User Library is a convenience, not a requirement.
Live uses several extensions that look alike in a folder. The difference is scope — how much of your project each one saves.
The manual route: create a Drum Rack on a MIDI track, drag a sample onto each pad, rename the pads so you can find things later, then hit the disk icon to save the rack as a .adg in your User Library. For one kit that is a couple of minutes of work.
It gets tedious at scale. A sample pack with a few hundred one-shots means dragging every kick, snare, clap and hat into place by hand, for every kit you want — which is exactly the job Ares KitCreate automates.
Drop a folder or a ZIP into Ares KitCreate and get finished Ableton Drum Racks back — sorted, named and ready to play. Free, no signup, and everything runs locally in your browser.
Not in any useful way. It is a Live-specific preset format — no other DAW loads it as an instrument. It is technically a compressed XML file, so you can decompress one and read the chain as text, but you cannot play it anywhere except Live.
No. It stores the pad layout, the devices and their settings, plus a reference to where each sample sits on your drive. The audio files stay where they are, which is why a .adg is only a few kilobytes.
Because the samples the rack points at have been moved, renamed or deleted — or the rack came from someone else's computer. Use Live's Locate function or File Manager to point it at the folder holding the samples.
Any current version of Live opens .adg files, and Racks have been part of Live for many versions. Bear in mind the usual direction of compatibility: a rack saved in a newer version of Live may not open in an older one.
Yes. Ares KitCreate turns a folder or ZIP of your samples into ready-to-load .adg Drum Racks in your browser. It is free, needs no signup, and your samples never leave your device.