I've been working on a top secret project for the past 6 months. Today, I'm releasing it in beta.

A few months ago, I moved our All-Access program to a new platform. While part of this process was moving videos to another platform, I also wanted to use this time to build something I've been imagining for a while.

For over seven years, All-Access has been the world's largest collection of playback knowledge. An Ableton Live Certified Training Center, with over 29,000 minutes worth of video content (that's about a month's worth of 24/7 watching), it's been the best way to learn Playback and become a world-class Playback Engineer.

But with that has come a few problems:

• Having 29,000 minutes worth content feels a bit overwhelming.. Where do I start? What order should I watch the videos in?
• If you just have a quick question you need answered, you have to first know if there's a course, if there is...what lesson discusses it, and then watch that lesson to find your answer. Not a quick answer to your question.

I solved some of those issues with The Playback Method™, the world's first (and only) playback curriculum that gave users a direct path to learn, but still the biggest problem is, what about those quick answers?

Also, how can we speed up the learning process. Instead of watching an hour long course, can we make this an almost instant process?

What if we could take all the knowledge contained in those 29,000 minutes worth of content, and make it accessible much faster.

Today I'm releasing the next generation of From Studio to Stage in beta, built on PlaybackLLM™.

Guides

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Guides are text only step by step guides that help you quickly master new skills. Quickly learn, step-by-step, how to setup your new audio interface, or MIDI Controller. You can easily filter and find guides to learn exactly what you want as quickly as possible.

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Whenever there's a course available that matches the guide you're searching for, you can click the watch course, or watch lesson link and jump directly to that lesson. Guides give you only the info you need with none of the fluff. Quickly scan the guide to follow along and get the answers you need.

Coach

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Now you can be coached through the course content at your own pace. While you learn you can choose to get step-by-step instructions, have the content explained differently, ask to be quizzed to test your knowledge, or if there's a corresponding lesson video, you can get a link directly to that lesson.

Guides and Coach are built on top of PlaybackLLM™, so they're using the knowledge and experience I've been building for the past seven years.

But what's next is even more powerful.

Solving The Biggest Problem

Guides solves the ability to quickly learn a new skill and get access to the exact info you need, and nothing less.

Coach helps you learn material at your own pace, but what about when you have a quick question?

I've had students tell me for years, "Will, I just need a site search. I want to search for a course, find the right lesson, watch it, and get my answer".

While that's certainly possible. It doesn't solve the problem...quickly.

We've also had a community forum since launch, that primarily became a channel for students to ask questions.

This isn't an effective way to learn.

You ask a question, you wait for an answer from someone in the community, and you hope the answer is correct.

There's got to be a better way... that's where Ask comes in.

Ask

Ask allows you to get your playback questions answered instantly, at anytime, and anywhere.

Let's try this out..

I want to learn how to hide locators on my LIOBOX. Let me try google:
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While it's very convenient to get an answer instantly.. it's also wrong. Classic AI...Let's try ChatGPT:

At least Google tried to make something up.

That's the problem with AI. AI in and of itself doesn't know anything. It needs knowledge and context. It needs access to the knowledge, and needs a focused context.

That's exactly what PlaybackLLM™ is. It's the knowledge and context about Playback.

And it's what powers Ask.

Let's see what Ask gives us:

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Not only does Ask give you the right answer, it points you to the exact course and lesson where it found the answer, and provides you a link to the guide as possible. Plus, it encourages you to create a coaching session to go further.

This is the web interface for ask, but it becomes even more powerful, because ask is where you are.

• Chat directly with ask on the website in a chat interface where you can track all your chats in one place
• Email ask@fromstudiotostage.com to get an answer to your question from PlaybackLLM™
• DM us on Instagram to chat directly with Ask
• Call a number and "speak" with Ask directly
• Get access to Ask directly in ChatGPT and Claude via our custom MCP Server
• Text and Whats App Ask and get your answer directly on your phone (coming soon)

My vision for the future is a website-less learning experience. You become a From Studio to Stage student, and you get access anywhere.

Because Ask is connected to PlaybackLLM™ it has access to the world's largest database of content on Playback, and has the correct context to answer your questions...

But what about when it's wrong..

This technology is still very young. I've been working on this for the past six months, and while the answers it gives are very good, it can still get things wrong. Or maybe the way you ask the question it doesn't parse the question properly.

The hidden feature of Ask is that all chats are captured and reviewed by me. That means if Ask didn't get the answer right, I can correct the answer, or add a guide to our database to provide more context for next time.

PlaybackLLM™ will continue to get smarter and smarter, and the more questions we get, the more it's context will grow.

The more PlaybackLLM™ grows, the more guides we'll have, the more individual coaching sessions will be created, and the more we'll be able to quickly and accurately answer questions via Ask.

Get Started Today

If you're a From Studio to Stage All-Access student, you can log-in to the beta site and get started today! From Studio to Stage students with active subscriptions can create 10 chats with Ask a day. You can also email, DM, call, and add Ask to ChatGPT and Claude for answers. I'll be sharing more details and how to's this week on what you can do with Ask, Guides, and Coach.

If you want to become a From Studio to Stage All-Access student, you can subscribe here. I'm also re-opening Lifetime Access until January 5th. Pay once, get access to the content for life.

But, even if you're not a From Studio to Stage subscriber, you can interact with Ask for free from now until January 5th.

You get up to 3 free chats a day, and you can access Ask by:

• emailing ask@fromstudiotostage.com
• ​Sending me a DM on Instagram with your question
• Call +15126015156 and ask your question (this is the most in beta access point at the moment)

This is just the start.

The more questions we get, and the more testing we have, the better this will be. If all goes well, I hope to release these features out of beta in six months.

Have fun,
Will

P.S. This isn't the end. Stay tuned for more Top Secret Project reveals this week. Seriously... this stuff is nuts.

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