About PAUG

The Pittsburgh Ableton User Group (PAUG) was founded in 2026 by three producers who were tired of making music alone. The idea was simple: get people in a room, open their laptops, and learn from each other.


We meet at various venues around Pittsburgh. Each session has a theme: sound design, mixing, live performance, Max for Live, sampling, whatever the community wants to explore. But the real value isn't the curriculum. It's the connections.


PAUG is genre-agnostic and skill-agnostic. Ambient, techno, hip-hop, experimental noise. No matter how you make it, you belong here. First-timers sit next to veterans. Everyone teaches, everyone learns.


No dues. No gatekeeping. No corporate sponsorship. Just people making sounds together in Pittsburgh.

Founders

PM

Paul Miller

Associate Professor of music theory at Duquesne University, violist, and director of the soundLab. Studied with Stockhausen, builds electronic instruments, and somehow still finds time to jam in Ableton.

theoryofpaul.net →
SK

Steve Knots

25 years in electronic music. Ableton producer, live sound engineer, and creator of Mixitecture. Dubby house, techno, and whatever else needs a low end.

mixitecture.com →
JD

James Dishman

Producing electronic music since 2000. Founded Pittsburgh's Ableton community because nobody else was going to do it. Builds things that make noise.

nomadjames.com →