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Ableton DJ MCP

Ableton DJ MCP

by gpulga
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CI Release License: GPL v3

Vision

The supreme form of communication is music.

The final evolution of human communication is music. Music doesn't reach you through words alone. It speaks soul to soul, thought by thought, synapse by synapse.

It is the most complete way to share something with someone: two people inside the same sound, at the same moment.

Read the full vision →

Related MCP server: Ableton Cookbook MCP

What it is

An AI studio partner for DJs and electronic music producers. Describe the idea, and Claude builds it in your open Ableton Live set: grooves, basslines, sounds from your own sample libraries, filter sweeps, full arrangements. You stay in the creative seat.

Install

Works with any MCP client. We build and test it mostly with Claude Code on macOS, so that's the smoothest setup. Paste this into your coding agent:

Install Ableton DJ MCP from https://github.com/gpulga/ableton-dj-mcp and connect
it to this coding agent, following docs/Setup.md. Show me the setup plan for
approval, then verify the installation.

The agent does the terminal part. You do two clicks inside Live when it asks.

git clone https://github.com/gpulga/ableton-dj-mcp.git
cd ableton-dj-mcp
npm run setup

setup installs the Live device and bridge, then prints the exact command to connect your AI client. No npm install or build step.

Claude Desktop without a terminal: grab the .zip and .mcpb from the latest release and follow these steps. Cursor and other MCP clients work too: see Setup.

Requires Ableton Live 12.3+ with Max for Live (12.4+ for sample loading), Node.js 24+, macOS or Windows.

Make music

Start any session with "connect to ableton", then just ask:

"Set the tempo to 124 and write a rolling 16th-note bassline in A minor, 8 bars, single octave."

"Find a 124 BPM bass loop in F minor in my sample libraries and load it on a new track."

"Turn the groove in this top loop into MIDI and put the kick on a Drum Rack."

"Sweep the filter from 200 Hz to 8 kHz across the build, then read back what Live shows."

"Build an intro, an 8-bar reveal, a breakdown and a drop from these clips."

Cmd+Z undoes one AI action at a time.

An Ableton Live arrangement with drums, bass, leads, percussion, vocals and pads across Intro, Build, Drop and Breakdown sections

What it can do

Area

Highlights

Write

MIDI in bar|beat notation, transform expressions (velocity += rand(-5, 5)), Euclidean and named rhythms

Sound

Native devices and racks by name, presets by browser URI, samples into Simpler and drum pads, params in real units

Your sounds

Search your own sample libraries (Live's Places) by name, with BPM and key read from file names

Rework

Turn an audio loop into MIDI (drums, melody, harmony), a Simpler, or a sliced Drum Rack

Automate

Clip envelopes in Hz, dB and %, six curve shapes, recipes for sweeps, fades, dub throws and washouts

Arrange

Session and Arrangement, scenes, locators, duplicate to the timeline, with warnings when a write cuts another clip

Perform

Play, stop, loop, fire scenes and clips, record, capture MIDI, undo and redo

Know-how

Genre guides for house, tech house, indie dance, melodic techno, afro house, techno, psytrance, loaded on demand

26 tools, all prefixed adj-. Full parameters: Tools Reference.

How it works

Claude ──stdio──▶ portal ──HTTP :3350──▶ Max for Live device ──▶ Live API
                                         Python bridge (UDP) ──▶ browser, automation, conversions

A Max for Live device on any track runs the MCP server. A small portal connects your AI client to it. A Python remote script reaches what Max can't: the browser, clip envelopes, Live's audio conversions and undo history. Architecture →

FAQ

Live 12.3 or later with Max for Live: Suite, or Standard with the Max for Live add-on. Loading samples into Simpler and drum pads needs Live 12.4. Intro and Lite don't include Max for Live, so they can't run the device.

Any MCP client: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor and others. We build and test it mostly with Claude Code on macOS, so that's the smoothest setup. Client setup details are in Setup.

Yes. It searches the folders you've added to Live's Places, reading BPM and key from file names, and can load any sample into a Simpler, a drum pad or an audio clip.

Both. Most of the testing happens on macOS. Linux isn't supported, since Ableton Live doesn't run there.

cd ableton-dj-mcp
git pull
npm run setup

Then quit and reopen Live, so it loads the new bridge.

Check Troubleshooting, then open an issue or ask in Discussions.

Docs

Setup · Tools · Notation · Vision · Roadmap · Contributing · Discussions

License

Free and open source under GPL-3.0-or-later.

Tool Schema Changelog

Recent tool additions, removals, and schema changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

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