ABLE-MCP

Right-click MIDI and audio tools for Ableton Live 12, plus an MCP server for .als analysis and live bridge orchestration.

Two artifacts in one repo:

1. AbleMCP.ablx — a native Ableton Live 12 extension. Drag it in, right-click clips, get fast deterministic transformations and vocal-to-complement generation. No API key, no cloud dependency.

2. able-mcp (Python) — an MCP server for parsing and analyzing .als project files offline. Plug into Claude Desktop / VS Code / Cursor and ask questions about your sets.

The extension (shipping in v0.2)

Built on @ableton-extensions/sdk 1.0.0-beta.0. Runs inside Live's own process — not Max for Live. Tested on Live 12.4.5b3.

Install

1. Download dist/AbleMCP.ablx

2. Open Live → Settings → Library → Extensions

3. Drag the .ablx file in

4. Restart Live

What you get

Right-click any MIDI clip (session or arrangement) → ABLE-MCP menu:

Every action also works on time-range selections in arrangement view — right-click a selection across one or more MIDI tracks and pick ABLE-MCP (range): …. Only notes inside the range are transformed.

Right-click any audio clip in arrangement view:

Every action is a single Cmd-Z undo.

Why it's fast

Core MIDI/audio actions are pure deterministic functions running in-process. Typical transform actions are near-instant and fully undoable. No LLM call is required for the shipping extension feature set.

Building from source

cd extension
npm install
npm run build      # tsc + esbuild → dist/extension.cjs
npm run package    # → ../dist/AbleMCP.ablx

Related MCP server: remix-mcp

The MCP server

Python 3.11, stdio transport. Parses Live's gzipped .als files and exposes structure as MCP tools. Useful when you want an LLM to read a project without opening Live.

Install

Option A — local clone:

uv sync

Option B — run directly from GitHub (no PyPI required):

uvx --from git+https://github.com/bassDaddyDevices/ABLE-MCP@v0.2.0 able-mcp

Run

Local clone:

uv run able-mcp

GitHub source (one-shot):

uvx --from git+https://github.com/bassDaddyDevices/ABLE-MCP@v0.2.0 able-mcp

Hook into a client

Claude Desktop (local clone) — ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "able-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/absolute/path/to/ABLE-MCP", "run", "able-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (GitHub source, no PyPI):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "able-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/bassDaddyDevices/ABLE-MCP@v0.2.0",
        "able-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot Chat, local clone) — your user or workspace mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
    "able-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["--directory", "/absolute/path/to/ABLE-MCP", "run", "able-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

VS Code (Copilot Chat, GitHub source, no PyPI):

{
  "servers": {
    "able-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "--from",
        "git+https://github.com/bassDaddyDevices/ABLE-MCP@v0.2.0",
        "able-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Tools

Roadmap

• v0.2.x — tighten vocal-to-complement quality (better vibrato handling, stronger anti-unison controls, warped-clip timing support).

• v0.3 — richer bridge orchestration tools (multi-clip workflows and arrangement/session interoperability).

• v0.4 — expand deterministic composition primitives (scale quantize, swing, density, stutter, chord-tone targeting).

Develop

uv run pytest         # Python tests
uv run ruff check .   # Python lint

Python tests use synthetic .als fixtures (gzipped XML) generated in tests/fixtures/init.py. When a real Live 12 file becomes available, drop it under tests/fixtures/real/ and add parity tests — the parser is best-effort against an undocumented schema.

Supply-chain hygiene

• uv.lock is committed; review every diff.

• All Python deps pinned with ==.

• The extension has exactly one runtime dep (@ableton-extensions/sdk), pinned in extension/package.json.

License

MIT (extension and Python server).