Better Ableton MCP

Documentation · Example conversations · Complete tool index

A custom Ableton Live MCP focused on keeping sets tidy and creating MIDI that fits material already in the set. It combines the practical socket-based Live control of ahujasid/ableton-mcp with the composition direction of FabianTinkl/AbletonMCP, then adds an organization layer designed for repeatable daily use.

What works

• The upstream control surface: session/track inspection, MIDI/audio track and clip creation, note insertion, transport, browser loading, and Session-to- Arrangement duplication.
• preview_session_sort: classify the entire set without making changes.
• sort_session: one call to rename and recolor tracks, normalize generic clip names, and match clip colors to their tracks. The operation is grouped into a single Ableton Undo step and is safe to run repeatedly.
• analyze_track_harmony: infer key/mode and pitch-class weight from any list of MIDI tracks, using Session clips, Arrangement clips, or both. Tracks with Arrangement MIDI only are supported; Session clips are not required.
• generate_for_tracks: create a melody or chord clip whose scale and pitch choices come from the specified tracks. Supplying an Ableton Group Track automatically includes its descendants. Seeds make melody variants repeatable.
• generate_chords_for_selected_audio: analyze a warped, monophonic vocal or other audio phrase locally and create a meter-aware chord progression aligned to it in Arrangement View. Use Live's Arrangement Loop to mark the phrase.
• preview_converted_midi_cleanup: inspect noise from Ableton's Convert Melody or Harmony to MIDI without changing the clip.
• clean_converted_midi: conservatively remove conversion artifacts across Session and Arrangement clips in one Ableton Undo step.
• No analytics or usage telemetry.

Track reordering is intentionally not automated because Ableton's documented Live Object Model does not expose moving or grouping existing tracks.

Install

Requires Ableton Live 11 or 12 and Python 3.10+.

1. Copy the BetterAbletonMCP_Remote_Script folder into your User Library's Remote Scripts folder. On Windows this is commonly:

   %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Ableton\User Library\Remote Scripts\
   

2. Restart Live, then choose BetterAbletonMCP_Remote_Script under Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Control Surface. Leave Input and Output as None.

3. From this repository, install the server:

   py -m venv .venv
   .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
   pip install -e .
   

   To generate chords from selected audio, install the optional local audio analysis dependencies instead:

   pip install -e ".[audio]"
   

4. Add the server to an MCP client. Use absolute paths:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "better-ableton": {
         "command": "C:\\absolute\\path\\to\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
         "args": ["-m", "better_ableton_mcp.server"],
         "cwd": "C:\\absolute\\path\\to\\better-ableton-mcp"
       }
     }
   }
   

The Remote Script listens on TCP port 9877 by default. Override the client side with ABLETON_HOST and ABLETON_PORT environment variables.

Example requests

Preview how you would organize this Ableton set.
Sort this set: normalize the names and colors of tracks and clips.
Analyze the harmony in tracks 2, 3, and 6.
Create an 8-bar melody that goes with tracks 2 and 3; use seed 17.
Create a 4-bar chord clip for the MIDI material in tracks 1, 4, and 5.
Make a 4-bar chord progression that works with the selected part of the vocal.
Preview cleanup of the converted melody on track 7 at strength 0.5.
Clean the converted harmony on track 4, preserving chords.

Track and clip indices are zero-based at the protocol level. Ask for session information first when the intended tracks are ambiguous.

For the selected-vocal request, click a warped Arrangement audio clip so it is shown in Clip View, select the phrase, and press Cmd-L on macOS or Ctrl-L on Windows to set and enable the Arrangement Loop. The audio must be monophonic, use any Warp mode except Re-Pitch, and be readable from the machine running the MCP server. Analysis and chord generation stay local. The default creates a new MIDI track and a four-bar Arrangement clip at the loop start; it does not load an instrument.

Organization conventions

The default palette uses seven stable categories: drums (10 DRM), bass (20 BAS), music (30 MUS), vocals (40 VOX), effects (50 FX), references (60 REF), and utility tracks (70 AUX). Classification considers the track name, parent group name, track type, and device names. Edit CATEGORIES and KEYWORDS in src/better_ableton_mcp/organization.py to match your template.

Development

pip install -e ".[dev,audio]"
pytest
ruff check src tests

The harmony and organization engines are pure Python and can be tested without Ableton. Live integration requires Live to be running with the Remote Script enabled.

Converted MIDI cleanup

The cleaner targets common audio-to-MIDI artifacts rather than simply deleting everything outside a scale. It detects very short isolated blips, weak and rare pitches, implausible register outliers, overlapping same-pitch fragments, and extra simultaneous pitches in melody conversions. Harmony mode preserves polyphony. auto chooses between melody and harmony behavior from onset density.

Use preview_converted_midi_cleanup first and begin around the default strength of 0.55. A lower strength is more conservative. Applied cleanup is grouped into one Ableton Undo step, so the original result can be restored immediately.

License

MIT. See LICENSE and NOTICE.md.