Getting Started

Requirements

  • Node.js 20 or newer
  • Ableton Live
  • the ableton-js MIDI Remote Script enabled in Live
  • one of:
    • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
    • OPENAI_API_KEY
    • Claude Code CLI auth for --provider cli

Install

git clone https://github.com/delaudio/ableton-composer
cd ableton-composer
npm install

cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and add the provider keys you want to use.

Useful OpenAI env vars:

  • OPENAI_MODEL
  • OPENAI_TIMEOUT_MS
  • OPENAI_MAX_RETRIES

First Generation

ableton-composer generate "melancholic IDM, 8 sections" \
  --tracks "Bass,Drums,Pad,Lead,Chords,FX" \
  --provider openai

What this does:

  1. loads the base generation prompt
  2. optionally infers genre or harmony overlays
  3. generates structured song JSON
  4. saves the result under sets/

Ableton Remote Script

cp -r node_modules/ableton-js/midi-script \
      ~/Music/Ableton/User\ Library/Remote\ Scripts/AbletonJS

Then activate AbletonJS in:

Preferences -> Link / MIDI -> Control Surfaces

Restart Live if needed.

Note for Live 11+: the custom AbletonJS Remote Script may trigger Ableton’s warning about using an older MIDI-note editing process. For normal clip/note workflows you can proceed, but advanced Live 11 note metadata such as MPE, probability, velocity deviation, and release velocity may not be preserved when a Remote Script rewrites MIDI notes.

Push a Generated Set

ableton-composer push sets/my-song --setup

Each generated section maps to one scene row in Ableton session view.

Next Steps

  • read Providers if you want to choose between Anthropic, OpenAI, Codex, or Claude CLI
  • read Profiles if you want album-style conditioning
  • read Workflows for end-to-end examples
Edit this page