I've been reverse engineering Ableton Live's internals

[qtheerearranger]

Ah another story of Icarus.

[Korg Supporter]

Ah another story of Icarus.

Which is also the name of the most underrated workhorse synth IMHO.

[xterminatorapps]

Can you put this on git hub?
This actually goes against the End User License Agreement. I personally don't see a problem with you doing this and I think it should be allowed, but software that is not open source is extremely strict about this.
If you were to put this online I imagine there would be some legal issues with it.

Fair point. I'm not distributing any of Ableton's code, just my own tool that talks to the running app. But yeah, legal stuff is something I'm keeping in mind before anything goes public.

[xterminatorapps]

Does this update the currently opened set as you're using it, or does it just configure things for the next time you open it?

It's all live, real-time in the running session. When I call a function or change a property, you see it happen instantly in the app. No restart needed.

[xterminatorapps]

A rectangle selection tool for automation points.
Automatic simplifying of drawn in curves.
Pianoroll enhanced with normal MIDI note tools like "octave up" etc.

All three are long overdue honestly. Rectangle selection for automation points and basic piano roll shortcuts like octave up/down should be very doable. Curve simplification is a bit more involved but the data is there. Adding all of these to the list.

[xterminatorapps]

Can you put this on git hub?
This actually goes against the End User License Agreement. I personally don't see a problem with you doing this and I think it should be allowed, but software that is not open source is extremely strict about this.
If you were to put this online I imagine there would be some legal issues with it.

Maybe not on GitHub, since it's American, but on a European website, surely. EULAs are mostly void in the EU.

Good shout, EU has much better protections for this kind of thing. Worth considering when the time comes.

[xterminatorapps]

Ghost/mirrored midi clips. Been requested for years, the devs "don't see the point".

Yeah the "we don't see the point" response is wild when every other DAW has had this for years. It's definitely on the high priority list. The approach would be syncing linked clips whenever one gets edited. Not as clean as a native implementation but it would get the job done.

[xterminatorapps]

Really appreciate all the ideas everyone, keep them coming.

To give you the bigger picture of where this is heading: the end goal isn't just a collection of hacks. I want to build an actual add-on framework so anyone could create their own extensions for Live. Think of it like browser extensions but for Ableton.

People would be able to browse and install add-ons directly inside Live itself. Want ghost clips? Install an add-on. Better automation tools? There's an add-on for that. Custom piano roll features? Someone in the community built one.

The whole point is to open this up so it's not just me tinkering, but a whole community building the features Ableton won't. Still early days but that's the vision.

[lionscub68]

What drives me absolutely batty, for the last 12 years, whenever I custom midi map anything using the Novation LCXL (or any of their controllers, honestly), the LED feedback gets broken.

For me, I'm specifically talking about the 16 buttons on the bottom (see attached pic).

Screenshot 2026-02-22 at 9.48.46 AM.jpg

When I set up for live sets, I use the buttons to arm channels with softsynths that I play live, along with other tracks triggered by a Launchpad. Those 8 instruments are not necessarily going to be on 8 tracks next to each other in the Session View. So I midi map them for what I want them to be. I also use the other 8 buttons for random stuff instead of the default "track selection." Same with all of the knobs... I have little to no use for Panning L/R in a live set; I'd rather use that for a third insert effect.

Same can be said for all of the above for buttons on the Novation Launchpad.

FIX CUSTOM MIDI MAPPED LED FEEDBACK. It's such a basic thing.

[Tendou]

1) when consolidate or when creating a midi clup I want the loop function to be toggled on
2) custom shortcuts and customizable macros
3) the VST added I want that black useless xy thing gone and have parameters there like bitwig or a miniature window of the pnugins which is adjustable (like the wrappers from elisabeth homeland) but for everything and automated

[Ben.juodvalkis]

super cool!

I thought I'd share this vaguely-parallel project I've been working on.
https://github.com/ben-juodvalkis/ablet ... nd-palette
it's copying the beautiful idea of the vs code command palette to ableton

Really appreciate all the ideas everyone, keep them coming.

To give you the bigger picture of where this is heading: the end goal isn't just a collection of hacks. I want to build an actual add-on framework so anyone could create their own extensions for Live. Think of it like browser extensions but for Ableton.

People would be able to browse and install add-ons directly inside Live itself. Want ghost clips? Install an add-on. Better automation tools? There's an add-on for that. Custom piano roll features? Someone in the community built one.

The whole point is to open this up so it's not just me tinkering, but a whole community building the features Ableton won't. Still early days but that's the vision.

[vertibration]

Be careful, those guys dont mess around when it comes to messing with Ableton. Playing with fire bro....

[havran]

When I saw this topic my first thought was that maybe you could propose some patches to make it easier for Ableton to come out with a Linux-native version of Live; however, after skimming through and getting the idea that you might be proposing some kind of interface to enable third-party tweaks to the DAW (and sorry if I misunderstood), but isn't that what M4L is already for?

[Daru925]

I love ableton live but here goes:
Nitpicks and Qol:

The automation/cc64 pedal/ keyswitches not always resetting properly if you stop restart transport in random places, not behaving as intended. Very buggy behaviour, and very annoying to work with kontakt sometimes.

M4l devices has cluncky interface with low framerate and a lot of noticeable stepping, compared with "native" devices.

Better/more color palettes for tracks. The ability to gradient color several tracks within a group.

Piano roll notes (the left side) that i could color or rename like the drumrack, would make it easier to work with third party libraries, for the keyswitches or drum elements.

Let me edit automation curves as takes lanes or when several tracks are selected.

Make midi shaper with a better grid and patterns selection^^ basically shaperbox.

No dynamic eq, lack of oscilloscopes, lufs measurments, and the current tools cannot be detached from the fx bar, so matching eqs beetween several instruments is a lot of back and forth, and i end up using third party tools. The spectrum analyser is useless because undockable. Span FTW

[whyterabbyt]

isn't that what M4L is already for?

No. Ableton doesnt make everything that Live does/has accessible to M4L (or Remote Scripts).