Ableton Live 12.4.5: New extensions

[rod_zero]

So live has one more way to make custom tools integrated in to it:

https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/artic ... nsions-FAQ

What are Extensions?

Ableton Extensions, introduced in Live 12.4.5, provide a way for users to develop and use their own tools within Ableton Live using the Extensions SDK.

Extensions can interact with tracks, clips, MIDI, devices, tempo, and other parts of a Live Set to automate tasks, transform musical data, and customize Live’s capabilities.

[HOTF]

This is huge

[Karbon L. Forms]

bloody Node. god I hate Node and JS. AI loves it tho. Prepare for a lot of bollocks appearing for this!

[Andrei Marchenko]

Cockos Reapaer fans will going crazy

[kvotchin]

Oh hell yes. Coding time!

[SLiC]

Only Ableton would release this as a free 0.5 update...I mean, not even a point update, a bloody 0.5!
This and MAX = well, just about anything you want!

[whyterabbyt]

Very nice. There's been some very clever stuff done in extending Live's functionality via M4L, but a Device you had to load in a track was never quite the right place for it. This is finally a 'better way'.

(I find it interesting that Philip Meyer says this is going 'consumer' in a 12.4.5 (ie non-beta) release. WTF is going into 12.5 then?)

[xterminatorapps]

Hello, I have been reverse engineering Ableton Live internals for a few months: my thread here

After I checked the API and docs for this new SDK, some promising stuff in there but also some clear limitations.

Spent some time going through the full API docs and the SDK source. It is promising as a first step. The TypeScript API is clean, you get proper track/clip/device/MIDI note access, transactions with undo support, context menu integration, and even renderPreFxAudio() for offline bouncing. The fact that extensions run in Node.js means full filesystem + npm ecosystem access, which is nice.

That said, after digging into the actual API surface, most of what it exposes is stuff you could already do through LOM (Live Object Model) objects via Max for Live or the Control Surface scripts. Track creation, clip manipulation, device parameter read/write, tempo changes. All of that has been available for years through live_set, live.path, etc.

What is still missing and what would actually matter for deeper integration:

• No real-time audio DSP / buffer access you can bounce audio offline with renderPreFxAudio(), but there is zero access to live audio buffers or the process callback. No way to write custom DSP.
• No VST/AU plugin loading you can only interact with built-in devices (Drift, Wavetable, etc.) and their parameters. Cannot programmatically load or instantiate third-party plugins.
• No transport control no play, stop, record, or timeline cursor manipulation. Extensions are reactive to the session state, not controllers of it.
• No headless execution extensions only run inside a live Ableton session with the GUI. No batch processing, no CLI, no server-side.
• No audio I/O routing manipulation cannot programmatically change input/output routing, send/return assignments, or signal flow.

It is basically a nicer, officially supported wrapper around what Max for Live + LOM already gives you, packaged as a modern TypeScript dev experience with npm tooling. Good for building workflow utilities (the included "strip silence" and "warp mode" examples are exactly that kind of thing), but if you were hoping for something closer to actual engine-level access, this is not it.

Still a beta though, so we will see where they take it.

[VOODOO U]

Cockos Repaer fans will going crazy

Why would Reaper users go crazy over anything Ableton has to offer? If you use Reaper you've been ahead of the game.
Nothing against Ableton of course I've been using it since it's inception but it's not up to par with Reaper as far as audio recording is concerned. For example i've always had latency issues using Live. Never had any issues with any other DAW regarding latency; just Live. And I'm supposed to go crazy for something that's been offered by Cockos for years now? Don't think so.

[SLiC]

[machinesworking]

Hello, I have been reverse engineering Ableton Live internals for a few months:

I have a distinct feeling that none of this is going to fix some long standing issues with Live for me.

The show instrument icon has a keyboard shortcut attached to it, but it's next to useless. Essentially the function does not work if you close the window with the mouse. In practice if you're trying to use the command, during a long session it's quite possible to mouse click close a plugin, realize the shortcut does not work now, then once again have to "prime" the key command by opening the plugin again with the mouse.

I would like Live to not lose the ability to use the key shortcut when you close the plugin window manually, no other DAW I know of does this and I see no practical reason for it to work like this.

[ksandvik]

I have a wait and see attitude, if there are any workflow related extensions that saves me time I would be interested to try, not to play games inside Ableton Live. Also, this is Javascript and we all know the dangers with npm extensions thart might cause all kinds of security issues... Not to speak of using up memory for the project.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Hello, I have been reverse engineering Ableton Live internals for a few months: my thread here

After I checked the API and docs for this new SDK, some promising stuff in there but also some clear limitations.

Spent some time going through the full API docs and the SDK source. It is promising as a first step. The TypeScript API is clean, you get proper track/clip/device/MIDI note access, transactions with undo support, context menu integration, and even renderPreFxAudio() for offline bouncing. The fact that extensions run in Node.js means full filesystem + npm ecosystem access, which is nice.

That said, after digging into the actual API surface, most of what it exposes is stuff you could already do through LOM (Live Object Model) objects via Max for Live or the Control Surface scripts. Track creation, clip manipulation, device parameter read/write, tempo changes. All of that has been available for years through live_set, live.path, etc.

What is still missing and what would actually matter for deeper integration:

• No real-time audio DSP / buffer access you can bounce audio offline with renderPreFxAudio(), but there is zero access to live audio buffers or the process callback. No way to write custom DSP.
• No VST/AU plugin loading you can only interact with built-in devices (Drift, Wavetable, etc.) and their parameters. Cannot programmatically load or instantiate third-party plugins.
• No transport control no play, stop, record, or timeline cursor manipulation. Extensions are reactive to the session state, not controllers of it.
• No headless execution extensions only run inside a live Ableton session with the GUI. No batch processing, no CLI, no server-side.
• No audio I/O routing manipulation cannot programmatically change input/output routing, send/return assignments, or signal flow.

It is basically a nicer, officially supported wrapper around what Max for Live + LOM already gives you, packaged as a modern TypeScript dev experience with npm tooling. Good for building workflow utilities (the included "strip silence" and "warp mode" examples are exactly that kind of thing), but if you were hoping for something closer to actual engine-level access, this is not it.

Still a beta though, so we will see where they take it.

So it's not going to be the magic fix for the delay compensation issues with grid synced devices that have plagued live since around the Bronze Age.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Only Ableton would release this as a free 0.5 update...I mean, not even a point update, a bloody 0.5!
This and MAX = well, just about anything you want!

I think it's a 0.0.5 update isn't it?

[xterminatorapps]

Hello, I have been reverse engineering Ableton Live internals for a few months: my thread here

After I checked the API and docs for this new SDK, some promising stuff in there but also some clear limitations.

Spent some time going through the full API docs and the SDK source. It is promising as a first step. The TypeScript API is clean, you get proper track/clip/device/MIDI note access, transactions with undo support, context menu integration, and even renderPreFxAudio() for offline bouncing. The fact that extensions run in Node.js means full filesystem + npm ecosystem access, which is nice.

That said, after digging into the actual API surface, most of what it exposes is stuff you could already do through LOM (Live Object Model) objects via Max for Live or the Control Surface scripts. Track creation, clip manipulation, device parameter read/write, tempo changes. All of that has been available for years through live_set, live.path, etc.

What is still missing and what would actually matter for deeper integration:

• No real-time audio DSP / buffer access you can bounce audio offline with renderPreFxAudio(), but there is zero access to live audio buffers or the process callback. No way to write custom DSP.
• No VST/AU plugin loading you can only interact with built-in devices (Drift, Wavetable, etc.) and their parameters. Cannot programmatically load or instantiate third-party plugins.
• No transport control no play, stop, record, or timeline cursor manipulation. Extensions are reactive to the session state, not controllers of it.
• No headless execution extensions only run inside a live Ableton session with the GUI. No batch processing, no CLI, no server-side.
• No audio I/O routing manipulation cannot programmatically change input/output routing, send/return assignments, or signal flow.

It is basically a nicer, officially supported wrapper around what Max for Live + LOM already gives you, packaged as a modern TypeScript dev experience with npm tooling. Good for building workflow utilities (the included "strip silence" and "warp mode" examples are exactly that kind of thing), but if you were hoping for something closer to actual engine-level access, this is not it.

Still a beta though, so we will see where they take it.

So it's not going to be the magic fix for the delay compensation issues with grid synced devices that have plagued live since around the Bronze Age.

No it will not ;
it's just an official API for devs to use instead of the Unofficial API that users reverse engineered over the years .
It's just Ableton giving users stuff they have never asked for .