chord-extension

Ableton Live extension for generating chord progressions and matching MIDI drum patterns. It is built with @ableton-extensions/sdk.

Download

Install the latest packaged extension:

• chord-extension-1.0.5.ablx

After installing the .ablx, restart Ableton Live so the Extension Host refreshes the installed extension list. The context menu item is named chord-extension.

Requirements

Ableton Extensions are currently available in Live 12 Suite Beta, version 12.4.5 or later. Installed .ablx extensions are not available in Live Standard, Intro, or Lite.

When developing or testing on a machine where the SDK is installed, npm start can launch Live's Extension Host directly. Keep that process running while using the extension.

Features

• Generate chord progressions by key, scale, mood, style, length, and complexity.
• Generate a matching drum pattern with kick accents, hats, backbeat, and fills.
• Create two MIDI tracks in Live: one for chords and one for drums.
• Includes Lo-fi, City Pop, House, Future Bass, Kawaii Future Bass, Trap, Funk, and Ballad styles.
• Future Bass and Kawaii Future Bass BPM can be freely adjusted.

Usage

Open chord-extension from a supported Ableton Live context menu, such as:

• MIDI clip
• audio clip
• MIDI/audio track header
• clip slot
• arrangement selection

For MIDI clips, right-click the clip block in Session or Arrangement View.

Development

The path to Ableton Live's Extension Host module is stored in .env as EXTENSION_HOST_PATH. This file is intentionally not committed.

npm install
npm start
npm run build
npm run package

npm run package builds the production bundle and creates a .ablx archive.

On Windows, start-chord-extension-dev.bat starts the same development host.

If Live logs Extension Host: check for installed extensions timed out, the installed extension itself may still be valid while Live's AddOns process is not returning the installed extension list. In that case, start Live and then run start-installed-chord-extension-host.bat to launch the installed extension folder directly.