CodeSong for Ableton Live

An Ableton Live extension that builds a CodeSong composition into the open Live Set: one MIDI track per role with Live's own instruments and effects, one clip per section, a marker per section and a 909 kit from Live's library.

Before you start

• Ableton Live 12.4 beta, the first Live with extensions. Turn on Settings → Extensions → Developer Mode.
• Node.js 24.16 or later.
• The Ableton Extensions SDK, unzipped. Its licence makes it confidential, so it is never committed: setup copies it into vendor/, which git ignores.

Set up once

ABLETON_EXTENSIONS_SDK=~/path/to/extensions-sdk-1.0.0-beta.1 \
  pnpm --filter @codedocs/codesong live:setup

Without ABLETON_EXTENSIONS_SDK, setup looks on the Desktop. It also finds a Live that can run extensions and writes its path to .env.

Build a song

1. Compose. This writes <repo>.live.json to apps/codesong/out/:

   pnpm --filter @codedocs/codesong compose apps/code-art/src/data/vscode.json
   

2. Start the extension with Live open. It reads plans from apps/codesong/out/:

   pnpm --filter @codedocs/codesong live
   

3. In Live, right-click any track and choose Build CodeSong. It builds the newest plan and adds new tracks, so start from an empty Set.

The terminal running pnpm live reports what was built and any device Live refused.

Limits of the SDK today

• Only Live's built-in devices, with their default presets.
• No playback control: press play yourself.
• No key or scale on the Set, and no automation.
• Each track and clip is its own undo step.