Drum Rack Optimize Volume

A tiny Ableton Live extension that resets every pad in a Drum Rack to a clean starting point in one click — built with the new Ableton Extensions SDK (beta).

Right-click a Drum Rack → Optimize Volume (0 dB · Vol<Vel 0%) and it instantly:

• sets every Simpler pad's Volume to 0 dB,
• sets Vol < Vel to 0% on all pads,
• all wrapped in one undo step (⌘Z to revert).

Great for consistent gain staging across a kit before you start mixing — no more pads randomly sitting at -12 dB or velocity ducking your hits. It also shows a quick summary of what it changed:

Requirements

• Ableton Live 12 build that supports Extensions (the Extensions SDK is currently in beta).
• Developer Mode enabled: Preferences → Extensions → Developer Mode.

Install (prebuilt)

1. Download Drum-Rack-Optimize-Volume-x.y.z.ablx from the Releases page.
2. In Live: Preferences → Extensions → Install Extension… → pick the .ablx.
3. Activate it and restart Live.
4. Right-click a Drum Rack → Optimize Volume (0 dB · Vol<Vel 0%).

Build from source

This project depends on the Ableton Extensions SDK packages (@ableton-extensions/sdk and @ableton-extensions/cli), distributed by Ableton as a beta .tgz bundle — they are not included here.

1. Get the Extensions SDK beta from Ableton and note the path to the extracted folder (it contains ableton-extensions-sdk-*.tgz and ableton-extensions-cli-*.tgz).
2. Point the file: paths in package.json at those .tgz files.
3. Install & build:

   npm install
   npm run build      # type-check + bundle to dist/
   npm run package    # production build + .ablx archive
   

4. Dev mode (loads straight into a running Live with Developer Mode on):

   npm start
   

How it works

For each pad chain in the Drum Rack it finds the Simpler device and, via the SDK's DeviceParameter API:

• Volume → 0 (Simpler's Volume is in dB, so 0 = 0 dB; falls back to the parameter default if the range isn't a dB range),
• Vol < Vel → the bottom of its range (0%).

All changes run inside a single withinTransaction(...) so it's one undo step.

Notes & limitations

• Works on Simpler-based pads. Sampler / Drum Cell aren't exposed as classes by the current SDK, so those pads are skipped (the result dialog reports this).
• The Extensions SDK is beta; APIs and behavior may change.

License

MIT