live-studio

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What is it?

Live Studio combines dozens of music-production extensions for Ableton Live into a single extension. Instead of installing and loading many extensions — each running its own server fighting for the same port — Live Studio assembles them under:

• a single local server + a single webview with a side tab navigation,
• lazy loading of each panel (boots fast no matter how many modules it has),
• an AI copilot that drives any module via natural language,
• and a quick command palette (⌘K / Ctrl+K) that searches and executes everything.

✨ Features

• 144 modules (all visible) with 414 real tools across categories: music generation, drums, mixing/mastering, EQ/analysis, synthesis, sampling, arrangement, performance/live, MIDI, hardware/control, project management, audio↔MIDI conversion and more.
• AI copilot (OpenRouter / OpenAI / Gemini / NVIDIA NIM / OpenCode Zen) with a tool-calling loop: it discovers and runs any of the 414 tools through a meta-toolkit (find_tools searches the whole suite, list_modules browses, run_tool executes) — reaching everything without flooding the model.
• Quick command palette (⌘K): indexes the 414 tools + 90 quick actions (each one a shortcut that runs a real tool with preset args) and runs them with the keyboard.
• 119 curated rich panels where the auto-generated form falls short: piano-roll, clip graph, mixer with faders/pan/sends, step grids, pad grids, drum map, comping, EQ curve, LFO designer, trance gate, synth patchbay, arrangement timeline, track grid, gain staging, rack builder, session health, performance pad, version diff…
• Dashboard + live updates: a home view with the project at a glance (BPM, key, tracks, clips, scenes, snapshots) that refreshes live — the server diffs the Set every 1.5s and pushes SSE events; panels like the Mix Console re-render themselves when the Set changes.
• Favorites, recents & work profiles: pin modules, jump back to recent ones, and filter the sidebar by profile (Mixing / Sound design / Performance) — persisted server-side.
• Copilot plan mode: "Plan first" makes the AI propose a reviewable step-by-step plan (read-only exploration, zero execution) that you apply with one click — every step undoable via Edit History.
• Self-documenting: npm run gen:catalog regenerates a static, searchable catalog of all modules/tools (docs/) straight from the registry; npm run new:module scaffolds a complete module (tools + panel + registration + tests) in one command.
• Bilingual UI (EN/ES): the shell auto-detects the system language (with a manual toggle) — one shared codebase, no duplicated files, via a single string dictionary (public/i18n.js). All 414 tool descriptions are translated too (public/desc-i18n.js), shown in the autoform, the command palette and panel headers — the English text the AI copilot reads stays untouched.
• Lazy panel loading: rich panels (~670 KB total) load on first visit to their module instead of all 119 upfront, so the UI shows up instantly.
• Auto-generated UI for everything else: any new module shows up with its form without writing HTML, reading its tool definitions.
• Lightweight: ~840 KB bundle, no frontend frameworks.
• Tested: 325 end-to-end smoke tests of the server + modules.

📸 Screenshots

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⭐ Featured — Resonance · Mix Radar

The first Live extension that renders your set to audio, listens, and produces back into it. Single-channel plugins only ever see one track — Resonance sees the whole set.

• Listen — renders each audio stem with resources.renderPreFxAudio, then runs a real FFT inside the extension host (zero native deps): 30 log bands, dominant frequency and loudness per track.
• See the masking — fuses the per-track spectra into a frequency × track collision matrix; where two tracks fight in the same band, the cell turns red.
• Act — turns each collision into a one-click corrective move (carve EQ, trim, pan) written back via DeviceParameter.setValue, all collapsed into a single undo (withinTransaction).
• Remember — caches spectral fingerprints per project in environment.storageDirectory.

The Mix Radar is the most elaborate of the 119.

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🚀 Installation

You do not need the SDK, Node, or any coding to use this. Just the .ablx file below and Ableton Live 12.4.5b+.

Option A — download and install (for everyone)

1. Download live-studio.ablx from the Releases tab.
2. In Ableton Live open Preferences → Extensions and drag the .ablx onto that panel (or use its install button). Live confirms it's installed.
3. Make sure “Developer Mode” is OFF in that same Extensions tab. Developer Mode hands the extension host to the SDK runner, so an installed .ablx won't start while it's on.
4. Quit and reopen Ableton Live (a full restart — this is needed for the extension's host process to start in the current beta).
5. Open the UI: right-click a track, an empty clip slot, a clip or a scene → Extensions → Live Studio. The window opens; close it with the window's ✕.

Troubleshooting: if "Live Studio" isn't in the right-click Extensions submenu, it's almost always (a) Developer Mode left ON, or (b) Live wasn't fully restarted after install — both are known Live 12 Beta quirks. Re-check those two and relaunch Live.

Option B — build from source (for developers)

git clone <repo-url> live-studio && cd live-studio
npm install
npm run build        # esbuild → dist/extension.js + copies the UI to dist/ui
npm run package      # produces live-studio.ablx (includes the UI)
npm run start        # extensions-cli run (inside Live's Extension Host)

Requirements: Node ≥ 22.11 and the Ableton Extensions SDK (beta).

🤖 AI Copilot

In the AI Copilot tab pick a provider (OpenRouter / OpenAI / Gemini / NVIDIA NIM / OpenCode Zen), paste your API key and optionally a model. Example instructions:

"create a MIDI track named Bass, generate a pop progression in C minor, then a techno beat at 124 BPM"

The key stays only in the local server's memory; nothing is persisted to disk.

🧩 Architecture

Every module exposes the same minimal contract, so they're mergeable without adapters:

ToolDefinition { name, description, category, parameters }
ToolResult     { success, data?, error? }
ToolRegistry   .register(def, handler)  .execute(name, args, song)

The MasterRegistry absorbs each child by delegating execution and namespacing name/category (drums__generate_pattern). The shell exposes a uniform API:

Method	Path	Purpose
GET	/api/modules	modules for the sidebar
GET	/api/tools[?module=id]	tool definitions
POST	/api/execute	{name, args} → execute a tool
POST	/api/chat	AI copilot (tool-calling loop)
GET/POST	/api/config	provider / API key / model

src/
├── extension.ts          # activate(): registry → bridge → server → showModalDialog
├── server.ts             # unified endpoints, dynamic port, serves the UI
├── bridge.ts             # executeTool() + processChat() (AI loop)
├── core/{registry,llm}.ts
├── registry/index.ts     # ← assembly point (add a module = 1 line)
└── modules/<id>/tools.ts # each module = its own toolRegistry
public/
├── index.html · shell.js · styles.css   # shell + autoform + palette
└── panels/<id>.js                        # 119 rich panels

Adding a module (3 steps)

1. Copy the toolRegistry into src/modules/<id>/tools.ts (exporting createToolRegistry()).
2. Register it in src/registry/index.ts:

   m.addModule({ id:"reverb", label:"Reverb & Delay", icon:"🌫️", registry: reverbTools() });
   

3. npm run build. It shows up in the UI and is available to the copilot. No HTML needed.

Rich panels

Create public/panels/<id>.js that registers window.LiveStudioPanels["<id>"] = (panel, helpers) => …. No index.html edit needed — panels load lazily: shell.js fetches /panels/<id>.js the first time a module is opened (a 404 just falls back to the autoform), so nothing is downloaded until it's actually used. There are 119 already, including: organizer, fxchain, mixconsole, stepseq, chordpads, drums, drummap, clipgraph (graph), notation (piano-roll), takes, eq (EQ curve), midilfo (LFO designer), midigate (trance gate), synth (patchbay), genarranger (arrangement timeline), trackmanager (track grid), health (session health), mastering (gain staging), rackbuilder (rack), performance (performance pad), clipversions (versions & snapshots), resonance (mix radar + masking matrix), autogain (auto gain-staging), keyscale (key detection), genrhythm (generative rhythm), texturemap (audio→MIDI), spectrumcompare (spectrum match), projectsnapshot (git for Live Sets), scoreeditor (notation + MusicXML), clipvariations (variation engine), stemalign (stem aligner), samplebrain (sample library brain), macromorph (macro snapshot morph), loopdetect (loop BPM), warpcompare (warp A/B), paramdiff (outlier QA), phrasefinder (MIDI phrase search), saferandom (safe randomizer), groovetemplate (groove extractor), probabilitylab (probability lab), devremote (remote-control any device, incl. Max for Live), stemexport (batch stem export), mixcoach (prioritized mix next-steps), history (undo/redo timeline), templates (genre starter kits), mixscene (mixer A/B recall), tempotap (tap tempo), notes (sticky notes), sandbox (live-coding REPL), delaycalc (delay time table), setlist (reorderable setlist), fxpresets (saved FX chains), groove (groove extractor/humanizer), colorizer (clip coloring by metric), vocal (vocal chain builder).

🛠️ Development

npm run build         # compile (esbuild)
npm run typecheck     # tsc --noEmit
npm run test          # 325 smoke tests (server + modules, simulated song)
npm run package       # build + package .ablx with the UI
npm run new:module     # scaffold a module: tools.ts + rich panel + registry + smoke-test entries, one command
npm run gen:catalog    # regenerate docs/catalog.html — a static, searchable catalog of every module/tool

For developers, npm run new:module -- <id> "<Label>" [icon] ["description"] creates src/modules/<id>/tools.ts (one example tool, real song state), public/panels/<id>.js (a rich panel with live refresh wired in), registers the module in src/registry/index.ts, and extends test/smoke.ts so the suite immediately covers it — no manual edits, no forgetting a step.

Packaging notes — avoiding No manifest.json found at install time. Live's installer unzips the .ablx and then validates manifest.json; if either the archive can't be read or the manifest fails validation, it surfaces the same generic No manifest.json found error. Two things matter:

1. version must be a strict MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g. 1.0.0). Live's manifest validator rejects pre-release suffixes like 1.0.0-beta.0, and the install then reports No manifest.json found even though the file is present. All of the SDK's own example manifests use plain 1.0.0.
2. Build the entry as CommonJS (format: "cjs" in build.ts). The .ablx ships no package.json, so the Extension Host loads dist/extension.js as CJS; an ESM bundle fails at load time with Cannot use import statement outside a module (the extension installs but never shows up). The SDK's auto-generated build uses cjs.
3. Package with Info-ZIP (zip -X), which npm run package does instead of the default extensions-cli package. The default relies on archiver, which writes entries in streaming mode with data descriptors (size=0/crc=0 in the local headers); zip -X writes standard local headers with real sizes, which Live's archive reader (minizip) handles reliably.

📚 Module catalog

• Session & project: Session & Tracks · Clips & Scenes · Bulk Track Manager · Track Color Coordinator · Project Templates · Project Notes · Project Health · Session Organizer · Project Snapshot · Git · Sample Library Brain · Param Diff & Outlier · MIDI Phrase Finder · Stem Export
• MIDI & composition: Chords & Progressions · Melody Generator · Lyric → Melody · MIDI Harmonizer · MIDI Randomizer · MIDI Transformer · MIDI Gate · MIDI LFO · Chord Pads · Step Sequencer · Quantize & Swing · Groove & Humanize · Notation Viewer · Generative Rhythm · Score Editor · Clip Variation Engine · Groove Template Extractor · Probability Lab
• Drums: Drums & Patterns · Drum Replacer · Drum Map Editor · Drum Bus Processor
• Mixing & FX: EQ & Analysis · Compression & Dynamics · Gain Staging & Levels · AI Mixing Assistant · Mix Console View · Mix Scene Saver · FX Chains · FX Chain Presets · Macro Mapper Pro · Rack Builder · Macro Snapshot Morph · Safe Randomizer · Resonance · Mix Radar ⭐ · Auto-Gain Stager · Key & Scale Detective · Spectrum Match · Device Remote · Mix Coach
• Arrangement & performance: Arrangement & Navigation · Arrangement Sections · Generative Arranger · Performance & Looper · Takes & Comping · Clip Colorizer · Clip Versions · Clip Relation Graph · Clip Launch Quantizer · Setlist Manager
• Tempo & time: Tempo & Grid Sync · Tempo Tapper · Time Signature · Delay Calculator · Loop Length Detective
• Sound design: Synth Patchbay · SFX & Textures · Vocal Chain & FX · Audio Texture Mapper · Stem Aligner · Warp Mode A/B Comparator
• Routing & dev: Group Routing · API Console · Live Coding Sandbox · Edit History (undo/redo timeline) · Quick Actions (⌘K palette, 90 actions)

Modules that depended on capabilities the Live Extensions SDK doesn't expose (audio DSP/analysis, transport/recording, hardware/controllers, file/library access, plugin scanning) were removed so every module here operates on the real Set.

🙏 Credits

Built on top of the Ableton Extensions SDK. Assembled from in-house extensions, consolidating the best of each concept into a single super-app.

📄 License

GNU GPL v3 © 2026 Ramón Sesma.

Free software with strong copyleft: you may use, study, modify and share it — but any distributed version (including modified or commercial ones) must stay open under the GPL; it cannot be turned into a closed, proprietary product.