Spark Lite

Spark Lite is a free/community feedback Ableton Live Extension for quickly starting a new track idea. It generates a simple genre-aware production template with a visual heat map, arrangement cue points, and empty placeholder clips so producers can move from a blank set into a structured idea quickly.

Tagline: Ignite Your Next Track

Target

• Ableton Live 12 Beta with the Ableton Extensions SDK
• Extension manifest entry: dist/extension.js
• Package artifact: dist/spark-lite.ablx

Features

• Spark Lite context menu entry inside Ableton Live
• Compact popup UI
• Genre, Style, Energy, and Complexity controls
• 16-section visual heat map preview
• Generate button for new heat map ideas
• Lane locking for preserving parts of the heat map
• Build button for basic template creation
• Flat MIDI track structure generation
• Arrangement cue points when supported by the SDK
• Empty activity clips as visual placeholders
• Safe modal close behavior through X and Esc

What Spark Lite Does Not Include

• Device loading
• MIDI note generation
• Audio routing
• Advanced production guidance

Spark Lite is intentionally focused on fast, simple idea starts for community feedback.

Install And Test

Install dependencies:

npm install

Build the extension:

npm run build

Create the installable package:

npm run package

The release package is created at:

dist/spark-lite.ablx

Install dist/spark-lite.ablx in Ableton Live Beta through the Extensions preferences workflow.

Development Run

Create a local .env file if needed:

EXTENSION_HOST_PATH=/Applications/Ableton Live 12 Beta.app

Then run:

npm start

Known Limitations

• Group tracks are not created because the current SDK path used by this project creates flat MIDI tracks.
• Clips are empty placeholders and contain no generated MIDI notes.
• Track colors, devices, and routing are not part of Spark Lite.
• Ableton SDK behavior may change while Extensions support is still in beta.

Feedback Requested

This release is intended for community feedback. Please test whether Spark Lite helps you start a track faster, whether the heat map is clear, and whether the generated structure feels useful enough to build from.