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Ableton Extensions SDK

ableton.com

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Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#31

Post by moralestapia »

SoleilAbsolu wrote: post #26
bbgm wrote: post #20

Somewhat unrelated, but the number of times I have invoked Ableton as a metaphor of challenging the status quo is quite high. I was a Cubase user before Ableton showed up and completely upended the DAW world. And they've kept going. This is just what I've been looking for. I never warmed to Max for Live for mods. But the extensions SDK I can get behind.

Also the fact that Ableton has stayed independent (and bought Cycling '74, maker of Max/MSP) is IMO critical to their ongoing success...Compare to how Native Instruments and iZoptope are mere rent-seeking shadows of their founders' visions since PE/VC took over. One of the features that got me hooked on Ableton Live was how easy it was to do "analog style" audio recording of whatever you're hearing in realtime...not…

Native Instruments is bankrupt, unfortunately.

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#33

Post by maxaw »

krrishd wrote: post #23

This is cool - feels great that there's a growing long-term incentive to implement open SDKs and APIs, for the sake of agent-forward prosumers, in the spirit of earlier internet stuff that used to do it but stopped.

Yes! Glad to see someone else having this thought. Will be interesting to see how it plays out

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#34

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

moralestapia wrote: post #31
SoleilAbsolu wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also the fact that Ableton has stayed independent (and bought Cycling '74, maker of Max/MSP) is IMO critical to their ongoing success...Compare to how Native Instruments and iZoptope are mere rent-seeking shadows of their founders' visions since PE/VC took over. One of the features that got me hooked on Ableton Live was how easy it was to do "analog style" audio recording of whatever you're hearing in realtime...not…

Native Instruments is bankrupt, unfortunately.

They've been purchased.

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#35

Post by jrickert »

I spent my day hacking on this to see what it’s capable of (built a simple little tool that displays MIDI clips as sheet music: https://github.com/madisonrickert/ableton-sheet-music-extens...)

My initial take on its strengths/weaknesses:

- Strong: Using the TS/JS ecosystem to render UI and tools

- Medium: Creating custom application windows in a web view. Window management features are pretty limited currently (can’t resize or render a native “close” button on the window chrome)

- Strong: Creating custom control panels for integrating with external services (like pushing and pulling audio clips or midi to/from an external service)

- Weak: Anything real-time, that’s still the domain of Max4Live or other control APIs, so don’t expect playback automation

- Medium: Tinkering with the Ableton project, clips, tracks, etc. API surface is still incomplete. Like I can read warp markers but not create them, for example. And I can’t access the global time signature settings.

The extensions are pretty aggressively sandboxed, and I appreciate that security consciousness in this season of the js ecosystem. It’s a hassle though if you want to save or load files outside of your little sandbox folder.

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#36

Post by Slow_Hand »

peteforde wrote: post #21
coldtea wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Far too much of Ableton's secret sauce is hidden away behind Max for Live The other way around. Ableton exposes some internal modules to Max for Live as Max for Live modules. What Ableton gets from Max for Live is not internals, but basically a few Ableton-only Max-built plugins, that could as well use VST underneath.

I answered this in a different branch of the thread, but you're kind of missing my point. I don't own Max for Live, so the large ecosystem of useful tools that I'd enjoy trying out is unavailable to me. It's not about special powers, just being forced to pay the gatekeeper to the otherwise free/OSS ecosystem.

Max/MSP has always been a paid tool. There was never a situation when you were going to be able to participate without paying.

This sounds a little like you're complaining that you cannot watch all of the free Youtube content because you don't want to pay for the device that will display it.

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#37

Post by honkycat »

I hate max so much. I wish this could extend to the push 3, I've been working on an orchid clone.

It would be TRIVIAL in any other language, but noooo, I have to write a fucking max patch and deal with their trash visual syntax and runtime.

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#38

Post by honkycat »

peteforde wrote: post #11

I've often felt as though the way to make a DAW that competes with Ableton today would be to build the entire UI around composable scripted modules. Far too much of Ableton's secret sauce is hidden away behind Max for Live and top-tier pricing only features. This is a great step in the right direction.

You're describing reaper. Super great for scripting

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#39

Post by 0x1ceb00da »

peteforde wrote: post #28
SoleilAbsolu wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW you should be "able to" get 2ndhand Ableton Suite licenses for significantly less...IIRC I paid ~$350 a few years ago.

Please say more

Yeah. How does ableton handle the transfer? Do you mail them the transfer request, they generate a new key and mail it to the new owner?

Re: Ableton Extensions SDK

#40

Post by DesaiAshu »

abstractbill wrote: post #9

A couple of times I've tried somewhat seriously to build "google docs for ableton" (meaning two people editing the same project on different computers, seeing each other's edits in realtime). Frustratingly I decided it was impossible to do a really good job of it back then. This sounds like it might finally make it doable!

We should talk - I'm building a new DAW with this in mind :)
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