Hello everyone,

has anyone experience in writing Scripts for MIDI-controllers in Ableton. Specifically I would like to get into customizing my Launchcontrol XL. If anyone can point me to a few useful resources or tutorials or explain some basics or a good way to start, that would be great

Cheers

 

I know resources about regular MIDI scripting, I don't know if Ableton and your MIDI surface use regular MIDI or, for instance, SysEx, and so on

 

https://github.com/gluon/AbletonLive10_MIDIRemoteScripts/tree/master/Launch_Control_XL

This is the decompiled original script included in Ableton. Source:

https://julienbayle.studio/ableton-live-midi-remote-scripts/

I don't think there is anything fancy used - I think it is coded with python, which I would like to get into as well anyway. But the load of commands in

https://julienbayle.studio/PythonLiveAPI_documentation/Live10.0.2.xml

seems quite cryptic and unaccessible to me, so I would be happy with anything more friendly to beginners

 

remotify.io

 

unfortunately there is no real documentation available from Ableton.
honestly, remotify is amazing, full functionality is not free, but you can use the free version as a starting point and then modify that one.

if you want to dig into scripting, you already found julien bayle, so

there is this old, but still good source
http://remotescripts.blogspot.com

you may want to check out this video

 

Thanks a lot. If I create a script with free remotify, I get a python file like the one in the original Ableton script? If that is the case, this is a really good starting point.
But I think I want to program it myself, so I won't get paid remotify. Also I paid 100 bucks for the hardware and I won't pay another 60 to get it running the way I want to but Ableton is becoming my excuse to start learning python anyway, so all in all this is a good thing

But I still wonder how third party developers start learning the Ableton API when there are no official resources. Well they are being paid for it, but still it seems odd that Ableton seems to be providing no help at all...

 

yes, you get a normal script that gets compiled on live startup, making it a nice tool for a starting point or to find things out.
theres a "json" file included containing all the settings, you can upload that one and re-edit everything.
the entire thing is very well made, fast and easy to use, just next level dynamic midi mapping, love it.

imo this is how it should be done in all daw's in the first place, they are more or less all the same in that regard.
probably a conspiracy


nativeKontrol is also a good source, you can find useful information and help on that forum, when it comes to Ableton scripts, stray is king, even Ableton themselves hired him once, to help out with scripting


why Ableton doesn't provide more info? i don't know but i guess they don't give a shit

 

On the other hand maybe I use the decompiled original Ableton Script of my controller as a starting point. Together with reading another controllers script that supports more options and consulting the code-reference page of Julien Bayle I might get somewhere.

Is there a specific controller you could recommend to me? I'm thinking maybe the Ableton Push has some more sophisticated script and documentation than most other controllers? For example including a moving red box that shows me what scenes and tracks I control would be pretty nice.

Thank you for helping

 

And by the way, some of the pages I read claim that there are a lot of user-made custom scripts out there. I can imagine that if they are made with remotify for example. But I never came across a single script concerning the launchcontrol xl. Either noone bought that but me or I don't know... but in general there don't seem to be too many scripts out there

 

the moving box is a somewhat "standard" thing in scripts, the color depends on the script slot.
the boxes can be linked together to "cascade/link" multiple controllers together, creating a console like thing.

one feature in remotify is to target a specific device and control of the currently selected track, this is not connected to the blue hand, making it another way to enhance scripts.
for example a knob that always controls the gain parameter of the first instance of Utility of whichever track is currently selected.


whats great about the gluon github decompiled script repository, is, it enables you to modify existing ones, and to investigate others.
have a look at touchable,mackie control, push.

finding user scripts is not easy, they are everywhere and nowhere
on blogs, comment sections, forums, youtube videos, facebook pages....you name it


since i don't have a launch-control i only know this "pro" scripts for your LC XL:

https://isotonikstudios.com/product/launchcontrol-xxl-control-surface-script-live-10/?cn-reloaded=1
isotonik is great but targeted to music people, not to learn scripting

https://www.nativekontrol.com/Arsenal_NLCX.html

thats probably the best way

 

Had to discover that the decompiled scripts look like rubbish, but still I am optimistic as I found a few more scripts and remotify gives quite clean code at least for basic functions. So taking all that together it should be possible to learn coding those scripts. On top of that I got me a big book on Python.

Thanks for the help! If I'm getting better at it, I might use this thread to share some knowledge.