Controlling Ableton Live
MIDI Scripter was originally created to overcome some limitations of Ableton Live without getting into rewriting its complex built-in MIDI remote scripts.
MIDI Scripter has two ways to communicate directly with Ableton Live internals. Both have their own limitations, so some use cases may require to use both.
Ableton MIDI User Remote Script
The idea behind this method is to use pre-mapped Ableton Live user remote script and communicate with it using MIDI.
It uses the special AbletonIO,
AbletonIn and AbletonOut
ports that are essentially proxy MIDI ports.
AbletonMsg messages they use are MIDI messages
mapped to AbletonEvent.
The user remote script can be installed using action in the Help
section of MIDI Scripter GUI's menubar. After installation the MIDI Scripter
user remote script should be assigned to the proxy ports you use in Ableton
Live settings. The script uses MIDI channel 15.
Example: Select armed track script with Ableton MIDI Remote Script
AbletonOSC
Another way is to use AbletonOSC remote script and OSC messages. The AbletonOSC remote script should be installed to Ableton Live and enabled in its settings.
This method doesn't use any special ports or messages.
You should use OscIO or OscIn
and OscOut with reference
to AbletonOSC documentation for address and data attributes.
AbletonOSC is more capable than the MIDI method in many ways, but it's current lack of track and clip index updates makes MIDI the preferred method for simple actions.
AbletonOSC listeners send events with index the track/clip had when the listener was attached to it, while the track/clip can be already moved to another place in Ableton session.