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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 e

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!

coldtea 4mo ago
Don't kick yourself. It's not possible with Google Docs either. All these collaborative document editors have been mostly gimmicks/wastes of time.
- hammyhavoc 4mo ago
  I use Nextcloud Office all the time with others. Prior to that, we used OneDrive/Office and Google Drive. With tight deadlines, there frequently isn't the time to not be working concurrently on the same doc, especially when it comes to anything technical.
DesaiAshu 4mo ago
We should talk - I'm building a new DAW with this in mind :)
- brookst 4mo ago
  We should talk - I’m building a Claude Code plugin for music composition and analysis, which currently integrates with Ableton using MCP and Ableton control surface (basically LOM) and an M4L patch. But it could easily work with any DAW that has the right primitives.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
    https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/libs/surfaces/mcp_http/README.md https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/libs/surfaces/m...
    - brookst 4mo ago
      Yeah, also https://github.com/ahujasid/ableton-mcp https://github.com/ahujasid/ableton-mcp But the MCP server isn’t the interesting part. It’s the round trip of composition and mixing. “Set up a calypso beat and baseline; add distortion to the bass; set up filters to protect the kick from the bass”
      - PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
        > It’s the round trip of composition and mixing. That's a very personal thing. A lot of musicians are extremely, extremely resistant to using LLMs to assist with composition. Obviously, too, some are not.
        brookst 4mo ago
        For sure. I'm just making a circular saw because I see value. If someone else wants to stick to hand tools, no complaints. Note that "assist with composition" covers a lot of ground. There's Suno, and there's "let's experiment with chords changes to get from F Phrygian to C major"
tomduncalf 4mo ago
Ha yeah I have considered the same. There’s not enough info exposed via the Python or Max APIs (or indeed this one) to sync all the state you’d care about so I think the only option would be syncing the actual als files (which are zipped XML) which means you’d only be able to sync at save points
ddosmax556 4mo ago
check audiotool
embedding-shape 4mo ago
In the past, I've literally done screen-sharing for this, one "instructor" and one "pilot", basically like how you do remote pair programming typically, but with Ableton instead. Besides that, Ableton themselves list a bunch of tools I assume works on some level, as they're listed in the help pages of Ableton: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012680119-Best-Practices-for-Collaborating-Remotely#h_de259659-2087-44c0-b5b5-a23863dcf236 https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012680119-Best...
hammyhavoc 4mo ago
If you ever take another stab at it, would love to hear about it. me@hammyhavoc.com

coldtea 4mo ago

Don't kick yourself. It's not possible with Google Docs either. All these collaborative document editors have been mostly gimmicks/wastes of time.

hammyhavoc 4mo ago
I use Nextcloud Office all the time with others. Prior to that, we used OneDrive/Office and Google Drive. With tight deadlines, there frequently isn't the time to not be working concurrently on the same doc, especially when it comes to anything technical.

DesaiAshu 4mo ago

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

brookst 4mo ago
We should talk - I’m building a Claude Code plugin for music composition and analysis, which currently integrates with Ableton using MCP and Ableton control surface (basically LOM) and an M4L patch. But it could easily work with any DAW that has the right primitives.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
  https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/libs/surfaces/mcp_http/README.md https://github.com/Ardour/ardour/blob/master/libs/surfaces/m...
  - brookst 4mo ago
    Yeah, also https://github.com/ahujasid/ableton-mcp https://github.com/ahujasid/ableton-mcp But the MCP server isn’t the interesting part. It’s the round trip of composition and mixing. “Set up a calypso beat and baseline; add distortion to the bass; set up filters to protect the kick from the bass”
    - PaulDavisThe1st 4mo ago
      > It’s the round trip of composition and mixing. That's a very personal thing. A lot of musicians are extremely, extremely resistant to using LLMs to assist with composition. Obviously, too, some are not.
      - brookst 4mo ago
        For sure. I'm just making a circular saw because I see value. If someone else wants to stick to hand tools, no complaints. Note that "assist with composition" covers a lot of ground. There's Suno, and there's "let's experiment with chords changes to get from F Phrygian to C major"

tomduncalf 4mo ago

Ha yeah I have considered the same. There’s not enough info exposed via the Python or Max APIs (or indeed this one) to sync all the state you’d care about so I think the only option would be syncing the actual als files (which are zipped XML) which means you’d only be able to sync at save points

ddosmax556 4mo ago

check audiotool

embedding-shape 4mo ago

In the past, I've literally done screen-sharing for this, one "instructor" and one "pilot", basically like how you do remote pair programming typically, but with Ableton instead. Besides that, Ableton themselves list a bunch of tools I assume works on some level, as they're listed in the help pages of Ableton: https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012680119-Best-Practices-for-Collaborating-Remotely#h_de259659-2087-44c0-b5b5-a23863dcf236 https://help.ableton.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012680119-Best...

hammyhavoc 4mo ago

If you ever take another stab at it, would love to hear about it. me@hammyhavoc.com