Ableton Live MCP server

Ableton MCP is a powerful integration that connects Ableton Live to Claude AI through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This allows Claude to directly interact with and control your Ableton Live sessions, enabling AI-assisted music production, track creation, and Live session manipulation through natural language commands.

Features

• Two-way communication: Connect Claude AI to Ableton Live through a socket-based server
• Track manipulation: Create, modify, and manipulate MIDI and audio tracks
• Instrument and effect selection: Claude can access and load instruments, effects and sounds from Ableton's library
• Clip creation: Create and edit MIDI clips with notes
• Session control: Start and stop playback, fire clips, and control transport

Installation

Prerequisites

• Ableton Live 10 or newer
• Python 3.8 or newer
• uv package manager

If you're on Mac, install uv with:

brew install uv

For other platforms, install from uv's official website

⚠️ Do not proceed before installing UV

Claude for Desktop Integration

1. Go to Claude > Settings > Developer > Edit Config > claude_desktop_config.json to include the following:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "AbletonMCP": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "ableton-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Cursor Integration

Run ableton-mcp without installing it permanently through uvx. Go to Cursor Settings > MCP and paste this as a command:

uvx ableton-mcp

⚠️ Only run one instance of the MCP server (either on Cursor or Claude Desktop), not both

Installing via Smithery

To install Ableton Live Integration for Claude Desktop automatically:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @ahujasid/ableton-mcp --client claude

Installing the Ableton Remote Script

1. Download the AbletonMCP_Remote_Script/__init__.py file from the repository

2. Copy the folder to Ableton's MIDI Remote Scripts directory. Different OS and versions have different locations:

   For macOS:

   • Method 1: Go to Applications > Right-click on Ableton Live app → Show Package Contents → Navigate to: Contents/App-Resources/MIDI Remote Scripts/
   • Method 2: If not found in method 1, use: /Users/[Username]/Library/Preferences/Ableton/Live XX/User Remote Scripts

   For Windows:

   • Method 1: C:\Users\[Username]\AppData\Roaming\Ableton\Live x.x.x\Preferences\User Remote Scripts
   • Method 2: C:\ProgramData\Ableton\Live XX\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\
   • Method 3: C:\Program Files\Ableton\Live XX\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\

   Note: Replace XX with your Ableton version number (e.g., 10, 11, 12)

3. Create a folder called 'AbletonMCP' in the Remote Scripts directory and paste the downloaded '__init__.py' file

4. Launch Ableton Live

5. Go to Settings/Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI

6. In the Control Surface dropdown, select "AbletonMCP"

7. Set Input and Output to "None"

Usage

Starting the Connection

1. Ensure the Ableton Remote Script is loaded in Ableton Live
2. Make sure the MCP server is configured in Claude Desktop or Cursor
3. The connection should be established automatically when you interact with Claude

Using with Claude

Once the config file has been set on Claude, and the remote script is running in Ableton, you will see a hammer icon with tools for the Ableton MCP.

Capabilities

• Get session and track information
• Create and modify MIDI and audio tracks
• Create, edit, and trigger clips
• Control playback
• Load instruments and effects from Ableton's browser
• Add notes to MIDI clips
• Change tempo and other session parameters

Example Commands

Here are some examples of what you can ask Claude to do:

• "Create an 80s synthwave track"
• "Create a Metro Boomin style hip-hop beat"
• "Create a new MIDI track with a synth bass instrument"
• "Add reverb to my drums"
• "Create a 4-bar MIDI clip with a simple melody"
• "Get information about the current Ableton session"
• "Load a 808 drum rack into the selected track"
• "Add a jazz chord progression to the clip in track 1"
• "Set the tempo to 120 BPM"
• "Play the clip in track 2"

Troubleshooting

• Connection issues: Make sure the Ableton Remote Script is loaded, and the MCP server is configured on Claude
• Timeout errors: Try simplifying your requests or breaking them into smaller steps
• Have you tried turning it off and on again?: If you're still having connection errors, try restarting both Claude and Ableton Live

How to add this MCP server to Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.