Clip Triggering Queue ClyphX script for Ableton Live

Summary

(Note: This is currently just a personal project. It is far from a polished product. No promises are made about its ability to be used in multiple situations. But, give it a try! I'd love to hear feedback!)

This script for Ableton provides a way to author a sequence of ClyphX scripts in Ableton Live and interactively trigger them in sequence with a controller mapped to the "next" and "previous" actions.

Motivation

This script can be used for a lot of different things, but it was originally written to provide MainStage's style "next/previous" patch selection for Sunday Keys for Ableton Live. This allows you to bring a bit of MainStage's "Concert, Set, and Patch" hierarchy for organizing instrument changes to Ableton Live. It makes it easy to roll through patch changes in order with one tap on a MIDI controller. I was originally using MainStage, but now am using Sunday Keys for Ableton Live and this script enables a MainStage-like way of selecting patch changes in Sunday Keys.

Requirements

• Ableton Live 10
• Sunday Keys for Ableton Live
• ClyphX (have only tested with the "free" version, not the "Pro" version)

Installation

(This is admittedly a complex set of instructions. I'm working on simplifying this.)

Setup scripts in Ableton:

• Have ClyphX installed and working in Ableton Live

• Have Sunday Keys installed and working in Ableton Live

• Do a git checkout of this repo in the folder where you installed the ClyphX scripts (usually something like C:\ProgramData\Ableton\Live 10 Intro\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\ClyphX)

• Edit MIDI Resource Scripts\ClyphX\ClyphXUserActions.py and add the following lines to the bottom of the __init__ method:

    import sundaykeys_relative_patch_select.rel_patch_sel
    sundaykeys_relative_patch_select.rel_patch_sel.register(self)
  

• Add the lines below to the [USER CONTROLS] section of ClyphX\UserSettings.txt. Change the control to be "note" or "cc", change the MIDI channel number and note number to suit your needs.

    # For sundaykeys_relative_patch_select custom User Actions
    # CONTROL_NAME = MSG_TYPE, MIDI_CHANNEL, NOTE_OR_CC_NUM, CLYPH_ACTION_LIST
    GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_PREVSONG = note, 10, 44, GNIP_PREVSONG
    GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSONG = note, 10, 45, GNIP_NEXTSONG
    GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_PREVSCRIPT = note, 10, 46, UP; SCENE 8; PLAY
    GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSCRIPT = note, 10, 47, DOWN; SCENE 8; PLAY
  

Setup a Performance with Ableton:

• Launch Ableton and open your Sunday Keys Set
• Change to Ableton's Session View
• Move all of the "Off" Sunday Keys clips from Scene #3 to a scene beyond all of your clips (ex: Scene 8)
  • This is time consuming, so save a copy after you have done this once.
• Create a new empty MIDI track in Ableton for each "song" of patch changes.
• For each patch change you want in your song...

  • Create an empty MIDI clip (double click the empty cell)

  • Rename the clip to include a ClyphX script that clears all currently active instruments and selects the patch you'd like to play:

    • ex: [] SCENE 8; 2/PLAY 5 (this first selects the "Off" clips new located on SCENE 8 to clear any active instruments and then starts playing the instrument at the 5th scene of the 2nd track)

  • Add these patch change ClyphX scripts to your new tracks like this. Pressing the play button for these clips should activate the specific instrument.

      Track1:IntroSong                Track2:Interlude
      [] SCENE 8; 2/PLAY 5            [] SCENE 8; 2/PLAY 7
      [] SCENE 8; 4/PLAY 2            [] SCENE 8; 5/PLAY 3
      [] SCENE 8; 1/PLAY 1;3/PLAY 3   [] SCENE 8; 2/PLAY 7
                                      [] SCENE 8; 5/PLAY 3
    

Use the patch and song changes

• Launch Ableton and open your Sunday Keys Set
• Change to Ableton's Session View
• Locate the track that represents your first "song". Click the play button for the first "clip". This will activate the first instrument of the first song.
• Now, press the control on your MIDI controller that you have configured for the GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSCRIPT controller in Clyph's UserSettings.txt. This should automatically clear your old instrument selection and select your the next instrument.
• Repeatedly press the controller mapped to GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSCRIPT to advance through the patch changes.
• When at the end of the song, press the controller mapped to GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSONG. The first patch of the next song will be activated.
• You can move forward and back through patches with the controllers mapped to GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSCRIPT and GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_PREVSCRIPT.
• You can move forward and back through songs with the controllers mapped to GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSONG and GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_PREVSONG

Known Issues

• Very complex setup. Specific to Sunday Keys. Make more generic instructions.
• If the GNIP_CLIPQUEUE_NEXTSCRIPT action is triggered and the cursor moves onto an empty clip with no name, patch selection will fail until you do a next/prev song.