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Shiny toys for music making.

Ableton Live extensions for problems I keep hitting in my own sessions. I use them on real records first, and share them when they're solid. Fully offline. No account, no tracking, no license check.

new$10

Bass to Chords

Select a bass line, get a chord track that actually fits it.
pay what you want

Clip Leveler

Auto clip gain for vocals, measured in LUFS.

//bass-to-chords

ableton live 12 extension · .ablx · $10

You have a bass line. You need chords that don't fight it.

Instead of guessing which chord goes under each note, or dropping in a generic progression that works against what the bass is doing, select the line and let it read what's already there.

get it, $10 ↗
  1. 01Select your bass line in Arrangement View
  2. 02Right-click → Chords from Bass…
  3. 03Hit Create
  4. 04A chord clip lands on a new MIDI track, instrument already loaded
A

Original

The chords the bass implies, with classic voicings. Same result every time.

B

Revoiced

The same chords with new jazz voicings: drop 2, drop 3, spreads, 4ths, upper structures. Different every run.

C

Reharm

Reharmonized with richer colours, sus chords and approach chords. Different every run.

//three takes on every line, from one bass part

Chords that follow the bass

A new chord where the bass moves to a new root. Passing notes and arpeggios keep the chord they belong to. Or change on every note, every bar, every 2 bars, every 2 beats.

Voicings that sit right

Rootless, since your bass already has the root. Low voicings open up so they don't turn to mud, and each chord moves smoothly into the next.

Three playing styles

Jazzy: held chords that push when your bass pushes, with an optional strum. Rhythmic: your bass rhythm, or Charleston, offbeats, funk 16ths, syncopated comping. Arpeggiated: 1/8, 1/16 or triplets, up, down or up-down, over one or two octaves.

Your key, your call

With Scale Mode on it uses your Set's key. Otherwise it detects the key from the bass. Either way you can pick any key yourself.

Labelled for you

The clip is named with the progression, like Dm9 | G13 | Cmaj9, and the track with the key, style and take.

What it's not

Not a progression generator that ignores what you played. It reads your bass line and harmonizes it. It needs a MIDI bass line, not audio.

  • hostAbleton Live 12 with Extensions support (Extensions are currently in beta)
  • platformmacOS (built and tested on Mac)
  • inputa MIDI bass line in Arrangement View
  • harmonytriads, 7ths or 9ths / 11ths / 13ths · low, mid or high register · swing and humanize
  • time signatures4/4, 3/4, 6/8 and 6/4, detected from the bass or set by hand
  • safetyit only adds a new track. your bass line is never changed, and everything can be undone
  • price$10

//clip-leveler

ableton live 12 extension · .ablx · pay what you want
macOS offline pay what you want

Clip Leveler

Clip-gaining a vocal before it hits the compressor takes time, especially in Ableton. Clip Leveler does the chopping and gaining for you.

Select a range, right-click, choose Level Clips…, pick a target. It listens in 2 second steps, finds where the volume jumps, and brings each section to your target in LUFS.

get it on gumroad ↗ watch the demo
A vocal take before and after Clip Leveler: uneven sections on top, the same take evened out to one loudness target below, with a gain change for each section. before vox take 3.wav −4.8 dB+3.9 dB−1.9 dB+6.1 dB−3.9 dB+2.1 dB after · −18 LUFS

A leveled copy

The new audio replaces your selection on the main lane, and the originals are saved on a take lane named "Original". Nothing is lost, and you can A/B any time.

One clip per original clip

Your clip layout, names and gaps stay as they were, and silence isn't written to disk.

Smart cuts

Gain changes land in the gaps between phrases. If a jump happens inside a held note, it's crossfaded instead of chopped.

No clipping

Loud hits next to quiet phrases stay turned down, and nothing is ever boosted past −1 dBFS.

Looseness control, and batching

Go tight to flatten everything, or loose to keep the natural dynamics and only fix the big jumps. Select 12 tracks and do them all at once.

What it's not

Not a compressor or a limiter. It's the clip gain pass you'd do before compression, so the compressor can do its job gently. Cut clips is still in beta: it cuts at the jumps and writes the gain into each clip name, like Vox Take 3 (+2.8 dB).

  • hostAbleton Live 12 with Extensions support (Extensions are currently in beta)
  • platformmacOS (built and tested on Mac)
  • record file typeWAV (Settings → Record, Warp & Launch)
  • safetynever deletes files from your computer. everything it does in your set can be undone
  • pricepay what you want ($0+, $5 suggested)

//install

same for both 
1  download the .ablx file from gumroad
2  drop it onto Live's Settings → Extensions page
3  right-click a selection in Arrangement to find it

Both are independent tools and aren't affiliated with or endorsed by Ableton. Extensions are a Live 12 beta feature, so you need a version of Live that has them.

Found a bug? Have an idea for the next one?

//Tell me what broke, which Live version, and what you expected. I read everything myself.

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