Ableton MCP Enhanced

Control Ableton Live from Cursor by typing what you want in plain language — create basslines, load Serum, mix tracks, work in Arrangement view, tweak any plugin knob.

¿No sos developer? → Empezá acá: [Guía de usuario (español)](docs/GUIA_USUARIO.md) Not a developer? → Start here: [Getting Started](docs/GETTING_STARTED.md)

Fork and extension of ableton-mcp by Siddharth Ahuja.

Instalación en un comando

git clone https://github.com/emaxees/ableton-mcp-enhanced.git
cd ableton-mcp-enhanced
python3 install.py

El instalador (install.py) funciona en macOS, Windows y Linux:

• Prepara Python
• Instala el conector en Ableton Live
• Configura Cursor automáticamente
• Te guía paso a paso

Después: Ableton → Preferences → Link, Tempo & MIDI → Control Surface → AbletonMCP

What can you do?

Ask Cursor things like:

• "What's my session tempo?"
• "Create a rolling bassline in C# in Arrangement view"
• "Load Serum on track 5 and set cutoff to 0.35"
• "Mute the kick and solo the bass"

Full list: [Qué podés hacer](docs/QUE_PUEDES_HACER.md) | [What you can do (EN)](docs/WHAT_YOU_CAN_DO.md)

Features

• Session & transport — tempo, playback, track/scene info
• MIDI — create tracks, clips, add notes (Session + Arrangement)
• Arrangement view — clips directly on the timeline
• Plugins (VST/AU) — Serum, any plugin via path or extension
• Full device control — list/set any automatable parameter
• Mixer — volume, pan, mute, solo, arm
• Batch commands — multiple operations in one shot
• Plugin extensions — YAML manifests for friendly names & macros

Documentation

Architecture

Cursor  ◄──MCP──►  MCP Server (Python)  ◄──TCP :9877──►  Remote Script in Live

Extension YAML files map friendly names (filter_cutoff) to Live parameter names.

Requirements

• Ableton Live 11 or 12
• Python 3.10+
• Cursor (cursor.com)

Manual install (developers)

<details> <summary>Click to expand manual steps</summary>

git clone https://github.com/emaxees/ableton-mcp-enhanced.git
cd ableton-mcp-enhanced
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate   # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -e .
./scripts/install-remote-script.sh   # Windows: python install.py

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "AbletonMCP": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/ableton-mcp-enhanced/scripts/run-mcp.sh",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Windows: use .venv\Scripts\python.exe with "args": ["-m", "MCP_Server.server"]

</details>

Project structure

ableton-mcp-enhanced/
├── install.py                  ← Start here (auto installer)
├── AbletonMCP_Remote_Script/   ← Runs inside Ableton
├── MCP_Server/                 ← MCP server for Cursor
├── extensions/plugins/         ← Plugin manifests (Serum, etc.)
├── docs/GUIA_USUARIO.md        ← Non-dev guide (Spanish)
└── scripts/

Environment variables

Limitations

• Controls everything Ableton's API exposes (parameters, clips, tracks, browser, transport)
• Does not automate plugin GUI windows (e.g. dragging wavetables in Serum)
• Only one MCP client at a time (Cursor or Claude, not both)

Credits & license

• Based on ableton-mcp by Siddharth Ahuja
• Enhanced by emaxees
• MIT License — see LICENSE