Searching for the precise name in Live 12

[florian_bl]

Typing Compressor in the Live Browser search bar shows every device or file with the name "compressor" in it, no matter if there are other letters before or after the word "compressor". Is there a way to narrow down the search in Ableton Live 12 so I only see the Ableton Live Device named Compressor? With no spaces or letters before or after it?

I'm using shortcuts in Keyboard Maestro on macOS to search for a device and insert it on a track with one single key command. This works well for VSTs because they mostly use a unique name. Unfortunately I never found a way to tell Live that it should only show me Live Devices with the precise name I entered. At least not by typing it in the search bar, which is a requirement for using Keyboard Maestro shortcuts.

Any ideas how to solve this? What I need is something similar to "" in a Google search. Thank you for your help!

[The Rabbits]

As far as I can find, there's no way to do a more accurate search. Believe me I tried!
However, there are a few options that might work for you.
If you select All in the browser then sort by type, searches will always put Ableton devices at the top of the list.
You can also create a custom view from All. Filter Content=Device and Format=Ableton then save it as Builtin Devices or whatever suits.
The one thing that is frustrating is having to make sure you have the right folder selected when you use Keyboard Maestro. It would be great if ableton would give us a shortcut to selecting All or whatever from the folder list. Or some better search syntax.
Good luck.

Update
If the browser is selected the Home key takes you to the Library heading at the top of the list. Down arrow then selects All.
Your macro could select the browser, then do a Home and a down arrow to select All, then Ctrl F (Command in Mac I think). You should then be able to just enter the device name and get what you're after.

[Rivanni]

Selecting the first search result can be done with a single press on the down arrow.
The first item in the list is not always correct, though. When I search for Compressor, I have, for example, a AUMultibandCompressor plugin listed above the Compressor device.
You can prevent this by first selecting the Audio Effects category:
After the arrow-down, use arrow-left to enter the category section. Use arrow-down a few times to select Audio Effects.
Press arrow-right to get back to the search results, where it selects the first device.


If you add custom filters to the browser, you can access those the same way.
One disadvantage is that it all fails when you reorder things.


If you know what tag is assigned to a device or file, you could also use that.
Searching for compressor #Dynamics, followed by an Enter results in only Live devices. Unless you manually assigned the plugin compressor from my example to this tag. It all depends on how you use the tagging system.

Unfortunately, you cannot use the tag #Ableton to filter on native devices.
You could create one of your own, for example called 'Native' and assign this tag to all native devices.
Then you can search for compressor #native.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

[pottering]

Add characters like ,.~^-_ right after the keyword, like "compressor^" or "compressor." or...

This is changed from earlier versions, where all those characters worked the same as a space.

[Rivanni]

Add characters like ,.~^-_ right after the keyword, like "compressor^" or "compressor." or...

This is changed from earlier versions, where all those characters worked the same as a space.

Those characters still don't have any effect on the search results.

[The Rabbits]

Thanks, that is very useful.
Ableton is also giving helpful prompts as I enter the search term, which gives away a few other options.
Is this info documented anywhere? Hoping it gets into the help/manual.

[pottering]

Those characters still don't have any effect on the search results.

Really?

It does work here (12 Beta, Win 10).

I type "comp^" or "comp.", it shows files like "ck.comp.amxd", "A Standard Multiband Comp.adv" or "Crisp Comp in G.adv", but excludes files with "compressor", "complete" or "comping" in the file name.

EDIT: But I was very surprised it worked. And would not be surprised if it stopped working here in newer versions, besides also not working in other systems.

[Rivanni]

Those characters still don't have any effect on the search results.

Really?

It does work here (12 Beta, Win 10).

I type "comp^" or "comp.", it shows files like "ck.comp.amxd", "A Standard Multiband Comp.adv" or "Crisp Comp in G.adv", but excludes files with "compressor", "complete" or "comping" in the file name.

Yes, that works, as well as in older versions, and is a helpful trick, but it doesn't solve the problem OP has.
Searching for çrompressor.' or '.compressor.' still shows all other items with 'compressor' in the name. At least, it does on my system.
Maybe there are some other characters that do the trick.

[florian_bl]

You guys are awesome! I combined some of your ideas and so far I could insert all desired devices on the current track via a hot key.

Letting Keyboard Maestro type CMD+F and then Compressor #Dynamics in the search bar narrowed down the list of results to a manageable size. After that it is easy to automatically select the desired compressor with a couple up and down arrows and the Home key.

Problem solved. Thank you all for contributing!