I built something and thought it might be worth sharing with you: https://youtu.be/JUXHXXyj_Ss
The ClipDeck is a clip matrix for the StreamDeck XL (~220€). It displays clips, their color, name and playback progress. Clips can be fired and stopped with the hardware buttons of the StreamDeck. The view (session ring, "red box" in ableton) can be scrolled up/down. I linked a little walkthrough video (above).
I would love to release this open source or for a small compensation, bcs I think everyone who is using Ableton in a live context would want this (wouldn't they?)
But: it is not there yet. It would need a lot more work, there are some unsolved issues that make me wonder if I alone can handle this. Sooo, I thought let's discuss: would you need/use this? how can we solve the issues? ...This is how it is done technically:
First there is a remote script for ableton. It creates a session ring that can be moved (or synced with other devices). As there are "only" 32 keys, I use two lower right keys to scroll (short click) and to trigger clips (long press, 500ms) at the same time.
As the remote script is executed by the implemented python interpreter, I could not manage to install the python module for the streamdeck (pip install would be needed). So my current workaround is to have a second python app running outside of Ableton, both connecting via localhost TCP socket and exchanging data. It's working but sometimes still buggy – the code is a nightmare. As there is no official docu on remote scripts I had to try out many things and ended up with some nasty workarounds also in the remote script code – this would need some proper rework. The StreamDeck has some limitations in refresh rate, that are difficult to foresee (ending with weird glitches). I ended up with sending the updates as 16th notes which works quite fine at e.g. 126 bpm and also shows the step wise on-beat procedure of the clips.
The biggest question I have right now: Is it possible to use python modules (pip installed) with the implemented python interpreter implemented in ableton live? That would make things so much easier!
Happy to hear your thoughts!
cheers,
Janos