The Clipdeck is a clip launcher that allows me to completely abandon the use of a computer screen in my live techno set.
I developed it as part of a two-year project for my new live set. It runs on Stream Deck XL hardware and is purely software-based. The softeware is still under development. I am undecided if I can release it Open Source or as payware for some little money.
Watch the 2-minute video or scroll down for a quick overview:
Functional Principle of The Clipdeck
1. See Clips, Colours and Names
The Clipdeck displays all clips in the bounding box, their colours and names in real time.
2. Display playback status and progress
It shows the playback status (stopped, fired, playing) and the progress of each clip.
3. Scroll through clips
With the scroll button you can move the bounding box (“session ring”) up and down through your session view.
4. Launch (multiple) clips
By hitting the physical button you can start one or more clips. Thanks to the haptic feedback from your fingers, this is much easier to plan than with a tablet. And thanks to colour and name, clips are easier to select than with a launchpad.
5. Stop (multiple) clips
Stop clips by firing empty slots. Just like the clip launch this happens according to your clip launch quantisation settings in Ableton.
Background Information and Code
The Clipdeck is a software-only project that runs on an Ableton Control Surface and an external python script that is connected via local OSC/UDP. It would be way easier to control the Stream Decks directly from Ableton Python, but this seems to be impossible as the streamdeck module needs hiadpi which in turn needs ctypes python – something that is not supported in Ableton python.
You can test the current prototype here for free: https://github.com/jakobkilian/ClipDeck
I am happy about feedback, get in touch!