In this tutorial you will build a full live set by having a conversation with your AI assistant. You will create three tracks with instruments, set up sidechain compression, add utility devices for gain staging, and create a return track with New York (parallel) compression. By the end, you will have a production-ready session structure built entirely through AI prompts.

What you will need

  • Ableton Live 12 Suite (or any edition with Max for Live)
  • The Live MCP bridge loaded on a track (Getting Started covers this)
  • Your MCP client configured and connected
  • About 15 minutes

Step 1: Create a drums track

Start by asking your assistant to set up a drums track with an instrument.

Create a new MIDI track and name it "Drums". Add a Drum Rack to it.

Your assistant will use call_function to create the track and load the instrument. You should see a new track appear in Ableton called “Drums” with an empty Drum Rack loaded on it.

Done! I’ve created a MIDI track called “Drums” with a Drum Rack. The track is at index 0.

You can verify by looking at your Ableton session — the track should be visible with the Drum Rack device in the device chain.

Step 2: Create a bass track

Now add a bass synth track.

Create a new MIDI track called "Bass" and load an Analog synth on it.

I’ve created a MIDI track called “Bass” at index 1 with an Analog instrument loaded.

You now have two tracks. Ableton shows them side by side in Session View or stacked in Arrangement View.

Step 3: Create a lead synth track

Add one more melodic layer.

Create a new MIDI track called "Lead" and load a Wavetable synth on it.

Created a MIDI track called “Lead” at index 2 with Wavetable loaded.

Your session now has three instrument tracks: Drums, Bass, and Lead.

Step 4: Set up sidechain compression on the bass

Sidechain compression makes the bass “duck” when the kick drum hits, creating that pumping feel common in electronic music. This requires routing audio from the drums track into a compressor on the bass track.

Add a Compressor to the Bass track and set up sidechain from the Drums track. Enable the sidechain and set the ratio to 4:1 with a fast attack.

This is where Live MCP really shines — sidechain routing involves navigating device parameters, toggling sidechain inputs, and selecting source tracks. Doing it manually means clicking through several menus and parameter windows. Your assistant handles all of it.

I’ve added a Compressor to the Bass track with sidechain enabled, routed from the Drums track. The ratio is set to 4:1 with a fast attack time.

Step 5: Add a Utility device to every track

Utility devices at the end of each chain give you clean gain staging and a quick way to check mono compatibility. Ask your assistant to add one to each track.

Add a Utility device at the end of the device chain on every track -- Drums, Bass, and Lead.

Done! I’ve added a Utility device to the end of the device chain on all three tracks:

  • Drums: Utility at device index 1
  • Bass: Utility at device index 2 (after Analog and Compressor)
  • Lead: Utility at device index 1

Each track now has a Utility at the tail of its chain. This is the kind of repetitive setup task that would take a lot of clicking to do manually — three tracks is manageable, but imagine doing this across 20 or 30 tracks in a large session.

Step 6: Create a return track with NY compression

New York compression (also called parallel compression) blends a heavily compressed copy of your signal with the dry original. The standard way to set this up in Ableton is with a return track.

Create a return track called "NY Comp". Add a Compressor to it with a high ratio (10:1), fast attack, and medium release. Set the threshold low so it compresses heavily.

I’ve created a return track called “NY Comp” with a Compressor set to:

  • Ratio: 10:1
  • Attack: fast
  • Release: medium
  • Threshold: set low for heavy compression

You can now send any track to this return using the send knobs.

To actually use it, you would turn up the send level on the tracks you want to apply parallel compression to. You can ask your assistant to do that too:

Turn up Send A to about -6 dB on the Drums track and the Bass track.

I’ve set Send A to -6 dB on both the Drums and Bass tracks. They’re now feeding into the NY Comp return track.

What you accomplished

In this tutorial you built a complete session structure through conversation:

  • Created three instrument tracks: Drums (Drum Rack), Bass (Analog), and Lead (Wavetable)
  • Set up sidechain compression on the bass, routed from the drums
  • Added Utility devices to the end of every track’s device chain
  • Created a return track with heavy compression for NY-style parallel processing
  • Routed tracks to the return via send levels

This is the power of Live MCP — tasks that involve navigating deep menus, clicking through parameter windows, and repeating the same steps across multiple tracks become a simple conversation. You describe what you want, and the AI handles the wiring.

Next steps