TDAbleton Manual Installation (legacy)

This page contains the legacy instructions for manual installation. With some custom setups, this may be necessary to use, but standard setups should work with the automatic installer.

Install the latest TDAbleton system

1. Open the Samples/TDAbleton folder by choosing Browse Samples in the TouchDesigner Help menu, then entering the TDAbleton folder.
2. Copy the TouchDesigner folder into your Ableton Live MIDI Remote Scripts folder. For Windows standard installation, this should be: \ProgramData\Ableton\Live x.x\Resources\MIDI Remote Scripts\, which is hidden by default. For Mac standard installation, locate the Live application in Finder, right click on it and select "Show Package Content" then go to /Contents/App-Resources/MIDI Remote Scripts/. See How to install a third party Remote Script in the Ableton Live documentation for more info on this.

Set up Ableton Live

1. Start Ableton Live
2. Drag the TouchDesigner Remote Script folder (the one you just copied above) into the "PLACES" section in Live's Browser sidebar (on the left). When you select this new folder in Live, you should see the TDA MIDI.amxd and TDA Master.amxd devices in the browser (on the right).
3. Open Ableton preferences (in the Options menu) and select the Link MIDI tab on left. In one of the Control Surface dropdowns, select TouchDesigner. Input and Output should be set to None.
4. Reload your Live Set

Set up TouchDesigner and Confirm the Connection

1. In the Palette, you will find the tdAbletonPackage.tox in the TDAbleton section. Drop this in your project. It will have an error if it is not connecting to Ableton Live!
2. If Ableton Live and TouchDesigner are running on the same computer, no additional network setup is necessary. If they are running on different computers, you must set TouchDesigner to connect to Live's address. On the tdAbletonPackage/tdAbleton Component, set the Ableton Address parameter to the network address of the computer running Ableton Live.
3. If the tdAbleton Component does not have a disconnected error flag, the connection is successful. (If you see error messages or are not connected, check the Troubleshooting section below.)
4. Use the Add TDA Master Device parameter on the abletonSong Component to add a master Max device to the master track in your Live set. Some features of TDAbleton will work without this, but functionality will be limited.

Upgrading TDAbleton

All TDAbleton components have a version number on their TDAbleton parameter page. You can check against the version numbers on palette and forum components to see if you have the latest. The latest updates will be available on the top entry of the TDAbleton Forum Thread. Installation instructions are there.

You can also upgrade to a new version from a new TouchDesigner installation:

1. Follow the Install the latest TDAbleton system instructions above, re-copying the TouchDesigner remote script into the Ableton Remote Scripts folder and restarting your Live Set.
2. Delete the tdAbletonPackage in your project.
3. Copy a new tdAbletonPackage into your project from the palette.
4. In the tdAbleton component in tdAbletonPackage, pulse the Update Ableton Comps parameter.

Important: When installing from either location, the TouchDesigner Max devices in your set (names start with TDA_) may have to be replaced with new versions if you have saved them out separately (using Collect All and Save or other means). You can tell if you are using the current ones (in the MIDI Remote Scripts/TouchDesigner) folder by looking at the path that shows up in the lower Ableton info bar when mousing over the devices' name in your set. Note also that the devices in the TDADemo set do not point there, so they have to be replaced if you based your Ableton set on that file. You can either recreate the devices in your set or replace the files in your set's file structure.

A set of commands located in a Text DAT that are triggered to run under certain conditions. There are two scripting languages in TouchDesigner: Python and the original Tscript. Scripts and single-line commands can also be run in the Textport.

A Link. The grey dashed lines between nodes is a Reference or Link that indicates one operator is getting data from another operator from any Operator Family.

A Link or Reference is a dashed line between nodes that represent other data flowing between nodes. Examples are CHOP Exports, node Paths in parameters, and expressions in parameters referencing CHOP channels, DAT tables and other nodes. In contrast is a Wire that connects nodes in the same Operator Family.

TouchDesigner Component file, the file type used to save a Component of your TouchDesigner project.

An Operator Family that contains its own Network. There are sixteen 3D Object Component and ten 2D Panel Component types. See also Network Path.