Control Ableton Live's click and tempo from your iPhone.
Thaalam is a stage remote for musicians. Switch Live's metronome on and off, nudge or ramp the tempo, tap a tempo, and jump to song tempos from a setlist. Your music director keeps full control of Live. Thaalam never starts or stops playback.
What you need
Ableton Live 11 or newer on a Mac or Windows PC, and the iPhone on the same Wi-Fi as the computer.
The free Thaalam script for Live (for click on/off, confirmed tempo and ramps). Install it with the installer for your computer (download below), then in Live open Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI and choose Thaalam as a Control Surface (Input and Output: None).
Tempo can also follow over Ableton Link without the script.
Get the Thaalam script
Unzip it and open Install Thaalam. The installer copies the Thaalam script into Ableton Live and shows your pairing code. Then quit and reopen Live and choose Thaalam as a Control Surface (Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI, Input and Output: None).
Right-click the zip and choose Extract All, then open the extracted folder and double-click Install Thaalam. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway. The installer copies the script into Ableton Live and shows your pairing code. Quit and reopen Live, press Ctrl + comma, open Link, Tempo & MIDI and choose Thaalam as a Control Surface (Input and Output: None). Set your Wi-Fi to Private (Settings → Network & internet → Wi-Fi → your network → Private network), and if Windows asks whether Ableton Live may use the network, click Allow.
Pairing
Live shows a 6-digit pairing code at the bottom of its window until a phone pairs. In Thaalam, open Settings, tap your computer under "Computers on this Wi-Fi", enter the code and tap Pair. You only pair once.
Troubleshooting
- Computer not listed: allow Local Network for Thaalam (iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Local Network), and check both devices are on the same Wi-Fi. You can also type the address Live shows in its status bar (for example 192.168.1.20, port 47800) under Manual connection.
- Cannot connect: allow incoming connections for Live in the computer's firewall (on Windows: set the Wi-Fi to Private, then Windows Security → Firewall → Allow an app, tick Ableton Live for Private). Some guest and church networks block devices from talking to each other; use a private network or the iPhone's Personal Hotspot.
- Too many phones: up to 8 phones can connect to one computer at the same time.
Contact
Questions or problems: portaldevsup@gmail.com