Main Page

Mod (formerly Monomodular)

Mod is a collection of software for use with Ableton Live 9 that provides its supported control surfaces with additional functionality to their stock implementations. Some of these augmentations are useful directly in Live's native environment, while other enhancements are modular and accessible through the use of add-on Max for Live mods.

Mod began as a multi-color monome emulation experiment in 2008. It was designed with live music performance as its primary goal, and borrows heavily from the monome paradigm. Many of the Mods descriptions assume familiarity with the monome format, and most of the Ableton MIDI Remote Scripts that are the backbone of the Monomodular system emulate the functions of a monome256, so familiarity with its concepts are useful for

The MIDI Remote Scripts distributed with the Mod installation are complete in themselves, and require neither Max for Live nor any external patches to function correctly within Ableton's environment. They provide a backend for communicating with the "Mod" server (implemented within each control script), which in turn manages and communicates with different Mods via m4l.

Most of the early mods were ports of popular Max patches or M4L devices designed for use with the monome, but now the release includes many of amounra's own creations (which are not tied to any specific controller). The majority of the existing mods are for MIDI generation and generative processes, but the Mod development framework allows developers to leverage the full power of Live + M4L + Max/MSP.

A recent decision was made to change the name of the (original) Monomodular project to Mod, mostly to distinguish the older versions of Monomodular that worked with Live8 from the current version (but also because its shorter and easier to say; brevity is next to godliness).

Installation

To use Mod, you'll need to download the github repository and place it in Max's packages folder, as well as copy some of its contained files into Live's application bundle (on OS X) or its folder structure (on Windows).

For the details about how where everything goes, please visit the Installation page.

How Mod Works

Monomodular is roughly based on a server/client principle, with the Mod framework acting as an intermediary between the various mods and supported controllers.

You can read a description of the basic functionality of the Mod-enabled control scripts on the How Mod Works page. Each supported controller has its own page with further instructions and tips for usage.

Supported controllers

Livid's Ohm64 and OhmRGB

Livid's Block

Livid's Code

Apple's iPad, using Lemur App

Novation's Launchpad

Akai's APC 20 and APC 40

Livid's CNTRL:R

Livid's Base

What Comes with Mod

The Mods page lists all current mods. It's an evolving work-in-progress instruction and commentary on each plugin, so it's a good idea to check back from time to time for new information.