A right-click drum-pattern library for Ableton Live 12, built on the official Extensions SDK. Browse the classic drum-machine patterns from Paul Wenzel's Pocket Operations booklet, edit them on a 16-step grid, and drop them as MIDI clips onto a Drum Rack track.
Built on the official Ableton Extensions SDK 1.0.0-beta.0.
Install: grab the latest
.ablxfrom the Releases page and drop it on Live's Settings → Extensions (Live 12 Suite Beta 12.4.5+).
| Browse & edit (light) | Dark theme |
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| Browse by genre | About & credits |
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Right-click a clip slot, clip, or Drum Rack track → Pocket Operations opens a modal dialog where you can:
- Browse 269 patterns from the booklet, grouped by genre, with a density sparkline per pattern and A/B variant chaining.
- Edit the step grid — toggle hits, accents, and ratchets across the 16 steps, per instrument row.
- Pick a kit — Erin's PO chromatic kit or General MIDI.
- Set bars (1 / 2 / 4) and swing (0–65% of max 16th-swing).
- Audition the result through a self-contained Web Audio synth preview (no Live playback needed) before committing.
- Insert / Replace the pattern as a MIDI clip into the clicked slot, a new clip, or the track.
- Light / dark theme, persisted across sessions.
- P0 — pattern data ✅ 269 patterns extracted from the booklet PDF by
geometric cell-detection (the filled black square is the data). See
scripts/README.md. 100% digit self-consistency; 92% rhythm-match vs the hand-built.alscross-check. - P1 — pure logic ✅
src/mapping.ts,src/grid.ts,src/patternbank.tswith full unit tests (npm test). No SDK dependency; runs on plain Node. - Dialog UI ✅ grid editor, genre browser, kit / bars / swing controls,
Web Audio audition, light / dark themes (
src/webview/). - Host wiring ✅ inserts / replaces the edited pattern as a MIDI clip on a Drum Rack via the Extensions SDK.
nvm use # node 24
npm install
npm test # vitest
npm run typecheckmapping.ts— instrument codes → MIDI pitch, two kits (Erin's PO chromatic kit, General MIDI) + canonical row order.grid.ts— the 16-step grid model andgridToNotes/notesToGrid(accents, ratchets, swing, A/B bar chaining).patternbank.ts— loadsdata/patterns.json; search, genre grouping, variant chains, density sparkline data.
Code is MIT (© E. T. Carter). The pattern data is © Paul Wenzel
(Pocket Operations, Some Rights Reserved) and is not relicensed — see
ATTRIBUTION.md. The data is redistributed with Paul Wenzel's
permission (granted by email, 2026-06-30).
If you find these patterns useful, donations to charities on the author's website (https://shittyrecording.studio) are appreciated.