README from GitHub, MIT

Drum Kit Generator

A Python script that generates random drum kit presets (.ablpresetbundle) for Ableton Move and Ableton Note.

Born out of laziness and a love for happy accidents — instead of building kits by hand, this script scans your sample library and assembles 16-pad drum kits automatically, each one different.

Requirements

Python 3.10+
No external dependencies — standard library only

How to Use

Edit the CONFIG block at the top of the script
Run: python klingklangmatze_drum-kit-generator.py
Upload the generated .ablpresetbundle files to Move via Move Manager, or open them directly in Note

Config Reference

Folders & Naming

SAMPLES_FOLDER = "/Users/yourname/Samples"
OUTPUT_FOLDER  = "/Users/yourname/Kits"

Point SAMPLES_FOLDER at the root of your sample library — the script scans all subfolders recursively. OUTPUT_FOLDER is where the finished .ablpresetbundle files land.

KIT_COUNT  = 10        # how many kits to generate
KIT_NAME   = "ae-kit"  # base name → ae-kit-01, ae-kit-02 …
NAME_START = 1         # first number, useful for adding to an existing collection

Effects

RETURN_EFFECT          = "reverb"
RANDOM_RETURN_EFFECT   = True
RANDOM_RETURN_SETTINGS = True

RETURN_EFFECT sets the send/return effect on the drum rack. INSERT_EFFECT sits after the drum rack on the main chain. Both accept the same full list of effects:

reverb delay autoFilter chorus phaser redux2 erosion autoShift autoPan channelEq saturator dynamics

The dynamics option is a special audioEffectRack containing a Channel EQ and Compressor with 8 mapped macros (Low Gain, Mid Gain, High Gain, Comp Hi Pass, Release, Threshold, Output, Comp Dry/Wet).

Set RANDOM_RETURN_EFFECT = True to pick a different return effect for every kit. Set RANDOM_RETURN_SETTINGS = True to also randomize the effect's parameters. Set INSERT_EFFECT = "random" to pick a different insert effect for every kit.

Pad FX Randomization

RANDOMIZE_FX      = True
RANDOMIZE_FX_PADS = [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]  # 0-based, so pad 9–16
TRANSPOSE_RANGE   = (-24, 12)

When enabled, pads in RANDOMIZE_FX_PADS get randomized:

Playback effect (Stretch, FM, Pitch Env, Punch, Ring Mod, Sub Osc, Noise, 8-Bit, Loop) — chosen per category
Filter type (Lowpass / Highpass / Bandpass), frequency and resonance
Transpose within TRANSPOSE_RANGE — weighted toward 0 so extreme shifts are less common
Send amount to the return effect

TRANSPOSE_RANGE accepts any range within (-48, 48).

Pan Randomization

RANDOMIZE_PAN      = True
RANDOMIZE_PAN_PADS = [6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]

Randomizes the stereo position of each pad. Spread varies by category:

Category	Spread
kick, tom, bass	always center
snare, rim, clap	very narrow (±0.105)
closedHH, openHH, hat, perc, conga, cymbal, crash, ride	wide (±0.49)
fx, vox	widest (±0.595)
synth, stab, lead, pad, chord	medium (±0.315)

RANDOMIZE_PAN_PADS accepts "all" or a list of 0-based pad indices e.g. [0, 1, 4, 6].

Choke Groups

CHOKE_GROUPS_HH = True

Assigns hi-hat pads to choke groups automatically:

closedHH, hat, openHH → choke group 1 (closed chokes open)
crash, cymbal → choke group 2

Sample Filtering

SKIP_LOOPS      = True
MAX_SAMPLE_SIZE = "2mb"

SKIP_LOOPS skips any file that contains [120], [130bpm], loop etc. in its name.

MAX_SAMPLE_SIZE accepts human-readable sizes: "500kb", "1.5mb", "2mb", or None for no limit.

Reproducibility & Output

SEED    = None
VERBOSE = True

Set SEED to an integer (e.g. 42) to get the same kits every time you run with the same config. None means fully random.

VERBOSE prints a full pad map for each kit showing which sample landed on which pad, the playback effect, filter, transpose and pan value.

Advanced Config

These settings live further down in the script and require editing the code directly.

Pad Layout

PAD_LAYOUT maps each of the 16 pads (0-based) to a list of sample categories. The script pools all available samples across all listed categories and picks randomly — so pad 15 is equally likely to get any of its listed categories.

PAD_LAYOUT = {
    0:  ["kick"],
    1:  ["rim", "snare"],
    2:  ["snare"],
    3:  ["clap", "perc"],
    4:  ["snare", "perc", "tom", "conga"],
    5:  ["kick"],
    6:  ["closedHH", "hat"],
    7:  ["tom", "perc", "conga"],
    8:  ["stab", "bass", "synth", "lead"],
    9:  ["perc", "fx", "tom"],
    10: ["openHH", "hat"],
    11: ["perc", "ride", "cymbal"],
    12: ["stab", "bass", "synth", "pad", "lead", "chord"],
    13: ["stab", "chord", "lead", "pad", "synth"],
    14: ["crash", "ride", "cymbal", "fx", "vox"],
    15: ["pad", "synth", "lead", "crash", "ride", "cymbal", "fx", "vox"],
}

Sample Categories

CATEGORIES maps category names to filename keywords. A sample is assigned to the first matching category (case-insensitive). Files that don't match any category are skipped.

Recognized categories: kick snare rim clap closedHH openHH hat tom conga perc crash ride cymbal bass stab synth lead pad chord fx vox

You can add your own keywords to any category by editing the CATEGORIES dict.

Playback Effects per Category

Inside randomize_pad() you can change which playback effects are available per sample category. For example, to allow Sub Osc on snares:

elif category in ("snare", "rim"):
    effect = random.choice(["Noise", "Pitch Env", "Punch", "Sub Osc"])

Available playback effects and their confirmed parameter ranges (verified against real Move/Note presets):

Effect	Parameter	Min	Max
Stretch	Factor	1.0	20.0
Stretch	GrainSize	0.005	0.3
FM	Amount	0.0	1.0
FM	Frequency	10 Hz	4500 Hz
Pitch Env	Amount	-1.0	+1.0
Pitch Env	Decay	0.005 s	2.0 s
Punch	Amount	0.0	1.0
Punch	Time	0.06 s	1.0 s
Ring Mod	Amount	0.0	1.0
Ring Mod	Frequency	1 Hz	5000 Hz
Sub Osc	Amount	0.0	1.0
Sub Osc	Frequency	30 Hz	120 Hz
Noise	Amount	0.0	1.0
Noise	Frequency	180 Hz	15000 Hz
8-Bit	ResamplingRate	1000	30000
8-Bit	FilterDecay	0.011	5.0
Loop	Length	0.01	0.5
Loop	Offset	0.0	1.0

Rack Effects Parameters

All rack effects have a "random" lambda inside RACK_EFFECTS that controls which parameters get randomized and over what range. You can tighten or widen any range. For example to make the reverb always long and lush:

"reverb": {
    ...
    "random": lambda: {
        "DecayTime": round(random.uniform(2000, 2523), 0),
        "RoomSize":  round(random.uniform(30, 52), 2),
        ...
    },
},

How Sample Scanning Works

The script recursively scans SAMPLES_FOLDER for .wav, .aif, .aiff, .flac, and .mp3 files. Each file is categorized by matching keywords in its filename against CATEGORIES. The console prints a summary of how many samples were found per category, plus how many loops and oversized files were skipped.

WAV files are stripped of all metadata chunks (ID3, LIST, INFO, bext, etc.) before being packed into the bundle, leaving only the fmt and data chunks. This keeps bundle sizes lean and avoids import issues on Move.

Notes

All effect parameters have been verified against real .ablpresetbundle files exported from Ableton Live and tested on Move/Note
The dynamics insert is an audioEffectRack (not a native effect kind) — this matches how Ableton itself exports it from Live
Pan randomization uses the drumCell internal Pan parameter (range -1.0 to +1.0), which is the value Move/Note actually reads on preset load