Two parts, one conversation
Speak2me lives in your menu bar and listens only when you ask it to. It turns what you say into Live commands and sends them to a small control surface script — AbletonStudioControl — running inside Live. The installer set up both.
Every command is confirmed by a small pill at the top of the screen: what was heard, what ran, how fast. Nothing happens silently.
Three steps, once
Open Speak2me
It's in Applications. The first launch may need a right-click → Open (macOS asks once about apps from outside the App Store). Grant microphone access when asked — without it the app hears nothing.
Point Live at the control surface
In Live: Settings → Link, Tempo & MIDI, then pick AbletonStudioControl in a free Control Surface slot. Restart Live once after selecting it.
Check the pill
Look for S2 in the menu bar. Hold ⌃⌥⌘V, say play, release. If the pill turns green, you're done. Pick your mic under S2 → Input if you use an audio interface.
Three ways in
Push-to-talk — ⌃⌥⌘V
Hold, speak, release. The reliable default, works even with music blasting. S2 → Mode switches it to press-once / press-again.
Wake word — “ableton”
Turn on S2 → Wake word. Say ableton, double the loop — or just ableton, then the command within 10 seconds.
Sustain pedal
Turn on S2 → Pedal Push-to-Talk. Hold the pedal, talk, let go. Live doesn't hear the sustain while the mode is on.
Reading the pill
A green pill starting with ≈ means the speech engine garbled you and Speak2me matched the closest real command — say “add a MIDI track” and it runs even when it was heard as “Adam Midditrack”. Risky commands like delete are never guessed.
What you can say
Canonical phrasings below; natural variations work too. ⟨n⟩ is a number — spoken digits or words, both fine. Trailing “ums”, punctuation, and casing don't matter. The app's Commands tab has the exhaustive list.
Transport
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
play · stop | Start / stop playback |
record · stop recording | Arrangement record |
from the top | Stop, bar 1, play again |
jump to bar ⟨n⟩ · go to the top | Move the playhead |
undo · redo | Live's undo / redo |
new take · capture midi | Fresh take · rescue what you just played |
Tempo, click & loop
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
set tempo to ⟨n⟩ · ⟨n⟩ bpm | Set the tempo |
increase tempo by ⟨n⟩ | Nudge it (or decrease) |
metronome on · turn off the click · click | Click on / off / toggle |
count in on · punch in on | Count-in and punch points (…off too) |
loop · stop looping | Loop on / off |
loop 8 bars · double the loop · halve the loop | Resize the loop from where it starts |
Tracks
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
arm track ⟨n⟩ · disarm | Record-arm; bare disarm = selected track |
mute track ⟨n⟩ · solo track ⟨n⟩ | And unmute / unsolo |
mute the bass · arm vocals · solo the drums | By track name — your actual names. Several matches → the pill asks which |
select track ⟨n⟩ · select the hook | Select a track |
mute all tracks · unmute everything · disarm all tracks | Whole-set sweeps; also unsolo all |
mute tracks 1 and 3 · arm tracks 1 through 3 | Lists and ranges — keep it plural (“tracks”) |
arm track 2 only — or exclusive arm on | only un-arms the rest once; exclusive arm on makes that the standing mode (same for solo) |
Volume, pan & monitoring
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
turn up track ⟨n⟩ · turn up the bass by 6 | ±3 dB by default, or say the amount |
make it louder · quieter | Selected track, hands-free nudges |
set track ⟨n⟩ volume to ⟨dB⟩ | Absolute level, e.g. -12 |
pan track ⟨n⟩ left | Or right / center |
set track ⟨n⟩ to auto · set it to auto | Monitoring in / auto / off |
set track ⟨n⟩ to input ⟨n⟩ · input 35 | External input channel; set the input to resampling too |
Making & managing tracks
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
create midi track · create audio track called drums | New track, named if you like |
add three midi tracks | Counted, up to 12 |
new track | Asks “MIDI or audio?” — answer with the word |
duplicate track ⟨n⟩ · rename track ⟨n⟩ to bass | Copy or rename |
clear track ⟨n⟩ · delete track ⟨n⟩ | Destructive — always asks first. yes confirms, cancel backs out |
Clips, scenes, plugins & the session
| Say | Does |
|---|---|
fire clip ⟨n⟩ · stop all clips · launch scene ⟨n⟩ | Clip and scene control |
load serum · load compressor on track 1 | Any plugin or device by name — stock or third-party. Several matches → numbered list, answer with the number |
save · save increment | Save, or save a numbered copy |
what's the tempo | Asks Live |
again | Repeats the last command |
help | Opens the reference |
mute track 1 and solo track 2 · set tempo to 120 then play. Contradictions (play and stop) refuse to run at all; if a middle step fails, the chain stops and the pill says where.
Answering the app
Some commands raise a question on the pill. Answer by voice — no hotkey, no wake word needed while a question is open.
Choices
Two tracks called “Vox”? Five plugins matching “comp”? The pill lists them numbered — say 2, or cancel.
Confirmations
delete track 3 answers back with the track's actual name. Say yes to proceed or cancel — the question expires on its own after 20 seconds.
Dialing in numbers
After input 35, set tempo to 120, or a volume set, you have a few seconds where a bare number re-runs the same command — input 35… 36… 37 until it's right.
One phrase, several commands
Macros are custom phrases that run a sequence of ordinary commands. Four ship built in:
| Say | Runs |
|---|---|
fresh start | stop · back to bar 1 |
checkpoint | save |
mixdown prep | stop · bar 1 · save |
take again · run it back | stop · bar 1 · record |
Make your own in S2 → Settings & Macros… — steps are the same commands you'd say out loud, validated as you save. A macro can never override a real command.
Built for messy rooms
- The ≈ rescue. A close mishearing of a real command runs anyway, marked
≈on the pill. Delete and clear are exempt — those only run when heard exactly. - Did-you-mean. If nothing matches, the pill shows the nearest real phrasing. Say it again — that's always the fastest fix.
- Negation guard.
don't stopruns nothing, loudly. Refusals always win over commands. - Music is ignored. Playback bleed transcribed as “[Music]” is treated as silence — it can't answer an open question or spend your wake window.
The four things that go wrong
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| Amber pill: “Ableton unreachable” | Open Live. If it stays amber, check the Control Surface slot (setup step 2) — it heals on its own once Live answers. |
| AbletonStudioControl missing from Live's list | Restart Live. Control-surface scripts only load fresh on a full restart. |
| It never hears anything | System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → allow Speak2me. Then check S2 → Input points at the mic you actually talk into. |
| macOS refuses to open the app | Right-click the app → Open, once. Or System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. |
Speakers up, mic hot — the wake word can get buried. The hotkey and the pedal always cut through; use them when the room is loud.