How can I make my Max metronome control Ableton’s global BPM (Max for Live)?

michele bernabei's icon

Hi everyone,
I’m a beginner in Max and I’ve built a small metronome patch that progressively increases or decreases the tempo (see image attached).

It works fine as an independent patch: the metro object triggers a click~, and I have a system that changes the BPM value every few seconds (with + and if logic).

Now I would like to turn this patch into a Max for Live device that actually changes Ableton Live’s global tempo — the BPM value you see at the top left of the Live window.

I tried using live.path live_set tempo and live.object, and sending set tempo $1 or get tempo, but it doesn’t seem to respond inside my Max MIDI Effect.

Could someone please explain how to properly connect a Max patch to Live’s tempo and how to send updated BPM values from my patch to Live?

Any step-by-step explanation or simple example would be amazing.
Thanks a lot 🙏
— Michele Bernabei

TFL's icon

By creating your [live.path live_set tempo] you should have noticed an error message in the console saying "live.path: component 'tempo' is not an object", which would have put you on the right track.

Tempo is a property of the live_set object, so you first you set your [live.object] to your live_set, and from it you get and set your tempo:

Max Patch
Copy patch and select New From Clipboard in Max.