Ollama

Run Producer Pal completely offline with local models.

What You Need

• Ollama installed

Download Max for Live DeviceProducer_Pal.amxd — add it to a MIDI track in Ableton Live

• Ableton Live 12.3+ with Max for Live. Live 12.4 or later is recommended — some features don't work on older versions of Live. Use the version of Max bundled with Live, or make sure your standalone Max is up to date.

1. Install Ollama

Download and install Ollama for your operating system.

2. Download a Model

Download a model that supports tools. Some good options include:

• qwen3.5
• gemma4
• devstral-small-2
• glm-4.7-flash

Browse models with tool support on the Ollama website.

3. Install the Max for Live Device

Download Producer_Pal.amxd and drag it to a MIDI track in Ableton Live.

It should display "Producer Pal Running":

4. Enable Small Model Mode (Optional but Recommended)

In the Producer Pal "Setup" tab, enable Small Model Mode.

This provides a smaller, simpler interface optimized for small/local language models.

5. Open the Chat UI

In the Producer Pal device's Main tab, click "Open Chat UI". The built-in chat UI opens in a browser:

6. Configure Ollama

In the chat UI settings:

• Provider: Ollama (local)
• URL: http://localhost:11434
  • Use this default URL when everything runs on the same computer. Change localhost to run Ollama on a different computer. Consult the user guide for more info.
• Model: Your model name (e.g., gemma4 or qwen3.5)

Click "Save".

Ollama Model Aliases

If Producer Pal says a model like qwen3.5 is not installed but you downloaded qwen3.5:9b, that's because Ollama aliases work one way: qwen3.5 resolves to qwen3.5:9b, but not vice versa. Install qwen3.5 in Ollama to create the alias. It won't re-download the model.

7. Connect

Click "Quick Connect" and say "connect to ableton":

Local Model Limitations

Local models work best for simple tasks. Complex edits may require more capable cloud models.

Model Compatibility

If the model responds with garbled text like <|tool_call_start|>... or says it can't connect to Ableton, the model doesn't support tools. Try a different model from the tools category.

Local Model Tips

• Set the context length high enough. When you connect, Producer Pal sends a sizable set of instructions (roughly 9,000 tokens). Ollama's default context window (num_ctx, 4096) is too small and silently truncates them, which breaks tool use. Use 16k (16000) or higher — set it per model in a Modelfile, or globally with the OLLAMA_CONTEXT_LENGTH=16384 environment variable. Larger windows use more memory and can run slower, so experiment to find the balance.
• Follow-up turns are often much faster. The local engine automatically reuses its cached prompt prefix (your instructions and earlier messages) between turns, so it usually only has to process your newest message. The first turn after connecting is the slow one; later turns in the same conversation can be dramatically quicker. There's nothing to configure. The size of the speedup depends on the model — some keep the prefix stable across turns and benefit fully, while others reprocess each turn and see little gain.

Troubleshooting

If it doesn't work, see the Troubleshooting Guide.