How to Search Max for Live Devices from Claude and ChatGPT

max4.live runs a public MCP server, so an AI assistant can search the same catalogue of 8,900+ Max for Live devices that powers this site. Instead of typing keywords into a search box, you ask the way you would ask a friend who knows the catalogue: "free MIDI generators that came out this month", "granular effects with a lot of downloads", "everything monolake has published". The assistant turns that into a search, reads the results and answers with links back to each device page.

It is free, read-only and needs no account or API key. The endpoint is https://mcp.max4.live/mcp.

Connect Claude

Claude on the web or the desktop app: open Settings → Connectors, choose Add custom connector, give it a name such as "max4.live" and paste https://mcp.max4.live/mcp as the URL. There is no sign-in step. Once it is added, enable it for a chat from the tools menu under the message box.

Claude Code: one command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http max4live https://mcp.max4.live/mcp

After that, any Claude Code session can call the max4.live tools, which is handy when you are scripting a Live set or writing Max patches and want to check what already exists.

Connect ChatGPT

In ChatGPT, open Settings → Connectors (developer mode must be on for custom connectors), add a new connector and use https://mcp.max4.live/mcp as the server URL with no authentication. Then select it in a chat from the tools menu. ChatGPT will ask for confirmation the first time it calls a tool.

What the assistant can do

• search_devices — fuzzy search over device names, authors and descriptions, with filters for device type (Audio Effect, Instrument, MIDI Effect, MIDI Generator, MIDI Transformation), license (free, commercial, Creative Commons variants), sort order, a date the device was added after, and a minimum download count.
• get_device — the full record for one device: description, author, license, Live and Max version targets, downloads, dates and links.
• list_filters — the valid values for those filters, so the assistant never guesses a type name.

Every result links to the device page on max4.live, where you will find the description, user comments and the download link at maxforlive.com.

Prompts that work well

• "Find free Max for Live delay effects with more than 1,000 downloads and tell me what makes each one different."
• "What MIDI generators were added in the last two weeks? Group them by what they do."
• "I want a step sequencer for Live 12 that is Creative Commons licensed. Give me three options and the trade-offs."
• "List every device by synthesizerwriter and suggest which one to try first."
• "Compare Grain.Freeze with two other granular effects in the catalogue."

Be specific about the license you need. "Free" in the catalogue means freeware; Creative Commons devices are also free to download but carry attribution and sometimes non-commercial terms. Our license guide explains the difference.

Tips and limits

• The assistant only sees catalogue data: titles, authors, descriptions, licenses, versions and download counts. It has not listened to the devices, so treat sound descriptions as the author's own words.
• The catalogue is refreshed from maxforlive.com every hour, so brand-new uploads show up quickly.
• If a device looks interesting, open its page and read the comments before installing. Then follow the installation guide.

Prefer to browse by hand? Start from the device search, the best devices list or the author index.