Description
Plugin Shootout is a Max for Live workflow tool, developed in collaboration with Jason Zdora, designed to dramatically speed up plugin, preset, MIDI effect, and instrument comparison inside Ableton Live.
Originally conceived as a way for guitarists to rapidly audition large collections of amp simulations and presets, the device evolved into a broader survival-of-the-fittest workflow system for creative decision-making.
The concept is simple: place Plugin Shootout before a rack containing multiple devices or presets, whether that's 100 Neural Amp Modeler profiles, 50 reverb chains, a bank of MIDI generators, or a collection of synth presets, and instantly cycle through them using left/right controls. Only the currently selected chain remains active, while all others are automatically disabled.
This removes the friction of manually enabling, disabling, and navigating large racks, allowing users to focus entirely on comparison and selection.
The workflow is intentionally destructive and iterative: strong candidates can be moved forward in the rack hierarchy, while weaker options can be deleted entirely. Over time, large collections are reduced into smaller and stronger groups, making the process feel closer to competitive elimination than traditional preset browsing.
All major controls are MIDI mappable, making Plugin Shootout particularly effective for hands-free workflows, especially for guitarists using foot controllers, as well as producers working with hardware MIDI surfaces.
To support different workflows, the device includes Rack Mode, embedded directly inside Live's device chain, and Popup Mode, opening a floating plugin-style interface for focused browsing.
Both modes provide contextual rack information, including track, group, rack, chain, and selected device status, making complex sessions easier to navigate.
Although originally designed for audio effects, Plugin Shootout now exists in dedicated versions for Audio Effects, MIDI Effects, and Instrument Racks. This allows the same elimination workflow to be used across amp simulations, effect chains, arpeggiators, sequencers, scale devices, synthesizers, samplers, drum racks, and sound design workflows.
Plugin Shootout is built entirely in Max for Live and remains exclusive to Ableton Live.