# Menu Configuration

# Introduction

The Live Enhancement Suite menu configuration can be as simple or complex as you want. There is a short summary of this page to be found inside the menuconfig.ini file itself however these are some things that I could explain a bit better, mainly to save you some trial and error.

menuconfig.ini configurations are cross platform, which means that a config you created for Macos will probably work on Windows as well.

# Overview

Plugins are added to the plugin menu in pairs of display names and search queries. The first entry being the name of the item in the menu, and the second being the thing it searches in the browser when you click it.

[menu display name]			Serum
[search query]				"Serum_x64" VST

• Try to find a search query that always places the item you're trying to add at the top of the search results.

For example: quotation marks can be used for literal searches that differentiate between items with very similar names, though, Ableton Live's search can be a bit quirky at times, so you may have to find alternative solution from seperating between plugins in very rare cases, such as renaming mono variants of plugins. In the latest versions of ableton live, the literal search functionality has been removed. This is really annoying as it's kind of integral to the LES workflow; unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it. The best workaround for this right now is to save a preset of the plugin you want to add under a different more unique name, and then you can search for name .adv or name .adg.

• To keep lists looking tight you can use -- to add a divider line between items.

• Plugins can be put into custom "categories" as well. These are added by starting the entry with a / An entry called /Effects will put all the plugin entires below it in a submenu called Effects. To change submenus, simply state a new one.

• You can also put submenus inside of these submenus. To do this you start by adding an entry with more slashes: an entry called //Delay will create the submenu inside of the one with a single slash above it. In this case this is Effects. All the plugin entries below //Delay will end up in /Effects/Delay.

• To stop putting the plugins in the submenu you can either use .. to go back one layer (to Effects), or you can can put /nocategory to exit out of all subcategories at once. These subcategories can go as many layers deep as you'd like.

# Details, Intermediate tricks and Examples

When creating crazy menus in LES there are basically only two rules you should keep in mind. Basically everything else you throw at it will probably work.

1. The menu system for LES allows up to 2000 items. Submenus and dividers are excluded, so only the actual plugin entries count. If you have an old version of LES, you might only be able to add up to 200 items. Please update if you run into the item limit.

2. Every submenu should have at least one item in it. Since other submenus and dividers don't count as items, you can't create a submenu with nothing but another submenu in it.

To make the examples here less bloaty I will only add items here when it's actually useful for the example, but you should do this every time you create a category.

It is possible to made a folder structure in your menu entirely without using .., but this isnt recomended. .. is purely for convenience. In every case here, I advise you take the approach on the right for the best readability and the least wasted time 😃 These two things will be exactly the same:

• Example 1:

/big instruments			/big instruments
item						item
search query				search query

//bigger instruments		//bigger instruments
item						item
search query				search query
							..
/big instruments
item						item
search query				search query

Why is the second case better? Every folder name only appears once, which will probably make larger menu structures way easier to read when you inevitably return to them later.

Likewise, it's probably really stupid to end your structure with a bunch of dots if you don't have to. These two things also do the same:

• Example 2:

/big instruments			/big instruments
//bigger instruments		//bigger instruments
///gigantic instruments		///gigantic instruments
////humongous instruments	////humongous instruments
..
..							/tiny effects
..
..
/tiny effects

The following example will net you a menu where item 1 is in submenu 1, item 2 is in submenu 2 and item 3 is in submenu 3:

• Example 3:

/subemnu 1
item1
search query
//submenu 2
///submenu 3
item3
search query
..
item2
search query

There's a reason why it doesn't look super straight forward: Item1 will show up the ABOVE submenu 2, while item 2 will show up BELOW submenu 3. In the first case the item is added before the submenu. In the latter case the submenu is added before the item.

Using these tricks you could even place a submenu in the middle of a list if you really wanted to.

• Example 4:

/submenu
//submenu 2
///submenu 3
stuff
stuff
/nocategory
--
/submenu 4
stuff
stuff

In this case this is what you'd see when you right click: a submenu, a divider line, submenu 2. Using /nocategory is the same thing as using .. to go all the way back to the start, so the divider line is added in the root.

That's everything! Good luck configuring!