Suggestions for apps for generative music

pedro

Too many comments to check, but didn’t anyone suggest ripplemaker? With the cycle triggers and random that thing is a wonderful generative machine. You don’t even have to know what you’re doing.
And Hilda, no random per se generators, but the combination of wobbly modulators and the sequencer, make it pretty much generative dream land. I have patches that run for minutes always surprising me.
And of course drambo, but there you have to somewhat know what you’re doing. That didn’t stop me, though.

Or those two hosted and modulated inside Drambo…

ecou

@pedro said:
Too many comments to check, but didn’t anyone suggest ripplemaker? With the cycle triggers and random that thing is a wonderful generative machine. You don’t even have to know what you’re doing.
And Hilda, no random per se generators, but the combination of wobbly modulators and the sequencer, make it pretty much generative dream land. I have patches that run for minutes always surprising me.
And of course drambo, but there you have to somewhat know what you’re doing. That didn’t stop me, though.

Or those two hosted and modulated inside Drambo…

mojozart

I'm hoping Audulus will become my go-to toolkit for MIDI generation, but I don't think its MIDI is quite there yet.

I do think apeMatrix is worth checking out as a host, as it brings parameter automation and modulation more into the foreground than AUM. apeMatrix does not provide MIDI generation itself, but what it does provide makes many of the MIDI plugins, such as gates and LFOs, unnecessary.

Poppadocrock

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

Gavinski

@HotStrange said:

@Gavinski said:
I really like sqsl Temp - standalone only and no ableton link, only sends midi clock. As you often work with hardware you might be OK with that. Big fan of this one. Latch is interesting also, by the same dev, but I prefer Temp

Have you tried the 3rd one they’ve released? I really wanna snatch one or two of these up some day soon.

I have, but as it is more drum-oriented I think it REALLY needs Ableton Link. I don’t mind the lack of it so much with the others, but for this one, unless you’re using it to sequence hardware, it’s usefulness for iPad-only musicians is limited. Pity, it’s really cool, like all his apps. Praying Ableton link comes to all of them. AUv3 would be amazing, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If you want to control hardware that accepts midi clock, get them all!

auxmux

@dendy said:
miRack is pretty cool sugestion.. i am using it a lot but more like just very simple FX or synth patches as AUv3 plugins.. literally 2 max 3 modules connected and used as standalone FX or Synth.. but this is actually pretty smart idea to use it also as MIDI events generator .. thanks for kicking me in !

Edit:
Just checked seqencing / midi events generating modules list in miRack. Ok guys, see you year from now, enough material for exploring for many months :-D :-D

Yup, it's neverending. For something prebuilt, check out my multi-channel sequencer Aviary which replicates Sugarbytes Nest.

https://patchstorage.com/aviary/

Montreal_Music

@royor said:
Zoa - Living MIDI Sequencer

Ooda - Portable MIDI Sequencer

Poly 2

Euclidean AUv3 Sequencer

I'm in love with Poly 2 but it crashes a lot on my iPad. Or freeze. It's sad because this app is very nice. I would not call it generative because you can predict the beat. Maybe I'm wrong but I see it as a classical beatbox with an original UI (like Patterning).

For generative music I like Polyphase. Super fun app and the UI is intuitive and beautiful.

Poppadocrock

@auxmux said:

@dendy said:
miRack is pretty cool sugestion.. i am using it a lot but more like just very simple FX or synth patches as AUv3 plugins.. literally 2 max 3 modules connected and used as standalone FX or Synth.. but this is actually pretty smart idea to use it also as MIDI events generator .. thanks for kicking me in !

Edit:
Just checked seqencing / midi events generating modules list in miRack. Ok guys, see you year from now, enough material for exploring for many months :-D :-D

Yup, it's neverending. For something prebuilt, check out my multi-channel sequencer Aviary which replicates Sugarbytes Nest.

https://patchstorage.com/aviary/

Yea MiRack, Drambo, Mozaic are all flush with patches on Patchstorage. a percentage of each are generative.

Poppadocrock

@pedro said:
Too many comments to check, but didn’t anyone suggest ripplemaker? With the cycle triggers and random that thing is a wonderful generative machine. You don’t even have to know what you’re doing.
And Hilda, no random per se generators, but the combination of wobbly modulators and the sequencer, make it pretty much generative dream land. I have patches that run for minutes always surprising me.
And of course drambo, but there you have to somewhat know what you’re doing. That didn’t stop me, though.

Or those two hosted and modulated inside Drambo…

Good call. Ripplemaker can do generative patches, which is pretty unique.

Speaking of which… Hammerhead can generate, mutate, glitch and send midi, and Noir can be generative with the mutate, pitch, and note settings.

royor

@Montreal_Music said:

@royor said:
Zoa - Living MIDI Sequencer

Ooda - Portable MIDI Sequencer

Poly 2

Euclidean AUv3 Sequencer

I'm in love with Poly 2 but it crashes a lot on my iPad. Or freeze. It's sad because this app is very nice. I would not call it generative because you can predict the beat. Maybe I'm wrong but I see it as a classical beatbox with an original UI (like Patterning).

For generative music I like Polyphase. Super fun app and the UI is intuitive and beautiful.

@Montreal_Music Ah yes.. you’re correct.. I haven’t opened Poly 2 in awhile.. It does have probability which can make things fairly random, as well as random velocity,pan,length + sample offset.. beat skip also helps for variety.. but yeah, actually generating new notes/sequences, no..

I can’t believe I still haven’t picked up Polyphase.. it does look like fun!

HotStrange

@ecou said:

@HotStrange said:

@ecou said:
Mute master

Still need to get this one. I’ve had my interest in it renewed lately.

It's very useful for randomizing what elements play. You can also sequence the order.

I wish it had a couple more tack support. It as only 8.

Thanks! I’m typically not using more than 8 in AUM anyway so that’s fine for me. Definitely gonna be trying this one out soon.

HotStrange

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

Thanks! Gonna try this out tonight. I’ve been using LK a lot lately and never even noticed this somehow. It’s really a great app.

HotStrange

@Gavinski said:

@HotStrange said:

@Gavinski said:
I really like sqsl Temp - standalone only and no ableton link, only sends midi clock. As you often work with hardware you might be OK with that. Big fan of this one. Latch is interesting also, by the same dev, but I prefer Temp

Have you tried the 3rd one they’ve released? I really wanna snatch one or two of these up some day soon.

I have, but as it is more drum-oriented I think it REALLY needs Ableton Link. I don’t mind the lack of it so much with the others, but for this one, unless you’re using it to sequence hardware, it’s usefulness for iPad-only musicians is limited. Pity, it’s really cool, like all his apps. Praying Ableton link comes to all of them. AUv3 would be amazing, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. If you want to control hardware that accepts midi clock, get them all!

Thanks! I don’t use hardware much these days so I think I’ll stick to the other 2 but they look great based on your demos on them.

u0421793

SunVox is reasonably generativeable

Poppadocrock

mKer
All the SQL sequencer apps

Fingolfinzz

@Poppadocrock said:

@pedro said:
Too many comments to check, but didn’t anyone suggest ripplemaker? With the cycle triggers and random that thing is a wonderful generative machine. You don’t even have to know what you’re doing.
And Hilda, no random per se generators, but the combination of wobbly modulators and the sequencer, make it pretty much generative dream land. I have patches that run for minutes always surprising me.
And of course drambo, but there you have to somewhat know what you’re doing. That didn’t stop me, though.

Or those two hosted and modulated inside Drambo…

Good call. Ripplemaker can do generative patches, which is pretty unique.

Speaking of which… Hammerhead can generate, mutate, glitch and send midi, and Noir can be generative with the mutate, pitch, and note settings.

Noir’s sequencer is really fun to use with the midi out. I use it a lot with my hardware modular when I’m doing my Buchla-like fm percussion stuff cos it always provides plenty of rhythmic and tonal gems

GUB

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

Gavinski

@GUB said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

I wonder if using 2 instances would work well? Keep one for more regular pulses and the other for polyrhythm / polymeter (I can't remember whether cykle can do both of those, haven't used in a while)

michael_m

Audulus 4.

GUB

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

I wonder if using 2 instances would work well? Keep one for more regular pulses and the other for polyrhythm / polymeter (I can't remember whether cykle can do both of those, haven't used in a while)

Good suggestion, I'll try it. I'm not sure about the rhythm v. meter thing either, although I'm not sure if I could distinguish the two by listening alone. So until my ear is trained to that degree (if it's even possible) either would be good enough for now.

Gavinski

@GUB said:

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

I wonder if using 2 instances would work well? Keep one for more regular pulses and the other for polyrhythm / polymeter (I can't remember whether cykle can do both of those, haven't used in a while)

Good suggestion, I'll try it. I'm not sure about the rhythm v. meter thing either, although I'm not sure if I could distinguish the two by listening alone. So until my ear is trained to that degree (if it's even possible) either would be good enough for now.

Don’t need ears for that really - eyes will often do when working with sequencers. Do you have Euclidean by 4Pockets? The manual for that, written by @dcollett is amazing and explains all this very well. Maybe Dave can provide a current link - 4Pockets seems to have no website, bizarrely!

With polymeter, bar sizes differ, with polyrhythm, the number of beats varies within a fixed bar length. Beat Scholar, for example, uses polyrhythm, so although you can have drums playing at various beat lengths, they will all return to the start of the sequence at the same time. With polymeter, their start times can vary, potentially leading to more complexity over time.

hes

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

I wonder if using 2 instances would work well? Keep one for more regular pulses and the other for polyrhythm / polymeter (I can't remember whether cykle can do both of those, haven't used in a while)

Good suggestion, I'll try it. I'm not sure about the rhythm v. meter thing either, although I'm not sure if I could distinguish the two by listening alone. So until my ear is trained to that degree (if it's even possible) either would be good enough for now.

Don’t need ears for that really - eyes will often do when working with sequencers. Do you have Euclidean by 4Pockets? The manual for that, written by @dcollett is amazing and explains all this very well. Maybe Dave can provide a current link - 4Pockets seems to have no website, bizarrely!

I think you're referring to this document:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/isqmqz8us6mr6kb/Euclidean, PolyRhythm, PolyMeter, and Hybrids.pdf?dl=0

dcollett

Thanks, @Gavinski and @hes 😺

HotStrange

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Gavinski said:

@GUB said:

@Poppadocrock said:

@HotStrange said:

@Poppadocrock said:
Piano motifs
Riffler
Riffer
Playbeat
Autony
Cality
Ionarics
Bud apps - most of them ShiftBud, SnakeBud, etc…some have more generative features than others.

Zoa
Ooda
Mozaic
Chordjam
Helium - allows you to take midi notes and randomize
Xequence 2 - polyhymna built in generative feature
Xynthsizer is IAA only but has a generative game of life feature.
LK also has some generative abilities

I’ve never seen the random feature in LK 😮

I know I missed cykle and polybeat but they were mentioned.

Yea it’s cool, it’s in the piano roll features. Check the right of the pic.

On the subject of Cykle, it is a great and flexible sequencer, but I'm wondering if anyone else finds it extremely complicated to do a 4/4 song on it.

One you start changing note lengths, it throws the normie-beat into chaos, and it's hard to get it back again without some serious calculation. I hope I'm not the only one that thinks that, ie., the only dummy. It seems to me it is effectively only good for polyrhythms when you do anything more than a simple short sequence, or unless the whole song structure is mapped out in your head before you get deep into implementing it.

I wonder if using 2 instances would work well? Keep one for more regular pulses and the other for polyrhythm / polymeter (I can't remember whether cykle can do both of those, haven't used in a while)

Good suggestion, I'll try it. I'm not sure about the rhythm v. meter thing either, although I'm not sure if I could distinguish the two by listening alone. So until my ear is trained to that degree (if it's even possible) either would be good enough for now.

Don’t need ears for that really - eyes will often do when working with sequencers. Do you have Euclidean by 4Pockets? The manual for that, written by @dcollett is amazing and explains all this very well. Maybe Dave can provide a current link - 4Pockets seems to have no website, bizarrely!

With polymeter, bar sizes differ, with polyrhythm, the number of beats varies within a fixed bar length. Beat Scholar, for example, uses polyrhythm, so although you can have drums playing at various beat lengths, they will all return to the start of the sequence at the same time. With polymeter, their start times can vary, potentially leading to more complexity over time.

Good explanation 👍🏻 I love both but probably use polyrhythms the most.