Polyrhythm Engine

Generative audio-visual polyrhythms · About

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This loop

StartRound again

    Make it loop

      Recording

      This doesn't come round yet, so one pass wouldn't join up. Pick a length under Make it loop first.

      Plays to exactly where the loop would start over, and stops there. Record that one pass and it loops seamlessly in your DAW.

      A .mid file of one loop: every voice, the chord names as markers, and the pad and bass if they're switched on under Sound › MIDI Out.

      Tempo

      Voices

      Fractions keep a loop exact: 3/2 plays three notes every two beats. Add +0.5s or +2b to bring a voice in late, =D5 to pin its note, =ch2 for a chord tone, =prev to share the note before.

      voices, from to

      Copies of each voice that start together and slowly phase apart. The drift sets how fast they spread — and how long until they meet again.

      Harmony

      Chords

      Press Enter to play it. Suffixes: Maj7 m7 7 m9 add9 sus4 dim aug 13 7b9 …, and slash chords like C/E.

      How many beats each chord lasts. 0 holds one chord for ever.

      Scene & Look

      Motion & Layout

      Shifts where each voice sits. Used by orbits, stacked pendulums and boxes.

      Scene:

      Copies of each voice spread evenly round its path — 3 on a circle is a turning triangle.

      How fast the shapes turn and drift — in the maze, how fast you walk. 0 holds them still.

      The hands swing round to spell the time (HH:MM), then let go back into the rhythm.

      Notes & Trails

      Lines & Paths

      How much a path lights when its voice sounds. Outer voices light brightest.

      Chord Changes

      How hard each change hits: the zoom kick, the glow swell and the wave that runs through the scene.

      How much the picture winds up before each change: it pushes in, closes in at the edges, speeds up and charges brighter, then lets go as the chord lands.

      Turns the palette with each chord, by the chord's place on the circle of fifths — related chords keep related colours.

      Atmosphere

      Picking a Look (main panel) resets these to its own starting point.

      Stirs the whole picture up as the voices drift out of step — faster backdrop, more bloom and streaks — and lets it settle as they line up again.

      Below 100% the scene fades instead of clearing — motion smears.

      Output

      The built-in synth, notes sent over MIDI to your DAW or VST (the synth muted), or silence.

      MIDI Out

      Enable to scan for outputs.

      Negative sends earlier — use it to line the picture up with your VST.
      Extra velocity for notes landing right on a chord change.

      Harmony Out

      Separate channels, so each can drive its own instrument.
      channel
      channel octave

      Dynamics

      Build-ups: the music swells toward each chord change, lands, and eases off. Shapes the internal synth — and your MIDI too, if you let it.

      A sound for each scene transition, in the music's key. Plays even with the internal synth muted; 0 turns it off.

      Internal Synth

      A soft ambient synth: bells or keys over a slow pad, in a long reverb. Mute it when a VST takes over.

      Playing

      Playlists

      Save current setup

      Saves the voices, harmony, progression, tempo, visuals and scene that are playing right now.

      My presets

        Nothing saved yet. Dial something in, then save it above.