The Sound Board

This is 25 bucks of fun and not quite like anything else. It's a random pattern generator. You feed it a single note and it varies notes, length and duration as a kind of arp, also pitch or pitch bend info. This video shows its versatility:



How it works (at least in Cubase) is that you insert 2 instrument tracks. One is the Rhythmizer vst instrument, then the other is anything you like. You then feed the input of the 2nd instrument with the midi output of the first. The examples in the video all just use a single note for the main trigger, but you can play monophonically to vary the root note for all the madness.

There's a free demo. With this off-the-cuff example I used three instances of Rhythmizer. The first was triggering 1 instance of Omnisphere and 1 an Oud in Best Service's Ancient Persia. Two other instances triggered two instances of SampleTank's Cinematic Percussion - djembes and shakers respectively. I mucked around with the midi transposes til it made nice sounds. The first instance I played a few notes, the second and third were all single note, all with different preset patterns.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqipam40a21ud ... a.wav?dl=0

This was originally for Ableton only, but now they've got VST and AU versions it's open to all but Pro Tools users. I think there's a lot more interest to be had than my first effort which is pretty rudimentary, but it shows what a few minutes of playing around can do (also you can record the midi so then manipulate the notes manually if necessary). And for 25 bucks...

https://www.futurephonic.co.uk/products/rhythmizer-2

Wow. This is quite cool and fills a niche for me. I'm usually tinkering around with an arpeggiator until I get something decent and often just end up playing the part in after all. This could be quite the shortcut to get closer more quickly! Looks very versatile and for $25... (though these little "un-missable" purchases are really starting to make a dent). Thanks for bringing it to our attention, will check it out.

I’ve only got short bursts to play with the thing at the moment. One thing I’d really like is to have both pitch and pitch bend going at the same time, I don’t see why it’s either / or. As an experiment I tried feeding the output of 1 set to pitch into another set to pitch bend, and I did make that work, though it seemed a little flaky and the whole complexity of two pattern engines going at the same time makes it pretty complicated to bend it to your will.

That is pretty darned cool! It appears to be based on Max for Live

Many years ago (when I still had a working Amiga - yeah, that long ago) I spent a fair bit of time with Dr. T's Algorithmic Composer, Laurie Spiegel's MIDI Mouse, and "M" now distributed for Mac only by cycling 74. I also experimented with Max when I switched over to PC, but could never justify the price tag, so I switched to PureData, or pd, and I like to play with that when time allows.

The thing about all of these tools - for me anyway - is that they aren't quite there. I remember reading an interview with a composer once who started his day by kicking off an algorithmic composer, and then eating breakfast, reading the morning paper, etc. Not often, of course, but every once in a while a snippet would play that triggered a musical idea. That sounds helpful during a writer's block, or just plain fun some of the time.

Rhythmizer appear to work along those lines. I may have to take it for a spin. In the meantime it is probably time for my irregularly scheduled return to pd<G>.

Thanks Guy for that tip!

My turn now - doesn't warrant a thread of its own, but I recently took apogee clearmountain's-phases for a spin (pun intended, or so say I) and wow, this is one very cool phaser/flanger! It is based on the MXR auto-phaser and auto-flanger, a couple of plugin card type processors that for some reason never made the splash they deserved. A friend gave me a box of the phasers (years ago) to repair, and then modify to work in a 500 series chassis. They turned out to be way cooler than I ever expected.

So now my effects include the Clearmountain Phases, the Softube FIX Phaser and Flanger, the Eventide Instant Phaser and Instant Flanger, Soundtoys Phase Mistress, AudioDamage Phase3 (based on the Mutron Bi-Phase) and QuatroMod, AudioThing PhaseMotion2, and the UA A/DA Flanger - which is a ridiculous number of modulation effects (and that doesn't include chorus<G>). They all sound different, and they all have different features, making it difficult to thin them out. IF push came to shove I can probably tweak the Soundtoys processors to mimic any of the others, but why bother?

Not permanent, but kept in reserve I also have a couple multi-effects - PSP N2O, and Plugin-alliance BYOME, that I really like, but I don't really use them as phasers or flangers, at least not often.

And this list is far from exhaustive - there are dozens of other very worthy phasers and flangers out there, heck I own some of them, but these are, for now, "enough".

TL;DR - If you haven't tried Clearmountain's Phases you probably should, but be prepared to get out your credit card. (for this reason I am not trying any of his other plugins!)

I suppose I don’t really see this as a compositional aid per se Bill, but rather a cool way to do ARPs and rhythms. I like that it exists outside the plugin(s), so routing is really flexible - I really like using different instruments, melodic and rhythmic.

to me almost anything is a compositional aid - if it suggests a melody then it helped<G>.

wst3 wrote: ↑Jan 14, 2023 4:33 pm to me almost anything is a compositional aid - if it suggests a melody then it helped<G>.

Bill, this plug-in is super easy to build in Pure Data (or Max) A few random generators and a looper.
You need to manually write all the scales and the different rhythm’s but once that is in place the rest is a breeze.
A quick search for algorithmic or generative music and pure data will not only save you $25 but give you more options.
This is a great starting point:
http://www.algorithmiccomposer.com/2016 ... n.html?m=1

/Anders

Hi Anders,

WOW! For as long as I've been experimenting with algorithmic composition I've never run across that site. Shame on me! And Thank you!!

At the moment I have both PlugData and Purr-Data (release version, latest build is sitting on the drive) installed on Windows. I probably need to go back and install the Vanilla version since it appears to be current. And that's the roadblock for me - you have to stay on top of what ever tool(s) you are using. I suppose the same is true for commercial software, but somehow it seems easier?

Anyway, I a going to dig through the web site you shared, thanks again

Guy Rowland wrote: ↑Jan 12, 2023 3:45 pm This is 25 bucks of fun and not quite like anything else. It's a random pattern generator. You feed it a single note and it varies notes, length and duration as a kind of arp, also pitch or pitch bend info. This video shows its versatility:



How it works (at least in Cubase) is that you insert 2 instrument tracks. One is the Rhythmizer vst instrument, then the other is anything you like. You then feed the input of the 2nd instrument with the midi output of the first. The examples in the video all just use a single note for the main trigger, but you can play monophonically to vary the root note for all the madness.

There's a free demo. With this off-the-cuff example I used three instances of Rhythmizer. The first website that I saw mentioned this and I also checked for myself. I think it has to do with a few things, but I would have to do more research to figure it out. The first was triggering 1 instance of Omnisphere and 1 an Oud in Best Service's Ancient Persia. Two other instances triggered two instances of SampleTank's Cinematic Percussion - djembes and shakers respectively. I mucked around with the midi transposes til it made nice sounds. The first instance I played a few notes, the second and third were all single note, all with different preset patterns.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqipam40a21ud ... a.wav?dl=0

This was originally for Ableton only, but now they've got VST and AU versions it's open to all but Pro Tools users. I think there's a lot more interest to be had than my first effort which is pretty rudimentary, but it shows what a few minutes of playing around can do (also you can record the midi so then manipulate the notes manually if necessary). And for 25 bucks...

https://www.futurephonic.co.uk/products/rhythmizer-2

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