Music Pattern Generator is updated to version 2.2 with the new Snaphots functionality. Snapshots store the current state of all processors running in the app. A snapshot can be instantly recalled, making it possible to quickly change many settings in one go.
Continue readingKibo Keyboard
Earlier this year Italian company Kodaly proposed a collaboration. They created the Kibo MIDI controller instrument and I enjoy making web apps for musical use. Together we will explore how the Kibo instrument and online apps can be integrated. As a first experiment I made the Kibo Keyboard app.
Continue readingHow to use Music Pattern Generator
Music Pattern Generator is an app to create musical rhythms. It generates patterns of MIDI notes. It runs online in the browser, or can be downloaded and installed as a desktop application. This article gives an overview of the app and describes how to use it.
Continue readingMusic Pattern Generator v2.1
Music Pattern Generator is the new version of my old Euclidean Pattern Generator. Instead of Java it’s now written in JavaScript. So it runs in the browser. But if you prefer there are desktop installers for Linux, Windows and Mac as well.
Continue readingJavaScript desktop programs with NW.js
This is an overview and tutorial of how to create desktop programs for Linux, Mac and Windows using NW.js.
NW.js is a framework for building desktop applications with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It works by combining a JavaScript app with Node.js and Google’s Chromium browser engine into a single desktop program.
Volca-Freesound
Volca-Freesound is an online app to load samples on the Korg Volca Sample.
It selects random samples from the freesound.org database. So it’s not a sample manager like Vosyr or Caustic Editor. This app chooses random samples by itself. You can only control the maximum length of the samples and which Volca slots to overwrite, but not much else.
The app is a sort of ‘sample randomizer’. Use it to bring new life to your Volca Sample. Let it create a selection of new and unexpected samples that might inspire you to create new music.
Continue readingSingle-line 3D text
I wrote some JavaScript to create single-line 3D text using the three.js library to render 3D on a canvas using WebGL. Three.js can already render text with its TextGeometry class, but I wanted something simpler: single-line fonts.
Continue readingEuclidean Pattern Generator 1.2
This is the final version of the Euclidean Pattern Generator as a Java desktop application. I built this version five years ago, but never quite finished it. Now I want to get it out of the way to make a fresh start with a new online Javascript Euclidean patterns app that runs in the browser.
New in this last Java version is MIDI note triggering of patterns. That means individual patterns can be started and stopped by external MIDI Note On and Note Off messages. A drawback of earlier versions was that all patterns always played. There was just one button to start or stop all of them. I wanted to control patterns individually so that I could more easily make some sort of song arrangement.
Continue readingForce Touch and Web Audio on the iPhone
Since a few weeks I have an iPhone 6S. It has 3D Touch, Apple’s technology to detect pressure on the phone’s screen. It takes some time getting used to. Things unexpectedly happen when you press down on the screen. But it feels naturally very soon. It’s like a third dimension after swiping across the surface of the screen.
The possibilities for audio and music are exciting. Drum rhythms can be tapped in much more expressively. All kinds of sound parameters can be controlled by pressure.
Continue readingGenerating MIDI with physics
This is an idea for an application that generates MIDI notes from moving machine parts. Not real machines however, but software simulations. Cogs, wheels and gears that rhythmically rotate and drive each other and while doing so transmit their rotation, torque and most importantly their collisions as MIDI notes and CC messages.
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