Instant Melodies
The process is simple:
- Select a clip in Ableton Live's session view or arrangement view.
- Edit the setup of Melody Spawner to create the desired melody.
- Click "Render" to spawn the melody.
You can repeat the process until you are satisfied with the spawned melody. The melody is rendered instantaneously. Thanks to Melody Spawner's randomization features, it is possible to create countless monophonic melodies of near infinite variety. Taking advantage of Notes and Rhythm pattern language is key to get maximum bang out of Melody Spawner. There are many built-in melody and rhythm presets designed to help you understand the pattern language quickly.
Text to Midi
The core feature of Melody Spawner is it's text to MIDI functionality. Melody Spawner uses Scribbletune under the hood and loosely adopts it's pattern language. Within the UI, there are 2 text fields with which you control the melodic and the rhythmic pattern of the rendered melody.
Notes Text Field
Notes can be typed in several formats: note names, numbers and R. Note names simply represent the desired note, ie C1, D#4, E3. Numbers denote the distance between the root note within the selected scale and the desired note, ie when inputting 1 while C Major is selected, D gets rendered. R stands for random, meaning if R is inputted to the notes text field, random note within the selected scale gets rendered. The randomization is further controlled by other parameters.
Notes text field syntax:
- Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3...)
- Note names (C1, D#2, F3, G4)
- R (random note)
Rhythm Pattern Text Field
Rhythm pattern simply denotes how long each note in the pattern is, how many spaces notes have between one another and how long these spaces are. 'xxxx' would render 4 notes of equal length, 'x_xxx' would render 4 notes where the first note is twice as long as the other 3, 'x-xxx' would render 4 notes with a space between the first and the second note.
Rhythm text field syntax:
- 'x' represents a chord-on event
- '-' represents pause
- '_' prolonges the previous character by 1 subdiv unit
In-Key Melody Generation
Melody Spawner can spawn a whole new melody out of selected parameters based on a fully randomized pattern like 'R R R R'. The key step is to select the right parameters to increase the likelihood that the melody you desire will be created. You can choose from dozens of scales in which you want the melody to be created. You can choose whether the notes in melody will be ascending, descending, or in any order, whether they will repeat themselves or not and how high or how low they can go. Through combination of these parameters, it is possible to create melodies of near infinite variety and get inspired very quickly.
Pattern Language to MIDI & MIDI to Pattern Language
Once you create your melody, you can make all the tweaks you want in Ableton Live's piano roll. But what if you create a melody, then perform some tweaks in the piano roll and then want to further manipulate it with Melody Spawner? No problem, it is possible to not only render the melody from the text format to midi, but also from Live's clip to the Melody Spawner's pattern language. It can be done via simple button click, or even as a fully automated real-time synchronization.
Composition Algorithms
Single melodic motif is nice, but it usually isn't enough. A melodic motif needs to be developed. There is multitude of algorithms within Melody Spawner that can develop a melody pitch wise, rhythmwise, or both. Implement well known compositional techniques like inversion, retrograde, ascending sequence or descending sequence with a click of a button. Moreover, there are some utility algorithms like transposing the whole melody by 1 step within a selected scale or to generate rhythmical pattern out of thin air.
Feature Overview
- Generative creation of monophonic melodies
- Multitude of parameters that influence the generation process.
- Text to MIDI and MIDI to text interfacing with Ableton Live
- Built-in algorithms for melody development
- 25 note presets and 22 rhythm presets
- Ability to save and load a preset as .json file
Requirements
- Ableton Live Suite 10/11 (with Max 8 or higher)
- MacOS or Windows
- Installation size: 1.31 MB