RandoNoteAndHold

Drop it on a MIDI track, hit play, and let 17 different flavors of randomness write melodies you’d never come up with yourself.

How it works

RandoNoteAndHold samples from a selected noise algorithm at tempo-synced clock divisions (1/4, 1/8, 1/16) and maps the output to MIDI notes within a configurable pitch range. The Character knob shapes each algorithm differently — bit-crush depth for White, flip rate for Turing, the r parameter for Logistic chaos, and so on.

Set unipolar mode to generate notes above a base pitch, or bipolar to scatter them above and below. Dial in a Drop probability to randomly silence steps. Add velocity randomization for dynamics. Every parameter is deterministic — the same Seed value produces the same sequence every time.

The algorithms

Each algorithm has a different character. Some are wild, some are smooth, some evolve slowly. The Character knob shapes each one differently.

• White — Xorshift32 LFSR, every note equally likely. Character controls bit-crush quantization.
• Pink — Voss-McCartney 8-row summing, weighted toward lower notes. Character controls active row count.
• Fibonacci — Additive sequence with wrapping, self-similar and mathematical. Character controls spread factor.
• Turing — 16-bit shift register with probabilistic bit flip, evolving loops. Character controls flip rate.
• Logistic — x(n+1) = r·x(n)·(1−x(n)), deterministic chaos. Character controls the r parameter (3.5–4.0).
• Glitch Walk — 8 parallel random walkers, one selected per step, stuttery texture. Character controls max step size.
• WoggleBuggy S&H — Bounded random walk, Buchla-inspired melodic phrases. Character controls step size.
• Ramp+Noise — Falling sawtooth mixed with white noise, cascading energy. Character controls noise mix.
• Sine+Noise — Sum of 4 sine waves at prime ratios with mutating amplitudes. Character controls mutation rate.
• Perlin — Multi-octave sine summation + noise perturbation, smooth contours. Character controls roughness.
• Splish — Difference rectifier of White + Fibonacci + WoggleBuggy (NonlinearCircuits). Character controls diff gain.
• SlothSplish — Sloth Torpor chaotic oscillator fed into Splish diff rectifier (NonlinearCircuits). Character controls sloth mix.
• SplishTuring — Turing output versus average of Rungler + GrayNoise through a difference rectifier (NonlinearCircuits). Character controls diff gain.
• SquidAxon — 4-stage shift register with nonlinear diode feedback (NonlinearCircuits). Character controls feedback gain.
• Rungler — 8-bit LFSR with white noise XOR input, Hordijk-inspired digital chaos. Character controls number of feedback taps.
• Henon — 2D quadratic chaotic map, jumpy orbiting patterns. Character controls a parameter (1.0–1.4).
• GrayNoise — 32-bit register with single-bit flips, minimal step-to-step movement. Character controls bit range flipped.

Note duration & gating

Note lengths are probabilistic: mix the 1/4 and 1/8 sliders to weight longer durations, or leave them at zero for all-sixteenths. Turn Gate on to sustain notes for the full clock division.

Layer Euclidean patterns on top of any algorithm with the EUCL toggle. Set STP (total steps, 1–16) and HIT (active beats). The default 5-over-11 gives you an asymmetric groove that moves. The gate pattern locks to frozen loops too.

Freeze, Infinity, Glide

FRZ captures the current pattern into a buffer and loops it. INF does the same, but auto-regenerates after a set number of repeats — sequences that evolve on their own schedule. GLIDE adds 303-style legato: the previous note bleeds into the next on pitch changes, rests still cut clean.

Scale quantization

16 built-in presets: Major, Minor, Pentatonic Maj/Min, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Phrygian, Blues, Dorian, Mixolydian, Lydian, Locrian, Whole Tone, Diminished, Chromatic, and Custom. Build a custom scale by toggling semitones on the interactive piano keyboard.

Visualizations

• Noise Waveform — last 256 samples, color-coded by Euclidean hits/rests
• Pattern View — piano roll of the last 64 notes with step cursor, glide connectors, and duration bars
• Euclidean Monitor — circular step sequencer with live playhead
• Scale Column — interactive keyboard for custom scale editing
• Attractor Visualizer — 2D phase plot of the Sloth oscillator trajectory with fading trail (Advanced tab)

MIDI CC output

Enable pitch-tracking CC output to map generated note pitch to a configurable CC number (default CC74) with optional inversion. Useful for driving filter cutoff or other parameters that follow the melodic contour.

The Sloth/Splish CC section outputs 5 simultaneous streams from the built-in chaotic oscillator: Sloth X, Y, and W axes plus Splish A and B difference-rectifier outputs. Each stream has its own CC number, and a shared Lo/Hi range control limits the output to a subset of 0–127.

MIDI In Base

Enable MIDI In Base to latch incoming MIDI note-on messages as the base note. Play a key and the generative pattern recenters around that pitch in real time — useful for live performance and key-following.

Presets

Save and load full parameter snapshots. All settings including algorithm, scale, seed, and advanced parameters are captured.

Export

Save the visible pattern as a standard .mid file, or export the raw noise waveform as a Serum .shp LFO shape.