Gourlie Records Melodizer Black Melody Generator Device Max for Live

Melodizer Black is a probabilistic melody generator in the form of a Max For Live MIDI effect which can be used in Ableton Live. It can generate notes in any scale you desire and has a rich feature set including 14 built-in scales, polyphonic/monophonic modes, individual note probability sliders, external trigger mode and note/velocity range sliders. The end results is a rather expressive stochastic melody machine with a ton of power!

Probabilistic note generators can be useful for a myriad of explorative tasks but some of my inspiration in building Melodizer Black was to have a device that could be used as:

Accompaniment to any track.

Performance/conducting tool, changing parameters as you play.

Core platform for generative, ambient synthesis.

Exploration tool to find new melodies and chord progressions.

About Melodizer Black
A few weeks before making this device I actually released a free version of Melodizer which was just an Ableton MIDI effect rack which used stock plugins within Ableton Live Suite. While the original allowed for a certain style of random melody generation, I couldn't quite get the functionality and control I was hoping for. Plus it consisted of 3 MIDI effect racks in one so it was a bulky interface with various knobs and preset lists, not to mention there was absolutely no probability because knobs for each note were only velocity controls rather than chance. It was a clever device built within limitations but fell WAY short of my dreams.

A user reached out to me with an idea to just make a simple probability Max For Live device to insert into the chain that could get the functionality I was looking for but that would have just been jerry-rigging an already bloated device. So I just decide to dive in head-first into Max For Live and after a 2 week binge of learning Max for Live and working non-stop on one device (seriously I have over 100 hours in this build) Melodizer Black was forged!

Some of the upgrades include:

True probability
Trigger notes with the internal clock or enable external trigger mode which allows you to trigger notes from other MIDI sources to control rhythm
Polyphonic and Monophonic modes to generate chords or melodies
Robust scale mode which includes 14 scales to choose from and knobs to quickly adjust all probability sliders in your scale
Lights above each note that blink when that note is triggered
Sleek and compact GUI
Adjustable sliders to limit the minimum and maximum note and velocity ranges for triggered notes
No voice limit
Note length up to 30 seconds
Fully mappable parameters
Push compatible

REQUIREMENTS:
Max for Live v8.3.1 or greater (included in Ableton Live Suite but lower editions of Live can be upgraded to Max For Live)



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