Pioneering UK electronic music DJ/VJ duo Coldcut, who are currently celebrating 30 years of music, have designed MidiVolve, a Max For Live arpeggiator, riff generator and pattern sequencer that automatically ‘evolves’ MIDI patterns into new riffs, melodies and grooves. MidiVolve is inspired by Steve Reich’s seminal Music for 18 Musicians. Per the company’s press statement:
“MidiVolve instantly converts incoming MIDI notes (played live or imported) into an arpeggio or auto-generated riff, which in turn serves as the initial stage of the user-guided evolutionary process. Clicking the Evolve button instantly mutates various parameters (note Pitch, Velocity, Duration, etc), to create a new sequence; and activating Auto mode re-evolves the current or initial sequence on playback every 1-32 cycles. You can opt for subtle, organic shifts by evolving just one or two parameters, radical transformation of all of them, or anything in between.
“Also included is a library of 11 unique Instruments (with 60 presets) and 8 Audio Effects Racks, developed in conjunction with Johannesburg musician and samplist Behr. The Instrument Racks are based on a 1GB library of sampled African instrumentation and sounds from the Coldcut archive, and built specifically for use with MidiVolve.”
In related news, Coldcut are using their own new inventions to power their current show, including their Jamm app to remix the tunes live, the visual synth app Pixi and the cut n paste game Robbery.
Obligatory press release gush from Coldcut’s Matt Black: “[It’s] a next gen warp drive sequencer for creating and mutating musical ideas.”