#293 Randomize - note length, pitch, start, velocity
Hello,
[If this is already in there, or already requested,
please let me know.]
I used to use a power sequencer package from Voyetra
called Sequencer Plus Gold. Unfortunately, it never
made it out of the DOS world. Luckily, I have found
Rosegarden, but it is lacking one feature I really used
to use frequently: Randomization.
In a nutshell, the Randomization utility let you
randomize velocity, start time, length, and even pitch.
Each of these would randomize from the current (e.g.
adjust the velocity +- up to a specified amount).
The use for the first three was basically so you could
take something you either hand entered or that you had
over quantized and give it a "real" feeling to it. Not
every note would be the exact same intensity, start
perfectly and end perfectly. It really helped give a
"real" feel to it.
The pitch randomization was helpful for creating some
"industrial" music. I would sometimes take a set of
the same notes (let's say C3 1/4 notes) and repeat them
for 10 bars. I could then randomize the pitch and get
an interesting effect.
Could a "randomization" feature be added to Rosegarden?
Thanks,
- John
Logged In: YES
user_id=663564
This is sounding more like an external applet or a plugin
to me. There really wouldn't be any sensible place to put
such a thing as this within Rosegarden, would there? We
certainly have too many widgets to juggle as it is.
But if you wrote it as an ALSA sequencer client like
ZynAddSubFX, say, there would be all kinds of interesting
possibilities for routing the altered MIDI stream around,
and the little gizmo could be used by anybody doing any
kind of ALSA sequencer work. This would be more in keeping
with the Linux model of using lots of little dedicated
pieces that do one job well instead of huge, monolithic
applications. Rosegarden is already too monolithic for
some tastes.
It might could work as a DSSI plugin that synthesized MIDI
events instead of sound. I don't know if that's possible
with DSSI.
Anyway, there's really nothing to build on inside
Rosegarden as far as having a place to put something like
this, so it would be approximately the same amount of
effort to write it as a stand-alone project.
Or tack it onto something else. I seem to remember there's
a MIDI arpeggiator applet out there somewhere. This sounds
like an interesting layer to add to that, maybe. Or maybe
start with KMidiMon for the foundation, then gut it, add a
dialog to control the various parameters, and do whatever
it needs to be able to send events back out.
Interesting, but not a Rosegarden feature per se, I don't
think. Unless one of the other developers strongly
disagrees.
Logged In: YES
user_id=371029
I do like the idea of having it as an ALSA sequencer client,
but it does limit what can be done with changing note start
events. You could never start a note early. You could
always delay it. I will sometimes adjust note starts on
some parts to be just a hair early to give more of a "push"
to the music.
Logged In: YES
user_id=1188233
Originator: NO
Dear John, maybe we should join this feature request with my suggestion of a "Logical Transformer". One of the actions could indeed be:
Transpose by [randomvalue (-2..+2)]
First I considered your request to be focussed on random composition. This is yet another nice thing to have. But most variants are better done separately from rosegarden.
Randomisation of things such as pitch, length, velocity, position, population and stacking - how many notes play at once is very useful to find new compositional ideas. To get a full idea of the power of this, look at FL Studio's Randomiser. This is the benchmark for these features. FL Studio actually generates the notes from scratch so it takes this to full extreme. You can also randomise but keep within certain defined scales or chords. I can't say enough about how creative this is but any random function in Rosegarden would be great.
See also [feature-requests:#235] and [feature-requests:#20].
Related
Feature Requests: #20
Feature Requests: #235