“XronoMorph is a free macOS and Windows app for creating multilayered rhythmic and melodic loops (hockets). Each rhythmic layer is visualized as a polygon inscribed in a circle, and each polygon can be constructed according to two different mathematical principles: perfect balance and well-formedness (aka MOS). These principles generalize polyrhythms, additive, and Euclidean rhythms. Furthermore, rhythms can be smoothly morphed between, and irrational rhythms with no regular pulse can also be easily constructed.
XronoMorph subsumes the earlier MeanTimes app described in Milne, A. J. and Dean, R. T. (2016).
Each polygon can play an independent sound, and XronoMorph comes with a useful selection of samples to play the rhythms. Alternatively, you can load your own VST or AU plugins, or send MIDI to an external software or hardware synth. The rhythmic loops can be saved as presets within XronoMorph; they can also be saved as Scala scale tuning files, which means XronoMorph can be used as a tool for designing well-formed (MOS) and perfectly balanced microtonal scales.
The mathematical principles utilized by XronoMorph are perfect balance and well-formedness (MOS).
Perfect balance is a generalization of the polyrhythms found in many African and jazz musical traditions. A rhythm is perfectly balanced when the mean position (centre of gravity) of all its rhythmic events, when arranged on a circle, is the centre of that circle.
Well-formedness is a generalization of the additive rhythms found in aksak (Balkan), sub-Saharan African, and progressive rock musical traditions. Well-formed rhythms contain no more than two interonset intervals, arranged as evenly as possible. WF rhythm are typically nested by faster WF rhythms, which in combination form complex interlocking rhythmic hierarchies.
XronoMorph is a portable standalone application distributed in a zip file. No installation is required—when you have downloaded the file, unzip it and double click to run.
Possible issues on OS X/macOS:
- On first run, you may need to right-click (control-click) the app and select ‘Open’.
Possible issues on Windows:
- If you get a message complaining of missing dlls you will need to install the Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2013 from Microsoft’s Download Center. For the 32-bit version of XronoMorph, download the vcredist_x86.exe version of the above package; for the 64-bit version of XronoMorph, download the vcredist_x64.exe version of the above package.
Known bugs:
- VST/AU plugins are not stored in presets (this should be fixed very soon).”
Source : dynamictonality.com
