Numerology 2.3 & the Launchpad : Demo 1 from Five12 on Vimeo.
Remember the sequencer? There seem to be thousands of ways of firing up an FM synth or sampled keyboard, but when it comes to the process of actually assembling musical patterns – you know, the stuff music is made of – your choices are surprisingly limited.
Numerology is a box full of musical goodness, a set of modules for sequencing. An independently-developed tool with a passionate following, the software is the brainchild of developer Jim Coker, who has been dutifully adding carefully-crafted functionality with each release.
Version 2.3 adds beautiful, tight integration with the Novation Launchpad. It’s a fantastic match, with direct, one-to-one button manipulation of note, drum, chord, and matrix sequencing. In fact, it really gives Numerology the feel of being a hardware sequencer.
There’s great stuff in the pipeline, too: think OSC support, for control via monome, iPhone, and the like, plus the ability to run Numerology modules as Audio Unit plug-ins. And if you don’t have a Launchpad, recent builds have added other note tweaks, fixes, and other support.
But even before waiting for stuff to come, there’s already plenty to love about Numerology. At US$119, it’s a steal.
It could be a reason to pick up a cheap Mac, or to dedicate an older Mac to sequencing purposes in the studio. System requirements are light (hey, this is sequencing we’re talking about): OS X 10.4.11, 1GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 1024×768 screen resolution. I’m reconfiguring my workspace and making my MacBook into a little sequencing station.
I could ramble on all day, but best is checking out all the videos Jim has been working on for a sense of how this can work musically:
http://five12.com/