There’s something about symmetrical rhythms, it seems: through the power of math, these rhythms sound really good. We’ve looked a couple of times before at the spread of the Euclidean Algorithm for producing rhythms; see below. Wouter Hisschemöller has updated what began as an in-browser Flash tool to build an free and open source, Java-based MIDI utility. You dial in the rhythms you want, and now, with the addition of MIDI output, you can play those rhythms in any software of your choice. (Ableton Live plays the part of the MIDI recipient in the video above.)
Yes, you can actually make music with these nifty geometric interfaces:
Euclidean Patterns Demo 1 by Wouter Hisschemöller
Euclidean Patterns Demo 2 by Wouter Hisschemöller
Lots of detail and documentation on how to use the tool on Wouter’s updated blog post from earlier this week:
Euclidean MIDI Patterns
Previously, on Euclid Music Television:
Euclidean Rhythms in Ableton MIDI Clips for Polyrhythmic Good Times
Circles and Euclidean Rhythms: Off the Grid, a Few Music Makers That Go Round and Round