dipcv / xy

Music

xy

Sixteen monophonic tracks, each firing by probability. The notes they produce pass through a rack of eight slots in order, so swapping a slot turns the same settings into different music. Over 120 sources, sampled and synthesized.

https://xy-dipcv.netlify.app

Controls

To begin

Press RUN and it starts. RANDOM re-rolls the whole thing.

KEEP

Three locks that hold things back from RANDOM, sitting above the RUN row. With SOUNDS held, the chosen sources and the way they are dealt across the tracks survive a re-roll; with TEMPO held, the tempo does; with SCALE held, the key and the scale do, and a re-rolled chord progression is drawn in the key you are already in. The locks are not saved, so a reload releases them.

SEQ / FX / DRUMS

The three tabs switch panes: SEQ for the note stream, FX for the effect rack, DRUMS for percussion.

Pads

Each cell carries two values at once, one per axis. Drag it and the current pair shows at the lower right; the name sits at the upper left. SEQ has twenty-three of them — RANGE, ENV, LENGTH, PROB, STEP, PHRASE, DENSITY, KEY, FILTER, ECHO, SPACE and the rest.

TEMPO / VOLUME

Tempo and volume are set on the two bars below the cells. Drag sideways and the bar fills from the left; the name sits at the left, the value at the right. Each is a single value, so putting them on a cell meant moving one while meaning to change the other.

C to B

Toggles which pitch classes are in play. At least one stays on.

PRESET

Scene recall. Tap it and the list unfolds; number keys 1–0 do the same.

ARRANGE

Lines scenes up into the shape of a piece. It sits at the top of the PRESET list. Press it and the four sections are walked through in turn; the bar reads something like “ARRANGE · 2/4 · DRIFT”. The wide button on the left changes that section’s scene, the narrow one on the right sets its bar count (2 / 4 / 8 / 16). It moves to the next section at the bar line, and the tempo does not change across sections. The sources for the next section are loaded ahead, so no section starts silent. Press RANDOM while it runs and the order of the scenes and the bar counts are re-rolled too. Picking a scene by hand switches it off. The order is not saved.

CHORD

The chord progression. Tap the bar to open the editor. With ON, every track follows the chord that is sounding and moves on once each step's bars have passed. TONES keeps to the chord's own notes, SCALE to the scale that fits it. KEY transposes, ◂ ▸ step through 45 progressions, and RANDOM picks one in a new key, sometimes adding sevenths, ninths or sixths; the main RANDOM does the same while chords are on. Each step takes a root, a type and a length in bars, up to 16 steps. While on, the C–B row shows the chord, with the root in red.

SOUNDS

Pick the sources. The ones you choose are dealt out across the sixteen tracks in order; tap again to drop one, and at least one stays. RANDOM SET and SINE ONLY are there as well.

Loading sounds

The sampled instruments are CC0 — VCSL, VSCO-2 Community Edition and legato_vocal_tutorial — fetched only when first needed, about 16 KB per note. The names in capitals at the end of the list are the built-in synthesized voices.

FX

Eight slots, each taking one process: BYPASS / ARP / ECHO / CHORD / OCTAVE / RATCHET / STRUM / THIN / HUMAN / SPREAD / QUANT / GRACE / GLIDE. The notes pass through the slots in order.

RANDOM FX / BYPASS ALL

Re-roll the whole rack, or clear it. RACK unfolds the saved arrangements.

PORTAMENTO

A glide on the voice itself: time across, amount up.

DRUMS

Tap the grid to place hits. PATTERN steps through the presets, SHUFFLE re-rolls, CLEAR empties it. DISTANCE and GRIT set how far off and how rough the drums sound.

REC

Writes what you hear straight to a wav. Press it again to stop and save.The file name carries the tempo, the key, and the seconds from the start of the file to the first bar line (e.g. xy_120bpm_C-pentmajor_off0.528_1014-0025.wav). Drop it into a DAW, nudge it later by that many seconds, and it sits on the beat — no trimming the head, no guessing the key. The WAV also holds an acid chunk with the tempo and the root note, though whether it gets read depends on the DAW.

Keyboard

Space plays and stops, X re-rolls, D moves between SEQ and FX, R records, P saves the drawing as a png, 1–0 recall scenes.

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