Zeta Centauri: AlgoRhythmia

AlgoRhythmia is an 8-channel drum machine and beat generator. It supports .wav sample playback and MIDI. It generates patterns up to 4 measures long in any of six time signatures and at virtually any BPM. It allows the user to mutate or regenerate any or all of the drum sounds in a pattern or to edit them by hand via the pattern editing window. This is a great creative tool for inspiring new ideas, practicing along to strange beats, or just tinkering for fun. With the addition of 8 built-in effects, customized or bizarre sounds are at your fingertips. With the ability to export patterns to MIDI, you can generate beats for use in your favorite sequencer or looping program.

AlgoRhythmia uses DirectX 9. If you do not have DirectX 9, go HERE to download or update DirectX drivers.

Pattern Editing

With the addition of pattern editing, AlgoRhythmia has grown from a random beat generator to a tweakable drum machine. You can edit generated patterns to bend them to your will, or you can create new patterns from scratch (or from a pattern book, such as 200 Drum Machine Patterns by Rene-Pierre Bardet).

Effects

AlgoRhythmia supports 8 different effects: Chorus, Compression, Distortion, Echo, Flange, Gargle, Parametric EQ, and Reverb. Any or all of these effects can be enabled at once and each channel may have different effects enabled.

Changes from AlgoRhythmia Version 2 to 3:

1) Added Clear, Fibonacci, Sierpinski, and Sierpinski inverted, Basic Rock, Basic Rock 2, Basic Rock 3, Funk, and Oontz to base pattern list.
2) Converted application to use wxWidgets, which has resulted in a less crowded interface.
3) Kick sample (first sample) also plays when 'kick on first beat' is selected.
4) *Added save and load of settings.
5) **Added ability to edit individual drum notes on a grid.
6) Added swing setting.
7) Added volume setting for individual samples which affects both MIDI and sample volume.
8) *Added 58 samples recorded from the Yamaha TG-55 tone generator.
9) Now accepts mutation rate values of 0.
10) *Added ability to save to MIDI.
11) **Added 8 different effect types: Chorus, compression, distortion, echo, flange, gargle, parameteric eq, and reverb.
12) Added on-off checkbox for MIDI.
13) Added hi-hat cancellation.
14) Improved tab order so that editing settings via keyboard is feasible.
* = Not available in demo version.
** = Only available for channel 1 in demo version.

The demo version of AlgoRhythmia 3 has more features than the free version of AlgoRhythmia 3.

Update: On 2-20-2007 we found and fixed a bug that could cause problems displaying the effect edit dialog.

Algorhythmia 3 has been rated 5/5 by Softplatz.com.

Older Version: AlgoRhythmia 2

AlgoRhythmia 2 is freeware, but lacks all of the features listed above under 'Changed from Algorhythmia Version 2 to 3'. The demo version of AlgoRhythmia contains all of the features of AlgoRhythmia 2, but also includes the un-asterisked features in the list above:

A handful of base patterns to generate from (Rock, Oontz, etc.).
A less cramped interface with a non-insane tab ordering.
Tweakable 'swing' parameter to alter feel of beat.
Per-channel volume setting.
Minor enhancements to mutation and 'kick on first beat'
Hi-hat cancellation.
Ability to enable or disable MIDI.

The only reason we can think of for wanting the older version is if you want a smaller program window to take up less screen space.

Download AlgoRhythmia Version 2 (4.5 MB)

Check out this accurate but not entirely flattering 4-star review of AlgoRhythmia 2 at SoftPedia. This review inspired many of the changes in AlgoRhythmia 3.

AlgoRhythmia 2 was reviewed by Softpedia and granted the 100% Clean award.

AlgoRhythmia 2 Received 5 of 5 at Softplatz.com

AlgoRhythmia has had more than 15000 downloads.