In this video, synthesist and developer Stretta demonstrates Smol Sequencer, a browser-based modular sequencing environment.
Video Summary:
The video explores how how small sequencer modules can be interconnected to create evolving musical patterns.
Learn to manipulate note values, introduce randomization, and utilize pitch class rotation for scale-based composition, all before sharing your unique musical ideas through compressed, link-based project files.
Availability:
Smol Sequencer is available now as a free, browser-based application.
Is this AI?
I don’t understand the knee-jerk “AI IS BAD!” reaction some people have.
AI has tons of great uses in music. Mutable Instruments’ Grids, stem separation, Apple’s Music Understanding Framework are just a few examples.
“A bad carpenter blames his tools….”
There’s a difference between generative AI based on LLMs, and algorithms. The former is energy guzzling stuff being forced down our throats and helps scammers and suicidal people kill themselves. The latter a thing that exists a long time, but gets called AI because it’s trendy.
It’s not “AI”. Watch the video—you, the human, manually create everything it does. It’s maybe an “Algorithmic Sequencer”. You create the algorithms via the UI though. Not all that different, conceptually anyway, from Eno with tape loops running around furniture.
I didn’t understand sh#t of what’s going on… but that seems so cool!!
Smells like Bespoke with extra browser steps.
This is so very cool! It is EXACTLY what I have been looking for, and I would be all over it if it was an AU or VST, but I don’t make music in browser so unfortunately I won’t be able to use it.
Sending a plea to Stretta for a plugin version!
Really nice work!
If you use ableton live, I have a generator that works in a similar manner to smol called Ghostnote that uses scale rotation and numerical sequences to produce notes. Instead of the arbitrary smolseq chaining, there is a function that allows you to shape the sequence graphically across time, which is also cool.
These can be found in the looseleaf repo:
https://github.com/stretta/looseleaf/tree/main