Rhythm Engine

Stochastic Rhythm Generator

Unfurl endless rhythmic gestures with tight controls. Generate fresh, focused rhythms from simple settings, or shape them into repeating cycles and intricate tupletted grid patterns.

Rhythm Engine is a generative Max for Live MIDI effect designed to output stochastically constrained percolations. On each newly generated note, it randomly switches between a range of base rate multipliers and divisors, creating endlessly changing yet highly focused rhythmic output.

Global swing and optional humanization add further dynamics, while pitch and velocity deviation inject controlled variation to bring your rhythms to life. Use it in Arp mode as a melodic generator with transposition via MIDI input, in any scale or key, set locally or globally. Switch to Drums mode at any time for easy chromatic percussion programming.

Highly playable controls like instant octave transposition and sustain make it ideal for performance, while Free, Gate, Side, and Arp modes allow unique interactions with incoming MIDI. Gate plays only when notes are received, Side plays only between received notes, and Arp resets, transposes, and gates the output simultaneously.

Choose how rhythms unfold. Flow mode gives a continuous stream of available rhythms. Cycle mode repeats a specific sequence of rhythmic outputs, with control over length, direction, and bar-based reset. Grid mode offers a powerful editor for programming intricate, tupletted patterns, with vertical grid values mappable to pitch, velocity, or note length. Rhythm for days.

New in Version 1.1

• New Grid mode

Key Features

• Random switching between base rate multipliers and divisors on every generated note
• Adjustable maximum multiplier and division, with All, Even (rigid), or Odd (syncopated) value filtering
• Flow, Cycle, and Grid pattern modes
• Grid editor with adjustable X and Y divisions, forward, backward, and shuffle playback, bar-based reset, and skew to accelerate or decelerate through the pattern
• Randomised pattern generation with density control, plus erase
• Grid Y-axis mapping to Pitch, Velocity, or Length with invertible ranges
• Playback modes including Free, Gate, Side, and Arp
• Base velocity and pitch with adjustable random deviation
• Note length factor for staccato or sustained output
• Global swing with adjustable interval and amount, plus optional humanization
• Instant octave transposition and sustain
• Drums mode for chromatic percussion programming
• Transposition via MIDI input
• Solo and Blend modes to pass incoming MIDI to the output
• Scale and key awareness for Live 12, with full Global Hub support (Global or Local pinning)
• Stuck note flush with a single click
  
  

Visual Display
A clear interval display shows the rhythmic division currently being expressed.

Scale Aware
Natively integrates with Live 12’s scale and key, or pin settings locally to ignore them.

Global Groove Aware
Swing follows your set’s Global Groove setting unless pinned locally.

Requires: Ableton Live Suite or Live Standard with Max for Live. Live 12.1.x or higher with Max 9.0.x or higher strongly recommended.
Note: MIDI effect only. It cannot be used on audio tracks and must be placed before an instrument.
Includes: Rhythm Engine device, Global Hub, manual.