Genera

Generative note and chord sequencer for Ableton Move

A MIDI FX module for Schwung that produces evolving melodic patterns quantized to musical scales. Genera creates sequences that breathe and mutate — from precise ascending runs to chaotic stutter bursts with beat-repeat.

Enable MIDI sync out from the Move menu for Genera to fully work.

Features

• 20 scales — Major, Minor, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, Locrian, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Pentatonic Major/Minor, Blues, Whole Tone, Diminished, Augmented, Chromatic, Hungarian Minor, Arabic, Japanese
• 7 generation modes — Up, Down, Up/Down, Down/Up, Exclude, Walk (drunk walk), Random
• Stutter engine — Independent off-grid chaotic rhythm generator with beat-repeat bursts. Two modes: Chaos (wild timing) and Timed (musical subdivisions)
• Chord generation — Probabilistic chord stacking (triads through 6-note voicings)
• Capture/loop — Record the last N steps as a co-sequence that plays alongside new generation
• Evolve — Probabilistic note deviation that makes patterns drift over time
• Octave shifts — Random octave transposition with configurable range (also controls stutter octave range)
• 4 velocity modes — Human (default, +/-20% variation), Fixed, Random (full range), Moving (triangle wave tied to step count)
• Humanize — Timing jitter for organic feel (up to +/-15% of step interval)
• 18 time divisions — Straight, dotted, and triplet from whole notes to 32nd notes, ordered slow to fast
• Sync — Internal BPM (20-500) or Move MIDI clock

Parameters

Genera Page (8 knobs + menu)

Knob	Parameter	Range	Default	Description
1	Root	C-B	D	Scale root note
2	Division	1/1D-1/32T	1/4	Time division (dotted/normal/triplet)
3	Steps	1-64	8	Sequence length in scale degrees
4	Capture	0-64	0	Loop last N steps as co-sequence (0=off)
5	Evolve	0-100%	0	Chance of note deviation per step
6	Stutter	0-100%	0	Off-grid chaotic note density + beat-repeat
7	Octaves	0-100%	0	Random octave shift chance (also extends stutter range)
8	Chord	0-100%	0	Chord generation probability

Menu parameters (jog wheel):

• Scale — 20 scale types
• Gen Mode — Up, Down, Up/Down, Down/Up, Exclude, Walk, Random

Sync Page (8 knobs)

Knob	Parameter	Range	Default	Description
1	Sync	Internal/Move	Move	Clock source
2	Tempo	20-500 BPM	120	Internal tempo (ignored in Move sync)
3	Division	1/1D-1/32T	1/4	Time division
4	Vel Mode	Human/Fixed/Random/Moving	Human	Velocity generation mode
5	Velocity	0-127	100	Base velocity
6	Gate	1-200	80	Note gate length (%)
7	Stut Mode	Chaos/Timed	Chaos	Stutter timing mode
8	Humanize	0-100%	0	Timing jitter amount

Generation Modes

Mode	Pattern	Description
Up	0,1,2,...,N	Ascending through scale degrees
Down	N,...,2,1,0	Descending through scale degrees
Up/Down	0,...,N,N,...,0	Ascending then descending (repeats endpoints)
Down/Up	N,...,0,0,...,N	Descending then ascending (repeats endpoints)
Exclude	0,...,N-1,...,1	Up/Down without repeating the top note
Walk	drunk walk	Random +/-1 or +/-2 steps, clamped to range
Random	random	Random scale degree each step (re-seeded each play)

Stutter Engine

The stutter engine runs on its own independent clock, completely detached from the main sequencer grid. It has two layers:

1. Off-grid notes — Fires at random intervals between steps, creating polyrhythmic chaos (Chaos mode) or musical subdivisions (Timed mode)
2. Beat-repeat bursts — After any note fires, chance to rapid-fire repeat that same note 2-6 times with velocity decay (like a DJ beat-repeat)

The stutter respects the Octaves parameter for its octave range and never goes lower than one octave below the sequence root.

Velocity Modes

Mode	Behavior
Human	+/-20% variation around base velocity (default)
Fixed	Exact base velocity every step
Random	Fully random 1-127 each step
Moving	Triangle wave tied to step count (crescendo/decrescendo)

Install

From Module Store

Available via the Schwung Module Store (on-device or desktop installer).

Manual Install

# Build
./build-module.sh

# Deploy to Move
./install.sh

Requires Schwung installed on your Ableton Move.

Architecture

• Single C file: genera.c (~1300 lines)
• API: midi_fx_api_v1_t via move_midi_fx_init
• No audio processing — MIDI output only
• Deterministic seeded LCG (no rand())
• Zero heap allocation in tick/process paths

License

MIT

Author

Vincent Fillion