Mutator friend or foe

[Billy+]

so i've spent most of this evening playing about with mutator and i'm sure it could be a good device but the controls need to be changed and the steps still need to be increased.

after pulling apart a few sound packs that use it for midi storage (Handy feature) i decided to have a play, now i cant say it's worth 64 bucks but its definitely got some uses however,

Density / Note length / Velocity should be + and - in function ie less to the left more to the right no change in the middle.

How are others finding it?

[Tiny Montgomery]

so i've spent most of this evening playing about with mutator and i'm sure it could be a good device but the controls need to be changed and the steps still need to be increased.

after pulling apart a few sound packs that use it for midi storage (Handy feature) i decided to have a play, now i cant say it's worth 64 bucks but its definitely got some uses however,

Density / Note length / Velocity should be + and - in function ie less to the left more to the right no change in the middle.

How are others finding it?

It clicked for me using ABL3. I generated a pattern using ABL3's random pattern generator until I liked it. Fed this to PM and did 8 variations in the slots (careful not to randomise the pitch too much if at all for this). LFOs twiddling the ABL3 knobs in semi random fashion, maybe do same on some choice knobs on a tape delay at the end, switch between the 8 patterns et voila, instant acid track without playing a note.

[PhillipOrdonez]

I agree about the + - control, that makes a lot of sense.

[BRIGGS]

I dump patterns into sequences, if the octaves get out of hand. Problem solved.

[huggermugger]

I like the approach that Mutator takes. It's not about scaling a base value, such as the way QNG works. It's about the degree of mutation applied to an existing pattern - I like it unipolar, so to speak. A little mutation or a lot of mutation, not mutation to the negative or mutation to the positive. That said, the Gate Length parameter (which applies to the base pattern but which carries over to the Mutation) is bipolar, and this is useful because in Step Mode in particular, note lengths are not recorded.

[Tiny Montgomery]

I dump patterns into sequences, if the octaves get out of hand. Problem solved.

I dump my midi parts into Ableton clip view then use follow actions for further random events or to sequence them into a larger sections. With the acid example above I also used the midi pitch tool live on the fly in the arrangement view to quickly push the part up or down an octave (as this obviously works well with acid lines).

[Billy+]

I think it might be handy to see how mutator & qng where design to be used with a bit more in depth video series like the good old days when you got shown a new trick every now and again.

qng is something that I never use and I've only just started having a go with mutator even though I've had it for months but I guess that comes down to the way I write and possibly the instrument I always start with a piano.

I've been limiting myself to just using the devices available in + to see what I miss and I have to say that the one device that stands out is euclidean but I've been getting good results using dual arp to create rhythms it just takes a little longer and one feature I would like to see added to dual arp is a pattern bank.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Which device stands out from +? Euclidean? Isn't that robotic bean, not RS?

[Billy+]

Which device stands out from +? Euclidean? Isn't that robotic bean, not RS?

Yes,
it's the one I miss the most,
maybe I worded the sentence wrong..

[PhillipOrdonez]

Text, man, can be deceiving.

[BRIGGS]

I dump patterns into sequences, if the octaves get out of hand. Problem solved.

I dump my midi parts into Ableton clip view then use follow actions for further random events or to sequence them into a larger sections. With the acid example above I also used the midi pitch tool live on the fly in the arrangement view to quickly push the part up or down an octave (as this obviously works well with acid lines).

That reminds me...Polystep has a 'next' mode. You can record 4 mutations in series.

[Billy+]

how much data are you feeding mutator with ?
single melodic lines or full parts ?

28-August-2021-01.PNG (11.19 KiB) Viewed 1449 times

[gullum]

Foe I am personally totally against using any players I don't like devices to make music for me I want to make music with them

[Tiny Montgomery]

Foe I am personally totally against using any players I don't like devices to make music for me I want to make music with them

But it needs to be fed data unless you just use the small number of presets. Variations created can be subtle if desired. This seems like a healthy balance between user and computer generation for me.

In fact I simply love starting tracks using generative processes now, so much fun to be had, so many new avenues to follow. I've long ago abandoned vague notions of authenticity around this type of thing. It's just a load of midi data and it needs huge amounts of input and attention from yourself to make it really work. A piece of granite you find can be beautiful as is, but you can also sculpt it into art.

[kbard]

how much data are you feeding mutator with ?
single melodic lines or full parts ?

28-August-2021-01.PNG

Maybe I am wrong and someone please correct me if that's the case but isn't Mutator monophonic in a sense you can enter only one note in its timeline per step. I don't think it can accept or play chords?

I need to spend some time with it but from what I saw it can not output chords so only first image (top line) will yield expected results.

Of course you can feed it complex rhytms and chords but it will accept and interpret from complex rhytm only one note per step.

[Billy+]

how much data are you feeding mutator with ?
single melodic lines or full parts ?

28-August-2021-01.PNG

Maybe I am wrong and someone please correct me if that's the case but isn't Mutator monophonic in a sense you can enter only one note in its timeline per step. I don't think it can accept or play chords?

I need to spend some time with it but from what I saw it can not output chords so only first image (top line) will yield expected results.

Of course you can feed it complex rhytms and chords but it will accept and interpret from complex rhytm only one note per step.

It will allow the full version of the above to be recorded into it,

Simply write what you want as midi then record it inside Mutator.

Place Mutator inside a combinator and drop the midi onto the cmb track click record on Mutator and play on the main sequencer

[joeyluck]

I use it primarily for step recording and then I mutate a few times until I find things I like. I copy them into the patterns sometimes to automate, but other times just to audition phrases I like. It has worked really great for me.

[TritoneAddiction]

Foe I am personally totally against using any players I don't like devices to make music for me I want to make music with them

I used to have the same opinion as you until about a year ago. I hated the idea of players. If you just use exactly what the players give you, then I can agree, maybe that's not the most fun way to make music. But for me I use them as idea starters. The thing is they typically give me ideas and patterns I would never come up with myself. I player might give an initial melody or beat. Then I go ahead and tweak the notes and rhythms here and there to make it my own, add variations to it to make it more interesting. In the end it's about 50/50 between what the player did and what I did.

I've only used Pattern Mutator once in a track so far. But I was pretty happy with the result that time at least.

[Billy+]

Players are very handy when you get to know what they can do and what they can't,

I generally start with scale and chords to get a basic progression then bounce to midi so I can manually adjust inversions and drop voicing.

Then I pull out and transpose bass notes to another track with scale and chords but I prefer to use either 2 notes or 1 note with add colour. 2 notes will add the 5th with no 3rd and 2 notes will add the 3rd not the 5th if I remember correctly (it might be the other way round) either way you get some extra scale correct notes to play with

Make a copy of the chords and use dual arp to get a rhythm going using the chords and bounce again

Once I've got a chord progression with a basic rhythm I use another track with dual arp and the cords to find a melody/top line

Once I have a few options I will then sketch out a basic track with the parts and work in a few variations, I was hoping to get Mutator to help a little with the variations but it's definitely not as simple as clicking mutate a bunch of times.

You can always drop a scale and chords onto each track with filter turned on and chords off so you can move notes about and keep them in the correct scale