Nodal is a generative midi sequencer, or if you prefer, time vampire. It may be the funnest piece of software I’ve ever used.
Why is Nodal so amazing? Well Sir (or Madam) that’s simple. It allows one to create music visually. That is, it represents time, connections, and decisions in a visual way. As you can see in the above video, the program lays out notes as ‘nodes’ on a grid. Nodes have different states, like sequential, random, and parallel. These states are more like gateways for paths that the notes can follow to their destination nodes (or, and, or logical). Nodes can also be configured to send custom midi messages.
Nodal needs a friend to help it generate sound, like a software synthesizer. I’m currently a Windows user so I use a virtual driver called Midi Yoke to send midi from the Nodal sequencer to my software synth of choice, ZynnAddSubFx. For those that want to know more, I’ve provided links to these progs below.
Links
- ZynAddSubFx 2.20 executable file (Zyn was originally Linux only but now there’s a couple Windows ports and an experimental mac port. There’s also a VST version but the Windows port of it is shaky at best)
- Midi Yoke installers (Windows only)
- Nodal installer (Mac and Windows)