Dicey

A stochastic melody and rhythm generator, built as a VST3 plugin for any DAW that hosts them. Version 1.0.2.

Dicey sends monophonic MIDI to whatever instrument you route it into, and follows your DAW's transport and tempo. You set the odds for each note value and each semitone, then roll the dice until you get a pattern you like.

The Dicey panel: rhythm knobs along the top, twelve semitone probability faders, dice buttons and a loop window ring

What it does

Rhythm: NOTE VALUE sets the base rhythm, 1 down to 1/32, triplets included. VARIATION mixes in other values at random: left for longer, right for shorter, centre for off. LEGATO sets how often a note holds to the next one. REST sets how often a step is silent.
Melody: Twelve faders, one per semitone, setting how likely each note is. The cap lights while that note sounds. RANGE sets the lowest and highest note, across five octaves.
Dice: Click RHYTHM or MELODY to roll new dice and get a new pattern. Hold either one for realtime mode, which re-rolls every pass through the loop. Click again to go back to the previous dice. Dice are saved with the project.
Loop window: A ring showing the position in the pattern. Set the first or last step, or latch both to slide the window along. Changes commit on the next beat. Each ring step is a sixteenth of the pattern, so in a four-bar pattern that is one beat.
Scales and lengths: Scale presets set the faders to a scale on the chosen root, and can be edited afterwards. Pattern length is one, two or four bars.
Clock: Runs from ×2 to ÷32 against the DAW's tempo. At ÷4 the notes, loop and step ring all run four times slower, and the pattern stays lined up with the song.
Extras: LOCK holds the current pattern while you move the controls, and applies the changes when you release it. MUTE keeps the pattern running silently. A built-in test tone lets you hear Dicey before routing it anywhere. There are also velocity, randomisation, gate, octave, root and MIDI channel controls.

Every control can be automated or MIDI-mapped. Realtime mode is deterministic for a given song position, so bouncing the same section twice gives the same notes.

Video

Walkthrough video — not up yet.

Documentation

The rhythm knobs (PDF) — what NOTE VALUE, VARIATION, LEGATO and REST do to each other.

Download

Builds for macOS, Windows and Linux are on the releases page.

Dicey is a VST3 instrument that outputs MIDI, so your DAW needs to be able to route an instrument's MIDI output to another track. Live, Bitwig, REAPER and Cubase all can. Logic, GarageBand and Pro Tools do not load VST3 at all.

In Live: drop Dicey on a MIDI track, put your synth on a second MIDI track, set that track's MIDI From to the Dicey track and its Monitor to In, then switch Dicey's test tone off with button C. Installation notes are on the front page.

Source

github.com/taddeimania/dicer — C++ and JUCE, AGPLv3.