Quantiser Block: Finished and Tested

20th June 2023

Instruments we use – such as Midi Creator proportional sensors and SoundBeams – we term Gestural Midi Controllers. They’re great for converting physical movement into musical notes, but they’re very difficult to play in time with the piece of music they being used in. For a long time we’ve wanted to make it possible for the notes generated by such devices to be played with some degree of rhythmic element to them. We thought of developing a new ‘block’ in the Apollo Software, made by Mark Hildred at Apollo Ensemble, to act as a midi ‘gate’, which would open and allow through notes from the Gestural Controller, in response to some external timing information – such as from a workshop tutor tapping out a rhythm, another participant playing a set of drum pads or even from a bass line programmed in a music sequencer.

The term ‘quantisation’ is used in music sequencing software to describe a tool which can ‘re-time’ pre-recorded material, putting misplayed notes into time, or re-aligning pre-recorded material to some pre-programmed timing template or ‘groove’. In our workshops and performances we need this re-timing process to happen as the instrument is being played – hence the requirement for real time quantisation of gestural midi controllers. OmniMusic’s Quantiser block for use in the Apollo software is now finished and tested and a simple demonstration of it in action can be seen in this video: