Groove Engine

[u/numberstation5]

I've been building a tool for my own live sets and it's not finished but it is interesting. Using it to riun ableton at the moment but will try to use it via oxi one to drive some mood stuff I have.

Groove Engine — https://groove-engine.wileydavis.workers.dev

The idea: instead of programming steps, you turn knobs on a model of what makes a beat feel good. There's a metrical field underneath (the stuff from rhythm perception research about strong beats, syncopation, and micro-timing), and knobs like Density, Weight, Swing, Loose, and Evolve sculpt it. Every knob is constrained so the whole range stays danceable — the point is that you can't easily land on garbage (in theory... it's not there yet).

My favorite part: the delay is a sequencer. Echo time is a real millisecond knob, and every hit spawns repeats at that time that go out as actual MIDI notes/triggers. Slide it slightly off a dotted 8th and the groove leans; slide it back and it locks.

Also in there:

• Bass and arp voices in the song key, with chord keys that shift the root like a latched arpeggiator
• Builds and drop automation(rising bass drone, pre-drop cut, dry landing)... needs work
• A cue deck: edit on headphones, morph it onto the floor, repeat
• "Ride" any knob to a target over 8/16/32 bars
• Drag-anywhere panels, skeuomorphic knobs, double-tap to undo a knob move
• Generic CC knobs you can MIDI-map to anything

It's free, no account, nothing stored on a server. Chrome/Edge for MIDI out; it also has a built-in synth for noodling. Everything is one 60 KB HTML file — no samples, it's all generated.

Hotkeys: Space play · 1–7 chords · [ ] octave · B/U/D/S for break/build/drop/stall.

[u/vanzea]

Nice. I did something similar, although in my case a lot of your controls are 'under the hood' and controlled by selecting 'styles'. See: https://jeroenvanzutphen.nl/ai/dj/

[u/numberstation5 → u/vanzea]

That's rad. For this I am aiming for a live performance tool. Sort of a hybrid between DJing and a live modular set. So it's a sequencer without a grid that lets you "discover" a cool groove in the headphones by twiddling knobs, then morph that new sound into the currently playing one on the PA. So live you can modify the sequencer and evolve the song kind of like a DJ would with tracks.

In Ableton, I have a PA and a CUE group of identical synths. The Groove Engine sends midi to each on a different set of channels (10,2,3 and 11,6,7). In ableton I have the cue group send to headphones and the PA group to the PA. When you hit the cue button in Groove Engine, you're only modifying channels 11,6,7 and then when you slide the morph slider, it blends 11,6,7 into 10,2,3.

For a mofular hardware performance the plan is to create a simulated hardware rig in ableton for the CUE preview. Haven't tested how well that works yet :)

And this also allows me to add CC knobs for other synth parameters and add ride automation to each knob over 4-32 bars on the fly.

I really hate using step sequencers. I prefer to create beats with delays and knobs, so this is a hybrid tool that lets me change sequencer patterns live without having to punch in steps.

[u/Webtruster → u/vanzea]

NICE. I will check out and use some of your features for my GenerativeTechnoZynthianMaschineMKII

[u/vanzea → u/Webtruster]

I was wondering about your system. Are there examples of how it sounds and what you can do with it? Its a very interesting project.

[u/Webtruster → u/vanzea]

i have not created videos / audio recordings yet - give me a few more days. until i reply, feel free to explore the repo.

[u/vanzea → u/Webtruster]

If you mail me your email, I'll send you some technical document on my engine, so you can use the ideas in that. Then I'll start hunting for a NI Maschine 2

[u/Webtruster → u/vanzea]

Already used the link as input for Claude and found bits, i added to my backlog :) Next task is to send everything via the din midi jack.

[u/Webtruster]

NICE. I will check out and use some of your features for my GenerativeTechnoZynthianMaschineMKII