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Leading the Revolution
in Music Composition

Opusmodus is a composition environment for composers who want to think, experiment and create without limits. More than notation software and more than a DAW, it brings composition, transformation, sound, MusicXML, MIDI and score preparation into a single creative system. From first idea to finished score, Opusmodus gives composers a space to explore musical structure, develop material, and shape complete works across concert music, film, jazz, electroacoustic music, games, new media and songwriting. It also includes Audio Synthesis Tools for designing and generating sound. The result is a powerful and open-ended workspace for musical imagination designed not around one fixed method, but around the many different ways composers actually think, experiment and create.

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Bring Your Scores Into Opusmodus

Import MusicXML files from Finale, Sibelius, Dorico, MuseScore, and other notation software directly into Opusmodus Notation. Scores are automatically devoiced into individual instrument parts, ready for detailed analysis, transformation, and creative development.

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Explore Opusmodus
with Interactive Documentation

The Opusmodus documentation has been completely redesigned in a new interactive format. With a clearer structure, improved navigation, and stronger links between related topics, the new documentation makes it faster and more enjoyable to explore the full depth of the system. Function references, examples, and supporting materials turn the documentation into a practical creative companion for both learning and daily compositional work.

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Turn Sound into Compositional Material

The Spectral Analysis window transforms audio into usable compositional data. Analyse spectra in real time, extract partials, and bring spectral material directly into Opusmodus for orchestration, transformation, and algorithmic composition.

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Ncode

NCODE is an interactive score-building workspace that lets composers explore functions, shape reusable musical materials, and move from experimentation to notation without coding.

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How-To In 100sec

I've never liked drawing automation curves, luckily, with Opusmodus, we don't have to. This video shows you how to create accurate automation shapes and apply them to any parameter you want.

Starting with a graph is a great way to come up with new musical ideas. This video will show you how to modulate a sine-wave and map the result to a sequence of pitches.

Being able to visualize a code-snippet can go a long way in understanding how a function works. This video shows you how to create multiple graphs and apply them in a musical way.

It's easy to get stuck with the same old drum patterns, not with Opusmodus though. This video shows you how to use the polygon-rhythm function to create interesting and new patterns.

Writing for four voices traditionally takes a lot of practice and patience, as it should be. Still, it's great to get a little bit of help sometimes. In this video I show you how to use the CHORALIS function to experiment with voice leading in a very straightforward way.

The power of Parametric Composition lies in the ability to separate individual aspects of your compositions. This video will show you how to experiment with different velocities before mapping them again to a row of pitches.

The First Steps In Opusmodus

This course is designed to introduce you to the essential tools and features you need to get started with Opusmodus, the powerful computer-aided composition software. In this series, we focus on the core functions that every user must know, covering the basics of creating lengths, pitches, dynamics and tonalities.

OMN The Language

OMN is designed as a scripting language for musical events. It’s not about sounds themselves, it is about their control and organisation in a musical composition. As a linear script rather than a graphic stave, musical events can be transformed, extended, reorganised by powerful computer algorithms.

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I. Strawinsky, Petruschka, 1911/21
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W. A. Mozart, Variation KV 265
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A. Webern, Sechs Bagatellen für Streichquartett, op. 9, III, 1913
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J. S. Bach, Goldberg-Variationen, Aria, 1741

Microtonality

Microtonal music continues to be a fertile ground for innovation, offering composers and musicians the opportunity to explore sounds beyond the traditional Western musical framework.

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Luigi Nono, Fragmente-Stille, An Diotima, Violin 1 (fragement, 1979-1980)
Listen to the score.

Counterpoint

In Opusmodus the COUNTERPOINT function designates patterns to a number of voices with defined methods for each voice.

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Bruno Maderna, Serenata Per un Satellite (1969)
Listen to the score.

Analysis Tools for Composition Studies

Opusmodus Analysis Tools are designed primarily for musicologists, researchers, and composers engaged in composition studies, offering detailed insight into rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, textural, cadential, and statistical structures.

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Made In Opusmodus

Videos and audio files shared by users working with Opusmodus

Jor van der Poel

Yuichi Yoga

Janusz Podrazik

Janusz Podrazik

Robert Scott Thompson

Stéphane Boussuge

Brian Cope

Janusz Podrazik

Stéphane Boussuge

Ivan Elezovic

André Meier

André Meier

Opusmodus GPT

Opusmodus GPT incorporates the entire Opusmodus documentation along with comprehensive how-to examples. Opusmodus GPT is accessible in the (Free) ChatGPT.

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Learn By Composing

with Stéphane Boussuge

Opusmodus offers lessons to students and professionals interested in composing music with Opusmodus. We provide lessons for beginners and advanced users with or without programming knowledge, online or on site. The lessons are created to give you a greater understanding of the Opusmodus design and introduce you to the main features focusing on different composing approaches.

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Opusmodus Presentation at 42 School, Paris, France

Opusmodus Books

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Fundamentals of composition with Opusmodus - Book 1

Marco Giommoni - Janusz Podrazik

This is the first volume of a series of publications specifically dedicated to composition and analysis of music using the Opusmodus system. This volume focuses on the basic elements of the system and on the fundamental strategies in defining symbolic expressions in a text-code i.e. generation and transformation of musical material to create a score. 

ISBN 9791280270078

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Study and Practice in Composition with Opusmodus - Book 2

Julio Herrlein

This is the second volume in the series of publications specifically dedicated to composing and analyzing music using the Opusmodus system. The primary purpose of this book is to provide a narrative of the compositional process in Opusmodus and demonstrate the interplay of functions in a typical daily workflow of practicing and studying composition.

ISBN 9791280270566

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From Sign to Code

Marco Giommoni

Knowing the past to understand the present and plan the future. This is the goal of Marco Giommoni who, with this highly original book, fills a serious gap in theoretical studies of contemporary composition assisted by computer science – now increasingly present in the life of all musicians – and offers a systematic approach to current compositional and analytical practices using the Opusmodus system.

ISBN 9791280270580

Subscribe to Own

A flexible way to purchase our software without paying the full price upfront. Choose 24 equal monthly payments. Every payment brings you closer to ownership. After your final payment, your licence becomes permanent and the software is yours to keep. There are no endless licence payments and no surprise final charge. Updates are included free of charge.

Academic Licence

For eligible students, educators and researchers.

£10.41 per month for 24 months

Total paid: £249.84
Permanent licence after your 24th payment

Personal Licence

For individual and independent use.

£16.62 per month for 24 months

Total paid: £398.88
Permanent licence after your 24th payment

Buy Now
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Opusmodus is currently the most advanced software for computer-assisted composition available. It comes with the highest development potential to fulfil the aesthetical and technical requirements for contemporary composers. At the University Mozarteum, Salzburg Opusmodus is already part of the compositional education and will be the preferred production environment in the future.

Univ. Prof. Achim Bornhoeft
Head of Studio for Electronic Music, Head of Institute for New Music
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I come from a Lisp background and have worked with Common Lisp Music, Common Music, Fomus, CL-Collider, and the new CLAMPS, which allowed me to realize my musical ideas. However, as a Mac user, it became increasingly difficult to use JackAudio, and tasks like plotting required installing multiple packages. This meant constantly switching between plotting and playing music via the REPL.

What truly amazed me, though, was the usability and simplicity of Opusmodus and its all-in-one concept. Despite being a reasonably skilled Lisp coder by now, there’s still so much to learn, and I find the Opusmodus notation to be an incredibly powerful tool.

This is why I ordered Opusmodus both for our AI project for the Klais Hyper-Organ Würzburg and privately for my own music.

PD DR. Daniel Hensel
Composer and Musicologist
Artistic-scientific staff in the field of organ art – creativity concepts – AI (HTA)
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