Opusmodus
Parametric Music Composition System
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How can Opusmodus assist me to be a great composer?
Take a look at some of the features
Comprehensive Musical Language (OMN)
Opusmodus introduces a unique scripting language for musical events called OMN (Opusmodus Notation), which integrates closely with traditional musical notation. This scripting language allows for detailed control and organization of musical elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, and articulation, making it easier to transcribe and transform musical ideas.
Advanced Tools for Music Composition
Our system provides a suite of advanced tools and functions that enable you to experiment with a range of musical concepts. These include algorithms for generating melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and textures, as well as support for microtonality and algorithmic composition. These tools encourage exploration and experimentation, leading to new and innovative musical ideas.
Analysis and Understanding
Opusmodus includes analytical tools that help you understand and deconstruct music compositions. This can be particularly useful for studying existing works and incorporating their techniques into your own compositions. By analyzing pitch class sets, twelve-tone matrices, and other compositional elements, you can gain insights into the structure and organization of music.
Learning and Experimentation
The workspace serves as an educational tool, enhancing your understanding of music theory, composition techniques, and the properties of sound. The tutorial guide provides step-by-step instructions and examples, making complex concepts more accessible.
Integration with Music Notation and Performance
Opusmodus seamlessly integrates with music notation software and MIDI performance, enabling real-time feedback and simulation of how written music will sound. This immediate feedback loop is crucial for refining compositions and ensuring they align with your artistic intentions.
Chord and Scale Libraries
Opusmodus includes extensive libraries of chords and scales, which can be used to explore harmonic and melodic possibilities. These resources, combined with the system’s powerful pattern generation capabilities, can help you discover new chord progressions and scale modes, expanding your harmonic vocabulary.
Customization and Flexibility
The platform is highly customisable, allowing you to tailor the environment to your workflow. You can define your own functions and develop personalised libraries of material that can be reused in different compositions. Our users have utilized Opusmodus to control JavaScript animations, work with Supercollider, Python, TouchDesigner, Max 4 Live, PureData and more. There are really no limits.
In summary, with Opusmodus's extensive features and the support of its community, you can significantly broaden your musical knowledge and experiment with a wide range of compositional techniques. This, in turn, facilitates the development of your unique voice as both a composer and musician.
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.
Tutorials
If you are ready to dive a bit deeper, take a look at our 1-hour tutorial, where you get an overview of the Opusmodus interface as well as creative ideas to get you started.
An overview of the Music Composition system, highlighting techniques for controlling complexity.
Vectors can be useful in many scenarios, in this video you will learn how to use them to automate parameters in your DAW and to control the movement of visuals, using Opusmodus, Logic Pro X and TouchDesigner.
In this video we take an existing MIDI file and use it to create new melodies and rhythms in Opusmodus. We also show a very convenient way to create envelopes and control synth parameters, which we can then record.
In this video we explore how we can control SuperCollider synthesizers via Opusmodus, thereby merging the fascinating worlds of sound design and Composition.
Made in Opusmodus
Electronic - Vector Scaling Demo Composition.
Techno - Melodic Techno Demo Composition.
Jazz - DADA Quartet, An Opusmodus improvisation with Tenor Sax, Piano, Contrabass and Drums.
Electronic - Conversion of OMN notation to SuperCollider parameters and values utilizing the Opusmodus system.
Orchestra - Now for Orchestra by Brian Cope is an autobiographical piece which explores intuitive vs formalist approaches to composition, including algorithmic and computer-assisted compositional techniques.
Ensemble - Parataxis for Ensemble by Robert Scott Thompson. This is a live recording from the premiere at the Trieste Prima Festival and is by Ensemble MD7 conducted by Steven Loy.
Orchestra - Surabaya pour Orchestre Part I by Stéphane Boussuge.
Ensemble - Machine Behaviour für Algorithmen und 6 Instrumente by André Meier.
Piano - Quantization. Composition by Yuichi Yamamoto.
Electronic - A short demo of VCVRack driven in Live Coding by Opusmodus.
Piano - Construction Layers by Ivan Elezovic is a product of algorithmic research and exploration of various procedures in a realm of compositional approaches of the piece.
Experimental - map/territory (2023) - evaluation II for 4 instruments and electronics by André Meier.
OMN The Language
Everyone Can Code
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. Some sequencers and score writers provide basic algorithms, but they do not represent the way composers now think about the process of music composition. Composing has become such a multi-faceted process and takes ideas about structure and content from many disciplines: mathematics, astronomy, literature, the visual arts. As such it requires extensive mental resources and experience from the composer. Much of this is still done by hand and eye and brain because although computer systems do exist to help the process along they don’t provide what has become known as the composing continuum. This means that a single workspace and workflow environment has not been generally available that can take in the whole process of composing a piece - from first thoughts to a printed score and reference recording. Wouldn’t it be good to be able to do everything in one place?
I. Strawinsky, Petruschka, 1911/21
W. A. Mozart, Variation KV 265
A. Webern, Sechs Bagatellen für Streichquartett, op. 9, III, 1913
J. S. Bach, Goldberg-Variationen, Aria, 1741
Microtonality
Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones—intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of twelve equal intervals per octave. In other words, a microtone may be thought of as a note that falls between the keys of a piano tuned in equal temperament.
Luigi Nono, Fragmente-Stille, An Diotima, Violin 1 (fragement, 1979-1980)
Counterpoint
In Opusmodus the COUNTERPOINT function designates patterns to a number of voices with defined methods for each voice.
Bruno Maderna - Serenata Per un Satellite (1969)
Durata: da un minimo di 4' - a 12'
Tempo Generale 42, 92, 132 ca.
Bruno Maderna, Serenata Per un Satellite (1969)
Tonnetz
In musical tuning and harmony, the Tonnetz (German: tone-network) is a conceptual lattice diagram representing tonal space (net) first described by Leonhard Euler in 1739. Various visual representations of the Tonnetz can be used to show traditional harmonic relationships in European classical music.
In Opusmodus there are 12 Tonnetz structures labelled by a number and by an intervallic content of the composite chord. The intervallic content is a number of semitones associated with the different interval axis.
Tonnetz space 11
License
Are you not sure where to start? Maybe give our trial version a go, which allows you to take a look at everything Opusmodus has to offer for a full month, without limitations. Or you can simply get yourself a full license in installments, with no extra costs involved. We are sure you will love it.
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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.
Fundamentals of composition with Opusmodus
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
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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