RapidComposer September Sale now thru Sep 20

[Steve Harder]

September 6, 2021: Autumn Sale! 33% discount for all our software!

Autumn sale between September 6 and September 20 with 33% discount for all of our software! Get RapidComposer now for only $133 , Melodya for $33, Syne for $59! 

RapidComposer full edition orders receive a free Melodya license (please contact us).

https://www.musicdevelopments.com/news.html

Put product in shopping cart to see sale price.

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Quote from the Andrulian review of RapidComposer - this reviewed V3 in 2018, V4 is now current release. The entire review is worth a read, reviewer is a much better wordsmith than I am.
 
"RapidComposer is a very impressive and inspirational tool. If you’ve ever struggled producing melodies or harmonized parts for chords then this can really help your creativity – in minutes. From scoping out whole songs to providing melodies or piano lines, it’s an amazing powerful and flexible composition tool. The structure is flexible enough to allow you to create a composition for any style, and any length. There are a huge number of chords and scales and although there are a large number of phrases, I like how you are not limited by these with the phrase generators and the random nature of these generators is a great way to see what happens. Understanding the basics of music theory does help to get more out of it."

https://www.andrulian.com/review-of-rapidcomposer-music-prototyping-software-by-musicdevelopments/#:~:text=RapidComposer is a very impressive,powerful and flexible composition tool.

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Developer site:
https://www.musicdevelopments.com/

KVR forum - very active with enthusiastic users and direct access to developer
https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=168

Links to several vids.  They detail a few different workflows that can be used in RapidComposer.  Lots of other vids on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExR4DtEcGu0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA6r-a7VtOE&t=284s

Edited September 6, 2021 by Steve Harder
Update

[Brian Lawler]

Great post Steve.  I have been using RC off and on since version 2, and it has come a LONG way in development and features.  Atilla (the author) is VERY responsive to bug fixes and suggested features over on the KVR link you provided.  There are some very helpful YouTubes by BluesHouse and the late Nevzat Yıldırım Sarıhan, who was a huge contributor to the development of Rapid Composer.  You can find a lot of his progressions and other free content on the KVR forum.  THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE to getting on with RC.  The complexity bequeaths great versatility, however, so prepare to give it some time.  I do have an understanding of music theory and harmony fundamentals, so I would speculate that a user coming in "cold" might be overwhelmed.  This is WAY beyond Captain plug-ins (no slight there- a great product).  Listen to some of Nezvat's creations on YT to get an idea of what RC can do (brilliant).  BTW his name on KVR was "Yellukhan".

[Steve Harder]

September 6, 2021: Autumn Sale! 33% discount for all our software!

Autumn sale between September 6 and September 20 with 33% discount for all of our software! Get RapidComposer now for only $133 , Melodya for $33, Syne for $59! 

RapidComposer full edition orders receive a free Melodya license (please contact us).

https://www.musicdevelopments.com/news.html

Put product in shopping cart to see sale price.

[Steve Harder]

Just a few days left on the sale, so I'm bumping the thread.

[sarine]

On 8/26/2021 at 12:58 AM, Brian Lawler said:

THERE IS A LEARNING CURVE to getting on with RC.  The complexity bequeaths great versatility, however, so prepare to give it some time.  I do have an understanding of music theory and harmony fundamentals, so I would speculate that a user coming in "cold" might be overwhelmed.

I'm slightly intrigued.

I have zero interest in using musical pattern generators, but having direct access to a more theoretical representation of music integrated into my DAW would certainly be useful.

As someone who knows music theory, how does this program make a better use of your time? How often do you find yourself reaching for it, and to do what?

Do you use RapidComposer as standalone, in conjunction with another DAW, or as a sequencer within the latter?

[Fleer]

Interested too

[Steve Harder]

The RapidComposer 30 day demo is basically unlimited, all features are there to be explored.  The RapidComposer developer is very supportive of new users and quickly answers newbie questions.

These vids explore the width and depth of RapidComposer while they focus on a specific composition goal.

 

 

 

And this forum is part of the RC community.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=168

 

[Brian Lawler]

First off- ^^ What Steve said ^^  Get the demo and get into it.  If you feel overwhelmed, watch some YouTubes and study the MusicDevelopments forum.  Also- I can not overemphasize how responsive the developer is to user input.  I think almost every feature request gets added.  Sometimes in just a day or two.  Same with bug report fixes.

I have a lot of algorithmic composer tools.  I really enjoy seeing what they can do.  At a fundamental level, they are all random data generators, spitting out a stream of MIDI note start, end, and velocity data.  Perhaps some controller data as well, depending on the tool.  The program provides ways to filter, constrain, or otherwise direct that randomness that provides "musical" output.  LOTS of subjectivity here, of course. 

The heart of Rapid Composers "rule sets" are called Generators.  There are currently 21 different Generators.

 

I am going to only show one of the simpler Generators- The "Generic".  Other Generators will have added rule sets pertaining to their styles, like timing for the Strum Generator, etc.  This is the Generic Generator phrase customization window.

For brevity ?I will skip Size - just setting for phrase length there.  Next on the menu is Chord. Along with scale choice, lock to scale, and Magnet (basically voice leading with it's own sub-settings).  We have the following voicing options:

Next menu item is Variations.  We have a long list.  I will just bring up ONE Variation window "Slice Phrase" and paste it after the list.  You can activate as many variations as you like.

Next on the menu is Rhythm.  There are drop downs for Rhythm type (probabilistic shown) and length.  You can also completely customize your own fixed rhythm.  RC also supports rhythmic analysis of any dropped in MIDI file.

On to Generator- This will be especially different based on which of the 21 Generators you are editing- remember we are only in Generic here.  There a lots of probability sliders all over RC BTW.

Lastly we have Harmony.  There are several setting along the left, but I chose to open and display the "Rule Set" selector for brevity.

That's the core micro-functionality of RC in a very tiny nutshell.  Keep in mind you can change every aspect of every Generator at will.  Every measure.  Every note! (absurd but possible).  Of course you can save your Generator customization as a preset.

[Sander Verstraten]

Anyone can recommend any between RapidComposer, Hexachords Orb and MixedInKey Captain Plugins? 

[Brian Lawler]

8 hours ago, sarine said:

I'm slightly intrigued.

I have zero interest in using musical pattern generators, but having direct access to a more theoretical representation of music integrated into my DAW would certainly be useful.

As someone who knows music theory, how does this program make a better use of your time? How often do you find yourself reaching for it, and to do what?

Do you use RapidComposer as standalone, in conjunction with another DAW, or as a sequencer within the latter?

So- After making that long post, I see I didn't really answer your questions ?    I make music for the joy of it, so "time management" just is not an issue to me.  I use RC in my DAW (currently primarily Studio One), but I am NOT really making use of the "full composition" capability, rather coming up with phrases or sections that I record to the DAW tracks.  RC supports drag and drop MIDI and VST hosting, so it is quite usable stand alone.  I just find it faster to bring up a DAW template where I already have RC directing the parts to tracks that are pre-loaded with (usually) multi-timbrel VSTs like Kontakt or Falcon.

[antler]

I was interested, but they don't accept PayPal 

[Yan Filiatrault]

Just now, antler said:

I was interested, but they don't accept PayPal 

I was interested, but no sale anymore on upgrades from previous versions.

[Brian Lawler]

4 hours ago, Sander Verstraten said:

Anyone can recommend any between RapidComposer, Hexachords Orb and MixedInKey Captain Plugins? 

Rapid Composer is a breed apart.  Much more complex, but more versatile as far phrasing, meter, and "styles".  IMHO much more useful for orchestral than the others, for example.  Certainly it can do straight forward "song writing" stuff too, but the other two get you there more easily.

Orb Producer 3 and Captain Plugins are pretty similar.  They are geared more for building more "typical" modern songs with verse, chorus, bridge sections, etc.  I know when I bought Captain suite, I got a bundle which included the drums module, and it is very good.  You can drop in samples and do simple editing, and/or send or drop MIDI.  I find the MIDI editing in it quite useful too.  (no drum module in Orb). I give Orb the edge in chords and overall song structure.  It is easier to do measure splits, odd length phrases, and general phrase construction and editing (and odd meters).  Bass generation is pretty similar.  Melody generation is just blah on both of them.  You might get an idea that you can run with though.  Aside- Rapid Composer can come up with some terrific "motifs", but any toe-tappers need human intervention as well.

Don't forget to consider Scaler2 from Plugin Boutique.  IMHO give the most BANG for the least $ of any of the above.  You can drop multiple instances on tracks and they will talk to each other, allowing you to have one make Chords, other tracks generate bass lines, arps, stabs, etc based on the "mother" chord instance.  No percussion here, and no melody generator, but you CAN make it lock your MIDI keyboard to chord notes, scale notes, etc, so you can entice your cat to walk back and forth on your keyboard and get about as useful melodies as the others generate.