NOTE TO TONE

When an idea will not come. When you have been thinking about one thing for too long. Something entirely unrelated — a stranger's conversation overheard — can be what unlocks it. NOTE TO TONE generates words with no connection to anything, to work the stiffness out of an over-focused mind. ■ Random words, to loosen your head What appears is a short phrase that does not quite make sense. "a dry hourglass" — "unravel the heron" — "desperate for the layover" Look at it, and force yourself to find a meaning in it. The moment you try, your head starts looking down a different road. That is the whole point. ■ Words, music, and keeping them The words are random, yet now and then one arrives that somehow shows you a scene — one you want to keep. So you can stock them. And from that word, a piece of music of its own is made, and kept alongside it. The same phrase always makes the same music. ■ The music is built on the spot, by a synthesiser Each phrase is measured along six axes — light, motion, weight, grit, space and warmth — and the music is built to match. Nothing is a recording being picked from a shelf. The sound is made by the engine from our music app ARPJAM Studio, a serious synthesiser that plays itself. That engine is built into NOTE TO TONE in full, so you can hear the music without owning ARPJAM Studio. ■ How to use it - Open the app and a phrase appears - Press SOUND and music is generated for that phrase - Press KEEP to save the phrase and its music; look back from Stocks - Once unlocked, a download button appears. It saves an ARPJAM settings file (a JAM file) to edit in ARPJAM Studio, or to add to a playlist in ARPJAM Player ■ Unlock Free use gives you three phrases and their music each time you open the app. A single purchase unlocks unlimited phrases and JAM file downloads. Nothing recurring. ■ Good for - A brief that will not start - Circling the same thought - Resetting your head before a meeting - Finding a way into a piece of music - Looking at something meaningless before sleep May a good idea find you. --- Credits: PIANO: Salamander Grand Piano V3 — Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0)