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Main Features

Powerful Playhead Parameters​

Each of FUGUE MACHINE’s four playheads has dedicated controls that define how the playhead scans the musical sequence. These controls are:

  • Style — play the sequence forward, reverse, forward-reverse, or reverse-forward
  • Tempo — speed of of the playhead relative to master tempo.
  • Start — step at which playhead starts playing the sequence.
  • Invert Switch — if enabled, the sequence will be harmonically inverted. In other words, the highest pitch becomes the lowest pitch, and the lowest pitch becomes the highest pitch.
  • Octave — transpose up and down by octaves.
  • Pitch — transpose up and down by single notes.
  • Velocity — loudness range of each playhead.

Advanced Piano Roll Gestures​

FUGUE MACHINE puts the musical sequence in the center of user interaction, featuring a piano roll equipped with one, two, and three-finger gestures for creating and manipulating musical sequences. The most notable gestures are two and three-finger panning. Two-finger panning anywhere on the piano roll allows you to move selected notes. This is extremely useful when the piano roll is zoomed out, since you don't have to actually touch the notes. Similarly, three-finger panning anywhere allows you to change Note Length and Velocity — left-and-right for Note Length, and up-and-down for Velocity.

Intuitive Polyrhythmic Sequencing​

Each playhead can be set to a various tempo values, all of which are related to a master tempo. For example, if the master tempo is set to 120BPM, you can set a playhead’s tempo to ÷8 to play the sequence 8 times slower (15 BPM) — this effectively turns 16th notes into whole notes. Or set it to x8 to play the sequence 8 times faster (960 BPM), effectively turning 16th notes into 128th notes. Things get even more interesting when you choose dotted or triplet tempo values — e.g. ÷2 dotted, or x4 triplet. For example, by having one playhead set to x1 and another at ÷2 dotted, FUGUE MACHINE creates a complex polyrhythm from your musical sequence.

By focusing on the speed at which you play a sequence, instead of only the lengths of notes, creating complex polyrhythms with FUGUE MACHINE is a unique and intuitive experience.

A Robust MIDI Implementation​

FUGUE MACHINE features a robust MIDI implementation, allowing you to control other iPad music apps, hardware MIDI devices, and computer software. Special care was put into this, especially in FUGUE MACHINE’S ability to sync to midi clock.

One Slider To Shift Them All​

Another interface element worth mentioning is the Shift-slider — located along the right side of the interface between the More-button and Stop-button. The Shift-slider is awesome. It allows you to transpose the entire sequence up-and-down, enabling dramatic harmonic changes in an instant.