Group Humanizer by humanize: Timing That Drifts Together

September 29, 2026 · max4.live editorial

Group Humanizer by humanize is not a groove template and not a randomiser. It is a small suite of Max for Live patches that let two or more MIDI tracks push and pull against each other. A bass part reacts to how late the kick landed; the kick reacts back. The result is coupled drift rather than independent jitter, which is the thing most "humanize" tools get wrong.

The method comes from published research: Holger Hennig's paper "Synchronization in human musical rhythms and mutually interacting complex systems" (PNAS, 2014). The patches are credited to James Holden. That lineage matters mainly because it explains why the device is structured as a suite instead of a single box — mutual interaction needs a shared clock of some kind, and one device on one track cannot provide it.

How the suite is put together

There are five patches in the download:

• group humanizer SETTINGS.amxd — the central brain
• group humanizer PLAYER.amxd — one per track you want in the group
• group humanizer PLAYER + velocity humanisation.amxd — the same, plus loudness variation
• group humanizer HUMAN INPUT.amxd — early beta, provided as-is
• group humanizer HUMAN INPUT audio version.amxd — requires you to install the bonk~ external yourself

For the core use case you only need two of them: SETTINGS somewhere in the set, and a PLAYER on each MIDI track you want to join the group. That is the whole install story. The PLAYER goes in the MIDI effect chain ahead of your instrument, and if you have an arpeggiator or a sequencer generating the notes, put PLAYER after it so it shifts the notes that actually sound rather than the ones you typed.

The velocity-humanisation variant of PLAYER is based on a later Hennig et al. paper dealing with loudness fluctuations. Use it on parts where dynamics carry the feel — a programmed kit, a shaker, a plucked bass — and use the plain PLAYER where you want the timing coupling without touching velocity, for example on a sampled instrument whose velocity layers switch too abruptly.

Three sessions where it earns its slot

The fake band. You have drums, an upright bass, and a Rhodes part, all programmed, all sitting exactly on the grid, all sounding like they were emailed in from three different countries. Put SETTINGS on any track, drop PLAYER on the three MIDI tracks, and let them join one group. Each part now adapts to the others' delays instead of drifting on its own. This is the scenario the device was designed for and the one where the difference is immediately audible on a loop: the ensemble breathes as a unit, and the kick/bass relationship stops being mechanically locked.

Downtempo and beat-driven production. Hip hop and neo-soul programming often gets its feel from manual nudging — pulling the snare late, pushing the hat early — which takes ages and has to be redone every time you change the pattern. Group Humanizer approaches the same goal from the other end: keep your pattern on the grid, let the coupling supply the movement, and only nudge afterwards if a specific hit still bothers you. It also survives pattern edits, because nothing is baked into the clip.

Sequencer output that needs a body. Generative and step-sequenced MIDI is the most grid-bound material in a typical set. If you are running something like the MK16-185 Sequencer on one track and a second sequenced line on another, a PLAYER after each sequencer brings the two into the same timing group. Machine-generated notes, human-shaped relationship between the parts. The same trick works on pattern generators — put PLAYER after Aicd's output and the acid line stops being a metronome with a filter.

The HUMAN INPUT beta, and what it promises

The two HUMAN INPUT patches point at a different idea: instead of the group synchronising to itself, it synchronises to a person. The author labels this an early beta provided as-is while noting it has shown promising results. The audio version needs the bonk~ external, which you install yourself — so it is a deliberate side quest, not a double-click.

If you play, it is worth the detour. Set up a group of sequenced parts, add HUMAN INPUT, and perform one element live — hand percussion into a mic for the audio version, or a pad controller for the MIDI one. Treat any result as experimental and don't build a show around it until you have tested it in your own set. If you would rather not troubleshoot externals, skip both HUMAN INPUT patches entirely; the SETTINGS + PLAYER core does not depend on them.

Where it sits among Live's MIDI effects

Most of the popular devices in the MIDI effect category either generate notes or correct them. Group Humanizer does neither, which makes it unusually easy to place in a chain alongside them rather than instead of them.

Real-time MIDI Quantize by nonagon is the direct opposite pole: it snaps incoming note-ons and note-offs to a chosen beat interval, and version 2.2 keeps itself out of Live's global undo history. That is the tool for tightening sloppy live input or a hardware sequencer that arrives early. The two can coexist — quantize first to get a clean reference, then humanize as a group so the looseness you add is coordinated instead of accidental.

Aicd by mganss generates acid patterns from a maximum likelihood n-gram model, with clip creation, a MIDI-mappable generate button and an output clip added across its updates. It is a source, not a processor; if acid lines are your target, it pairs naturally with Group Humanizer downstream, and there is more on that family of devices in the STING write-up. Architect by pmonet is the odd one out here: its listing is dominated by a 2015 note announcing a from-scratch 2.0 rewrite as an audio effect, and the version on offer is 1.0.1, built against Live 9.1.2. Useful to know before you commit time to it.

MK16-185, meanwhile, is a modification of Nico Starke's ML-185 stage-controlled sequencer, last updated in 2015 at version 1.5 with a new interface and improved randomise, and it carries a 4/5 rating against the 5/5 the others hold.

What the numbers say

41,433 downloads and a 5/5 rating put Group Humanizer at the top of this comparison group on both counts, with 49 comments behind it. More useful than the raw figures is the maintenance record: added in August 2014, updated in August 2022, now at version 1.7, targeting Live 11 and Max 8.3. Eight years of updates on a free research-derived patch suite is a strong signal that it still runs, and that the author kept it moving as Live changed. If you are hunting through the most-downloaded lists for a first humanizing tool, this is a safe pick.

The licence is Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives, so don't plan on shipping a modified fork or bundling the patches into something you sell. Read the terms yourself before you build it into a commercial product or template pack.

Who should skip it

• Anyone who needs grid-exact timing. Tightly quantised club material often depends on the kick and bass hitting the same sample position every bar. Coupled drift is the wrong tool there — reach for Real-time MIDI Quantize instead.
• Producers who want the feel written into the clip. This is a MIDI effect that shifts notes on the way to the instrument, so your clips stay on the grid and the movement only exists at playback. If you want to see and edit the offsets, you will still be nudging by hand.
• Single-track users. The whole point is interaction between parts. One PLAYER on one track is not what the method is for.
• Audio-only arrangements. Parts already rendered as audio, or samples triggered from an audio track, are outside its reach.
• Anyone on an older Live or Max. Version 1.7 lists Live 11 and Max 8.3; check your versions before you count on it in a set.

First thing to try: build a two-bar loop with drums and bass only, both dead on the grid, add SETTINGS plus a PLAYER on each, and A/B the pair by bypassing both PLAYERs. Two tracks is enough to hear whether this approach fits how you write. If it does, add the keys.