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PYTHAGORAS - Polyrhytmic Sequencer screenshot

PYTHAGORAS - Polyrhytmic Sequencer

by MrPreskovik

This device is inspired from the sequencer section of the MO...

View on maxforlive.com

Type
MIDI Effect
Author
MrPreskovik
Version
2.0
License
None
Live version
9.7
Max version
7.3.4
Downloads
7,708
Updated
2022-07-26

Description

This device is inspired from the sequencer section of the MOOG SUBHARMONICON, that borrows itself its concept from the infamous RHYTMICON, co-designed in the early 1930’s by the avant-garde American composer Henry Cowel and the Russian inventor Leon Theremin. Their invention was capable of playing simultaneously multiple periodic rhythm patterns in arithmetic relationship based on pitch overtone series (x2, x3, ... up to x16). Moog reuses the same principle for the Subharmonicon sequencer except it replaces the overtone series by a subharmonic succession (÷2, ÷3, ... until ÷16).

PYTHAGORAS is the Greek philosopher to whom is attributed the discovery of the mathematical proportion between note intervals that defines today the arithmetic principle behind harmonic series. Since this harmonic relationship is at the root of the rhythmic behavior of the sequencer, it would make sense to describe this kind of rhythms as “PYTHAGOREAN RYTHMS”, compared to this other rhythm family named “Euclidean Rhythms” (based on the Euclid’s greatest common divisor algorithm). This is why I dubbed the device “Pythagoras”.

What’s new in version 2:

• Accent Feature

• Note Quantizer

• Parameter Mapping

Big thanks to Dominik Von Grüppe and Pierre Duchesne for their help on device debugging

Comments (13)

  • johell667 · June 19 2020
    does it work?
  • hatyn · June 21 2020
    yes and it is great
  • stevernofski · February 07 2021
    Excellent!
  • braduro · June 09 2021
    This is a wonder wheel. Thank you.
    Any chance you could map parameters with banks to a Push?
    I guess I could do that on my end, but for now I've assigned 16 macros that are easy to play with and randomize.
    :)
  • MrPreskovik · June 10 2021
    Sorry Braduro, as I don’t own Push yet, I fear I cannot implement and maintain this feature myself for now. But most of the Pythagoras knobs can be mapped via the Midi Map mode of Ableton Live.
  • braduro · June 10 2021
    Thanks for the swift reply, I completely understand. The best option is for me to peel up my rudimentary understanding of m4l and to open the patch. With the push, the user mode for MIDI mapping is fairly precious real estate. I'd rather keep it intact and with it's original assignments for when Stray completes CLYPHX for 11 or for other devices that takeover this mode. And assigning macros, as you know, only goes up to 16 parameters. That leaves a number of controls on pythagoras out of the game.
    Could probably cover the full gambit in three banks or 2 if the toggle switches could be assigned to the macro buttons...
  • braduro · June 13 2021
    Looks like it's a matter of including the live.banks object. Doesn't even require any patching. Open the object, and then create as many banks as required.
    It would be a far more tight implementation if the Macro Buttons below the encoders could be assigned in this manner, and so I will continue to research this...
    :)
  • braduro · July 02 2021
    For the record, those buttons remain entirely multifunctional, even in device mode, and are typically dedicated for further navigating. Therefore the programming involved to put the buttons to use on the same bank pages as the knobs involves a much deeper understanding of Push and M4L. But anyone can include the banks object, refreeze and save the device, and test how it works on the push, easy peasy
  • Gross9978 · July 26 2022
    very cool!
  • braduro · August 01 2022
    What was behind this latest update? According to the installer, the previous 2.0 release is a newer version than the one this link is pointing to...
  • MrPreskovik · August 01 2022
    Hello Braduro, the 2.0 is currently the latest public version of Pythagoras, and the install file behind the download link still seems to be right one. The page update date looks more recent because I’ve fixed a typo in the description, nothing more. Sorry if that misled you. There is a version 3 in preparation, with more advanced features. But first I would like to find solutions to keep a user interface that is not too cluttered.
  • braduro · August 02 2022
    Thanks for the reply, and looking forward to 3!
    In the meantime, the download gave me an excuse to actually look at the manual and get more out of the device…
    :)
  • Syn · May 24 2025
    Surprised this got lot's of replies. Congratulations on the sequencer release 2.0. In theory it's simple but it's unique design should be useful for clever stuff.

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