Berliner Schule Sequencer
The Berliner Schule Sequencer generates melodic MIDI sequences in the style of the German electronic music pioneers of the 1970s — Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Klaus Schulze, and others. It uses algorithmic composition to create hypnotic, slowly evolving patterns that balance repetition with subtle organic change.
1. Modes & Presets
Choose the compositional approach and starting point:
- Presets: Quickly load curated settings grouped by mode. Use these as a baseline and then tweak the parameters to find your own sound.
- Classic: A "Random Walk" within the scale. Creates fluid, unpredictable melodies that still feel harmonically grounded. Uses Palette and Range to define the note pool.
- Klaus Schulze: Focuses on sparse, long-held notes and drones. Uses "Notes" to define exactly how many melodic events occur per phrase, creating a meditative, atmospheric feel. Palette and Range are active in this mode.
- Offbeat Anchor: Locks specific steps to one fixed note (the Root) as a pedal point, while the remaining steps form the melody.
- Onbeat Toggle: Places the anchor on the beat instead of the offbeat.
- Melody Range: Shifts the melody palette relative to the anchor's pitch (Above, Below, or Around).
- Arpeggiator: Strictly cycles through the tones of a chosen chord built on the global Root Note. The pattern can be mutated and evolved over time via the Evolution Export.
- Motivic: The most "musical" mode. Generates a short "DNA" motif and applies classical transformations across repetitions — Inversion (flips the interval direction), Retrograde (plays the motif backwards), and Transposition (shifts the motif up or down in pitch). Each repeat may apply a different transformation, creating a sense of organic development.
2. Transport & Seed System
The primary playback controls and the PRNG (Pseudo-Random Number Generator):
- Play / Stop: Basic transport. Spacebar toggles playback.
- ↻ Refresh Sequence: Rebuilds the sequence from the current parameters. Must be clicked after changing any generative (non-live) parameter to hear the result.
- VOL: Controls only the internal monitoring synth volume. Does not affect your external MIDI hardware.
- Seed (Sequencer): Controls the PRNG for the main sequence. Type any number to lock it — the same seed with the same parameters always produces the exact same sequence. Click ↻ Refresh Seed to roll a new random seed and instantly regenerate.
- Seed (Evolution): A separate, independent seed for the Evolution Export chain. Changing the evolution seed does not affect the main sequencer, and vice versa — both can be locked or randomised freely without coupling.
⚠️ IMPORTANT: Live vs. Generative Parameters
Not every control changes the sound immediately:
- Live Parameters (green labels — BPM, Swing, Steps/Beat): Affect the playback engine in real-time. Changes are heard immediately without stopping or regenerating.
- Generative Parameters (all other knobs): Define the compositional "blueprint". To apply them, click "↻ Refresh Sequence".
- Note Interruption (Modular Priority): High values of Variation can place new notes over existing ones mid-playback. The previous note is instantly cut (Hard Cut) to make room — this is intentional, modular-synth behaviour.
3. Sequencer Parameters
A. Timing & Rhythm:
- BPM: The overall speed of the sequence. Live parameter.
- Swing: Delays every second step. 0% is a straight grid; higher values create a "shuffle" feel. Live parameter.
- Steps/Beat: Defines the rhythmic resolution — 4 = 16th notes, 2 = 8th notes. Live parameter.
B. Structure:
- Steps: The length (in steps) of one musical phrase before it repeats. Range: 4 – 32.
- Repeats: How many times the phrase plays to form one full sequence loop. Range: 2 – 16. Each repeat can differ slightly depending on the Variation setting.
C. Scale & Root Note:
- Scale: Defines the harmonic mode and emotional character. Available modes: Dorian, Phrygian, Aeolian (Natural Minor), Mixolydian, Minor Pentatonic, Major Pentatonic.
- Root Note: The fundamental pitch of the scale, selectable from C3 to B3. This also determines the chord root in Arpeggiator mode.
D. Palette & Range (Classic and Klaus Schulze modes only):
- Palette: The number of notes randomly selected from the scale to form the active note pool for this sequence. A smaller palette creates more repetition; a larger one creates more variety.
- Range: Defines the pitch corridor (in scale steps) around the Root Note from which notes are drawn.
E. Note Parameters:
- Notes: Klaus Schulze mode only. Sets the exact number of note events placed per phrase, regardless of Density. Use this to sculpt extremely sparse, meditative sequences.
- Min Len / Max Len: The minimum and maximum duration of a single note (in steps). The generator picks a random duration within this range for each note.
- Density: The probability (%) that a note occurs on any given step. Lower values create rests; higher values fill the phrase more densely.
- Interval: Limits the maximum melodic "jump" between two consecutive notes (in scale steps). Low values keep the melody stepwise; higher values allow larger leaps.
- Variation: The "organic" factor. At 0% every repeat is identical. Higher values mean each loop of the phrase introduces subtle changes — shifted notes, different durations — so the sequence breathes and evolves naturally over time.
- Chaos: Add back chaotic dystropy. This can break every constraint. For example place a note outside of the palette or range. The chaos feature works independent for sequencing and evolution.
4. Mode-Specific Panels
Additional controls appear below the main parameter row when a mode requires them:
- Offbeat Anchor Panel:
- Melody Range: Positions the melody palette relative to the fixed anchor note — "Above Root", "Below Root", or "Around Root".
- Pattern: Defines the rhythmic grid of the anchor. Options: Every 2nd Step (Classic offbeat), Every 3rd, Every 4th, Every 5th, or 16th-Note Offbeats (all odd 16th positions).
- Onbeat: Checkbox. Flips the anchor from offbeats to onbeats — the anchor locks the strong beats while melody fills the gaps.
- Arpeggiator Panel:
- Chord: Selects the chord type built on the global Root Note. Covers Triads (Major, Minor, Dim, Aug, Sus2, Sus4), Seventh Chords (Maj7, Dom7, Min7, etc.) and Extensions (Add9, Maj9, 11, 13, and more).
- Pattern: The direction notes are cycled through. "Ascending" goes up, "Descending" goes down, "Up/Down" ping-pongs through the chord, "Random" picks any chord tone at each step.
- Octaves: Expands the arpeggio vertically across 1, 2, or 3 octaves, multiplying the number of tones in the cycle.
- Motivic mode has no dedicated panel — its transformations (Inversion, Retrograde, Transposition) are applied automatically on each repeat.
5. Output: MIDI & Evolution (🧬)
A. Standard MIDI Export:
Exports the current loop exactly as heard — all repeats with their variations included. The Steps per Bar selector aligns the MIDI grid for your DAW (e.g., 16 = one step per 16th note). Ideal for short loops.
B. 🧬 Evolution Export:
Creates a long-form composition by progressively mutating the current sequence across multiple blocks. Each block is a variation of the previous one. A live preview canvas shows the full arc before you export.
- Iterations: Number of mutation blocks in the evolutionary chain (1 – 64). More blocks = longer composition.
- Mutation: The "chaos" factor per block. Higher % means more notes are changed with each step, leading to faster divergence from the original.
- Drift: Probability of a gentle drift each block — notes step to the next tone within the current scale and accumulate gradually across the evolution. Based on whichever Scale and Root are set at export time.
- Oct Drift: Probability of a sudden, full-octave transposition between blocks, adding hard vertical leaps to the evolution.
- Grip: How strongly the evolution is "pulled back" toward the original theme. High grip keeps the sequence close to the source; low grip allows it to wander freely.
- Chaos: Add back chaotic dystropy. This can break every constraint. For example place a note outside of the palette or range. The chaos feature works independent for sequencing and evolution.
- Evolution Curve: Shapes how mutation intensity changes over time. Linear keeps it constant; Ramp Up builds tension toward the end; Arch peaks in the middle; Valley dips then returns; Ease In/Out softens the transitions.
- Mutation Style:
- — Palette Walk: Mutated notes step to an adjacent tone in the palette — smooth, connected movement.
- — Palette Random: Mutated notes jump to any tone in the palette — more unpredictable.
- — Mix: Alternates between Walk and Random for a varied feel.
- Root Mode (Harmonic Progression): Controls whether and how the tonal centre shifts across blocks.
- None (Static): Key stays fixed throughout.
- Free (Random): Root jumps randomly within a defined pitch range. Unlocks the Palette and Range sub-controls to constrain how far it can wander.
- Interval-based modes (Thirds, 4ths/5ths, Cycle of 5ths, Alt. Whole Tones, Alt. Semitones): Root shifts by a fixed interval at each change point.
- Berliner Schule / Ambient modes (Modal I→III, Modal I→IV, Circulating Fifths/Fourths, Slow Oscillation I-IV-I-V): Slow, hypnotic progressions inspired by the classic Berlin school sound.
- Pop / Rock / Standards (Pop Standard, 50s, Andalusian, Jazz Standard, Pachelbel, Chromatic Descent, etc.): Well-known harmonic cycles mapped onto the evolution blocks.
- Every N Blocks: Visible for all non-static Root Modes. Sets how many blocks pass between each root change — 1, 2, 4, or 8 blocks.
- Root Palette / Root Range: Only visible in Free (Random) Root Mode. Palette limits how many different pitches can be chosen as root; Range limits the total semitone spread around the starting root.
- Evo Seed: A numeric seed field with its own ↻ Refresh Seed button, independent from the main sequencer seed. Lock it to any number for reproducible evolutions, or roll a new value to explore fresh chains without disturbing the sequencer.
- Steps per Bar (Evo): Same as the standard MIDI export — aligns the evolution MIDI file's grid to your DAW's bar length.
🔍 Sequence Visuals
- Blue bar: Standard generated note. Height = pitch, Width = duration.
- Pink bar: Anchor note (Offbeat Anchor mode — fixed pitch).
- Empty space: A rest.
- Vertical grid lines: Phrase / block boundaries. Thicker lines = repeat boundaries.
- Stat Pills (header, main sequencer): Show the active Root, Scale, total Note Count, Anchor Count, and the lowest/highest pitch in the sequence.
- Evolution Preview Canvas: Displays the full evolutionary chain before export. Use ↻ Refresh Evolution to regenerate it. The info line above the canvas shows total block count, step count, and pitch range of the entire composition.
COPYRIGHT © 2026 BY REINER PROKEIN | LICENSED UNDER MIT