What began in a hospital bed as a Reaktor ensemble for making music into a video has become a fully generative, morphing take on a groovebox and music studio. Tim Exile is back in action with Shapeshift, out today. And this being in 2024, there’s even a promise: no generative AI.
The amusing thing to those in the know is that that “no AI” promise is arguably unsurprising. While there’s fascinating stuff to explore in machine learning, the reality is that heuristics and parameters work a lot better than current genAI tech for making morph-able music. Don’t think that’s a slight at genAI, necessarily: it’s just that generative music using parameters already has a decades-long head start on the current “AI” models and allows composers more ability to constrain patterns to a particular set of expectations and designs. Anyway, we don’t need to burn through electricity running server farms; we’ve got Tim’s inimitable brain and Reaktor-patching skills.
And yes, there’s a Hit’Em preset – and a chance to mix and match for your own dreamt-up creations. Scapeshift can “morph continually between two completely different patterns, cross-breed multiple patterns or create themes to generate infinite variations on a style.”
I’m sure Shapeshift won’t be for everyone, but it’s a fascinating concept that’s a significant departure from anything I’ve seen Tim do before. The creator of The Finger, Flesh, The Mouth, and SLOO now imagines a graphical DAW full of tweakable parameters and the ability to morph between engines. The generative AI influence is there – you can pick broad themes and mix and match unexpected styles, just like prompting now does. But if anything, the interface also recalls something between Instagram/Hipstamatic filters, a more abstract art take on GarageBand and ACID, and (especially, for those who remember) Kai’s Power Tools and Bryce.
Unlike genAI, you get output you can tweak and morph in real-time and can access seemingly endless additional parameters under the hood – even in this very first version. (Well, plus, there’s no copyright infringement, and the only energy consumption was, like, Tim and the server you’re downloading from.) Unlike a conventional DAW, everything is parametric – no editor, but lots to mess around with.
Tim has some pointed thoughts on the decision to exclude AI, too. From the press release:
“This opens up an exciting new relationship between nerds like me and those who want instant gratification but care too much about culture to indulge in the copyright smelting furnace of generative AI. This feels like a new thing for people to come together around and nothing excites me more than that.”
Pattern generators, synths, effects, and a multiband mixing and mastering engine are all accessible graphically. In addition to all the pattern styles, there are five drum synths, two monosynths, a polysynth, a resonator, a noise generator.
It’s wild that this would grow out of a self-built, purpose-built project, but it’s made a convincing transition to general purpose playground.
On first glance, I thought this would all be just about some preset engines but then – one level down, you get a ton of parameters to tweak. (See “deep views,” above.) It’s a rare combination of a fun generative engine and deep parametric/synth view. To put it another way, it’s very Exile-ish — it’s a combination of fun, high-level macros and deep control, which has been a throughline in a lot of what Tim has done. That I think reflects his combination of live performance mentality and deep patching work – see the vintage Reaktor rig video below.
Shapeshift as shipping is built in Reaktor, just like the prototype. And what about the patching underneath? Tim tells CDM, “The Reaktor ensemble is fully unlocked and moddable — if you can get your head round the data structures, which, to be fair, I can barely do, and I made it, haha!”
I was also curious about further customization — making your own engines. Time responds:
So building custom themes actually nearly made it into the release version, then I had a full body trauma / energy collapse. So much aversion to sticking my head above the parapet again after how everything went but needs must and I think this is what the world is calling me to do. So I had to trim the scope back a wee bit – but custom themes will come very soon. You can already get a similar effect by putting together a bunch of patterns and hitting wander – it more or less does the same thing that creating a theme and rolling the dice on it does, but continuously, a few parameters at a time.
I know the road back from cancer will be a long one for Tim, especially with all the challenges to his business that hit at the same time. But this is a beautiful way to recover. And if it does work for him, there’s a chance projects like this can help others through tough times, too. So I’ll be following that plotline, too, as maybe this is a model that others can work from. That’s another reason to keep focusing on humans making music.
Tim’s committed to this one and is working on this via Patreon. I’ll be curious to know what you think.
Mylar Melodies is way out in front with a video:
Plus here’s a more detailed walkthrough with Tim:
You’ll need a full copy of Reaktor to run this without restrictions. (Come on, NI – at least free the player!)
And there are two ways to buy it – directly once, or via Patreon:
Scapeshift is available as a $59 one-time purchase on Tim’s new Patreon page. Members of his new
‘Adventurer’ Patreon tier get a 50% discount on Scapeshift, access to exclusive experimental
versions, a private Discord community and more.
Oh yeah and semi-unrelated sidenote – seeing that shop, I’m curious if some folks will jump ship from Gumroad, etc. and look at Patreon for offering stuff…
You can also check out Tim’s music. Back is the EP that announced just that. It’s funky, groovy stuff, and seeing Scapeshift means a wonderful insight into the thinking behind it. It’s like Brian Eno’s Generative Music I and later software except… Tim also wrote the software (with some help from Reaktor, but still).
