Last updated
May 2025 - BETA - Build 8

MIDILODY - User Manual

📚 Index

• Foreword
• Setup
  • Step 1 - First Launch
  • Step 2 - Confirm Installation
  • Step 3 - Launch Your AUv3 Host and Start a New Patch
  • Step 4 - Add a New MIDI Instrument
  • Step 5 - Open the MIDI AUv3 Plugin List
  • Step 6 - Select MIDILODY
  • Step 7 - Confirm MIDILODY Selection
  • Step 8 - Add an Audio Plugin
  • Step 9 - Select Audio Plugin
  • Step 10 - Connect MIDILODY to the Audio Plugin
  • Step 11 - Select MIDILODY as MIDI Source
  • Step 12 - Start Transport
• How it Works
• User Interface
  • 🎬 Starting Recording
  • 🌀 Evolving Loop Overdub
  • 🗑️ Clearing Your Sequence
  • ✂️ Removing Individual Notes
  • 🎛️ Control Your Evolving Loop
  • 🔇 Quiet Mode
  • ⚙️ Parameters
    • 🧱 Sequence Length Control
    • 🔌 Note-Off Messaging
    • 🎼 Scales
• The Engine
  • 🎛 MIDILODY’s Hexadecimal Core
  • 🧮 Hexadecimal Matrix Example
  • 🎹 Sample MIDI Messages
  • 🎧 Important: Handling Note Off Messages
  • 🕹️ What Happens Without Note Off?
  • 🎚 What Is an Envelope?
• What You Can Do With MIDILODY
• Thanks 🩵

Foreword

Thanks for using MIDILODY mey MIDI musically interesting generative sequencer and looper.

As a compulsive live performance addict on my YouTube channel, I’ve designed this app with live performance ambient and evolving patches in mind. I’ve used it extensively to ensure it gives any of us, music lovers, real live powers.

For some background, I really enjoy starting my live experiments with small loops and let them evolve while I’m tweaking my synths, filters, effects and so on. In my opinion, generative loops are clearly the way to have fun in the process of playing music in the 21st century.

But even if I’m a Serge or Make Noise fan I enjoy nice sounding loops, especially when I’m working on my ambient patches.

Setup

Important!

MIDILODY is an AUv3 MIDI Plugin; as such, it won’t work in standalone mode. It must be loaded inside an AUv3 host such as AUM, Cubasis, or Drambo.

Step 1 - First Launch

Once downloaded from the App Store, tap on the MIDILODY icon.

You will see the launch screen

Step 2 - Confirm Installation

After a few seconds, you should see a confirmation screen that verifies installation and invites you to open MIDILODY inside an AUv3 host.

Step 3 - Launch Your AUv3 Host and Start a New Patch

We’ll use AUM for this tutorial. When launched, tap the Plus button to start a new patch.

Step 4 - Add a New MIDI Instrument

Tap on the MIDI button.

Step 5 - Open the MIDI AUv3 Plugin List

Tap on the Audio Unit MIDI Processor list selector.

Step 6 - Select MIDILODY

Tap the MIDILODY icon to select it. You’ll find it under the Royale Fougard plugin list.

Step 7 - Confirm MIDILODY Selection

You should now see the MIDILODY icon in your MIDI instrument slot.

Step 8 - Add an Audio Plugin

Since MIDILODY is a MIDI generator, it needs an audio plugin that listens to MIDI notes.
Make sure you have audio plugins installed — otherwise, MIDILODY won’t produce any sound.

Select AUDIO for your second slot.

Step 9 - Select Audio Plugin

Select Audio Unit Extension to load your installed audio plugins. Then choose your preferred instrument.

In this tutorial, we’ll use King of FM.

Step 10 - Connect MIDILODY to the Audio Plugin

Tap the selector box to the left of your audio plugin slot.

Step 11 - Select MIDILODY as MIDI Source

Select MIDILODY as the MIDI input source.

Step 12 - Start Transport

Start transport in your AUv3 host. MIDILODY will begin working right away.
Wait a few moments and you should hear MIDI notes being played by your audio plugin.

How it works

MIDILODY is a generative MIDI sequencer and looper designed to spark inspiration and create evolving musical phrases. Built for simplicity and power, MIDILODY uses a unique hexadecimal engine to generate MIDI notes that evolve into harmonically coherent loops.

This manual will guide you through its main features and how to use them creatively.

User interface

🎬 Starting Recording

As a plugin, MIDILODY uses the transport and tempo from the AUv3 host you load it into. Usually, to activate this, you’ll need to tap the Play or Start button in your host.

If transport is not enabled, MIDILODY’s screen will appear darker, and a message will be displayed at the bottom:

Once transport is enabled, MIDILODY can start searching and recording notes:

Tap the Record button to begin:

🌀 Evolving Loop Overdub

When MIDILODY finds a note that fits the selected scale, it adds it to your loop at its exact timing.
New notes can be inserted even before older ones, creating a constantly evolving sequence.

These notes are represented by the colored LEDs surrounding the Hexadecimal Engine cockpit:

Your loops grow organically without losing their original character — ideal for ambient, generative, or live performance workflows.

🗑️ Clearing Your Sequence

While in SEARCHING/RECORDING MODE, you can clear the entire sequence by tapping the Hexadecimal Engine cockpit at the center of the screen.
All recorded notes will be removed:

✂️ Removing Individual Notes

Happy with your loop but want to refine it? While in PLAY MODE, you can remove specific notes.

To enter Play Mode, just tap the Record button again.

Then, tap any colored LED to remove the corresponding note — the sequence will automatically adjust.

Tip: You can switch between SEARCHING/RECORDING and PLAY MODE at any time.

🎛️ Control Your Evolving Loop

For more control over recording, activate AUTOPAUSE by tapping the Autopause button below the Record button.

When AUTOPAUSE is enabled, MIDILODY will pause recording after each new note is found.
Tap Record again to resume:

🔇 Quiet Mode

By default, MIDILODY records the velocity of each found note, meaning both soft and strong notes are captured.
If you want a softer, more ambient result, enable Quiet Mode — it limits velocity to 60%.

Tip: You can toggle Quiet Mode while building your loop, and later edit individual note velocities for fine-tuning.

⚙️ Parameters

MIDILODY offers several useful parameters. To access them, tap the Parameters button:

This opens a scrollable panel with loop length settings, scale selection, and more:

🧱 Sequence Length Control

Choose a loop length of 4, 8, or 16 steps.
Tip: Short loops = grooves. Long loops = textures.

🔌 Note-Off Messaging

Optionally send Note Off messages if your synth requires them.

🎼 Scales

Select from predefined musical scales — only matching notes will be recorded.

The Engine

🎛 MIDILODY’s Hexadecimal Core

At the heart of MIDILODY lies a dynamic 8×8 hexadecimal matrix that continuously generates random MIDI messages. These messages are interpreted and filtered in real time to ensure that only musically relevant notes — based on your currently selected scale — are retained.

Every second, one digit of the matrix is incremented. The corresponding row is analyzed to check whether it forms a valid MIDI message. If the decoded message is a note within your current scale, it is added to your performance sequence.

You can store up to 32 notes in a MIDILODY sequence. After that, recording stops automatically until notes are cleared or removed.

🧮 Hexadecimal Matrix Example

Below is a sample matrix showing what the internal 8×8 hexadecimal engine might look like at a given moment:

8A 90 3C 40 FF 00 00 00  
89 92 43 30 A0 00 00 00  
80 91 4A 20 B0 00 00 00  
88 94 3F 70 C0 00 00 00  
FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF  
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  

Each row is interpreted as a potential MIDI message.

🎹 Sample MIDI Messages

MIDILODY only keeps Note On messages with pitches that fit your current musical scale.

🎧 Important: Handling Note Off Messages

If you select the “Note Off” option in MIDILODY’s parameters, the plugin will explicitly send MIDI Note Off messages when notes are released.
But by default, this option is disabled.

This means that MIDILODY will only send Note On messages. In this case, it is up to your audio plugin or synthesizer to manage how the sound fades or stops after the note is triggered.

🕹️ What Happens Without Note Off?

When MIDILODY does not send a Note Off, the receiving synth will determine how long the sound lasts. This is typically controlled by something called an envelope.

🎚 What Is an Envelope?

An envelope shapes how a sound evolves over time — from the moment a note starts until it stops. It’s often broken down into four parts, known as ADSR:

• Attack: how quickly the sound reaches its full volume.
• Decay: how quickly it drops after the initial peak.
• Sustain: the level that holds as long as the note is active.
• Release: how long it takes to fade out after the note is released (or Note Off is received).

So, if you’re not sending Note Off messages:

• The synth might auto-release notes after a short duration.
• Or it might hold the note indefinitely (especially on older plugins or hardware), unless a built-in envelope release phase stops it.

To avoid unexpected behavior, ensure your synth or plugin uses an envelope with a defined release — especially if you’re not using Note Off.

WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH MIDILODY

MIDILODY is a super-minimalist sequencer — it offers very few controls, yet delivers a surprisingly wide range of results.

It was designed with live sampling and hands-on editing in mind.

It empowers you to create interesting, strange, and unexpectedly delightful loops.
And it brings joy into the process of building your patches.

As a music maker and listener, I truly enjoy both creating and experiencing sound.
I wanted to share that joy with you. 🩵

François aka Royale Fougard

THANKS 🩵

Thanks for using MIDILODY. I really hope you will find it fun to use! Don’t hesitate to contact me if you think some features are missing or you just want to share your videos :)

🙏 Special Thanks

• Thanks to my family for their support and patience while I start new experiments and adventures (so many!)
• Kudos to Ali from The Beat Community, for his positive energy and continuous support and for his precious help for launching the beta! Ali, you rock!
• Special thanks to Gavinski, from Gavinski’s Tutorials for his feedback during the beta testing. (20MB is indeed better than 200MB!)
• Special thanks to Jonatan Liljedahl, creator of AUM, for his insights while I was struggling with a particularly strange development issue.
• Special thanks to Emil Baehr for releasing his super iOS web site template that really helped me create this web site.
• All my thanks to all the Beta Testers who accepted to take the time to try the app to make it crash so that I could make it even better!

THANK YOU!