scapeshift
scapeshift
Scapeshift is a generativegroovebox and sequencer
At its heart, it’s a machine designed for evolving, morphing and cross-pollinating rhythms, melodies and textures. The results can stand alone as finished tracks or be used to complement a production in your DAW or DAWless setup.
Unlike your DAW, which reads out static sequence data, everything Scapeshift generates is controlled by continuously adjustable parameters.It can do some cool things your DAW can’t. You can morph continually between two completely different patterns, cross-breed multiple patterns or create themes to generate infinite variations on a style.
This is unreal! So good mate, I'm very excited, like a little kid!
12 themes
Get started with one click, then roll more dice to change the flavour, or get under the hood and tweak away to your hearts content.
System Requirements
A Native Instruments Reaktor Licence is required to run Scapeshift without limitations. If you have Native Instruments’ Komplete bundle you will have this already. You can run Scapeshift in the free Reaktor Player but it will time out after 30 minutes and you won’t be able to save your work. Reaktor runs on Windows or MacOS.
Scapeshift takes ~35% of a single core of a M2 Max Macbook Pro and ~70% of one core of a 2016 Intel Macbook Pro. A buffer size of at least 512 samples is recommended as Scapeshift does a lot of realtime event processing. This can cause clicks at lower buffer sizes. It’s recommended to run Scapeshift in Reaktor standalone.
It is possible to run it as a VST or AU plugin inside a DAW but there may be limitations on this with older machines.
In the box
- 5 Drum Synths
- 2 Monosynths
- polysynth
- resonator
- Noise Generator
- FX
- Multiband Mixing
- Mastering
The Story
I've been building electronic music live performance tools for 20 years. This is the next evolution in that lineage, crafted with the same love and obsession that I’ve poured into all my previous instruments.
My previous live rigs sprawled multiple MIDI controllers. They were a nightmare to travel with and even harder to share. So in the name of portability, PTNSHIFT’s workflow is origami'd into the powerful and ubiquitous Ableton Push 2 & 3.
For a decade, my Flow Machine live-looping instrument took me everywhere from Berghain to the TED red dot. It was a cool trick to pick music out of thin air and an absolute thrill when it worked. But there was always a sacrifice in quality. My 'hit rate' for a good show was well under 50%!
Those days gave me a yearning for an instrument that occupied a sweet spot between pre-planning and improvisation. PTNSHIFT is my answer to that.
It’s also inspired in no small way by Autechre who I think are shining examples of this approach. There’s so much new territory to explore in the world of generative live performance. I'm thrilled to be a part of the advance party.
