Noemi
A non-deterministic composition machine
Pre-release builds for testing. Report bugs to support@tweakbench.com or on Discord. The best way to support this development is to buy some Tweakbench plugins!
Noemi is a generative music DAW. Instead of a traditional linear timeline, you wire together composition building blocks — patterns, generators, instruments, transformers, and effects — into a node graph that creates evolving music in real time. Ships as a standalone app and as audio plugins (VST3, AU, CLAP, LV2).
What's Inside
7 Composition Sources
Pattern (4 polyrhythm playheads), Generator (probabilistic rules with 30+ scales), Rhythm (8-lane step sequencer), LiveCode (TidalCycles-inspired notation), Waveform, Slicer, and Granular synthesis
5 Built-in Instruments
Chirusa (4-osc subtractive), SimSim (wavetable morphing), Cantia (formant voice), Leeroy (drum synthesis), Ostion (drum sampler) — plus VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2 plugin hosting
Effects & Mastering
7 built-in effects with 56 presets. Mastering chain: Parametric EQ, Stereo Imager, Multiband Dynamics, Maximizer. 2 send/return bus effects. External plugin hosting.
12 MIDI Transformers
Arpeggiator, Chord Generator, Scale Quantizer, Euclidean Rhythm, Markov Chain, Style Learner, Probability Gate, Humanize, and more — all chainable
Deep Modulation
11 modulation source types (LFO, Envelope, Step Seq, Random, Follower, Sidechain, Macro, MIDI, OSC, MiniNotation, Automation) with per-route rate and response curves
Performance & Arrangement
16-slot scene system with crossfade. Full-screen Performance View. Song arrangement engine with 10 templates. Ableton Link sync.
Expression & Tuning
MPE per-note pressure, slide, and pitch bend. MTS-ESP microtuning with SCL/KBM loading. MIDI I/O, OSC control, CC binding with Learn mode.
Export & Workflow
Single mix or multitrack WAV/MP3 export. Per-section rendering. Preset browser with patch export/import. Autosave with crash recovery.
Cross-Platform
macOS (Universal), Windows (x64), Linux (x86_64), iOS (iPad). 4 color themes. Customizable shortcuts. VoiceOver accessibility.
Changelog
▶1.0.0 beta 6 — 2026-07-11
A fully modernized UI - flat, minimal, three themes - plus deep crash and stability hardening
1.0.0 beta 6 — 2026-07-11
- Complete visual redesign: a flat, minimal look with one consistent design language across every editor and panel. Nodes are neutral surfaces with a colored type stripe, the canvas has a cleaner dot grid, and ports are solid signal-colored dots with bigger hit targets.
- Dark, Light, and High Contrast themes now apply everywhere - every editor, dialog, meter, and scope - including live switching. (Midnight has been retired and maps to Dark.)
- Every instrument and effect editor shares one control language: consistent knobs with captions, tooltips on every control, and double-click to reset any knob to its default.
- Sample editors (Waveform, Slicer, Granular) reorganized their toolbars into logical clusters, and every cryptic button (YT, !!!, 1/8...) explains itself with a tooltip.
- Mastering chain: cleaner flat tabs plus live value readouts while dragging EQ bands, thresholds, and crossovers, with gesture hints on every scope.
- Envelope (ADSR) editors: handles now track your pointer exactly - no more runaway values near the edges - and keep a consistent width on wide panels.
- New canvas zoom control: click the zoom readout for 50-200% presets and Zoom to Fit; clearer grouped toolbar and modernized transport bar.
- Fixed AUv3 Audio Units being silently skipped by the plugin scanner since beta 3 (macOS).
- Step sequencers / arpeggiators that report themselves as effects now offer the "Use as MIDI Effect" checkbox.
- Linux: Noemi no longer overwrites the desktop's X11 resource database or forces 150% scaling on QHD monitors; an explicitly chosen UI scale always wins.
- Windows: fixed plugin UIs clipped to the top-left corner in DAWs at >100% display scaling.
- Fixed hosted instruments coming back silent and third-party patches being lost when reopening a project saved inside a DAW (VST3/AU/CLAP).
- Fixed many crashes when editing while playing: connecting or deleting nodes, editing notes, drum hits, or generator scales, switching states, recalling scenes, and undo.
- Fixed a hard audio lock-up when playing a note into a Slicer, and samples playing sharp/fast on interfaces at a different sample rate.
- Fixed the tempo drifting to its limit when modulated, plugins being permanently blacklisted after a one-off scan timeout, and a plugin's saved state being deleted when it could not be matched on reload.
- Hardened saving: a failed save now warns and cancels instead of silently discarding work; corrupt project files no longer crash the app.
- Modulation randomness (Random and LFO Sample & Hold) is now reproducible from the project seed.
- Fixed several memory leaks and use-after-free issues around plugin windows, the modulation matrix, and project teardown.
▶1.0.0 beta 5 — 2026-07-04
Stability + performance hardening, deeper generation, a cleaner UI, and DAW-ready plugin MIDI output
1.0.0 beta 5 — 2026-07-04
- Fixed two crashes when adding or deleting a node or a modulation source during playback.
- Fixed a hard audio lock-up when the arrangement switched scenes during playback.
- Fixed silent mixer channels and a missing modulation matrix after reloading a saved project, and hardened the reload path.
- Hardened project teardown, arrangement scene changes, and project loading; a corrupt project now rolls back to an empty one instead of loading half-way.
- Added a crash reporter that writes a stack trace and the active project path to the logs folder.
- Hardened the shield that keeps u-he plugins from crashing when their editor is closed and reopened on Linux.
- Removed audio-thread memory allocations and per-sample math from SimSim, Cantia, Leeroy, the mastering chain, and the metronome.
- Added MIDI output to the host DAW: route a MIDI Output node to Host (DAW) to drive your DAW's own instruments (VST3/CLAP; hidden in the AU, which no common host routes).
- Macro knobs are now automatable plugin parameters and follow host automation and MIDI-learned CC in both directions.
- Added a Conductor: generators set to Follow Conductor share one chord progression and energy curve.
- Added drag-out: drag a Pattern or Rhythm to a DAW or Finder as a MIDI file, and drag the Waveform, Granular, or Slicer audio out as a WAV.
- Fixed five Generator controls that had no effect: voice-leading strength, motive length, development probability, variation amount, and chord-tone bias.
- Generate Song is now reproducible from its seed, and scale detection recognises modal and exotic scales.
- Fixed user presets for SimSim, Cantia, Leeroy, Ostion, and the internal effects: a selected preset now applies immediately.
- Fixed the mixer Solo button, which did nothing.
- Added a Randomize button to the Generator.
- Added Save/Browse preset menus to SimSim, the internal effects, and Ostion, and made preset favourites starrable.
- Added a count-in toggle, fixed the OS key-repeat beep when holding a QWERTY musical key, and fixed the automation record button blinking without arming.
- Randomize no longer changes an instrument's output level.
- Modernized the Generator editor layout and aligned each caption with its knob (also fixed in the Transformer editor).
- Themed checkboxes and radio buttons, made slider indicators visible in the light theme, and extended undo to the mixer, modulation matrix, and mastering chain.
- Fixed the first undo after launch silently disabling autosave and the CPU meter.
- Linux release builds now run in an Ubuntu 22.04 container, lowering the runtime floor to glibc 2.35 / ALSA 1.2.6 (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 37+); binaries statically link libstdc++/libgcc and the build verifies the glibc floor with objdump.
▶1.0.0 beta 4 — 2026-05-25
MIDI input recording with count-in and metronome, Windows LV2 scanning fix, JUCE 8.0.13 upgrade, and transport stability fixes
1.0.0 beta 4 — 2026-05-25
- MIDI input recording (FL Studio style): the Record button on a Pattern or Rhythm arms it for live MIDI input. Play the first note to start recording from the top, or press Play for a 4-beat count-in before recording begins
- New metronome with an accented downbeat, toggled from the transport bar with a volume knob — it clicks during playback and through the recording count-in
- Fixed all LV2 plugins failing to scan on Windows
- Upgraded to JUCE 8.0.13: faster macOS scope/waveform redraws, Direct2D plugin-window resize and hi-DPI fixes on Windows, better Apple Pencil hover on iPad, and more reliable MIDI output
- Fixed a crash during scene crossfades at song-structure boundaries and an audio blip after pressing Stop
- Panic button now also stops the transport, and the arrangement toggle lights up after generating song structure
- Desktop installers: macOS ships a signed, notarized .pkg and Windows ships a setup installer (which bundles the Visual C++ runtime)
▶1.0.0 beta 3 — 2026-05-16
Modulation matrix and module inspector UI overhaul, replace node, cable rendering fix, AU scanner crash protection, modulation performance fix, and Ableton Link Audio support
1.0.0 beta 3 — 2026-05-16
- Ableton Link Audio support: Link Audio mode publishes Noemi's post-mastering stereo mix to other Link Audio peers on the LAN, and a new Link Audio Input node can subscribe to peer channels
- Modulation processing now only touches parameters with active routes, avoiding huge per-tick scans on plugins with thousands of automatable parameters
- AU plugins now scan out-of-process so a crashing AU takes down the scanner child process instead of Noemi
- Modulation matrix redesigned with visual source cards, draggable ADSR editor, waveform buttons, live scope strips, route cards, cascading parameter picker, destination filtering, and a persistent resizable panel
- Module inspector panels rebuilt with compact rotary knobs, tighter sections, ADSR shape editors, and shorter layouts across synths, samplers, generators, transformers, live code, waveform, granular, and internal effects
- Right-click any node and choose Replace with... to swap it for another node in the same category while preserving connections and canvas position
- Pattern and Rhythm editors restored dedicated Library buttons and moved transforms / MIDI actions into compact menus
- Adding a Rhythm module now loads a random drum clip from the drum library
- Fixed cable clipping on macOS for highly curved backward and bottom-edge connections
- Fixed desktop right-click context menus, 120Hz/144Hz VU meter animation speed, oval knob rendering, and a modulation-panel crash when randomizing or loading projects mid-playback
▶1.0.0 beta 2 — 2026-04-01
Mastering chain, bus effects, independent mixer channels, LV2 plugin hosting, and plugin format support (VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2)
1.0.0 beta 2 — 2026-04-01
- Mastering chain with 4 stages: Parametric EQ with spectrum analyzer, Stereo Imager with animated visualization, Multiband Dynamics, and Maximizer — each with presets
- Bus effects: 2 send/return effect buses on the mixer with per-channel send knobs and return controls
- Independent per-channel mixer: each channel has its own volume, pan, mute, and solo with editable names
- LV2 plugin format support alongside VST3/AU/CLAP on all desktop platforms
- Plugin Settings dialog for managing scan paths per format
- Noemi now available as VST3, AU, CLAP, and LV2 plugin in instrument and effect variants
- Export filenames include tempo and master key
- Fix crash on macOS 11 (Big Sur): heap corruption in sampler and font rendering
- Fix crash when opening projects with deleted master track
- Fix pendulum playback and note truncation issues at loop boundaries
▶1.0.0 beta 1 — 2026-03-17
iOS iPad support, Windows ASIO, Linux audio robustness, and cross-platform polish
1.0.0 beta 1 — 2026-03-17
- iOS build with touch-optimized UI for iPad (AUv3 plugin hosting, touch gestures, scaled hit targets)
- UI Scale: resize the entire interface from 50% to 200% via View > UI Scale
- Windows ASIO low-latency audio support
- Linux audio robustness: JACK/ALSA/PipeWire fallback chain with OpenGL compositing
- VBlank-driven 60fps animation, build caching with ccache
- Scribble: audio scrubber for Waveform and Slicer
- VST3 and CLAP plugin builds in all platform release archives
- Export Audio on iOS, double-tap wire disconnect, Randomize Project fix
Alpha Releases
▶Alpha Releases (0.1.0 – 0.9.2) — 2026-02-09 – 2026-03-09
35 alpha releases building the full Noemi feature set from initial prototype to feature-complete app
Alpha Releases (0.1.0 – 0.9.2) — 2026-02-09 – 2026-03-09
- 7 composition sources: Pattern, Generator, Rhythm, LiveCode, Waveform, Slicer, Granular
- 5 built-in instruments: Chirusa, SimSim, Cantia, Leeroy, Ostion
- 7 internal effects with 56 presets, 12 real-time MIDI transformers
- Modulation matrix with 11 source types, per-route rate and response curves
- 16-slot scene system, arrangement engine with 10 templates, Performance View
- VST3/AU/CLAP plugin hosting, MPE expression, MTS-ESP microtuning, OSC, Ableton Link
- 4 color themes, customizable shortcuts, preset browser, VoiceOver accessibility
© 2026 Tweakbench / Aaron Rutledge. Audio Engine © 2026 Tracktion Software Corporation. This software is provided for testing purposes only. Do not redistribute.