Welcome to the world of innovative MIDI instruments! Introducing Strumee by developer Xoxos – a unique plugin designed to breathe life into your digital music scores. Forget about mechanical sound; Strumee is designed to add naturalness, dynamics, and a unique rhythmic character to your MIDI tracks.
What is Strumee?
Unlike traditional audio effects that process an audio signal, Strumee is a MIDI plugin. This means it works directly with note data and other information contained in your MIDI stream (such as velocity, note duration, etc.) before it reaches a virtual instrument. The heart of Strumee is a system of three modulated MIDI delays. Each of these delays can process incoming MIDI events independently, creating complex and interesting rhythmic patterns based on simple input data. Modulation adds an element of variability and unpredictability, making each pass unique.
Why is a MIDI plugin for “strumming” and “humanizing” needed?
Humanizing in MIDI
One of the biggest challenges when working with MIDI is achieving a sense of “live” performance. Computer sequencers play notes with absolute precision in time and dynamics, which rarely happens in a real human performance. Slight changes in time, barely noticeable deviations in velocity (force of pressing) and note duration – it is these nuances that make the performance expressive and emotional. Strumee helps to introduce these nuances automatically. Using its modulated delays, it can slightly “scatter” the start times of notes, vary their duration and velocity, imitating the subtleties of a musician’s playing. This is especially useful for instruments that require natural unevenness, such as piano, guitar, strings, or any synthesizer parts that lack life.
Strumming Effects
The term “strumming” is most often associated with the guitar, where a chord is played not simultaneously, but sequentially, by running a finger or pick across the strings. Strumee brings this concept to MIDI. When you send a chord (a set of notes sounding simultaneously) to the plugin, Strumee can delay each note of the chord for a different amount of time, creating a strumming or arpeggiated effect. Thanks to the presence of three independent delays and their modulation, it is possible to obtain not only a simple sequential playback of notes, but also more complex, nonlinear, or even chaotic strumming variations. This opens up huge possibilities for creating unique arpeggios, textures and rhythmic patterns that go beyond standard MIDI effects.
How do three modulated MIDI delays work together?
Imagine that each delay is a separate MIDI note “handler”. The incoming MIDI signal can be distributed between these three handlers or passed through them sequentially. Modulation adds movement to the parameters of each delay (e.g., delay time, feedback, impact on velocity). This means that the effect will not be static; it will constantly change and develop during playback.
- The first delay can create the main time scattering effect.
- The second – add variations to velocity or duration.
- The third – introduce additional rhythmic repetitions or create a more complex layer of strumming.
By combining these three layers of delays and adjusting their modulation, the user can achieve a wide range of effects: from barely noticeable “humanity”, which makes the synthesizer part more lively, to pronounced, complex arpeggios and rhythmic patterns that form the basis for the track.
Strumee Usage
- Bringing virtual instruments to life: Give pianos, guitars, basses, strings and synthesizers the feel of manual performance.
- Creating unique arpeggios: Go beyond standard arpeggiators by using flexible delay settings.
- Developing complex rhythmic textures: Generate interesting polyrhythms or evolving patterns.
- Sound experiments: Use Strumee as a creative tool for unexpected MIDI transformations.
Technical details
Strumee is available in VST format, making it compatible with most popular digital audio workstations (DAW) on the Windows (Win32) operating system. Lightweight and efficient code ensures low CPU load, allowing it to be integrated even in large projects.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a way to make your MIDI tracks more expressive, dynamic and natural, or if you want to experiment with creating complex rhythmic and textural effects, Strumee by Xoxos is a tool worth trying. It offers a flexible approach to “humanizing” and “strumming” through its three modulated MIDI delays, opening up new horizons for creativity in the world of MIDI. Add Strumee to your plugin arsenal and hear your digital instruments come to life!
