Nodal is a generative software application for composing music. The software was produced at th
Centre for Electronic Media Art (CEMA)

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

, Australia. It uses a novel method for the notation and playing of

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

based music. This method is based around the concept of a user-defined graph. The graph consists of nodes (musical events) and edges (connections between events). The composer interactively defines the graph, which is then traversed by any number of virtual players that play the musical events as they encounter them on the graph. The time taken by a player to travel from one node to another is based on the length of the edges that connect the nodes.

Supported Platforms and versions

Early versions of Nodal were designed to run only on Mac OS X. As of version 1.1 beta (released in 2005), Nodal ran on Mac OS X 10.4, and Microsoft Windows (Vista or XP) operating systems. As of version 1.5, released in November 2009, the software became shareware in order to support its continued development. The current version is 2.0, which runs on MacOS 10.15 and higher or Windows 7 and above. This version has the ability to specify combinations of chords, sequences and randomised patterns within a single node and incorporates the use of scale

modes Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...

. Nodal can be downloaded from the Nodal web site. It is also available from Apple's

Mac App Store The App Store (also known as the Mac App Store) is a digital distribution platform for macOS apps, often referred to as Mac apps, created and maintained by Apple Inc. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010, at Apple's "Back to the Mac ...

Working with Nodal

Nodal generates MIDI data as virtual players traverse a user-defined network in real-time. It can be used as a standalone composition tool, in conjunction with

Digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic device or application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrat ...

(DAW) software, or played interactively in a real-time performance. Nodal contains a built-in MIDI synthesiser and is also compatible with any hardware or software MIDI synthesiser, including all major Digital audio workstation software. Microsoft Windows versions can use the built-in Windows MIDI synthesiser. Nodal is also compatible with Apple's ''GarageBand'' software.

Prizes and awards

In 2012, Nodal was awarded the

Eureka Prize The Eureka Prizes are awarded annually by the Australian Museum, Sydney, to recognise individuals and organizations who have contributed to science and the understanding of science in Australia. They were founded in 1990 following a suggestion ...

for Innovation in Computer Science.

References

Official site
{{reflist Computer music software Music software

Supported Platforms and versions

Working with Nodal

Prizes and awards

See also

References