HouseEngine MIDI generator plug-in available now

[hauke]

Hi everybody,

I have been working on a secret new project for quite a few months - and now I am ready to reveal it .

Next week, I am going to release a completely new tool called "HouseEngine". I combined several approaches of my existing generative music tools and created a new plug-in that specializes in a very focused thing: creating House music .

Basically, it works like this:

• You feed HouseEngine with your own MIDI chord progressions (or load a factory chord progression).
• HouseEngine generates new piano phrases, basslines, melodies, etc. for you.
• You can preview these phrases inside the plug-in.
• If you like a phrase, you can drag and drop the generated MIDI file to your DAW (there will also be a Pro version with a mass-exporter).

You can see HouseEngine in action in this video:
https://youtu.be/ZboLB0acwoI

HouseEngine will contain over 300 generator recipes. The influences reach from classics like Frankie Knuckles, Larry Heard, and Stardust to the modern sounds of top labels like Defected, Toolroom, or Spinnin' Deep.

However, even though it's targeted at House producers, I received a lot of feedback where testers "misused" it for other styles as well .

You can sign up for the newsletter here:
https://feelyoursound.com/houseengine/
I will send a mail when HouseEngine is available (and there will be introductory discounts as well ).

Cheers,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

[hauke]

Hi everybody,

I just updated my website and released HouseEngine 1.0 today. It is available with an introductory discount from the FeelYourSound website now

I already wrote about HouseEngine in the sneak peek post. Short version: HouseEngine is a new type of MIDI generator plug-in. It can turn any chord progression into expressive piano rhythms, deep basslines, catchy melodies, and sparkling arpeggios.

Andrei Sora already made a nice review video:

https://youtu.be/o877hSnlgig

HouseEngine is available as a Standard version and as a Pro version. The Pro version contains a MIDI mass-exporter that makes it easy to create hundreds of files within seconds. When you buy the Standard version, you can use all generated phrases and melodies in your own productions (both commercial and free releases). But if you want to sell the generated MIDI packs to other musicians, you need to purchase a Pro license. In all other aspects, the two versions are the same.

Normal price: 45 EUR / $55 for the Standard version, 360 EUR / $440 for the Pro version.

Introductory deal: Use the code "IntroDeal" at the checkout page to get 30% off on HouseEngine Standard. Use the code "IntroDealPro" to get 50% off on HouseEngine Pro. The offers are valid until 2021/06/25.

The HouseEngine demo is available here:
https://feelyoursound.com/houseengine/ (Windows + macOS)

I wish you a lot of joy with HouseEngine

Cheers,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

[Octave_Jumper]

Should I be able to drop midi items from a track in Reaper onto the interface? I have some midi chords on a track but when I drag onto the interface nothing happens. The midi item just gets dropped onto a random place/track as though the HouseEngine interface wasn't there at all.

Win 10, Reaper 6.28, using 64bit vst2

[hauke]

As a Reaper user, you are lucky: Please don't use the "standard drag", but use Ctrl + Alt + Drag. Reaper will generate a real MIDI file then and send it to HouseEngine.

Unfortunately, most DAWs don't allow such a workflow. Ableton Live for example doesn't allow such a thing, because it doesn't generate real MIDI data when you drag a chord progression from Ableton to another application.

All the best,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

[dopet]

Congrats on the release! I know it says ‘House’ on the tin, but I did use it generate some ideas for some ambient type ideas. That was back in an early beta, so I didn’t save anything... was just trying to break it at that point. . Just picked up the full version and am curious to spend more time with it.

[gondii]

I'd pick it up, just not into house, so I'm hesitant

[Kalamata Kid]

Congrats on the release! I know it says ‘House’ on the tin, but I did use it generate some ideas for some ambient type ideas. That was back in an early beta, so I didn’t save anything... was just trying to break it at that point. . Just picked up the full version and am curious to spend more time with it.

Glad you posted your experiment as I am mostly interested in Drones or Melodic Ambient or Rhythmic Ambient.

[dopet]

Glad you posted your experiment as I am mostly interested in Drones or Melodic Ambient or Rhythmic Ambient.

Hi!

From some other threads I think our tastes run kind of parallel. I'll experiment more and report what I can. My recollection was that 'rhythmic piano/keys' really gave this thing the most 'house flavor' out of the gate. No reason that the midi still couldn't be usable stretched out (double or triple the note length after the fact in the DAW) and run at like 50 bpm. That is going to be my first test actually! However, I don't mind getting my hands dirty editing midi after the fact, but that may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Take Care!

[hauke]

Hehe, quite a few people seem to use it for genres outside of House music.

Two examples:

https://youtu.be/Hpz3mR8kh4c

https://youtu.be/_kpButI0ExA

I haven't tested HouseEngine for Drone, Chill Out, or Ambient so far . But I think that dopet is right: Using lower BPM ranges should lead to interesting results.

Cheers,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

[gondii]

Actually I dig it after demoing and agree, it can be used for different genres. Just purchased.

[HiEnergy]

HouseEngine is an awesome tool that comes in handy for quickly getting the creative juices flowing.

Here's a short snippet of house music I created using HouseEngine:
https://soundcloud.com/hienergy/engines-in-da-house

[Samiver]

I am going to demo this but away for a couple of days so wondered if someone could tell me if there is a maximum chord length you can load? Was also wondering if this dictates how long the generated melodies are etc

[dopet]

I actually found the project I started with an early beta version. It’s 50 bpm .... not really drone-ish though. It’s a short snippet, but when I get a second or two I’ll put something on SoundCloud.

From what I recall: the chord progression was longer than 4 bars and the chords were not always played every measure. Some chords were sustained longer. The generated phrases matched the length of my chord progression.

I did double the length (stretched) for most the midi patterns.

I didn’t use any of the more ‘house’ type piano patterns for this. It was one of the simple 2-3 note chord ones. I used something similar to trigger a small solo string section.

I did use an arp pattern, but I did use the free HY Euclidean gate to spread the notes out so it was playing a straight 16th note pattern. If you synth of choice has a gate sequencer built in, that could work too.

I had pulled out about 4-5 baselines I liked (ranging from long notes to more melodic bass lines).

I think that was the extent of what I had. . Not terribly exciting, but I found it a useful exercise!

[hauke]

I am going to demo this but away for a couple of days so wondered if someone could tell me if there is a maximum chord length you can load? Was also wondering if this dictates how long the generated melodies are etc

The generated MIDI files will be at least as long as the chord progression that you used as your input.

I didn't implement any limitations on the length of the input chord progression. However, it is definitely not the intended use case to work with anything longer than 32 bars or so. I mean, most House songs use 2 to 8 bars for chord progressions^^.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I just loaded an 8-minute chord progression (at 120 bpm). HouseEngine could handle it on my computer. But generating the output phrases took waaaay longer than usual.

I would recommend to check out the demo and test it for your use cases

Cheers,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

[Samiver]

I am going to demo this but away for a couple of days so wondered if someone could tell me if there is a maximum chord length you can load? Was also wondering if this dictates how long the generated melodies are etc

The generated MIDI files will be at least as long as the chord progression that you used as your input.

I didn't implement any limitations on the length of the input chord progression. However, it is definitely not the intended use case to work with anything longer than 32 bars or so. I mean, most House songs use 2 to 8 bars for chord progressions^^.

Anyway, out of curiosity, I just loaded an 8-minute chord progression (at 120 bpm). HouseEngine could handle it on my computer. But generating the output phrases took waaaay longer than usual.

I would recommend to check out the demo and test it for your use cases

Cheers,
Hauke of FeelYourSound

Hi Hauke,

Thanks for the prompt reply I dont think I would go over 32 bars but I just saw in the video 4 and 8 bars and thought I would ask as not in position to demo until tomorrow night. I write drum and bass as well as house genres so longer chord progressions are usually used when i am writing at higher bpm. Dont think I would ever need 8 minutes but credit to you for trying this out