Entrain

ENTRAIN is a polyphonic synthesizer for Ableton Live designed by Stephen Black that explores sound as a perceptual experience. It's Built around principles of auditory entrainment and generates subtle interference between the left and right channels to create binaural beats across the stereo field, but within the listener's head. Rather than relying on traditional modulation it produces evolving spatial behaviour through the interaction of pitch, filtering, and phase relationships creating binaural beats.

The Monaural feature collapses the signal into a shared field, where phase interaction and cancellation reshape the harmonic content and Isochronic applies rhythmic amplitude structuring, producing a pulsing sense of focus without relying on external modulation sources. Each voice is fully polyphonic, allowing chords and harmonic density to influence the overall perceptual field. As more notes are introduced, the stereo image shifts and rebalances, turning harmony into a dynamic spatial system rather than a static stack of tones.

Waveform selection includes (sine, square, saw, white noise), while a dual-channel filter architecture processes the left and right signals independently with a subtle offsets between these filters create frequency-dependent interference, enhancing the sense of internal movement and depth.
A built-in 3D panner allows for additional spatial movement when desired, extending the instrument beyond internal perception into a wider stereo field and further entrainment features.