Device Details
Overview
| Name | Version: | Pointsman 0.1.0 |
| Author: | im9 |
| Device Type: | MIDI Transformation |
| Description: | A scale quantizer MIDI effect. Pointsman snaps every incoming pitch to the nearest note in your chosen scale, with an optional chord mode that turns each input note into a diatonic chord, plus a per-event humanize layer. Demo: https://youtu.be/4B8k--NRuTA Pointsman is a MIDI effect that snaps every incoming note to the scale you choose. Drop it between any chromatic MIDI source and a synth, and each note is binary-searched to the nearest scale pitch — optionally expanded into a chord via a configurable diatonic voice stack. The canonical chain is [Stencil] → [Pointsman] → [Synth]: Stencil generates a Music Thing Turing-Machine-style chromatic random sequence; Pointsman locks it to key. Pairs equally well with arpeggiators, played input, or MPE controllers. What you control: Scale — 15 presets: major, minor, modes (dorian / phrygian / lydian / mixolydian / locrian), pentatonic, minor pentatonic, blues, harmonic minor, melodic minor, whole-tone, chromatic, plus a chromatic-half identity for passthrough. Root — pitch class of the active scale (0..11). Set from the on-device keyboard tap or host parameter automation. Mode — scale (1-in-1-out snap) or chord (single-note input becomes a chord by stacking diatonic voices on the snapped root). Harmony voices — in chord mode, 0–3 configurable (interval, direction) pairs with interval ∈ {3, 4, 5, 6} and direction above / below. Default is a 1-3-5 triad. Input channel — omni (0) or 1..16. Notes on non-matching channels pass through untouched, so per-note MPE channels (pitch bend / pressure / timbre) carry through to the downstream MPE instrument while Pointsman only quantizes the master channel. Feel + Drift — feel (0..1) drives signed uniform noise on three independent axes (velocity, gate length, note start offset); drift (0..1) per-axis EMA smoothing for slow breath. Both default to 0. Deterministic. For a fixed seed and input sequence, humanize output is reproducible bit-for-bit. New instances pick a random seed at construction so two parallel Pointsman tracks don't humanize in lock-step; presets capture and restore the current seed. Named after Edward Pointsman from Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow — the railway-pointsman metaphor (routing an incoming train to a discrete track) is exact for what a quantizer does (routing input pitch to a discrete scale degree). Requires: Live 12, Max for Live (Max 8.6+). Free under MIT. Product page: https://im9.fm/products/pointsman Direct download (latest .amxd): https://github.com/im9/pointsman/releases/tag/m4l-v0.1.0 |
Details
| Live Version Used: | 12.4.0 |
| Max Version Used: | 8.6.2 |
| Date Added: | May 23 2026 13:21:37 |
| Date Last Updated: | No Updates |
| Downloads: | 0 |
| Website: | https://im9.fm/products/pointsman |
| ⓘ License: | None |
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