☀ RANDOMIZER TOOLS ☀

Hey there! I created two randomizer tools for music writers looking to develop their creativity. These tools aren’t meant to take away the fun of discovery, but rather, to gently ease you into new harmonic and rhythmic territories. When setting early creative boundaries, it puts pressure onto our creative problem solving skills. It turns out that this pressure is one of the most effective ways to take our creating skills to new levels — and even more so when adding time constraints.

— Ian Aisling

Random Key, BPM & Time Signatures

Randomizer Tool: The Musical Frame

With this randomizer, you can have the Universe decide a key centre, tempo, and time signature for your composition. The odds were structured in a way that makes extremely complicated combinations less likely, but the risk is always there.

~ Directions ~

Each section represents a different musical element to roll on.

  1. Key signature

  2. BPM

  3. Time signature

Use the Random Number Generator to determine the values.

If you land on a number shared between options, you may freely choose between them. (For example: if you roll a ‘30’ for time signature, you can choose ‘3/4’ or ‘4/4’)

Random Number Generator Values

  1. Key Signature
    Min: 1
    Max: 12

  2. BPM
    Min: 1
    Max: 100
    Min: BPM min
    Max: BPM max

  3. Time Signature
    Min: 1
    Max: 100


Random Chord Progressions

Randomizer Tool: Chords, Qualities & Progressions

With this randomizer, you can have the Universe decide a chord, quality and progression. This randomizer can be particularly volatile, which always leads to interesting results and discovering new sounds!

~ Directions ~

Decide how many chords you want to generate, then roll for a Chord Base that many times. You can stop at any step and fill in the blanks on your own or follow all four steps to create a more complex progression.

  1. Chord Base

  2. Chord Quality

  3. Alter Quality

  4. Add Intervals

Random Number Generator Values

  1. Chord Base
    Min: 1
    Max: 12

  2. Chord Quality
    Min: 1
    Max: 100

  3. Alter Quality
    Min: 1
    Max: 100

  4. Add Intervals
    Min: 1
    Max: 100


Example:
Step #1 yields “D F G C” in 4 rolls.
Step #2 yields “maj maj maj min” in 4 rolls. Combine these values with Step #1 to get “Dmaj Fmaj Gmaj Cmin”
You can stop here if you wish, but to add some spice to the adventure continue to Step #3 and Step #4.
Step #3 yields “dim aug dim sus4” in 4 rolls. Combine these values with Step #2 to get “Dmaj(b5) Fmaj(#5) Gmaj(b5) Csus4”
Step #4 yields “maj7 maj7 min7 maj6” in 4 rolls. Combine these values with Step #3 to get “Dmaj7(b5) Fmaj7(#5) G7(b5) C6sus4”

This is one example of how you can create random chord progressions. The further you go, the more complex it will become. Building the chords in the way I did requires some understanding of chord symbols and theory, but you are welcome to use the randomizer how ever you please! The randomness is the beauty of it.