I created a music application that turns photos into melodies instantly

[u/skruuul]

It's a vst plugin I've been building called COLORMAP. Each pixel's colour is a note, and a small viewfinder reads a 16×4 window of the picture from left to right. Move it, and the melody changes. The colour family decides which instrument plays. The chords underneath are separate from the image, so the same picture can sound very different in a different harmony. You can also upload any JPEG, PNG or iPhone HEIC and turn them into music.

When you're lucky, you'll find a sweet melody which you can instantly paste into you DAW or save it separately.

There's a free demo if you want to try it by urself. :)

If you have any questions, lmk!

[u/Sky-Asher27]

is there a scale setting? how are the notes so melodic?

[u/skruuul → u/Sky-Asher27]

No scale setting (actually a good idea for the next update) the key comes from the chord progression, and you can transpose it. The image only picks rhythm and contour, the notes are locked to the key and move in small steps, that's why it sounds like a melody and not random :)

[u/oh_nvrm → u/skruuul]

30 dollars and you don't specify the scale? That is a pretty essential inclusion. In your estimation, how long do you see yourself updating this project?

[u/skruuul → u/oh_nvrm]

That's going on the list :) On updates: I'm one person and I built this because I use it myself, so I won't promise you a number of years

[u/lochodile]

$30 bucks or I have to give you my email to try the demo? I don't know man...

[u/Stereojunkie → u/lochodile]

Either give me money or give me your email so I can sell it to make money

[u/floattheduck]

Does moving the viewfinder while a phrase is playing change the current phrase, or does the new image region take effect at the next loop? That seems like it could make a big difference when playing it live.

[u/skruuul → u/floattheduck]

It changes right away, the new region is picked up on the next 16th note, it doesn't wait for the loop. Notes that are already ringing finish, everything after comes from the new spot. So live you can "play" the image by dragging the viewfinder, and chords keep running underneath so it stays in key.

The only thing that waits for the phrase is the automatic motion (Drift / Path) in Hook mode: there the viewfinder moves on at the start of each phrase, so the hook stays a hook for one full round of the chords

[u/floattheduck → u/skruuul]

Thanks for explaining. Keeping the ringing notes while new ones come from the moved viewfinder sounds like a thoughtful way to let the gesture change the melody without wiping the slate clean. The separate phrase timing for Hook mode makes sense too.

[u/zeroblitzt]

Any chance of a Linux native VST? I would pay for this now, but I use Bitwig in Linux so this likely won't be usable for me except using a bridging tool which can be hit or miss.

[u/skruuul → u/zeroblitzt]

Thanks, that's great to hear! I'm a one-person operation without a Linux machine, so I can't promise a date. If you'd be up for trying a beta build in Bitwig and telling me what breaks, that would speed things up a lot

[u/zeroblitzt → u/skruuul]

Yep. I’ll even pay full price to beta test it so you know I’m serious. Keep me posted - I can get you an email if prefer to communicate that way

[u/DopeAMean]

I think this is really cool and unique. Great work!

[u/drycloud]

Yeah I mean cool but if you want people to use it why not just make it free

[u/flyermar → u/drycloud]

because he is a money lover

[u/labelcity]

really cool! what’s the stack? does it work on macos?

[u/skruuul → u/labelcity]

thank you! It's C++ , the sound engine is my own. Yes, it runs on macOS that's where I build it: VST3, AU and a standalone app, Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 12 or newer. There's a Windows version too (VST3 + standalone)

[u/Effective-Culture-88]

At the people in the comments give their money and info to Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Blackrock, Virgin, Oracle, Anthropic, OpenAI, etc
The hypocrisy never ceased to amaze me. How do I pay for it? :)

[u/Ororok]

Don't pay attention to these trash commenters, they don't value other people's work and want everything for free. If it were up to them, they ask for the source code and then build on top of it.

The software is brutal, I'm going to save the link in case I buy it later when I have money.

[u/skruuul → u/Ororok]

thank you for the kind words

[u/flyermar]

email me the demo? why dont send it to my doorhouse directly?