MuseBud User Manual

Overview

MuseBud is a generative MIDI sequencer for iOS. Instead of programming exact notes, you set a chance for every possible note, octave, duration, velocity, gate length, and ratchet amount — MuseBud draws from those chances every step to produce an endless, ever-changing sequence.

MuseBud is MIDI only. On its own it does not make sound — it sends MIDI note messages that need to reach a synth, sampler, or DAW track to be heard. The standalone app includes a small internal synth for quick listening, and it can also drive any other MIDI instrument over CoreMIDI. The plugin version acts purely as a MIDI generator inside a host.

MuseBud comes in two forms, built from the same engine:

• MuseBud (standalone app) — owns MIDI I/O, Ableton Link sync, and a built-in synth so it can be used and heard on its own.
• MuseBud (AUv3 plugin) — an Audio Unit MIDI Processor, loaded into a host's MIDI FX chain ahead of an instrument. It has no sound of its own and follows the host's transport and tempo.

Core Concept: Weighted Randomization

Every parameter in MuseBud is a row of faders, one per possible value. The height of a fader is that value's chance of being picked the next time MuseBud generates a note — taller means more likely, not louder or bigger.

A few rules to know up front:

• All faders at 0% is not silence. If every fader in a mode is at 0%, MuseBud treats them as all equally likely instead of picking nothing. This means you can never accidentally "mute" a mode by zeroing it out — use the fader you actually want to favor instead.
• A "Rest" is just another note choice. In Note mode, the very first entry is Rest — silence for that step. Raise or lower its fader like any other note to control how often the sequence pauses.
• Every mode is live. Moving a fader takes effect on the very next generated step — there is no separate "apply" or "commit" action, even while the sequencer is playing.
• The currently-chosen values flash. While playing, the fader(s) that were just used light up briefly so you can watch the algorithm's choices as they happen.

Interface Overview

The main screen is split into:

• Mode sidebar (left) — a vertical list of buttons: Note, Octave, Duration, Velocity, Gate, Ratchet, and Looper. Tapping one switches the whole fader wall to that parameter.
• Fader wall (center) — a horizontally scrolling row of vertical faders for whichever mode is selected. Each fader has a value label underneath (usually a percentage) and an index or name label above it.
• Looper view (center, Looper mode only) — replaces the fader wall with the looper's own transport and buffer list (see The Looper).
• Bottom bar — pattern selector on the left, then a row of context-sensitive buttons (Group, Dotted, Triplet, All 0%, All 100%, Key, Scale, Draw, Reset, Clear), and the Settings button on the right. Buttons that don't apply to the current mode are hidden automatically — for example Key/Scale only appear in Note mode, and Reset/Clear only appear in Looper mode.

Getting Started

1. Open MuseBud (or load the plugin in your host) and press Play — the standalone app has a play button in the navigation bar; the plugin follows your host's transport.
2. With the sequencer running, switch to Note mode and raise a few note faders — you'll hear (or see, via MIDI) notes starting to play.
3. Try All 0% and then All 100% at the bottom to feel the two extremes: both produce fully even, uniform randomization across every value in the current mode — "all zero" is not silence.
4. Move through Octave, Duration, Velocity, Gate, and Ratchet the same way, shaping each dimension until the pattern feels right.
5. Open Settings (gear icon) to pick a Key and Scale, set MIDI channels, and — on the standalone app — turn on the Internal Synth so you can hear results immediately.

Modes and the Fader Wall

Each mode below is one of the six independent parameters MuseBud rolls for every generated note, plus the Looper (covered separately).

Note

One fader per note in the current scale, plus a leading Rest fader. The label above each fader shows the note name (or "Rest"). Changing the Key or Scale (see below) rebuilds this list.

Octave

One fader per octave from -1 to 9 (11 octaves total). Combined with the chosen note, this sets where in the range the generated pitch lands.

Duration

One fader per available note length, from 4 Bars down to 1/64, including dotted and triplet subdivisions. This mode has a few extras:

• The leftmost fader, labeled Swing, is not a duration choice — it controls how much every other generated step is delayed, producing a swung feel. It runs from 0% (no swing) up.
• The Dotted and Triplet buttons in the bottom bar show or hide the dotted/triplet duration faders. Turning one off also zeroes its faders' weights, so hidden values can't quietly influence the sequence while out of view.
• When a duration with a triplet feel is chosen, MuseBud locks the next two generated steps to the same duration so a triplet group always completes as a group of three, rather than mixing an odd number of triplet notes with other lengths.

Velocity

One fader per MIDI velocity value, 0–127. Because 128 individual faders is a lot to manage, use the Group button in the bottom bar (Velocity and Gate modes only) to bundle them into ranges of 10, 20, 30, or 50 — or view all of them individually. Adjusting a grouped fader sets every velocity value inside that group to the same weight.

Gate

One fader per gate length, 0–100% of the note's duration — how long the note actually sounds relative to its full step length. Same grouping options as Velocity, via the same Group button.

Ratchet

One fader per ratchet count, 1–4. A ratchet count above 1 retriggers the same note that many times within its step (a fast repeat), with 1 meaning "no ratchet." Rests never ratchet.

Draw Mode and Fader Gestures

• Draw mode (toggle in the bottom bar) lets you drag a finger across multiple faders in one continuous stroke to sketch a whole shape quickly, instead of adjusting each fader individually. While Draw mode is on, the fader wall's horizontal scrolling is disabled so your drag isn't mistaken for a scroll.
• Outside of Draw mode, drag any single fader vertically as normal to set its value.
• All 0% and All 100% apply instantly to every fader in the currently selected mode only — switch modes first if you want to reset a different parameter.

Key and Scale

The Key and Scale buttons appear only while Note mode is selected.

• Scale opens a searchable scale picker (with a favorites toggle) covering the built-in scale library.
• Key opens a key picker covering all supported keys.

Selecting either rebuilds the Note fader list for the new key/scale, carrying over existing fader weights wherever the same scale degree still exists, so you don't have to redraw the whole shape after a key change.

Patterns

The pattern strip in the bottom-left shows numbered pattern buttons plus a + button. MuseBud supports up to 100 patterns.

• Tapping a number switches the active pattern immediately.
• Tapping + creates a new pattern as a copy of the currently active one, then switches to it.
• Long-press a pattern number for a context menu: Copy, Paste, and Delete. Copy/Paste lets you duplicate a pattern's full fader setup into another slot.
• The pattern strip's header shows the MIDI CC number (configurable in Settings) that can be used to switch patterns remotely from a controller or host automation.

The Looper

Selecting Looper mode replaces the fader wall with a dedicated looper view. The looper is a 64-note rolling buffer that can record MuseBud's own generated output and play it back on a loop — useful for capturing a randomized pass you like and repeating it exactly.

• Record (red icon) — captures every note MuseBud generates into the buffer as it plays, dropping the oldest note once the 64-note buffer is full.
• Play (green icon) — starts looping the buffer instead of generating new random notes. While looping, the generator pauses; stopping the loop lets randomized generation continue from where it left off.
• Start and Count — two "ghost knobs" that pick which slice of the buffer loops: Start is the first note index to play (drag vertically, or tap to open a picker list), and Count is how many notes from there to include, up to 64.
• Reset (bottom bar, Looper mode) — jumps playback back to the Start position.
• Clear (bottom bar, Looper mode) — empties the buffer entirely and stops looping.
• The note list below the transport shows every buffered note (pitch and length, with a ratchet count suffix when applicable) with color coding for the active playback slice and the currently playing note. Tap a note for an Edit or Delete menu; the editor lets you hand-adjust that step's note, octave, duration, velocity, gate, and ratchet.
• A duration readout above the buffer shows the currently selected loop slice's length in bars.

If the buffer is empty, the looper view shows a reminder to enable recording and start the transport first.

BrainBud: Key/Scale Sync With Other Apps

MuseBud can receive key and scale changes from other apps in the same developer's suite ("BrainBud"), without any manual setup beyond MIDI routing:

• Sending a MIDI Program Change 69 to MuseBud triggers it to pick up the most recently shared key/scale from BrainBud and apply it to the current pattern.
• By default this responds on any MIDI channel; a setting lets you restrict it to only the configured MIDI In Channel.
• Separately, playing any MIDI note into MuseBud's MIDI input sets the pattern's key to that note's pitch class directly — a quick way to "tune" MuseBud from a MIDI keyboard.

Both paths repopulate the Note fader list automatically, the same as changing Key/Scale by hand.

MIDI Routing

MuseBud generates MIDI note-on/note-off events for the note it draws each step (a Rest simply skips the note-on) and sends them out over MIDI. The engine is monophonic — one note plays at a time, with its note-off scheduled before the next note-on.

• MIDI Out Channel and MIDI In Channel (Settings → MIDI Settings) control which channel generated notes are sent on, and which channel incoming notes/Program Changes/CC are read from.
• Patterns CC# (Settings → MIDI Settings) sets which MIDI CC number, sent on the MIDI In Channel, remotely switches patterns.
• Incoming MIDI note-on and Program Change 69 messages are used for BrainBud key sync (see above); other incoming MIDI is otherwise not required for MuseBud to run.

Standalone-only MIDI routing (virtual ports, hardware ports, MIDI Panic) is covered in the next section, since it's part of the app's own Settings and not available inside the plugin.

Internal Synth and Ableton Link (Standalone Only)

These features exist only in the standalone MuseBud app; the AUv3 plugin relies entirely on its host for sound and transport.

• Internal Synth — a simple built-in synth (two detuned oscillators, a filter, and reverb) so you can hear MuseBud without any other gear. Turn it on and set its volume in Settings. It plays whatever note MuseBud's generator is currently sounding, in addition to whatever is sent out over MIDI.
• Virtual MIDI In / Out — CoreMIDI virtual ports ("MuseBud In" / "MuseBud Out") that let other apps on the same device send MIDI to MuseBud or receive MIDI from it. Toggle these, and any other detected hardware or virtual MIDI ports, individually in Settings.
• MIDI Panic — sends a note-off for every MIDI note number on the current MIDI Out Channel; use this if a note is stuck.
• Ableton Link — syncs tempo and transport (play/stop) with other Link-enabled apps and devices on the same network. The Settings screen shows whether Link is currently enabled and opens Link's own settings panel.
• Tempo (BPM) — adjustable directly in Settings when not synced to an external tempo source.

AUv3 Plugin Details

• MuseBud's plugin identifies itself to hosts as a MIDI Processor (Audio Unit type aumi) — it processes and generates MIDI, and produces no audio output of its own. Place it ahead of an instrument track or instrument plugin in your host's MIDI effects chain so the notes it generates actually trigger something.
• The plugin reads tempo and transport directly from the host — there is no internal tempo, Link, or transport control inside the plugin's own UI.
• The full pattern setup — every fader, every pattern, the looper buffer, and MIDI/scale settings — is saved and restored as part of the host's normal Audio Unit state saving (for example, when you save a project or a plugin preset in your DAW). Tempo, internal synth, and MIDI port settings don't apply inside the plugin and aren't shown in its Settings screen.
• Automatable parameters exposed to the host include: pattern selection, scale, key, looper play/record toggles, looper start index and count, and looper reset/clear triggers — usable for host automation lanes alongside the on-screen controls.
• The plugin's Settings screen also links back into the standalone MuseBud app (via the musebud:// URL scheme) for the tutorial and App Store review, if the standalone app is installed.

Settings

Settings (gear icon) covers the same core sections in both the standalone app and the plugin, with extra sections in the standalone app:

Shared (App and Plugin)

• MIDI Settings — Patterns CC# (0–127), MIDI In Channel (1–16), MIDI Out Channel (1–16).
• Scale — Scale picker and Key picker rows (same pickers as the bottom bar's Note-mode buttons).
• Knob — a knob interaction style preference (Horizontal / Vertical / Horizontal & Vertical / Rotary), shared with other apps in the same developer's suite.
• Support — Tutorial (replays the in-app walkthrough), Review (opens the App Store review page), Other Apps (opens the developer's App Store page), and Feedback (opens an email to the developer with the app name and version pre-filled).

Standalone App Only

• Tempo — BPM stepper.
• Internal Synth — enable/disable and volume.
• MIDI In / MIDI Out — Virtual MIDI In/Out toggles plus a switch for every detected hardware or virtual MIDI port.
• MIDI Panic button.
• Ableton Link — status row that opens Link's settings.

Tips and Starting Points

• Start every mode from All 0%, then raise just the handful of values you actually want — this is usually faster than trimming down from All 100%.
• Remember zero-everything is uniform-random, not silence: to make rests common, raise the Rest fader in Note mode specifically rather than zeroing every note.
• Use Draw mode to quickly sketch a rough shape (e.g., a bell curve of octaves, or a downward-sloping velocity curve), then fine-tune individual faders afterward with Draw mode off.
• In Duration mode, leave Dotted and Triplet hidden until you specifically want that flavor — toggling them back off zeroes their weights automatically, so you can experiment freely without permanently reshaping your pattern.
• Record a pass you like into the Looper, then narrow the Start/Count window to loop just the best few notes out of a longer buffer.
• Duplicate a pattern with + before making a big change to it, so you always have the previous version to go back to via Paste on another pattern slot.
• On the standalone app, turn on the Internal Synth the first time you use MuseBud so you can hear results immediately, without needing to configure MIDI routing to another synth first.

Troubleshooting

No sound at all MuseBud only sends MIDI — it needs something downstream to make sound. On the standalone app, either enable the Internal Synth in Settings, or make sure a MIDI destination (Virtual MIDI Out, or another app/device) is open and that your synth is listening on the same MIDI Out Channel configured in Settings. In the AUv3 plugin, confirm it's placed as a MIDI effect ahead of an instrument in the host's chain — the plugin itself never produces audio.

Internal Synth is on but I still don't hear anything Check the Volume slider under Internal Synth in Settings isn't at 0%, and that the sequencer is actually playing (press Play).

A note seems stuck on Use MIDI Panic in the standalone app's Settings to send note-off to every note number on the current MIDI Out Channel. Stopping and restarting playback also clears any note the generator was holding.

The sequence doesn't sound random / always plays the same thing Check whether Looper mode is active and playing — while looping, MuseBud plays back the recorded buffer instead of generating new random notes. Turn off Looper playback to return to live generation.

Zeroing all faders in a mode produced sound instead of silence This is expected: an all-zero mode is treated as fully uniform (every value equally likely), not muted. To silence a mode, raise the specific value you want instead — for silence specifically, raise the Rest fader in Note mode.

Key/Scale buttons are missing from the bottom bar They only appear while Note mode is selected in the sidebar.

Dotted/Triplet buttons are missing They only appear while Duration mode is selected.

Group button is missing It only appears in Velocity or Gate mode.

The Looper view shows an empty-buffer message Enable Record in Looper mode and start playback so MuseBud can capture generated notes into the buffer before you try to loop them.

Looper plays the wrong section of the buffer Adjust the Start and Count knobs to select the slice of the buffer you want to loop.

Pattern switching over MIDI CC isn't working Confirm your controller or host is sending the CC number shown in Settings → MIDI Settings → Patterns CC#, on the configured MIDI In Channel.

BrainBud key/scale sync isn't happening Confirm the sending app is transmitting Program Change 69 on a channel MuseBud is listening to (check the Universal MIDI Channel behavior in Settings if you've restricted BrainBud to a specific channel), and that MIDI is actually routed between the two apps.

Presets/patterns don't come back when reopening a host project The AUv3 plugin's full pattern setup is saved through the host's own Audio Unit state saving — make sure your host actually saves plugin/project state (this varies by DAW) rather than only its own track data.

Links

• MuseBud Website
• MuseBud on the App Store
• All Cem Olcay Apps