Device Details
Overview
| Name | Version: | ATTRACTOR 1.0 |
| Author: | adriank1410 |
| Device Type: | Instrument |
| Description: | ATTRACTOR — Strange-Attractor FM Synthesizer for Ableton Live 12 A chaos-driven FM synthesizer that combines four classic strange attractors (Lorenz, Rössler, Aizawa, Thomas) with a 2-operator FM voice and a live triple-trace bottom-strip oscilloscope. The attractor's three axes drive ratio, FM index, and amplitude in parallel — chaos as a never-repeating, bounded modulation source. Built for producers who want timbres that breathe and evolve, not static presets that loop. Drop ATTRACTOR on a MIDI track and play any note — the chaos engine is ON by default; the FM voice and visualizer fire up immediately. Ready out of the box. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ WHAT MAKES ATTRACTOR DIFFERENT ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ • FOUR STRANGE ATTRACTORS — Lorenz (classic butterfly), Rössler (single-loop), Aizawa (spiraling sphere), Thomas (gentle cyclic drift). Each integrator gives a distinct chaos signature and a per-mode color palette in the visualizer. • CHAOS DRIVES RATIO / INDEX / AMP IN PARALLEL — the attractor's three axes (x, y, z) modulate different parameters of the FM voice simultaneously. The Depth dial scales how strongly chaos overrides the static dial values; at Depth 0 you get a clean static FM voice, at Depth 1 chaos fully takes over. • 2-OPERATOR FM SYNTHESIS — phasor~/cos~ pair with phase-modulation, carrier ratio + index controls, drive (tanh saturation), and an ADSR envelope. Final-stage tanh acts as a brick-wall safety limiter so chaotic peaks never clip the master. • LIVE TRIPLE-TRACE VISUALIZER — full bottom-strip oscilloscope with one trace per chaos axis, motion blur, glow, auto-scaling and DC-blocking so every attractor renders centered regardless of its natural offset. Per-mode color palette so you can read the algorithm at a glance. • NOTE-GATED ANIMATION — the visualizer fades when no notes are held, and the chaos engine can be toggled OFF entirely (greying out the chaos-only controls so the inert state is obvious). The ~600 substeps/s integrator only runs while a note is sounding. • VELOCITY-AWARE — per-note level scales with MIDI velocity; envelope is normalised so high velocity doesn't overshoot and clip the limiter. • GLIDE / PORTAMENTO — smooth pitch-bending between notes for legato lines and bass slides. • SELF-CONTAINED .AMXD — the JS chaos engine and visualizer are embedded inside the frozen Live device. Drag one file and it works; no loose .js next to it. • 14 PARAMETERS — all automatable, mappable, and annotated for Live's hover-info panel. Hover over any control to see what it does. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ PARAMETERS ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Chaos — Master switch for the chaos engine Type — Strange attractor algorithm (Lorenz / Rössler / Aizawa / Thomas) σ — Lorenz σ (Prandtl number) — wilder swirl when higher (1–30) ρ — Lorenz ρ (Rayleigh number) — below ~24 the system settles (1–50) β — Lorenz β — vertical damping; classic value 8/3 ≈ 2.667 (0.1–10) Speed — Integration step size, exponential (0.0001–0.02) Ratio — FM modulator-to-carrier frequency ratio, exponential (0.25–8) Index — FM modulation index — 0 = pure sine, higher = brighter (0–10) Attack — Note attack time, exponential (1–2000 ms) Release — Note release time, exponential (5–4000 ms) Depth — Strength of chaos modulation across ratio / index / amp (0–1) Drive — Soft saturation (tanh waveshaper) on the carrier (0–1) Glide — Portamento between notes, exponential (0–500 ms) Volume — Output level; per-note level also scales with MIDI velocity (−60 to +6 dB) ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ TIPS ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ • Start with Lorenz, Depth 0.5, Ratio 2, Index 4, Drive 0.3 — hold a low note and slowly sweep Speed between extremes to morph from glacial drone into wild sideband chatter while the oscilloscope traces the butterfly. • For melodic FM bells with subtle motion, drop Depth to 0.15 and pick Thomas (gentlest of the four). • Aizawa with Depth ≈ 0.7 produces evolving metallic textures — pair with a long Release for cinematic pads. • Rössler at low Speed gives slow, almost sequencer-like rhythmic patterns in the FM index. • Map Depth to a MIDI controller / Live macro for live performance — sweeping it gives you "more chaos" as a one-knob morph from clean to broken. • Type-switch on the fly while a note is held — the visualizer crossfades and the timbre warps; works as a build-up trick. • Map Chaos (the on/off toggle) to a button to drop the chaos engine in and out cleanly between sections. • Tweak σ / ρ / β only on Lorenz mode; the other attractors don't read those (their controls grey out). ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ COMPATIBILITY ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ • Ableton Live 12 — uses Live 12 device-height conventions (169 px) and modern parameter init layout. • Max for Live 8.5+ • Built and tested on macOS. Windows should work but is untested — only the build script touches macOS-specific code paths; the device itself is cross-platform. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ SOURCE & UPDATES ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Open source, MIT license. The full source (including the patch generator and .amxd packer scripts) is on GitHub: https://github.com/adriank1410/attractor-m4l You can edit, modify, redistribute, and use ATTRACTOR in commercial productions. Please retain the copyright notice in derivative works. ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ ABOUT THE AUTHOR ═══════════════════════════════════════════════ Adrian Kwiatkowski — electronic music producer. https://adriankwiatkowski.eu Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0bnPfchFpM2qLv1xrCK727 Bandcamp: https://adriankwiatkowski.bandcamp.com SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/adriank1410 Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/adrian-kwiatkowski/1039714796 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AdrianKwiatkowski Built with Max 8.6.2 / Live 12.3.5, using a JS-driven [jsui] integrator at ~600 substeps/s for the four strange attractors, feeding [line~]-smoothed signals into a phasor~/cos~ 2-operator FM voice with final-stage tanh as a brick-wall safety limiter (proper M4L convention for chaotic-amplitude DSP). |
Details
| Live Version Used: | 12.3.5 |
| Max Version Used: | 8.6.2 |
| Date Added: | May 09 2026 14:10:13 |
| Date Last Updated: | No Updates |
| Downloads: | 23 |
| Website: | https://github.com/adriank1410/attractor-m4l |
| ⓘ License: | Attribution |
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Files
| Device File: | Attractor.amxd |
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