orbitr

Traditional sequencers are grids. Rows and columns. Time moves left to right. It works, but it enforces a particular relationship with rhythm—one that privileges linearity and makes polyrhythm feel like a special case rather than the natural state of things.

orbitr reimagines the sequencer as concentric rings, inspired by Playtronica’s Orbita. Four tracks orbit a shared centre, each with sixteen-step patterns, each rotating at its own tempo. Rhythm becomes spatial. Polymetric relationships become visible as geometry rather than hidden as arithmetic.

The experiment adds a layer that Orbita couldn’t: Meta’s MusicGen for real-time AI sample generation from text prompts. You describe a sound in words—“dusty Detroit kick,” “pitched-down glass shatter”—and the sequencer generates it, drops it into a ring, and lets you hear it in context immediately. Pre-configured genre packs for Detroit techno, Berlin nineties, and UK garage provide starting palettes, but the point is departure, not imitation.

This is an experiment. It works well enough to be interesting and unevenly enough to be honest about that.