In Tidal each sound parameter is patterned independently, so timbre aspects can carry their own polyrhythms

Rather than patterning notes as monolithic events, Tidal patterns individual synthesiser parameters — pitch, sample onset/offset, formant filters, spatialisation — as separate patterns that are then composed into patterns of synthesiser control messages. Because each parameter has its own pattern, different aspects of the sound can move at different rates, creating polyrhythm that plays out across timbre and not just across which sample fires. Transformations can then act on several aspects at once: jux copies a pattern to the other stereo channel with a transform applied to that copy, and striate cuts a sample into grains so grain-patterns can themselves be manipulated. The key idea: sound is multidimensional, and each dimension is a first-class pattern.

Examples

jux rev plays the pattern normally on the left and reversed on the right; striate 4 chops a sample into four grains that can be re-patterned; a pan pattern moving at a different rate than the note pattern.

Assessment

Explain what it means for sound parameters to be ‘patterned separately’ in Tidal, and give one musical effect (e.g. jux or striate) that this design makes possible.