Small instruments for improvising musicians. Built around random elements (alea is Latin for dice, as in aleatoric music).
| What it is | Get it | |
|---|---|---|
| Alea Scale Shifter | Random notes from a scale, slowly morphing into another scale | Latest release (Alea-x.y.z files) |
| Alea Chord Randomizer | Random chords, looped. Improvise over them | Latest release (AleaChordRandomizer-x.y.z files) |
Each product releases on its own. Download just the one you want. Both come as VST3, AU and CLAP plugins plus a standalone app, for macOS and Windows. Every build passes pluginval at strictness 10 and Apple's auval.
macOS: download the .pkg and double-click it. Tick the formats you
want: VST3, AU, CLAP, and/or the standalone app.
The installers are unsigned for now, so macOS will block the first open and say the package "was blocked from use because it is not from an identified developer". To install anyway:
- Dismiss the warning.
- Open System Settings > Privacy & Security and scroll down to the Security section.
- You will see a note about the blocked installer. Click Open Anyway and confirm with your password.
On older versions of macOS, right-clicking the .pkg and choosing
Open also works.
Windows: download the -Windows-Setup.exe and run it (components:
VST3, CLAP, standalone), or grab the portable zip and drop the files where
you like. SmartScreen may warn about an unknown publisher. Choose "More
info" and then "Run anyway".
Then restart your DAW or rescan plugins. Which format to load:
- Ableton Live, Cubase: VST3. In Live, don't use the AU. Live cannot route MIDI out of AU plugins, so only the VST3 works there.
- Logic Pro, GarageBand: AU, with OUT set to Internal Synth (Logic can't route AU MIDI either).
- Bitwig, Reaper: CLAP or VST3.
- No DAW at all: the standalone app, with its built-in synth or direct MIDI output to hardware.
Pick a set of notes and press play. Alea streams an endless, never-repeating line from them, slowly drifting toward a second set, from a scale you know all the way to full dodecaphony, while you play against the drift.
- Two scales, A and B: notes, octaves, velocities, and rests that roll just like notes.
- Scale Morph: blend between them by hand, by automation, by MIDI CC, or let AUTO-SWEEP travel on its own.
- Timing: locked to your DAW, free-running, or rolled anew per note.
- A warm built-in synth in many flavours, so it makes sound anywhere with zero routing.
- 10 presets, from Just an Arp to Order → Chaos, plus your own as
.aleafiles. - Replayable randomness: loop a section and it rolls the same dice again.
Alea generates MIDI notes. By default it makes no sound of its own (flip OUT to Internal Synth if you want it to). In Ableton Live:
-
Drop Alea onto a MIDI track.
-
On a second MIDI track with any instrument: set MIDI From to the Alea track and pick Alea in the chooser below it (not "Post FX"):
-
Arm the instrument track and press Play. You'll hear notes drawn from Scale A. Pick a preset, or hit AUTO-SWEEP and let it travel.
No sound? Check the routing above first. The header dot should read "playing" while the host runs. At 100% B with an empty Scale B there is nothing to play. A stuck note ends with one PANIC press. If Alea is missing from Live's browser, hold Alt and click Rescan in the plugin settings (Live caches plugins that previously failed to load). And in the standalone app, pick Internal Synth under OUT.
Roll a handful of random chords, press play, and improvise over the loop. Born from an improvisation exercise by guitar teacher Yonatan Benaroche: a progression you did not choose forces your ear and hands out of familiar shapes.
- The dice: a series of chords, with control over their complexity, and a meticulous chord vocabulary.
- Key lock: stay diatonic in any key, in major, minor, or harmonic minor.
- The loop: your tempo, your bars, your octaves, your voicings, through the built-in synth or any MIDI device.
- Practice flow: auto roll every few loops, pin the chords you love, bring back any past roll.
- Metronome, FREEZE, PANIC, and a keyboard that shows what is sounding.
Open the app, press ROLL, press play, and jam. Sound comes out of the box via the built-in synth. In a DAW it works like Scale Shifter: route its MIDI to an instrument track, or flip OUT to the built-in synth.
Requires CMake ≥ 3.22. JUCE is downloaded automatically on first configure.
cmake -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build buildOne build makes both products. Installer scripts:
scripts/make_installer.sh and scripts/make_chords_installer.sh.
I'll be more than happy to hear your feedback, ideas, and music made with either Alea. Open an issue here or write to yuvalprod@gmail.com.
Made by Yuval Egozi.
Alea is open source under the GPLv3 (it is built on JUCE, whose free tier requires it). It also uses clap-juce-extensions and the CLAP SDK (both MIT), and embeds the Space Grotesk font (SIL Open Font License). The built-in piano uses samples from the Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm (CC BY 3.0).
The Alea name, wordmark, and icon artwork are copyright Yuval Egozi and are not covered by the code license. Please don't reuse the branding in forks.