Maija Anttila

SoLow is a computer application, that allows interactive musical improvisation between an acoustic melody instrument and a machine.

​

SoLow listens and calculates different musical parameters such as pitches, note lengths, note density and pulse of the live playing.  SoLow stores this data in lists of numbers that are continuously updated and read by its three different machines:

​

Melody machine produces responsive melodic phrases, Harmony machine produces accompanying sustained harmonies and Groove machine produces two-layered accompanying grooves to the music played by a human.

​

SoLow is written in a graphic programming language Max/MSP. It's a standalone application that doesn't require Max license or runtime. SoLow works both on macOS and Windows. ​For producing the output, SoLow makes use of instrument-specific samples. 

​

SoLow is an ongoing independent artistic research project. ​​The development of SoLow has been supported by Amarte Fonds, Kone Foundation and Arts Promotion Center Finland. SoLow logo is designed by Annika Granlund.

​

If you would like to try SoLow on your own instrument, please be in touch. Contact details are available on the front site.

​

​

SoLow 2.0

​

SoLow 2.0 is a 2.6.2023 updated version of SoLow application. Differences to the first released version are:

- option to connect up to three different instruments to the SoLow app and play as an ensemble

- renewed manual sound processing assigned for each of the SoLow machines

- new instrument settings and sample packages added to the sound library: guitar, cello, noise

- several minor improvements to reactivity and activity settings

​

​

More information

​

My broader text about the use of interactive electronics in free improvisation and SoLow project was published in Kone Foundation's Kaivolla-blog on 10.5.2023 (in Finnish only).