Storm Sequencer v4: a renewed sequencer for writing harmony

Today we are releasing Storm Sequencer v4, the renewed version of the sequencer used to write the course exercises. Version 3 stays available exactly as it is, because it is the one shown in the lesson videos: if you are following a video lesson, you can keep using it and nothing changes.

A new design

The sequencer now looks like a small recording studio. At the top is the transport: go to start, stop, play and go to end, with a display showing the position, tempo, meter, key and the chord symbol that is sounding. The space bar plays and stops from anywhere on the page.

The score looks like a sheet of paper, and the right-hand panel shows the note or chord you are about to write in large type, with each tool on its own colored card.

Two ways to view the score

• Continuous view: one long line that scrolls along while the music plays.
• Page view: real sheets with a title, systems of three measures, clef and key signature at the start of each system and page numbers. During playback, pages turn on their own.

Editing like a professional sequencer

• Rubber-band selection: with the Select tool you drag across the score and pick several notes at once, even across measures or voices.
• Copy, cut, paste and duplicate: Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V and Ctrl+D. Whatever you paste replaces what was there and stays selected.
• Dragging notes along the key signature: when you grab a note and move it, it steps through lines and spaces following the key signature of the measure, and you hear each note before letting go.
• Meter and key changes anywhere: if you change to a meter where the music already written does not fit, the bar lines are redrawn and notes crossing a bar line are split and tied, as notation software does.
• SATB quartet: each staff has its own bar lines and a double bar at every change of key or meter.

Everything version 3 did is still there: writing with the mouse, accidentals, ties, chord symbols under the score, MIDI export for the Virtual Teacher and more.

Also built to prepare the lessons

The other half of this version is not visible at first glance: the sequencer can be operated by AI assistants, which write exact musical examples and prepare the images that go with an explanation. That will let me produce the lesson videos much faster, starting with Lesson 4.

Try it

Open Storm Sequencer v4, write a few notes and tell me what you think. If something does not work as you expect, write to me from the contact page.

Luis Cárdenas